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<div class="subsection" id="Commands-for-History">
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Next: <a href="Customizing-readline.html" accesskey="n" rel="next">Customizing <code>readline</code></a>, Previous: <a href="Commands-for-Completion.html" accesskey="p" rel="prev">Letting Readline Type for You</a>, Up: <a href="Command-Line-Editing.html" accesskey="u" rel="up">Command Line Editing</a> [<a href="index.html#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>][<a href="Concept-Index.html" title="Index" rel="index">Index</a>]</p>
</div>
<hr>
<span id="Commands-for-Manipulating-the-History"></span><h4 class="subsection">2.4.5 Commands for Manipulating the History</h4>
<span id="index-command-history"></span>
<span id="index-input-history"></span>
<span id="index-history-of-commands"></span>
<p>Octave normally keeps track of the commands you type so that you can
recall previous commands to edit or execute them again. When you exit
Octave, the most recent commands you have typed, up to the number
specified by the variable <code>history_size</code>, are saved in a file.
When Octave starts, it loads an initial list of commands from the file
named by the variable <code>history_file</code>.
</p>
<p>Here are the commands for simple browsing and searching the history
list.
</p>
<dl compact="compact">
<dt><span><kbd><span class="key">LFD</span></kbd></span></dt>
<dt><span><kbd><span class="key">RET</span></kbd></span></dt>
<dd><p>Accept the current line regardless of where the cursor is. If the line is
non-empty, add it to the history list. If the line was a history
line, then restore the history line to its original state.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><span><kbd>C-p</kbd></span></dt>
<dd><p>Move ‘up’ through the history list.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><span><kbd>C-n</kbd></span></dt>
<dd><p>Move ‘down’ through the history list.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><span><kbd>M-<</kbd></span></dt>
<dd><p>Move to the first line in the history.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><span><kbd>M-></kbd></span></dt>
<dd><p>Move to the end of the input history, i.e., the line you are entering!
</p>
</dd>
<dt><span><kbd>C-r</kbd></span></dt>
<dd><p>Search backward starting at the current line and moving ‘up’ through
the history as necessary. This is an incremental search.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><span><kbd>C-s</kbd></span></dt>
<dd><p>Search forward starting at the current line and moving ‘down’ through
the history as necessary.
</p></dd>
</dl>
<p>On most terminals, you can also use the up and down arrow keys in place
of <kbd>C-p</kbd> and <kbd>C-n</kbd> to move through the history list.
</p>
<p>In addition to the keyboard commands for moving through the history
list, Octave provides three functions for viewing, editing, and
re-running chunks of commands from the history list.
</p>
<span id="XREFhistory"></span><dl class="def">
<dt id="index-history-1"><span class="category">: </span><span><em></em> <strong>history</strong><a href='#index-history-1' class='copiable-anchor'> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dt id="index-history-2"><span class="category">: </span><span><em></em> <strong>history</strong> <em><var>opt1</var> …</em><a href='#index-history-2' class='copiable-anchor'> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dt id="index-history-3"><span class="category">: </span><span><em><var>h</var> =</em> <strong>history</strong> <em>()</em><a href='#index-history-3' class='copiable-anchor'> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dt id="index-history-4"><span class="category">: </span><span><em><var>h</var> =</em> <strong>history</strong> <em>(<var>opt1</var>, …)</em><a href='#index-history-4' class='copiable-anchor'> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>If invoked with no arguments, <code>history</code> displays a list of commands
that you have executed.
</p>
<p>Valid options are:
</p>
<dl compact="compact">
<dt><span><code><var>n</var></code></span></dt>
<dt><span><code>-<var>n</var></code></span></dt>
<dd><p>Display only the most recent <var>n</var> lines of history.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><span><code>-c</code></span></dt>
<dd><p>Clear the history list.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><span><code>-q</code></span></dt>
<dd><p>Don’t number the displayed lines of history. This is useful for cutting
and pasting commands using the X Window System.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><span><code>-r <var>file</var></code></span></dt>
<dd><p>Read the file <var>file</var>, appending its contents to the current
history list. If the name is omitted, use the default history file
(normally <samp>~/.octave_hist</samp>).
</p>
</dd>
<dt><span><code>-w <var>file</var></code></span></dt>
<dd><p>Write the current history to the file <var>file</var>. If the name is
omitted, use the default history file (normally <samp>~/.octave_hist</samp>).
</p></dd>
</dl>
<p>For example, to display the five most recent commands that you have
typed without displaying line numbers, use the command
<kbd>history -q 5</kbd>.
</p>
<p>If invoked with a single output argument, the history will be saved to that
argument as a cell string and will not be output to screen.
</p>
<p><strong>See also:</strong> <a href="#XREFedit_005fhistory">edit_history</a>, <a href="#XREFrun_005fhistory">run_history</a>.
</p></dd></dl>
<span id="XREFedit_005fhistory"></span><dl class="def">
<dt id="index-edit_005fhistory"><span class="category">: </span><span><em></em> <strong>edit_history</strong><a href='#index-edit_005fhistory' class='copiable-anchor'> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dt id="index-edit_005fhistory-1"><span class="category">: </span><span><em></em> <strong>edit_history</strong> <em><var>cmd_number</var></em><a href='#index-edit_005fhistory-1' class='copiable-anchor'> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dt id="index-edit_005fhistory-2"><span class="category">: </span><span><em></em> <strong>edit_history</strong> <em><var>first</var> <var>last</var></em><a href='#index-edit_005fhistory-2' class='copiable-anchor'> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Edit the history list using the editor named by the variable <code>EDITOR</code>.
</p>
<p>The commands to be edited are first copied to a temporary file. When you
exit the editor, Octave executes the commands that remain in the file. It
is often more convenient to use <code>edit_history</code> to define functions
rather than attempting to enter them directly on the command line.
The block of commands is executed as soon as you exit the editor.
To avoid executing any commands, simply delete all the lines from the buffer
before leaving the editor.
</p>
<p>When invoked with no arguments, edit the previously executed command;
With one argument, edit the specified command <var>cmd_number</var>;
With two arguments, edit the list of commands between <var>first</var> and
<var>last</var>. Command number specifiers may also be negative where -1
refers to the most recently executed command.
The following are equivalent and edit the most recently executed command.
</p>
<div class="example">
<pre class="example">edit_history
edit_history -1
</pre></div>
<p>When using ranges, specifying a larger number for the first command than the
last command reverses the list of commands before they are placed in the
buffer to be edited.
</p>
<p><strong>See also:</strong> <a href="#XREFrun_005fhistory">run_history</a>, <a href="#XREFhistory">history</a>.
</p></dd></dl>
<span id="XREFrun_005fhistory"></span><dl class="def">
<dt id="index-run_005fhistory"><span class="category">: </span><span><em></em> <strong>run_history</strong><a href='#index-run_005fhistory' class='copiable-anchor'> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dt id="index-run_005fhistory-1"><span class="category">: </span><span><em></em> <strong>run_history</strong> <em><var>cmd_number</var></em><a href='#index-run_005fhistory-1' class='copiable-anchor'> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dt id="index-run_005fhistory-2"><span class="category">: </span><span><em></em> <strong>run_history</strong> <em><var>first</var> <var>last</var></em><a href='#index-run_005fhistory-2' class='copiable-anchor'> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Run commands from the history list.
</p>
<p>When invoked with no arguments, run the previously executed command;
</p>
<p>With one argument, run the specified command <var>cmd_number</var>;
</p>
<p>With two arguments, run the list of commands between <var>first</var> and
<var>last</var>. Command number specifiers may also be negative where -1
refers to the most recently executed command. For example, the command
</p>
<div class="example">
<pre class="example">run_history
OR
run_history -1
</pre></div>
<p>executes the most recent command again.
The command
</p>
<div class="example">
<pre class="example">run_history 13 169
</pre></div>
<p>executes commands 13 through 169.
</p>
<p>Specifying a larger number for the first command than the last command
reverses the list of commands before executing them.
For example:
</p>
<div class="example">
<pre class="example">disp (1)
disp (2)
run_history -1 -2
⇒
2
1
</pre></div>
<p><strong>See also:</strong> <a href="#XREFedit_005fhistory">edit_history</a>, <a href="#XREFhistory">history</a>.
</p></dd></dl>
<p>Octave also allows you customize the details of when, where, and how history
is saved.
</p>
<span id="XREFhistory_005fsave"></span><dl class="def">
<dt id="index-history_005fsave"><span class="category">: </span><span><em><var>val</var> =</em> <strong>history_save</strong> <em>()</em><a href='#index-history_005fsave' class='copiable-anchor'> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dt id="index-history_005fsave-1"><span class="category">: </span><span><em><var>old_val</var> =</em> <strong>history_save</strong> <em>(<var>new_val</var>)</em><a href='#index-history_005fsave-1' class='copiable-anchor'> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dt id="index-history_005fsave-2"><span class="category">: </span><span><em></em> <strong>history_save</strong> <em>(<var>new_val</var>, "local")</em><a href='#index-history_005fsave-2' class='copiable-anchor'> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Query or set the internal variable that controls whether commands entered
on the command line are saved in the history file.
</p>
<p>When called from inside a function with the <code>"local"</code> option, the
variable is changed locally for the function and any subroutines it calls.
The original variable value is restored when exiting the function.
</p>
<p><strong>See also:</strong> <a href="#XREFhistory_005fcontrol">history_control</a>, <a href="#XREFhistory_005ffile">history_file</a>, <a href="#XREFhistory_005fsize">history_size</a>, <a href="#XREFhistory_005ftimestamp_005fformat_005fstring">history_timestamp_format_string</a>.
</p></dd></dl>
<span id="XREFhistory_005fcontrol"></span><dl class="def">
<dt id="index-history_005fcontrol"><span class="category">: </span><span><em><var>val</var> =</em> <strong>history_control</strong> <em>()</em><a href='#index-history_005fcontrol' class='copiable-anchor'> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dt id="index-history_005fcontrol-1"><span class="category">: </span><span><em><var>old_val</var> =</em> <strong>history_control</strong> <em>(<var>new_val</var>)</em><a href='#index-history_005fcontrol-1' class='copiable-anchor'> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Query or set the internal variable that specifies how commands are saved
to the history list.
</p>
<p>The default value is an empty character string, but may be overridden by the
environment variable <code><span class="nolinebreak">OCTAVE_HISTCONTROL</span></code><!-- /@w -->.
</p>
<p>The value of <code>history_control</code> is a colon-separated list of values
controlling how commands are saved on the history list. If the list
of values includes <code>ignorespace</code>, lines which begin with a space
character are not saved in the history list. A value of <code>ignoredups</code>
causes lines matching the previous history entry to not be saved.
A value of <code>ignoreboth</code> is shorthand for <code>ignorespace</code> and
<code>ignoredups</code>. A value of <code>erasedups</code> causes all previous lines
matching the current line to be removed from the history list before that
line is saved. Any value not in the above list is ignored. If
<code>history_control</code> is the empty string, all commands are saved on
the history list, subject to the value of <code>history_save</code>.
</p>
<p><strong>See also:</strong> <a href="#XREFhistory_005ffile">history_file</a>, <a href="#XREFhistory_005fsize">history_size</a>, <a href="#XREFhistory_005ftimestamp_005fformat_005fstring">history_timestamp_format_string</a>, <a href="#XREFhistory_005fsave">history_save</a>.
</p></dd></dl>
<span id="XREFhistory_005ffile"></span><dl class="def">
<dt id="index-history_005ffile"><span class="category">: </span><span><em><var>val</var> =</em> <strong>history_file</strong> <em>()</em><a href='#index-history_005ffile' class='copiable-anchor'> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dt id="index-history_005ffile-1"><span class="category">: </span><span><em><var>old_val</var> =</em> <strong>history_file</strong> <em>(<var>new_val</var>)</em><a href='#index-history_005ffile-1' class='copiable-anchor'> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Query or set the internal variable that specifies the name of the file used to
store command history.
</p>
<p>All future commands issued during the current Octave session will be written to
this new file (if the current setting of <code>history_save</code> allows for this).
</p>
<p>The default value is <samp><code>$DATA</code><!-- /@w -->/octave/history</samp>, where
<code>$DATA</code><!-- /@w --> is the platform-specific location for (roaming) user data files
(e.g., <code><span class="nolinebreak">$XDG_DATA_HOME</span></code><!-- /@w --> or, if that is not set, <samp>~/.local/share</samp> on
Unix-like operating systems or <code>%APPDATA%</code><!-- /@w --> on Windows). The default
value may be overridden by the environment variable <code><span class="nolinebreak">OCTAVE_HISTFILE</span></code><!-- /@w -->.
</p>
<p>Programming Notes:
</p>
<p>If you want to permanently change the location of Octave’s history file you
need to issue the <code>history_file</code> command in every new Octave session.
This can be achieved by using Octave’s <samp>.octaverc</samp> startup file.
</p>
<p>If you also want to read the saved history commands of past Octave sessions
from this different history file, then you need to use the additional command
<code>history -r</code> after setting the new value of the history file. Example
code in Octave’s startup file to do this might look like this:
</p>
<div class="example">
<pre class="example">history_file ("~/new/.octave_hist");
if (exist (history_file ()))
history ("-r", history_file());
endif
</pre></div>
<p><strong>See also:</strong> <a href="#XREFhistory">history</a>, <a href="#XREFhistory_005fcontrol">history_control</a>, <a href="#XREFhistory_005fsave">history_save</a>, <a href="#XREFhistory_005fsize">history_size</a>, <a href="#XREFhistory_005ftimestamp_005fformat_005fstring">history_timestamp_format_string</a>.
</p></dd></dl>
<span id="XREFhistory_005fsize"></span><dl class="def">
<dt id="index-history_005fsize"><span class="category">: </span><span><em><var>val</var> =</em> <strong>history_size</strong> <em>()</em><a href='#index-history_005fsize' class='copiable-anchor'> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dt id="index-history_005fsize-1"><span class="category">: </span><span><em><var>old_val</var> =</em> <strong>history_size</strong> <em>(<var>new_val</var>)</em><a href='#index-history_005fsize-1' class='copiable-anchor'> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Query or set the internal variable that specifies how many entries
to store in the history file.
</p>
<p>The default value is <code>1000</code>, but may be overridden by the environment
variable <code><span class="nolinebreak">OCTAVE_HISTSIZE</span></code><!-- /@w -->.
</p>
<p><strong>See also:</strong> <a href="#XREFhistory_005ffile">history_file</a>, <a href="#XREFhistory_005ftimestamp_005fformat_005fstring">history_timestamp_format_string</a>, <a href="#XREFhistory_005fsave">history_save</a>.
</p></dd></dl>
<span id="XREFhistory_005ftimestamp_005fformat_005fstring"></span><dl class="def">
<dt id="index-history_005ftimestamp_005fformat_005fstring"><span class="category">: </span><span><em><var>val</var> =</em> <strong>history_timestamp_format_string</strong> <em>()</em><a href='#index-history_005ftimestamp_005fformat_005fstring' class='copiable-anchor'> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dt id="index-history_005ftimestamp_005fformat_005fstring-1"><span class="category">: </span><span><em><var>old_val</var> =</em> <strong>history_timestamp_format_string</strong> <em>(<var>new_val</var>)</em><a href='#index-history_005ftimestamp_005fformat_005fstring-1' class='copiable-anchor'> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dt id="index-history_005ftimestamp_005fformat_005fstring-2"><span class="category">: </span><span><em></em> <strong>history_timestamp_format_string</strong> <em>(<var>new_val</var>, "local")</em><a href='#index-history_005ftimestamp_005fformat_005fstring-2' class='copiable-anchor'> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Query or set the internal variable that specifies the format string
for the comment line that is written to the history file when Octave
exits.
</p>
<p>The format string is passed to <code>strftime</code>. The default value is
</p>
<div class="example">
<pre class="example">"# Octave VERSION, %a %b %d %H:%M:%S %Y %Z <USER@HOST>"
</pre></div>
<p>When called from inside a function with the <code>"local"</code> option, the
variable is changed locally for the function and any subroutines it calls.
The original variable value is restored when exiting the function.
</p>
<p><strong>See also:</strong> <a href="Timing-Utilities.html#XREFstrftime">strftime</a>, <a href="#XREFhistory_005ffile">history_file</a>, <a href="#XREFhistory_005fsize">history_size</a>, <a href="#XREFhistory_005fsave">history_save</a>.
</p></dd></dl>
<span id="XREFEDITOR"></span><dl class="def">
<dt id="index-EDITOR"><span class="category">: </span><span><em><var>val</var> =</em> <strong>EDITOR</strong> <em>()</em><a href='#index-EDITOR' class='copiable-anchor'> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dt id="index-EDITOR-1"><span class="category">: </span><span><em><var>old_val</var> =</em> <strong>EDITOR</strong> <em>(<var>new_val</var>)</em><a href='#index-EDITOR-1' class='copiable-anchor'> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dt id="index-EDITOR-2"><span class="category">: </span><span><em></em> <strong>EDITOR</strong> <em>(<var>new_val</var>, "local")</em><a href='#index-EDITOR-2' class='copiable-anchor'> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Query or set the internal variable that specifies the default text editor.
</p>
<p>The default value is taken from the environment variable <code>EDITOR</code><!-- /@w -->
when Octave starts. If the environment variable is not initialized,
<code>EDITOR</code><!-- /@w --> will be set to <code>"emacs"</code>.
</p>
<p>When called from inside a function with the <code>"local"</code> option, the
variable is changed locally for the function and any subroutines it calls.
The original variable value is restored when exiting the function.
</p>
<p><strong>See also:</strong> <a href="Function-Files.html#XREFedit">edit</a>, <a href="#XREFedit_005fhistory">edit_history</a>.
</p></dd></dl>
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