Guide to Setting Up the `vsm` Function in Zsh

Why I Made It

As someone who loves working with keyboard shortcuts and avoids using the mouse whenever possible, I found myself often needing to copy the output of terminal commands. The traditional way of doing this involves using the mouse to highlight the output and then copying it, which can be a bit tedious. So, I decided to create a shortcut that allows me to both display a command's output in the terminal and copy it to the clipboard using only the keyboard. If you're like me and prefer using keyboard shortcuts, you might find this useful as well.

How to Set It Up

Here are the steps to set up the vsm function in Zsh:

Install xclip: The xclip command is used to interface with the clipboard. You can install it using the following command:

sudo apt-get install xclip

Open your Zsh configuration file: You can use a text editor like nano to open the ~/.zshrc file:

nano ~/.zshrc

Add the aliases and function: Add the following lines at the end of the ~/.zshrc file:

#Clip alias
alias xclip='xclip -selection clipboard'
alias clip='tee >(xclip)'

#function to enable vsm <command> to output command output and copy output to clipboard
function vsm()
{
    if [[ $1 == "curl" ]]; then
        command curl -s "${@:2}" | clip
    else
        "$@" | clip
    fi
}

Save and close the file: If you're using nano, you can do this by pressing Ctrl+X, then Y, then Enter.
Make the changes take effect: Run the following command to make the changes take effect in your current shell session:

source ~/.zshrc

Now, you can use the vsm function with any command to display that command's output in your terminal and copy it to your clipboard. For example, vsm echo Hello, World! would echo "Hello, World!" in your terminal and copy it to your clipboard.

Adding Function and Alias System-Wide

If you want to make these changes available system-wide, you would need to add the aliases and function to the /etc/zsh/zshrc file instead (requires root permissions). Here's how you can do it in one command:

echo -e "\n#Clip alias\nalias xclip='xclip -selection clipboard'\nalias clip='tee >(xclip)'\n\n#function to enable vsm <command> to output command output and copy output to clipboard\nfunction vsm()\n{\n    if [[ \$1 == \"curl\" ]]; then\n        command curl -s \"\${@:2}\" | clip\n    else\n        \"\$@\" | clip\n    fi\n}" | sudo tee -a /etc/zsh/zshrc

This command will append the function and alias to the end of the /etc/zsh/zshrc file. Remember that modifying the /etc/zsh/zshrc file will affect all users on your system who use Zsh.

Also, remember that you'll need to run source /etc/zsh/zshrc or start a new shell session to make these system-wide changes take effect.

Appending Text To A File In One Command

To append text to a file in one command, you can use this format:

echo -e "your text here" | sudo tee -a /path/to/your/file

In this command, echo -e "your text here" generates the text you want to append, and sudo tee -a /path/to/your/file appends that text to the end of your specified file.

SafeAF

Safe method - User only: Run the following command:

echo -e "\n#Alias\nalias c='clear'\nalias ll='ls -als'\nalias l='ls -a'\nalias prc='protonvpn-cli c -r'\nalias prd='protonvpn-cli d'\nalias speed='speedtest --no-upload'" | sudo tee -a ~/.zshrc

To ~/.zshrc (user only - /home/{userName}/./zshrc) instead of /etc/zsh/zshrc (systemwide - at root)

This will:

#Alias
alias c='clear'
alias ll='ls -als'
alias l='ls -a'
alias prc='protonvpn-cli c -r'
alias prd='protonvpn-cli d'
alias speed='speedtest --no-upload'

Remember to: Make the changes take effect: Run the following command to make the changes take effect in your current shell session:

source ~/.zshrc

echo -e "\nalias ip='curl ifconfig.me --ipv4'\n" | sudo tee -a ~/.zshrc

Enjoy your new shortcuts! 😊