4 ms·

I find it interesting that very few people know about the "cd -" command (goto previous directory). I find it invaluable, but never see anyone else use it (thi

by bstar77 13y ago

I find it interesting that very few people know about the "cd -" command (goto previous directory). I find it invaluable, but never see anyone else use it (this tutorial included).

samstave 13y ago
I use it a lot. I wish i could add multiples to go backfurther.... i.e.: cd /var/log cd /etc/ssh cd /home/samstave/Downloads cd -- (takes me back to /var/log/)
- scoot 13y ago
  pushd /var/log pushd /etc/ssh pushd /home/samstave/Downloads popd; !! (takes me back to /var/log/) You could alias cd to pushd and cd- to popd...
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- jbp 13y ago
  I use pushd/popd/dirs for multiples. I have aliases like p1 for "pushd +1" and so on.
- jlgaddis 13y ago
  cf. pushd and popd
spenuke 13y ago
I didn't know this one, and glad I do now! Is it possible that the other one I wish existed is already commonplace? I'd like to have an arg that cd's to a directory automatically after mkdir'ing it... or mv'ing a file to a directory. Something like: mkdir foo -go and mv foo ~/bar -go ... Probably simple enough to script, but I guess I'm too lazy at the moment.
- pbhjpbhj 13y ago
  You could have scripted it faster than doing that comment ... Or, you could just bash$ mkdir -p /some/dir/to/make bash$ cd !$ Bang (!) is a history lookup with lots of variation in use. It probably works in other *nix shells too. Look under "event designators" in "man bash" for more info.
- octo_t 13y ago
  function take_dir { mkdir -p "$1"; cd "$1" ; }; alias take="take_dir"
  - barrkel 13y ago
    I call my version of this function 'enter'.
- jlgaddis 13y ago
  I typically use: $ mkdir foo $ cd !$ Not quite what you're asking for but it can certainly save some keystrokes -- especially if you're doing something like: $ mkdir -p foo/bar/baz/whatever
- roryokane 13y ago
  I use the version at http://onethingwell.org/post/586977440/mkcd-improved http://onethingwell.org/post/586977440/mkcd-improved, called `mkcd`. # mkdir, cd into it mkcd () { mkdir -p "$*" cd "$*" } Just copy and paste that at the end of your `.bashrc` or `.zshrc` file. You may also want to include this comment above it so you know why it’s written like that: # from http://onethingwell.org/post/586977440/mkcd-improved
- vram22 13y ago
  $_ in bash means the last argument of the previous command. So: mkdir some/long/path/to/a/dir cd $_ mv foo some/long/path/bar cd $_ both work for what you want, and the extra keystrokes are so few that it hardly matters. The $_ is not specific to those two commands, so works for others as well, and is typically very useful because command sequences often tend to need the last argument of the previous command in the next command; un-tar-ing a .tar file and then going to the extracted directory is another example.
elipsey 13y ago
you just made my day :)
minimax 13y ago
"cd -" and also using "cd" with no arguments to get back to $HOME are great tips. I also have a bash function called "up" to get back N directories up the hierarchy so I can do "up 5" which is like "cd ../../../../.." but much easier to type. up () { if [[ $# -eq 1 && "$1" -gt 0 ]] ; then local i d for (( i = 0; i < $1; i++ )) ; do d="../$d" ; done cd $d else echo "Usage: up N" fi }
- amboar 13y ago
  I'm on my phone at the moment, but I did something similar except avoided the counting. I have a shell function called `ct` for "climb tree" where you specify the name of the directory you want to climb to; calling it will place you in the first directory above cwd whose name matches the argument and in addition I wrote a bash completion module for it so I only have to type minimal characters. I'll post the source for both shortly.
  - amboar 13y ago
    Here's the script for ct: http://pastebin.com/M1k1WL88 http://pastebin.com/M1k1WL88 Looks like I wrote the tab-completion script on my work machine. I don't have access to it right now, but if I remember when I do have access I'll pastebin that as well.
    - minimax 13y ago
      This is awesome! You are awesome! :-)
      - amboar 13y ago
        Here's the tab completion script: http://pastebin.com/mR8y1Rks http://pastebin.com/mR8y1Rks Note it's the only tab completion script I've written, and it's probably a hack :P
        minimax 13y ago
wyclif 13y ago
That's weird. "cd" with options was one of the first commands I learned.

by bstar77 13y ago

I find it interesting that very few people know about the "cd -" command (goto previous directory). I find it invaluable, but never see anyone else use it (this tutorial included).

samstave 13y ago

I use it a lot. I wish i could add multiples to go backfurther.... i.e.: cd /var/log cd /etc/ssh cd /home/samstave/Downloads cd -- (takes me back to /var/log/)

scoot 13y ago
pushd /var/log pushd /etc/ssh pushd /home/samstave/Downloads popd; !! (takes me back to /var/log/) You could alias cd to pushd and cd- to popd...
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
jbp 13y ago
I use pushd/popd/dirs for multiples. I have aliases like p1 for "pushd +1" and so on.
jlgaddis 13y ago
cf. pushd and popd

spenuke 13y ago

I didn't know this one, and glad I do now! Is it possible that the other one I wish existed is already commonplace? I'd like to have an arg that cd's to a directory automatically after mkdir'ing it... or mv'ing a file to a directory. Something like: mkdir foo -go and mv foo ~/bar -go ... Probably simple enough to script, but I guess I'm too lazy at the moment.

pbhjpbhj 13y ago
You could have scripted it faster than doing that comment ... Or, you could just bash$ mkdir -p /some/dir/to/make bash$ cd !$ Bang (!) is a history lookup with lots of variation in use. It probably works in other *nix shells too. Look under "event designators" in "man bash" for more info.
octo_t 13y ago
function take_dir { mkdir -p "$1"; cd "$1" ; }; alias take="take_dir"
- barrkel 13y ago
  I call my version of this function 'enter'.
jlgaddis 13y ago
I typically use: $ mkdir foo $ cd !$ Not quite what you're asking for but it can certainly save some keystrokes -- especially if you're doing something like: $ mkdir -p foo/bar/baz/whatever
roryokane 13y ago
I use the version at http://onethingwell.org/post/586977440/mkcd-improved http://onethingwell.org/post/586977440/mkcd-improved, called `mkcd`. # mkdir, cd into it mkcd () { mkdir -p "$*" cd "$*" } Just copy and paste that at the end of your `.bashrc` or `.zshrc` file. You may also want to include this comment above it so you know why it’s written like that: # from http://onethingwell.org/post/586977440/mkcd-improved
vram22 13y ago
$_ in bash means the last argument of the previous command. So: mkdir some/long/path/to/a/dir cd $_ mv foo some/long/path/bar cd $_ both work for what you want, and the extra keystrokes are so few that it hardly matters. The $_ is not specific to those two commands, so works for others as well, and is typically very useful because command sequences often tend to need the last argument of the previous command in the next command; un-tar-ing a .tar file and then going to the extracted directory is another example.

elipsey 13y ago

you just made my day :)

minimax 13y ago

"cd -" and also using "cd" with no arguments to get back to $HOME are great tips. I also have a bash function called "up" to get back N directories up the hierarchy so I can do "up 5" which is like "cd ../../../../.." but much easier to type. up () { if [[ $# -eq 1 && "$1" -gt 0 ]] ; then local i d for (( i = 0; i < $1; i++ )) ; do d="../$d" ; done cd $d else echo "Usage: up N" fi }

amboar 13y ago
I'm on my phone at the moment, but I did something similar except avoided the counting. I have a shell function called `ct` for "climb tree" where you specify the name of the directory you want to climb to; calling it will place you in the first directory above cwd whose name matches the argument and in addition I wrote a bash completion module for it so I only have to type minimal characters. I'll post the source for both shortly.
- amboar 13y ago
  Here's the script for ct: http://pastebin.com/M1k1WL88 http://pastebin.com/M1k1WL88 Looks like I wrote the tab-completion script on my work machine. I don't have access to it right now, but if I remember when I do have access I'll pastebin that as well.
  - minimax 13y ago
    This is awesome! You are awesome! :-)
    - amboar 13y ago
      Here's the tab completion script: http://pastebin.com/mR8y1Rks http://pastebin.com/mR8y1Rks Note it's the only tab completion script I've written, and it's probably a hack :P
      - minimax 13y ago

wyclif 13y ago

That's weird. "cd" with options was one of the first commands I learned.