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Comment by CraigJPerry

4 years ago

Set a huuuuuuuge shell history https://github.com/craigjperry2/dotfiles/blob/aa77ddcbde63bf... then fzf ctrl+r bindings mean you can recall anything right where you need it.

If you’re going to do this then have an escape hatch for commands you don’t want memorised https://github.com/craigjperry2/dotfiles/blob/aa77ddcbde63bf...

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CraigJPerry

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gpmcadam  4 years ago

protip: use comments to remind yourself or make commands searchable, e.g.

    $ find . -iname 'package.json' -exec jq .version {} \; # get npm module version numbers for all packages

now when you search history you can do so with plain text:

    $ history | grep 'npm module version'

you could of course take this further by 'tagging' commands if you wish and then grep for that tag later to return longer cheatsheets

submeta  4 years ago

I‘ve been doing this ever since I migrated from Windows to Mac in 2015. My bash history has over 40k lines, datestamped. I can recall any command I have typed in my terminal in the past seven years. Extremely helpful whenever I need to repeat anything in the terminal.

# Edit

I sometimes add comments to commands via `# This‘ll do this and that` so that I can find the command by those keywords in the bash history.

  • kinduff  4 years ago

    This. I've been doing this for a couple of years now, I'm really used to it. I've been "traveling" with my history that is over 70k lines. My dot alias file has only 3 aliases (c=clear, q=exit, gti=git).

    Hope there's a project out there that helps parse, rank, or do something with a file like this. There must be interesting information.

  • _tom_  4 years ago

    Maybe I'm doing something wrong, but my bash history is missing many of my commands. I assumed it was due to poor handling of multiple open terminal windows and tabs.

    Is there something you are doing so the different sessions don't clobber each other?

swah  4 years ago

Your file just reminded me I have "broot" installed..

Its sad how I install all those things, forget about them the next day and cd/ls/vi like a caveman.

The problem is much deeper than you think, OP...

  • chrbr  4 years ago

    Yep, this is my real problem. Install something that looks cool, then get wrapped up in the day-to-day and never make it muscle memory.

    Sounds like I should be focusing on "one new workflow thing a week" and make it a daily habit to practice, or something.

    • swah  4 years ago

      To be honest, its not like the current way is slower - its just not that "cool".

      I seem to be using "zoxide" (ie "z prj") to jump to one of my projects after opening a terminal, and mostly stay on that folder for a few days.

      Some other things I'll do in Finder, etc.

exyi  4 years ago

I also use `history | vim -` to search through the history in the context of other things I was attempting to do. Say, if I try some command and it does not work, chances are it's not the first time and I have the correct version on the line bellow :)

smegsicle  4 years ago

a good idea, some notes:

1. 10,000 isn't 'huuuuge' for long lived workstations, but 100k ought to be good for a while (bash, but not zsh, allows disabling truncation entirely with SAVEHIST=-1)

2. if using bash, make sure that this init stuff is sourced by both login and non-login shells (from ~/.bash_profile vs ~/.bashrc respectively)

3. specifying a non-default HISTFILE near your SAVEHIST (as shown in that zshrc link) can go a long way toward avoiding an improperly-configured shell truncating your huge history log, eg point 2