fahd.blog: My Bash Profile - Part IV: Functions

Bash functions store a series of commands for later execution. If you find yourself running a sequence of commands frequently, it would make sense to wrap them up in a function. Functions are a lot like aliases but you can also pass arguments to them.
Update: My dotfiles are now in Git. For the latest version, please visit my GitHub dotfiles repository.
Here is a list of my bash functions taken from ~/.bash_functions.
#
# Go up a specified number of directories
#
up(){
    if [ -z $1 ]
    then
      cd ..
      return
    fi
    local levels=$1
    local result="."
    while [ $levels -gt 0 ]
    do
        result=$result/..
        ((levels--))
    done
    cd $result
}

#
# Make a directory and change to it
#
mkcd(){
  if [ $# -ne 1 ]; then
         echo "Usage: mkcd <dir>"
         return 1
  else
         mkdir -p $1 && cd $1
  fi
}

#
# fast find, using globstar
#
ff(){
   ls -ltr **/$@
}

#
# Jumps to a directory at any level below.
# using globstar
#
jd(){
    if [ -z $1 ]; then
        echo "Usage: jd [directory]";
        return 1
    else
        cd **/$@
    fi
}

#
# moves file to ~/.Trash
# (use instead of rm)
#
trash(){
   if [ $# -eq 0 ]
   then
       echo Usage: trash FILE...
       return 1
   fi
   local DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d)
   [ -d "${HOME}/.Trash/${DATE}" ] || mkdir -p ${HOME}/.Trash/${DATE}
   for FILE in "$@"
   do
     mv "${FILE}" "${HOME}/.Trash/${DATE}"
     echo "${FILE} trashed!"
   done
}

#
# Calculate an expression e.g. calc 1+1
#
calc(){
    echo "$@"|bc -l;
}

#
# Calendar which starts on Monday
# Highlights current day
#
cal(){
    if [ $# -eq 0 ]
    then
        /usr/bin/cal -m  | sed "s/\($(date +%e)\)/${RED}\1${NONE}/"
    else
        /usr/bin/cal -m "$@"
    fi
}

#
# Email me a short note
#
emailme(){
    if [ $# -eq 0 ]
    then
        echo Usage: emailme text
        return 1
    fi
    echo "$*" | mailx -s "$*" fahds
    echo "Sent email"
}

#
# Prints out a long line. Useful for setting a visual flag in your terminal.
#
flag(){
    echo -e  "\e[1;36m[==============="$@"===\
              ($(date +"%A %e %B %Y %H:%M"))\
              ===============]\e[m"
}

#
# Swap two files
#
swap(){
    if [ $# -ne 2 ]
    then
        echo Usage: swap file1 file2
        return 1
    fi
    local TMPFILE=tmp.$$
    mv "$1" $TMPFILE
    mv "$2" "$1"
    mv $TMPFILE "$2"
}

#
# Backup file(s)
#
dbackup(){
    if [ $# -lt 1 ]
    then
        echo Please supply a file to backup
        return 1
    fi
    date=`date +%Y%m%d-%H%M`
    for i in "$@"
    do
        echo Backed up $i to $i.$date
        cp $i $i.$date
    done
}

#
# Extract an archive of any type
#
extract(){
   if [ $# -lt 1 ]
   then
       echo Usage: extract file
       return 1
   fi
   if [ -f $1 ] ; then
       case $1 in
           *.tar.bz2)   tar xvjf $1    ;;
           *.tar.gz)    tar xvzf $1    ;;
           *.bz2)       bunzip2 $1     ;;
           *.rar)       unrar x $1     ;;
           *.gz)        gunzip $1      ;;
           *.tar)       tar xvf $1     ;;
           *.tbz2)      tar xvjf $1    ;;
           *.tgz)       tar xvzf $1    ;;
           *.zip)       unzip $1       ;;
           *.war|*.jar) unzip $1       ;;
           *.Z)         uncompress $1  ;;
           *.7z)        7z x $1        ;;
           *)           echo "don't know how to extract '$1'..." ;;
       esac
   else
       echo "'$1' is not a valid file!"
   fi
}

#
# Creates an archive
#
roll(){
  if [ "$#" -ne 0 ] ; then
    FILE="$1"
    case "$FILE" in
      *.tar.bz2|*.tbz2) shift && tar cvjf "$FILE" $* ;;
      *.tar.gz|*.tgz)   shift && tar cvzf "$FILE" $* ;;
      *.tar)            shift && tar cvf "$FILE" $* ;;
      *.zip)            shift && zip "$FILE" $* ;;
      *.rar)            shift && rar "$FILE" $* ;;
      *.7z)             shift && 7zr a "$FILE" $* ;;
      *)                echo "'$1' cannot be rolled via roll()" ;;
    esac
  else
    echo "usage: roll [file] [contents]"
  fi
}

#
# XPath
#
xpath(){
    if [ $# -ne 2 ]
    then
       echo Usage: xpath xpath file
       return 1
    fi
    echo "cat $1" | xmllint --shell $2 | sed '/^\/ >/d'
}

#-------------------------------
# Directory Bookmark Functions
#-------------------------------

#
# Add a bookmark, if it doesn't exist
#
bm(){
  local val=$(pwd)
  for i in ${bookmarks[@]}
  do
     if [ "$i" == "$val" ]
     then
         return 1
     fi
  done
  num=${#bookmarks[@]}
  bookmarks[$num]=$val
}

#
# Goto specified bookmark
# or previous one by default
#
bcd(){
  index=$1
  if [ -z $index ]
  then
      index=$((${#bookmarks[@]}-1))
  fi
  local val=${bookmarks[$index]}
  if [ -z $val ]
  then
      echo "No such bookmark. Type blist to list bookmarks."
      return 1
  else
      cd "$val"
  fi
}

#
# Remove a bookmark
#
brm(){
  if [ $# -lt 1 ]
  then
      echo "Usage: brm <bookmark-index>"
      return 1
  fi
  if [ -z ${bookmarks[$1]} ]
  then
      echo "No such bookmark"
      return 1
  fi
  bookmarks=(${bookmarks[@]:0:$1} ${bookmarks[@]:$(($1 + 1))})
}

#
# Remove all bookmarks
#
bcl(){
    bookmarks=()
}

#
# List all bookmarks
#
bll(){
    if [ ${#bookmarks[@]} -ne 0 ]
    then
        local i=0
        while [ $i -lt ${#bookmarks[@]} ]
        do
            echo $i: ${bookmarks[$i]}
            ((i++))
        done
    fi
    return 0
}

#-------------------------------
# String manipulation functions
#-------------------------------

#
# substring word start [length]
#
substring(){
    if [ $# -lt 2 ]; then
        echo "Usage: substring word start [length]"
        return 1
    fi
    if [ -z $3 ]
    then
        echo ${1:$2}
    else
        echo ${1:$2:$3}
    fi
}

#
# length of string
#
length(){
    if [ $# -ne 1 ]; then
        echo "Usage: length word"
        return 1
    fi
    echo ${#1}
}

#
# Upper-case
#
upper(){
    if [ $# -lt 1 ]; then
        echo "Usage: upper word"
        return 1
    fi
    echo ${@^^}
}

#
# Lower-case
#
lower(){
    if [ $# -lt 1 ]; then
        echo "Usage: lower word"
        return 1
    fi
    echo ${@,,}
}

#
# replace part of string with another
#
replace(){
    if [ $# -ne 3 ]; then
        echo "Usage: replace string substring replacement"
        return 1
    fi
    echo ${1/$2/$3}
}

#
# replace all parts of a string with another
#
replaceAll(){
    if [ $# -ne 3 ]; then
        echo "Usage: replace string substring replacement"
        return 1
    fi
    echo ${1//$2/$3}
}

#
# find index of specified string
#
index(){
    if [ $# -ne 2 ]; then
        echo "Usage: index string substring"
        return 1
    fi
    expr index $1 $2
}

#
# surround string with quotes, for example.
#
surround () {
   if [ $# -ne 2 ]
   then
     echo Usage: surround string surround-with e.g. surround hello \\\"
     return 1
   fi
   echo $1 | sed "s/^/$2/;s/$/$2/" ;
}
If you have any useful functions, please share them in the comments section below.
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