Of course you can. It’s «ESC .» or «^[.»

Or you can check “Profiles → Keyboard → Use Option as Meta” for Terminal.app [or just press ⌥⌘O]. And then use option as meta.

> Of course you can. It’s «ESC .» or «^[.»

Thanks, I wasn't aware of that. However it's a different hotkey and only pulls the last parameter. The shell I use, you could hit <alt>+<number> and you would get a parameter of that number completed - not just the last parameter. It was very handy for rebuilding long command lines with different arguments.

> Or you can check “Profiles → Keyboard → Use Option as Meta” for Terminal.app [or just press ⌥⌘O]. And then use option as meta.

I use iTerm2 - which does seem to have similar options but I'm yet to get it working. I know that's down to user error but it's still a real pity that it isn't just the default behaviour (in either iTerm or Terminal).

ctrl-meta-y (readline’s yank-nth-arg) pulls any argument.

Works fine here (Terminal.app + bash 5.0.3 from homebrew).

Also, isn't that special variable $_ and not $! ?

> Works fine here. Terminal.app + bash 5.0.3 from homebrew.?

Doesn't work for me. Maybe I've broken something on my build? Or maybe you've redefined your keys to emulate the [alt] key?

> Also, isn't that special variable $_ and not $! ?

Sorry I meant `!$` not `$!` (updated my post accordingly).

Yes, $_ does the same thing too.

Go to settings and enable "use option as meta key"