Command Line
============


Electron Cash has a powerful command line. This page will show you a few basic principles.


Using the inline help
---------------------


To see the list of Electron Cash commands, type:

.. code-block:: bash

   electron-cash help


To see the documentation for a command, type:

.. code-block:: bash

   electron-cash help <command>


Magic words
-----------


The arguments passed to commands may be one of the following magic words: ! ? : and -.

- The exclamation mark ! is a shortcut that means 'the maximum amount
  available'.

  Example:

  .. code-block:: bash

     electron-cash payto 1JuiT4dM65d8vBt8qUYamnDmAMJ4MjjxRE !

  Note that the transaction fee will be computed and deducted from the
  amount.


- A question mark ? means that you want the parameter to be prompted.

  Example:

  .. code-block:: bash

     electron-cash signmessage 1JuiT4dM65d8vBt8qUYamnDmAMJ4MjjxRE ?

- Use a colon : if you want the prompted parameter to be hidden (not
  echoed in your terminal).

  .. code-block:: bash

     electron-cash importprivkey :

  Note that you will be prompted twice in this example, first for the
  private key, then for your wallet password.


- A parameter replaced by a dash - will be read from standard input
  (in a pipe)

  .. code-block:: bash

     cat LICENCE | electron-cash signmessage 1JuiT4dM65d8vBt8qUYamnDmAMJ4MjjxRE -

Aliases
-------

You can use DNS aliases in place of bitcoin addresses, in most
commands.

.. code-block:: bash

   electron-cash payto ecdsa.net !


Formatting outputs using jq
---------------------------

Command outputs are either simple strings or json structured data. A
very useful utility is the 'jq' program.  Install it with:

.. code-block:: bash

   sudo apt-get install jq

The following examples use it.

Examples
--------

Sign and verify message
```````````````````````

We may use a variable to store the signature, and verify
it:

.. code-block:: bash

   sig=$(cat LICENCE| electron-cash signmessage 1JuiT4dM65d8vBt8qUYamnDmAMJ4MjjxRE -)
          
And:

.. code-block:: bash

   cat LICENCE | electron-cash verifymessage 1JuiT4dM65d8vBt8qUYamnDmAMJ4MjjxRE $sig -


Show the values of your unspents
````````````````````````````````

The 'listunspent' command returns a list of dict objects,
with various fields. Suppose we want to extract the 'value'
field of each record. This can be achieved with the jq
command:

.. code-block:: bash

   electron-cash listunspent | jq 'map(.value)'
          

Select only incoming transactions from history
``````````````````````````````````````````````

Incoming transactions have a positive 'value' field

.. code-block:: bash

   electron-cash history | jq '.[] | select(.value>0)'

Filter transactions by date
```````````````````````````

The following command selects transactions that were
timestamped after a given date:

.. code-block:: bash

   after=$(date -d '07/01/2015' +"%s")

   electron-cash history | jq --arg after $after '.[] | select(.timestamp>($after|tonumber))'
          

Similarly, we may export transactions for a given time
period:

.. code-block:: bash

   before=$(date -d '08/01/2015' +"%s")

   after=$(date -d '07/01/2015' +"%s")

   electron-cash history | jq --arg before $before --arg after $after '.[] | select(.timestamp&gt;($after|tonumber) and .timestamp&lt;($before|tonumber))'
          

Encrypt and decrypt messages
````````````````````````````

First we need the public key of a wallet address:

.. code-block:: bash

   pk=$(electron-cash getpubkeys 1JuiT4dM65d8vBt8qUYamnDmAMJ4MjjxRE| jq -r '.[0]')
          

Encrypt:

.. code-block:: bash

   cat | electron-cash encrypt $pk -

Decrypt:

.. code-block:: bash

   electron-cash decrypt $pk ?

Note: this command will prompt for the encrypted message, then for the
wallet password

Export private keys and sweep coins
```````````````````````````````````

The following command will export the private keys of all wallet
addresses that hold some bitcoins:

.. code-block:: bash

   electron-cash listaddresses --funded | electron-cash getprivatekeys -

This will return a list of lists of private keys. In most
cases, you want to get a simple list. This can be done by
adding a jq filer, as follows:

.. code-block:: bash

   electron-cash listaddresses --funded | electron-cash getprivatekeys - | jq 'map(.[0])'
          
Finally, let us use this list of private keys as input to the sweep
command:

.. code-block:: bash

   electron-cash listaddresses --funded | electron-cash getprivatekeys - | jq 'map(.[0])' | electron-cash sweep - 1uCMeviLYzwWh1P2gEh3R4X34ArzVUR1R