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up vote 3 down vote favorite
1

I have a script that outputs a string that I would like to edit and then run as a command.

For example, I am using 

cat ... | xsel -p

And then I want to edit the output of `xsel -op´ and run the edited string as a new command.

So I am trying:

cat ... | xsel -p
$(xsel -op) TAB

But this of course fails.

So how can I output the contents of xsel -op (in this case) to my command line, edit that new command, and then run the command?

Thanks

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4 Answers 4

up vote 3 down vote accepted

From zshbuiltins:

-z Push the arguments onto the editing buffer stack, separated by spaces.

To output content of xsel to your command line:

print -z $(xsel -op)
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Ok, better than print -s, works on zsh –  simao Oct 16 '12 at 14:29
up vote 4 down vote

You can get it added to history (at least in bash, I'm not sure on zsh) by doing the following

history -s $(xsel -op)

Then retrieve and edit it.

I've since found that 

print -s $(xsel -op)

works equivalently under zsh

share|improve this answer
    
this looks like what I want, but doesnt work in zsh –  simao Oct 10 '12 at 10:16
    
I found you can do the same under zsh with print -s $(xsel -op) –  Julian Oct 10 '12 at 10:25
    
yep it works. Thanks! –  simao Oct 10 '12 at 10:41
1  
you can even run fc immediately after history -s $(xsel -op) or print -s $(xsel -op) if you want to edit the command in $EDITOR (vi, nano, whatever). –  cas Oct 11 '12 at 5:46
up vote 0 down vote

I am not entirely sure what you are trying to do but something like this should work:

`xsel -op | sed 'do something'`

The backticks will cause BASH to execute, in this case, whatever is saved in X's primary selection buffer which you have just edited using sed. For example:

echo "find . -name foo" | xsel -p
`xsel -op | sed 's/foo/bar/`

The above commands will cause find to be run searching for files or folders named "bar".

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Not really what I would like, I want to edit it in the terminal, not with sed –  simao Oct 10 '12 at 10:17
up vote 3 down vote

Rather than adding it to history manually, you can just press bash's shell-expand-line key (M-C-e):

   shell-expand-line (M-C-e)
          Expand the line as the shell does.  This performs alias and his‐
          tory expansion as well as all of the shell word expansions.  See
          HISTORY EXPANSION below for a description of history expansion.
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