Three favorite bash tricks

I spend most of my development time in the shell - be it editing text with Vim or executing various console commands. I have quite a number of tricks in my daily repertoire, and I would like to share three tips today.

Edit current command with a text editor

I often end up having to change a long command I just typed, and using arrow keys to get to the correct spot is not favorable. Bash has the feature which lets you edit current command in a text editor of your choice. Hit Ctrl + x, Ctrl + e (or Ctrl + x + e), and you will be dropped into your text editor. Now you are able to edit the command, and it will be executed as soon as your write the file and exit the editor.

You can use an editor of your choice by adding following line to your .bashrc file:

export EDITOR=vim

Replace vim with the name of your favorite editor.

Update: It looks like for some machines setting EDITOR variable is not enough. In this case, you also need to set VISUAL environment variable.

Edit recent command

You can edit your recent commands in a text editor of your choice by executing fc beginning_of_the_command. For instance, if you run fc l, you will open most recent command starting with the letter “l”.

You can execute fc without any arguments to edit last executed command.

Bash history autocomplete

Another great feature - “reverse intelligent search”. If you hit Ctrl + r in your shell, you’ll be greeted by the following prompt:

(reverse-i-search)`':

Start typing a part of the command from your history, and you’ll see suggestions popping up. Hit Enter to pick the command (you’ll be able to edit it before executing), or push Ctrl + g to return back.

Like any of these tips? Have some of your own? Don’t hesitate to share those in the comments section down below.