Questions tagged [bash-history]
Refers to the history of commands that have been run previously in Bash.
101
questions
161
votes
5
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View history of commands run in terminal
Is there a way to save all my typed terminal commands and view it like history in a log book?
49
votes
2
answers
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Bash history not saved after closing terminal
I recently replaced my Ubuntu 14.04 installation with Ubuntu Gnome (which comes with Gnome DE). But I noticed that bash history is not saved once the terminal session is closed. Once I close a ...
21
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5
answers
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How do I rerun the second-to-last command?
I'm using Ubuntu 21.10. If I mess up, I can re-run the last command with !!. Here's an example:
$ apt update
Reading package lists... Done
E: Could not open lock file /var/lib/apt/lists/lock - open (...
19
votes
5
answers
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how do I remove the last 5 lines in bash history?
How can I remove the last 5 lines in bash history? So that when I reload the Ubuntu server, or restart it they're not there at all?
history -c only removes it from current session, but when I re-login ...
19
votes
3
answers
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Finding an old command in the shell history [duplicate]
How can I find an old command I ran in my terminal?
I used an appengine command and wish to just find it in my local command history without researching it online again.
15
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1
answer
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multiline command chunks in bash history into multiple lines
In Bash (as well as Bash in WSL), multiline written commands can call-back with up/down arrows correctly also built-in history command report them correctly (until I'm still logged-in in bash).
But ...
15
votes
1
answer
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How do I go back to the bottom of history after pressing up in Bash?
If I scroll way up or use Ctrlr search and go way up in the history, how to get back down to the clear line? I know I can clear with Ctrle, Crtlu, but that modifies them. Is there an official way ...
14
votes
5
answers
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Hide "history -d" in bash history
If I accidentally type my password or anything else sensitive in bash I can easily remove that line with history -d ROW#, but I'm always left with the history -d ROW# command in history showing ...
14
votes
1
answer
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Why does the '!!' shortcut fail to execute the previously run command?
Recently I typed at my terminal
username:~$ !!
and got error from bash:
bash: !!: command not found
At the same time, it succeeds when done under superuser.
I investigated my user's PATH's ...
13
votes
1
answer
4k
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How does the history command work?
When I type any command in the terminal, it doesn't appear in my ~/.bash_history file until I exit my session.
Also, when I manually edit my ~/.bash_history file (for example I remove the last three ...
12
votes
2
answers
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Half of bash history is missing
The other night I was reading AU Q&A and used a bash command:
inxi -????
Problem is today I don't remember characters comprising ????. I want to put the command and parameters into my ...
12
votes
1
answer
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Terminal replacing ! followed by a number with a command
I'm very confused about my ubuntu terminal session, it seems to replace sections in commands that start by ! followed by a number with seemingly random commands. It does that with !87 replacing it ...
11
votes
4
answers
11k
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How can I automatically rotate/archive my bash history logs?
I know that Bash has both HISTSIZE and HISTFILESIZE variables that control how long history is saved for, and how much of it is saved. I would like to keep an archive of my history. However, if I ...
11
votes
2
answers
2k
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How to prevent saving bash commands *with* space in front
I read that, in order to not save bash commands to .bash_history, you put a space in front. This worked on all my embedded Linux PCs but not on my desktop with Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. I just thought it was ...
10
votes
0
answers
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missing .bash_history [closed]
I cant find .bash_history file in my home directory. I do:
echo $HISTFILE
/home/myname/.bash_history
But if I try to list the file with ls, I get:
$ ls -l ~/.bash_history
ls: cannot access /home/...
9
votes
3
answers
2k
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How do I search shell command history with a text editor?
I know that Ctrl+R let's you search command history, but it's a little primitive. Is there a way to export all my command history (not just the current terminal session, but the full history) to a ...
9
votes
1
answer
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HISTCONTROL=ignoreboth doesn't work [duplicate]
The default .bashrc in the standard distribution of Ubuntu 16.04 that comes with AWS has these lines:
# don't put duplicate lines or lines starting with space in the history.
# See bash(1) for more ...
9
votes
1
answer
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How can I transfer my bash history to a new system?
My bash history is my memory, it contains commands that I don't want to loose when I update to a newer version of Ubuntu or change my computer.
Is it possible to transfer the commands database to a ...
8
votes
7
answers
8k
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Deleting history from ~/.bash_history
I have a couple questions about the terminal or command line history that is stored in ~/.bash_history.
I can see the file in the terminal with the history command but if I try to open it with gedit ...
8
votes
1
answer
2k
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Use the bang-commands (e.g. '!!') of bash in scripts and aliases?
Is it possible to use the so-called bang-commands (! + command/symbol, like e.g. !! or !$:p) in bash scripts and in bash aliases?
I wanted to add the line
alias getit='sudo apt-get install !!'
to ...
8
votes
2
answers
6k
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How to see time in ~/.bash_history file
I added time to the ~/.bashrc file, so now it shows me time when I execute history command like this:
376 04/10/19 20:39:52 sudo cat ~/.bash_history
377 04/10/19 20:40:04 date
378 07/10/19 ...
8
votes
3
answers
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Install Linux Mint Cinnamon's polished Ctrl+R/"reverse-i-search" on Ubuntu?
In Mint, when you hit Ctrl+R in any terminal, you get a pretty nice UI for the reverse-i-search.
(To clarify - I'm referring to the extra polish provided in Mint - the UI is a step above the basic ...
7
votes
2
answers
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Why is history and .bash_history different and how to delete an entry in history?
So I know ~/.bash_history should be the file storing all the history and that you can just type in history to see all the contents of this file.
Why would my .bash_history file have just 5 entries ...
7
votes
1
answer
569
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Making reverse-incremental-search in terminal easier using comments
When you press Ctrl+r in terminal this leads to use the reverse-incremental-search mode.
The reverse-i-search lets you search for previous commands in your terminal, but this can get confusing when ...
6
votes
1
answer
6k
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Command history seems to be missing the first 75 lines
A couple of years ago, I did the automatic distribution update from 14.04 to 16.04. For the first time in my life, I was able to continue to use the computer after the automatic distribution update. ...
6
votes
1
answer
2k
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How to make the terminal autocomplete based on previously entered commands? [duplicate]
It's normal when using terminals that pressing up and down cycles through previous commands entered chronologically.
I learned from a site how to add to that behaviour by autocompleting what I'm ...
5
votes
2
answers
663
views
Creating a complete and alphabetically sorted .txt file of bash history
I want to have a complete and sorted list of my bash history. But there are some problems:
By doing history the list never shows the complete list and only 1000 commands are shown.
In my $HOME ...
5
votes
2
answers
6k
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Does the `reset` command wipes up the session memory used by commands?
There is a reset command I can use in bash, which I think is part of core-utils. Does it clean up the RAM used by previous commands from the Terminal session?
I mean everything written into the ...
5
votes
1
answer
2k
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make sudoers use their own history file
I just can't seem to get it to work in Ubuntu, it should be a simple answer, maybe someone can help me. All I am trying to do is get a sudoers to use their own history file, but if I set the history ...
4
votes
3
answers
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Does bash (or any shell, for that matter) have an 'overwrite' mode?
I'm running similar commands on (e.g.) a set of files. As an example, let's say I'm doing something like this (this isn't what I'm doing, it's just an example):
> cat path/to/dir/file01.txt
[...
4
votes
1
answer
551
views
Different history for different terminals
I would like to have something like "history environment", so for different consoles I can access different histories.
I have different terminals defined, I would like to have for each ...
4
votes
1
answer
816
views
when parent directory is mounted on to new volume, i cannot see the sub directory which was existing earlier
After mounting /yesh onto a new volume, I cannot see the sub directory /yesh/data001 which was existing before mounting.
If the sub directory is existing where can I find it?
4
votes
2
answers
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Trap gnome-terminal close button
I can trap the exit command from a gnome-terminal window using the
Bash trap command, but it only works if the user types exit in the terminal window. If the user clicks the close button instead, the ...
4
votes
1
answer
598
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What do the numbers mean in output of history?
Output of history command looks like this:
1975 mkdir adrnln/work_dump
1976 ls
1977 code
What do the numbers on the left side mean?
Is it true that commands entered for example on Monday will be ...
4
votes
1
answer
251
views
How to clear "run a comand" history?
I have been trying to clear ubuntu's 'run my command' history but cannot find any way. if any one have the solution please tell
3
votes
3
answers
2k
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PowerShell-like history auto suggestion for Bash
Microsoft added a neat feature in the 7.3.0 release of PowerShell called Predictive IntelliSense which autosuggests commands to enter as you type based on the history. Such a suggestion can be ...
3
votes
1
answer
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lines starts with # and integers in .bash_history
I see lines contains #1582696021 . Whats is this? In SIEM we use it seems like a command running by user.
Any help or documentation would be appreciated.
Best
3
votes
2
answers
631
views
After removing .bash_history?
After I remove .bash_history, will .bash_history ever be recreated again? If so what creates it after it has been removed?
3
votes
1
answer
3k
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Clear the history of recent commands in terminal [duplicate]
How to clear the history of recent commands in terminal so that I am unable to scroll through them with up and down arrow keys? Closing and reopening the terminal doesn't seem to clear the history. ...
3
votes
2
answers
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views
Customise up and down keys to match cmd (point-in-time) functionality
How do I customise Bash so that up and down keys are the same as in cmd?
E.g.
$echo command1
$echo command2
$echo command3
$echo command4
In both Bash and cmd, pressing ↑, ↑, ↑, ENTER will run echo ...
3
votes
2
answers
326
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How to stop command number incrementation on duplicate command?
Problem
Thanks to this question, I succeed to forbid my bash to stock the same command more than one time if I write many times the same command.
However, there is still a detail that I cannot ...
3
votes
2
answers
572
views
!x not found - bash script
I made a simple bash script to run a range of commands in your history, but it's not working.
read -p "control + c to cancel"
for i in $(seq $1 $2) ...
3
votes
1
answer
3k
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Bash History is not Working
I recently upgraded to Ubuntu 14.04 Server Edition. The first thing I noticed is that my bash history seems to be broken. When I press the up arrow I should be able to view my recent commands, however ...
2
votes
1
answer
2k
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Can users with the same $HOME have separate bash histories?
I have two users, that have the same home directory:
useradd -m -d /home/mydir user1
useradd -m -d /home/mydir user2
and they are in the same group.
But I have a problem, when someone logged in the ...
2
votes
1
answer
3k
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How to run an anonymous terminal session?
This question by Paranoid Panda asks about incognito terminal use. This means history is not recorded in bash_history; so you can't access commands that were entered during that session.
However this ...
2
votes
3
answers
807
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key-shortcut accessible command-history (in gnome-terminal) for irssi sessions needed!
I use gnome-terminal in combination with irssi and I am wondering if there's anything like .bash_history logfile for irssi, that can be used/implemented/set up, that enables one to retrieve previously ...
2
votes
1
answer
4k
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Bash History: Default size should be 500 but getting 1000
As this question suggest that bash keeps last 500 entries in history. But following command suggest otherwise,
$ echo $HISTSIZE
1000
I have never changed bash history settings or config files other ...
2
votes
1
answer
470
views
What to do after entering sudo password as plain text into terminal?
A few days ago i entered my sudo password (and hence my root password) into the terminal as plain text by mistake.
I wanted to change my password, but forgot to enter the passwd command, and only ...
2
votes
1
answer
104
views
Start gnome-terminal with predefined history
I would like to start a Gnome terminal window with a predefined history file.
I tried:
gnome-terminal -e 'bash -c "history -c; history -r ~/test.hist; exec bash"'
but it still uses the standard ...
2
votes
0
answers
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When using the history command , is it possible to get more details such as timestamp of each result? [duplicate]
History command options to see more details such as timestamp of each command entered