The history command manages your PsySH command history. You can view past commands, search with patterns, save to files, and replay sequences of commands.
Syntax
Alias
Options
Display Options
Alias: -sShow a specific range of history lines. Formats:
N - Show line N onlyN..M - Show lines N through MN.. - Show lines N to end..M - Show lines 0 through M
Alias: -HDisplay the first N items of history
Alias: -TDisplay the last N items of history
Alias: -NOmit line numbers from output
Search Options
Filter history by pattern (supports regular expressions)
Alias: -iMake grep search case-insensitive
Alias: -vInvert grep match (show lines that don’t match)
Actions
Save history to the specified file
Replay the selected history. Must be combined with --show, --head, or --tail.
Clear all command history
Usage Examples
View All History
0| $name = 'Alice'
1| $age = 30
2| echo $name
3| ls
4| doc DateTime::format
5| $date = new DateTime()
Show Specific Lines
Shows only line 5.
>>> history --show 10..20
Show First/Last N Commands
>>> history --head 10
>>> history -H 5
>>> history --tail 20
>>> history -T 10
Search History
>>> history --grep /DateTime/
4| doc DateTime::format
5| $date = new DateTime()
8| show DateTime
12| ls DateTime
Case-Insensitive Search
>>> history --grep /datetime/ -i
>>> history --grep /DATETIME/ --insensitive
Invert Search
>>> history --grep /ls/ --invert
Regular Expression Search
>>> history --grep "/^\$[a-z]+\s*=/"
>>> history --grep "/doc|show/"
Combine Filters
>>> history --tail 100 --grep /function/
>>> history --show 50..100 --grep /DateTime/ -i
Save History
>>> history --save /tmp/myhistory.txt
>>> history --tail 50 --save recent.txt
>>> history --grep /DateTime/ --save datetime-commands.txt
Saving history in /tmp/myhistory.txt...
History saved.
$name = 'Alice'
$age = 30
echo $name
ls
Replay History
>>> history --show 5..10 --replay
>>> history --tail 3 --replay
Replaying 3 lines of history
>>> $name = 'Bob'
>>> $age = 25
>>> echo "$name is $age years old"
Bob is 25 years old
You must limit history before replaying:>>> history --replay # Error!
You must limit history via --head, --tail or --show before replaying
>>> history --tail 5 --replay # OK
Clear History
Permanently removes all command history.
Hide Line Numbers
>>> history --no-numbers
>>> history -N
$name = 'Alice'
$age = 30
echo $name
ls
Advanced Examples
Find All Function Definitions
>>> history --grep "/function\s+\w+/"
Replay a Specific Sequence
>>> history --show 15..18 --replay
Export Recent Work
>>> history --tail 50 --save recent-work.php
Search and Save
>>> history --grep /class\s+/ --save class-definitions.php
Review Specific Session
>>> history --show 100..200
History Persistence
History is automatically saved between sessions in:
- Linux/macOS:
~/.local/share/psysh/history
- Windows:
%APPDATA%/PsySH/history
The history file is a plain text file with one command per line.
Keyboard Shortcuts
Within the REPL, you can navigate history using:
- Up Arrow - Previous command
- Down Arrow - Next command
- Ctrl+R - Reverse search (if readline support is available)
- Ctrl+S - Forward search (if readline support is available)
Search Highlighting
When using --grep, matched portions are highlighted:
>>> history --grep /date/
5| $date = new DateTime() # 'date' is highlighted
8| echo $date->format('Y-m-d') # 'date' is highlighted
Constraints
The following option combinations are mutually exclusive:
Display Limiters
Only one of:
>>> history --head 10 --tail 20 # Error!
Please specify only one of --show, --head, --tail
Actions
Only one of:
>>> history --save file.txt --clear # Error!
Please specify only one of --save, --replay, --clear
Tips
Use regex anchors for precise matching:>>> history --grep "/^ls/" # Commands starting with 'ls'
>>> history --grep "/DateTime$/" # Commands ending with 'DateTime'
Create command snippets:>>> history --show 50..55 --save snippet.php
Test before replaying:>>> history --show 10..15 # Review first
>>> history --show 10..15 --replay # Then replay
The current history command is not included in the output:>>> ls
>>> dump $x
>>> history # Shows 'ls' and 'dump $x', but not this 'history' call
See Also
- edit - Edit commands in an external editor
- help - Get help on commands