I'm a Windows user with the Git Bash shell as my daily-driver. I'm curious how the __git_ps1 function updates the prompt every time you change a directory. It's really the only example of updating the bash prompt on the fly that I've seen. I want to leverage this behavior in my own function to add a display on my prompt if I have an RDP session open.
tldr: Any ideas on how the __git_ps1 function evaluates the bash prompt on the fly????
So here is my simple function to see if the RDP client is running
function __rdp_ps1() {
local MATCH=
if tasklist | grep --quiet mstsc; then
MATCH="\e[41mRDP\e[0m"
fi
echo "$MATCH"
}
So the idea is I want to display RDP with a red background, and I want my shell to evaluate this on the fly the same way __git__ps1 is seemingly able to.
What I've investigated (without real success) so far
/etc/profile.d/git-prompt.sh
This block seems to create the PS1 my shell is using
PS1='\[\033]0;$TITLEPREFIX:$PWD\007\]' # set window title
PS1="$PS1"'\n' # new line
PS1="$PS1"'\[\033[32m\]' # change to green
PS1="$PS1"'\u#\h ' # user#host<space>
PS1="$PS1"'\[\033[35m\]' # change to purple
PS1="$PS1"'$MSYSTEM ' # show MSYSTEM
PS1="$PS1"'\[\033[33m\]' # change to brownish yellow
PS1="$PS1"'\w' # current working directory
if test -z "$WINELOADERNOEXEC"
then
GIT_EXEC_PATH="$(git --exec-path 2>/dev/null)"
COMPLETION_PATH="${GIT_EXEC_PATH%/libexec/git-core}"
COMPLETION_PATH="${COMPLETION_PATH%/lib/git-core}"
COMPLETION_PATH="$COMPLETION_PATH/share/git/completion"
if test -f "$COMPLETION_PATH/git-prompt.sh"
then
. "$COMPLETION_PATH/git-completion.bash"
. "$COMPLETION_PATH/git-prompt.sh"
PS1="$PS1"'\[\033[36m\]' # change color to cyan
# tried hamjamming PS1="$PS1 `__rdp_ps1`" here, it only works on login
PS1="$PS1"'`__git_ps1`' # bash function
fi
fi
PS1="$PS1"'\[\033[0m\]' # change color
PS1="$PS1"'\n' # new line
PS1="$PS1"'$ ' # prompt: always $
So I went to see where this file was being sourced to see if that could lead to the answer
/etc/bash.bashrc
Last line held the gold
# Fixup git-bash in non login env
shopt -q login_shell || . /etc/profile.d/git-prompt.sh`
So I evaluated shopt login_shell and it's always on, but I don't really know what that means because the comment leads me to believe that when login env is off, the prompt script will be evaluated
Any ideas???
Your problem might be that you define your $PS1 with double quotes, which bash interprets when executing. Which means that __rdp_ps1 is ran when $PS1 is defined.
In your .bashrc, try replacing the definition with:
PS1='$PS1 `__rdp_ps1`' # Note the single quote.
I have a similar feature on my PS1 (but to display the number of jobs in the background), here is the full version (available here: https://github.com/padawin/dotfiles/blob/master/.bashrc#L70):
function j(){
jobs | wc -l | egrep -v ^0 | sed -r 's/^([0-9]+)/ (\1)/'
}
PROMPT_COMMAND=__prompt_command # Func to gen PS1 after CMDs
__prompt_command() {
local EXIT="$?" # This needs to be first
PS1="$(virtual_env_name)"
local RCol='\[\e[0m\]'
local Red='\e[0;31m'
local Gre='\e[0;32m'
local Blu='\e[1;34m'
PS1+="${Gre}\u#\h$(j)${RCol}: ${Red}\w${Blu}$(__git_ps1)"
if [ $EXIT != 0 ]; then
PS1+="$Red \342\234\226 (${EXIT})"
else
PS1+="$Gre \342\234\224"
fi
PS1+="$RCol\n> "
}
Which can be simplified as the following in .bashrc:
function j(){
jobs | wc -l | egrep -v ^0 | sed -r 's/^([0-9]+)/ (\1)/'
}
PS1='\u$(j) > ' # Note the single quote here
Which behaves as follow:
padawin > vim
[1]+ Stopped vim
padawin (1) > fg
vim
padawin >
Not directly a solution but this might help: if you want to know where the __git_ps1 function lives locally on your filesystem so you can experiment with making edits, you can do
grep -r __git_ps1 /
which searches for the string '__git_ps1' across the file contents of git bash's entire filesystem (where / is actually C:\Program Files\Git or wherever you have it installed).
For me, it was at /mingw64/share/git/completion/git-prompt.sh
My use case was removing the parenthesis from the branch name, which I did by changing this line:
local printf_format=' (%s)'
in the __git_ps1 () function
What you are looking for is PROMPT_COMMAND. Bash will execute whatever is in there before displaying a prompt. If your PS1 is being updated on-the-fly, you probably already have a PROMPT_COMMAND.
impossible to find an answer to that:
i would like to create a log history of my command line automatically without having to do anything.
For that i found some clues, i modified my .bash_profile
but i need to exclude some command that i don't want in my log like "ls, cd, etc."
this doesn't work, and i can't d
so here's my code:
# log every command typed and when
command_out=( "more" "less" "cd" "open" "ls" "pwd" "nano" "man" "help") #array of command i don't want to save in my log
my_TEST=0 ##setup a var
FIRST_COMMAND=$(echo $BASH_COMMAND| cut -d' ' -f 1) ##get only the first command
## test if the first command is in the array
for elm in "${command_out[#]}"; do
if [[ $FIRST_COMMAND == $elm ]]; then
echo $elm # does not work
$my_TEST=1 ## if the command is in the array the var is setup to 1
fi
done
if [[ $my_TEST == 0 ]] && [ -n "${BASH_VERSION}" ]; then
trap "caller >/dev/null || \
printf '%s\\n' \"\$(date '+%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S%z')\
\$(tty) \${BASH_COMMAND}\" 2>/dev/null >>~/.command_log" DEBUG
fi
if you any other ideas of how to do what i want i'm open
Thanks you
Bash automatically keeps a history of every command you type; you can use the history command to view it. If you want to exclude certain commands, rather than trying to exclude them from the log, I would skip them when viewing it, e.g. history | egrep -vw 'ls|cd|other|commands|here'.
You can set HISTTIMEFORMAT to get a timestamp with every entry, control how many commands are kept with HISTFILESIZE, and if you really want to keep some commands out instead of just not seeing them when you look, you can list them in HISTIGNORE. See https://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/html_node/Using-History-Interactively.html.
Your ~/.bash_history file should already contain your complete command history. You could use something like
cat ~/.bash_history | grep -v cd | egrep -v 'cd|ls|...'
to filter out the commands you're not interested in.
So for the list you specified:
cat ~/.bash_history | egrep -v 'more|less|cd|open|ls|pwd|nano|man|help'
I completed Mark Reed answer with what i precisely wanted. Here is my code:
# changes the .bash_history file mode to append
shopt -s histappend
#configures the history -a command to be run at each shell prompt. The -a immediately writes the current/new lines to the history file.
PROMPT_COMMAND="history -a;$PROMPT_COMMAND"
#list of command i don't want in my history
HISTIGNORE='ls*:exit:pwd:clear:cd*:man*:more*:less*:head*:tail*:nano*:open*:help*'
#set no limit to the history file size
HISTSIZE= HISTFILESIZE=
I have been trying to customise this very useful (in principle) backup to s3 script.
I really am not a shell scripter to any real level and I can't work out why this line
is truncating the variable.
so e.g.
DB=abcdefg
abcdefg_USER=testuser
USER=$(eval echo \$${DB}_USER)
The eval statement is returning bcdefg_USER so is truncating the variable and echoing out bcdefg_USER not abcdefg_USER and so isn't evaluating the variable abcdefg_USER
Running on an amazon linux ec2 instance.
Anyone explain to me what I am missing, I've tried playing around with the escaping and braces etc and echoing out each stage in the process but can't get a handle on what is going on.
Thanks
full script below:
## Specify data base schemas to backup and credentials
DATABASES="wp myotherdb"
## Syntax databasename as per above _USER and _PW
wp_USER=username
wp_PW=password
myotherdb_USER=username
myotherdb_PW=password
## Specify directories to backup (it's clever to use relaive paths)
DIRECTORIES="/var/www root etc/cron.daily etc/cron.monthly etc/apache2 etc/mysql etc/php5"
## Initialize some variables
DATE=$(date +%d)
BACKUP_DIRECTORY=/tmp/backups
S3_CMD="s3cmd"
## Specify where the backups should be placed
S3_BUCKET_URL=s3://mybackupbucket/$DATE/
## The script
cd /
mkdir -p $BACKUP_DIRECTORY
rm -rf $BACKUP_DIRECTORY/*
## Backup MySQL:s
for DB in $DATABASES
do
BACKUP_FILE=$BACKUP_DIRECTORY/${DB}.sql
USER=$(eval echo \$${DB}_USER)
PASSWORD=$(eval echo \$${DB}_PW)
/usr/bin/mysqldump -v -u $USER --password=$PASSWORD -h localhost -r $BACKUP_FILE $DB 2>&1
gzip $BACKUP_FILE 2>&1
$S3_CMD put ${BACKUP_FILE}.gz $S3_BUCKET_URL 2>&1
done
## Backup of config directories
for DIR in $DIRECTORIES
do
BACKUP_FILE=$BACKUP_DIRECTORY/$(echo $DIR | sed 's/\//-/g').tgz
tar zcvf ${BACKUP_FILE} $DIR 2>&1
$S3_CMD put ${BACKUP_FILE} $S3_BUCKET_URL 2>&1
done
Assuming that you are using bash, this is how to avoid eval:
$ DB=abcdefg
$ abcdefg_USER=testuser
$ tmpvar=${DB}_USER
$ USER=${!tmpvar}
$ echo $USER
testuser
If you have bash version 4, consider using associative arrays:
$ declare -A users
$ users[abcdefg]=testuser
$ echo "${users[$DB]}"
testuser
You're running into some weird bug involving command substitution and echo.
When using eval to access a computed variable name, it is not necessary to complicate things by involving echo wrapped in a process substitution. Try this pattern, which should work pretty much in any POSIX-like shell.
eval FINAL_VALUE=\$${COMPUTED_VAR_PREFIX}_FIXED_SUFFIX
That is to say, just generate the source code of the desired variable assignment, and eval that code.
I've got the following variable set in my cygwin $HOME/.bashrc
PATH=/bin:/usr/sbin:"/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Java/jdk1.6.0_26/bin":$PATH
Problem is that when I login and the .bashrc gets executed, I get starting duplicates as follows:
Dragos#dragos ~
$ echo $PATH | tr ':' '\n'
/bin
/usr/sbin
/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Java/jdk1.6.0_26/bin
/bin
/usr/sbin
/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Java/jdk1.6.0_26/bin
/usr/local/bin
/usr/bin
/cygdrive/c/WINDOWS
/cygdrive/c/WINDOWS/system32
/cygdrive/c/WINDOWS/System32/Wbem
/cygdrive/c/curl
/
/cygdrive/c/gnupg
/cygdrive/c/Progra~1/cvsnt
/cygdrive/c/Progra~1/GNU/WinCvs 2.0
/cygdrive/c/Progra~1/Notepad++
/cygdrive/c/Progra~1/PuTTY
/cygdrive/c/Progra~1/WinSCP
/cygdrive/c/Python26
/cygdrive/c/Python26/Lib/site-packages/PyQt4/bin
/cygdrive/c/Python26/Scripts
/usr/bin
/usr/lib/lapack
Does anyone know what causes this?
Here's my .bashrc
$ cat ~/.bashrc
# base-files version 3.7-1
# To pick up the latest recommended .bashrc content,
# look in /etc/defaults/etc/skel/.bashrc
# Modifying /etc/skel/.bashrc directly will prevent
# setup from updating it.
# The copy in your home directory (~/.bashrc) is yours, please
# feel free to customise it to create a shell
# environment to your liking. If you feel a change
# would be benificial to all, please feel free to send
# a patch to the cygwin mailing list.
# User dependent .bashrc file
# Shell Options
# #############
# See man bash for more options...
# Don't wait for job termination notification
# set -o notify
# Don't use ^D to exit
# set -o ignoreeof
# Use case-insensitive filename globbing
# shopt -s nocaseglob
# Make bash append rather than overwrite the history on disk
# shopt -s histappend
# When changing directory small typos can be ignored by bash
# for example, cd /vr/lgo/apaache would find /var/log/apache
# shopt -s cdspell
# Completion options
# ##################
# These completion tuning parameters change the default behavior of bash_completion:
# Define to access remotely checked-out files over passwordless ssh for CVS
# COMP_CVS_REMOTE=1
# Define to avoid stripping description in --option=description of './configure --help'
# COMP_CONFIGURE_HINTS=1
# Define to avoid flattening internal contents of tar files
# COMP_TAR_INTERNAL_PATHS=1
# If this shell is interactive, turn on programmable completion enhancements.
# Any completions you add in ~/.bash_completion are sourced last.
# case $- in
# *i*) [[ -f /etc/bash_completion ]] && . /etc/bash_completion ;;
# esac
# History Options
# ###############
# Don't put duplicate lines in the history.
# export HISTCONTROL="ignoredups"
# Ignore some controlling instructions
# export HISTIGNORE="[ ]*:&:bg:fg:exit"
# Whenever displaying the prompt, write the previous line to disk
# export PROMPT_COMMAND="history -a"
# Aliases
# #######
# Some example alias instructions
# If these are enabled they will be used instead of any instructions
# they may mask. For example, alias rm='rm -i' will mask the rm
# application. To override the alias instruction use a \ before, ie
# \rm will call the real rm not the alias.
# Interactive operation...
# alias rm='rm -i'
# alias cp='cp -i'
# alias mv='mv -i'
# Default to human readable figures
# alias df='df -h'
# alias du='du -h'
# Misc :)
# alias less='less -r' # raw control characters
# alias whence='type -a' # where, of a sort
# alias grep='grep --color' # show differences in colour
# Some shortcuts for different directory listings
alias ls='ls -hF --color=tty' # classify files in colour
# alias dir='ls --color=auto --format=vertical'
# alias vdir='ls --color=auto --format=long'
# alias ll='ls -l' # long list
# alias la='ls -A' # all but . and ..
# alias l='ls -CF' #
# Functions
# #########
# Some example functions
# function settitle() { echo -ne "\e]2;$#\a\e]1;$#\a"; }
# Notepad++ function
# Pass in a UNIX path
# Starts notepad++ given a UNIX path argument
function notepadpp() {
local notepadUnixPath="/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Notepad++/notepad++.exe"
#local notepadArgPath=$(eval $(echo cygpath -w -a "$*"))
local notepadArgPath=`cygpath -w -a "$*"`
"$notepadUnixPath" -multiInst "$notepadArgPath" &
}
alias notepad++=notepadpp
# Explorer function
# Pass in a UNIX path
# Starts explorer given a UNIX path argument
function explorer() {
local explorerArgPath=`cygpath -w -a "$*"`
cmd /C start "" "$explorerArgPath" &
}
alias vi=vim
# Change filename starting with prefix string to another prefix string
alias mvprefix='$HOME/mvprefix.sh'
# Change filename ending with suffix string to another suffix string
alias mvsuffix='$HOME/mvsuffix.sh'
# Change filename ending with suffix string to a string prefixed with todays date
alias todaysuffix='$HOME/todaysuffix.sh'
# Generate secure passwords by default
alias pwgen='pwgen -y -c -s -n'
export INPUTRC=$HOME/.inputrc
export EDITOR=vim
export PATH=/bin:/usr/sbin:"/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Java/jdk1.6.0_26/bin":$PATH
# Overwrite DOS env variable APPDATA with our own for installing perl CPANPLUS
export APPDATA=$HOME
Here's my .bash_profile
$ cat .bash_profile
# base-files version 3.7-1
# To pick up the latest recommended .bash_profile content,
# look in /etc/defaults/etc/skel/.bash_profile
# Modifying /etc/skel/.bash_profile directly will prevent
# setup from updating it.
# The copy in your home directory (~/.bash_profile) is yours, please
# feel free to customise it to create a shell
# environment to your liking. If you feel a change
# would be benifitial to all, please feel free to send
# a patch to the cygwin mailing list.
# ~/.bash_profile: executed by bash for login shells.
# source the system wide bashrc if it exists
if [ -e /etc/bash.bashrc ] ; then
source /etc/bash.bashrc
fi
# source the users bashrc if it exists
if [ -e "${HOME}/.bashrc" ] ; then
source "${HOME}/.bashrc"
fi
# Set PATH so it includes user's private bin if it exists
# if [ -d "${HOME}/bin" ] ; then
# PATH=${HOME}/bin:${PATH}
# fi
# Set MANPATH so it includes users' private man if it exists
# if [ -d "${HOME}/man" ]; then
# MANPATH=${HOME}/man:${MANPATH}
# fi
# Set INFOPATH so it includes users' private info if it exists
# if [ -d "${HOME}/info" ]; then
# INFOPATH=${HOME}/info:${INFOPATH}
# fi
Here's my /etc/bash.bashrc
$ cat /etc/bash.bashrc
# To the extent possible under law, the author(s) have dedicated all
# copyright and related and neighboring rights to this software to the
# public domain worldwide. This software is distributed without any warranty.
# You should have received a copy of the CC0 Public Domain Dedication along
# with this software.
# If not, see <http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/>.
# base-files version 4.1-1
# /etc/bash.bashrc: executed by bash(1) for interactive shells.
# The latest version as installed by the Cygwin Setup program can
# always be found at /etc/defaults/etc/bash.bashrc
# Modifying /etc/bash.bashrc directly will prevent
# setup from updating it.
# System-wide bashrc file
# Check that we haven't already been sourced.
([[ -z ${CYG_SYS_BASHRC} ]] && CYG_SYS_BASHRC="1") || return
# If not running interactively, don't do anything
[[ "$-" != *i* ]] && return
# Set a default prompt of: user#host and current_directory
PS1='\[\e]0;\w\a\]\n\[\e[32m\]\u#\h \[\e[33m\]\w\[\e[0m\]\n\$ '
# Uncomment to use the terminal colours set in DIR_COLORS
# eval "$(dircolors -b /etc/DIR_COLORS)"
I don't modify $PATH in my $HOME/.bashrc anywhere other than the set PATH= command above.
If I prepend only one path to $PATH, that would get duplicated as well:
PATH="/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Java/jdk1.6.0_26/bin":$PATH
Results in:
Dragos#dragos ~
$ echo $PATH | tr ':' '\n'
/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Java/jdk1.6.0_26/bin
/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Java/jdk1.6.0_26/bin
/usr/local/bin
/usr/bin
/cygdrive/c/WINDOWS
/cygdrive/c/WINDOWS/system32
/cygdrive/c/WINDOWS/System32/Wbem
/cygdrive/c/curl
/
/cygdrive/c/gnupg
/cygdrive/c/Progra~1/cvsnt
/cygdrive/c/Progra~1/GNU/WinCvs 2.0
/cygdrive/c/Progra~1/Notepad++
/cygdrive/c/Progra~1/PuTTY
/cygdrive/c/Progra~1/WinSCP
/cygdrive/c/Python26
/cygdrive/c/Python26/Lib/site-packages/PyQt4/bin
/cygdrive/c/Python26/Scripts
/usr/bin
/usr/lib/lapack
So... Why the duplicates?
Addendum:
I found that I'm executing bash twice in my C:\cygwin\Cygwin.bat
The reason is that I have a context menu command to "Open Bash Here" that passes
a starting path to C:\cygwin\Cygwin.bat
Here's my C:\cygwin\Cygwin.bat
#echo off
C:
set PATH=%PATH%;C:\cygwin\bin
REM SHELL needed for any screen instances started from bash
set SHELL=/bin/bash
set HOME=C:\cygwin\home\Dragos
set HOMEDRIVE=C:
set HOMEPATH=\cygwin\home\Dragos
REM
if not [%1]==[] (
C:\cygwin\bin\cygpath %1 > tmpFile
set /p startingpath= < tmpFile
del tmpFile
)
if "%startingpath%"=="" start C:\cygwin\bin\mintty.exe --icon /Cygwin-Terminal.ico --size 140,50 --exec /bin/bash --login -c "exec /bin/bash -rcfile ~/.bashrc"
if not "%startingpath%"=="" start C:\cygwin\bin\mintty.exe --icon /Cygwin-Terminal.ico --size 140,50 --exec /bin/bash --login -c "cd '%startingpath%'; exec /bin/bash -rcfile ~/.bashrc"
exit
Addendum:
Figured out that I need to pass --noprofile --norc to bash when calling bash.
Here's the updated C:\cygwin\Cygwin.bat
#echo off
C:
set PATH=%PATH%;C:\cygwin\bin
REM SHELL needed for any screen instances started from bash
set SHELL=/bin/bash
set HOME=C:\cygwin\home\Dragos
set HOMEDRIVE=C:
set HOMEPATH=\cygwin\home\Dragos
REM
if not [%1]==[] (
C:\cygwin\bin\cygpath %1 > tmpFile
set /p startingpath= < tmpFile
del tmpFile
)
if "%startingpath%"=="" start C:\cygwin\bin\mintty.exe --icon /Cygwin-Terminal.ico --size 140,50 --exec /bin/bash --login
if not "%startingpath%"=="" start C:\cygwin\bin\mintty.exe --icon /Cygwin-Terminal.ico --size 140,50 --exec /bin/bash --noprofile --norc --login -c "cd '%startingpath%'; exec /bin/bash -rcfile ~/.bashrc"
exit
I don't have Cygwin installed, and I don't have a Windows machine, so I can't give you a boatload of details.
See if the man bash page can help you. In normal BASH, the /etc/profile, /etc/bashrc, the $HOME/.bash_profile, the $HOME/.bashrc, and sometimes the $HOME/.profile are all read in depending whether this is a login shell or not. Cygwin has it's own special versions of each of these files in the /etc directory. However, there's also other scripts that get invoked and can affect your Cygwin environment. For example, there are special scripts to import Windows environment variables including %PATH%.
In Cygwin, the default is to include the Windows %PATH% variable as part of the Cygwin path. It's actually a general import of all Windows environment variables (and depending upon the installation, the \ is sometimes converted to a / and short directory names are used).
If you open xterm windows and not standard Windows console windows for your Cygwin command line, you'll also have to check the xserve script (or whatever it's called) because that also imports a lot of stuff into the Cygwin environment.
I've used Cygwin in the past, and every time I use Cygwin, I find myself chasing down these exact things, plus a few other issues: For example, the default Kornshell load environment script has a bug in it. I believe they have a literal "^G" instead of a Ctrl-G, or maybe it was another control character. I can't remember. All I know is I spend about an hour or two cleaning up my Cygwin environment every time I install it. I like Cygwin, but it can be a pain.
Sorry I can't give you more specific directions.
Just set the PATH to whatever you like (without a reference to $PATH). You shouldn't trust the PATH that some random sysadmin thinks is a good PATH anyway. Do this in the file sourced last for your shell.
I have a problem to manage long paths. How can I get quickly to paths like
/Users/User/.../.../.../.../.../Dev/C/card.c
I tried an alias
alias cd C='cd /Users/User/.../.../.../.../.../Dev/C'
but I am unable to do aliases for two separate words. I have long lists of Bash aliases and paths in CDPATH, so I am hesitating to make them more. How can manage long paths?
[Ideas for Replies]
The user litb's reply revealed some of my problems in the management. Things, such as "CTRL+R", "!-3:1:2:4:x" and "incremental search", are hard for me. They probably help in navigating long directories and, in the sense, management.
Using symlinks is probably the best idea; but you can do it even easier than dumping them all into your home directory.
As you mentioned, BASH has a feature called CDPATH which comes in really handy here.
Just make a hidden folder in your homedir (so it doesn't clutter your homedir too much):
$ mkdir ~/.paths
$ cd ~/.paths
$ ln -s /my/very/long/path/name/to/my/project project
$ ln -s /some/other/very/long/path/to/my/backups backups
$ echo 'CDPATH=~/.paths' >> ~/.bashrc
$ source ~/.bashrc
This creates a directory in your homedir called ".paths" which contains symlinks to all your long directory locations which you regularly use, then sets the CDPATH bash variable to that directory (in your .bashrc) and re-reads the .bashrc file.
Now, you can go to any of those paths from anywhere:
$ cd project
$ cd backups
Leaving you with a short CDPATH, no cluttering aliasses, and more importantly: A really easy way to navigate to those long paths from other applications, such as UI applications, by just going into ~/.paths or adding that directory into your UI application's sidebar or so.
Probably the easiest all-round solution you can have.
Consider using symbolic links. I have a ~/work/ directory where I place symlinks to all my current projects.
You may also use shell variables:
c='/Users/User/.../.../.../.../.../Dev/C'
Then:
cd "$c"
Create symlinks in your home directory (or somewhere else of your choosing)
ln -s longDirectoryPath ~/MySymLinkName
See man ln for more details.
Probably the easiest solution is to use:
alias cdc='cd /Users/User/.../.../.../.../.../Dev/C'
alias cdbin='cd /Users/User/.../.../.../.../.../Dev/bin'
alias cdtst='cd /Users/User/.../.../.../.../.../Dev/tst'
if you're only really working on one project at a time. If you work on multiple projects, you could have another alias which changed the directories within those aliases above.
So, you'd use something like:
proj game17
cdc
make
proj roman_numerals
cdbin
rm -f *
proj game17 ; cdc
Since this is a useful thing to have, I decided to put together a series of scripts that can be used. They're all based aroung a configuration file that you place in your home directory, along with aliases to source scripts. The file "~/.cdx_data" is of the form:
scrabble:top=~/dev/scrabble
scrabble:src=~/dev/scrabble/src
scrabble:bin=~/dev/scrabble/bin
sudoku:top=~/dev/scrabble
sudoku:src=~/dev/scrabble/src
sudoku:bin=~/dev/scrabble/bin
sudoku:data=~/dev/scrabble/data
and lists all the relevant projects (scrabble and sodoku in this case) and their directories (which may be different for each project, but have top, bin, src and data in this example).
The first action is to initialize stuff, so put:
. ~/.cdx_init
at the end of your .bash_profile and create the "~/.cdx_init" file as:
alias cdxl='. ~/.cdx_list'
alias projl='. ~/.cdx_projlist'
alias cdx='. ~/.cdx_goto'
alias proj='. ~/.cdx_proj'
This sets up the four aliases to source the files which I'll include below. Usage is:
cdxl - List all directories in current project.
projl - List all projects.
proj - Show current project.
proj <p> - Set current project to <p> (if allowed).
cdx - Show current project/directory and expected/actual real
directory, since they can get out of sync if you mix cd and cdx.
cdx . - Set actual real directory to expected directory (in other words,
get them back into sync).
cdx <d> - Set directory to <d> (if allowed).
The actual script follow. First, ".cdx_list" which just lists the allowed directories in the current project (pipelines are broken into multiple lines for readability but they should all be on one line).
echo "Possible directories are:"
cat ~/.cdx_data
| grep "^${CDX_PROJ}:"
| sed -e 's/^.*://' -e 's/=.*$//'
| sort -u
| sed 's/^/ /'
Similarly, ".cdx_projlist" shows all the possible projects:
echo "Possible projects are:"
cat ~/.cdx_data
| grep ':'
| sed 's/:.*$//'
| sort -u
| sed 's/^/ /'
In the meaty scripts, ".cdx_proj" sets and/or shows the current project:
if [[ "$1" != "" ]] ; then
grep "^$1:" ~/.cdx_data >/dev/null 2>&1
if [[ $? != 0 ]] ; then
echo "No project name '$1'."
projl
else
export CDX_PROJ="$1"
fi
fi
echo "Current project is: [${CDX_PROJ}]"
and ".cdx_goto" is the same for directories within the project:
if [[ "$1" == "." ]] ; then
CDX_TMP="${CDX_DIR}"
else
CDX_TMP="$1"
fi
if [[ "${CDX_TMP}" != "" ]] ; then
grep "^${CDX_PROJ}:${CDX_TMP}=" ~/.cdx_data >/dev/null 2>&1
if [[ $? != 0 ]] ; then
echo "No directory name '${CDX_TMP}' for project '${CDX_PROJ}'."
cdxl
else
export CDX_DIR="${CDX_TMP}"
cd $(grep "^${CDX_PROJ}:${CDX_DIR}=" ~/.cdx_data
| sed 's/^.*=//'
| head -1
| sed "s:^~:$HOME:")
fi
fi
CDX_TMP=$(grep "^${CDX_PROJ}:${CDX_DIR}=" ~/.cdx_data
| sed 's/^.*=//'
| head -1
| sed "s:^~:$HOME:")
echo "Current project is: [${CDX_PROJ}]"
echo "Current directory is: [${CDX_DIR}]"
echo " [${CDX_TMP}]"
echo "Actual directory is: [${PWD}]"
unset CDX_TMP
It uses three environment variables which are reserved for its own use: "CDX_PROJ", "CDX_DIR" and "CDX_TMP". Other than those and the afore-mentioned files and aliases, there are no other resources used. It's the simplest, yet most adaptable solution I could come up with. Best of luck.
Revisiting. Today I received this link from a social bookmarking site, then I immediately remembered this question:
Navigation with bm
We keep a simple, plain text bookmarks
file and use a tool called bm to do
the look-ups. The tool can also be
used to edit the bookmark index
dynamically as shown below where we
add the directories from the previous
example to the index.
Once i cd'ed into such a long directory, i have that in the history. Then i just type Ctrl-R for the "(reverse-i-search)" prompt and type in a few characters, like Dev/C that appear somewhere in the path, and it shows me the command what i issued back then and i can easily jump to it again.
That works pretty well in practice. Because it won't find an entry if you haven't typed that path for quite some time, which would mean doing work to make things easier probably wouldn't be worth the time. But it definitely will find it if you used it recently. Which is exactly what i need.
In some way, it's a self-organizing cache for long commands & path-names :)
You might want to consider using a script like this in your .bashrc. I've used it on a daily basis ever since I read that post. Pretty bloody useful.
The user jhs suggested Pushd and Popd-commands. I share here some of my Bash-scripts that I found in Unix Power Tools -book. They are very cool when your directories get a way too long :)
#Moving fast between directories
alias pd=pushd
alias pd2='pushd +2'
alias pd3='pushd +3'
alias pd4='pushd +4'
The command 'pushd +n' "rotates" the stack. The reverse command 'popd +n' deletes the n entry of the stack. If your stack gets too long, use 'repeat n popd'. For examle, your stack is 12 directories long:
repeat 11 popd
When you want to see your stack, write 'pushd'. For further reading, I recommend the book on pages 625-626.
In your .bashrc find PS1='${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}[\033[01;32m]\u#\h[\033[00m]:[\033[01;34m]
\W[\033[00m]\$ '
and replace the \w with \W.I already have it changed here. This will only give you the main directory where you are working. You can get the full directory by typing pwd
There are fundamental well-known ideas, like creating aliases:
alias cdfoo="cd /long/path/to/foo"
and also "dropping pebbles"
export foo=/long/path/to/foo
and also making the above "project-based". I use 'ticket based' directories.
topdir=ticket_12345
alias cdfoo="cd home/me/sandbox/$topdir/long/path/to/foo"
export foo="/home/me/sandbox/$topdir/long/path/to/foo"
but beyond all this, sometimes it's just handy to jump back and forth to where you've been recently, using command-line menus. (pushd and popd are cumbersome, IMHO).
I use acd_func.sh (listed below). Once defined, you can do
cd --
to see a list of recent directories, with a numerical menu
cd -2
to go to the second-most recent directory.
Very easy to use, very handy.
Here's the code:
# Insert into .profile, .bash_profile or wherever
# acd_func 1.0.5, 10-nov-2004
# petar marinov, http:/geocities.com/h2428, this is public domain
cd_func ()
{
local x2 the_new_dir adir index
local -i cnt
if [[ $1 == "--" ]]; then
dirs -v
return 0
fi
the_new_dir=$1
[[ -z $1 ]] && the_new_dir=$HOME
if [[ ${the_new_dir:0:1} == '-' ]]; then
#
# Extract dir N from dirs
index=${the_new_dir:1}
[[ -z $index ]] && index=1
adir=$(dirs +$index)
[[ -z $adir ]] && return 1
the_new_dir=$adir
fi
#
# '~' has to be substituted by ${HOME}
[[ ${the_new_dir:0:1} == '~' ]] && the_new_dir="${HOME}${the_new_dir:1}"
#
# Now change to the new dir and add to the top of the stack
pushd "${the_new_dir}" > /dev/null
[[ $? -ne 0 ]] && return 1
the_new_dir=$(pwd)
#
# Trim down everything beyond 11th entry
popd -n +11 2>/dev/null 1>/dev/null
#
# Remove any other occurence of this dir, skipping the top of the stack
for ((cnt=1; cnt <= 10; cnt++)); do
x2=$(dirs +${cnt} 2>/dev/null)
[[ $? -ne 0 ]] && return 0
[[ ${x2:0:1} == '~' ]] && x2="${HOME}${x2:1}"
if [[ "${x2}" == "${the_new_dir}" ]]; then
popd -n +$cnt 2>/dev/null 1>/dev/null
cnt=cnt-1
fi
done
return 0
}
alias cd=cd_func
if [[ $BASH_VERSION > "2.05a" ]]; then
# ctrl+w shows the menu
bind -x "\"\C-w\":cd_func -- ;"
fi
This might also be a useful function to put in your .bashrc; it moves up either a number of directories, or to a named directory, i.e. if you're in /a/b/c/d/ you can do up 3 or up a to end up in a.
I have no idea where I found this; if you know, please comment or add the attribution.
function up()
{
dir=""
if [ -z "$1" ]; then
dir=..
elif [[ $1 =~ ^[0-9]+$ ]]; then
x=0
while [ $x -lt ${1:-1} ]; do
dir=${dir}../
x=$(($x+1))
done
else
dir=${PWD%/$1/*}/$1
fi
cd "$dir";
}
If you want to switch to zsh, this is very easy-- just use "alias -g" (global alias, i.e. an alias that works anywhere in the command, not just the first word).
# alias -g c=/my/super/long/dir/name
# cd c
# pwd
/my/super/long/dir/name
In bash, I think the closest thing you'll get to 'aliasing' style is to write a function:
function ccd {
case "$1" in
c) cd /blah/blah/blah/long/path/number/one ;;
foo) cd /blah/blah/totally/different path ;;
"multiword phrase") cd /tmp ;;
esac
}
This means using something other than "cd" as the command when you want a shortcut, but other than that, it's flexible; you can also add an "ls" to the function so that it always reminds you what's in the directory after you cd, etc.
(Note that to use a multiword argument as above, you need to quote it on the command line, like this:
ccd "multiword phrase"
so it's not really all that convenient. But it'll work if you need to.)
Based on Andrew Medico's suggestion, check out J
Look into pushd, which allows you to maintain a stack of directories which you can push onto, pop off of, or rearrange.
Check out autojmp or dirmarks
Management requires both fast creation and removal of directories. Create many directiories:
mkdir -p user/new_dir/new/_dir/.../new_dir
Remove recursively many directories (be very careful when you are in lower directories!):
rm -r dir/.../new_dir/
For further reading, the cheat sheet may help you:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/2082838/Bash-Command-Line-History-Cheat-Sheet
It contains some nuggets, but I find it rather hard to read. I cannot get commands, like Meta+>, working. They probably help you in navigating long directories.
I realize the question is pretty old, but none of the scripts out there satisfied me, so I wrote a new one.
Here's the requirements I had in mind:
1) Use only bash commands -- I intend to use this on many different unices -- Linux, cygwin, HP-UX, AIX, and a couple others, so I couldn't depend on grep being consistent. Luckily I do have bash everywhere I work.
2) Short code -- I wanted to be able to bind this to a key in GNU screen, and just hit that key to paste the script into the current bash shell I'm using, so that I don't have to setup bash profiles on every system I use. Anything super long would be annoying and take too much time to paste.
3) No file usage -- Don't want to be littering shared logons with random files.
4) Act just like "cd" in the normal case. Don't want to have to think about which command to use before I start typing.
5) Provide "up" usage like this answer: How to manage Long Paths in Bash?
6) Keep a list of recently used directories, and switch to the most recent.
Here's the script:
#Jump History - Isaiah Damron
function jfind() {
lp=${JNHIST//==${PWD}==/==}
lp=${lp%%${lp#==*$1*==}}
lp=${lp##${lp%==*$1*==*}}
lp=${lp//==/}
[[ -d "$lp" ]] && echo $lp && return 0
return 1;
}
function jadd() {
[[ -z "$JNHIST" ]] && export JNHIST='=='
[[ 3000 -lt ${#JNHIST} ]] && export JNHIST=${JNHIST:0:3000} && export JNHIST="${JNHIST%==*}=="
export JNHIST="==$PWD${JNHIST//==${PWD}==/==}"
}
function j() {
{ cd $* 2> /dev/null && jadd; } \
|| { cd ${PWD/$1*/}$1 2> /dev/null && jadd; } \
|| { jfind $1 \
&& { cd $( jfind $1 ) 2> /dev/null && jadd; } ; } \
|| cd $*
}
function jh() {
[[ -z "$1" ]] && echo -e ${JNHIST//==/\\n}
[[ -n "$1" ]] && jfind $1 && cd $(jfind $1) && jadd
}
Usage:
jh [parameters]
If called on its own, without any parameters, it outputs the current history list. If it has a parameter, then it searches through the history for the most recently used directory that contains the string $1, and cd's to it.
j {parameters}
Does cd parameters. If that fails, it checks if any of the parent directories of $PWD match $1, and cd's to it. If that fails, then it calls jh $1. If that fails, then it outputs the result of cd parameters
Note: I used '==' as an internal separator. Hopefully you don't have any directories that contain a '==', but if you do you'll have to change around the script. Just :%s/==/whatever/g