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I'm trying to write an alias for cd !!:1, which takes the 2nd word of the previous command, and changes to the directory of that name. For instance, if I type
rails new_project
cd !!:1
the second line will cd into the "new_project" directory.
Since !!:1 is awkward to type (even though it's short, it requires three SHIFTed keys, on opposite sides of of the keyboard, and then an unSHIFTed version of the key that was typed twice SHIFTed), I want to just type something like
cd-
but since the !!:1 is evaluated on the command line, I (OBVIOUSLY) can't just do
alias cd-=!!:1
or I'd be saving an alias that contained "new_project" hard-coded into it. So I tried
alias cd-='!!:1'
The problem with this is that the !!:1 is NEVER evaluated, and I get a message that no directory named !!:1 exists. How can I make an alias where the history substitution is evaluated AT THE TIME I ISSUE THE ALIAS COMMAND, not when I define the alias, and not never?
(I've tried this in both bash and zsh, and get the same results in both.)
799
Bash users need to understand that alias cannot take arguments and parameters. But we can use functions to take arguments and parameters while using alias commands.
A shell alias is a shortcut to reference a command. It can be used to avoid typing long commands or as a means to correct incorrect input. For common patterns it can reduce keystrokes and improve efficiency. A simple example is setting default options on commands to avoid having to type them each time a command is run.
An alias is a way of shortening a command. (They are only used in interactive shells and not in scripts — this is one of the very few differences between a script and an interactive shell.)
The Korn shell, or POSIX shell, allows you to create aliases to customize commands. The alias command defines a word of the form Name=String as an alias. When you use an alias as the first word of a command line, ksh checks to see if it is already processing an alias with the same name.
For bash:
alias cd-='cd $(history -p !!:1)'
Another way to accomplish the same thing:
For the last argument:
cdAlt-.
or
cdEsc .
For the first argument:
cdAlt-Ctrl-y
or
cdEsc Ctrl-y
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