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If i'm writing a long command or just typing an extensive file path, is there any that i can "reuse" it with some command shortcut?

e.g:

1.cp /home/myuser/really/big/file/here/and/there.png /home/myuser/really/big/file/here/and/there.png.bkp

Do i really have to type it all over again?

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3 Answers

up vote 12 down vote accepted

Use brace expansion

cp /home/myuser/really/big/file/here/and/there.png{,.bkp}
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I think you've got some extra ` characters in there – blahdiblah Jun 8 '11 at 19:43
Neat!That was exactly what i was looking for! – Fisher Jun 8 '11 at 19:47
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+1 and you can go even shorter: cp /home/myuser/really/big/file/here/and/there.{,.bkp} – Mike Fitzpatrick Jun 8 '11 at 22:53
@peth: Oops, yes, you're correct. So we can actually go even shorter: cp /home/myuser/really/big/file/here/and/there{,.bkp} :) – Mike Fitzpatrick Jun 16 '11 at 22:58
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up vote 4 down vote

Also, history expansion can work here:

cp /home/myuser/really/big/file/here/and/there.png !#:1.bkp

where the !#:1 part refers to the first argument of the command you're currently typing.

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up vote 1 down vote

You can save lots of time typing that by using tab expansion, the tilde shortcut, and command history.

For instance, 

~/r[tab]/b[tab]/f[tab]/h[tab]/a[tab]/t[tab]/

(where [tab] means "press the Tab key") would expand to

/home/myuser/really/big/file/here/and/there

You could also type

cp /home/myuser/really/big/file/here/and/there.png /some/destination

then press up-arrow and just change the last three letters of the filename

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