Increase History within Mate Terminal 1.8.0

[panorain]

Which file or files are preferred to edit to increase the Terminal history on my computer when using the Mate Terminal 1.8.0? My Computer is running LinuxMint17 Qiana right now.


Entering the following command in terminal --->

paul@Paul-Compaq-nc6400 /etc $ echo "$HISTSIZE $HISTFILESIZE"
500 500

Thank you for your help.

[Flemur]

Code: Select all

$ grep HIST ~/.bashrc
HISTCONTROL=ignoreboth
# for setting history length see HISTSIZE and HISTFILESIZE in bash(1)
HISTSIZE=1000
HISTFILESIZE=2000

man bash ->
HISTFILESIZE
The maximum number of lines contained in the history file.

[panorain]

There is not a file named .bashrc file showing inside the above listed operating system. Not showing inside the /etc folder either. Would the bash.bashrc file listing inside /etc here be considered the correct file alternative here? Thank you for the reference to "man bash" also.

Thank You

[lmuserx4849]

It is a hidden file in your HOME directory (echo $HOME, cd $HOME is the same as cd ~).

From man bash:

standard personal initialization file ~/.bashrc

More info under the section "Tilde Expansion".
If you type man -H bash you can read the document in your browser (i.e., firefox) as html.

When a user is first created files from /etc/skel are created on their behalf. There is a .bashrc there (ls -la), so any user, using bash as their shell will have, at a minimum, the contents of .bashrc.

Changes to $HOME/.bashrc are for a user, including root. Changes to /etc/bash.bashrc are for the entire system and would affect all users. $HOME/.bashrc should never be overwritten by a software update. /etc/bash.bashrc shouldn't either, but it happens. So if you make changes to /etc/bash.bashrc, do this first (you'll have to be root)... cp bash.bashrc bash.bashrc.20170221 (thats year-month-date). $HOME/.bashrc overrides what is in /etc/bash.bashrc. I'd double check to see if that file exists or not. You can just create it in your HOME directory if it doesn't exist.

[Flemur]

There is not a file named .bashrc file showing inside the above listed operating system.

As lmuserx4849 said it's a "hidden" file (name starts with a period = ".")

To see hidden files in your file browser, hit Ctrl-H or check thru the menus.

To see those files in terminal,

Code: Select all

ls -a

-a = all.

Try

Code: Select all

grep HIST ~/.bashrc

[panorain]

Thank you for your responses and help.

Code: Select all

grep HIST ~/.bashrc

returns the following output:

grep: /home/paul/.bashrc: No such file or directory

Which makes sense because:

Code: Select all

paul@Paul-Compaq-nc6400 ~ $ cd /home/paul

Code: Select all

paul@Paul-Compaq-nc6400 ~ $ ls -lah

• total 80M
  drwx------ 41 paul paul 12K Feb 21 18:45 .
  drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4.0K Aug 5 2014 ..
  drwx------ 3 paul paul 4.0K Aug 5 2014 .adobe
  -rw-r--r-- 1 paul paul 79M Jun 27 2012 android-sdk_r20-linux.tgz
  drwx------ 2 paul paul 4.0K Mar 11 2016 .aptitude
  -rw------- 1 paul paul 9.0K Feb 20 21:10 .bash_history
  -rw-r--r-- 1 paul paul 220 Aug 5 2014 .bash_logout
  drwxr-xr-x 15 paul paul 4.0K Nov 21 20:08 .cache
  drwxr-xr-x 25 paul paul 4.0K Nov 21 22:00 .config
  drwx------ 3 paul paul 4.0K Aug 5 2014 .dbus
  drwxr-xr-x 5 paul paul 12K Feb 20 11:01 Desktop
  -rw------- 1 paul paul 28 Feb 21 18:45 .dmrc
  drwxr-xr-x 2 paul paul 4.0K Feb 10 11:52 Documents
  drwxr-xr-x 2 paul paul 4.0K Mar 31 2015 Downloads
  drwxr-xr-x 10 paul paul 4.0K Jul 1 2016 .dvdcss
  drwx------ 2 paul paul 4.0K Jul 26 2015 dwhelper
  lrwxrwxrwx 1 paul paul 30 Aug 5 2014 .ecryptfs -> /home/.ecryptfs/paul/.ecryptfs
  drwx------ 3 paul paul 4.0K Feb 21 18:45 .gconf
  drwxr-xr-x 24 paul paul 4.0K Feb 9 10:21 .gimp-2.8
  -rw-r----- 1 paul paul 0 Nov 24 13:25 .gksu.lock
  drwx------ 4 paul paul 4.0K Apr 21 2016 .gnome2
  drwx------ 2 paul paul 4.0K Aug 5 2014 .gnome2_private
  drwx------ 2 paul paul 4.0K Nov 21 21:33 .gnupg
  drwxr-xr-x 2 paul paul 4.0K Mar 1 2016 .gstreamer-0.10
  drwxr----- 2 paul paul 4.0K Nov 5 2014 .hplip
  -rw------- 1 paul paul 136K Feb 21 18:45 .ICEauthority
  drwxr-xr-x 2 paul paul 4.0K Aug 5 2014 .icons
  drwxr-xr-x 3 paul paul 4.0K Nov 5 2014 .java
  drwx------ 3 paul paul 4.0K Jan 17 2016 .kde
  -rw------- 1 paul paul 94 Feb 19 21:18 .lesshst
  drwxr-xr-x 5 paul paul 4.0K Aug 5 2014 .linuxmint
  drwx------ 3 paul paul 4.0K Aug 5 2014 .local
  drwx------ 3 paul paul 4.0K Aug 5 2014 .macromedia
  drwxr-xr-x 4 paul paul 4.0K Aug 5 2014 .mozilla
  drwxr-xr-x 3 paul paul 4.0K Aug 6 2014 Music
  drwxr-xr-x 3 paul paul 4.0K Feb 7 2015 .nexuiz
  drwxr-xr-x 16 paul paul 12K Feb 20 11:23 .npm
  -rw-r--r-- 1 paul paul 42 Jan 18 2015 .padminrc
  drwxr-xr-x 20 paul paul 4.0K Feb 16 20:07 Pictures
  lrwxrwxrwx 1 paul paul 29 Aug 5 2014 .Private -> /home/.ecryptfs/paul/.Private
  -rw-r--r-- 1 paul paul 675 Aug 5 2014 .profile
  drwxr-xr-x 2 paul paul 4.0K Aug 5 2014 Public
  drwx------ 6 paul paul 4.0K Sep 13 12:54 .purple
  drwx------ 3 paul paul 4.0K Jan 18 2015 .sane
  -rw-r--r-- 1 paul paul 758 Sep 7 07:56 sha256sum.txt
  -rw-r--r-- 1 paul paul 819 Sep 7 07:58 sha256sum.txt.gpg
  drwx------ 6 paul paul 4.0K Feb 18 02:02 .Skype
  drwxr-xr-x 2 paul paul 4.0K Aug 5 2014 Templates
  drwxr-xr-x 2 paul paul 4.0K Aug 5 2014 .themes
  drwx------ 3 paul paul 4.0K Feb 5 13:10 .thumbnails
  drwx------ 4 paul paul 4.0K Jul 17 2015 .thunderbird
  drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4.0K Feb 20 11:23 tmp
  drwx------ 2 paul paul 4.0K Nov 17 2015 .TrueCrypt
  drwxr-xr-x 2 paul paul 4.0K Aug 5 2014 Videos
  -rw------- 1 paul paul 569 Dec 20 08:19 .wvdial.conf
  -rw------- 1 paul paul 129 Feb 21 18:45 .Xauthority
  -rw-r--r-- 1 paul paul 3.7K Feb 21 19:24 .xsession-errors
  paul@Paul-Compaq-nc6400 ~ $

1. I am understanding now that if I create a file named .bashrc within /home/paul the entries I make within /home/paul/.bashrc would be just for that individual user. If I edit /etc/bash.bashrc that is a systemwide approach. Does that seem correct to you guys?

2.

When a user is first created files from /etc/skel are created on their behalf. There is a .bashrc there (ls -la), so any user, using bash as their shell will have, at a minimum, the contents of .bashrc.

3. paul@Paul-Compaq-nc6400 /etc/skel $ ls -lah
total 32K
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4.0K Oct 11 2014 .
drwxr-xr-x 148 root root 12K Feb 21 18:45 ..
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 220 Apr 8 2014 .bash_logout
drwxr-xr-x 5 root root 4.0K Jun 24 2014 .config
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4.0K Aug 27 12:48 .mozilla
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 675 Apr 8 2014 .profile

Why am I not seeing a .bashrc file within /etc/skel right now?

4. paul@Paul-Compaq-nc6400 / $ echo "$HISTSIZE $HISTFILESIZE"
2000 2000

The size has been increased so that is good news.

5. When I read through the bash manual a bit I used /HIST for what I think it is called "search pattern". What are your thoughts on the main differences HISTSIZE and HISTFILESIZE ? To me after reading their base meanings HISTSIZE superceds either. I was able to increase history size now to 4000 by just inserting -->

• HISTSIZE=4000

So what is the point of HISTFILESIZE at all then if I can ask?

Thank you for all your help.

[lmuserx4849]

...
1. I am understanding now that if I create a file named .bashrc within /home/paul the entries I make within /home/paul/.bashrc would be just for that individual user. If I edit /etc/bash.bashrc that is a systemwide approach. Does that seem correct to you guys?
...
3. paul@Paul-Compaq-nc6400 /etc/skel $ ls -lah
Why am I not seeing a .bashrc file within /etc/skel right now?
...
5. When I read through the bash manual a bit I used /HIST for what I think it is called "search pattern". What are your thoughts on the main differences HISTSIZE and HISTFILESIZE ? To me after reading their base meanings HISTSIZE superceds either. I was able to increase history size now to 4000 by just inserting -->

• HISTSIZE=4000

So what is the point of HISTFILESIZE at all then if I can ask?

1. Yes. Anything not in your home directory is system wide. Configuration files are mostly in /etc/ and /usr/share.
If you want to learn more about some of the linux files there is a document called Filesystem Hierarchy Standard. It is mostly followed, but there are variations.

3. I found this entry, which says Linux Mint doesn't include a /etc/skel/.bashrc. This could be correct. Although, when I cat /etc/skel/.bashrc, the last two lines are #mint-fortune, /usr/bin/mint-fortune. I would not have created that, so it must have been there. I've only done one upgrade and I'm now on 17.3. I've carried over my .bashrc for many years and from other distributions. I have probably about 75 alias' (ie., alias l='ls -l --size --group-directories-first') and several functions.

5. HISTFILE is in memory and HISTFILESIZE is on disk (.bash_history)
Mine are set to : 1000, 10000.
You might also be interested in:
HISTCONTROL="ignoreboth:erasedups"
HISTIGNORE="&:[ ]*" # ignore consecutive dup cmds, cmds that begin with a space (this would be kept out of history)
HISTTIMEFORMAT="%F %T "
PROMPT_COMMAND="history -a; history -n; $PROMPT_COMMAND"
shopt -s histappend # history file appended rather than overwritten on exit
shopt -s histverify # history cmds reloaded for edit, verses immediatedly parsed
shopt -s histreedit # failed history substitutions are reloaded for edit
shopt -s cmdhist # preserve command chains as one history line
shopt -u lithist # save command with new lines instead of semi-colons

Here's a short tutorial on less less. Commands are based on the vi editor. As you mentioned "/pattern" will search forward. To repeat type "n". To Search backward use a "?pattern". "g" goes to the top. "G" goes to the bottom. To escape a character use a backslash "\". In these cases, pattern
is a regular expression (vs bash glob pattern). So you can type: /^\s+Pattern.

[panorain]

@imuserx4849 --> 1. Are you meaning to state that your HISTSIZE=1000 not HISTFILE=1000 ? Meaning you have 1000 commands remembered in your labelled history file which is .bash_history by default. Cause otherwise you could possibly be naming your HISTFILE to 1000. So you also have HISTFILESIZE=10000 so your .bash_history file itself contains 10000 lines of listing memory available?

I really do appreciate you taking you all's time with your above postings to help me with my issues.

• paul@Paul-Lenovo-m57p ~ $ echo "$HISTFILE"
  /home/paul/.bash_history

2. I have a question about why locate is not showing the default .bash_history in paul only the visitor account?

• paul@Paul-Lenovo-m57p / $ sudo updatedb
  paul@Paul-Lenovo-m57p / $ ls -lah
  total 105K
  drwxr-xr-x 24 root root 4.0K Jan 17 2015 .
  drwxr-xr-x 24 root root 4.0K Jan 17 2015 ..
  drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4.0K Mar 15 12:29 bin
  drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 1.0K Mar 31 11:01 boot
  drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4.0K Dec 11 2014 cdrom
  drwxr-xr-x 18 root root 4.4K Apr 25 21:54 dev
  drwxr-xr-x 154 root root 12K Apr 25 22:58 etc
  drwxr-xr-x 6 root root 4.0K Feb 23 2016 home
  lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 33 Jan 17 2015 initrd.img -> boot/initrd.img-3.13.0-24-generic
  drwxr-xr-x 25 root root 4.0K Mar 25 15:34 lib
  drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4.0K Mar 25 15:34 lib32
  drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4.0K Mar 25 15:34 lib64
  drwx------ 2 root root 16K Dec 11 2014 lost+found
  drwxr-xr-x 5 root root 4.0K Oct 12 2015 media
  drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4.0K Dec 25 2014 mnt
  drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4.0K Mar 15 12:26 opt
  dr-xr-xr-x 191 root root 0 Apr 25 21:53 proc
  drwx------ 8 root root 4.0K Jan 1 2015 root
  drwxr-xr-x 26 root root 880 Apr 25 21:54 run
  drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 12K Mar 31 10:59 sbin
  drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4.0K Jun 24 2014 srv
  dr-xr-xr-x 13 root root 0 Apr 25 21:53 sys
  drwxrwxrwt 11 root root 4.0K Apr 25 23:17 tmp
  drwxr-xr-x 12 root root 4.0K Dec 12 2014 usr
  drwxr-xr-x 11 root root 4.0K Jun 24 2014 var
  lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 30 Jan 17 2015 vmlinuz -> boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-24-generic
  paul@Paul-Lenovo-m57p / $ locate .bash_history
  /home/visitor/.bash_history
  paul@Paul-Lenovo-m57p / $ cd /home
  paul@Paul-Lenovo-m57p /home $ ls
  paul Shared visitor
  paul@Paul-Lenovo-m57p /home $ ls -lah
  total 32K
  drwxr-xr-x 6 root root 4.0K Feb 23 2016 .
  drwxr-xr-x 24 root root 4.0K Jan 17 2015 ..
  drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4.0K Feb 23 2016 .ecryptfs
  drwx------ 49 paul paul 12K Apr 25 22:58 paul
  drwxrws--- 2 root plugdev 4.0K Jan 7 2015 Shared
  drwxrwx--- 27 visitor visitor 4.0K May 31 2016 visitor
  paul@Paul-Lenovo-m57p /home $ cd visitor
  paul@Paul-Lenovo-m57p /home/visitor $ ls -lah
  total 144K
  drwxrwx--- 27 visitor visitor 4.0K May 31 2016 .
  drwxr-xr-x 6 root root 4.0K Feb 23 2016 ..
  drwx------ 3 visitor visitor 4.0K Dec 13 2014 .adobe
  -rw------- 1 visitor visitor 1.9K Oct 12 2015 .bash_history
  -rw-r--r-- 1 visitor visitor 220 Dec 13 2014 .bash_logout
  drwx------ 8 visitor visitor 4.0K Dec 30 2014 .cache
  drwxr-xr-x 16 visitor visitor 4.0K Oct 12 2015 .config
  drwx------ 3 visitor visitor 4.0K Dec 13 2014 .dbus
  drwxr-xr-x 2 visitor visitor 4.0K Oct 12 2015 Desktop
  -rw------- 1 visitor visitor 28 May 31 2016 .dmrc
  drwxr-xr-x 2 visitor visitor 4.0K Dec 13 2014 Documents
  drwxr-xr-x 2 visitor visitor 4.0K Dec 13 2014 Downloads
  drwx------ 4 visitor visitor 4.0K May 31 2016 .gconf
  drwx------ 4 visitor visitor 4.0K Apr 14 2015 .gnome2
  drwx------ 2 visitor visitor 4.0K Dec 13 2014 .gnome2_private
  -rw------- 1 visitor visitor 12K May 31 2016 .ICEauthority
  drwxr-xr-x 3 visitor visitor 4.0K Dec 17 2014 .java
  drwxr-xr-x 5 visitor visitor 4.0K Dec 13 2014 .linuxmint
  drwx------ 3 visitor visitor 4.0K Dec 13 2014 .local
  drwx------ 3 visitor visitor 4.0K Dec 13 2014 .macromedia
  drwxr-xr-x 4 visitor visitor 4.0K Dec 13 2014 .mozilla
  drwxr-xr-x 2 visitor visitor 4.0K Dec 13 2014 Music
  drwxr-xr-x 3 visitor visitor 4.0K Dec 13 2014 .nexuiz
  drwx------ 3 visitor visitor 4.0K Dec 13 2014 .nv
  -rw-r--r-- 1 visitor visitor 1.6K Dec 13 2014 .nvidia-settings-rc
  drwxr-x--- 3 visitor visitor 4.0K Mar 8 2015 .openarena
  drwxr-xr-x 2 visitor visitor 4.0K Dec 13 2014 Pictures
  -rw-r--r-- 1 visitor visitor 675 Dec 13 2014 .profile
  drwxr-xr-x 2 visitor visitor 4.0K Dec 13 2014 Public
  drwx------ 3 visitor visitor 4.0K May 28 2015 .sane
  drwxr-xr-x 2 visitor visitor 4.0K Dec 13 2014 Templates
  drwx------ 4 visitor visitor 4.0K Dec 30 2014 .thunderbird
  drwxr-xr-x 2 visitor visitor 4.0K Dec 13 2014 Videos
  -rw-r--r-- 1 visitor visitor 2.8K May 31 2016 .xsession-errors
  paul@Paul-Lenovo-m57p /home/visitor $ cd ../
  paul@Paul-Lenovo-m57p /home $ cd paul
  paul@Paul-Lenovo-m57p ~ $ ls -lah
  total 608K
  drwx------ 49 paul paul 12K Apr 25 22:58 .
  drwxr-xr-x 6 root root 4.0K Feb 23 2016 ..
  drwx------ 3 paul paul 4.0K Dec 11 2014 .adobe
  drwx------ 2 paul paul 4.0K May 21 2015 .aptitude
  -rw------- 1 paul paul 9.2K Apr 25 23:22 .bash_history
  -rw-r--r-- 1 paul paul 220 Dec 11 2014 .bash_logout
  drwxr-xr-x 17 paul paul 4.0K May 21 2015 .cache
  drwxr-xr-x 29 paul paul 4.0K May 8 2015 .config
  drwx------ 3 paul paul 4.0K Dec 11 2014 .dbus
  drwxr-xr-x 8 paul paul 12K Apr 25 17:13 Desktop
  -rw-r--r-- 1 paul paul 221 Feb 22 2015 .devede
  -rw------- 1 paul paul 28 Apr 25 22:58 .dmrc
  drwxr-xr-x 15 paul paul 4.0K Nov 6 2015 Documents
  drwxr-xr-x 2 paul paul 4.0K Dec 12 2014 Downloads
  drwxr-xr-x 15 paul paul 4.0K May 22 2015 .dvdcss
  drwxr-xr-x 2 paul paul 4.0K Jan 20 2015 .dvdrip
  drwxr-xr-x 2 paul paul 4.0K Jan 20 2015 dvdrip-data
  drwxr-xr-x 4 paul paul 4.0K Jan 20 2015 .dvdrip-master
  -rw-r--r-- 1 paul paul 29K Feb 22 2015 .dvdriprc
  drwxr-x--- 2 paul paul 4.0K May 3 2015 dwhelper
  lrwxrwxrwx 1 paul paul 30 Dec 11 2014 .ecryptfs -> /home/.ecryptfs/paul/.ecryptfs
  drwx------ 3 paul paul 4.0K Apr 25 22:58 .gconf
  drwxr-xr-x 24 paul paul 4.0K Dec 5 2015 .gimp-2.8
  -rw-r----- 1 paul paul 0 Mar 30 11:54 .gksu.lock
  drwx------ 4 paul paul 4.0K Jan 11 2016 .gnome2
  drwx------ 2 paul paul 4.0K Dec 11 2014 .gnome2_private
  drwx------ 2 paul paul 4.0K Feb 24 2015 .gnupg
  drwxr-xr-x 2 paul paul 4.0K Jun 14 2015 .gstreamer-0.10
  drwx------ 2 root root 4.0K Dec 14 2014 .gvfs
  drwxr----- 2 paul paul 4.0K Dec 12 2014 .hplip
  -rw------- 1 paul paul 186K Apr 25 22:58 .ICEauthority
  drwxr-xr-x 2 paul paul 4.0K Dec 12 2014 .icons
  drwxr-xr-x 3 paul paul 4.0K Dec 12 2014 .java
  drwx------ 6 paul paul 4.0K Mar 1 2015 .kde
  -r-------- 1 paul paul 38 May 8 2015 .lesshst
  drwxr-xr-x 5 paul paul 4.0K Dec 12 2014 .linuxmint
  drwx------ 3 paul paul 4.0K Dec 11 2014 .local
  drwx------ 3 paul paul 4.0K Dec 11 2014 .macromedia
  drwxr-xr-x 4 paul paul 4.0K Dec 11 2014 .mozilla
  drwxr-xr-x 2 paul paul 4.0K Dec 14 2014 .mplayer
  drwxr-xr-x 2 paul paul 4.0K Feb 21 2015 .mpv
  drwxr-xr-x 5 paul paul 4.0K Apr 23 16:04 Music
  drwxr-xr-x 3 paul paul 4.0K Dec 13 2014 .nexuiz
  drwx------ 3 paul paul 4.0K Dec 12 2014 .nv
  -rw-r--r-- 1 paul paul 1.6K Mar 15 13:53 .nvidia-settings-rc
  drwxr-x--- 8 paul paul 4.0K Mar 15 14:07 .openarena
  drwx------ 18 paul paul 12K Apr 30 2015 .opera
  -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 42 Dec 12 2014 .padminrc
  drwxr-xr-x 22 paul paul 4.0K Jan 26 13:33 Pictures
  lrwxrwxrwx 1 paul paul 29 Dec 11 2014 .Private -> /home/.ecryptfs/paul/.Private
  -rw-r--r-- 1 paul paul 675 Dec 11 2014 .profile
  drwxr-xr-x 2 paul paul 4.0K Dec 11 2014 Public
  drwx------ 6 paul paul 4.0K Jun 28 2015 .purple
  drwxr-xr-x 2 paul paul 4.0K Dec 17 2014 .qf
  drwx------ 3 paul paul 4.0K Dec 12 2014 .sane
  drwx------ 6 paul paul 4.0K Mar 17 19:53 .Skype
  drwxr-xr-x 2 paul paul 4.0K Dec 14 2014 .spumux
  drwxr-xr-x 2 paul paul 4.0K Dec 11 2014 Templates
  drwxr-xr-x 2 paul paul 4.0K Dec 12 2014 .themes
  drwx------ 3 paul paul 4.0K Apr 18 2015 .thumbnails
  drwx------ 4 paul paul 4.0K Dec 29 2014 .thunderbird
  drwxr-xr-x 2 paul paul 4.0K Dec 11 2014 Videos
  -rw------- 1 paul paul 127 Apr 25 22:58 .Xauthority
  -rw-r--r-- 1 paul paul 5.7K Apr 25 23:22 .xsession-errors
  paul@Paul-Lenovo-m57p ~ $ locate .bash_history
  /home/visitor/.bash_history
  paul@Paul-Lenovo-m57p ~ $

Is the issue with locate not listing the .bash_history file within user paul permission related?
I think setting up some timestamps on the Bash terminal entries sould be very neat.
It's really been helpful I have alot of material to review now but I have learned thank you.

Thanks for your help