Reuse text on a bash command

Question

If i'm writing a long command or just typing an extensive file path, is there any that i can "reuse" it with some command shortcut?

e.g:

1.cp /home/myuser/really/big/file/here/and/there.png /home/myuser/really/big/file/here/and/there.png.bkp

Do i really have to type it all over again?

bbaja42 · Accepted Answer · 2011-06-08T23:43:12.920

14

cp /home/myuser/really/big/file/here/and/there.png{,.bkp}

edited Jun 08 '11 at 23:43

answered Jun 08 '11 at 19:36

bbaja42

1

+1 and you can go even shorter: `cp /home/myuser/really/big/file/here/and/there.{,.bkp}` – Mike Fitzpatrick Jun 08 '11 at 22:53
@peth: Oops, yes, you're correct. So we can actually go even shorter: `cp /home/myuser/really/big/file/here/and/there{,.bkp}` :) – Mike Fitzpatrick Jun 16 '11 at 22:58

score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 09 '11 at 14:17

4

Also, history expansion can work here:

cp /home/myuser/really/big/file/here/and/there.png !#:1.bkp

where the !#:1 part refers to the first argument of the command you're currently typing.

answered Jun 09 '11 at 14:17

glenn jackman

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 09 '11 at 15:18

You can save lots of time typing that by using tab expansion, the tilde shortcut, and command history.

For instance,

~/r[tab]/b[tab]/f[tab]/h[tab]/a[tab]/t[tab]/

(where [tab] means "press the Tab key") would expand to

/home/myuser/really/big/file/here/and/there

You could also type

cp /home/myuser/really/big/file/here/and/there.png /some/destination

then press up-arrow and just change the last three letters of the filename

3 Answers3