HistGrep: Enhanced Command History Search

Easily search your command history using multiple terms, exclusions, and formatting options that can be customized for each query.

What is it?

HistGrep is a terminal-based command-line tool for searching through history files or other logs. It offers improved search capabilities, allowing you to search using multiple terms, exclude specific terms, and apply formatting options for each search. This provides a quick and efficient way to find the information you need.

Installation

Binaries for linux and macOS are provided in the linux and macos subdirectories.

Build (requires Go 1.21+)

git clone https://github.com/TJN25/histgrep.git
cd histgrep/src/histgrep
go build

Basic search

Run with histgrep s -i input_file.txt foo bar baz or cat input_file.txt | histgrep s foo bar baz. You can redirect the output to a file using the -o flag.

Options

Colors Turn colors off with the -f or --no-color flag.

Case Sensitivity Use case-sensitive search with the -c or --case-sensitive flag.

Pager Enable paging with the -p or --pager flag.

Line Numbering Include line numbers with the -n or --numbered flag.

Exclude Terms Exclude specific terms with the -x or --exclude flag followed by the terms to exclude in quotes e.g. -x "exclude_term1 exclude_term2".

Configuration

Histgrep allows for a wide range of configuration options. When running histgrep s, it will search for two configuration files in $HOME and $XDG_CONFIG_HOME. To use your own custom configuration files, add HISTGREP_CONFIG_PATH to your environment. Histgrep expects to find histgrep.toml and formats.json in the config directory.

Histgrep now supports a histgrep.toml file where default flags can be set. It can also be provided with the location of log files to be used as the search files when none are provided (histgrep s my search terms will search all files in ~/.logs/ matching the file pattern). These changes consolidate the configuration into a single TOML file, making it easier for users to manage their settings. The defaults.json file can be removed, and users should be instructed to update their configurations accordingly when upgrading to this new version.

histgrep.toml

[default_logs]
directory = "~/.logs/"
file_pattern = "{SHELL}-history-{YYYY}-{MM}-{DD}.log"

[search]
case_sensitive = false

[display]
color_enabled = true
pager_enabled = false

formats.json

The formats.json file contains a list of search and output formats. Each JSON object begins with the name of the format. This can be specified at runtime with histgrep s -n NAME_OF_FORMAT or histgrep s --name NAME_OF_FORMAT.

Inputs:

• keys is a list of names to label each segment of each line. These can be any ASCII string, but it's recommended to use a short, descriptive name.
• separators is a list of strings that will be used to separate each segment of a line. The first key will occur before the first separator, the second key will occur after the second separator, and so on. Outputs:
• keys is a list of the names used in the inputs, indicating which keys to keep and in which order to show them.
• separators work the same as inputs, but it is possible to include an extra separator that will be appended to the end of the line. Color:
• Specify the color of each key. This can also contain conditionals that will change the color of the key if certain strings match.
• Specify the color of the separators. Excludes:
• Removes lines containing certain strings.
• Specify the key to search for a term within and whether the term is at the start, end, or anywhere in the line.

{
    "simple":{
        "Input":{
            "keys":["date","time","directory","command"],
            "separators":["."," ",": "]
        },
        "Output":{
            "keys":["command","directory","date"],
            "separators":[" # from ", " :: "]
        },
        "Color":{
            "command":{"default":"green","commit":"red"},
            "directory":{"default":"grey"},
            "date":{"default":"grey"},
            "SEPARATOR":{"default":"grey"}},
        "Excludes":{
            "command": {
                "starts_with" : ["cd","clear","ls","ll","pwd","less","more","cat","echo","exit"]
            },
            "directory": {
                "contains" : ["EXAMPLE", "REMINDER"],
                "ends_with" : ["FOO", "BAR"]
            }
        }
    }
}

###

New Features

• Automatic log file selection: If no input file is specified and stdin is empty, HistGrep will automatically use log files matching the pattern specified in the TOML config.
• Live search in pager mode: When using the pager, you can press / to search or ? to exclude terms. The search updates in real-time as you type.
• Navigation in pager mode: Use vim-like motions (j, k, g, G) or arrow keys to navigate through the results.

This updated README includes information about:

1. The new TOML configuration file and its structure
2. The new command-line flags for case sensitivity, pager mode, and line numbers
3. The automatic log file selection feature
4. The live search and navigation features in pager mode

The existing information about installation, basic usage, and the JSON configuration files has been preserved for backwards compatibility.