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HISTORY(3)

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NAME    [Toc]    [Back]

       history - GNU History Library

COPYRIGHT    [Toc]    [Back]

       The GNU History Library is Copyright (C) 1989-2002 by the Free Software
       Foundation, Inc.

DESCRIPTION    [Toc]    [Back]

       Many programs read input from the user a line at a time.  The GNU  History
  library is able to keep track of those lines, associate arbitrary
       data with each line, and utilize information  from  previous  lines  in
       composing new ones.

HISTORY EXPANSION    [Toc]    [Back]

       The  history library supports a history expansion feature that is identical
 to the history expansion in bash.	This  section  describes  what
       syntax features are available.

       History expansions introduce words from the history list into the input
       stream, making it easy to repeat commands, insert the  arguments  to  a
       previous command into the current input line, or fix errors in previous
       commands quickly.

       History expansion is usually performed  immediately  after  a  complete
       line  is read.  It takes place in two parts.  The first is to determine
       which line from the history list to use during substitution.  The  second
  is	to select portions of that line for inclusion into the current
       one.  The line selected from the history is the event, and the portions
       of  that  line  that  are  acted upon are words.  Various modifiers are
       available to manipulate the selected words.  The line  is  broken  into
       words in the same fashion as bash does when reading input, so that several
 words that would otherwise be separated are  considered  one  word
       when  surrounded  by  quotes (see the description of history_tokenize()
       below).	History expansions are introduced by  the  appearance  of  the
       history expansion character, which is ! by default.  Only backslash (\)
       and single quotes can quote the history expansion character.

   Event Designators    [Toc]    [Back]
       An event designator is a reference to a command line entry in the  history
 list.

       !      Start  a	history substitution, except when followed by a blank,
	      newline, = or (.
       !n     Refer to command line n.
       !-n    Refer to the current command line minus n.
       !!     Refer to the previous command.  This is a synonym for `!-1'.
       !string
	      Refer to the most recent command starting with string.
       !?string[?]
	      Refer to the most recent command containing string.  The	trailing
 ? may be omitted if string is followed immediately by a newline.

       ^string1^string2^
	      Quick substitution.  Repeat the last command, replacing  string1
	      with string2.  Equivalent to ``!!:s/string1/string2/'' (see Mod-
	      ifiers below).
       !#     The entire command line typed so far.

   Word Designators    [Toc]    [Back]
       Word designators are used to select desired words from the event.  A  :
       separates  the event specification from the word designator.  It may be
       omitted if the word designator begins with a ^, $, *, -, or  %.	 Words
       are  numbered from the beginning of the line, with the first word being
       denoted by 0 (zero).  Words are inserted into the  current  line  separated
 by single spaces.

       0 (zero)
	      The zeroth word.	For the shell, this is the command word.
       n      The nth word.
       ^      The first argument.  That is, word 1.
       $      The last argument.
       %      The word matched by the most recent `?string?' search.
       x-y    A range of words; `-y' abbreviates `0-y'.
       *      All  of  the words but the zeroth.  This is a synonym for `1-$'.
	      It is not an error to use * if there is just  one  word  in  the
	      event; the empty string is returned in that case.
       x*     Abbreviates x-$.
       x-     Abbreviates x-$ like x*, but omits the last word.

       If  a  word  designator is supplied without an event specification, the
       previous command is used as the event.

   Modifiers    [Toc]    [Back]
       After the optional word designator, there may appear a sequence of  one
       or more of the following modifiers, each preceded by a `:'.

       h      Remove a trailing file name component, leaving only the head.
       t      Remove all leading file name components, leaving the tail.
       r      Remove a trailing suffix of the form .xxx, leaving the basename.
       e      Remove all but the trailing suffix.
       p      Print the new command but do not execute it.
       q      Quote the substituted words, escaping further substitutions.
       x      Quote the substituted words as with q, but break into  words  at
	      blanks and newlines.
       s/old/new/
	      Substitute  new  for  the  first	occurrence of old in the event
	      line.  Any delimiter can be used	in  place  of  /.   The  final
	      delimiter  is  optional if it is the last character of the event
	      line.  The delimiter may be quoted in old and new with a	single
	      backslash.   If & appears in new, it is replaced by old.	A single
 backslash will quote the &.  If old is null, it  is  set  to
	      the  last  old substituted, or, if no previous history substitutions
 took place, the last string in a !?string[?]  search.
       &      Repeat the previous substitution.
       g      Cause changes to be applied over the entire event line.  This is
	      used  in	conjunction  with `:s' (e.g., `:gs/old/new/') or `:&'.
	      If used with `:s', any delimiter can be used in place of /,  and
	      the  final  delimiter is optional if it is the last character of
	      the event line.

PROGRAMMING WITH HISTORY FUNCTIONS    [Toc]    [Back]

       This section describes how to use the History  library  in  other  programs.


   Introduction to History    [Toc]    [Back]
       The  programmer	using  the History library has available functions for
       remembering lines on a history list, associating arbitrary data with  a
       line,  removing	lines  from the list, searching through the list for a
       line containing an arbitrary text string, and referencing any  line  in
       the list directly.  In addition, a history expansion function is available
 which provides for a consistent user  interface  across  different
       programs.

       The  user using programs written with the History library has the benefit
 of a consistent user interface with a set  of  well-known  commands
       for  manipulating the text of previous lines and using that text in new
       commands.  The basic history manipulation commands are identical to the
       history substitution provided by bash.

       If  the	programmer  desires,  he  can  use the Readline library, which
       includes some history manipulation by default, and has the added advantage
 of command line editing.

       Before  declaring  any  functions  using  any functionality the History
       library provides in other code, an application  writer  should  include
       the  file  <readline/history.h>	in  any  file  that  uses  the History
       library's features.  It supplies extern declarations  for  all  of  the
       library's  public functions and variables, and declares all of the public
 data structures.


   History Storage    [Toc]    [Back]
       The history list is an array of history entries.  A  history  entry  is
       declared as follows:

       typedef void * histdata_t;

       typedef struct _hist_entry {
	 char *line;
	 histdata_t data;
       } HIST_ENTRY;

       The history list itself might therefore be declared as

       HIST_ENTRY ** the_history_list;

       The  state  of the History library is encapsulated into a single structure:


       /*
	* A structure used to pass around the current state of the history.
	*/
       typedef struct _hist_state {
	 HIST_ENTRY **entries; /* Pointer to the entries themselves. */
	 int offset;	       /* The location pointer within this array. */
	 int length;	       /* Number of elements within this array. */
	 int size;	       /* Number of slots allocated to this array. */
	 int flags;
       } HISTORY_STATE;

       If the flags member includes HS_STIFLED, the history has been  stifled.

History Functions    [Toc]    [Back]

       This  section  describes the calling sequence for the various functions
       exported by the GNU History library.

   Initializing History and State Management    [Toc]    [Back]
       This section describes functions used  to  initialize  and  manage  the
       state of the History library when you want to use the history functions
       in your program.

       void using_history (void)
       Begin a session in which the history functions  might  be  used.   This
       initializes the interactive variables.

       HISTORY_STATE * history_get_history_state (void)
       Return a structure describing the current state of the input history.

       void history_set_history_state (HISTORY_STATE *state)
       Set the state of the history list according to state.


   History List Management    [Toc]    [Back]
       These  functions  manage individual entries on the history list, or set
       parameters managing the list itself.

       void add_history (const char *string)
       Place string at the end of the history list.  The associated data field
       (if any) is set to NULL.

       HIST_ENTRY * remove_history (int which)
       Remove  history	entry  at  offset which from the history.  The removed
       element is returned so you can free  the  line,	data,  and  containing
       structure.

       HIST_ENTRY  * replace_history_entry (int which, const char *line, hist-
       data_t data)
       Make the history entry at  offset  which  have  line  and  data.   This
       returns	the  old entry so you can dispose of the data.	In the case of
       an invalid which, a NULL pointer is returned.

       void clear_history (void)
       Clear the history list by deleting all the entries.

       void stifle_history (int max)
       Stifle the history list, remembering only the last max entries.

       int unstifle_history (void)
       Stop stifling the history.  This  returns  the  previously-set  maximum
       number  of  history  entries (as set by stifle_history()).  history was
       stifled.  The value is positive if the history was stifled, negative if
       it wasn't.

       int history_is_stifled (void)
       Returns non-zero if the history is stifled, zero if it is not.


   Information About the History List    [Toc]    [Back]
       These  functions  return  information  about the entire history list or
       individual list entries.

       HIST_ENTRY ** history_list (void)
       Return a NULL terminated array of HIST_ENTRY *  which  is  the  current
       input  history.	 Element  0 of this list is the beginning of time.  If
       there is no history, return NULL.

       int where_history (void)
       Returns the offset of the current history element.

       HIST_ENTRY * current_history (void)
       Return the history entry at the	current  position,  as	determined  by
       where_history().  If there is no entry there, return a NULL pointer.

       HIST_ENTRY * history_get (int offset)
       Return  the  history  entry  at	position  offset,  starting  from his-
       tory_base.  If there is no entry there, or if offset  is  greater  than
       the history length, return a NULL pointer.

       int history_total_bytes (void)
       Return  the number of bytes that the primary history entries are using.
       This function returns the sum of the lengths of all the	lines  in  the
       history.


   Moving Around the History List    [Toc]    [Back]
       These functions allow the current index into the history list to be set
       or changed.

       int history_set_pos (int pos)
       Set the current history offset to pos, an absolute index into the list.
       Returns	1  on  success, 0 if pos is less than zero or greater than the
       number of history entries.

       HIST_ENTRY * previous_history (void)
       Back up the current history offset to the previous history  entry,  and
       return  a pointer to that entry.  If there is no previous entry, return
       a NULL pointer.

       HIST_ENTRY * next_history (void)
       Move the current history offset forward to the next history entry,  and
       return  the a pointer to that entry.  If there is no next entry, return
       a NULL pointer.


   Searching the History List    [Toc]    [Back]
       These functions allow searching of the history list  for  entries  containing
 a specific string.  Searching may be performed both forward and
       backward  from  the  current  history  position.   The  search  may  be
       anchored,  meaning  that  the string must match at the beginning of the
       history entry.

       int history_search (const char *string, int direction)
       Search the history for string, starting at the current history  offset.
       If  direction  is  less	than  0,  then	the search is through previous
       entries, otherwise through subsequent entries.	If  string  is	found,
       then  the  current  history index is set to that history entry, and the
       value returned is the offset in the line of the entry where string  was
       found.  Otherwise, nothing is changed, and a -1 is returned.

       int history_search_prefix (const char *string, int direction)
       Search  the history for string, starting at the current history offset.
       The search is anchored: matching lines  must  begin  with  string.   If
       direction  is less than 0, then the search is through previous entries,
       otherwise through subsequent entries.  If string  is  found,  then  the
       current	history index is set to that entry, and the return value is 0.
       Otherwise, nothing is changed, and a -1 is returned.

       int history_search_pos (const char *string, int direction, int pos)
       Search for string in the history list, starting	at  pos,  an  absolute
       index  into  the  list.	 If direction is negative, the search proceeds
       backward from pos, otherwise forward.  Returns the  absolute  index  of
       the history element where string was found, or -1 otherwise.


   Managing the History File    [Toc]    [Back]
       The  History  library can read the history from and write it to a file.
       This section documents the functions for managing a history file.

       int read_history (const char *filename)
       Add the contents of filename to the history list, a line at a time.  If
       filename  is NULL, then read from ~/.history.  Returns 0 if successful,
       or errno if not.

       int read_history_range (const char *filename, int from, int to)
       Read a range of lines from filename, adding them to the	history  list.
       Start  reading  at  line from and end at to.  If from is zero, start at
       the beginning.  If to is less than from, then read until the end of the
       file.   If  filename  is NULL, then read from ~/.history.  Returns 0 if
       successful, or errno if not.

       int write_history (const char *filename)
       Write the current history to filename, overwriting filename  if	necessary.
   If filename is NULL, then write the history list to ~/.history.
       Returns 0 on success, or errno on a read or write error.


       int append_history (int nelements, const char *filename)
       Append the last nelements of the history list to filename.  If filename
       is  NULL, then append to ~/.history.  Returns 0 on success, or errno on
       a read or write error.

       int history_truncate_file (const char *filename, int nlines)
       Truncate the history file filename, leaving only the last nlines lines.
       If  filename  is NULL, then ~/.history is truncated.  Returns 0 on success,
 or errno on failure.


   History Expansion    [Toc]    [Back]
       These functions implement history expansion.

       int history_expand (char *string, char **output)
       Expand string, placing the result into output, a pointer to  a  string.
       Returns:
	      0      If  no  expansions  took place (or, if the only change in
		     the text was the removal of escape  characters  preceding
		     the history expansion character);
	      1      if expansions did take place;
	      -1     if there was an error in expansion;
	      2      if  the  returned	line should be displayed, but not executed,
 as with the :p modifier.
       If an error ocurred in expansion, then output  contains	a  descriptive
       error message.

       char * get_history_event (const char *string, int *cindex, int qchar)
       Returns	the  text  of the history event beginning at string + *cindex.
       *cindex is modified to point to after the event specifier.  At function
       entry,  cindex  points to the index into string where the history event
       specification begins.  qchar is a character that is allowed to end  the
       event  specification  in addition to the ``normal'' terminating characters.


       char ** history_tokenize (const char *string)
       Return an array of tokens parsed out  of  string,  much	as  the  shell
       might.	 The   tokens	are  split  on	the  characters  in  the  his-
       tory_word_delimiters  variable,	and  shell  quoting  conventions   are
       obeyed.

       char * history_arg_extract (int first, int last, const char *string)
       Extract a string segment consisting of the first through last arguments
       present in string.  Arguments are split using history_tokenize().


   History Variables    [Toc]    [Back]
       This section describes the externally-visible variables exported by the
       GNU History Library.

       int history_base
       The logical offset of the first entry in the history list.

       int history_length
       The number of entries currently stored in the history list.

       int history_max_entries
       The maximum number of history entries.  This must be changed using sti-
       fle_history().

       char history_expansion_char
       The character that introduces a history event.  The default is !.  Setting
 this to 0 inhibits history expansion.

       char history_subst_char
       The character that invokes word substitution if found at the start of a
       line.  The default is ^.

       char history_comment_char
       During tokenization, if this character is seen as the  first  character
       of  a  word,  then it and all subsequent characters up to a newline are
       ignored, suppressing history expansion for the remainder of  the  line.
       This is disabled by default.

       char * history_word_delimiters
       The  characters	that  separate	tokens	for  history_tokenize().   The
       default value is " \t\n()<>;&|".

       char * history_no_expand_chars
       The list of characters which inhibit history expansion if found immediately
  following  history_expansion_char.   The	default is space, tab,
       newline, \r, and =.

       char * history_search_delimiter_chars
       The list of additional characters which can delimit  a  history	search
       string,	in  addition to space, tab, : and ? in the case of a substring
       search.	The default is empty.

       int history_quotes_inhibit_expansion
       If non-zero, single-quoted words are not scanned for the history expansion
 character.	The default value is 0.

       rl_linebuf_func_t * history_inhibit_expansion_function
       This  should  be  set to the address of a function that takes two arguments:
 a char * (string) and an int index into  that  string  (i).   It
       should  return  a  non-zero  value if the history expansion starting at
       string[i] should not be performed; zero	if  the  expansion  should  be
       done.   It  is  intended for use by applications like bash that use the
       history expansion character for additional purposes.  By default,  this
       variable is set to NULL.

FILES    [Toc]    [Back]

       ~/.history
	      Default filename for reading and writing saved history

SEE ALSO    [Toc]    [Back]

      
      
       The Gnu Readline Library, Brian Fox and Chet Ramey
       The Gnu History Library, Brian Fox and Chet Ramey
       bash(1)
       readline(3)

AUTHORS    [Toc]    [Back]

       Brian Fox, Free Software Foundation
       bfox@gnu.org

       Chet Ramey, Case Western Reserve University
       chet@ins.CWRU.Edu

BUG REPORTS    [Toc]    [Back]

       If  you	find  a bug in the history library, you should report it.  But
       first, you should make sure that it  really  is	a  bug,  and  that  it
       appears in the latest version of the history library that you have.

       Once  you have determined that a bug actually exists, mail a bug report
       to bug-readline@gnu.org.  If you have a fix, you are  welcome  to  mail
       that  as  well!	 Suggestions  and  `philosophical'  bug reports may be
       mailed to  bug-readline@gnu.org	or  posted  to	the  Usenet  newsgroup
       gnu.bash.bug.

       Comments and bug reports concerning this manual page should be directed
       to chet@ins.CWRU.Edu.



GNU History 4.3 		2002 January 31 		    HISTORY(3)
[ Back ]
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