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Comment by crusso | Hacker News Reader

The special bash command I'm most often asked about by shoulder surfers is !$.

It substitutes the last argument in the previous command into the current one.

For example:

  $ ls /some/long/path/somewhere/looking/around/
  <output>
  $ cd !$
  cd /some/long/path/somewhere/looking/around/

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An arguably better (and slightly more portable) way to accomplish this is the special variable $_ , which expands to the last argument of the previous command. Since $_ is a variable rather than a history substitution, it still works when there is no command history (e.g. in scripts) and allows all the usual variable expansion forms, for example ${_##*/} to extract the last path component.

That's good to know, although !$ is easier to type since you only need to depress the right shift key, whereas yours requires a quick shift on the opposite side. Makes a big difference when you're trying to quickly type "rm -rf !$" as root. :)

I don't think I'd type `rm -rf [anything]` quickly as root

Hence the smiley. Was a joke.

As a righty, I rarely ever use the right shift key.

Also, check it:

$ cd /happily/tabbing/out/some/really/deep/path/ooh/dear/maybe/its/java/WAIT_A.file

bash:> 'WAIT-A.file' is not a directory

$ nano $_ (opens file)

Better than that for me is "Alt+.", much easier to type. It can be also combined with number like "Alt+2+." will insert second argument. Similarly "Alt+0+." will insert last command. http://linuxcommando.blogspot.in/2009/05/more-on-inserting-a...

If you are on OS X and use Terminal.app “Alt-.” won’t work because Alt is used for alternate characters. You have two options: enable “use option as meta” in the app settings (but you lose the extra characters) or use “Esc-.” instead.

Yes, I know about iTerm. I don’t want it.

One way or another, that's true of any terminal. The shell sees characters, not keystrokes.

iTerm2 by chance? Carries a great deal of improvements over the original iTerm and is under active development.

In my bash/readline/whatever, Alt+<N>+. gives the Nth-from-the-end argument to the previous command. so,

    $ echo a b c d
    a b c d
    $ echo # pressing <Alt+<2>+.> here inserts 'c', not 'b'.

I find ESC, . (esc, then press period) to be more intuitive. (alt+period works as well)

I like that one and `!!` for the inevitable point I've forgotten to put sudo in before a command.

I find myself typing `sudo !!` on a daily basis. You'd think I'd eventually learn to remember to type sudo the first time, but nope.

Is there one for all but the first argument?

!!:2-$

That is really a good one, thanks.

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