How can I `alias sudo !!`?

Question

I'm trying to set an alias for sudo !! in Bash. I tried alias sbb='sudo !!', but it interprets that as a literal !! and prints

sudo: !!: command not found

If I use double quotes, it substitutes the double bang in the string itself, so that doesn't work.

Is there any way to make this work? Or an alternative alias? `

Possible same on SU: http://superuser.com/questions/240180/creating-an-alias-containing-bash-history-expansion — Ciro Santilli OurBigBook.com, Feb 18 '15 at 06:42

score 74 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 20 '14 at 21:11

74

!! is expanded by bash when you type it. It's not expanded by alias substitution.

You can use the history built-in to do the expansion:

alias sbb='sudo $(history -p !!)'

If the command is more than a simple command (e.g. it contains redirections or pipes), you need to invoke a shell under sudo:

alias sbb='sudo "$BASH" -c "$(history -p !!)"'

edited Jun 20 '14 at 21:11

Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'

829,060

answered Aug 02 '13 at 18:24

rici

9,770

Got one for tcsh? – mdpc Aug 02 '13 at 19:02
1

@mdpc: I don't use tcsh, but I glanced at man tcsh and discovered that it does do history expansion during alias expansion "as though the original command were the previous input line." Interesting. However, alias sbb 'sudo \!-2 did not work as expected (it actually substituted the second previous entry); alias sbb 'sudo \!\!' did work as expected (substituted sbb for !!); and in the end it turned out that what I wanted was alias sbb 'sudo \!-1' which I would have expected to be the same as \!\!. (tcsh 6.17.06 (Astron) 2011-04-15) YMMV. Good luck. – rici Aug 02 '13 at 21:10
Thanks! This alias is great when as administrator you forget to put sudo in front of your command. – mdpc Aug 02 '13 at 21:42
instead of sbb I would prefer prease as alias as suggested by @jpschorr – rubo77 Jul 07 '16 at 05:52
usage: sudo -h | -K | -k | -V – alper Jan 22 '22 at 20:57

score 53 · Answer 2 · edited Oct 16 '21 at 11:37

53

Try:

alias sbb='sudo $(fc -ln -1)'

I like actually prefer to name it 'please':

alias please='sudo $(fc -ln -1)'

Info: fc is a in-built command in the bash shell. that lists, edits and reexecutes commands previously entered to an interactive shell.

Zsh has the similar issue with !! and aliases, and fc -ln -1 also works there. Though caveats about getting redirections and other shell syntax inside the sudo'ed command line apply, so you may want to wrap the command within a shell invocation or eval, see @rici's answer.

edited Oct 16 '21 at 11:37

ilkkachu

138,973

answered Sep 30 '14 at 17:27

jpschorr

631

20

please is definitely the way to go ! – Anto Mar 18 '15 at 16:36
works for bash too so removed the 'for zsh' comment. – Michael Durrant Oct 10 '15 at 14:35
1

Works well in zsh. fc is the command to use. Thanks – Frax Jan 07 '19 at 08:32
1

please makes it feel like the terminal is an entity that I have to be nice to in order to get stuff done. I prefer something that gives a better sense of control - like fuck ;) – Przemek D Sep 11 '19 at 07:23
1

pls, because please but also I'm salty – lucidbrot Apr 04 '21 at 15:41
Is this functionally equivalent to Giles 2nd version? I'm not sure if they'll both work or if there might be slight differences. – Deoxal Jul 11 '21 at 18:25

score 6 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 11 '15 at 09:31

6

Now there's a repository for this purpose in GitHub, it magically checks whether it needs superuser rights, also fixes the typos:

https://github.com/nvbn/thefuck

answered Sep 11 '15 at 09:31

Arda

161

I tried apt-get install thefuck which exists, but it doesn't work on my Ubuntu 15.10 ;( – rubo77 Jun 15 '16 at 07:53

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Dec 22 '22 at 18:14

Worth noting that for zsh if you share history between multiple shell instances (SHARE_HISTORY option), you really want to restrict fc lookup to the instance you're currently using. Otherwise, you'll get all of the commands issued since your shell's last one, joined together on a single line.

alias please='sudo $(fc -Lln -1)'

score -1 · Answer 5 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:36

-1

^{This was originally posted at this question but later, suggested to post here.}

Here is how you can use fc and history with alias for !- like substitutions. Suppose if you want to use !-n (where n is digit for n^th last command used), then you can use fc and history with alias as follows:

Using history:

alias xyz='echo $(history -p "!-<n>") ; sudo $(history -p "!-n")'

Note: Here !-n should be enclosed with ' or ''.

Using fc:
```
alias xyz='echo $(fc -ln -n -n) ; sudo $(fc -ln -n -n)'
```
Note: here 1^st and 2^nd -n are used to specify the range of history list.

Here I used echo-ing before executing command for felling like !-<n>.

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:36

Community

1

answered Jan 05 '16 at 08:53

Pandya

24,618

Previous answers already cover history -p and fc. Anything new here? – muru Jan 05 '16 at 10:15
Ok, What of it? – muru Jan 05 '16 at 10:54
I find the -ln -n -n to be intensely confusing; also the bit about ' or '' (and also the bit about -<n>). – Scott - Слава Україні Jan 07 '16 at 19:47
Option 2. must be a typo, I think you want $(fc -ln -1) – cmcginty Feb 12 '16 at 02:14

score -3 · Answer 6 · edited Mar 30 '16 at 23:57

-3

alias please="sudo $(history -p \!\-2)"

edited Mar 30 '16 at 23:57

chaos

48,171

answered Mar 30 '16 at 23:24

Antonin GAVREL

109

How can I `alias sudo !!`?

6 Answers6

Linked

Related