My favorite bash shortcuts in 2023

I use fishshell, and its Oh my fish framework as my command line shell. Over the years, I have gathered many useful functions and shortcuts. Here are my favorites.

General shortcuts

Let’s start with some general shortcuts. The first one is the brc shortcut which reloads the .bashrc file and refreshes its content. That way, I can use new shortcuts if added.

alias brc="source ~/.config/fish/.bashrc"

Since I am using VS Code Insiders, whose command in the terminal is code-insiders, which I am too lazy to write every time, I have added a ci shortcut.

alias ci="code-insiders"

Sometimes I use The Fuck app for my terminal, but it might be inconvenient when sharing screen. So, I use a shortcut pls to run fuck command.

alias pls=fuck

SSH shortcuts

Recently Josie posted on Twitter how she cannot remember how to add the SSH key.

“I have been a software engineer for 7 years and I will never remember the steps to adding a SSH key to my Github profile I'm so sorry.”

– Josie on Twitter

It reminded me of the SSH shortcuts that I configured many years ago. So here are my SSH shortcuts.

To generate a new SSH key, I use the sshkey shortcut with an additional argument, the SSH user filename, like so sshkey pgh_rsa.

function sshAddKey
  ssh-keygen -t rsa -C $argv
end

alias sshkey=sshAddKey

To start the SSH agent and add the SSH key, I use the sshuser shortcut with an additional argument, the SSH user filename, like so sshuser pgh_rsa.

function sshStart
  eval ssh-agent -s
  ssh-add ~/.ssh/$argv[1]
end

alias sshuser=sshStart

To delete all identities from the agent, I use the sshdel shortcut.

alias sshdel="ssh-add -D"

To test the SSH connection to GitHub, I use the sshpingg shortcut.

alias sshpingg="ssh -T git@github.com"

Handling terminal processes shortcuts

Since I use Gulp, 11ty, and custom Node.js scripts in my workflow, I have situations where I need to kill a process or two that are stuck or hanging.

To check if a process already occupies a port, I use the checkPort shortcut with am additional argument, the port, like so checkPort 8080.

function checkPort
  lsof -t -i:$argv[1]
end

alias cport=checkPort

To terminate all processes that occupy a port, I use the kport shortcut with an additional argument, the port, like so kport 8080.

function killPort
  kill -9 (lsof -t -i:$argv[1])
end

alias kport=killPort

To terminate all running Node.js processes, I use the killnode shortcut.

alias killnode="killall -9 node"

To terminate all running Node.js processes, I use the kf shortcut.

alias kf="killify"

kf is just an alias for my killify NPM package.

Filesystem shortcuts

For general filesystem navigation in my terminal, I’m using z command. But for finer control, I am using the following commands.

To go up one level, I use cd.. and .. commands.

alias cd..="cd .."

alias ..="cd .."

To see the long listing format of the current folder, I use the ll and lll shortcuts. To see every single file and folder within current folder, I use the llll shortcut.

alias ll="ls -la"

alias lll="exa -abghHliS"

function exaTree
  exa --long --tree $argv
end

alias llll=exaTree

To remove folders and files, I use the rr and rrr shortcuts. The difference is that the rr shortcut shows prompt before removal.

alias rr="rm -rf -i"

alias rrr="rm -rf"

Git shortcuts

I am using a lot of Git shortcuts, but here are my favorites.

To check the git status, I use the gs shortcut.

alias gs="git status -s"

To view the git log, I use the gl shortcut.

alias gl="git log --oneline --graph"

To stash every new, removed, or changed file in the current repository, I use the ga. shortcut.

alias ga.="git add ."

To commit the changes, I use the gc shortcut with an additional argument, the message, like so gc "My message".

# git: commit with message
function commitWithMessage
  git commit -m $argv
end

alias gc=commitWithMessage

To edit the last commit message, I use the gcam shortcut with an additional argument, the new message, like so gcam "My new message.".

# git: commit amend message
function commitAmend
  git commit --amend -m $argv
end

alias gcam=commitAmend

To view all local and remote branches, I use the gba shortcut.

alias gba="git branch -a"

To prune or to delete the refs to the branches that don't exist on the remote, I use the grpo shortcut.

function pruneOrigin
  git remote prune origin
  gba
end

alias grpo=pruneOrigin

To fetch all remote branches, I use the gfa shortcut.

alias gfa="git fetch --all"

To push all local branches to remote, I use the gpa shortcut.

alias gpa="git push --all"

To undo all changes, I use the gr shortcut.

alias gr="git reset --hard"

To checkout to my master branch, I use the gcm shortcut.

alias gcm="git checkout master"

To pull the master branch from the remote, I use the gpom shortcut.

alias gpom="git pull origin master"

To create a new branch, I use the gcn shortcut with an additional argument, the branch name, like so gcn new-branch-name.

function checkoutNew
  git checkout -b $argv
end

alias gcn=checkoutNew

git-flow shortcuts

I am using git-flow, a set of Git extensions that makes it easier to implement Vincent Driessen's branching model I have used for ages.

To initialize git-flow, I use the gfi shortcut.

alias gfi="git flow init"

To start a feature branch, I use the gfs shortcut with an additional argument, the branch name, like so gfs feature-name.

function flowFeatureStart
  git flow feature start $argv
end

alias gfs=flowFeatureStart

To close and merge a feature branch, I use the gff shortcut with an additional argument, the branch name, like so gff feature-name.

function flowFeatureFinish
  git flow feature finish $argv
end

alias gff=flowFeatureFinish

I use similar shortcuts to start and finish the hotfix and release branches.

Conclusion

If you want to see my complete fish configuration, I have it versioned on GitHub.

You could check my setup page to learn what other software and hardware I use.