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In bash the Ctrl+r command is very useful, I type Ctrl+r whatever and it searchs my history for commands containing the word whatever. But if I type whatever and realize that I would like search that word and hit Ctrl+r nothing happens.

Is there a way hitting a key and having it behaving as if I had typed Ctrl+r whatever instead of whatever Ctrl+r?

I have the following in my .inputrc:

"\C-p": history-search-backward

but this only works if the beginning of the line is the same.

hso
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skeept
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2 Answers2

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You can search bash's history using what you have already typed easily.

Suppose you have just typed curl -I http://superuser.com and you forgot to type Ctrl+r first:

$ curl -I http://superuser.com

If you want to do an i-search on your history, go to the beginning of line first (Ctrl+a), enter i-search (Ctrl+r) and type Ctrl+y. This should search using the contents of the whole text you already typed:

(reverse-i-search)`curl -I http://superuser.com': curl -I http://superuser.com/faq

Alternatively, you can use Ctrl+w instead of Ctrl+y to search using just the first word of the text you just typed:

(reverse-i-search)`curl': curl -I http://superuser.com/faq

Binding it all to a single key

If you want to do all this in one keystroke, you can bind a single key to a keyboard macro. If you want to use, say, F12 run:

$ bind '"\e[24~":"\C-a\C-r\C-y"'

That will last for the session.

Making it permanent

Just define the macro in your ~/.inputrc:

"\e[24~":"\C-a\C-r\C-y"

Note that here we omit the single quotes.

You might find this answer useful.

Community
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hso
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    I am not sure if it is a problem with my configuration, but after I type `c-r` typing `c-y` does not paste anything there. If I type `c-y` by itself just pastes the text, so I cannot combine the two commands... – skeept Nov 05 '12 at 14:49
  • Do you go to beginning of line first? (C-a) – hso Nov 05 '12 at 20:15
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    You are right, I wasn't going to beginning of line. Now I have in my .inputrc `"\C-xr": "\C-a\C-r\C-y"` and it works very nice! Thanks for this answer. – skeept Nov 06 '12 at 03:04
  • I think it is the third time I googled this `control+a control+r control+y` thing! Thanks this answer is always here! :) – DrBeco Nov 25 '17 at 21:13
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Save four strikes:

Avoid a second Ctrl-R by adding to your .bashrc (or to your .inputrc if you prefer):

bind '"\er":"\C-a\C-r\C-y\C-r"' # alt-r = ctr-a ctr-r ctr-y ctr-r

This will map ALT-R to CTR-A CTR-R CTR-Y CTR-R

Description:

  • ALT-R: the binding key. Another good option is \C-xr (CTR-X CTR-R)
  • CTR-A: Go to the begin of the line (memorizing what is written)
  • CTR-R: Start the reverse search
  • CTR-Y: Paste what CTR-A memorized as part of the search
  • CTR-R: Triggers the reverse search with the characters so far
DrBeco
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  • It still not clear to me why C-y pastes the command onto the search field (C-a is not supposed to be a "copy" command, is it?) and why C-w pastes only the first word. – marcus Jun 17 '19 at 15:55
  • yes, `C-a` not only moves, but memorize (copy) the content moved over. – DrBeco Jun 19 '19 at 02:58
  • I can't confirm that behavior (just try C-a C-y), I think it's more likely that C-r that has some special cases built in, but I don't know where they're documented. – marcus Jun 25 '19 at 21:19