CODEWITHSUNDEEP
linuxbash
ericj
ericj

Reputation: 2301

how to insert newline in a already existing BASH string on the command line

Suppose I have typed and executed a long BASH command on the command line. Now I want to split it up. So with the history I have my long command again, but now I cannot give Enter to insert a newline. How do you do that?

Upvotes: 8

Views: 3733

Answers (3)

Kamil Maciorowski
Kamil Maciorowski

Reputation: 379

Press Ctrl+v, Ctrl+j.

Interactive Bash uses the readline library for command line editing. Normally readline accepts the line upon Ctrl+j (newline, NL, ^J, \n, 0x0a) or Ctrl+m (carriage return, CR, ^M, \r, 0x0d). By default Ctrl+v makes readline read the next character literally.

Note Ctrl+v, Enter is not a solution. Enter is transmitted as carriage return, it's equivalent to Ctrl+m. In some cases this carriage return gets converted to newline, but not right after Ctrl+v. You need readline to get a newline without accepting the line, so use Ctrl+v, Ctrl+j. Readline will split the line exactly as you expect.

Upvotes: 1

kamituel
kamituel

Reputation: 35970

You can use two shortcuts to do that ctrl + k and ctrl + y:

echo "some command" && echo "some other long command"

Now move cursor somewhere (in my example, cursor is marked by >):

echo "some command" && > echo "some other command"

Now press ctrl + k - this will cut everything after a cursor:

echo "some command" && >

Now put \ (backslash) and press enter:

echo "some command" && \
>

And now paste the part you've previously cut by ctrl + y:

echo "some command" && \
echo "some other long command"

Edit: to move more easily around in a long command, you can use shortcuts:

  • alt + b - move one word backwards (on Mac OS X: ESC + b)
  • alt + f - move one word forwards (on Mac OS X: ESC + f)

Ultra-solution

You can also open current line in a editor using Ctrl-x + Ctrl-e (two shortcuts, one after another). Then edit it just as a regular text file, save & quit and voila, edited command will execute.

If you want to choose which editor to use, just set EDITOR environment variable.

Upvotes: 19

ST3
ST3

Reputation: 8946

You can create text file for script. For example:

test.sh

#!/bin/bash
echo Hello, world!

So you will need to execute this:

chmod +x test.sh
./test.sh

Upvotes: 0

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