3 ms·

For those who haven't used it, ctrl-r in the command line is the best thing in the world. It does a reverse-search over previous commands. Set your max history

For those who haven't used it, ctrl-r in the command line is the best thing in the world. It does a reverse-search over previous commands. Set your max history size to unlimited, and your CLI will remember /all/ commands you ever type, making it very easy to find long, strange incantations that you figured out once, so long as you can remember some small part of the command. For example, How did I do that magical ffmpeg thing last time? Just hit ctrl-r, type ffmpeg, and keep hitting ctrl-r to find previous examples until I find what I'm after.

sideshowb 5y ago
For more complex commands I use often I sometimes comment the end of my line with a keyword I can search on
jamiek88 5y ago
Does this work on Mac OS? I’ve got a bunch of saved notes with various incantations that would become redundant if so!
- sdenton4 5y ago
  Seems like it should! https://stackoverflow.com/questions/41780746/searching-your-command-history-on-macos-terminal https://stackoverflow.com/questions/41780746/searching-your-... Good to double check how to turn off the history size limit before throwing away the post it notes entirely.
- wutbrodo 5y ago
  > I’ve got a bunch of saved notes with various incantations that would become redundant if so! Throw them in scripts! Another advantage of using a CLI is that it provides a friction-free path from ad hoc commands to saved commands to messy scripts to properly supported tools. I've ridden this gradient multiple times prfoesssionaly, especially now that I work with a bunch of PhDs who are less comfortable around OSes than I am. It's a good feeling to have such a clean pipeline from "this command/series of commands feels awkward to me" to a reviewed, checked-in tool that becomes a critical part of the team's workflow. The best part is that there's value at every incremental step, so you don't need to invest any organizational effort, which is especially useful in a chaotic execution environment.

sideshowb 5y ago

For more complex commands I use often I sometimes comment the end of my line with a keyword I can search on

jamiek88 5y ago

Does this work on Mac OS? I’ve got a bunch of saved notes with various incantations that would become redundant if so!

sdenton4 5y ago
Seems like it should! https://stackoverflow.com/questions/41780746/searching-your-command-history-on-macos-terminal https://stackoverflow.com/questions/41780746/searching-your-... Good to double check how to turn off the history size limit before throwing away the post it notes entirely.
wutbrodo 5y ago
> I’ve got a bunch of saved notes with various incantations that would become redundant if so! Throw them in scripts! Another advantage of using a CLI is that it provides a friction-free path from ad hoc commands to saved commands to messy scripts to properly supported tools. I've ridden this gradient multiple times prfoesssionaly, especially now that I work with a bunch of PhDs who are less comfortable around OSes than I am. It's a good feeling to have such a clean pipeline from "this command/series of commands feels awkward to me" to a reviewed, checked-in tool that becomes a critical part of the team's workflow. The best part is that there's value at every incremental step, so you don't need to invest any organizational effort, which is especially useful in a chaotic execution environment.