Saving current directory to bash history

Question

I\'d like to save the current directory where the each command was issued alongside the command in the history. In order not to mess things up, I was thinking about adding

Answer 1

hcmnt - long function version

Here is a long version in the form of a function. It's a monster, but it adds several useful features. I've also posted a one-liner (the original) and a shorter function. I like the function versions because they won't clobber other variables in your environment and they're much more readable than the one-liner. Read the entry for the one-liner and the commments in the function below for additional information on how it works and some limitations. I've posted each version in its own answer in order to keep things more organized.

To use this one, save it in a file called hcmnt in a location like /usr/local/bin (you can chmod +x it if you want) then source it in your ~/.bashrc like this:

source /usr/local/bin/hcmnt
export hcmntextra='date "+%Y%m%d %R"'
export PROMPT_COMMAND='hcmnt'

Don't edit the function's file where PROMPT_COMMAND or hcmntextra are set. Leave them as is so they remain as defaults. Include them in your .bashrc as shown above and edit them there to set options for hcmnt or to change or unset hcmntextra. Unlike the short function, with this one you must both have the hcmntextra variable set and use the -e option to make that feature work.

You can add several options which are documented (with a couple of examples) in the comments in the function. One notable feature is to have the history entry with appended comment logged to a file and leave the actual history untouched. In order to use this function, just add the -l filename option like so:

export PROMPT_COMMAND="hcmnt -l ~/histlog"

You can use any combination of options, except that -n and -t are mutually exclusive.

#!/bin/bash
hcmnt() {

# adds comments to bash history entries (or logs them)

# by Dennis Williamson - 2009-06-05 - updated 2009-06-19
# http://stackoverflow.com/questions/945288/saving-current-directory-to-bash-history
# (thanks to Lajos Nagy for the idea)

# the comments can include the directory
# that was current when the command was issued
# plus optionally, the date or other information

# set the bash variable PROMPT_COMMAND to the name
# of this function and include these options:

    # -e - add the output of an extra command contained in the hcmntextra variable
    # -i - add ip address of terminal that you are logged in *from*
    #      if you're using screen, the screen number is shown
    #      if you're directly logged in, the tty number or X display number is shown
    # -l - log the entry rather than replacing it in the history
    # -n - don't add the directory
    # -t - add the from and to directories for cd commands
    # -y - add the terminal device (tty)
    # text or a variable

# Example result for PROMPT_COMMAND='hcmnt -et $LOGNAME'
#     when hcmntextra='date "+%Y%m%d %R"'
# cd /usr/bin ### mike 20090605 14:34 /home/mike -> /usr/bin

# Example for PROMPT_COMMAND='hcmnt'
# cd /usr/bin ### /home/mike

# Example for detailed logging:
#     when hcmntextra='date "+%Y%m%d %R"'
#     and PROMPT_COMMAND='hcmnt -eityl ~/.hcmnt.log $LOGNAME@$HOSTNAME'
#     $ tail -1 ~/.hcmnt.log
#     cd /var/log ### dave@hammerhead /dev/pts/3 192.168.1.1 20090617 16:12 /etc -> /var/log


# INSTALLATION: source this file in your .bashrc

    # will not work if HISTTIMEFORMAT is used - use hcmntextra instead
    export HISTTIMEFORMAT=

    # HISTTIMEFORMAT still works in a subshell, however, since it gets unset automatically:

    #   $ htf="%Y-%m-%d %R "    # save it for re-use
    #   $ (HISTTIMEFORMAT=$htf; history 20)|grep 11:25

    local script=$FUNCNAME

    local hcmnt=
    local cwd=
    local extra=
    local text=
    local logfile=

    local options=":eil:nty"
    local option=
    OPTIND=1
    local usage="Usage: $script [-e] [-i] [-l logfile] [-n|-t] [-y] [text]"

    local newline=$'\n' # used in workaround for bash history newline bug
    local histline=     # used in workaround for bash history newline bug

    local ExtraOpt=
    local LogOpt=
    local NoneOpt=
    local ToOpt=
    local tty=
    local ip=

    # *** process options to set flags ***

    while getopts $options option
    do
        case $option in
            e ) ExtraOpt=1;;        # include hcmntextra
            i ) ip="$(who --ips -m)" # include the terminal's ip address
                ip=($ip)
                ip="${ip[4]}"
                if [[ -z $ip ]]
                then
                    ip=$(tty)
                fi;;
            l ) LogOpt=1            # log the entry
                logfile=$OPTARG;;
            n ) if [[ $ToOpt ]]
                then
                    echo "$script: can't include both -n and -t."
                    echo $usage
                    return 1
                else
                    NoneOpt=1       # don't include path
                fi;;
            t ) if [[ $NoneOpt ]]
                then
                    echo "$script: can't include both -n and -t."
                    echo $usage
                    return 1
                else
                    ToOpt=1         # cd shows "from -> to"
                fi;;
            y ) tty=$(tty);;
            : ) echo "$script: missing filename: -$OPTARG."
                echo $usage
                return 1;;
            * ) echo "$script: invalid option: -$OPTARG."
                echo $usage
                return 1;;
        esac
    done

    text=($@)                       # arguments after the options are saved to add to the comment
    text="${text[*]:$OPTIND - 1:${#text[*]}}"

    # *** process the history entry ***

    hcmnt=$(history 1)              # grab the most recent command

    # save history line number for workaround for bash history newline bug
    histline="${hcmnt%  *}"

    hcmnt="${hcmnt# *[0-9]*  }"     # strip off the history line number

    if [[ -z $NoneOpt ]]            # are we adding the directory?
    then
        if [[ ${hcmnt%% *} == "cd" ]]    # if it's a cd command, we want the old directory
        then                             #   so the comment matches other commands "where *were* you when this was done?"
            if [[ $ToOpt ]]
            then
                cwd="$OLDPWD -> $PWD"    # show "from -> to" for cd
            else
                cwd=$OLDPWD              # just show "from"
            fi
        else
            cwd=$PWD                     # it's not a cd, so just show where we are
        fi
    fi

    if [[ $ExtraOpt && $hcmntextra ]]    # do we want a little something extra?
    then
        extra=$(eval "$hcmntextra")
    fi

    # strip off the old ### comment if there was one so they don't accumulate
    # then build the string (if text or extra aren't empty, add them plus a space)
    hcmnt="${hcmnt% ### *} ### ${text:+$text }${tty:+$tty }${ip:+$ip }${extra:+$extra }$cwd"

    if [[ $LogOpt ]]
    then
        # save the entry in a logfile
        echo "$hcmnt" >> $logfile || echo "$script: file error." ; return 1
    else

        # workaround for bash history newline bug
        if [[ $hcmnt != ${hcmnt/$newline/} ]] # if there a newline in the command
        then
            history -d $histline # then delete the current command so it's not duplicated
        fi

        # replace the history entry
        history -s "$hcmnt"
    fi

} # END FUNCTION hcmnt

# set a default (must use -e option to include it)
export hcmntextra='date "+%Y%m%d %R"'      # you must be really careful to get the quoting right

# start using it
export PROMPT_COMMAND='hcmnt'

update 2009-06-19: Added options useful for logging (ip and tty), a workaround for the duplicate entry problem, removed extraneous null assignments

Answer 2

Full disclosure: I'm the author of the FOSS-tool
shournal - A (file-) journal for your shell:
Using it's bash integration, the working directory of a command is also stored within shournal's sqlite-database and can be retrieved via

shournal --query -cmdcwd "$PWD"

Querying for sub-working-directories can be done with

shournal --query -cmdcwd -like "$PWD/%"

Answer 3

hcmnts - short function version

Here is a short version in the form of a function. I've also posted a one-liner (the original) and a longer function with several added features. I like the function versions because they won't clobber other variables in your environment and they're much more readable than the one-liner. Read the entry for the one-liner for additional information on how this works and some limitations. I've posted each version in its own answer in order to keep things more organized.

To use this one, save it in a file called hcmnts in a location like /usr/local/bin (you can chmod +x it if you want) then source it in your ~/.bashrc like this:

source /usr/local/bin/hcmnts

Comment out the line that sets hcmntextra if you don't want the date and time (or you can change its format or use some other command besides date).

That's all there is to it.

#!/bin/bash
hcmnts() {
    # adds comments to bash history entries

    # the *S*hort version of hcmnt (which has many more features)

    # by Dennis Williamson
    # http://stackoverflow.com/questions/945288/saving-current-directory-to-bash-history
    # (thanks to Lajos Nagy for the idea)

    # INSTALLATION: source this file in your .bashrc

    # will not work if HISTTIMEFORMAT is used - use hcmntextra instead
    export HISTTIMEFORMAT=

    # HISTTIMEFORMAT still works in a subshell, however, since it gets unset automatically:

    #   $ htf="%Y-%m-%d %R "    # save it for re-use
    #   $ (HISTTIMEFORMAT=$htf; history 20)|grep 11:25

    local hcmnt
    local cwd
    local extra

    hcmnt=$(history 1)
    hcmnt="${hcmnt# *[0-9]*  }"

    if [[ ${hcmnt%% *} == "cd" ]]
    then
        cwd=$OLDPWD
    else
        cwd=$PWD
    fi

    extra=$(eval "$hcmntextra")

    hcmnt="${hcmnt% ### *}"
    hcmnt="$hcmnt ### ${extra:+$extra }$cwd"

    history -s "$hcmnt"
}
export hcmntextra='date +"%Y%m%d %R"'
export PROMPT_COMMAND='hcmnts'