Bash Command history feature allows to recall, edit and rerun previous commands. Also allows commands to be saved using the history -a command^[1][2].

Variables to control Bash History:

• HISTFILE^[3]: The default value is ~/.bash_history
• HISTFILESIZE
• HISTTIMEFORMAT^[4]

Usage

• Basic example:

export PROMPT_COMMAND='history -a'

• Advanced examples:
  • echo 'export HISTTIMEFORMAT="%d/%m/%y %T "' >> ~/.bash_profile^[5]
  • export PROMPT_COMMAND='if [ "$(id -u)" -ne 0 ]; then echo "$(date "+%Y-%m-%d.%H:%M:%S") $(pwd) $(history 1)" >> ~/.logs/bash-history-$(date "+%Y-%m-%d").log; fi'^[6]
  • Sending history to syslog (needs recompiling source): Bash also support syslog capabilities at compiling time^[7] but it is not enabled by default in most distributions: https://github.com/bminor/bash/blob/d233b485e83c3a784b803fb894280773f16f2deb/config-top.h

Activities

1. Install https://github.com/ohmybash bash customization

See also

• acct

1. ↑ https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/145250/where-is-bashs-history-stored
2. ↑ https://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/bash.html#Bash-History-Builtins
3. ↑ <https://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/bash.html#index-HISTFILE
4. ↑ https://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/bash.html#index-HISTTIMEFORMAT
5. ↑ https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/unix-linux-bash-history-display-date-time/
6. ↑ https://gist.github.com/NISH1001/bf2b713418b4e2ede8e6a7373b42c4c1
7. ↑ https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/457107/sending-bash-history-to-syslog