this post was submitted on 16 Aug 2024
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Programmer Humor
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I'm not a programmer but I do this on the Linux command line all the time to find a command I used days or weeks ago. Or I'll spend 20 minutes grepping history instead. All to avoid spending 5 minutes reading the manpage so I can remember which flags and arguments I used.
Perhaps pressing [Ctrl]+[R] and typing to search makes it easier, I mean instead of grepping history?
Most terminal emulators support it.
You can also change your query (backspacing and typing again) and press [Ctrl]+[R] multiple times to go to older matches.
I will have to try that, I didn't know that functionality existed, thanks!
Let me tell you that you can also add comments to your terminal commands and use them to search history using fzf. This might sound confusing but basically you do this:
commandwithweirdoptions --option1=value1 --option2=value2 # run the usual thingThen you press Ctrl+R and type anything like «the thing», it uses fuzzy matching and finds the command in history, with a menu of other similar commands. Press enter, done.
Note that you need to have fzf installed, otherwise there is no fuzzy matching and no menu of matching history results.
Seems to work with [Ctrl]+[R] as well, though of course only with exact matches.
Sure, just as I said, this would work id you don't need menu or fuzzy matching. But I would recommend using fzf history search anyway, it's just too good.
M-hm, I will try it as well! I was just letting people know the comment trick works regardless, cause that's a nice tip as well!
I've never understood prompt decoration like this.
How.
Does.
Punctuating.
Every.
Statement.
Increase.
Readability.
It makes my eyes bleed.
You meant the PS1 prompt?
I just use one of the default oh-my-zsh themes that makes a clear line, so I can easily find the last line above a long output, for example when trying to read it back chronologically. With other PS1's I often scroll over it without noticing.