Bash – History command inside bash script

bashcommand historyscripting

History is a shell-built in command I couldn't able to use that within a BASH script. So, Is there a way attain this using BASH script ?
Here we go my script for you:

#!/bin/bash
history |  tail -100 > /tmp/history.log
cd /tmp
uuencode history.log history.txt  | mail -s "History log of server" hello@hel.com

Best Answer

Bash disables history in noninteractive shells by default, but you can turn it on.

#!/bin/bash
HISTFILE=~/.bash_history
set -o history
history | tail …

But if you're trying to monitor activity on that server, the shell history is useless (it's trivial to run commands that don't show up in the history). See How can I log all process launches in Linux.

If you're debugging a script then shell history is not the best way to get useful information. A much better tool is the debug trace facility: put set -x near the top of the script. The trace is written to standard error.

Related Solutions

Bash – sharing or synchronizing history between Zsh and Bash

If you are using the defaults for bash and zsh:

$ cat ~/.histfile >> ~/.bash_history
$ youreditor ~/.zshrc
# Here change your config to:
HISTFILE=~/.bash_history
$ rm ~/.histfile

Now you have the same file for history in both shells.

Bash – Keep two bash history files, one with ignoredups, one with everything

You could ignore the builtin history mechanism and abuse $PROMPT_COMMAND to write history any way you wanted. Some people keep a directory of history files, one for each shell/date/hostname, etc. Approximately something like this:

prompt_cmd() {
    echo "$_" >> $HOME/.my_history_file_$HOSTNAME
}

PROMPT_COMMAND=prompt_cmd

obviously embellish with dates, times, whatever...

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Bash – sharing or synchronizing history between Zsh and Bash

Bash – Keep two bash history files, one with ignoredups, one with everything

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