cdhist 2.6

Program to provide a Linux cd history directory stack

LINUX SHELL CD HISTORY

cdhist is a utility which provides a Linux shell cd history directory stack. A shell cd alias calls a tiny helper script to intercept your typed cd command and maintain an ordered stack of all directories you previously visited which can be listed and quickly jumped to by numeric index. You can also integrate the Command Line Fuzzy Finder fzf to fuzzy search and select on previously visited directories. See the section below about fzf integration.

The latest version and documentation is available at http://github.com/bulletmark/cdhist.

USAGE

Use the cd command to change directory as normal:

$ cd /tmp
$ cd /etc
$ cd /usr/share/doc
$ cd /boot/loader
$ cd ~/etc
$ cd

At any point you can use the cd -- command to list all your previously visited directories and be prompted for one to select and cd to:

$ cd --
  6 ...
  5 /tmp
  4 /etc
  3 /usr/share/doc
  2 /boot/loader
  1 ~/etc
  0 ~
Select directory index [or <enter> to quit]: 3
$ pwd
/usr/share/doc

That's it! The above is all you really need to know. Instead of having to type the directory name you merely enter it's index. The directories are displayed most recently visited last, without duplicates. Index 0 is the current directory, index 1 is the previous, index 2 is the second previous, up to a user configured number (default 50). Other available commands and options are:

List the current stack and its indices (without prompting):

$ cd -l

Change dir to stack index "n":

$ cd -n

Search back through stack for "string" and cd there:

$ cd -/string

Note, you can also type /string (or just string) at the cd -- prompt to search.

Show this help:

$ cd -h|?

All other arguments are passed on to the normal cd command.

INSTALLATION

Arch users can install cdhist from the AUR and skip to the next section.

Ensure pip3 is installed. Python 3.4 or later is required.

Note cdhist is on PyPI so you can just type sudo pip3 install cdhist. Or do the following to install from this repository:

$ git clone http://github.com/bulletmark/cdhist
$ cd cdhist
$ sudo pip3 install -U .

SETUP

Each user who wants to use the cdhist facility must source the cdhist.rc file into their shell at login, i.e in ~/.bashrc, or ~/.zshrc, etc just add the following lines:

for _d in /usr/share /usr/local/share; do
    _f="$_d/cdhist/cdhist.rc"
    if [[ -r $_f ]]; then
	source $_f
	break
    fi
done

Then log out and back in again. Note that some installations may place the cdhist/ directory elsewhere to the two most common locations listed above so you may need to work out the location from where to source the cdhist.rc file.

NOTE: The cd alias is only created for and invoked by user interactive shell sessions, i.e. only for cd commands you manually type yourself. System or personal scripts and programs always use the standard shell cd command.

FZF INTEGRATION

The popular Command Line Fuzzy Finder fzf can easily be integrated with cdhist to provide fuzzy search navigation over your directory history. Simply set the following in your environment to have fzf search the directories recorded by cdhist:

export FZF_ALT_C_COMMAND="cat $HOME/.cd_history"

After adding this (and reloading your shell session), you can use the fzf key binding <ALT+C> to have fzf list all your previous directories and fuzzy match on them for selection as you type. fzf can also provide fancy directory previews using tree, etc. Of course the cdhist native command cd -- and other cdhist commands described above are still available, in addition to the fzf key binding.

ALTERNATIVE COMMAND NAME

Some people may prefer not to alias their system cd command to this utility and just use an alternative unique command name. To do this, set CDHISTCOMMAND to your preferred name before you invoke the cdhist.rc script in your shell init file. E.g, to use the command name xd rather than cd add the following export after the if test and before the source line in the above.

export CDHISTCOMMAND=xd

Log out/in, and then just type xd /tmp to change dir, xd -- to see and select dirs, etc.

UPGRADE

$ cd cdhist  # Source dir, as above
$ git pull
$ sudo pip3 install -U .

REMOVAL

$ sudo pip3 uninstall cdhist

LICENSE

Copyright (C) 2010, 2012 Mark Blakeney. This program is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License. This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or any later version. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License at http://www.gnu.org/licenses/ for more details.