Include command in output file?

I would just use a simple function. Add this to your ~/.bashrc file:

function runcom(){
    echo "$@"
    ## Run the command
    $@
}

Now, whenever you want to run a command and print it, you can do:

runcom apt-cache depends kde-window-manager > out

The above produces this file:

$ cat out
apt-cache depends kde-window-manager
kde-window-manager
  Depends: perl
  Depends: kde-runtime
  Depends: kde-style-oxygen
  Depends: libc6
 |Depends: libegl1-mesa
  Depends: <libegl1-x11>
    libegl1-mesa
  Depends: libgcc1
 |Depends: libgl1-mesa-glx
  Depends: <libgl1>
    libgl1-mesa-swx11
    libgl1-mesa-glx
 |Depends: libgles2-mesa
  Depends: <libgles2>
    libgles2-mesa
  Depends: libice6
  Depends: libkactivities6
  Depends: libkcmutils4
  Depends: libkdeclarative5
  Depends: libkdecorations4abi2
  Depends: libkdecore5
  Depends: libkdeui5
  Depends: libkio5
  Depends: libknewstuff3-4
  Depends: libkwineffects1abi5
  Depends: libkwinglesutils1
  Depends: libkwinglutils1abi2
  Depends: libkworkspace4abi2
  Depends: libplasma3
  Depends: libqt4-dbus
  Depends: libqt4-declarative
  Depends: libqt4-script
  Depends: libqtcore4
  Depends: libqtgui4
  Depends: libsm6
  Depends: libstdc++6
  Depends: libwayland-client0
 |Depends: libwayland-egl1-mesa
  Depends: <libwayland-egl1>
    libwayland-egl1-mesa
  Depends: libx11-6
  Depends: libx11-xcb1
  Depends: libxcb-composite0
  Depends: libxcb-damage0
  Depends: libxcb-image0
  Depends: libxcb-keysyms1
  Depends: libxcb-randr0
  Depends: libxcb-render0
  Depends: libxcb-shape0
  Depends: libxcb-shm0
  Depends: libxcb-sync1
  Depends: libxcb-xfixes0
  Depends: libxcb-xtest0
  Depends: libxcb1
  Depends: libxcursor1
  Depends: libxext6
  Depends: libxrandr2
  Depends: libxxf86vm1
  Breaks: kde-style-bespin
  Breaks: kde-style-bespin:i386
  Breaks: <kde-style-skulpture>
  Breaks: <kde-style-skulpture:i386>
  Breaks: kde-workspace-data
  Breaks: <kde-workspace-data:i386>
  Breaks: kdeartwork-theme-window
  Breaks: kdeartwork-theme-window:i386
  Breaks: <kdebase-workspace-data>
  Breaks: <kdebase-workspace-data:i386>
  Breaks: kwin-style-crystal
  Breaks: kwin-style-crystal:i386
  Breaks: kwin-style-dekorator
  Breaks: kwin-style-dekorator:i386
  Breaks: kwin-style-qtcurve
  Breaks: kwin-style-qtcurve:i386
  Replaces: kde-workspace-data
  Replaces: <kde-workspace-data:i386>
  Replaces: <kdebase-workspace-data>
  Replaces: <kdebase-workspace-data:i386>
  Conflicts: kde-window-manager:i386

You can do:

tee file.txt <<<'apt-cache depends kde-window-manager' | bash >>file.txt

Same thing using echo instead of Here strings (<<<):

echo 'apt-cache depends kde-window-manager' | tee file.txt | bash >>file.txt

tee will write to STDOUT and also to the file file.txt
The STDOUT of tee i.e. apt-cache depends kde-window-manager will be fed to bash to run the command and append the STDOUT to file.txt.

Example:

$ echo 'apt-cache depends kde-window-manager' | tee file.txt | bash >>file.txt

$ cat file.txt 
apt-cache depends kde-window-manager
kde-window-manager
  Depends: kde-runtime
  Depends: libc6
 |Depends: libegl1-mesa
  Depends: <libegl1-x11>

Most minimalistic - approach #4 and #3, both could be converted into function; #2 my favorite - awk. #1 uses script command - very versatile tool, useful for recording command line in general; applicable anywhere, for whatever you want to record.

Approach #1: There is a /usr/bin/script command ( which comes with ubuntu by default ) for recording command-line output, which captures everything , along with the prompt and command. To just save one command and its output to specific file, use -c flag and specify output file. Example

xieerqi:$ script -c 'apt-cache depends gnome-terminal' outputFile.txt
Script started, file is outputFile.txt
gnome-terminal
  Depends: gconf-service
    gconf-service:i386
  Depends: libatk1.0-0
  Depends: libc6
  Depends: libgconf-2-4
  Depends: libgdk-pixbuf2.0-0
     (extra output omitted)
Script done, file is outputFile.txt

xieerqi:$ cat outputFile.txt                                              
Script started on 2015年10月22日 星期四 08时58分46秒
gnome-terminal
  Depends: gconf-service
    gconf-service:i386
  Depends: libatk1.0-0
  Depends: libc6
  Depends: libgconf-2-4
  (extra output omitted)

Script done on 2015年10月22日 星期四 08时58分46秒

Approach #2: awk hackery

Awk has system() function which allows you running shell commands from awk script or command. The output will show up on the screen , command first, output next. To redirect what you see to a file use > operator.

That can be done in two ways - ask user to input stuff from stdin or as command line argument. First one is easier to achieve, hence posting that.

(1) awk 'BEGIN{ print "Enter command to run: "; getline com < "/dev/stdin"; system(com) }'

 awk 'BEGIN{ print "Enter command to run: "; getline com < "/dev/stdin"; system(com) }'
Enter command to run: 
apt-cache depends gnome-terminal
gnome-terminal
  Depends: gconf-service
    gconf-service:i386
  Depends: libatk1.0-0
  Depends: libc6
  Depends: libgconf-2-4
  Depends: libgdk-pixbuf2.0-0
  Depends: libglib2.0-0 
  (extra output omitted)

(2) Command line args version; not including output to avoid making answer too long. Again, append > to redirect to file

awk 'BEGIN{for (i=1; i<= ARGC; i++) myString = myString"  "ARGV[i]; print myString; system(myString)  }' apt-cache depends gnome-terminal

Approach #3: ask bash to do the job for you

xieerqi@eagle:~$ bash -c ' MYCOMMAND="apt-cache depends gnome-terminal"; echo $MYCOMMAND ; $MYCOMMAND    '
apt-cache depends gnome-terminal
gnome-terminal
  Depends: gconf-service
    gconf-service:i386
  Depends: libatk1.0-0
  Depends: libc6
  Depends: libgconf-2-4
  Depends: libgdk-pixbuf2.0-0
  Depends: libglib2.0-0

Redirect to file with > operator:

bash -c ' MYCOMMAND="apt-cache depends gnome-terminal"; echo $MYCOMMAND ; $MYCOMMAND ' > output.txt

Approach #4:(my second favorite)

Inspired by ByteCommander's post; we can use read and then run necessary commands in subshell

read command && (printf "COMMAND: %s" "$command";printf "\n+++++++\n"; sh -c "$command")

Sample run:

xieerqi:$ read command && (printf "COMMAND READ: %s" "$command";printf "\n+++++++\nOUTPUT\n"; sh -c "$command")                                       
printf "This was a triumph; I'm making a note here - huge success"
COMMAND READ: printf "This was a triumph; I'm making a note here - huge success"
+++++++
OUTPUT
This was a triumph; I'm making a note here - huge success

Approach #5:

Use echo or here string (aka <<< "string" ) to provide arguments to sh -c through xargs

xieerqi:$ echo "apt-cache policy gnome-terminal" | xargs -I {} bash -c 'echo {}; {}'                                                            
apt-cache policy gnome-terminal
gnome-terminal:
  Installed: 3.6.2-0ubuntu1
  Candidate: 3.6.2-0ubuntu1
  Version table:
 *** 3.6.2-0ubuntu1 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

And if you want , you can use this same trick with an alias:

xieerqi:$ printAndRun <<< "apt-cache policy gnome-terminal"                                                                                     
apt-cache policy gnome-terminal
gnome-terminal:
  Installed: 3.6.2-0ubuntu1
  Candidate: 3.6.2-0ubuntu1
  Version table:
 *** 3.6.2-0ubuntu1 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

xieerqi:$ type printAndRun
printAndRun is an alias for 'xargs -I {} bash -c "echo {}; {}"'

Start script -q outputfile
Execute your command
Press Ctrl-D
Open the file outputfile

Example

Start script

[aboettger:~/tmp] % script -q ~/Desktop/kwin-depends

Start your command

[aboettger:~/tmp] % apt-cache depends kde-window-manager
<kde-window-manager>
[aboettger:~/tmp] %

Press Ctrl-D

Script done, file is /home/aboettger/Desktop/kwin-depends

Show your command and output

[aboettger:~/tmp] % cat ~/Desktop/kwin-depends

and you will see something like this

[aboettger:~/tmp] % apt-cache depends kde-window-manager
<kde-window-manager>

If you want alias expansion (bash only) you can do it this way :

function runcmd
{
    local check_cmd=${BASH_ALIASES[$1]}

    if [ -z "$check_cmd" ]; then
        check_cmd=$1
    fi

    shift #skip 1st arg

    echo "$check_cmd $@"
    $check_cmd $@
}

You can now run

runcmd acd leafpad > out

Include command in output file?

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