2013-05-29
For a long time I have used go-tool to help jump to directries in
the terminal. Recently, I discovered z, which does the same thing
but better.
You can find go-tool on google code.
Using it is a two step process. First you create an alias:
... go -a dir-alias
This it stores the current directory under the alias "diralias". Now, when you want to jump to that directory, you:
... go dir-alias
The only "issue" I had with using go-tool is remembering to make alias' and
then remembering what I named a long forgotten directory's alias. This is where
z shines.
Unlike go-tool, z does not require you to actively alias a directory in order create a
jump hook. All you need to do is cd into the directory and z registers the path for you.
Now when you want to jump to the directory all you need to do is input a part of the path:
... z dirname
Directory names are often the same, so you can also type in portions of the path
that helps z discover the correct path:
... z part of the path dirname
For a live example, here's a path I find myself jumping to often:
/Users/mark/Documents/dev/active/wwat-admin
Simply entering z ww ad will jump me to the directory, as will z ww due to the
fact that it is the most used directory. There are a number of directories whose
name is prefixed with "wwat-" however. If I'd like to see those directories I just
have to hit TAB instead of RETURN and z will autocomplete the path and list all
similar diretories:
... z ww
... z /Users/mark/Documents/dev/active/wwat-admin
/Users/mark/Documents/dev/active/wwat-admin/.git
/Users/mark/Documents/dev/active/wwat-admin/src
/Users/mark/Documents/dev/active/wwat-clients
/Users/mark/Documents/dev/active/wwat-site
Focus remains on the command line until you hit return, so you can edit the expanded path to match one of the alternative directories.
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