An Even Better Way to Search Your Command Line History

[Linux / Mac] I have shown you previously how you can do a search in the terminal using the shortcut “Ctrl + r”, here is an even better way to help you search your command line history.

1. Open a text editor and paste the following lines to it:

"\e[A": history-search-backward
"\e[B": history-search-forward
set show-all-if-ambiguous on
set completion-ignore-case on

2. Save the file as “.inputrc” (don’t forget to include the dot at the beginning) in your Home folder.

3. Now open your terminal. You can type a few characters and use the Up/Down arrow to search the history that begin with the typed character. For example, if you type “cd /” and press the Up arrow button, it will search your history for commands that start with “cd /“.

Note: If you are using zsh, this feature is already included and you can use it without any modification.

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