Tracking command history across multiple computers

Magic Shell

© Photo by Giulia May on Unsplash

© Photo by Giulia May on Unsplash

Article from Issue 265/2022
Author(s):

Atuin adds some handy queries to the shell history function, while letting you synchronize your command history across the network.

"What was that long command I entered on my notebook last year that showed me all the installed packages?" If questions like these sound all too familiar, read on.

Unix shells such as Bash, Fish, or Zsh already have basic functions for reviewing the last commands typed at the command line. The up arrow key can be used to browse the command history, with each keystroke scrolling back one entry.

For commands that were executed a while ago, the Bash history function offers a little more information and convenience. The history function first appeared in Unix in 1978 in the C shell and spread from there to many command-line interpreters up to and including Microsoft's command.exe. A detailed manual [1] for the history function can be found on the DigitalOcean website (Figure 1).

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