[SOLVED] tcsh: pushd + popd in one function

lucmove · 07-03-2010, 06:01 PM

I really like pushd and popd, but I don't like their long spellings, so I made aliases: 'x' runs pushd and 'xx' runs popd. That's not bad, but I wish I could improve them in the following way:

x => If followed by a path, 'pushd' (and cd to) that path. If not given any arguments, run 'popd'.

xx => 'cd -'

The problem is implementing that pushd/popd in one command trick. Since tcsh does not have functions, I've been struggling hard to come with a solution. I made a script, and it works, but it only works within the context of the script. The script exits and not only am I still sitting in the same directory, but also my dirstack is emptied.

A similar problem: make 'cdd'. I remember using that program in DOS a long time ago. I would run 'cdd /path/to/directory' and cd to that path if it existed, or create it and cd to it if it didn't exist. Again, I made a script, but that only works within the context of the script, not my current shell. So the new dir is created, but my shell won't cd into it.

Help, please?

lucmove · 07-03-2010, 06:56 PM

Ok, I found the solution on my own. I was making the following mistake in my .tcshrc:

Code:

foreach i (`\ls -1 ~/myscripts`)
	eval alias `basename "$i" .sh` "~/myscripts/$i"
end

That was causing each script to be executed as a command. The right (and rather arcane!) way to make it work is to use 'source':

Code:

foreach i (`\ls -1 ~/myscripts`)
	eval alias `basename "$i" .sh` "source ~/myscripts/$i"
end

Now it works. And here is the complete solution in case someone ever wants to use the idea:

in .tcshrc:

Code:

foreach i (`\ls -1 ~/myscripts`)
	eval alias `basename "$i" .sh` "source ~/myscripts/$i"
end

# or just make one specific alias:
# alias x "source ~/myscripts/x.sh"

alias xx 'cd - '

in ~/myscripts/x.sh:

Code:

#!/usr/bin/env tcsh

if 	( $#argv < 1 ) then
	popd
	exit
endif

if 	( -e "$1" ) then
	pushd "$1"
else
	echo "$1 not found."
endif

Note: I like the whole idea better with this line in .tcshrc:

Code:

alias cd 'pushd '

And a little bit of complete magic:

Code:

complete {cd,popd,pushd,x}	'n/*/d/'