open-the-current-command-in-an-editor.md

Open The Current Command In An Editor

If you are working with a complicated command in the terminal trying to get the arguments just right. Such as this curl:

curl https://api.stripe.com/v1/customers \
   -u sk_test_BQokikJOvBiI2HlWgH4olfQ2: \
   -d description="Customer for test@example.com" \
   -d source=tok_189fCz2eZvKYlo2CsGERUNIW

It can be tedious to move to and modify various parts of the command. However, by hitting Ctrl-x Ctrl-e, the contents of the command buffer will be opened into your default editor (i.e. $EDITOR). This will make editing the command a bit easier. Saving and quitting the editor will put the updated command in the command buffer, ready to run.

Hit Ctrl-x Ctrl-e with an empty command buffer if you want to start crafting a command from scratch or if you are pasting one in from somewhere.

h/t Josh Davey