Search in bash history

categories:

You typed a long command earlier and don’t want to bother retyping it ?

At the prompt, press Ctrl + r You’ll be in “reverse-search-history” mode.

Type the beginning of the command, and type Ctrl + r again to browse through the history.

Sometimes I’m starting typing a command and realize I must already have that command in history. I can’t use Ctrl + r in the middle of the command and expect reverse-search-history to work.

For that, you need to edit either /etc/inputrc (as root) if you want to make the changes available system-wide or edit your $HOME/.inputrc, add :

"C-f": history-search-backward "C-g": history-search-forward

Log off and log back in, now you can start typing a command, and press Ctrl + f to search the history for commands beginning by what you’ve just typed. Type Ctrl + g to search in reverse.

More info ? $ info rluserman



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