How do I reuse previous arguments in reverse order in Bash?

This question was answered by @sierracircle:

have you considered writing a script? It is fairly simple, and you can add variables when you run it.

just create a text file, save it with whatever you want to name it, and then make it executable with:

chmod +x   file-name

a quick example of a script, which I can pass two variable to when I run it:

#!/bin/bash

echo $1
echo $2

exit 0

now if I run that script like this:

file-name   "first variable"  "second variable"

it should echo:

first variable second variable

View the original comment

Heya,

Yes, you’re on the right track. In bash, positional parameters are referred to as $1, $2, etc. However, when you’re in a one-liner in the shell itself (rather than in a script), there isn’t a straightforward way to reverse the positional parameters. You’d have to use a shell function if you want to reuse and reverse arguments.

Here’s how you can achieve your goal:

1. Creating a function:

   Add the following function to your ~/.bashrc or ~/.bash_profile:

gitmv() {
    mv "$1" "$2" && git mv "$2" "$1"
}

This function, named gitmv, first uses the mv command to rename a file, then uses git mv to reflect that change in git.| 2. Using the function:

After adding the function, you need to reload your shell or run:

source ~/.bashrc

(or source ~/.bash_profile if that’s where you added it)

Then, you can use your new function:

gitmv newname.js oldname.js

This will first rename newname.js to oldname.js on your filesystem, then inform git of the rename.