Intelligently Arranged
McFly upgrades Bash with artificial intelligence
When it comes to working at the command line, using Bash history effectively can save you time. McFly extends the Bash history's features and helps you find past commands more quickly.
The most popular Linux shell by far is the GNU Bourne-Again Shell (Bash for short). One of its many outstanding features is its integrated command history, where Bash saves previously run command lines so that you can recall them later on without a lot of typing.
Listing 1 shows the output you'll see if you enter the history command at the terminal prompt. Each line begins with a line number in ascending order. The last command line to have been entered is at the end of the history list. You can use the arrow keys to scroll backward or forward one step in the history in the terminal. Pressing the Enter key copies the displayed line and runs it again.
Bash supports two approaches to searching for specific strings directly in the history: Ctrl+R searches backwards from the current cursor position; Ctrl+S searches forwards from the current cursor position. Ctrl+S only makes sense if you have already advanced further back in the history and are no longer at the end. In addition, entering Ctrl+S only works in an appropriately configured terminal; normally, this keyboard shortcut blocks the terminal.
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
US / Canada
UK / Australia