5 ms·

You can also do: grep “thing I want” !$ Bash (and similar) will replace !$ with the last parameter of the previous command. This is a trick I’ve used lot

You can also do: grep “thing I want” !$ Bash (and similar) will replace !$ with the last parameter of the previous command. This is a trick I’ve used lots when wanting to perform a non-piping operation on a command I’ve ‘cat’ed (eg ‘rm -v !$’) I’d never criticise anyone for “useless” use of ‘cat’ though. If the fork() overhead was really that critical then it wouldn’t be a shell command to begin with.

mmh0000 3y ago
Even easier, press alt+. (fewer keystrokes too! cli golf is fun), it'll copy-and-paste the last parameter from the previous command. If you press . multiple times it'll go further back into your history.
- bee_rider 3y ago
  Often the shortcuts that people point out in these threads are too niche for me to remember, but that seems like a pretty great one, I’ll try to remember it.
  - imp0cat 3y ago
    alt + . is easy to remember, but did you know you there is a way to recall any argument from the previous command in bash? Press Escape, then the number of the argument from the previous command, confirm with Ctrl+Alt+Y. Example: > command arg1 arg2 arg3 Escape, 1, Ctrl+Alt+Y gives you arg1.
    - penguin_booze 3y ago
      alt + <number> + alt + . should do the same thing. No need for ctrl+alt+y, is there?
- smackeyacky 3y ago
  Not sure that would work everywhere but !$ definitely does for retrieving the last arg of the last command. 40 years of muscle memory right there
  - bierjunge 3y ago
    Nobody mentions $_ ? It gives you the last argument used, so: cat filename.txt grep "what I want" $_ expands "$_" to "filename.txt"
  - penguin_booze 3y ago
    Alt + . is a readline binding, so that's available wherever GNU readline is used. Immediate examples that come to mind are Python PDB shell and GDB.
    - cassepipe 3y ago
      And thus you get vim modes there too much if you set your .inputrc for it !
- 6c696e7578 3y ago
  As I tend to live with set -o vi, [esc] _ gets the same. I hardly ever remember to set: bind '"\e."':yank-last-arg So [esc] _ does it on systems where I haven't customised my environment. A major drawback though is it doesn't go through history like alt . does. However, when 'set -o vi' is enabled you can easily go through history and edit with familiar vi keystrokes, or press 'fc' and fix the previous command in EDITOR, or 'v' to edit the current command in EDITOR.
  - cassepipe 3y ago
    Command line vi modes are my bread and butter I think you meant 'vv' and I wonder if it's not something that's set up by oh-my-zsh ? It's great though
    - 6c696e7578 3y ago
      'v' will start the visual editor. 'fc' will edit the previous command. Both invoke EDITOR in bash's vi readline command mode. I wasn't aware that bash and zsh did it differently, I assumed they'd both use the same readline - now I'm aware there's more to understand about it :)
      - cassepipe 3y ago
        Ha my bad I assumed zsh because I saw the `bind` command being used. I did not know that it was also in bash I find that zsh's mode is actually better than readline's For example it can handle visual mode which is why the same function is `vv` and not just `v` Zsh can handle text objects too, very useful to be able to ci" for example Fish's can too and is quite good IIRC Too bad the `v` command does not work in gdb so it seems it's more of a bash thing than a readline thing Relevant : https://superuser.com/questions/1543120/make-readline-edit-input-command-in-external-editor-similar-behavior-as-edit-a https://superuser.com/questions/1543120/make-readline-edit-i...
bumblebeast 3y ago
I just use <esc>. On the command line to bring back the last argument. Then I can look at it before hitting return
- harrisi 3y ago
  shopt -s histverify
dllthomas 3y ago
<!$ grep ... or <$_ grep ... work, too.
bee_rider 3y ago
I’m sure there are cases where the fork overhead matters. But, alas, I don’t type or read that fast.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
77pt77 3y ago
!! is the previous command line BTW useful shorthand > sudo !! for example. Again, bash specific.
- emmelaich 3y ago
  !!, !$ etc are old and supported by zsh as well.
- taskforcegemini 3y ago
  my preference for this example is "arrow-up, ctrl+a sudo" but will not work inside "screen" out of the box of course

mmh0000 3y ago

Even easier, press alt+. (fewer keystrokes too! cli golf is fun), it'll copy-and-paste the last parameter from the previous command. If you press . multiple times it'll go further back into your history.

bee_rider 3y ago
Often the shortcuts that people point out in these threads are too niche for me to remember, but that seems like a pretty great one, I’ll try to remember it.
- imp0cat 3y ago
  alt + . is easy to remember, but did you know you there is a way to recall any argument from the previous command in bash? Press Escape, then the number of the argument from the previous command, confirm with Ctrl+Alt+Y. Example: > command arg1 arg2 arg3 Escape, 1, Ctrl+Alt+Y gives you arg1.
  - penguin_booze 3y ago
    alt + <number> + alt + . should do the same thing. No need for ctrl+alt+y, is there?
smackeyacky 3y ago
Not sure that would work everywhere but !$ definitely does for retrieving the last arg of the last command. 40 years of muscle memory right there
- bierjunge 3y ago
  Nobody mentions $_ ? It gives you the last argument used, so: cat filename.txt grep "what I want" $_ expands "$_" to "filename.txt"
- penguin_booze 3y ago
  Alt + . is a readline binding, so that's available wherever GNU readline is used. Immediate examples that come to mind are Python PDB shell and GDB.
  - cassepipe 3y ago
    And thus you get vim modes there too much if you set your .inputrc for it !
6c696e7578 3y ago
As I tend to live with set -o vi, [esc] _ gets the same. I hardly ever remember to set: bind '"\e."':yank-last-arg So [esc] _ does it on systems where I haven't customised my environment. A major drawback though is it doesn't go through history like alt . does. However, when 'set -o vi' is enabled you can easily go through history and edit with familiar vi keystrokes, or press 'fc' and fix the previous command in EDITOR, or 'v' to edit the current command in EDITOR.
- cassepipe 3y ago
  Command line vi modes are my bread and butter I think you meant 'vv' and I wonder if it's not something that's set up by oh-my-zsh ? It's great though
  - 6c696e7578 3y ago
    'v' will start the visual editor. 'fc' will edit the previous command. Both invoke EDITOR in bash's vi readline command mode. I wasn't aware that bash and zsh did it differently, I assumed they'd both use the same readline - now I'm aware there's more to understand about it :)
    - cassepipe 3y ago
      Ha my bad I assumed zsh because I saw the `bind` command being used. I did not know that it was also in bash I find that zsh's mode is actually better than readline's For example it can handle visual mode which is why the same function is `vv` and not just `v` Zsh can handle text objects too, very useful to be able to ci" for example Fish's can too and is quite good IIRC Too bad the `v` command does not work in gdb so it seems it's more of a bash thing than a readline thing Relevant : https://superuser.com/questions/1543120/make-readline-edit-input-command-in-external-editor-similar-behavior-as-edit-a https://superuser.com/questions/1543120/make-readline-edit-i...

bumblebeast 3y ago

I just use <esc>. On the command line to bring back the last argument. Then I can look at it before hitting return

harrisi 3y ago
shopt -s histverify

dllthomas 3y ago

<!$ grep ... or <$_ grep ... work, too.

bee_rider 3y ago

I’m sure there are cases where the fork overhead matters. But, alas, I don’t type or read that fast.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

77pt77 3y ago

!! is the previous command line BTW useful shorthand > sudo !! for example. Again, bash specific.

emmelaich 3y ago
!!, !$ etc are old and supported by zsh as well.
taskforcegemini 3y ago
my preference for this example is "arrow-up, ctrl+a sudo" but will not work inside "screen" out of the box of course