Bash – Shell: How to get the last argument the previous command when it was detached

bashcommand historycommand lineline-editorreadline

Within the shell, typing ALT+. or using !$ recalls the last passed argument of the previous command. I use this all the time, but how do you do that when you detached the previous command?

$ do-something foo a_long_file_name &

How do I get a_long_file_name on the prompt, and not the ampersand?

Best Answer

\e-\e. (or pressing - and . while holding alt/option) inserts the second last word.

Similarly, \e-2\e. inserts the third last word, and \e2\e. inserts the third word.

Magic space

Also, note that !! and !-1 will not auto-expand for you, until you execute them (when it might be too late).

If using bash, you can put bind Space:magic-space into ~/.bashrc, then pressing Space after the command will auto-expand them inline, allowing you to inspect them before execution. This is particularly useful for history expansion from a command run a while ago, e.g. !echo will pull the last command run starting with echo. With magic space, you get to preview the command before it's run.

That's the equivalent of doing bindkey ' ' magic-space in tcsh or zsh.

Bash – How to stop bash editing the history when I reuse and modify an entry

Turns out revert-all-at-newline is the answer. I needed to include set revert-all-at-newline on in my ~/.inputrc file, since using the set command at the bash prompt had no effect. (Then, of course, I had to start a new shell.)

Also, I found that ~/.inputrc is loaded instead of /etc/inputrc if present, which means that any defaults defined in the latter are no longer active when you create ~/.inputrc. To fix this, start ~/.inputrc with $include /etc/inputrc.

Thanks to @StéphaneChazelas for pointing me in the right direction.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Shell Shortcuts – How to Repeat the Last Command Without Using Arrow Keys

Magic space

Bash – How to stop bash editing the history when I reuse and modify an entry

Related Question