Hi, I've been trying to get timestamps on the history command. I found the following
export HISTTIMEFORMAT="%F %T "
- and it works ok - but after I logout and log back in the history command is back to normal.

So I did a little more searching and found this
export HISTTIMEFORMAT='%F %T - %H:%M:%S ' >> ~/.bashrc

I thought exporting to .bashrc would "save" the command - but I guess I am wrong.

My questions is what do I need to do to get timestamps on history evertime I log on?
And additional question - how/where do I set it for all users?

Thanks for helping

BenMie

Logging out completely, not just that xterm, but completely logging out, then back in should work.
To set for all users, add to /etc/profile.

Or, as an alternative to modifying /etc/profile ..
Create a file local_bash_stuff_with_a_long_funny_name.sh
under /etc/profile.d, make it executable and put that kind
of customisation in there.

That should survive upgrades - which may/could overwrite your
modified /etc/profile .



Cheers,
Tink

Ok, I will try that :-D

But I am not sure how to create a .sh file and what to do with it afterwards.

I opened the bashrc file, but I could not see the HISTTIMEFORMAT line anywhere. Doesn't export save the command in the file or do I have to put it there my self?

export creates an entry in your environment; it does not save it to a file; you might not want that.
Add the line into your .bashrc or .bash_profile.

The effect of is to append the output from export HISTTIMEFORMAT='%F %T - %H:%M:%S ' to ~/.bashrc. What is the output from export HISTTIMEFORMAT='%F %T - %H:%M:%S '? You can find out by running it at a command prompt; it does not output anything. So that is exactly what is appended to ~/.bashrc.

"export" is used to set an environment variable. That is a variable which will also be set in any child processes the current process starts such as when you run a new command.

Now you have tested the command export HISTTIMEFORMAT='%F %T - %H:%M:%S ' and found it does what you want you presumably want to have it run automatically when you log on. Putting it in ~/.bashrc is one way of doing so. ~/.bashrc is simply a series of commands that are run during shell initialisation. It probably contains commands that are unfamiliar to you but you could type them all in at a command prompt.

So you do need to put export HISTTIMEFORMAT='%F %T - %H:%M:%S ' in ~/.bashrc. You could do that by using an editor or`you can append it from the command line using

that is just what I needed - I forgot the echo..

And thanks for the detailed explanation.. that helps understanding instead of "just" giving me the right code.

My bashrc looks like this now for the history stuff - but although I have the ignoredups - I see duplicates. Is it wrong?
# don't put duplicate lines in the history. See bash(1) for more options
export HISTCONTROL=ignoredups
# Timestamps on history commands
export HISTTIMEFORMAT='%F %T - %H:%M:%S '

At the start of the history list I have 20 entries from today, then 25 or 30 from yesterday and at the end again some from today... Why is that?

Last question (I think) can I use this
echo "export HISTTIMEFORMAT='%F %T - %H:%M:%S '" >> /etc/profile and then it affects all users?

benmie;3718549]that is just what I needed - I forgot the echo..

And thanks for the detailed explanation.. that helps understanding instead of "just" giving me the right code.

My bashrc looks like this now for the history stuff - but although I have the ignoredups - I see duplicates. Is it wrong?
# don't put duplicate lines in the history. See bash(1) for more options
export HISTCONTROL=ignoredups
# Timestamps on history commands
export HISTTIMEFORMAT='%F %T - %H:%M:%S '

At the start of the history list I have 20 entries from today, then 25 or 30 from yesterday and at the end again some from today... Why is that?

Last question (I think) can I use this
and then it affects all users?

I'll hazard a guess; you had a shell open from the day before, and
it got closed after one you had opened today.

To avoid that kind of issue have a look at
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...83#post2974983

You could ... might as well do >>/etc/profile.d/mylongextrastuffforbash.sh
as discussed previously ;}



Cheers,
Tink

Welcome. It was on the "Give a man a fishing rod ..." principle.
This may be a daft idea, but does the HISTCONTROL=ignoredups work if you remove the HISTTIMEFORMAT=?

For details on how the many possible bash initialisation files work (except the /etc/profile.d/* ones which may be Slackware specific ???) see the GNU Bash Reference. It is common practice to simplify this mechanism by making interactive login shells the same as interactive non-login shells by adding the following to /etc/profile, ideally in a bash-specific section