kali linux command history -c not working

Hi! Everybody

I have a virtual machine for kali-linux-2021.1 XFCE 4.16 64 bit. I found out that the history -c command to clear history, does not work in this version. Now, I run this command in the regular Debian 10.9 which is the latest version and others and it works just fine. See the attached screenshot for proof, please. Any ideas? Thanks for you time and help in advance. Have a nice day.

That command to clear history is a BASH shell command. make sure that you are in the BASH shell, and that the version is one that supports clearing command history that way. (Any current bash shell should, but I do not use KALI and do not know what shell you might be running.)

Your error was
fc: event not found: -c

That tells the user to do:

man fc

So look into why you're not using the history command that you want to use.
Is it an alias? Try:

which history

Also, try to figure out a way to
actually post the output, rather than a screen picture, which takes extra time to display. (I made a completely wrong guess about the problem until I took the time to look at the screenshot. From my post time to edit time you can see I missed the whole family feud show)

Originally Posted by !!! Your error was fc: event not found: -c So look into why you're not using the history command that you want to use. Is it an alias? Try: which history Also, try to figure out a way to actually post the output, rather than a screen picture, which takes extra time to display. (I made a completely wrong guess about the problem until I took the time to look at the screenshot)

Here is the command output that you wanted. Any ideas? It is not resolved yet. Thanks for your time and help. Have a nice day.

┌──(maverick㉿TopGun)-[~]
└─$ which history
history: aliased to history 0

Actually, this was the command output you wanted. Thanks for providing the solution.

Originally Posted by Emerson Actually, this was the command output you wanted. Thanks for providing the solution.

I think this says I shouldn't be stumped, but I am!!!

What happened to fc?
Are we looking at two different systems?
Try both commands on both systems (?)

Your troubleshooting skills are admirable.
People who are getting help too often even do not look at the output of commands or examine the logs requested. They just dump it here and want someone else to look what's wrong. I resent that.

Look up what
pretending a backslash
does to a command.

\history -c

Also look up how to determine for certain which shell you're using.

I'm still stumped (about: where's fc) but having fun learning, so don't feel bad!!!

Originally Posted by Emerson Your troubleshooting skills are admirable. People who are getting help too often even do not look at the output of commands or examine the logs requested. They just dump it here and want someone else to look what's wrong. I resent that.

I indicated that the command still does not work, that is all. According to which history 0 still does not work. Do you have any idea? See below for proof.

┌──(maverick㉿TopGun)-[~]
└─$ history 0 -c
fc: too many arguments

I suspect the gurus are enjoying us being stumped! (Which is generally a result of anyone mentioning kali)

I can't figure out how history is getting turned into fc. Any guesses?

alias | egrep 'hist|fc'
\which which
\alias -a history

I tried setting up the same alias of history to history 0, and which history reports nothing!

But I just discovered the default shell in kali is zsh not bash!!!

-c is not a valid history option in zsh

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/...my-zsh-history

zsh's fc and history don't have any options to delete entries

Please mark this thread as solved.

Originally Posted by !!! Look up what pretending a backslash does to a command.

Your haiku skills are inspiring. I will try as well.

Your aliases
Don't underestimate them
They should be removed

Originally Posted by Emerson Your troubleshooting skills are admirable. People who are getting help too often even do not look at the output of commands or examine the logs requested. They just dump it here and want someone else to look what's wrong. I resent that.

+1 on that!

@OP: I gather you're expecting everything to work on Kali linux. How strange. Kali linux has one main use - pen testing via ethernet. That works, and the experts who do that don't have everything working. Read this thread https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...ad-4175614092/ and install an OS where you currently have Kali if you want things to work. Kali is best seen as a tool, not an OS. The only time you should keep it is if you need to learn how to use the tool.

Originally Posted by !!! -c is not a valid history option in zsh https://stackoverflow.com/questions/...my-zsh-history Please mark this thread as solved.

Thanks for the link !!! I saw a way to do it which is executing this command on the terminal:

echo "" > ~/.zsh_history & exec $SHELL -l

If you want to make it as a command, you can create an alias with these steps:

open ~/.zshrc
add the following line

alias clear_history='echo "" > ~/.zsh_history & exec $SHELL -l'
Save and close the file

Close the console or type zsh
if you to see the result directly, but this will open another zsh shell in the old one
Now you can clear the console typing clear_history

It is kind of workaround, but it works. Thanks for your time and help. Have a nice day.