[kwlug-disc] bash: HISTTIMEFORMAT

[Doug Moen]

zsh is a bit weird for someone used to bash. But you can just install the Debian zsh package and try it out without changing anything else in your system.

On Wed, Mar 4, 2026, at 8:08 PM, Alex Kleider via kwlug-disc wrote:
> Am I correct in assuming that zsh is an alternative to bash? 
> Not sure I'd want to change shells and run the risk of finding myself in very unfamiliar territory!
> a
> 
> Alex Kleider  (set from my current gizmo)
> 
> 
> On Wednesday, March 4th, 2026 at 8:52 AM, Jason Eckert <jason.eckert at gmail.com> wrote:
>> That option doesn't work in bash's history built-in function. You'd have to use zsh instead.
>> 
>> On Wed, 4 Mar 2026 at 11:37, Alex Kleider via kwlug-disc <kwlug-disc at kwlug.org> wrote:
>>> Doesn't seem to work on my Debian XFCE system (a release or two ago.)
>>> $ history -i
>>> bash: history: -i: invalid option
>>> history: usage: history [-c] [-d offset] [n] or history -anrw [filename] or history -ps arg [arg...]
>>> 
>>> Alex Kleider (set from my current gizmo)
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On Wednesday, March 4th, 2026 at 6:02 AM, Jason Eckert <jason.eckert at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> Like Raymond, the 'history -i' command has been my go-to for ages.
>>>> I switched to zsh long ago for aesthetic consistency... it matches zfs, zswap, etc… I’m nothing if not alphabetically aligned.
>>>> 
>>>> On Wed, 4 Mar 2026 at 08:52, Raymond Chen <raymondchen625 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>> Very nice! BTW, in zsh it's `history -i`.
>>>>> 
>>>>> On Wed, Mar 4, 2026 at 8:37 AM CrankyOldBugger <crankyoldbugger at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>> Nice one!
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> On Wed, 4 Mar 2026 at 03:11, Chris Frey <cdfrey at foursquare.net> wrote:
>>>>>>> It turns out that by setting the environment variable HISTTIMEFORMAT
>>>>>>> on startup to something like "%Y-%m-%dT%T " bash will both display
>>>>>>> the timestamp of all commands when you use the 'history' command,
>>>>>>> but also store the timestamps in the .bash_history file.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Now I have an automatic trail of timed breadcrumbs in case I need it,
>>>>>>> for all my shell work.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Just passing along the tip.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> - Chris
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> 
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