An attempt to bring command history through keyboard shortcuts to the rc shell inside rio window, following the philosophy of modularity.
Plan9 was built with a graphical interface in mind, which allows for some wonderful functionality (such as inline editing and execution of previous commands) and should be highly encouraged to try out.
That being said, there are use cases in which a command history functionality and keyboard interface would be useful: repetitive commands (executing the same/similar command for testing or scanning, ...), faster recollection of already used commands (between context switches, extended usage sessions, crowded printouts, ...), access to previous commands between terminals and sessions (continuation of used commands through time between sessions, reboots, ...), ...
But the most, in my opinion, important reason: learning! The frustration of dealing with the unknown operation of the system (mistyped command, experimenting with flags, pressure of remembering large quantities of information at once, ...) instead of learning the system can (and will) impede the speed at which the knowledge is acquired or (in the worst case) deter from actually pursuing the acquisition of this particular knowledge. In short, it's more fun to learn the thing than to deal with the peripheral things needed to learn the thing.
mk
Installs to system folder /bin/rc and /bin/$objtype.
mk install
Installs to user folder $home/bin/rc and $home/bin/$objtype.
It also skips installing the man pages.
mk install-local
Removes from user global folders.
mk uninstall
Removes from user folders.
mk uninstall-local
For interactive mode, it should be configured as riow or reform/shortcuts component that uses /dev/kbdtap.
For example, the following line should be inserted in $home/bin/rc/riostart file:
</dev/kbdtap histw >/dev/kbdtap
If you're having issues with additional windows on startup, you can put the previous definition into a separate script and call that from the riostart file.
For example, create a script srw as $home/bin/rc/srw (with riow for pipe examples):
#!/bin/rc
# srw
# start riow bind
# set up riow with bar and command history
</dev/kbdtap hist -g | riow >/dev/kbdtap |[3] bar -p tl -d 'WW hh:mm:ss'
And then call the script in $home/bin/rc/riostart file:
window srw
By default, interactive mode searches through history from the current window (local history). Configuring interactive mode to include searching through history saved from all terminal windows (global history) use "-g" flag in start up script. To search only through global history, use "-G" flag. To enable handling of keyboard quirks (currently for drawter compiled for linux on wayland), use "-q" flag.
hist
Run hist command to print out the commands used in this terminal window. By default, it parses and prints history from the current terminal window (local history). To include history saved from all terminal windows (global history) use "-g" flag. To print out only global history, use "-G" flag.
If grepping through hist output is too much of a hassle, add a wrapper function to your profile:
fn h { if(test $#* '=' 0) hist -G; if not hist -G | grep $* }
savehist
Run savehist command to parse and save the current local history to the global history, located in the $home/lib/rchistory file.
Define a quit function to save and exit the current terminal window by defining the following rc function in your user profile:
fn quit { savehist; exit }
histw
Use CTRL + UP or CTRL + DOWN key combinations to insert the previous or next line of history into the prompt.
To search through history, type text into an empty prompt in the terminal window before using key combinations.
Pressing the enter key (and running the selected command) or pressing the delete key (canceling the selected command) will reset interactive history to its initial state.
Simple, let's learn something. This Plan9 thing is new to me too.
Good question! I like you, you're trying to figure out something new. Unfortunately, outside the scope of this document. Please use the vast collection of knowledge of the internet to find out (even ChatGPT will be able to give you quite the explanation). To add to the confusion, this was developed on 9front.
In short, probably not. This requires some previous knowledge, and by the time that knowledge is acquired, you'll already have an answer to this question.
Most probably. Please tell me how to improve it.
Most probably. Please find some and let me know.