Word Designators (Bash Reference Manual)
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9.3.2 Word Designators
Word designators are used to select desired words from the event. A ‘:’ separates the event specification from the word designator. It may be omitted if the word designator begins with a ‘^’, ‘$’, ‘*’, ‘-’, or ‘%’. Words are numbered from the beginning of the line, with the first word being denoted by 0 (zero). Words are inserted into the current line separated by single spaces.
For example,
!!- designates the preceding command. When you type this, the preceding command is repeated in toto.
!!:$- designates the last argument of the preceding command. This may be shortened to
!$. !fi:2- designates the second argument of the most recent command starting with the letters
fi.
Here are the word designators:
0 (zero)- The
0th word. For many applications, this is the command word. n- The
nth word. ^- The first argument; that is, word 1.
$- The last argument.
%- The first word matched by the most recent ‘
?string?’ search, if the search string begins with a character that is part of a word. x-y- A range of words; ‘
-y’ abbreviates ‘0-y’. *- All of the words, except the
0th. This is a synonym for ‘1-$’. It is not an error to use ‘*’ if there is just one word in the event; the empty string is returned in that case. x*- Abbreviates ‘
x-$’ x-- Abbreviates ‘
x-$’ like ‘x*’, but omits the last word. If ‘x’ is missing, it defaults to 0.
If a word designator is supplied without an event specification, the previous command is used as the event.
Next: Modifiers, Previous: Event Designators, Up: History Interaction [Contents][Index]
