33.1.2 Word Designators

Word designators are used to select desired words from the event. A ‘:’ separates the event specification from the word designator. It may be omitted if the word designator begins with a ‘^’, ‘$’, ‘*’, ‘-’, or ‘%’. Words are numbered from the beginning of the line, with the first word being denoted by 0 (zero). Words are inserted into the current line separated by single spaces.

For example,

!!

designates the preceding command. When you type this, the preceding command is repeated in toto.

!!:$

designates the last argument of the preceding command. This may be shortened to !$.

!fi:2

designates the second argument of the most recent command starting with the letters fi.

Here are the word designators:

0 (zero)

The 0th word. For many applications, this is the command word.

n

The nth word.

^

The first argument; that is, word 1.

$

The last argument.

%

The word matched by the most recent ‘?string?’ search.

x-y

A range of words; ‘-y’ abbreviates ‘0-y’.

*

All of the words, except the 0th. This is a synonym for ‘1-$’. It is not an error to use ‘*’ if there is just one word in the event; the empty string is returned in that case.

x*

Abbreviates ‘x-$’

x-

Abbreviates ‘x-$’ like ‘x*’, but omits the last word.

If a word designator is supplied without an event specification, the previous command is used as the event.