Useful functions and commands for Bash

I'll be honest, the command line was once a terrifying place. I remember when Mac OS X launched, and there it was, the Terminal — the name encapsulated the fear I had towards it.

But I persisted, and what was once fear is now a friendship (though not reciprocal).

Taming the Beast took a while, for sure, but I'm at a point where I'm able to do useful things in Bash, like create aliases and functions.

So here are two functions I use a lot, which I've decided to share in the hope someone finds them useful, too!

Before taking the plunge, be sure to create a copy of ".bash_profile" first!

nano ~/.bash_profile

Also, feel free to rename the functions.

Edit a file with a native application

I'm no command line hero, so when it comes to editing big files and making multi-line edits, I like to use something native:

wsef () {
    # edit file.
    # Usage: wsef file_name
    # Default application.
    APP="BBEdit"
    if [ "$1" ]; then
        open -a $APP $1
    else
        echo "A file name is required."
        return
    fi
}

If required, swap out "BBEdit" for something else.

Find a command

The up arrow key is perfect for the first ten previous commands, but then I need something else:

wsfc () {
    # find command.
    # Usage: wsfc term
    if [ "$1" ]; then
        history | grep -i $1
    else
        echo "A search term is required."
        return
    fi
}

Also, as an added a bonus:

export HISTTIMEFORMAT="%d/%m/%y %T "

... which adds a timestamp to the search results, or whenever you run the history command.

Extras

If you're a cat lover like me:

cat -n name_of_file

... and you'll see line numbers.

And for those who've got themselves stuck in vi as I have:

1. press "i"
2. make an edit, if you dare
3. press "esc"
4. write ":wq"
5. then press enter

Have fun!