What's your most useful shell? - Page 16

otheus · #1 (**permalink**) 08-28-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by cfajohnson

You can turn that on in bash with shopt -s extglob.

Hey cool! Thanks!

sentinel · #2 (**permalink**) 09-25-2008

I use and like bash.

However, strangely (I use several terminal windows), i have never figured out where the history of each window goes. I am certain that bash does not *save* command history per window. The .bash_history file has the history of which terminal window -- certainly not all.

That said I am still after 20 years of unix, not happy with the scripting language. Minor issues like spaces matter in variable setting, and various other places. Also, when reading lines frm a file in a loop, words get split -- you have to remember to change the setting for that.
Spaces in filenames cause annoying problems.
e.g.

Quote:

rm -rf `locate <somepattern>`

However, i love the history substitutions like:

Quote:

ls /some_loooong_path/somefile.c
vim !*

Has anyone heard of the shell: fish ?

otheus · #3 (**permalink**) 09-25-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by sentinel

I use and like bash.

However, strangely (I use several terminal windows), i have never figured out where the history of each window goes. I am certain that bash does not *save* command history per window. The .bash_history file has the history of which terminal window -- certainly not all.

Right, but you can set the history file dynamically, just by changing the environment variable HISTFILE, which is what I do with screen, etc. Then each terminal is in a separate one. You can also set up something so that all the histories are merged and sorted at the end.

sentinel · #4 (**permalink**) 09-25-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by otheus

Right, but you can set the history file dynamically, just by changing the environment variable HISTFILE, which is what I do with screen, etc. Then each terminal is in a separate one. You can also set up something so that all the histories are merged and sorted at the end.

btw, I started using screen a few days back and i love it. Could you please give me the exact setting for HISTFILE you use, and how you merge the histories. Is it just a simple cronjob that does a "sort -u" monthly ?

I googled and found this:

Quote:

HISTFILE=/root/.sh_history.`basename $TTY`

However, my gripe is that it seems all my terminals are not getting saved in the single bash_history file.

If you can share any tips for screen (related to this) or just share your screenrc -- would be really grateful. I have read lots of great tutorials, btw.

zzol · #5 (**permalink**) 12-17-2008

I use only zsh and like it.

techlinux · #6 (**permalink**) 12-20-2008

My preference is bash. But ksh is also good if bash is not available. ksh or and bourne may also be a little easier for newer users.

indiana_tas · #7 (**permalink**) 01-05-2009

I have used bash the longest since it is standard on RHEL and Mac OS X. I like it because it is intuitive and behaves identically on all of the systems I have used it on. But recently I stepped into the AIX world where ksh is the default shell. I do like the vi command line editing, but I can also do that in bash (using 'set -o vi' as mentioned in this thread). I didn't know about the korn auto-completion options, so thanks to those who shared those tips! But one thing I really adore about bash and tcsh is that you can use time-saving history recall options, like:

Code:

$! - return last option to the previous command
!^ - return first option to the previous command
!:2-4 - return second through fourth options to previous command
!vi - recall last vi command
!?grep - recall last command that had grep anywhere in it

And if you're unsure whether you'd want to execute the command, use the print option with the history recall command to print the command first...

Code:

!?grep?:p
!vi:p

When you use the : p option as seen in the first example, you need the trailing "?", otherwise you can omit it.

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View Poll Results: What's your most useful shell?
/bin/sh	61	8.62%
/bin/csh	34	4.80%
/bin/ksh	295	41.67%
/bin/tcsh	33	4.66%
/bin/bash	285	40.25%
Voters: 708. You may not vote on this poll

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