When expanding, bash output the command, so don't be affraid if you type the command. Here is the details: First examples: echo foo bar foobar barfoo First argument: echo !$ echo barfoo barfoo (Note that typing echo foo bar foobar barfoo && echo !$, bash substitute !$ with $:1) Last argument: echo foo bar foobar barfoo && echo !^ echo foo bar foobar barfoo && echo barfoo foo bar foobar barfoo barfoo All the arguments: echo !* echo foo bar foobar barfoo foo bar foobar barfoo The third argument: echo foo bar foobar barfoo && echo !:3 echo foo bar foobar barfoo && echo foobar foo bar foobar barfoo foobar You may want to add {} for large numbers: echo !:{11} for example Now with path: echo /usr/bin/foobar /usr/bin/foobar For the head: echo !$:h echo /usr/bin /usr/bin And the tail: echo !$:t echo foobar foobar You also may want to try !:h and !:t or !!3-4 for the third and the fourth (so !!:* == !!:1-$)

tar options may change ;) c to compress into a tar file, z for gzip (j for bzip) man tar -print0 and -0t are usefull for names with spaces, \, etc.

seq allows you to format the output thanks to the -f option. This is very useful if you want to rename your files to the same format in order to be able to easily sort for example: for i in `seq 1 3 10`; do touch foo$i ;done And ls foo* | sort -n foo1 foo10 foo4 foo7 But: for i in `seq -f %02g 1 3 10`; do touch foo$i ;done So ls foo* | sort -n foo01 foo04 foo07 foo10 Show Sample Output