Display history with timestamp in Linux/Ubuntu
By default, the history command will display output as follows:
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1 cd
2 touch abc.text
3 mv abc.text def.text
4 rm def.text
5 history
How to display timestamps of history in Bash
Define the environment variable named HISTTIMEFORMAT:
HISTTIMEFORMAT="%d/%m/%y %T "
- %d: Day
- %m: Month
- %y: Year
- %T: Time
Example:
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HISTTIMEFORMAT="%d/%m/%y %T "
history
Sample output:
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1 26/08/21 11:02:32 cd
2 26/08/21 11:02:32 touch abc.text
3 26/08/21 11:02:32 mv abc.text def.text
4 26/08/21 11:02:32 rm def.text
5 26/08/21 11:02:32 history
Or you can add directly to your ~/.bash_profile file:
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echo 'export HISTTIMEFORMAT="%d/%m/%y %T "' >> ~/.bash_profile
source ~/.bash_profile
history
How to display timestamps of history in Zsh
In zsh, it’s so easier with built-in commands:
Source: https://github.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/blob/12669f29f0843b8b980dd137f150a74511f88842/lib/history.zsh
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case ${HIST_STAMPS-} in
"mm/dd/yyyy") alias history='omz_history -f' ;;
"dd.mm.yyyy") alias history='omz_history -E' ;;
"yyyy-mm-dd") alias history='omz_history -i' ;;
"") alias history='omz_history' ;;
*) alias history="omz_history -t '$HIST_STAMPS'" ;;
esac
Let’s try these commands:
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history -f
# 1 8/26/2021 11:02 cd
# 2 8/26/2021 11:02 touch abc.text
history -E
# 1 26.8.2021 11:02 cd
# 2 26.8.2021 11:02 touch abc.text
history -i
# 1 2021-08-26 11:02 cd
# 2 2021-08-26 11:02 touch abc.text
“The earlier you start working on something, the earlier you will see results.”