NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #16/NN_1992_16.iso/spool/comp/unix/shell/3220

Text File | 1992-07-30 | 3.3 KB | 78 lines

Newsgroups: comp.unix.shell
Path: sparky!uunet!mcsun!sunic!ugle.unit.no!news
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: tcsh in the future - what should it be like?
In-Reply-To: [e-mail]'s message of 29 Jul 92 14:12:10 GMT
Message-ID: <1992Jul31.010903*[e-mail]>
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References: <yeates.711122638@beryl17> <[e-mail]>
    <[e-mail]>
    <1992Jul27.215202*[e-mail]>
    <smr.712419130@hitkw14>
Date: 31 Jul 92 01:09:03
Lines: 62

! >! I'd like to see a history mechanism that works like VMS' RECALL, i.e.
! >! type something like !vi .cs  and get the last vi command that edits
! >! .cshrc.  Simple, powerful concept; only a single command to learn.
!
! >It's there.  You just need to try.
!
! care to enlighten us?? or are you still telling failed entrepreneurs
! that there is a pot of gold at the end of every rainbow?

You're absolutely right.  Like in csh, a history match (event) string does
not span over spaces, and definitely shouldn't ('you know why?).  One may
probably wish that the case where the history expansion appears absolutely
first on a command line, and where it is the sole one on the entire line,
for practical reasons be treated almost like a combination of a history-
search-backward and implicit newline.

However, I dont really see the wonderful reasons to deviate from csh on
this, since there are so many other powerful consepts in tcsh which you
should rather learn.  If you find it so extremely hard to get rid of
antique csh habits, then what's the point...   Csh history substitution is
NOT really a *command* in itself, it is a feature that may appear in multi-
ple instances on a command line.

However, there is one other case where spaces in a history match does make
sense, i.e. !?aaa bbb ccc?, it doesn't work, probably because the old csh
matching algoritms are so primitive.

! >! Also, the history list should save a command only if it is different
! >! from the last one.
!
! >No way.  You will be able to reach the next *different* command in the
!
! DISAGREE!
! if you are developing something, and you get into a debug mode, the
! usual sequence of commands goes something like:
!     edit
!     compile
!     run ( or debug )
!     edit
!     compile
!     ... ( ad infinitum )
!
! if after doing this 30 times, the last 100 entries in your history are
! the same three commands over and over, what if you then want to do

Have you ever seen a windowing environment?

! Also, I would really love a 'merge_histories' feature, this is relevant
! only if you have many tcsh's running at the same time, because when I
! quit my XWindows session, by dumb luck or whatever, the last tcsh to
          ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^somehow answers the question above, I guess.....

! save the history seems to be the one I used the least, with all the
! most boring, and least used commands in the history, any solutions?
! anyone come up with some sort of .logout hack?

No suggestions.  What exactly do you mean with "merge histories"?  I imagine
the last 100 or so commands from 5-10 shells, intermixed, but will it ever
constitute interesting stuff?  Oh sure, you might want to use it for
documentational purposes........:)

  ~~harald E.