(reverse-i-search) (Ctrl+R) replacement.
There are many tools out there to enhance history and searchability. To name a few I found and were inspired by (in alphabetical order):
But all those, and frankly, the default history lack (in my view) is good ergonomics to find and use part of a previously executed command.
Some times, I want to do something like:
I want to find what program is using up port 4000 and 4001.
And my typical workflow goes like this:
- Search "linux netstat program port".
- Open the same StackOverflow question that has the snippet:
netstat -nlp | grep 9000 - Copy that command and execute.
- Up arrow (↑) to re-type the previous command.
Ctrl + wto delete the last9000.- Type in
4000 - Realize I'm not logged as super user
- Up arrow (↑) to re-type the previous command.
Hometo go the the start of the line.- Type in
sudo. Enter. Success I found the program on port4000.- Up arrow (↑) to re-type the previous command.
Ctrl + wto delete the last4000.- Type in
4001. Enter. Success I found the program on port4001.
Many might know that step 9 and 10 could be replace by typing: sudo !!, as !! get expanded to the to the previous command executed.
Some might even know that steps 12, 13 and 14 can be done by doing ^4000^4001^.
From the manual of history:
^string1^string2^
Quick substitution. Repeat the last command, replacing string1 with string2. Equivalent to
``!!:s/string1/string2/'' (see Modifiers below).)
But, most notable for me is that steps 4, 5 and 6 can be replaces with: !:0- 4000. This can be read as: “Re-run the last command (!) but take the arguments from the start (0) to the last word (-) and then concatenate 4000”.
Long gone are the days where we have terminals and no arrow keys. This makes no sense why there is no TUI-like utility. Well… there was no TUI-like utility until now!!
The recommended way of using happy-history is to do some bash/zsh magic to bind the execution. But it is not necessary.
Once you are in happy-history, you can do exactly the same as you were doing in reverse-i-search. To reiterate, this is a drop-in replacement of that functionality. So sudo !!, ^4000^4001^, et al. all keep working
One in happy-history you can type as you did in reverse-i-search.
You can scroll though the results with Ctrl + R or the vertical arrow keys (↑/↓).
Pressing horizontal arrows keys (→/←) focuses on the command. There you can move about and edit in place.
To go back to searching, press Ctrl + R or the vertical arrow keys (↑/↓) again.
| Default Key bind | Action |
|---|---|
| Ctrl + R | Search the previous occurrence of the searched term |
| Esc | Exit |
| Enter | Execute the command |
| ↑/↓ | Scroll though occurrences of the searched term. If no term was searched, it scrolls though previous commands*. |
| →/←/Home/End | Switch focus to the command editor, and move the cursor around |
| Ctrl + E | Open an editor with the current command. The resulting command will be executed. sort of like fc |
- How to install in bash (
bind? vi mode / emacs mode) - How to install in zsh (zsh plugin?)
- Should we deal with pipes as a different event?
- Can
hhtype the command without executing it?
Check Architecture.md for a more in-depth explanation of the source code and the development.