Hline supports three sort modes that control how your command history is ordered. You can cycle through modes and toggle between ascending and descending order.
Sort modes
Recency (default)
Sorts commands by their position in your history file. This is the order they were executed.
- Default direction: newest-first (most recent commands at the top)
- Reversed: oldest-first (earliest commands at the top)
This mode preserves the natural chronological order of your shell history.
# Newest-first (default)
git push origin main # just ran this
git commit -m "fix bug" # ran a minute ago
git status # ran 5 minutes ago
# Oldest-first (reversed)
cd ~/projects # from last week
mkdir new-project # from yesterday
git status # from today
Alpha
Sorts commands alphabetically, using case-insensitive comparison.
- Default direction: A→Z (alphabetical order)
- Reversed: Z→A (reverse alphabetical order)
Commands starting with the same letter are sorted by their full text.
# A→Z order
cat file.txt
cd ~/projects
docker ps
git status
ls -la
# Z→A order
ls -la
git status
docker ps
cd ~/projects
cat file.txt
Length
Sorts commands by their character length.
- Default direction: short→long (shortest commands first)
- Reversed: long→short (longest commands first)
Useful for finding simple commands or identifying complex one-liners.
# Short→long order
ls
pwd
git status
find . -name "*.rs"
docker run --rm -it ubuntu bash
# Long→short order
docker run --rm -it ubuntu bash
find . -name "*.rs"
git status
pwd
ls
Keybindings
Cycle to the next sort mode: Recency → Alpha → Length → Recency
Toggle the sort direction (ascending ↔ descending)
Status bar display
The current sort mode and direction are always shown in the status bar:
Filter: no filter | Sort: Recency (newest-first)
Filter: no filter | Sort: Alpha (A→Z)
Filter: no filter | Sort: Length (short→long)
Filter: no filter | Sort: Recency (oldest-first)
Filter: no filter | Sort: Alpha (Z→A)
Filter: no filter | Sort: Length (long→short)
Sorting with filters
Sort order applies to filtered results, not just the full list:
- Enter a search query to filter commands
- Press
s to cycle through sort modes
- The filtered results re-sort according to the selected mode
# Search for "git" commands
/git
# Results in Recency order
git push origin main
git commit -m "fix"
git status
git add .
# Press 's' to switch to Alpha sort
git add .
git commit -m "fix"
git push origin main
git status
# Press 's' again to switch to Length sort
git add .
git status
git commit -m "fix"
git push origin main
Sorting and selection
Selection is independent of sort order:
- Selected items remain selected when you change sort modes
- The cursor stays on the same command when you change sort order
- Pressing
y copies selected commands in the order they were selected, not the current sort order
Example workflow
# 1. Start with default Recency sort
git push origin main [cursor here]
git commit -m "fix"
git status
# 2. Select the current command
Space
# 3. Switch to Alpha sort
s
# Cursor moves with the command
git commit -m "fix"
git push origin main [cursor here, still selected]
git status
# 4. Selection is preserved across sort changes
Tips
- Find recent commands: Use Recency (newest-first) to see what you ran recently
- Find similar commands: Use Alpha to group commands by their starting word
- Find complex commands: Use Length (long→short) to surface elaborate one-liners
- Explore your habits: Use Alpha to see how often you use certain tools
