How to use arguments from previous command?

Question

I know that Esc + . gives you the last argument of the last command.

But I\'m interested in first argument of the last command. Is there a key

Answer 1

To use the first argument, you can use !^ or !:1

Example:

$ echo a b c d e 
a b c d e
$ echo !^
echo a
a

$ echo a b c d e 
a b c d e
$ echo !:1
echo a
a

Since your question is about using any other arguments, here are some useful ones:

!^      first argument
!$      last argument
!*      all arguments
!:2     second argument

!:2-3   second to third arguments
!:2-$   second to last arguments
!:2*    second to last arguments
!:2-    second to next to last arguments

!:0     the command
!!      repeat the previous line

The first four forms are more often used. The form !:2- is somewhat counter-intuitive, as it doesn't include the last argument.