Running Linux commands from history

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." - George Santayana, (c/o Wikipedia)

Sometimes I want to remember the past so I'm able to repeat it. (I'm always looking for ways to save a few keystrokes.) I just found out I can run Linux commands from my history with event designators like this:

$ !svn
svn co http://svn.example.com/svn/ExampleProject/trunk .

Typing !svn will run the last svn command I ran, which is much easier than retyping this:

$ svn co $s/ExampleProject/trunk .

($s is set to the root of my SVN repository to save some typing.)

Using !svn is also faster than using the up arrow to scroll back to my last svn command, as this often requires me to hit the up arrow several times until I find it, and sometimes I scroll right past it and it ends up taking a lot longer than it would for me to just retype it.

You can also use history to show the most recent commands you've executed, and then use the event designator (!N) to run the Nth command in your history:

$ history
...
  636  svn log -l 10
  637  svn up
  638  history
$ !637
svn up
At revision 828.

Pipe history into grep for an abbreviated list.

You can see other useful history commands in this article.

(Update: I copied this post into Google Wave and made it public, so you can view, edit, and disuss this post in the public wave.)

We can be lifelong learners

From the Exploration chapter of Brain Rules:

Researchers have shown that some regions of the adult brain stay as malleable as a baby's brain, so we can grow new connections, strengthen existing connections, and even create new neurons, allowing all of us to be lifelong learners.

I'm so glad this is true; I want to be a lifelong learner. According to Brain Rules, the way to do this is to continue exploring, being curious, asking questions, taking an interest in the world and how it works.

Making decisions

Seth Godin's recent post entitled Make a decision reminded me of a quote from Psycho-Cybernetics that I wrote about a little while ago.

I think he's reading my blog. :)

But if he's not, at least you are.