Jump-Location: A cd that learns

If you spend any time in a console you know that cd is by far the most common command that you issue. I'll open up a console to it's default location in C:\Users\tkellogg or C:\Windows\system32 and then issue a cd C:\work\MyProject. Jump-Location is a cmdlet lets you issue a j my to jump directly to C:\work\MyProject.

It learns your behavior by keeping track of how long you spend in certain directories and favoring them over the ones you don't care about. You don't have to use Jump-Location as a replacement for cd. Use cd to go local, and use Jump-Location to jump further away.

Jump-Location is a powershell implementation of autojump.

How it knows where you want to go

It keeps track of how long you stay in a directory and builds a database. When you use the Jump-Location or j command, it looks through the database to find the most likely directory and jumps there. You should only need to give it a 2-3 character hint. For instance, on mine I can do:

• j de -> C:\Users\tkellogg\code\Jump-Location\bin\Debug
• j doc -> C:\Users\tkellogg\Documents

What if you have several projects and you want to get to the Debug directory of one that you don't use very often? If you're jumpstat looks like this:

255    C:\Users\tkellogg\code\Jump-Location\bin\Debug
	50     C:\Users\tkellogg\code\MongoDB.FSharp\bin\Debug

Using j de will jump to Jump-Location\bin\Debug. But use something like j mo d if you really want to go to MongoDB.FSharp\bin\Debug. You can issue a j mo d. mo matches MongoDB.FSharp and d matches Debug.

Quick Primer on jumpstat

You can use jumpstat to see what's in the database. In tradition with autojump, the database is saved to ~\jump-location.txt. You can open up that file and make changes. The file will auto-load into any open powershell sessions.

Since we're in Powershell (and not legacy Bash) jumpstat returns objects. This means that you don't ever have to know anything about ~\jump-location.txt. You can manipulate the objects it returns. For instance, this is valid:

PS> $stats = jumpstat
PS> $stats[10].Weight = -1
PS> jumpstat -Save

Setting a weight to a negative number like that will cause it to be blacklisted from all jump results. Use the jumpstat -All option to see negative weights included in the jumpstat result set.

Why Jump-Location?

In PowerShell, cmdlet names must have a <Verb>-<Noun> format. You can alias them (like I did with the j command). PowerShell also has a list of approved verbs. Jump is not on that list, but I chose it anyway because it's most descriptive of what you're actually trying to do to Location. It's also most similar to "autojump".

Installation

Important: Jump-Location requires PowerShell version 3 or higher. Older installations of Windows 7 may only have PowerShell version 2. How to update powershell.

There is now a Chocolatey package for Jump-Location. To install via Chocolaty

C:\ choco install Jump-Location

Otherwise you can still install it manually.

1. Download latest release.
2. Open properties for zip file and click "Unblock" button if you have one.
3. Unzip
4. Open a PowerShell console
5. Run .\Install.ps1. You may need to allow remote scripts by running Set-ExecutionPolicy -RemoteSigned. You may also have to right-click Install.ps1 and Unblock it from the properties window. Alternative: Add line Import-Module $modules\Jump-Location\Jump.Location.psd1 to your $PROFILE, where $modules\Jump-Location is a path to folder with module.

Next time you open a PowerShell console Jump-Location will start learning your habits. You'll also have access to the j and jumpstat aliases.

If you find any bugs, please report them so I can fix them quickly!

Build from source

From root directory:

1. Run msbuild .
2. Run .\build.ps1

In directory Build you will have local build of module.

TODO

1. Local search. j . blah will only match dirs under cwd. Using . will also search outside the DB.
2. Better PS documentation

References

1. old releases.