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Aliases and the Bang Operator

There are a number of shortcuts available to make your UNIX time more productive. Aliases allow you to create a command that executes another command, or set of commands, that you frequently type. For example, you could create the m command which types more for you. So now to view files you would type m filename as opposed to more filename. This saves a few keystrokes. There may be other situations in which you want to specify new commands that you are used to in another environment, for example, replacing cp with copy as in the DOS environment. To create an alias, type alias new_command old_command. It is a good idea to store your aliases is in your .cshrc file.

 

            alias                                        List defined aliases.

            alias dir ls -F                          Define the alias dir as the command ls -F.

            alias del rm                            Define the alias del as the command rm.

            alias copy cp                          Define the alias copy as the command cp.

 

Another useful shortcut is the bang operator (!) or exclamation point. You can use this special character to retype a line or portion of a line that you have previously typed either just before this command line or further back in the history of your work in UNIX. You can use the history command to list the last 20 or so commands that you have recently typed with a historical number next to each command.

 

Typing !! it repeats the last command you entered. If you type !num it will repeat the num-th command in your history. Also, using the !num command, you can specify a negative number which will retype the command num commands before the present one. !char looks for the last command starting with that character and retypes it. You may include more than one character to narrow down the search. Lastly, you may specify portions of a command to repeat. !:num will repeat the num-th parameter on the last command line. To repeat all of the parameters except the first you use !:*. Some examples follow:

 

            echo a b c d e f                      Display the characters a b c d e f.

            !!                                              Repeat the previous command ( echo a b c d e f ).

            clear                                        Clear the screen.

            echo !:4                                   Display the character d.

            echo a b c d e f                      Display the characters a b c d e f.

            echo !:*                                   Display the characters a b c d e f (all of the

                                                            parameters of the previous command).

            history                                                Display all of the commands starting with the first echo.

            !c                                             Repeat the clear screen command.

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