Paste the last output and edit it in bash - bash

Question

I like to use bash (on linux) without touching mouse.
I often encounter the following situation.
$ locate libfreetype.a
/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libfreetype.a
$ cd /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu
In this case, I copy /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/ and paste it using mouse or type it. I do not want to do that.
Ideally, the output of locate libfreetype.a is stored in somewhere (maybe in killring??) and paste it with C-y command and edit it on terminal.
Are there good way to do this?
(Just for this example case, there are smart one-line commands. But those are not the desired answers. I want a general solution.)
Another example
Suppose that I remember that there is a memo... in the same directory as libfreetype.a but I forgot the directory name.
$ locate libfreetype.a
/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libfreetype.a
$ nano /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/memo # Tab completion here
$ nano /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/memo_xxx.txt
if I could cache the output /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libfreetype.a and paste it, things are very easy.
(nano $(dirname $(locate libfreetype.a))/memo_xxx.txt works for this case, but if I want to change the path itself, I need to think another technique.)

Answer 1

As noted in the comments, there probably no common way to do this in terminal. But it's possible to redirect the output of the command to program that copy stdin to clipboard, e. g. xclip. If you want to insert and edit copied text in terminal, you need to remove newline characters before copying. Consider following script:
copy.bash
#!/bin/bash
tr '\n' ' ' | xclip
Usage:
$ locate libfreetype.a | copy
$ cd # now press <shift> + <insert>
$ cd /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libfreetype.a # continue editing
The xclip command copies its input for pasting into X applications.
The tr '\n' ' ' command translates all newlines into spaces. You need this if you want to paste the text into command line. It strips the trailing newline and joins lines if output contains more than one. If use plain xclip all newline characters are pasted literally, which causes bash to run command immediately after pasting and doesn't allow to edit it.
If output of the command (e. g. locate) is multi-line and you want to choose only one of them to copy (instead of copying all), you can use iselect. iselect reads input and shows the interactive menu for selecting a line/lines and prints it to the standart output.
Use it like this:
$ locate pattern | iselect -a | tr '\n' ' ' | xlip
# locate prints several lines
# iselect allows user to select one line interactively
# the result is copied to clipboard
$ # <shift> + <insert>
This also can be a script:
icopy.bash
#!/bin/bash
iselect -am | tr '\n' ' ' | xclip
(the -m option allows to choose several lines instead of one)
Usage:
$ locate pattern | icopy
Disadvantages of these approaches:
it works only with X sessions since xlcip need the X session to be running
you need to install new software (xclip and, optionally, iselect)
you need to redirect output explicitly, before running the command; so, technically, it cannot be considered as answer. But it is the best solution I have found for myself.
BTW, here is the script on my local machine that I really use quite often:
$ cat ~/bin/copy
#!/bin/bash
paste -sd\ | tr -d '\n' | xsel --clipboard
echo "Copied: $(xsel --clipboard --output)" >&2
$ echo hello | copy
Copied: hello
Links: man iselect, man xclip, man tr, yank.

Answer 2

You can run script (man script) from your .bashrc which generates a live log of your session's output. And bind a shortcut for opening the log file in an editor, so you can insert yanked text back into $READLINE_LINE.
But script captures raw output from interactive programs (such as editors), so if script could be modified to skip interactive output, it would work. Next step would be parsing output, to make navigation faster.
Here is a .bashrc snippet that does this for non-interactive tools only: https://asciinema.org/a/395092

Answer 3

I noticed that a solution to this problem is given by a terminal emulator kitty. We can use a feature called "hints" and keyboard shortcuts configured by default.
As in the original question, let's think of the situation.
$ locate libfreetype.a
/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libfreetype.a
$ # you want to input /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu here
If you are using kitty, you can type ctrl+shift+p and then l.
You will enter a mode to select a line from the screen. When you can select the previous line, it is pasted into the current terminal input.
The detail if found in the official documentation.
The configuration associated with the action is written like this.
map ctrl+shift+p>l kitten hints --type line --program -
This means that kitten hints --type line --program - is the command mapped from ctrl+shift+p followed by l.

Answer 4

you could use
!$
like
shell$ echo myDir/
myDir/
shell$ cd !$
cd myDir/
shell$ pwd
/home/myDir