hstr - Man Page

hstr [option] [arg1] [arg2]...

hstr uses shell history to provide suggest box like functionality for commands used in the past. By default it parses .bash-history file that is filtered as you type a command substring. Commands  are not just filtered, but also ordered by a ranking algorithm that considers number of occurrences, length and timestamp.  Favorite and frequently used commands can be bookmarked. In addition hstr allows removal of commands from history - for instance with a typo  or with a sensitive content.

-h --help

Show help

-n --non-interactive

Print filtered history on standard output and exit

-k --kill-last-command

Delete the last command from history and exit

-i --insert-in-terminal=[command]

Insert custom command to terminal prompt and exit

-f --favorites

Show favorites view immediately

-s --show-configuration

Show configuration to be added to the config file of the shell (~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc)

-B --show-bash-configuration

Show Bash configuration to be added to ~/.bashrc

-Z --show-zsh-configuration

Show Zsh configuration to be added to ~/.zshrc

-b --show-blacklist

Show blacklist of commands to be filtered out before history processing

-V --version

Show version information

pattern

Type to filter shell history.

Ctrl-e

Toggle regular expression and substring search.

Ctrl-t

Toggle case sensitive search.

Ctrl-/,  Ctrl-7

Rotate view of history as provided by bash, ranked history ordered by the number of occurrences/length/timestamp and favorites.

Ctrl-f

Add currently selected command to favorites.

Ctrl-l

Toggle search pattern case.

Ctrl-r,  UP arrow, DOWN arrow, Ctrl-n,  Ctrl-p,  Ctrl-j,  Ctrl-k

Navigate in the history list.

TAB,  RIGHT arrow

Choose currently selected item for completion and let user to edit it on the command prompt.

LEFT arrow

Choose currently selected item for completion and let user to edit it in editor (fix command).

ENTER

Choose currently selected item for completion and execute it.

DEL

Remove currently selected item from the shell history.

BACKSPACE,  Ctrl-h

Delete last pattern character.

Ctrl-u,  Ctrl-w

Delete pattern and search again.

Ctrl-x

Write changes to shell history and exit.

Ctrl-g

Exit with empty prompt.

hstr defines the following environment variables:

HSTR_CONFIG

Configuration options:

hicolor
       Get more colors with this option (default is monochromatic).

monochromatic
       Ensure black and white view.

prompt-bottom
       Show prompt at the bottom of the screen (default is prompt at the top).

help-on-opposite-side
       Show help label on the opposite site (default is next to the prompt).

hide-basic-help
       Hide the basic help label.

hide-help
       Hide basic and history help labels. Implicitly sets hide-basic-help.

no-confirm
       Do not ask for confirmation on a history entry delete (default is with confirmation).

regexp-matching
       Filter command history using regular expressions.

substring-matching
       Filter command history using substring.

keywords-matching
       Filter command history using keywords - item matches if contains all keywords in pattern in any order (keywords match is default).

case-sensitive
       Make history filtering case sensitive (it's case insensitive by default).

raw-history-view
       Show normal history as a default view (metric-based view is shown otherwise).

favorites-view
       Show favorites as a default view (metric-based view is shown otherwise).

static-favorites
       Do not put recently used favorite to the head of favorites (favorites are reordered by default).

skip-favorites-comments
       Skip comments (lines beginning with #) when loading ~/.hstr_favorites (all lines are loaded by default).

duplicates
       Show duplicates in rawhistory (duplicates are discarded by default).

verbose-kill
       Print the last command command deleted from history (nothing is printed by default).

blacklist
       Load list of commands to skip when processing history from ~/.hstr_blacklist (built-in blacklist used otherwise).

keep-page
       Don't clear page with command selection on exit (page is cleared by default).

big-keys-skip
       Skip big history entries i.e. very long lines (default).

big-keys-floor
       Use different sorting slot for big keys when building metrics-based view (big keys are skipped by default).

big-keys-exit
       Exit (fail) on presence of a big key in history (big keys are skipped by default).

warning
       Show warning.

debug
       Show debug information.

Example:
       export HSTR_CONFIG=hicolor,regexp-matching,raw-history-view

HSTR_PROMPT

Change prompt string which is user@host$ by default.

Example:
       export HSTR_PROMPT="$ "

~/.hstr_favorites

Bookmarked favorite commands.

~/.hstr_blacklist

Commands to be hidden.

Add the following lines to ~/bashrc if TIOCSTI is not supported by your OS:

alias hh=hstr                    # hh to be alias for hstr
export HSTR_CONFIG=hicolor       # get more colors
shopt -s histappend              # append new history items to .bash_history
export HISTCONTROL=ignorespace   # leading space hides commands from history
export HISTFILESIZE=10000        # increase history file size (default is 500)
export HISTSIZE=${HISTFILESIZE}  # increase history size (default is 500)
# ensure synchronization between bash memory and history file
export PROMPT_COMMAND="history -a; history -n; ${PROMPT_COMMAND}"
function hstrnotiocsti {
    { HSTR_OUT="$( { </dev/tty hstr ${READLINE_LINE}; } 2>&1 1>&3 3>&- )"; } 3>&1;
    READLINE_LINE="$(hstr ${READLINE_LINE})"
    READLINE_POINT=${#READLINE_LINE}
}
# if this is interactive shell, then bind hstr to Ctrl-r (for Vi mode check doc)
if [[ $- =~ .*i.* ]]; then bind -x '"C-r": "hstrnotiocsti"'; fi
export HSTR_TIOCSTI=n

Optionally add the following lines to ~/.bashrc if TIOCSTI is supported by your OS:

alias hh=hstr                    # make hh alias of hstr
export HSTR_CONFIG=hicolor       # get more colors
shopt -s histappend              # append new history items to .bash_history
export HISTCONTROL=ignorespace   # leading space hides commands from history
export HISTFILESIZE=10000        # increase history file size (default is 500)
export HISTSIZE=${HISTFILESIZE}  # increase history size (default is 500)
# ensure synchronization between bash memory and history file
export PROMPT_COMMAND="history -a; history -n; ${PROMPT_COMMAND}"
# if this is interactive shell, then bind hstr to Ctrl-r (for Vi mode check doc)
if [[ $- =~ .*i.* ]]; then bind '"\C-r": "\C-a hstr -- \C-j"'; fi

Add the following lines to ~/zshrc if TIOCSTI is not supported by your OS:

alias hh=hstr                    # hh to be alias for hstr
setopt histignorespace           # skip cmds w/ leading space from history
export HSTR_CONFIG=hicolor       # get more colors
hstr_no_tiocsti() {
    zle -I
    { HSTR_OUT="$( { </dev/tty hstr ${BUFFER}; } 2>&1 1>&3 3>&- )"; } 3>&1;
    BUFFER="${HSTR_OUT}"
    CURSOR=${#BUFFER}
    zle redisplay
}
zle -N hstr_no_tiocsti
bindkey 'C-r' hstr_no_tiocsti
export HSTR_TIOCSTI=n

Optionally add the following lines to ~/.zshrc if TIOCSTI is supported by your OS:

export HSTR_CONFIG=hicolor            # get more colors
setopt histignorespace                # skip cmds w/ leading space from history
bindkey -s "\C-r" "\C-a hstr -- \C-j" # bind hstr to Ctrl-r (for Vi mode check doc)

hstr git

Start hstr and show only history items containing 'git'.

hstr cpp add git

Start hstr and show only history items containing 'cpp', 'add' and 'git'.

hstr --non-interactive git

Print history items containing 'git' to standard output and exit.

hstr --show-configuration >> ~/.bashrc

Append default hstr configuration to your Bash profile.

hstr --show-configuration >> ~/.zhrc

Append default hstr configuration to your Zsh profile.

hstr --show-blacklist

Show blacklist configured for history processing.

hstr --insert-in-terminal="git add . && git diff --cached"

Insert command in terminal prompt and exit.

Written by Martin Dvorak <martin.dvorak@mindforger.com>

Report bugs to https://github.com/dvorka/hstr/issues

history(1), bash(1), zsh(1)