Reusing output from last command in Bash

Question

Is the output of a Bash command stored in any register? E.g. something similar to $? capturing the output instead of the exit status.

I could assign the

Answer 1

If you are on mac, and don't mind storing your output in the clipboard instead of writing to a variable, you can use pbcopy and pbpaste as a workaround.

For example, instead of doing this to find a file and diff its contents with another file:

$ find app -name 'one.php' 
/var/bar/app/one.php

$ diff /var/bar/app/one.php /var/bar/two.php

You could do this:

$ find app -name 'one.php' | pbcopy
$ diff $(pbpaste) /var/bar/two.php

The string /var/bar/app/one.php is in the clipboard when you run the first command.

By the way, pb in pbcopy and pbpaste stand for pasteboard, a synonym for clipboard.