Filtering ZSH history by command
FilteringHistoryZshFiltering Problem Overview
I was told that in ZSH you could do something like command and then when you hit up it would filter the history based on the given command. But when I try this it just cycles the history like bash does. Is this disabled by default?
Filtering Solutions
Solution 1 - Filtering
Hit Ctrl+R, type some letters, it will find the previous command with these letters, keep hitting Ctrl+R to continue through the previous findings.
Works in bash, zsh (and other shells i suppose).
What i personally like to have is: type some letters, press Up, the previous commands starting with the same letters appear. Very powerful, i love it.
You have to bind the keys you want to history-beginning-search-backward and history-beginning-search-forward.
In case it's not enough for you, zsh has a lot of options, try to look in Zsh Line Editor and tell us.
For bash, less powerful but more common, Bash commands for history.
Solution 2 - Filtering
Use exclamation point:
> !<starts-with this string>
You can arrow up/down through all commands that started with that. I use "!v" all the time to get my previous command for opening a file with Vim.
You can also use a question mark to search beyond matching the beginning of the string,
> !?status
Can find "git status".
Solution 3 - Filtering
Use percol to dynamically search and navigate through your history with Ctrl-r.
- install percol:
sudo pip install percol - add the zsh-history-search code snippet to your .zshrc file.
After a Ctrl-r, you can see your whole history in the same window. Searching for a keyword (dynamically) narrows that list down. You can use key-bindings (like this emacs like config) to navigate up and down the list and eventually make a selection.
Here is a search for all sudo install commands available in history with sudo make install selected.
Enter issues the selected command.
Solution 4 - Filtering
With the vim keybindings activated in zsh you can use vi-history-search-backward (/) when in vi command mode.
Solution 5 - Filtering
That's a feature available in fish, but it seems like someone made a zsh plugin for it. It's not available in standard ZSH.
Solution 6 - Filtering
We can also use fzf to fuzzy search the command history interactively.
Here is how to install:
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/junegunn/fzf.git ~/.fzf
~/.fzf/install
Say yes to all its configs. After that, restart your zsh shell, and press Ctrl-R, whoa, interactive command history search pops up. Enjoy!
Solution 7 - Filtering
If you don't want to add any keybindings, you can search by default using Ctrl+R to move backward & Ctrl+S to move forward. > You can start search with any of the key shortcuts Ctrl+R or Ctrl+S