How I log commands for a permanent history

KenJackson · 10-13-2017, 10:42 AM

The history command is very helpful to show the last commands that were entered on the command line, but it rolls over, so the commands you entered a while ago are gone.

This is a solution I came up with which I use everywhere I have access. I have directory $HOME/bin on my path, and this script named log in that directory:

Code:

#!/bin/sh
LOG="$HOME/logs/cmdlog.txt"

test $# -lt 1  &&  echo "Log what?"  &&  exit
test -f $LOG  ||  { mkdir -p ${LOG%/*} && touch $LOG; }  ||  exit 127

date "+%D  $*" >> $LOG

After I get a command to work right that I know I'm going to want to reference, I hit up arrow, CTRL-A to get to the front of it, type "log " and hit enter. (I may need to add quotes and/or backslashes if it's a complicated command.) Now it's a permanent entry in my personal log file.

I also have these two functions declared in my standard .bashrc file, which I copy to all machines I have access to. They make it easy to find things in the log file.

Code:

greplog() { test -n "$1"  &&  grep "$@" "$HOME/logs/cmdlog.txt"; }
taillog() { tail $* "$HOME/logs/cmdlog.txt"; }

hazel · 10-13-2017, 11:47 AM

The tee command lets you save a copy of your input too.

ondoho · 10-13-2017, 11:57 AM

i use these in my bashrc:

Code:

HISTSIZE=50000
HISTFILESIZE=2000000
HISTCONTROL=ignoredups:erasedups
shopt -s histappend

i.e. a ridiculously large history.

has never failed me so far.

KenJackson · 10-13-2017, 12:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ondoho

i.e. a ridiculously large history.

has never failed me so far.

Is it large enough to show you commands you entered in 2009? Here's a smattering of commands I saved from yesteryear. It's not that these are crucial, it's just that I found them useful at some point and I want to be able to remember how I did something or see when I did a particular thing.

Code:

04/30/09  grep -i '^(EE)\|^(WW)\|dri[^a-z]\|direct\|chipse' /var/log/Xorg.0.log
06/06/09  sudo brctl addbr br0
06/06/09  sudo brctl addif br0 eth0
11/23/09  sudo semanage port -a -t http_port_t -p tcp 8864
06/13/10  sudo preupgrade-cli "Fedora 13 (Goddard)"
05/28/11  sudo setsebool -P httpd_read_user_content 1
05/30/11  sudo setsebool -P wine_mmap_zero_ignore 1  # See wine bug 15569
10/18/11  su -c 'echo /usr/local/lib > /etc/ld.so.conf.d/local.conf'
12/17/11  sudo systemctl start httpd.service
12/19/11  sudo systemctl --system enable httpd.service

ondoho · 10-13-2017, 12:49 PM

i wasn't even using linux in 2009

no, my reckoning is if i didn't reuse it by the time it gets rotated, it can't have been too important.

this concept hasn't failed me so far.

or, if there should ever be such a command that i entered only once in my linux careeer, yet it is still very, very important, i'd probably have made a blog post about it...

scasey · 10-13-2017, 01:07 PM

KenJackson: Thank you for sharing a pretty good idea. I will probably use it.

When I've struggled with creating something at the command line, I usually just save it as a script once I have it worked out.
I tend to do the same thing after finding something in history for the upteenth time. My ~/bin has lots in it, and it's in my $PATH.
I've been doing things like that since at least 1999.