How can I reuse parts of the last command / history

Question

I'm looking for a fast and efficient way to re-use the parameters of the last command in a new command. For example, in a Bash shell you can use the $1 placeholder to reuse the 1st argument of the last command, $! to reuse the last argument, etc. In a Fish shell you can use Alt-Up and Alt-Down keys to bring up the parameters of the complete history.

A regular use case is that I want to re-use parts of a file name I used in a previous command. If the file is still open, I could use Ctrl-R, % in the command line, but if I switched files, I have to open the command history, look for the command and copy the file name.

Ideally, I'd like to have an autocomplete-like key binding in the command line that allows me to skip though parts of the history just like I would skip through file names when hitting Tab.

Answer 1

A regular use case is that I want to re-use parts of a file name I used in a previous command. If the file is still open, I could use <Ctrl-R %> in the command line, but if I switched files, I have to open the command history, look for the command and copy the file name.

# is the name of the "alternate file". It can be inserted with <C-r># or used directly, just like %. See :help cmdline-special.

There is no universal "last command argument" or "last filename used". The last command can be retrieved with :help histget() but, even then, what you get is only a string because that's what is stored… so you will have to split, quote, etc… Nothing as easy as $_ and friends but that sounds like an interesting week-end project.

Answer 2

function! CompleteCommand(arg)
    call fzf#run({'source': GetCommands(),'sink': function('HandleCommand'),'options': '-m --query "'.a:arg.'"'} ) 
endfunction 

function! GetCommands()
    let lines=[]
    let nu=histnr("cmd")
    for i in range(1,nu)
        let lines+=[histget("cmd",i)]
    endfor
    return lines
endfunction

:cmap <expr> <c-a> &cedit.'^"xy$'."<esc><esc>:call CompleteCommand(@x)<CR>"

You start to type a command in the command line (:), and using FZF plugin, it allows you to fuzzy search commands that has part of it.

(That is done by pressing <c-a>)

requires

Plug 'junegunn/fzf', { 'dir': '~/.fzf', 'do': './install --all' }
Plug 'junegunn/fzf.vim'
``