fastHistory 2.1.2

A python tool connected to your terminal to store important commands and search them in a new and faster way

fastHistory 2.0 - speed up your terminal!

• Intro
• Supported systems
• How to install
• How to update
• Commands and syntax
• Troubleshooting
• License

A python tool connected to your terminal to store important commands, search them in a fast way and automatically paste them into your terminal

Intro

Why you need it?

How often do you need to reuse a command but you cannot remember it (or all the needed options/flags)?

# example of a common but not so 'easy-to-remember' bash command from my bash history
$ tar -xvzf file.tar.gz

How many times do you search the same commands on Google, over and over?

42 times.. yes.. based on my experience the answer is 42

And how many times have you told yourself to store this super useful command but you didn't?

I saved them all ..totally, with a good and detailed explanation for each command

if you know what I am talking about, fastHistory is the tool you are looking for!

Usage sample

fastHistory can save your commands directly from your terminal, all you need is a #

$ tar -xvzf file.tar.gz #
                       /\
                        \-- fastHistory will store 'tar -xvzf file.tar.gz' in its internal database

You can specify one or more tags

$ tar -xvzf file.tar.gz #untar #extract #archive 

or a description

$ tar -xvzf file.tar.gz #@extract compressed files from archive

or both

$ tar -xvf archive.tar.gz #untar @extract compressed files from archive

To search the saved commands, all you need is f and the selected command wiil be automatically pasted into your terminal!

$ f

For each command you can get a quick summary from the man page

Warning: this feature currently does not cover the syntax of all commands

And easily edit the tag and description fields

Furthermore, you can easily export/import all data to make backups or to share your commands with a different machine

$ f --export
$ f --import fastHistory_2020-03-02.db

Supported OSs

fastHistory can work in any OS with python3 and a bash terminal

zsh is also supported!

List of tested OSs:

OS	OS Version	Shell	Python versions	fastHistory version	Test mode	Result	Comment
Ubuntu	16.04	bash	3.6, 3.7, 3.8	latest	unittest
Ubuntu	18.04	bash	3.6, 3.7, 3.8	latest	unittest
macOS	10.15	bash	3.6, 3.7, 3.8	latest	unittest		python3 needs to be installed
Fedora	29	bash	3.5	2.0.0	manual		pip3 requires the --user flag
Debian	9	bash	3.5	2.0.0	manual
Debian	10	zsh*	3.7	2.0.0	manual		*syntax limitation
Windows*	10 (1809)	bash	3.6	2.0.0	manual		*using the Ubuntu terminal for Windows

How to install

Requirements

• python3
• python3-pip (not needed for offline installation)

Install with pip3

1. pip3 install fasthistory
2. $HOME/.local/bin/f
3. close and reopen your terminal

Note: be sure to not use pip (python2) nor sudo (install it only for the current user)

Install in offline mode

1. download the latest release with this easy-to-type link or manually download it
   • wget mkcn.me/f
2. (if needed) move it to the remote/offline machine
3. unzip it
   • tar -xvzf f
4. run the installer with the target user
   • cd fastHistory-X.X
   • ./installer.sh
5. close and reopen your terminal

Note: all the downloaded files can be deleted after the installation is completed

How to update

Fast generic way (available from 2.1.1)

1. f --update
2. close and reopen your terminal

Update pip3 installation (2.x.x)

1. pip3 install -U --no-cache-dir fasthistory
2. f
3. close and reopen your terminal

Update offline mode

• same steps as installation

Update old git installations (< 2.0.0)

1. git pull
2. ./installer.sh
3. close and reopen your terminal
4. f --import <old_fastHistory_folder>/data/*.db (if not automatically imported)

How to uninstall

1. download the installer script (already available in the offline mode)
   • wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mkcn/fastHistory/master/installer.sh
2. make it executable and run it with the uninstall flag
   • chmod +x installer.sh
   • ./installer.sh -u

Note: pip3 install fasthistory is not sufficient to uninstall fastHistory

Commands and syntax

Simple adding

<command_to_save> #[<tag> [#<tag> ...]][@<description>]

Adding without execution

f --add <command> #[<tag> [#<tag> ...]][@<description>]

or

# <command_to_save> #[<tag> [#<tag> ...]][@<description>]

Note: the latter is not available with zsh

Simple search

f [<filter>]

OR search: match any row where at least one of the following conditions is true:

• the filter words are contained in the command
• the filter words are contained in the tags list
• the filter words are contained in the description

Advanced search

f [<filter>] [#<tag_filter> ...] [@<description_filter>]

AND search: match any rows where all the following conditions are true:

• the filter words are contained in the command OR tags OR description
• the tag_filter words are contained in the tag list
• the description_filter words contained in the description

Export database

f --export [<output_name>]

• the output is the file name of the output database (this parameter is optional)

Import external database

f --import <input_name>

• the input_name is the file name of the input database (e.g. fastHistory_2019-03-23.db)

Change fastHistory configuration

f --config

Force a fastHistory setup to fix possible issues

f --setup

this may be needed if you install zsh after fastHistory

Check fastHistory version

f --version

Update fastHistory

f --update

Show fastHistory help

f --help

Troubleshooting

To fix common issues you can:

• run f --setup to automatically check and fix your environment
• explicitly call $HOME/.local/bin/f instead of f
• restart your terminal to reload the bash hook

In case of persistent issues please report them together with the following info:

• OS version
• fastHistory version (f --version)

fastHistory structure

user data folder

$HOME/.local/share/fastHistory

$HOME/.local/share/fastHistory/fh_v1.db (database file)

$HOME/.local/share/fastHistory/fh.log (log file)

code folder (pip3 mode)

$HOME/.local/lib/pythonX.Y/site-packages/fastHistory/

code folder (offline mode)

$HOME/.fastHistory/

bash (zsh) hook in $HOME/.bashrc ($HOME/.zsh)

...
source "/home/USER/.local/lib/pythonX.Y/site-packages/fastHistory/bash/f.sh"

License

The license for this is the same as that used by GNU bash, GNU GPL v3+.

Copyright

The following external projects have been used as part of fastHistory:

• https://github.com/rcaloras/bash-preexec
  • goal: this bash script is used to hook the commands from the terminal
  • code section: bash-preexec.sh
  • changes: no change
• https://github.com/idank/bashlex
  • goal: this Python module is used to parse bash commands in order to show info from the man page
  • code section: fastHistory/parser/bashlex/
  • changes: no change
• https://github.com/wong2/pick
  • goal: this Python module has been used to select the option from the menu
  • code section: fastHistory/pick
  • changes: all code has been restructured and adapted with a different UI