3d ago

siempre lo hago

201 comments

Ctrl+R
- What the fuck!? How am I only learning this now, after years of linux as daily driver?!
  
  Shit is usually a pain in the ass. The challenge is divining how much of a pain in the ass something has to be that someone else might have made a solution for it.
  I didn't know you could ctrl+shift+c to copy in the terminal until a month ago when my linux n00b wife said "there has to be a better way to do this. I've been right clicking to copy for 10 years.
  
  Congratulations! I remember where I was when I first learned it (in a noisy server room at the back of a machine shop).
  Now pair it with FZF for fuzzy finding -- it's surprisingly easy to set up, just following any guide. It's insanely useful. I find myself even doing things like typing:
  shell
  
  $ xinput --disable $(xinput --list | grep -i touchpad | grep 'id=[0-9]\+' -o | cut -d= -f2) # Disable synaptic touchpad trackpad pointer
  commands with these like comments on the ends as sort of "tags" so I can ctrl+r search for them later. Yes, I know I could just use a named function, but this is like the step just before that--before I know if I'll be issuing the same command all the time, or just for the next couple weeks. (This one was from when I was resting my notebook on my laptop.)
  
  As usual, that's documented (we can RTFM).
  Bash command line editing covers searching.
  Readline library command line editing covers searching.
  Before trying ctrl-s, you may want to disable software flow control: run stty -ixon & add it to your initialization files. Otherwise, you'll pause terminal output. ctrl-q resumes terminal output.
  stty reveals terminal special characters
  shell-session
  
  $ stty -a ⁝ intr = ^C; quit = ^\; erase = ^?; kill = ^U; eof = ^D; eol = <undef>; eol2 = <undef>; swtch = <undef>; start = ^Q; stop = ^S; susp = ^Z; rprnt = ^R; werase = ^W; lnext = ^V; discard = ^O; … ⁝
  These special characters/keys often perform special functions. To illustrate
  ctrl-d on empty input typically exits/logs out of interactive terminal applications (including shells)
  ctrl-u discards input (useful for inputs like password prompts that don't echo input back)
  ctrl-v inputs next character literally (such as tab)
  
  Just checking, because I learnt to type before I worked this out, and because surely someone reading doesn't know: press tab. Bash will fill in file names from your current directory.
  E.g. say you have files fred1file, fred2file, jim.
  Type f then press tab, it will fill to "fred". Then press 2 and press tab again and it will fill the full "fred2file".
  Have a play, it works in heaps of situations.
  
  Use mcfly and it will be even better.
  
  Same.
- I'm not going to say how long I used linux before learning this. It isn't "this many days old", but it may as well be.
  I have 7 headless linux boxes running.
  
  Wait till you learn about !?.
  ^r is superior, though.
  
  Hey! I've seen you before! You're the unhinged jackass noticer!
  ...i looked in your comment history for too long to figure out why though. https://lemmy.world/comment/18001123
- This but with FZF and ag
- https://atuin.sh/ Does all that and a lot more, like showing if the command succeeded and which directory it was run in
- Even quicker with zsh or atuin: write the first few letters then arrow up to cycle through all matches
  
  Even quicker with fish: Write the first few letters then it auto-suggests the last-run command matching that prefix (and then you can still arrow up to cycle through all matches).
  (There is also a zsh plugin for that, called zsh-autosuggestions.)
  
  I main ZSH and I've been CTRL+R'ing for years damn here I am a fool
- This is what I love about Linux - always learning new things!
- I like to imagine someone added it in for their own personal use and told nobody because surely they are the only one.
  
  It was publicized as part of readline, I think.
  ...in like 1989.
- gnu readline
- I'm shocked how far I had to scroll down before it was mentioned, I was getting scared I would have to say it lol

https://www.commitstrip.com/en/2017/02/28/definitely-not-lazy/
- I love this one but is the gif moving at 0.5 frames a second or is it just me
  
  For me, it looks normal (about 8 frames a second, probably).
  
  Normal for me. Thanks for pointing out it was a gif. I never realize they're gifs because I have to "open in external" for them to actually move.
  
  It works fine for me if I click on it but the embedded one is stuttering.

I used to be like this but people seriously. CTRL+R
Do it. Don't make this one of those things you've heard about and just never got around to trying. Open your terminal right now and CTRL+R and type any part of the command you did before. If the command you want is not showing first just hit CTRL+R again to go to the next one back.
DO IT.
Edit: I did learn from this thread today though that ZSH has it set to where you can just type part of what you're looking for then hit up to do the same thing. Neat!
- Holy shit. I just tried it. ctrl+r is a revelation! How the fuck did I not know about this?
- WHAT THE FUCJ IS THIS SORCERY BRO I'VE BEEN USING LINUX FOR AGES AND NEVER KNEW THIS BROOOOOOOOOO
- You can empower Ctrl+r event more by using fzf. After I started using it, I can't imagine going back to without it.
- If you want to level up ctrl-r, upgrade to Atuin: https://atuin.sh/
- Edit: I did learn from this thread today though that ZSH has it set to where you can just type part of what you’re looking for then hit up to do the same thing. Neat!
  Fish too, it's fantastic.
- CTRL+R + FZF is the goat. You just need to vaguely remember the command and you'll find it.
  
  This changed my life when I discovered it. Also using ag as alternative to ack.
  FZF Vim plugin is also gold!

Ctrl r
- Almost, ctrl+R, ⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️
- The worst is when you remember doing something before, but don't remember enough details to be able to effectively search for it.
  Although, even then, I'm not going to just mindlessly hit "up". Last time it happened I fed my command history through grep and removed all the things that I knew the command wasn't. Just removing "ls" and "cd" from your history cuts the number of commands down by 80% or something.
  
  Check out the fzf shell bindings. Reverse history search with fuzzy matching is one of the features.

What, and type 'ls' again?

Ctrl + R and start typing the command, it'll come up, press enter. Im just more lazy because I know there are still faster ways.
Edit: instead of hitting enter, keep pressing ctrl + R to cycle through history commands that contain what you typed in
- Oh my freaking god thank you
- Note: if the above isn’t working, you may need to first set your shell to accept emacs commands:
  undefined
  
  set -o emacs

Pretty much, yeah.
Rather than jot down in a text file the various ffmpeg commands I use frequently...
bash

Raktajino@laptop:~/Downloads$ history | grep ffmpeg 12 sudo apt install audacity gimp ffmpeg mplayer 184 history | grep ffmpeg 215 ffmpeg -i source.mkv -ss 629 -t 7 out.mkv 217 ffmpeg -i out.mkv -s 0.5 -vf scale=1280:720 out.mp4 218 ffmpeg -i out.mkv -ss 0.5 -vf scale=1280:720 out.mp4 231 ffmpeg -i out.mp4 -vf "subtitles=out.srt" final.mp4 503 ffmpeg -i toofat.wav toofat.mp3 ... 682 history | grep ffmpeg 684 ffmpeg -i 1.gif -i 2.gif -filter_complex "[1:0] [2:0] concat=n=2" out.gif 685 ffmpeg -i 1.gif -i 2.gif -filter_complex "[1:0] [2:0] concat=n=2:v=1" out.gif 686 ffmpeg -i 1.gif -i 2.gif -filter_complex "[1:0] [2:0] concat=n=2:v=1" -map '[v]' out.gif 687 history | grep ffmpeg 688 ffmpeg -i 1.gif -i 2.gif -filter_complex "[0:0] 12:0] concat=n=2:v=1" -map '[v]' out.gif 689 ffmpeg -i 1.gif -i 2.gif -filter_complex "[0:0] 1:0] concat=n=2:v=1" -map '[v]' out.gif 690 ffmpeg -i 1.gif -i 2.gif -filter_complex "[0:0] [1:0] concat=n=2:v=1" -map '[v]' out.gif 691 ffmpeg -i 1.gif -i 2.gif -filter_complex "[0:0] [1:0] concat=n=2" out.gif 694 history | grep ffmpeg
- I like how 'history | grep ffmpeg' shows up twice
  
  I like how I was courageous enough to not fix the actual typos/failed commands in the actual history lol.
  
  4 times
- wao
- I'm begging you to use CTRL+R
  
  If you have a fzf or other plugin installed, great. the vanilla Ctrl R is kinda mid in most shells IMO
- You're gonna love once you start
  tagging your ffmpeg commands like do a thing # dothingname
  Just !?dothingname later to recall it and run it.
  Its a little easier to NOT accidentally !?alt and discover halt is matched first.
- You can also create aliases for frequently used commands. You can even put a function in an alias so it can accept arguments, but it would probably be better to just write a shell script at that point.

More like ⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️ mother fucker ⬇️
- ⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️
  CTL+C
  history
  history | less
  ⬆️⬆️⬆️
  Pg-up
  ...
  Pg-up
  ...
  q
  ! 2648

I just mapped page-up to search (and you can too)
- But, why? Ctrl-R is right there.

history | grep ‘part of the command I remember’
- Ha... That as if I would ever remember the part of the tool instead of the fact what it did 🤣
- Also: Ctrl+r then type the part of the command you remember.
- Everytime I use ffmpeg...

history | grep [the thing]
- CTRL+R [the thing]
  please i beg you
  
  with grep I see all the alternatives, Ctl+R just shows me one
- https://atuin.sh/
- Ppsshh. Not lazy enough. Create that in a script and call it "hgrep" and drop it into path.
  
  Why not just use an alias?
  
  Brilliant
- i was doing cat ~/.bash_history | grep thing which is stupid so i started doing grep "thing" ~/.bash_history
  now you're telling me i should do history | grep thing
  i can't win
  
  Some would call the former command cat abuse.
  In short, unless you want the contents of a file printed to stdout (or multiple files concatenated), the command can probably be written without cat, instead using the filename as an argument (grep pattern file) or IO redirection (cmd < file).
  Stylistics and readability are another thing though.
- Exactly! Now copy paste it into Joplin where you'll never see it ever again.

history | grep thethingyou'relookingfor
- Blasphemy

history | grep then !cmd_number

zsh-history-substring-search
I lazily type part of the thing I want like "sys" and then ctrl+⬆️/⬇️ and sudo systemctl start libvirtd etc. appear like magic.

Fuck that hits so hard.
- Care to explain to an uninitiated?
  
  Every time you hit the up arrow, it shows the previous command you used in the terminal.
  So hitting the arrow once gives your last used, hitting it twice gives your second to last command, and so on.

You're in vim, you forgot to sudo, the file is read only and you have loads of changed you don't feel like saving off to /tmp and playing the copy file shell game.
[esc]:w !sudo tee %
it shoves the current buffer through tee (termina adapter) with sudo privs vim will warn you that the file changed, just [esc]:q! and don't let it save, you already saved it.
- I don't see how this is relevant but thanks for the tip.
  
  I offered one for !ssh, then noticed people were giving other obscure tips so i offered this one.

just use atuin.
- ese lo tengo, es muy bueno
- Atuin is so good, especially with multiple machines. I just would love more comp. time options to disable the dot dotfiles feature etc.

!ssh
run the last command that started with ssh
- I... Well... Thank you !
  
  It's as amazing as it is dangerous :) use with care!

I see everyone posting about Ctrl+R, here's a couple more useful CLI shortcuts you might enjoy:
cd - (change directory to $OLDPWD usually the previous directory)
git checkout - (similarly checkout the previous branch)
Ctrl+A (return caret to beginning of command, great when you forgot a positional argument and you were almost done typing the command)
Ctrl+E (similar to Ctrl+A but move to the end of the command)
- Ctrl+A, Ctrl+E
  Many more basic Emacs keybindings work, actually! Including C-f, C-b, C-p and C-n (if you prefer them over arrow keys) as well as M-f and M-b to move by words, C-k, M-d and C-y for killing/yanking (but not M-w) and C-SPC, C-w, C-x C-x for region manipulation (tested in Bash and ZSH)
- Ctrl+L to clear the terminal screen, instead of typing clear
  
  Not super into that since I've found all it does (at least in zsh) is print a bunch of blank lines
  
  Also Ctrl-u to clear the command line.

https://junegunn.github.io/fzf/shell-integration/
fzf is a nice tool for this and other things

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Report reason: ⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️"There it is" I'm in this picture and I don't like it

Everyone sharing their Ctrl+R tips, here's my Control+R question:
How does scope work? Some command history only seems to exist in certain tabs.
Also sometimes I Ctrl+R in a tab then the command is there but I forget I need a different one first, so I ctrl+c but the next time I search for that original command somehow it doesn't exist anymore.
I'm using the default terminal on Nobara (fedora based).
- As far as I remember, there is a bash setting that controls whether the command history is written immediately after execution (in which case it is immediately available on all tabs/windows of the console) or after closing the session (in which case it will be available next time/potentially lost if the window is forcibly closed etc).
  The default is the second one as far as I remember.
  That said, I had changed to a more powerful one in zsh years ago, so it's been a while...
  
  Thanks, I worked it out. Not a setting as such, but you can use PROMPT_COMMAND to run an action to insert into history each time a prompt is run, as described here.
  Though I have started down a rabbit hole of looking at other options for the shell.
- This actually doesn't depend on your terminal but on the shell running inside it. Bash is the default on most distros. I have also frequently had this issue. There might be config to fix it.
  I switched to fish instead of bash, and now I use fzf and the https://github.com/PatrickF1/fzf.fish plugin and it works GREAT. There might be a similar thing for bash, I don't know.
  
  That looks awesome! Thanks for the rabbit hole 😅

set -o vi
ESC k /command
or just grep history...

history 500 | grep snippet of command

Or just use fish shell. Rarely need ctrl+r anymore.
- I'm familiar with fish shell, but what specifically makes you like it?
  
  Context-based autocomplete is the main selling point for me.
  
  fellow fish user, I just like its autocomplete and how I can just type 'help' and an interactive HTML page opens up where I can look stuff, and fish_config does the same except with settings and themes

Why are you making personal attacks against me.

Ah crap how did I set my battery charge interval again?
history | grep battery
history | grep bios
history | grep sudo smbios
Ah! There you are you little shit!
edit to add: Actually, I think the last time I did this I remembered some numbers I set it to before. So it worked well with something like "history | grep 75" even though there were a bunch of results.

History | grep wtf was that command again?
- Someone else said that some comments up.
  The reply was "use ctrl+r." And I just tested it.
  Game changer. I learned today and so now I pass it on.

It's too early to call me out like that.

Set -o vi

I type the first few letters and use up arrow, or !start of command name
- Doesn't work on half the machines I use,and I am too lazy to find the setting/plugin to make it work.
  
  undefined
  
  $ cat .inputrc $include /etc/inputrc "\e[A": history-search-backward "\e[B": history-search-forward
  
  Dude, that's vanilla bash.

Atuin Magic Shell History is pretty good.

Nah just save all your commands in a text file on the desktop then make an alias to open it in nano so you just have to type "com". Works for dumb ol me
- Why not just make the alias command cat the file instead?
  Edit: I wrote grep instead of cat
  
  I'll look into that

This is why I use fish, it's weird and not posix compliant, but its autocomplete and history stuff saves so much time it's worth it

Me, playing indie games on Apple and doing the same with xattr -d com.apple.quarantine filepath
yes

Guilty!

Your readline config sucks because the default sucks.
Add this to your .inputrc:
undefined

"\e[A": history-search-backward "\e[B": history-search-forward

god I fucking love Linux (not a Linux thing) but I still fucking love Linux

I mean that's what it's there for

I see so many people loving on atuin in the comments but I just tried it and don't get it. It seems so much worse than the built in search. I guess it's not for me.
- I've been using it for a few months, and so far it's not as good as just regular old command history. I think any benefit might be for really, really old commands, or commands happening in a specific location. So, I'm going to keep using it to see if it helps then. But, so far it's a massive downgrade.

I thought command line users like typing things. I avoid typing where possible, and dont use the command line on Linux.
- For a while I was using a VPN where the connections we all via command line. I loved it, because once you type it, it's just up up up to find that location again and swap around.
  Now I have to use the mouse and click like a damn fool!
  
  I work as a software developer. My team mate once said he was a "mouse and click kinda guy" when asked why he didn't use the terminal for git.
- Part of the reason for a command line is being able to reproduce commands exactly. Going back through the command history is an important part of that.
  
  A GUI with good usability can let you repeat commands exactly if required. They use last used values as default. If people in needed that often we'd see more of it in GUI apps. There is often more useful functionality that get prioritised though.
- In my first professional programming job writing custom software for clients in 1995, one of our standard sales pitches to clients was the idea that a GUI-based application would do away with the need for command prompts. This was always met with applause and great rejoicing. It's kind of remarkable that command prompts are still going strong thirty years later. I'm sure nobody would appreciate having this phenomenon compared to the Amish so I won't do it. But I think it's pretty cool that the Amish are still around doing their thing.
  
  GUI is great, unless you want to automate something.. Then you either want a CLI or API
  
  People do not just point and nod. Using words and not just guestures makes life easier in many, but not all situations.
  
  A GUI makes sense if you want things to be approachable. A CLI makes sense, if you want things to be well customizable.
  E.g. compare LaTeX script with setting formatting in an office program. Yes i see directly how the formatting is. And if a good Formatting standard is set, it can be used quite well nowadays. But if just want to put one Paragraph differently in order to fit a picture or table or something then things quickly get messy.

.. And waste an opportunity to type on my ludicrously expensive mechanical keyboard?
FRIG no

And then the command is just "su"

Basado
- No es común ver hispanohablantes en Lemmy, ¿de qué país eres?
  
  De Venezuela, no viene mal q empiecen a llegar contenido en español

You know the one command I hate? CTL vs CTRL. There is no damned consistency I can see. Is it systemctl reboot or systemctrl reboot?
- i've literally never seen 'systemctrl'? it's always ctl for the command-line utilities

grep -i "whatever" .bash_history
- you really should just ctrl + r and type and then ctrl + r to goto the next one back.
  
  Huh. I didn't know that one. It's much more practical. Thanks for teaching me something today.

Ctrl + p is the way.

If I haven't ran it in a while or I don't know it by heart then I 'nano /home/mehblah/.bash_history'
- I do history | grep keyword.
  
  I forget that exist. One problem with being really old school on linux is you don't adopt new ways unless there is a reason to do so.

Alabado sea El Omnissiah.
- Que paso que hay tanto comentario en Castellano? Pensé que eramos pocos los hispanohablantes
  
  Hermano, nací en Estados Unidos. A pesar de que se dice que los estadounidenses solo sabemos inglés (y mis padres son de la India), saber hablar un poco de español es bastante útil.
  Además, el OP publicó en castellano. Por lo tanto, me pareció pertinente y cortés comentar al respecto.

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