Check command history, but avoid running it

!whatever:p

!whatever will search your command history and execute the first command that matches 'whatever'. If you don't feel safe doing this put :p on the end to print without executing. Recommended when running as superuser.

196

By: jonty

2009-02-05 21:39:39

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What Others Think

not working on my ubuntu machine or mac.

cowholio4 · 846 weeks and 2 days ago

Pressing +r then start typing the command will show you live updates of the history as you type. You can also use the up and down arrows to find the one your looking for.

pkkid · 846 weeks and 2 days ago

@cowholio4: i got it working with both ubuntu and os x; you did not actually type in !whatever:p did you?

p3k · 846 weeks and 1 day ago

Works on Opensuse 11, very cool!

Williebee · 846 weeks ago

looklike it works, but may be batter to cat .bash_history? or I`d just not understand the true meaning of this thing

GreyCardinal · 845 weeks and 5 days ago

Oh! understood! ubuntu 8.10 -works debian etch - no -:(

GreyCardinal · 845 weeks and 4 days ago

@p3k hahah.... thanks. Still i prefer control + r

cowholio4 · 844 weeks and 6 days ago

I can only think that the :p means "just kidding about re-executing it" :)

Buzzcp · 836 weeks and 5 days ago

ctrl+r works better and everywhere.

oringo · 833 weeks and 5 days ago

... or you could just set histverify ("shopt -s histverify") and be done.

akg240 · 816 weeks and 3 days ago

On ubuntu also: history|grep whatever That will show every time in your history file the command has been called rather than just the last time.

magikid · 798 weeks and 3 days ago

Agree with C-r

Erus · 789 weeks and 2 days ago

use bash lusers! pkkid is right!

buzzy · 782 weeks and 4 days ago

To those who say Ctrl-R works everwhere, try running Ctrl-R on csh/tcsh, or ksh, Ctrl-R only works on bash and Z shell. While !search:p works on many more, also it is more continent to type a simple command in than to use a shell feature, as you can use it in a string of commands.

Chartreuse · 780 weeks and 6 days ago

function hg(){ history | grep $1; } Then "hg command" will print all previous commands

quincymd · 776 weeks and 5 days ago

it works fine like this: 1. type echo hello then you have it in your history. now you can type: !echo and you get "echo hello" in your commandline with the cursor at the end, so you can edit it before you commit it or you press ^C to cancel very useful!

rubo77 · 757 weeks and 3 days ago

xafanih532 · 45 weeks and 6 days ago

What do you think?

Any thoughts on this command? Does it work on your machine? Can you do the same thing with only 14 characters?

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