BASH: reuse argument from same command

Question

I know I can reuse the first argument from the prævious command with !:1; but is it possible to reuse an already typed argument from the command currently being entered? Say I want to cp blablabla blablabla.bak (and assume there are other similarly named files in the directory); it would be nice not to have to type blablabla all over again.

chepner · Accepted Answer · 2015-09-30 18:20:46Z

8

Yes; you can use the history expansion !# to represent the current line so far:

cp blablabla !#:1.bak

answered Sep 30, 2015 at 18:20

chepner

538k77 gold badges594 silver badges746 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

1 Comment

ruakh Over a year ago

+1; I had no idea. For the OP's specific case, by the way, another option is brace expansion: cp blablabla{,.bak}.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

BASH: reuse argument from same command

1 Answer 1

1 Comment

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

1 Comment

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related