$_ not working with copy and move commands

Question

I face the problem with $_ usage, which $_ special parameter in terminal, And its call the last argument of the previous command.

It was not work with cp and mv command in gnome-terminal.It happen to me during folder creation and mv or cp file with $_ like below

 mkdir test
 cp file.c $_

instead of copying file to destination , it create a file in current directory named _filedir.

Same happen with mv command

mkdir test
mv file.c $_

instead of moving file to destination, It moving in the name _filedir.

To find the problem i use echo

$ mkdir test
$ echo $_
_filedir

Why is $_ not working with cp, mv commands?

Answer 1

$_ - Gives the last argument to the previous command. At the shell startup, it gives the absolute filename of the shell script being executed. When you execute

mkdir test
mv file.c $_

Check if your mv, cp is an alias

In bash to acces the last arg to the previous command in History use !:$ ,like:

> mkdir test
> mv file.c !:$
mv file.c test