Re: Using terminal output as input
Chris Bannister wrote: ... apt-cache show gpm Description: General Purpose Mouse interface [..] By default, the daemon provides a 'selection' mode, so that cut-and-paste with the mouse works on the console just as it does under X. Speaking of gpm _and_ X: Can gpm be connected X's selection mechanism so one can copy text from a virtual console and paste it into X, and vice versa? Daniel -- (Plain text sometimes corrupted to HTML courtesy of Microsoft Exchange.) [F]
Re: Using terminal output as input
On Tue, May 19, 2009 at 01:31:30PM +0300, Dotan Cohen wrote: Actually, it seems that copy-paste is in fact what I am looking for. I As has been mentioned already! apt-get install gpm works a treat, in fact, would classify it as an essential cli tool. apt-cache show gpm Description: General Purpose Mouse interface [..] By default, the daemon provides a 'selection' mode, so that cut-and-paste with the mouse works on the console just as it does under X. Select by holding left mouse-button down and dragging. Paste by pressing middle mouse-button. -- Chris. == I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours. -- Stephen F Roberts -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
Re: Using terminal output as input
On Sat, May 23, 2009 at 09:05:25PM +1200, Chris Bannister wrote: On Tue, May 19, 2009 at 01:31:30PM +0300, Dotan Cohen wrote: Actually, it seems that copy-paste is in fact what I am looking for. I As has been mentioned already! apt-get install gpm works a treat, in fact, would classify it as an essential cli tool. FYI: It used to be installed as some default but X installation complication made gpm out as I remember. It is nice. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
Re: Using terminal output as input
On Sat, May 23, 2009 at 05:05:25AM EDT, Chris Bannister wrote: On Tue, May 19, 2009 at 01:31:30PM +0300, Dotan Cohen wrote: Actually, it seems that copy-paste is in fact what I am looking for. As has been mentioned already! apt-get install gpm works a treat, in fact, would classify it as an essential cli tool. The OP was initially asking for a mouseless solution: without retyping (and without using the mouse, which I often do not have). Not sure why, but as to myself, when I'm typing away in a terminal, the last thing I want is to have to reach for a mouse. I guess I've been spoiled by gnu/screen. CJ -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
Re: Using terminal output as input
just figured that this would be common enough to be a part of the shell itself, Probably mostly for historical reasons, the shell doesn't handle terminal manipulations. In particular, the shell doesn't know that the input you want is 5 rows up and 12 columns over or have any (special) support for moving the cursor to allow you to select something like that. There are a lot of different terminals. Some don't even mix your input with the shell (or other process's) output. A good shell works equally well with any of them. I see, thanks. not something that would require workarounds or hacks. Additional tools are not workarounds or hacks. They are separations of duties/roles which allows a more flexible and robust environment. Correct, tools such as screen are not a hack. But this (suggested earlier) is: $(ekiga 2/dev/stdout | head -2 | tail -1) Unix and Linux come from a culture were providing lots of generalized small tools to the user was found to be more flexible than the alternatives, because it allowed individual users and communities to build very specialized tools without starting entirely from scratch. It's not a problem that cat/sed/grep doesn't know how to convert your MS Word Document to text, it isn't the role of that tool. It's not a problem that LVM doesn't resize the filesystem before/after resizing the LV, it isn't the role of that tool. It's not a problem that your shell doesn't have copy-and-paste, it isn't the role of that tool. While in general I agree, I would assume that handling user input / output is the role of the terminal (not the shell), and therefore copy/paste falls into it's role. Now, it may be that you need higher level tools. That's fine, but don't complain that a spool of copper wire is not a jackhammer. Not once did I complain! I asked how to do what I need, but I did not complain that it is not done how I would prefer. I intend to learn screen. AIUI, screen is quite scriptable and should be capable of sending output to the process(es) attached to it. This would allow you to write screen scripts that used the shell for what it is good at and used screen for what it is good at. Thanks, Boyd. -- Dotan Cohen http://what-is-what.com http://gibberish.co.il -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
Re: Using terminal output as input
In 880dece00905210835w451e87e1t4307a8727d654...@mail.gmail.com, Dotan Cohen wrote: I would assume that handling user input / output is the role of the terminal (not the shell), and therefore copy/paste falls into it's role. Oh, yes. I agree. Physical terminals (even the Linux VCs) are generally a let down as are many terminal applications. However, with liberal application of GNU Screen, TinTin++, and Expect you can script just about anything that happens entirely within a terminal. -- Boyd Stephen Smith Jr. ,= ,-_-. =. b...@iguanasuicide.net ((_/)o o(\_)) ICQ: 514984 YM/AIM: DaTwinkDaddy `-'(. .)`-' http://iguanasuicide.net/\_/ signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part.
Re: Using terminal output as input
On Tue, May 19, 2009 at 10:02:54AM -0500, Boyd Stephen Smith Jr. wrote: AIUI, screen is quite scriptable and should be capable of sending output to the process(es) attached to it. This would allow you to write screen scripts that used the shell for what it is good at and used screen for what it is good at. And as you mentioned scripts, I'll mention script(1) again. tzaf...@sweetmorn:~$ script /tmp/log Script started, file is /tmp/log tzaf...@sweetmorn:~$ which mozilla /usr/bin/mozilla tzaf...@sweetmorn:~$ exit Script done, file is /tmp/log tzaf...@sweetmorn:~$ cat /tmp/log Script started on IDT 16:35:21 2009 מאי 20 ד' tzaf...@sweetmorn:~$ which mozilla /usr/bin/mozilla tzaf...@sweetmorn:~$ exit Script done on IDT 16:35:32 2009 מאי 20 ד' -- Tzafrir Cohen | tzaf...@jabber.org | VIM is http://tzafrir.org.il || a Mutt's tzaf...@cohens.org.il || best ICQ# 16849754 || friend -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
Re: Using terminal output as input
I also suggested the copying/pasting approach via gnu/screen's mechanism but that's not really what the OP was asking and maybe there should be a smarter alternative..?? Actually, it seems that copy-paste is in fact what I am looking for. I just figured that this would be common enough to be a part of the shell itself, not something that would require workarounds or hacks. I intend to learn screen. -- Dotan Cohen http://what-is-what.com http://gibberish.co.il -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
Re: Using terminal output as input
Chris Jones wrote: On Mon, May 18, 2009 at 04:13:16PM EDT, Barclay, Daniel wrote: Dotan Cohen wrote: ... Are you asking about manually selecting part of the output of a command(s) and using it to assemble another command (as opposed to piping the whole output from one command into another)? That's pretty much how I understood it, although I disagree with the as opposed to.. I don't see an opposition... more of an extension to the traditional pipe. How do you disagree that manually copying and pasting command output vs. vs. piping complete, unseen command output are very different? (Or are you just familiar with as opposed to used to mean as distinguished from?) (http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/as+opposed+to, http://www.thefreedictionary.com/as+opposed+to, sense #3; etc.) Daniel -- (Plain text sometimes corrupted to HTML courtesy of Microsoft Exchange.) [F]
Re: Using terminal output as input
On Tue, May 19, 2009 at 01:31:30PM +0300, Dotan Cohen wrote: I also suggested the copying/pasting approach via gnu/screen's mechanism but that's not really what the OP was asking and maybe there should be a smarter alternative..?? Actually, it seems that copy-paste is in fact what I am looking for. I just figured that this would be common enough to be a part of the shell itself, not something that would require workarounds or hacks. I intend to learn screen. If you're looking to take the output from a command, edit it, then pipe it back into another command, may I suggest your favourite editor? vim can do it like so (for example): (in command mode) !!ls (edit to your heart's content) :%!wc I'm sure emacs can do it too, but I don't know emacs all that well. Cheers, -- Eric Gerlach, Network Administrator Federation of Students University of Waterloo p: (519) 888-4567 x36329 e: egerl...@feds.uwaterloo.ca -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
Re: Using terminal output as input
If you're looking to take the output from a command, edit it, then pipe it back into another command, may I suggest your favourite editor? vim can do it like so (for example): (in command mode) !!ls (edit to your heart's content) :%!wc I'm sure emacs can do it too, but I don't know emacs all that well. Thanks, Eric. -- Dotan Cohen http://what-is-what.com http://gibberish.co.il -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
Re: Using terminal output as input
On Tue, May 19, 2009 at 8:43 PM, Eric Gerlach egerl...@feds.uwaterloo.ca wrote: On Tue, May 19, 2009 at 01:31:30PM +0300, Dotan Cohen wrote: I also suggested the copying/pasting approach via gnu/screen's mechanism but that's not really what the OP was asking and maybe there should be a smarter alternative..?? Actually, it seems that copy-paste is in fact what I am looking for. I just figured that this would be common enough to be a part of the shell itself, not something that would require workarounds or hacks. I intend to learn screen. If you're looking to take the output from a command, edit it, then pipe it back into another command, may I suggest your favourite editor? vim can do it like so (for example): (in command mode) !!ls (edit to your heart's content) :%!wc I'm sure emacs can do it too, but I don't know emacs all that well. Cheers, I tried this: $ which firefox | vim - vim opened. Now when I press !! :.! appears at bottom. Next I type |s and I get this error: /bin/bash: -c: line 0: syntax error near unexpected token `|' /bin/bash: -c: line 0: `(|s) /tmp/v754567/14 /tmp/v754567/15 21' shell returned 2 -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
Re: Using terminal output as input
In 880dece00905190331s5afdc3d5y72900275bef8...@mail.gmail.com, Dotan Cohen wrote: I also suggested the copying/pasting approach via gnu/screen's mechanism it seems that copy-paste is in fact what I am looking for. I just figured that this would be common enough to be a part of the shell itself, Probably mostly for historical reasons, the shell doesn't handle terminal manipulations. In particular, the shell doesn't know that the input you want is 5 rows up and 12 columns over or have any (special) support for moving the cursor to allow you to select something like that. There are a lot of different terminals. Some don't even mix your input with the shell (or other process's) output. A good shell works equally well with any of them. not something that would require workarounds or hacks. Additional tools are not workarounds or hacks. They are separations of duties/roles which allows a more flexible and robust environment. Unix and Linux come from a culture were providing lots of generalized small tools to the user was found to be more flexible than the alternatives, because it allowed individual users and communities to build very specialized tools without starting entirely from scratch. It's not a problem that cat/sed/grep doesn't know how to convert your MS Word Document to text, it isn't the role of that tool. It's not a problem that LVM doesn't resize the filesystem before/after resizing the LV, it isn't the role of that tool. It's not a problem that your shell doesn't have copy-and-paste, it isn't the role of that tool. Now, it may be that you need higher level tools. That's fine, but don't complain that a spool of copper wire is not a jackhammer. I intend to learn screen. AIUI, screen is quite scriptable and should be capable of sending output to the process(es) attached to it. This would allow you to write screen scripts that used the shell for what it is good at and used screen for what it is good at. -- Boyd Stephen Smith Jr. ,= ,-_-. =. b...@iguanasuicide.net ((_/)o o(\_)) ICQ: 514984 YM/AIM: DaTwinkDaddy `-'(. .)`-' http://iguanasuicide.net/\_/ signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part.
Re: Using terminal output as input
On Tue, May 19, 2009 at 09:42:36PM +0530, Foss User wrote: On Tue, May 19, 2009 at 8:43 PM, Eric Gerlach egerl...@feds.uwaterloo.ca wrote: vim can do it like so (for example): (in command mode) !!ls (edit to your heart's content) :%!wc I'm sure emacs can do it too, but I don't know emacs all that well. Cheers, I tried this: $ which firefox | vim - vim opened. Now when I press !! :.! appears at bottom. Next I type |s and I get this error: /bin/bash: -c: line 0: syntax error near unexpected token `|' /bin/bash: -c: line 0: `(|s) /tmp/v754567/14 /tmp/v754567/15 21' shell returned 2 That wasn't a pipe character, it was a lowercase 'L'. What '!!' does is pipe the current line into the command specified. I was using that to load the result of an 'ls' into the buffer. This command replaces what is on the current line with the result of the command. Then the command :%!wc means the following : - enter ex command mode % - on the entire buffer ! - pipe through command wc - the command to use (wc in this case) You can replace the '%' with any vim motion in order to pipe only certain lines through a command. You can even select an area in visual mode, type '!' and then enter your command, and it will filter that area through the command. Note that this always replaces what was there with the output of the command, though. Type :help filter in command mode for more information. Cheers, -- Eric Gerlach, Network Administrator Federation of Students University of Waterloo p: (519) 888-4567 x36329 e: egerl...@feds.uwaterloo.ca -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
Re: Using terminal output as input
On Tue, May 19, 2009 at 10:24:39AM EDT, Barclay, Daniel wrote: Chris Jones wrote: On Mon, May 18, 2009 at 04:13:16PM EDT, Barclay, Daniel wrote: Dotan Cohen wrote: ... Are you asking about manually selecting part of the output of a command(s) and using it to assemble another command (as opposed to piping the whole output from one command into another)? That's pretty much how I understood it, although I disagree with the as opposed to.. I don't see an opposition... more of an extension to the traditional pipe. How do you disagree that manually copying and pasting command output vs. vs. piping complete, unseen command output are very different? I didn't realize you meant using copy/paste - which obviously is totally different from piping the output of a program to the input of another program. Compare: $ cat Makefile | vim - with $ less Makefile .. followed by a gnu copy/paste of the contents of Makefile into an empty vim buffer for instance. Using the second method, all those pesky TAB aka ^I characters have been replaced by spaces. CJ -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
Re: Using terminal output as input
On Tue,19.May.09, 11:13:34, Eric Gerlach wrote: If you're looking to take the output from a command, edit it, then pipe it back into another command, may I suggest your favourite editor? vim can do it like so (for example): (in command mode) !!ls (edit to your heart's content) :%!wc Building a bit on Eric's ideea: $ first_command | pipedit second_command where 'pipedit' is a small shell script (pseudocode): stdin /tmp/tempfile $EDITOR /tmp/tempfile $@ /tmp/tempfile rm /tmp/tempfile The only trouble with this is that some commands need a '-' parameter to read from stdin. It might be possible to solve it by greping for specific keywords in the '--help' output of second_command. Regards, Andrei -- If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough. (Albert Einstein) signature.asc Description: Digital signature
Re: Using terminal output as input
Dotan Cohen wrote: Like you said, it does require foreknowledge of the output. So there is no way to make a one-size-fits-all solution, be it a command-line trick or a program. If you told us exactly what you want to achieve, we might be able to help you better. I just want to know in a very general sense how to use the output of commands without typing them in manually. It seemed to me that as *nix was developed for the CLI interface (with GUIs coming around only years later) that this would be possible. I do not have a specific task at hand. You haven't resolved one particular bit of ambiguity in your question: Are you asking about manually selecting part of the output of a command(s) and using it to assemble another command (as opposed to piping the whole output from one command into another)? If so, another possible answer for you is gpm. (On a virtual console, lets you select and copy text and paste it into the command line being assembled (or into whatever process is reading from your virtual console) using the mouse.) Daniel -- (Plain text sometimes corrupted to HTML courtesy of Microsoft Exchange.) [F]
Re: Using terminal output as input
On Mon, May 18, 2009 at 04:13:16PM EDT, Barclay, Daniel wrote: Dotan Cohen wrote: If you told us exactly what you want to achieve, we might be able to help you better. The OP did say exactly what he wants - that the output of one command should be made available to the user so that he can edit it before feeding it back to the shell. I just want to know in a very general sense how to use the output of commands without typing them in manually. It seemed to me that as *nix was developed for the CLI interface (with GUIs coming around only years later) that this would be possible. I do not have a specific task at hand. You haven't resolved one particular bit of ambiguity in your question: My understanding is that he is talking about something that amounts to an interactive pipe where the output of a program is made available to the user in an editable buffer that he can play with before feeding back to another program's input. Are you asking about manually selecting part of the output of a command(s) and using it to assemble another command (as opposed to piping the whole output from one command into another)? That's pretty much how I understood it, although I disagree with the as opposed to.. I don't see an opposition... more of an extension to the traditional pipe. Not sure whether it's feasible - *nix utilities were designed around the traditional pipe model where the _raw_ output of a program, not its printed translation is fed to another program, or even whether it is desirable.. If so, another possible answer for you is gpm. (On a virtual console, lets you select and copy text and paste it into the command line being assembled (or into whatever process is reading from your virtual console) using the mouse.) I also suggested the copying/pasting approach via gnu/screen's mechanism but that's not really what the OP was asking and maybe there should be a smarter alternative..?? CJ -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
Re: Using terminal output as input
Like you said, it does require foreknowledge of the output. So there is no way to make a one-size-fits-all solution, be it a command-line trick or a program. If you told us exactly what you want to achieve, we might be able to help you better. I just want to know in a very general sense how to use the output of commands without typing them in manually. It seemed to me that as *nix was developed for the CLI interface (with GUIs coming around only years later) that this would be possible. I do not have a specific task at hand. -- Dotan Cohen http://what-is-what.com http://gibberish.co.il -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
Re: Using terminal output as input
On Thu, May 14, 2009 at 10:55:35AM EDT, Dotan Cohen wrote:
I am using a Debian-based distro (Ubuntu). Often I need to use the
output of one terminal command as the input for another. A classic
example is the which command:
$ which firefox
/usr/bin/firefox
$
Now, I would like to use that output as input, to start firefox. Other
than manually typing it in, is there a way for the user to use the
output directly?
Another example is when the OS lets the user know that she needs to
install a program and gives her the command to install it:
$ ekiga
The program 'ekiga' is currently not installed. You can install it by typing:
sudo apt-get install ekiga
bash: ekiga: command not found
$
Off-hand, the only thing that comes to mind is using history -s to add
the command's output to the bash session's history list so that you can
retrieve it via Ctrl-P (or up-arrow) and use the readline editor to
extract the actual command:
$ history -s $(ekiga)
To make things a bit more useable, maybe there's a way to bind a key
combo to a bash function that would do the above for _any_ command:
$ ekiga + Ctrl-whatever
.. would execute:
$ add-output-to-history ekiga
With the bash function coded something like:
add-output-to-history () {history -s $($*)} # UNTESTED !!
Since this ugly hack would seriously pollute the bash session's history
list, you would need to write a program/script that runs automaticaly
when exiting the bash session and removes all the crap before it gets
appended to the ~/.bash_history file.
In contrast to the which example, the text that the user needs is
buried in the output. Is there a way to use it anyway, without
retyping (and without using the mouse, which I often do not have).
For stuff like that where the output is totally unpredictable, I doubt
anything beats the flexibility of gnu/screen's copy/paste mechanism.
:-)
CJ
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Re: Using terminal output as input
2009/5/14 Boyd Stephen Smith Jr. b...@iguanasuicide.net: In 880dece00905140755w67aefd85uacffa635c306...@mail.gmail.com, Dotan Cohen wrote: I am using a Debian-based distro (Ubuntu). Often I need to use the output of one terminal command as the input for another. UNIX-ish OSes and programs are designed for this, but you'll have to learn the small tools in order to build the custom tools you want. In general, terminal commands read from standard input and write to standard output and standard error. These names are often shorted: standard input = stdin = file descriptor 0 = fd 0 standard output = stdout = file descriptor 1 = fd 1 standard error = stderr = file descriptor 2 = fd 2 By default, all of these are attached to your terminal. However, you can use redirection and pipes to have a terminal command read or write to other files or other commands. file makes a command's standard output write to a new, empty file. file makes a command's standard output append to an existing file. file makes a command's standard input read from an existing file. cmd1 | cmd2 makes cmd1's standard output write cmd2's standard input. $(cmd1) captures a command's standard output (removing the last '\n' if there is one) and uses it as part of the shell's input -- similar to a variable expansion. info:/bash/Redirections and info:/bash/Pipelines has more details. Thanks. This is pretty much what I knew, but stated better than I understood. http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/95399/utilities/xcu_chap02.html is the canonical reference, but it is dry, technical, and probably has a lot more details that you are not interested in immediately. The link also may require registration. No registration needed, but it is a difficult read. These are particularly useful when combined with the UNIX filter commands tr, grep, sed, cut, paste, and awk plus the tee command. I am baffled that one must type in the output to commands. For instance, the sysadmin may need to use the existing DHCP IP address for one reason or another. After running ifconfig, where the address is stated, why must he type it in? I'm not looking for copy-paste in the GUI sense, but some sort of this-to-there method for carrying small bits of data seems so useful, basic, and would help prevent typos. -- Dotan Cohen http://what-is-what.com http://gibberish.co.il -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
Re: Using terminal output as input
For stuff like that where the output is totally unpredictable, I doubt anything beats the flexibility of gnu/screen's copy/paste mechanism. This seems to be the key that I was looking for! I will look into gnu/screen's copy/paste mechanism. Thanks. -- Dotan Cohen http://what-is-what.com http://gibberish.co.il -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
Re: Using terminal output as input
Dotan Cohen wrote: I am baffled that one must type in the output to commands. For instance, the sysadmin may need to use the existing DHCP IP address for one reason or another. After running ifconfig, where the address is stated, why must he type it in? I'm not looking for copy-paste in the GUI sense, but some sort of this-to-there method for carrying small bits of data seems so useful, basic, and would help prevent typos. As other people have pointed out, the way to capture a command's output is with $(command) (or `command`, though this is a bashism). However, unless the output is exactly in the form you need (which is often not the case; in your example ifconfig outputs a lot of information besides the IP address), the time it takes to come out with a command line that filters only the part you need (using tools such as head, tail, cut, etc.) is probably much greater than the time needed to type the information again --- or cut and paste, if this is something you'll only do a couple of times. -- Your supervisor is thinking about you. Eduardo M KALINOWSKI edua...@kalinowski.com.br -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
Re: Using terminal output as input
On Sun, May 17, 2009 at 08:51:38AM -0300, Eduardo M KALINOWSKI wrote: As other people have pointed out, the way to capture a command's output is with $(command) (or `command`, though this is a bashism). $(command) is bashism. `command` is the pure bourne shell form. $ posh $ echo `echo hi` hi $ echo $(echo hi) hi And likewise on dash and busybox ash, which are the other shells I have here. IIRC latest posix includes $(command) as well. -- Tzafrir Cohen | tzaf...@jabber.org | VIM is http://tzafrir.org.il || a Mutt's tzaf...@cohens.org.il || best ICQ# 16849754 || friend -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
Re: Using terminal output as input
As other people have pointed out, the way to capture a command's output is with $(command) (or `command`, though this is a bashism). However, unless the output is exactly in the form you need (which is often not the case; in your example ifconfig outputs a lot of information besides the IP address), the time it takes to come out with a command line that filters only the part you need (using tools such as head, tail, cut, etc.) is probably much greater than the time needed to type the information again --- or cut and paste, if this is something you'll only do a couple of times. Yes, it seems that what I am looking for is copy-paste. I have seen it suggested that screen can do this, though I have not yet looked into it in detail. -- Dotan Cohen http://what-is-what.com http://gibberish.co.il -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
Re: Using terminal output as input
Dotan Cohen writes: Yes, it seems that what I am looking for is copy-paste. I have seen it suggested that screen can do this, though I have not yet looked into it in detail. The Linux console can do it with gpm. -- John Hasler -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
Re: Using terminal output as input
On Sun, May 17, 2009 at 01:11:54PM +, Tzafrir Cohen wrote: On Sun, May 17, 2009 at 08:51:38AM -0300, Eduardo M KALINOWSKI wrote: As other people have pointed out, the way to capture a command's output is with $(command) (or `command`, though this is a bashism). $(command) is bashism. `command` is the pure bourne shell form. And likewise on dash and busybox ash, which are the other shells I have here. IIRC latest posix includes $(command) as well. It is definitely *not* a bashism, given that it is supported by POSIX. It is supported by all POSIX shells, and this does include dash. You should definitely use $() in place of backticks where possible, and portability concerns are unwarranted here given that all real shells include support for it. posh is an exception, but is not a POSIX shell since it does not support this POSIX feature. Regards, Roger -- .''`. Roger Leigh : :' : Debian GNU/Linux http://people.debian.org/~rleigh/ `. `' Printing on GNU/Linux? http://gutenprint.sourceforge.net/ `-GPG Public Key: 0x25BFB848 Please GPG sign your mail. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
Re: Using terminal output as input
In 880dece00905170250o422275adv83039d8ece728...@mail.gmail.com, Dotan
Cohen wrote:
2009/5/14 Boyd Stephen Smith Jr. b...@iguanasuicide.net:
These are particularly useful when combined with the UNIX filter
commands tr, grep, sed, cut, paste, and awk plus the tee command.
I am baffled that one must type in the output to commands. For
instance, the sysadmin may need to use the existing DHCP IP address
for one reason or another. After running ifconfig, where the address
is stated, why must he type it in? I'm not looking for copy-paste in
the GUI sense, but some sort of this-to-there method for carrying
small bits of data seems so useful, basic, and would help prevent
typos.
Something like this?:
$ /sbin/ifconfig wlan0 | awk -F'[: ]*' '/inet[^6]/ { print $4 }'
10.0.0.101
awk, sed, grep, etc. are how you filter the output down to exactly what you
need via pipes. Pipes or variables are how to get information into the
commands that could use it as input.
Your this-is-there method is the use of awk, grep, sed, etc.
--
Boyd Stephen Smith Jr. ,= ,-_-. =.
b...@iguanasuicide.net ((_/)o o(\_))
ICQ: 514984 YM/AIM: DaTwinkDaddy `-'(. .)`-'
http://iguanasuicide.net/\_/
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Re: Using terminal output as input
In 4a0ffa4a.5040...@kalinowski.com.br, Eduardo M KALINOWSKI wrote: (or `command`, though this is a bashism) Not a bash-ism. It is the older method and still required in SUS-conformant shells. However, it doesn't nest well and has other issues that are required not to affect $(). -- Boyd Stephen Smith Jr. ,= ,-_-. =. b...@iguanasuicide.net ((_/)o o(\_)) ICQ: 514984 YM/AIM: DaTwinkDaddy `-'(. .)`-' http://iguanasuicide.net/\_/ signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part.
Re: Using terminal output as input
On Thu, 2009-05-14 at 20:29 -0300, tyler wrote: Dotan Cohen dotanco...@gmail.com writes: I am using a Debian-based distro (Ubuntu). Often I need to use the output of one terminal command as the input for another. A classic example is the which command: $ which firefox /usr/bin/firefox $ This may be a stupid question, but what's the difference between firefox and $(which firefox)? They both run the first executable named firefox in your path, don't they? Tyler -- What is wanted is not the will to believe, but the will to find out, which is the exact opposite. --Bertrand Russell Which doesn't return shell builtins. For example: $ which test /usr/bin/test But if you actually run test (in bash at least), it's the shell's built in version, not /usr/bin/test. PaulNM
Re: Using terminal output as input
Another way of doing this is to run the command that generates the output in a shell that captures the output for editing. For example use 'screen' or the shell mode of 'emacs'. Stuart
Re: Using terminal output as input
On Thu, 2009-05-14 at 13:26 -0400, S Scharf wrote: On Thu, May 14, 2009 at 11:13 AM, Dotan Cohen dotanco...@gmail.com wrote: Not pretty but how about `ekiga | head -2 | tail -1` (note use of backticks) That's creative! It doesn't seem to work on this system, I will try on Real Debian (tm) when I get home. However, it does require foreknowledge of the output, which I suppose is all right if the user can run the same command again. Oops, the output of ekiga is going to stderr and not stdout. Only stdout gets piped. Anyone know how to capture and pipe stdout? I am not sure that's something I would do... but here it is: $`ekiga 21 | sed -n 2p` Where you tell sed: -n = Don't print the lines by default. 2p = When you match the line Number 2, then _p_rint it. (BTW, the dollar sign is the prompt, not something to type) Alternatively, this one could be an option because your are prompted before running the command: $ekiga 21 | xargs -n 1 -p sh -c Obviously, it becomes much more sexy if you create an alias: $alias Qrun='xargs -n 1 -p sh -c' So just type: $ekiga 21 | Qrun sh -c The program 'ekiga' is currently not installed. You can install it by typing: ?...n sh -c sudo apt-get install ekiga ?...y And here you go ! Regards, Franklin P.S. All that is completely untested ;) -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
Re: Using terminal output as input
On Thu, May 14, 2009 at 05:55:35PM +0300, Dotan Cohen wrote: I am using a Debian-based distro (Ubuntu). Often I need to use the output of one terminal command as the input for another. A classic example is the which command: $ which firefox /usr/bin/firefox Use a terminal that supports it. screen is one such terminal. Emacs is another. Alternatively, running the command under script(1) sends all the text (though with annoying special characters) to a file as well. -- Tzafrir Cohen | tzaf...@jabber.org | VIM is http://tzafrir.org.il || a Mutt's tzaf...@cohens.org.il || best ICQ# 16849754 || friend -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
Using terminal output as input
I am using a Debian-based distro (Ubuntu). Often I need to use the output of one terminal command as the input for another. A classic example is the which command: $ which firefox /usr/bin/firefox $ Now, I would like to use that output as input, to start firefox. Other than manually typing it in, is there a way for the user to use the output directly? Another example is when the OS lets the user know that she needs to install a program and gives her the command to install it: $ ekiga The program 'ekiga' is currently not installed. You can install it by typing: sudo apt-get install ekiga bash: ekiga: command not found $ In contrast to the which example, the text that the user needs is buried in the output. Is there a way to use it anyway, without retyping (and without using the mouse, which I often do not have). Thanks! -- Dotan Cohen http://what-is-what.com http://gibberish.co.il -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
Re: Using terminal output as input
On Thu, 14 May 2009, Dotan Cohen wrote: I am using a Debian-based distro (Ubuntu). Often I need to use the output of one terminal command as the input for another. A classic example is the which command: $ which firefox /usr/bin/firefox $ do you mean using the back-quote `which firefox` the above command will fire the firefox command Now, I would like to use that output as input, to start firefox. Other than manually typing it in, is there a way for the user to use the output directly? Another example is when the OS lets the user know that she needs to install a program and gives her the command to install it: $ ekiga The program 'ekiga' is currently not installed. You can install it by typing: sudo apt-get install ekiga bash: ekiga: command not found $ In contrast to the which example, the text that the user needs is buried in the output. Is there a way to use it anyway, without retyping (and without using the mouse, which I often do not have). Thanks! -- Dotan Cohen http://what-is-what.com http://gibberish.co.il -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Bhasker C V Registered linux user #306349 -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
Re: Using terminal output as input
do you mean using the back-quote `which firefox` the above command will fire the firefox command Thanks, Bhasker. I meant to ask, in the more general sense, how to use the terminal output as input. The second example in the OP describes that more. -- Dotan Cohen http://what-is-what.com http://gibberish.co.il -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
Re: Using terminal output as input
On Thu, May 14, 2009 at 10:55 AM, Dotan Cohen dotanco...@gmail.com wrote: I am using a Debian-based distro (Ubuntu). Often I need to use the output of one terminal command as the input for another. A classic example is the which command: $ which firefox /usr/bin/firefox $ Now, I would like to use that output as input, to start firefox. Other than manually typing it in, is there a way for the user to use the output directly? Another example is when the OS lets the user know that she needs to install a program and gives her the command to install it: $ ekiga The program 'ekiga' is currently not installed. You can install it by typing: sudo apt-get install ekiga bash: ekiga: command not found $ Not pretty but how about `ekiga | head -2 | tail -1` (note use of backticks) Stuart In contrast to the which example, the text that the user needs is buried in the output. Is there a way to use it anyway, without retyping (and without using the mouse, which I often do not have). Thanks! -- Dotan Cohen http://what-is-what.com http://gibberish.co.il -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
Re: Using terminal output as input
On Thu, May 14, 2009 at 11:08:14AM -0400, S Scharf wrote: On Thu, May 14, 2009 at 10:55 AM, Dotan Cohen dotanco...@gmail.com wrote: I am using a Debian-based distro (Ubuntu). Often I need to use the output of one terminal command as the input for another. A classic example is the which command: $ which firefox /usr/bin/firefox $ Now, I would like to use that output as input, to start firefox. Other than manually typing it in, is there a way for the user to use the output directly? Another example is when the OS lets the user know that she needs to install a program and gives her the command to install it: $ ekiga The program 'ekiga' is currently not installed. You can install it by typing: sudo apt-get install ekiga bash: ekiga: command not found $ Not pretty but how about `ekiga | head -2 | tail -1` Also note that $(ekiga | head -2 | tail -1) is a more portable equivalent. $() is the same as `` but unlike `` can be nested, and has less quoting issues. You can enclose it in double quotes, for example since it behaves like a variable expansion. Regards, Roger -- .''`. Roger Leigh : :' : Debian GNU/Linux http://people.debian.org/~rleigh/ `. `' Printing on GNU/Linux? http://gutenprint.sourceforge.net/ `-GPG Public Key: 0x25BFB848 Please GPG sign your mail. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
Re: Using terminal output as input
Not pretty but how about `ekiga | head -2 | tail -1` (note use of backticks) That's creative! It doesn't seem to work on this system, I will try on Real Debian (tm) when I get home. However, it does require foreknowledge of the output, which I suppose is all right if the user can run the same command again. I just thought that there would be a command made for this, as it seems to be a common situation. I did not think that it would have to resort to hacks. Thanks! -- Dotan Cohen http://what-is-what.com http://gibberish.co.il -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
Re: Using terminal output as input
Also note that $(ekiga | head -2 | tail -1) is a more portable equivalent. $() is the same as `` but unlike `` can be nested, and has less quoting issues. You can enclose it in double quotes, for example since it behaves like a variable expansion. That also does not work on Debian-derived Ubuntu, so I do not know how portable that is! But thanks for the tip, I certainly did learn something and that's most important. -- Dotan Cohen http://what-is-what.com http://gibberish.co.il -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
Re: Using terminal output as input
-BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE- Hash: SHA1 On 05/14/09 15:55, Dotan Cohen wrote: I am using a Debian-based distro (Ubuntu). Often I need to use the output of one terminal command as the input for another. A classic example is the which command: $ which firefox /usr/bin/firefox $ Now, I would like to use that output as input, to start firefox. Other than manually typing it in, is there a way for the user to use the output directly? As well as all the other answers, you could pipe the output to bash. This will work with any command where the command you want to run is the only output displayed. $ which firefox | bash Another example is when the OS lets the user know that she needs to install a program and gives her the command to install it: $ ekiga The program 'ekiga' is currently not installed. You can install it by typing: sudo apt-get install ekiga bash: ekiga: command not found $ In contrast to the which example, the text that the user needs is buried in the output. Is there a way to use it anyway, without retyping (and without using the mouse, which I often do not have). Thanks! - -- Many thanks Harry Rickards - -BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK- Version: 3.1 GAT/GCM/GCS/GCC/GIT/GM d? s: a? C UL P- L+++ E--- W+++ N o K+ w--- O- M- V- PS+ PE Y+ PGP++ t 5 X R tv-- b+++ DI D G e* h! !r y? - --END GEEK CODE BLOCK-- -BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE- Version: GnuPG v1.4.9 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org/ iEYEARECAAYFAkoMO9EACgkQ1kZz3mRu0GrfKwCfS7dYeOjRBNErbbgKDBFinLwe IYwAoJguSFX/h5ZJzE5mWDIs2OfQVWqu =UDyI -END PGP SIGNATURE- -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
Re: Using terminal output as input
Dotan Cohen wrote: Not pretty but how about `ekiga | head -2 | tail -1` (note use of backticks) That's creative! It doesn't seem to work on this system, I will try on Real Debian (tm) when I get home. However, it does require foreknowledge of the output, which I suppose is all right if the user can run the same command again. I just thought that there would be a command made for this, as it seems to be a common situation. I did not think that it would have to resort to hacks. Like you said, it does require foreknowledge of the output. So there is no way to make a one-size-fits-all solution, be it a command-line trick or a program. If you told us exactly what you want to achieve, we might be able to help you better. -- Every cloud engenders not a storm. -- William Shakespeare, Henry VI Eduardo M KALINOWSKI edua...@kalinowski.com.br -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
Re: Using terminal output as input
In 880dece00905140755w67aefd85uacffa635c306...@mail.gmail.com, Dotan Cohen wrote: I am using a Debian-based distro (Ubuntu). Often I need to use the output of one terminal command as the input for another. UNIX-ish OSes and programs are designed for this, but you'll have to learn the small tools in order to build the custom tools you want. In general, terminal commands read from standard input and write to standard output and standard error. These names are often shorted: standard input = stdin = file descriptor 0 = fd 0 standard output = stdout = file descriptor 1 = fd 1 standard error = stderr = file descriptor 2 = fd 2 By default, all of these are attached to your terminal. However, you can use redirection and pipes to have a terminal command read or write to other files or other commands. file makes a command's standard output write to a new, empty file. file makes a command's standard output append to an existing file. file makes a command's standard input read from an existing file. cmd1 | cmd2 makes cmd1's standard output write cmd2's standard input. $(cmd1) captures a command's standard output (removing the last '\n' if there is one) and uses it as part of the shell's input -- similar to a variable expansion. info:/bash/Redirections and info:/bash/Pipelines has more details. http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/95399/utilities/xcu_chap02.html is the canonical reference, but it is dry, technical, and probably has a lot more details that you are not interested in immediately. The link also may require registration. These are particularly useful when combined with the UNIX filter commands tr, grep, sed, cut, paste, and awk plus the tee command. -- Boyd Stephen Smith Jr. ,= ,-_-. =. b...@iguanasuicide.net ((_/)o o(\_)) ICQ: 514984 YM/AIM: DaTwinkDaddy `-'(. .)`-' http://iguanasuicide.net/\_/ signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part.
Re: Using terminal output as input
On Thu, May 14, 2009 at 05:55:35PM +0300, Dotan Cohen wrote: I am using a Debian-based distro (Ubuntu). Often I need to use the output of one terminal command as the input for another. A classic example is the which command: $ which firefox /usr/bin/firefox $ Now, I would like to use that output as input, to start firefox. Other than manually typing it in, is there a way for the user to use the output directly? Another example is when the OS lets the user know that she needs to install a program and gives her the command to install it: $ ekiga The program 'ekiga' is currently not installed. You can install it by typing: sudo apt-get install ekiga bash: ekiga: command not found $ In contrast to the which example, the text that the user needs is buried in the output. Is there a way to use it anyway, without retyping (and without using the mouse, which I often do not have). Thanks! I'm not sure, but you may be seeing the 'command-not-found' hook that was added to bash 3.x as a patch in debian and ubuntu, and I think programmed in ubuntu to install the program (or maybe just to suggest doing that, as in your example). This scheme was accepted into bash 4.0 with some improvements, e.g., giving access to the failed command's argument list, vs the older patch which only kept the command itself. (If you're interested, you could check for a function called command_not_found_handler() or similar in your shell environment, and just see what it contains. That function could be redefined for other purposes, but, again, it only provides access to the command, not to the arguments (unless that's been fixed since I've looked.) I'm not sure how that relates to the subject question. These things differ according to what shell you're using, but in bash `backticks` are the old way of treating shell output as input, and the $(...) construct is the new way. You might try something like this, which works for me on bash in lenny: $ exec $(which iceweasel) If you don't use exec the process will run as a child process of the shell, while exec replaces the shell with the new process. Ken -- Ken Irving -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
Re: Using terminal output as input
On Thu, May 14, 2009 at 11:13 AM, Dotan Cohen dotanco...@gmail.com wrote: Not pretty but how about `ekiga | head -2 | tail -1` (note use of backticks) That's creative! It doesn't seem to work on this system, I will try on Real Debian (tm) when I get home. However, it does require foreknowledge of the output, which I suppose is all right if the user can run the same command again. Oops, the output of ekiga is going to stderr and not stdout. Only stdout gets piped. Anyone know how to capture and pipe stdout? Stuart I just thought that there would be a command made for this, as it seems to be a common situation. I did not think that it would have to resort to hacks. Thanks! -- Dotan Cohen http://what-is-what.com http://gibberish.co.il
Re: Using terminal output as input
On Thu, May 14, 2009 at 1:26 PM, S Scharf ss11...@gmail.com wrote: On Thu, May 14, 2009 at 11:13 AM, Dotan Cohen dotanco...@gmail.comwrote: Not pretty but how about `ekiga | head -2 | tail -1` (note use of backticks) That's creative! It doesn't seem to work on this system, I will try on Real Debian (tm) when I get home. However, it does require foreknowledge of the output, which I suppose is all right if the user can run the same command again. Oops, the output of ekiga is going to stderr and not stdout. Only stdout gets piped. Anyone know how to capture and pipe stdout? to answer my own question try this: $(ekiga 2/dev/stdout | head -2 | tail -1) Stuart Stuart I just thought that there would be a command made for this, as it seems to be a common situation. I did not think that it would have to resort to hacks. Thanks! -- Dotan Cohen http://what-is-what.com http://gibberish.co.il
Re: Using terminal output as input
In 78582fa40905141033n6248df7fy35fb1727e260d...@mail.gmail.com, S Scharf wrote: $(ekiga 2/dev/stdout | head -2 | tail -1) More portable, but the same results: $(ekiga 21 | head -n 2 | tail -n 1) -- Boyd Stephen Smith Jr. ,= ,-_-. =. b...@iguanasuicide.net ((_/)o o(\_)) ICQ: 514984 YM/AIM: DaTwinkDaddy `-'(. .)`-' http://iguanasuicide.net/\_/ signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part.
Re: Using terminal output as input
Dotan Cohen dotanco...@gmail.com writes: I am using a Debian-based distro (Ubuntu). Often I need to use the output of one terminal command as the input for another. A classic example is the which command: $ which firefox /usr/bin/firefox $ This may be a stupid question, but what's the difference between firefox and $(which firefox)? They both run the first executable named firefox in your path, don't they? Tyler -- What is wanted is not the will to believe, but the will to find out, which is the exact opposite. --Bertrand Russell -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
