One thing i miss from the Linux shell is the Alt+Dot shortcut. What it does is insert the last argument of the previous command. It appears to be a trivial technique, but it's really useful.
i.e. if you type this:
$ ls /Applications/MAMP/conf/apache/The next time you just have to type a command + shortcut and the argument will be completed for you.
$ cd 'alt+dot'On Mac i know 2 alternatives; pressing Esc+Dot or typing !$, !* with the magic space setup.
However while both alternatives do insert the last argument(s) you've used, they can't scroll back in command history like typing Alt+Dot repeatedly does.
I can live with this options for now, but i'd love to know if someone knows a better way to do it.
6 Answers
You can press Escape+. many times, it does the same thing as Alt+..
But, like you, I find it more cumbersome to type than Alt+..
In Terminal.app, Preferences->Settings, select the Keyboard tab. Ensure "Use Option Key as Meta" is checked.
3Use option+.
Note that this is a feature of bash and not linux. Macs have bash on them as well. Alt-. is the shortcut for a builtin bash function insert-last-argument. Read the READLINE section of the bash man page for how you can bind this to a different key combination.
Pasting a few relevant parts:
Readline Initialization Readline is customized by putting commands in an initialization file (the inputrc file). The default key-bindings may be changed with an inputrc file. Other pro- grams that use this library may add their own commands and bindings. For example, placing M-Control-u: universal-argument or C-Meta-u: universal-argument into the inputrc would make M-C-u execute the readline command univer- sal-argument. Readline Key Bindings The syntax for controlling key bindings in the inputrc file is simple. All that is required is the name of the command or the text of a macro and a key sequence to which it should be bound. The name may be specified in one of two ways: as a symbolic key name, possibly with Meta- or Control- prefixes, or as a key sequence. When using the form keyname:function-name or macro, keyname is the name of a key spelled out in English. For example: Control-u: universal-argument Meta-Rubout: backward-kill-word Control-o: "> output" In the above example, C-u is bound to the function universal-argument, M-DEL is bound to the function backward-kill-word, and C-o is bound to run the macro expressed on the right hand side (that is, to insert the text ``> output'' into the line). In the second form, "keyseq":function-name or macro, keyseq differs from keyname above in that strings denoting an entire key sequence may be spec- ified by placing the sequence within double quotes. Some GNU Emacs style key escapes can be used, as in the following example, but the symbolic character names are not recognized. "\C-u": universal-argument "\C-x\C-r": re-read-init-file "\e[11~": "Function Key 1" Commands for Manipulating the History insert-last-argument (M-., M-_) A synonym for yank-last-arg.1If you open Terminal.app and enter preferences, and go to Settings > Keyboard and check “Use option as meta key”, you can use the bash shortcuts that use alt, for example:
Alt+B: Skip word backwards
Alt+F: Skip word forwards
If you're using iTerm2, do the following:
- Select Preferences -> Profiles -> (select the currently active profile, or Default) -> Keys
- Under the Key Mappings menu press the small '+' button
- Click on Keyboard Shortcut
- Press Option+. (or whatever other key combination you want to use as your Alt+Dot)
- In Action select Send Hex Code
- In the small text field that appears underneath type:
0x1b 0x2e - Press the OK button to create the new key mapping
- Enjoy ;-)
In my preferred terminal (iTerm2) there is an option on the Preferences dialog's Profiles tab in the Keys sub tab to set one or both Option keys to "Esc+"
Setting the option to Meta did not give me the expected result but setting it to Esc+ gave me the exact behavior I expect. Hold the left option key and press period as many times as I need to to get the text I want from my history!
