history

Basic Usage

Display the command history list with line numbers.

history

Display the last n lines of the history list.

history 10

Clear the history list.

history -c

Delete the history entry at position n.

history -d 100

Reuse parts of previous commands to speed up your workflow.

Command	Description
`!!`	Run the last command again.
`!$`	Last argument of the last command.
`!^`	First argument of the last command.
`!*`	All arguments of the last command.
`!:n`	The nth argument of the last command.
`!n`	Run command number `n` from history.
`!-n`	Run the command `n` lines back.
`!string`	Run the most recent command starting with `string`.
`!?string?`	Run the most recent command containing `string`.
`^old^new`	Replace `old` with `new` in the previous command and run it.

Interactively search through command history (reverse search).

Ctrl + R

Search forward in history (if configured).

Ctrl + S

Environment variables that control history behavior.

Variable	Description
`HISTSIZE`	The number of commands to remember in the command history.
`HISTFILESIZE`	The maximum number of lines contained in the history file.
`HISTFILE`	The name of the file in which command history is saved (default `~/.bash_history`).
`HISTCONTROL`	Controls how commands are saved (e.g., `ignorespace`, `ignoredups`, `ignoreboth`).
`HISTTIMEFORMAT`	If set, the time stamp is printed associated with each history entry.

Example configuration in .bashrc:

Ignore duplicate commands and commands starting with a space.

export HISTCONTROL=ignoreboth

Append to the history file instead of overwriting it.

shopt -s histappend

Set in-memory history length.

export HISTSIZE=1000

Set on-disk history length.

export HISTFILESIZE=2000

Add timestamps to history entries.

export HISTTIMEFORMAT="%F %T "

Write current history to the history file.

history -w

Append current history to the history file.

history -a

Read the history file and append to the current history list.

history -r