Handy command-line aliases and tricks

[simplyw00x]

does it not need to be `funtion today ()`?

[sublimeprogie]

ok, i put in the altered code that was suggested earlier by mssever and it worked, apparently somehow my mouse wheel pastes when it clicks so i had a bunch of random stuff throughout my .bashrc file. i have it to where it will work now, but there is still something that pops up when i open the terminal

bash: [: /etc/bash_complittle: binary operator expected

i dont know if it is important or not, but it didnt use to show up so i thought i would throw it out there to you guys. thanks again for all the help

[johan.t]

Well, I have some tricks here in my .bash_aliases. Hope someone can find them useful.

alias +alias='echo alias $1 >> ~/.bash_aliases'
alias aliases='cat -n ~/.bash_aliases'
alias bash-reload='. ~/.bashrc'
alias bash-aliases='gedit ~/.bash_aliases'


alias apti='sudo aptitude install'
alias aptr='sudo aptitude remove'
alias apts='aptitude search'
alias update='sudo aptitude update'
alias upgrade='sudo aptitude upgrade'
alias dist-upgrade='sudo aptitude dist-upgrade'

alias ..='cd ..'
alias ...='cd ../..'
alias ....='cd ../../..'
alias xx='exit'
alias cc='clear'
alias ccd='cd ~/ && clear'
alias mp3='cd ~/musik'

alias fcc='/opt/firstclass/fcc &'
alias bt='btdownloadgui &'
alias irc='Eterm --trans -x --shade=0 --scrollbar=0 --buttonbar=0 --geometry=75x30+850+750 -e irssi -c chat.freenode.net --nick=nahoj'

alias forum='firefox http://ubuntu-se.org/forum &'
alias mail='firefox http://gmail.com &'
alias google='firefox http://google.com/linux &'

alias anthony='mocp -c && mocp -a -p ~/musik/anthony_and_the_johnsons/'
alias imabird='mocp -c && mocp -a -p ~/musik/anthony_and_the_johnsons/i_am_a_bird_now/'
alias rhcp='mocp -c && mocp -a -p ~/musik/red_hot_chili_peppers/'
alias soad='mocp -c && mocp -a -p ~/musik/system_of_a_down/'
alias madonna='mocp -c && mocp -a -p ~/musik/madonna/'
alias arctic='mocp -c && mocp -a -p ~/musik/arctic_monkeys/'
alias muse='mocp -c && mocp -a -p ~/musik/muse/'
alias tot='mocp -c && mocp -a -p ~/musik/theatre_of_tradgedy/'
alias killers='mocp -c && mocp -a -p ~/musik/the_killers/'
alias queen='mocp -c && mocp -a -p ~/musik/queen/'
alias creed='mocp -c && mocp -a -p ~/musik/Creed/'
alias hellacopters='mocp -c && mocp -a -p ~/musik/the_hellacopters/'
alias u2='mocp -c && mocp -a -p ~/musik/U2/'
alias wolfmother='mocp -c && mocp -a -p ~/musik/wolfmother/'

alias forw='mocp -f'
alias prev='mocp -r'

alias sources='gksudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list &'

[Dangling]

One trick I find very useful is setting cdpath. Basically if there are folders that you access regularly, you can easily access those directories without typing the entire path.

For example: I keep my music on my external hard drive. If I wanted to access the folder 'The roots', ordinarily the path would be :

cd /media/usbdisk/Music/The_roots

To make it easy for me, I set my external hard drive in the cdpath in my .bash_profile and .bashrc :

CDPATH=".:~:/media/usbdisk/Music"

So when you type cd <some folder>, it first checks the current directory (.) for <some folder>, then my home directory (~) , then finally the music directory on my external hard drive (/media/usbdisk/Music).

As a result I can directly access my 'The_roots' folder anywhere by typing:

cd The_roots

Some people like to use aliases to define frequent folders. But I like this method more because I don't have to update the alias list if I add new folders. Also always add the "." in the beginning of the cdpath or else it won't check the present directory for the folder.

For more info and tips:
http://www.caliban.org/bash/

[bodhi.zazen]

Here is my "short list"

Propmt:

For users add the color of your choice:
PS1='\[\033[01;32m\]\u@\h\[\033[00m\]:\[\033[01;34m\]\w\[\033[00m\]\$' #Green

PS1='\[\033[01;34m\]\u@\h\[\033[00m\]:\[\033[01;34m\]\w\[\033[00m\]\$' #Blue

For root add this to /root/.bashrc
PS1='\[\033[01;31m\]\u@\h\[\033[00m\]:\[\033[01;34m\]\w\[\033[00m\]\$' #Red

Now if you sudo su you will have a red prompt to remind you that you are ROOT.

command history:

alias hist='history | grep $1' #Requires one input

Now: hist <command> will return something like this

502 <command>

Just type !502 at the prompt and the command will be repeated.

colorize grep:

alias g="grep --color=always"
alias gi="grep -i --color=always"

Note:grep -i = ignore case

Archive:

# Extract files from any archive
# Usage: ex <archive_name>

ex () {
if [ -f $1 ] ; then
case $1 in
*.tar.bz2) tar xjf $1 ;;
*.tar.gz) tar xzf $1 ;;
*.bz2) bunzip2 $1 ;;
*.rar) rar x $1 ;;
*.gz) gunzip $1 ;;
*.tar) tar xf $1 ;;
*.tbz2) tar xjf $1 ;;
*.tgz) tar xzf $1 ;;
*.zip) unzip $1 ;;
*.Z) uncompress $1 ;;
*.7z) 7z x $1 ;;
*) echo "'$1' cannot be extracted via extract()" ;;
esac
else
echo "'$1' is not a valid file"
fi
}

# Thanks to rezza at Arch Linux

Mount usb:

alias usb='sudo mount LABEL=USB /mnt/USB/ -o uid=1000,gid=100,umask=007'

You can now mount the device, with or without an entry in fstab, by typing:

usb

Note: To determine the label of a device, with the device connected to the usb port

ls /dev/disk/by-label

No clobber:

set -o noclobber #Prevents redirection of output from overwriting an existing file

Use >> rather then > to re-direct

> overwrites the file.
>> Adds to the end of the file.

Note: To override use >|

ie echo new_txt >| <dest_file>

[skymt]

I have a good 34 aliases defined (ZSH):

..='cd ..'
...='cd ../..'
....='cd ../../..'
:en='2> /dev/null'
:g='| grep'
:l='| less'
:n='&> /dev/null'
:sl='| sort | less'
:sn='1> /dev/null'
apt='sudo aptitude'
apti='sudo aptitude install'
aptr='sudo aptitude remove'
aptu='sudo aptitude update && sudo aptitude upgrade'
du='du -h'
dv='setxkbmap us dvorak'
grep=egrep
la='ls -a'
ll='ls -l'
ls='ls --color=auto'
lsa='ls -ld .*'
lsbig='ls -lSh *(.) | head'
lsd='ls -ld *(-/DN)'
lsnew='ls -lrt *(.) | tail'
lsold='ls -lrt *(.) | head'
lssmall='ls -lSh *(.) | head'
mmv='noglob zmv -W'
open=gnome-open
qw='setxkbmap us'
rc='sudo invoke-rc.d'
ri='noglob ri'
tarbc='tar --bzip2 -cvf'
targc='tar -czvf'
tarx='tar -xvf'
which-command=whence

The ones that start with ":" are global aliases, which means I can use them anywhere in a command. For example, to list the files in the zsh package, sort alphabetically, and view in less:

dpkg -L zsh :sl

If you want me to explain any of these, just ask.

[Roderik]

this is a great thread! Maybe someone can help me witht he following, i used to have a little script, aliassed as "vim" that would try to open the file with vim, but if it was readonly use "sudo vim". Unfortunatly i list this script somewhere aling the line and have never been able to find it again.

[skymt]

this is a great thread! Maybe someone can help me witht he following, i used to have a little script, aliassed as "vim" that would try to open the file with vim, but if it was readonly use "sudo vim". Unfortunatly i list this script somewhere aling the line and have never been able to find it again.

#!/bin/bash
if [ -w $1 ] ; then
    vim $1
else
    sudo vim $1
fi

[Roderik]

THX! you made my day!

[fvu]

Keystrokes can be saved by using shortcuts for changing directories back AND supplying an additional argument: the directory to go forth from there.

It is like making a U-turn:

.. [dir] = cd ../[dir]
... [dir] = cd ../../[dir]
.... [dir] = cd ../../../[dir]
..... [dir] = cd ../../../../[dir]
...... [dir] = cd ../../../../../[dir]
....... [dir] = cd ../../../../../../[dir]
........ [dir] = cd ../../../../../../../[dir]

The directory-argument can be TAB-completed!

Include the script underneath in your ~/.bashrc with the command: source cdots.sh

#!/bin/bash
# --- cdots.sh -------------------------------------------------------
# Change directory back - 1-7 times - and forth with TAB-completion.
# Copyright (C) 2006  Freddy Vulto
# Version: 1.0.8
# Usage: ..[.[.[.[.[.[.]]]]]] [dir]
#
# Arguments: [dir]   Directory to go forth - down the directory tree
#
# Example:   $/usr/share> .. local/share/   # .. lo[TAB]/sh[TAB])
#            $/usr/local/share>  
#
# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
# the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option)
# any later version.
#
# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
# GNU General Public License for more details.
#
# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
# along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software 
# Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, 
# MA  02110-1301, USA
#
# The latest version of this software can be obtained here:
# http://www.fvue.nl/cdots/


CDOTS_DEPTH=7


#--- _cdots() --------------------------------------------------------
# TAB completion for the .. ... .... etc commands
# @see cdots()
_cdots() {
        # ':2' = Ignore two dots at pos 0, $'\012' = newline (\n)
    local dots=${COMP_WORDS[COMP_CWORD-1]:2} IFS=$'\012' i j k=0
    local dir=${dots//./..\/}../  # Replace . with ../
    for j in $(compgen -d -- "$dir${COMP_WORDS[COMP_CWORD]}"); do
            #  If j not dir in current dir, append extra slash '/'
            #  NOTE: If j is also dir in current dir, 'complete -o 
            #+       filenames' automatically appends slash '/'
        [ ! -d ${j#$dir} ] && j="$j/"
        COMPREPLY[k++]="${j#$dir}"
    done
} # _cdots()


#--- cdots() ---------------------------------------------------------
# Change directory to specified directories back, and forth
# @param $1 string   Directory back
# @param $2 string   Directory forth
# @see _cdots() for TAB-completion
function cdots() {
    cd "$1$2"
} # cdots()


    # Define aliases .. ... .... etc
    # NOTE: Functions are not defined directly as .. ... .... etc, 
    #       because these are not valid identifiers under `POSIX'
cdotsAlias=.; cdotsAliases=; cdotsDir=
for ((i = 1; i <= $CDOTS_DEPTH; i++)); do
    cdotsAlias=$cdotsAlias.; cdotsDir=$cdotsDir../
    alias $cdotsAlias="cdots $cdotsDir"
    cdotsAliases="$cdotsAliases $cdotsAlias"
done
    # Set completion of aliases .. ... .... etc to _cdots()
    # -o filenames: Escapes whitespace
complete -o filenames -o nospace -F _cdots $cdotsAliases
unset -v CDOTS_DEPTH cdotsAlias cdotsAliases cdotsDir i

See also:
http://www.fvue.nl/cdots/

Freddy Vulto