c/linux · by learnbyexample@programming.dev · 1y

Curate your shell history

https://esham.io/2025/05/shell-history

57 points · 8 comments · view on lemmy.world

8 Comments

vort3@lemmy.ml · 27 pts · 1y (1 reply)

I comment the commands that I want and then use vim to remove ones without comments.

For example, I run:

longandannoyingcommand -f1 -f2 -f3 # keep, does something useful

Usually comment explains what the command does so I can find it by description using fzf history search. And then you can easily find all lines that contain (or do not contain "# keep") in your history to remove or keep.

grrgyle@slrpnk.net · 7 pts · 1y

We are same. I sometimes use comments as kind of tags, like

xinput --disable $(xinput --list | grep -i touchpad | grep 'id=[0-9]\+' -o | cut -d= -f2)  # Disable synaptic touchpad trackpad pointer

python3 -c 'from ctypes import *; X11 = cdll.LoadLibrary("libX11.so.6"); X11.XOpenDisplay.restype = POINTER(c_ubyte); display = X11.XOpenDisplay(None); X11.XkbLockModifiers(display, c_uint(0x0100), c_uint(2), c_uint(0)); X11.XCloseDisplay(display)' # swap caps CAPS CAPSLOCK

or sometimes I'll add # works at the end of a long string of attempts (usually involving dialing into a regexp), like

xdpyinfo|grep dimensions|grep -Eow '\d'
xdpyinfo|grep dimensions|grep -Eow '(\d)'
xdpyinfo|grep dimensions|grep -ow '(\d)'
xdpyinfo|grep dimensions|grep -o '(\d)'
xdpyinfo|grep dimensions
xdpyinfo|grep dimensions|grep '1920x1080'
xdpyinfo|grep dimensions|grep -o '1920x1080'
xdpyinfo|grep dimensions|grep -o '\d920x1080'
xdpyinfo|grep dimensions|grep -Po '\d920x1080'
xdpyinfo|grep dimensions|grep -Po '\d+x1080'
xdpyinfo|grep dimensions|grep -Po '\d+x\d+'
xdpyinfo|grep dimensions|grep -Po '(\d+x\d+)'
xdpyinfo|grep dimensions|grep -Po '(\d+x\d+) pixels'
xdpyinfo|grep dimensions|grep -Po '(\d+x\d+) pixels'|cut
xdpyinfo|grep dimensions|grep -Po '(\d+x\d+) pixels'|cut -f1
xdpyinfo|grep dimensions|grep -Po '(\d+x\d+) pixels'|cut -d\ -f1
xdpyinfo|grep dimensions|grep -Po '(\d+x\d+) pixels'|cut -d'' -f1
scrot --quality 1 --compression 0 --format jpg - | convert -scale 10% -scale 1000% -quality 100 - RGB:- | i3lock --image /dev/stdin --raw 3840x1818:rgb --nofork
xdpyinfo|grep dimensions|grep -Po '(\d+x\d+) pixels'|cut -d' ' -f1
xdpyinfo|grep dimensions|grep -Po '(\d+x\d+) pixels'|cut -d' ' -f1 # works

Jinna@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 12 pts · 1y

Atuin (by @ellie@hachyderm.io) makes the history storage and management side much easier and portable, but could perhaps use a "smite mode" to make deletion interactively easier. The current interactive implementation prioritizes safety over expediency which is fine, but a "today I clean things" option could perhaps instead prioritize the other way around and enable one key delete w/ undo instead.

PotatoesFall@discuss.tchncs.de · 3 pts · 1y

Is this some sort of bash/zsh joke that I'm too fish to understand?

Okay I can see how curating could work. But if you're lazy like me, I recommend this:

https://github.com/PatrickF1/fzf.fish

karpintero@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 1y (3 replies)

I might try this. Normally would just pipe history into grep to search or scroll till I found the right command. Also smite is a great name for that function.

elmicha@feddit.org · 10 pts · 1y (2 replies)

I use ctrl-r.

karpintero@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 1y

Excellent, thanks

utopiah@lemmy.ml · 2 pts · 1y

Right, I was starting to think "Oh yeah and maybe I could fzf history..." then wait, I already do that reverse-i-search then edit. If I use that often enough, alias in ~/.bashrc or even function to make it composable.