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Mac terminal search command history

You can also rerun a prior command by its relative position using negative numbers. For example, to run the last command you can enter "!!

Better command history browsing in Terminal

In addition to referencing the history by number, you can do so by name. For example, if you have run a command that begins with "pico" to invoke this editor on a document but since then have changed directory or listed directory contents a few times, you can immediately repeat the command that began with "pico" by the following command:.

This can be used to locate the last command that begins with the provided text, but a final approach here is to repeat the last command that includes the mentioned text, which may be convenient to pick out one of many commands that were run with "sudo. The question marks here are like wild cards, so you can remove the one at the end to have the first command run that ended in the included string, which might be a convenient way to re-edit a specific script file if you have just run commands to edit a number of different scripts.

A similar approach to the exclamation point can be done by entering the command "fc -s" alone or followed by the name of the prior command to run.

This can be aliased or scripted as a separate command, but is a bit redundant to the use of the exclamation point. The Terminal history will not be written to the history file until you close the current Terminal session, so this approach can be useful for transfering commands from one Terminal session to another.


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For instance, if you have two Terminals open and enter a complex command in one, to get it to the second Terminal window, simply close the first this will write its history buffer to the history file , and then in the second window type "history -r" to re-read the saved history file. With these actions done, then scroll up using the arrow keys in the second Terminal window you can also use the history function to location the position of the command from the closed Terminal session. After you scroll through the second window's history buffer it will start revealing the commands in the history file, with the first one being the complex command from the initial Terminal window.

Using the history in the manners mentioned can be useful, but in addition you may wish to remove an entry or two from the history, or clear it completely if needed. To do this, you can either close the Terminal windows and then remove the history file, or in what is a simpler approach, run "history -c" in the Terminal to clear the history, followed by entering "history -w" to write the now empty history file.

These steps will clear the entire history, which may not always be desired, especially if you only wish to remove a single command that perhaps shows the location of a private file or is one you would perhaps not wish to inadvertently run again. To do this, you can remove the history line by number.

How to search your Terminal history

First use the history command by itself to list the entire history or at least enough lines of it to reveal the unwanted command , and then note the identifier number for the command and run the following to remove it from the history:. Have a fix? Post them below or e-mail us! Mobile World Congress Get complete coverage from the world's biggest phone show.

Search through terminal history with up and down keys in OS X Lion - Ask Different

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Rerunning commands

It would be great to access all my commands run in terminal on OS X so I can review and use as a running reminder sheet. I'm using Reverse-I-Search prompt, and have updated my. How to search Terminal command history. Now, either edit. Do you have any ideas how I could access in order to output the terminal command history in OS X?


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That file is regularly pruned, but if you followed the guide in your link, the. In case you still need a fix for this, here's how I did mine.

Working With Processes

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Clear All of Your Bash History

Navigate to the Home folder by entering: What else do you need to know, can you clarify?