A little help with bash.

Andrea · 01-30-2004, 11:52 AM

Hi,
I have 3 questions about bash. Here they are:

1) How can I get completions at the command line similar to those I was used with tcsh? Does Fink's package bash-completion work under 10.3?

2) How can I set up an alias that pipes ls result to less?
I've tried with:

Code:

alias ll='ls -al "$@"|less'

but without success.

3) When I create a new shell not via Terminal app, the new shell doesn't source my .bash_profile where I put all my alias and so on. How can I fix this?

Thanks,
Andrea.

mervTormel · 01-30-2004, 12:56 PM

1. completion (shopt progcomp) is enabled by default in bash. fink's bash completion pkg works well with >= bash v2.04

is some completion failing?

2. bash aliases don't do variable substitutions. create a bash function for that case:

Code:

$ declare -f ll
ll () 
{ 
    TERM=ansi /bin/ls -GFlAho "$@" | less -FR
}

3. .bash_profile should contain noisy things (reports like uptime, who, df, fortune, date) you want to see in a login shell (new term window) .bashrc should run silent (no term output) and be used for alias/function definitions, or source the appropriate files from there.

it's important to know how the startup sequence works and the difference between a login shell and a subshell [ at the bash prompt, enter bash to start a subshell. note that .bash_profile wasn't sourced, but .bashrc was ]

it is a convention that .bash_profile source .bashrc

i refer you to the man pages for bash. i know it seems daunting, but it'll serve you well to be familiar with the fundamentals.

Andrea · 01-30-2004, 01:58 PM

Quote:


	Originally posted by mervTormel 1. completion (shopt progcomp) is enabled by default in bash. fink's bash completion pkg works well with >= bash v2.04 is some completion failing?

Well it seems not to work at all here. For example when I type

Code:

$ man ba

and I hit the tab key I'd like to see

Code:

$ man bash

. Further I'd like to implement some completions my own (fink commands, list of hosts, etc...)

Quote:


	2. bash aliases don't do variable substitutions. create a bash function for that case:

Thanks.

Quote:


	3. .bash_profile should contain noisy things (reports like uptime, who, df, fortune, date) you ....

I'll look at the man pages...

Cheers,
Andrea.

mervTormel · 01-30-2004, 02:09 PM

well, if you were to install fink's bash-completion pkg, it provides man page completion, among many others.

the default completion is pretty simple, and programming your own completion can be complex.

e.g.

Code:

$ grep -C1 'complete.* man' /sw/etc/bash_completion
[ $UNAME = GNU -o $UNAME = Linux -o $UNAME = Darwin \
  -o $UNAME = FreeBSD -o $UNAME = SunOS ] && complete -F _man $filenames man

gatorparrots · 01-30-2004, 02:46 PM

Quote:


	Originally posted by mervTormel well, if you were to install fink's bash-completion pkg, it provides man page completion, among many others. the default completion is pretty simple, and programming your own completion can be complex.

Which is where zsh comes in...

Andrea · 01-30-2004, 03:16 PM

Thanks a lot to mervTormel. Everything works as I wanted. Regarding completions I'll look at the fink's package, I hope it'll fulfill my needs.

For gatorparrots:
I've heard something about zsh, but I'm not sure taht changing Apple's default would be a good idea.

Cheers,
Andrea.

mervTormel · 01-30-2004, 03:29 PM

Quote:


	Originally posted by Andrea ...I've heard something about zsh, but I'm not sure taht changing Apple's default would be a good idea.

changing the default is harmless. migrating from one shell to another takes a bit of planning, dedication and work.

if you are new to bash, you might want to skip straight on over to zsh. it has a lot of great features at a ~steep learning curve price.

Andrea · 01-30-2004, 06:40 PM

Quote:


	Originally posted by mervTormel changing the default is harmless. migrating from one shell to another takes a bit of planning, dedication and work. if you are new to bash, you might want to skip straight on over to zsh. it has a lot of great features at a ~steep learning curve price.

Thanks for your suggestions. I'll consider zsh.

Cheers,
Andrea.

gatorparrots · 01-30-2004, 07:04 PM

Gary Kerbaugh's zsh setup scripts makes jumping into zsh in an OS X environment fairly easy:
http://kerbaugh.uncfsu.edu/zsh.tar.gz

W.G. Scott has a nice primer on zsh under OS X here:
http://www.chemistry.ucsc.edu/~wgscott/xtal/zsh.html

01-30-2004, 11:52 AM	#1
Andrea Triple-A Player Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 63	A little help with bash. Hi, I have 3 questions about bash. Here they are: 1) How can I get completions at the command line similar to those I was used with tcsh? Does Fink's package bash-completion work under 10.3? 2) How can I set up an alias that pipes ls result to less? I've tried with: Code: alias ll='ls -al "$@"\|less' but without success. 3) When I create a new shell not via Terminal app, the new shell doesn't source my .bash_profile where I put all my alias and so on. How can I fix this? Thanks, Andrea.

01-30-2004, 12:56 PM	#2
mervTormel League Commissioner Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 5,536	1. completion (shopt progcomp) is enabled by default in bash. fink's bash completion pkg works well with >= bash v2.04 is some completion failing? 2. bash aliases don't do variable substitutions. create a bash function for that case: Code: $ declare -f ll ll () { TERM=ansi /bin/ls -GFlAho "$@" \| less -FR } 3. .bash_profile should contain noisy things (reports like uptime, who, df, fortune, date) you want to see in a login shell (new term window) .bashrc should run silent (no term output) and be used for alias/function definitions, or source the appropriate files from there. it's important to know how the startup sequence works and the difference between a login shell and a subshell [ at the bash prompt, enter bash to start a subshell. note that .bash_profile wasn't sourced, but .bashrc was ] it is a convention that .bash_profile source .bashrc i refer you to the man pages for bash. i know it seems daunting, but it'll serve you well to be familiar with the fundamentals.

01-30-2004, 02:09 PM	#4
mervTormel League Commissioner Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 5,536	well, if you were to install fink's bash-completion pkg, it provides man page completion, among many others. the default completion is pretty simple, and programming your own completion can be complex. e.g. Code: $ grep -C1 'complete.* man' /sw/etc/bash_completion [ $UNAME = GNU -o $UNAME = Linux -o $UNAME = Darwin \ -o $UNAME = FreeBSD -o $UNAME = SunOS ] && complete -F _man $filenames man

01-30-2004, 07:04 PM	#9
gatorparrots Major Leaguer Join Date: Dec 2002 Posts: 441	dipping the toes into zsh Gary Kerbaugh's zsh setup scripts makes jumping into zsh in an OS X environment fairly easy: http://kerbaugh.uncfsu.edu/zsh.tar.gz W.G. Scott has a nice primer on zsh under OS X here: http://www.chemistry.ucsc.edu/~wgscott/xtal/zsh.html

01-30-2004, 03:16 PM	#6
Andrea Triple-A Player Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 63	Thanks a lot to mervTormel. Everything works as I wanted. Regarding completions I'll look at the fink's package, I hope it'll fulfill my needs. For gatorparrots: I've heard something about zsh, but I'm not sure taht changing Apple's default would be a good idea. Cheers, Andrea.