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Decades ago, I was taught to use `!` and Co, by a Linux user who was fond of the `sudo !!` trick. Then I switched from this implicit interpolation to explicit shortcuts, and I'm glad I did.

As suggested in the FAQ at the bottom, instead of !… you can use ctrl-r. Or better, optionally type the first letters then alt-p or "up". It's more powerful and more extensible. Other shortcuts, like alt-., allow navigating into the past parameters.

With up, alt-p, alt-. and such, the command line displays the real command. The !… magic is more error-prone and ambiguous; with zsh, I'd suggest hitting TAB to expand the magic into a static text.

I would add other entries to the FAQ: When I enter `sudo !!` will it be stored unchanged in the shell history, or stored after interpolation of `!!`? When I start a command line with a space, so that zsh does not put it in the shell history, will !… also ignore that line? Is `!$` recursive?

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$ echo "hello world" hello world $ echo !$:s/world/idoubtit/ echo "hello idoubtit" hello idoubtit $ history 1 echo "hello world" 2 echo "hello idoubtit" 3 history

% setopt HIST_IGNORE_SPACE % echo "abc" abc % echo "321" 321 % echo last-argument-was !$ echo last-argument-was "321" last-argument-was 321 % history 22092 setopt HIST_IGNORE_SPACE 22093 echo "abc" 22094 echo last-argument-was "321"