Display current history

Just type the history command:


history
history | less
history | more
history | grep 'find'


How to find out the number of commands saved in the history

Use echo command or printf command :


echo "$HISTSIZE"

OR
printf "%d\n" $HISTSIZE


Sample outputs:
1000


The value of the HISTSIZE variable indicates that the 1000 number of commands saved in a history list.


Where are my bash history commands stored


The history is initialized from the file named by the variable HISTFILE. The default is the ~/.bash_history file. To view current settings run:


echo "$HISTFILE"

OR
printf "%s\n" "$HISTFILE"

Sample outputs:

/home/vivek/.bash_history


How to disable BASH shell history on Linux or Unix

You can remove HISTFILE shell variable by typing the following unset command:


unset HISTFILE

Add above line to the end of to a new /etc/profile.d/disable.history.sh file or ~/.bash_profile:


echo 'unset HISTFILE' >> /etc/profile.d/disable.history.sh

OR
echo 'unset HISTFILE' >> ~/.bash_profile


How to permanently disable bash history using set command


Another option is to pass the "+o history" option to the set builtin command:


set +o history

Again add "set +o history" to the end of to a new /etc/profile.d/disable.history.sh file or ~/.bash_profile. See how to set and use shell option in bash for more info.


How to clear the bash history


Type the following command in your current session:


history -c

To delete a single command number 42 from history in Linux/Unix:


history -d 42
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