Functions for the Fish Shell, making common tasks more convenient.

Installation

Backup any existing ~/.config/fish, then:

git clone https://git.sr.ht/~razzi/fish-functions ~/.config/fish

In previous versions, other fish config including abbrs were included as well. That changed much more frequently than the functions, so I split them out.

Now they are at https://git.sr.ht/~razzi/.dotfiles (see that repository's README for installation instructions).

Contents

• File Manipulation
  • backup
  • copy
  • create-file
  • eat
  • mkdir-cd
  • move
  • remove
  • restore
  • move-last-download
• Zipfile Utilities
  • clean-unzip
  • unzip-cd
• Text Utilities
  • coln
  • row
  • skip-lines
  • take
  • word-count
  • line-count
  • char-count
• fish Utilities
  • string-empty
  • file-exists
  • is-dir
  • is-symlink
  • funcsave-last
  • confirm
• Environment Utilities
  • curdir
  • echo-variable
  • readpass
• Symlink Utilities
  • symlink
  • unsymlink
  • symlinks
  • link-rc
• git Utilities
  • clone-cd
  • wip
  • git-add
  • git-commit
  • gitignore
• vim Utilities
  • vim-plugin
• Postgres Utilities
  • ensuredb
  • renamedb
• Date Utilities
  • isodate
• MacOS Utilities
  • wifi-network-name
  • wifi-password
  • wifi-reset

File Manipulation

backup <file> (source)

Creates a copy of file as file.bak.

$ ls
README.md
$ backup README.md
$ ls
README.md  README.md.bak

Recommended abbreviation: abbr -a bk backup

restore <backup> (source)

Rename a backup such as file.bak to remove the .bak extension.

$ ls
README.md README.md.bak
$ restore README.md.bak
$ ls
README.md

Recommended abbreviation: abbr -a re restore

mkdir-cd <directory> (source)

Make a directory and cd into it.

$ mkdir-cd folder
folder $

Recommended abbreviation: abbr -a mc mkdir-cd

copy <source> ... [<destination>] (source)

cp with some extra behaviors.

Automatic recursive copy for directories. Rather than only copying the files from a directory, copies the directory itself.

Also uses -i flag by default, which will warn you if a copy would overwrite a destination file.

Example:

$ mkdir testdir
$ touch testdir/file.txt
$ mkdir destdir

# Standard cp needs -r flag
$ cp testdir/ destdir/
cp: testdir/ is a directory (not copied).

# And does not preserve the source folder
$ cp -r testdir/ destdir/
$ ls destdir/
file.txt

# Cleaning up...
$ rm destdir/file.txt

# In contrast, using `copy` function:
$ copy testdir/ destdir/
$ ls destdir/
testdir

Recommended abbreviation: abbr -a cp copy. If you do this abbreviation, use command cp for the low-level cp.

create-file <target> (source)

Creates a file, including parent directories as necessary.

$ create-file a/b/c
$ tree
.
└── a
    └── b
        └── c

eat <target> (source)

Moves a directory's contents to the current directory and removes the empty directory.

$ tree
.
└── a
    └── b
        └── c
$ eat a
$ tree
.
└── b
    └── c

If a file in the current directory would be overwritten by eat, it will error with exit status 1.

An illustration of this:

$ tree
.
├── dir-a
│   └── dir-b
│       └── some_file
└── dir-b
    └── would_be_overwritten

3 directories, 3 files
$ eat dir-a
eat: file would be overwritten: ./dir-b

move <source> ... <destination> (source)

Like mv but uses -i flag by default, which will warn you if mv would overwrite a destination file.

Also warns you if you are trying to move a directory symlink which is ending in slash:

$ mkdir mydir
$ ln -s mydir mylink
$ mv mylink/ renamed
mv: cannot move 'mylink/' to 'renamed': Not a directory

move gives a more descriptive error:

$ move mylink/ renamed
move: `from` argument "mylink/" is a symlink with a trailing slash.
move: to rename a symlink, remove the trailing slash from the argument.

This arises because tab completion adds the slash. Completion for move could avoid the slash, but then again you might want to move a file within the symlinked directory.

remove <target> (source)

rm with an extra behavior.

If removing a directory with write-protected .git, confirm once to ensure the git directory is desired to be removed.

$ ls -a dodo
.  ..  .git  x
$ remove dodo
Remove .git directory dodo/.git?> y

Using plain rm:

$ rm -r dodo
override r--r--r--  razzi/staff for dodo/.git/objects/58/05b676e247eb9a8046ad0c4d249cd2fb2513df? y
override r--r--r--  razzi/staff for dodo/.git/objects/f3/7f81fa1f16e78ac451e2d9ce42eab8933bd99f? y
override r--r--r--  razzi/staff for dodo/.git/objects/e6/9de29bb2d1d6434b8b29ae775ad8c2e48c5391? ^C
$ rm -rf dodo

Recommended abbreviation: abbr -a rm remove. If you do this abbreviation, use command rm for the low-level rm.

move-last-download [<dest>] (source)

Move the latest download to destination directory, which is the current directory if none is specified.

Recommended abbreviation: abbr -a mvl move-last-download.

Zipfile Utilities

clean-unzip <zipfile> (source)

Unzips a .zip archive without polluting the current directory, by creating a directory even if the zipfile does not have a folder level.

unzip-cd <zipfile> (source)

Unzip a zip directory and cd into it. Uses clean-unzip to create a folder if the zipfile doesn't have one.

$ unzip-cd files.zip
Archive:  files.zip
 extracting: out/a.txt
 extracting: out/b.txt
files $ ls
a.txt  b.txt

Text Utilities

coln <number> (source)

Splits input on whitespace and prints the column indicated.

$ echo 1 2 | coln 2
2

row <number> (source)

Prints the row of input indicated.

$ seq 3 | row 2
2

skip-lines <number> (source)

Skips the first n lines of stdin.

$ seq 5 | skip-lines 2
3
4
5

take <n> (source)

Take the first n lines of standard input.

$ seq 5 | take 3
1
2
3

word-count (source)

Count the words from standard input. Like wc -w but does not put spaces around the number.

$ echo a b | word-count
2
# Compare to:
$ echo a b | wc -w
       2

line-count (source)

Count the lines from standard input. Like wc -l but does not put spaces around the number.

$ seq 3 | line-count
3
# Compare to:
$ seq 3 | wc -l
       3

char-count (source)

Count the characters from standard input. Like wc -c but does not put spaces around the number.

$ echo -n a b | char-count
3
# Compare to:
$ echo -n a b | wc -c
       3

fish utilities

string-empty <value> (source)

Test if the value is the empty string.

$ string-empty ''
$ echo $status
0

Can be used to test for arguments:

$ function something
    if string-empty $argv
        echo No arguments passed
    else
        echo Arguments were passed
    end
end
$ something
No arguments passed
$ something 1
Arguments were passed

If you use this on a variable, be sure to get the variable's value using $:

$ if string-empty $VIRTUAL_ENV
    echo in venv
  end

since string-empty VIRTUAL_ENV will always return false.

file-exists <file> (source)

Test if $file exists.

is-dir <path> (source)

Check if if $path is a directory.

is-symlink <path> (source)

Check if if $path is a symlink.

funcsave-last (source)

Save the last-edited fish function.

$ function hi
  echo hi
end
$ funcsave-last
Saved hi

Recommended abbreviation: abbr -a fs funcsave-last.

confirm (source)

Prompts the user for confirmation. Exit with status according to whether they answered y, Y, yes, or YES.

Environment Utilities

curdir (source)

Just the current directory name, please.

mydir $ curdir
mydir

You probably won't need this interactively since the current directory is usually part of your fish_prompt, but this is useful for scripting.

echo-variable <variable> (source)

Like echo, but without the $ or capitalization.

$ echo-variable user
razzi
$ echo $USER
razzi

Recommended abbreviation: abbr -a ev echo-variable.

Completion: completes environment variable names.

readpass <name> (source)

Prompt for a password. Does not echo entered characters.

$ readpass email
●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●
$ echo $email
razzi@abuissa.net

symlink utilities

symlink <from> <to> (source)

Create a symbolic link, using absolute paths.

~/dotfiles $ symlink .prettierrc ~
~/dotfiles $ cat ~/.prettierrc
singleQuote: true
semi: false

Without using absolute paths:

~/dotfiles $ ln -s .prettierrc ~
~/dotfiles $ cat ~/.prettierrc
cat: /Users/razzi/.prettierrc: Too many levels of symbolic links

unsymlink <file> (source)

Remove a symlink. Errors if the file is not a symlink.

symlinks [<dir>] (source)

List symlinks in the given directory, or the current directory if none is passed.

link-rc [<file>] (source)

Create a symlink from $file to the home directory (~).

git utilities

clone-cd url [destination] (source)

Clone a git repository into the current directory (or the optional $destination), and cd into it. Clones with depth 1 for speed.

If a folder by that name already exists, great, you probably already cloned it, just cd into the directory and pull.

If it's trying to clone into a non-empty directory, make a new folder in that directory with the repository name and clone into that, instead of erroring.

wip [message] (source)

Adds untracked changes and commits them with a WIP message. Additional arguments are added to the WIP message.

I use this instead of git stash so that changes are associated with the branch they're on, and the commit is tracked in the reflog.

$ git stat
## master
M      tests.py
$ git switch -c testing
$ wip failing tests
[testing 0078f7f] WIP failing tests
$ git switch -

git-add [paths] (source)

Like git add, but defaults to . if no arguments given, rather than erroring.

Also understand ... to mean ../... If you need more levels of ../.. I guess they could be added.

Did I mention I have a function called ... that cds up 2 levels?

Recommended abbreviation: abbr -a ga git-add

git-commit [message] (source)

Like git commit -m without the need to quote the commit message.

If no commit message is given and there's only 1 file changed, commit "(Add / Update / Delete) (that file)".

$ git-commit
[master c77868d] Update README.md
 1 file changed, 57 insertions(+), 18 deletions(-)
$ git reset @^
Unstaged changes after reset:
M       README.md
$ git-add
$ git-commit Fix typo in README.md
[master 0078f7f] Fix typo in README.md
1 file changed, 57 insertions(+), 18 deletions(-)

Recommended abbreviation: abbr -a gc git-commit

gitignore <pattern> (source)

Add a pattern to the .gitignore.

Recommended abbreviation: abbr -a giti gitignore.

Vim Utilities

vim-plugin <url> (source)

Install a vim plugin using the builtin vim plugin mechanism.

Postgres Utilities

ensuredb <name> (source)

Ensure that a fresh database by the name given is created. Drops a database by that name if it exists, clearing database connections as necessary.

renamedb <from> <to> (source)

Renames a database.

Date Utilities

isodate (source)

Prints the date in ISO format.

$ isodate
2020-01-28

MacOS Utilities

wifi-network-name (source)

Prints the current wifi network name.

wifi-password (source)

Prints the current wifi network password.

wifi-reset (source)

Turns the wifi off and on again.