Try "fc -l" (thats dash ell) no quotes
shows a tail of whats in .bash_history I think
Or - if you know the command's number in the history sequence
"fc {$line_no}"
Brings Previous command comes up in your default editor
Default here (Ubuntu Hardy) was set to the nano editor for some reason
so i did FCEDIT=vi ; export FCEDIT
NOW things are more better
Jay
Louis J Rouleau
Semi-Old Man
South Hadley
---------------
Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2011 16:02:29 -0500
From: Jorden M <jrm8005@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Wlug] Old man and LINUX
To: Worcester Linux Users Group <wlug@mail.wlug.org>
Message-ID:
<AANLkTi=NDA=EenfiOTAcnROVGEjfajmH93mwss5vj9XQ@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
On Wed, Jan 12, 2011 at 3:56 PM, Ken Jones <kjones@ziplink.net> wrote:
> Folks,
>
> I have? always wondered at my ability to keep the myriad of LINUX
> instructions in my head.? What would I do?if I were to start losing them?
> Is there a tool to search for recall?
>
> Is there any way to go backwards in LINUX command land? ?If I were to
> remember that there is a command that will print on standard output the
> contents of a file in txt characters,? but could not for the life of me
> remember 'more'.? Where would I go for help (other than sending a email to
> this list serve)?? All the command dictionaries I have are alphabetic.
>
> Ken Jones (the elder)
> _______________________________________________
> Wlug mailing list
> Wlug@mail.wlug.org
> http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug
>
>
apropos, although that isn't always helpful. Google. There are also
some sites that have commands listed categorically.
------------------------------
Message: 4
Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2011 19:00:25 -0500
From: "John Stoffel" <john@stoffel.org>
Subject: Re: [Wlug] Old man and LINUX
To: Worcester Linux Users Group <wlug@mail.wlug.org>
Message-ID: <19758.16537.740475.105771@quad.stoffel.home>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>>>>> "Ken" == Ken Jones <kjones@ziplink.net> writes:
Ken> Folks,
Ken> I have always wondered at my ability to keep the myriad of LINUX instructions in my head. What would I do if I were to start losing them? Is there a tool to search for recall?
Ken> Is there any way to go backwards in LINUX command land? If I
Ken> were to remember that there is a command that will print on
Ken> standard output the contents of a file in txt characters, but
Ken> could not for the life of me remember 'more'. Where would I go
Ken> for help (other than sending a email to this list serve)? All
Ken> the command dictionaries I have are alphabetic.
man -k something
where something is vaguely related to your needs. In this case, I
just did 'man -k text' and the last things that popped up were
'zmore'. Plus a bunch of other system calls and library calls about
text handling.
Maybe pickup one of the linux for beginners books that O'Reilly puts
out? Unix in a Nutshell, etc. That should help you find commands.
Also, *any* text editor will let you read a text file, even if you
don't want to edit it.
John
------------------------------
Message: 5
Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2011 19:24:17 -0500
From: Gregory Avedissian <avedis.g@verizon.net>
Subject: Re: [Wlug] Old man and LINUX
To: Worcester Linux Users Group <wlug@mail.wlug.org>
Message-ID: <4D2E4631.7020705@verizon.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
The up arrow will take you through your command history in reverse order.
If you want to see more than one command at a time, open .bash_history in
your home with a text editor, or, while you're still remembering it, do
'more .bash_history'. If you remember the command, but you can't recall
what options you used with it, 'grep some-command .bash_history' can help.
You can set the system to hold more commands, if you want. In debian, the
default is to hold the last 500 commands. I don't recall what it is in
other distros.
Spiral-bound notebook is good, too. A couple of pages of your favorite
commands and just about anything else will still be readable if the system
crashes.
Greg Avedissian
On 01/12/2011 03:56 PM, Ken Jones wrote:
>
> Folks,
>
> I have always wondered at my ability to keep the myriad of LINUX
> instructions in my head. What would I do if I were to start losing
> them? Is there a tool to search for recall?
>
> Is there any way to go backwards in LINUX command land? If I were to
> remember that there is a command that will print on standard output the
> contents of a file in txt characters, but could not for the life of me
> remember 'more'. Where would I go for help (other than sending a email
> to this list serve)? All the command dictionaries I have are alphabetic.
>
> Ken Jones (the elder)
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Wlug mailing list
> Wlug@mail.wlug.org
> http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug
------------------------------
Message: 6
Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2011 19:44:57 -0500
From: James Gray <jamespgray@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Wlug] Old man and LINUX
To: Worcester Linux Users Group <wlug@mail.wlug.org>
Message-ID:
<AANLkTineh9rsmE0TaHudw2xa6nu6GTWGTO-9jKv27F9R@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
If Google and other search commands don't get what you want you could
buy a reference book. Or you could create your own cheat sheet.
On Wed, Jan 12, 2011 at 3:56 PM, Ken Jones <kjones@ziplink.net> wrote:
> Folks,
>
> I have? always wondered at my ability to keep the myriad of LINUX
> instructions in my head.? What would I do?if I were to start losing them?
> Is there a tool to search for recall?
>
------------------------------
Message: 7
Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2011 19:52:13 -0500
From: Jorden M <jrm8005@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Wlug] Old man and LINUX
To: Worcester Linux Users Group <wlug@mail.wlug.org>
Message-ID:
<AANLkTikB6P0JK-9nUJ9Lws2sVSvC5y2AzXF=bx8ggjjD@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
apropos is equivalent to man -k
On Wed, Jan 12, 2011 at 7:00 PM, John Stoffel <john@stoffel.org> wrote:
>>>>>> "Ken" == Ken Jones <kjones@ziplink.net> writes:
>
> Ken> Folks,
> Ken> I have ?always wondered at my ability to keep the myriad of LINUX instructions in my head. ?What would I do if I were to start losing them? ? Is there a tool to search for recall?
>
> Ken> Is there any way to go backwards in LINUX command land? ?If I
> Ken> were to remember that there is a command that will print on
> Ken> standard output the contents of a file in txt characters, but
> Ken> could not for the life of me remember 'more'. ?Where would I go
> Ken> for help (other than sending a email to this list serve)? ?All
> Ken> the command dictionaries I have are alphabetic.
>
> man -k something
>
> where something is vaguely related to your needs. ?In this case, I
> just did 'man -k text' and the last things that popped up were
> 'zmore'. ?Plus a bunch of other system calls and library calls about
> text handling.
>
> Maybe pickup one of the linux for beginners books that O'Reilly puts
> out? ?Unix in a Nutshell, etc. ?That should help you find commands.
>
> Also, *any* text editor will let you read a text file, even if you
> don't want to edit it.
>
> John
> _______________________________________________
> Wlug mailing list
> Wlug@mail.wlug.org
> http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug
>
------------------------------
Message: 8
Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2011 21:19:39 -0500
From: Franklin Moody <fmoody@moodman.org>
Subject: Re: [Wlug] Old man and LINUX
To: Worcester Linux Users Group <wlug@mail.wlug.org>
Message-ID: <20110113021937.GB13934@fmoody.moodman.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
On Wed, Jan 12, 2011 at 07:24:17PM -0500, Gregory Avedissian wrote:
> The up arrow will take you through your command history in reverse order.
> If you want to see more than one command at a time, open .bash_history in
> your home with a text editor, or, while you're still remembering it, do
> 'more .bash_history'. If you remember the command, but you can't recall
> what options you used with it, 'grep some-command .bash_history' can help.
>
> You can set the system to hold more commands, if you want. In debian, the
> default is to hold the last 500 commands. I don't recall what it is in
> other distros.
>
> Spiral-bound notebook is good, too. A couple of pages of your favorite
> commands and just about anything else will still be readable if the system
> crashes.
>
> Greg Avedissian
I usually use "history | grep $blah" when looking for a particular set of command line options... On machines where I don't intentionally disable history for security...
Frank
------------------------------
_______________________________________________
Wlug mailing list
Wlug@mail.wlug.org
http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug
End of Wlug Digest, Vol 87, Issue 9
***********************************