Print the bash script result for the prompt in the next line

Question

I have a Bash script that returns a command. I would like to execute a script and automatically print the result for the prompt in the next line. Replacing the script call on the current line will also be an option. That way, I could edit the command before executing it. Can this be achieved in the terminal using Bash?

Answer 1

If you run bash in tmux (terminal multiplexer), you can use its buffering functions to insert the command in your prompt. Then you can edit the command before running it. Here's a trivial example:

#!/bin/bash tmux set-buffer 'ls -l' tmux paste-buffer & 

Typing the paste-buffer command in the background allows bash to display a prompt before the paste occurs. If the insert is too fast, you can add extra sleep as follows:

 #!/bin/bash tmux set-buffer 'ls -l' { sleep .25; tmux paste-buffer; } & 

Answer 2

In addition to the “Use temporary file” option provided in user3035772 comment , another option would be to use the shell history for this.

Assuming the command that creates the output is a shell command (or you can be sure that its output is just the command you want to run later), you can use history -s to store the command in history, and then call it on on the command line to edit it (or use fc ).

 history -s 'echo whatever you "want your" command to be' 

Then use fc to edit it in $EDITOR or press the up arrow or Ctrl-p to load the history item into the current input line.