Zsh History – How to Search History with Text Already Entered at the Prompt

command historysearchzsh

In zsh, I know that I can search history with Ctrl+r. However, oftentimes I start to type a command directly at the prompt, but then realize I should be searching history. When I hit Ctrl+r, it brings up a blank history search prompt like this:

history search prompt not pre-filled

Notice how there is text at my prompt but not at the history search prompt. How do I start the history search with the text already in the prompt, so it looks like this:

history search prompt pre-filled

Best Answer

You can use zle's history-search functionality:

bindkey "^[[A" history-beginning-search-backward
bindkey "^[[B" history-beginning-search-forward

This binds Up and Down (adjust for your own escape sequences) to a history search, backwards and forwards, based upon what has already been entered at the prompt.

So, if you were to enter "vim" and hit Up, zsh will traverse backwards through your history for only those commands commencing with "vim".

You can additionally have the cursor placed at the end of the line once you have selected your desired command from zsh's history by using the history-search-end function (typically located in /usr/share/zsh/functions/Zle/) and appending -end to the end of each line, like so:

autoload -U history-search-end
zle -N history-beginning-search-backward-end history-search-end
zle -N history-beginning-search-forward-end history-search-end
bindkey "^[[A" history-beginning-search-backward-end
bindkey "^[[B" history-beginning-search-forward-end

Related Solutions

Bash – Search commands in history with discontinuous keywords

If you are just looking to find the line (to jog your memory) you could just grep for the part of the command you remember:

history | grep "substring"

Fix Broken History Search After Oh-My-Zsh Upgrade

There are two de facto standard escape sequences for cursor keys; different terminals, or even the same terminal in different modes, can send one or the other. For example, xterm sends \eOA for Up in “application cursor mode” and \e[A otherwise. For Down you can encounter both \e[B and \eOB, etc.

One solution is to duplicate your bindings: whenever you bind one escape sequence, bind the other escape sequence to the same command.

bindkey '\eOA' history-beginning-search-backward
bindkey '\e[A' history-beginning-search-backward
bindkey '\eOB' history-beginning-search-forward
bindkey '\e[B' history-beginning-search-forward

Another approach is to always bind one escape sequence, and make the other escape sequence inject the other one.

bindkey '\e[A' history-beginning-search-backward
bindkey '\e[B' history-beginning-search-forward
bindkey -s '\eOA' '\e[A'
bindkey -s '\eOB' '\e[B'

I don't know why upgrading oh-my-zsh would have affected which escape sequence the shell receives from the terminal. Maybe the new version performs some different terminal initialization that enables application cursor mode.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Bash – Search commands in history with discontinuous keywords

Fix Broken History Search After Oh-My-Zsh Upgrade

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