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Bash is configured by default to keep the last 1000 commands a user used. The name of this file is .bash_history, and it is created in the home directory

Terminal window
history

Press Ctrl-R to open the prompt to do backward searches Type !number to execute a command with a specific number from history Use history -d numberto delete a specific command Type !sometext to execute the last command that starts with sometext

Bash uses two main environment variables to control how many commands it remembers:

  • HISTSIZE: The number of commands kept in the active memory for your current session.
  • HISTFILESIZE: The number of commands saved permanently in your ~/.bash_history file on disk.

You can edit this variables in the ~/.bashrc file.

history -c -> Wipes the history from the active RAM of your current session. history -w -> Writes the current active history directly into the ~/.bash_history file, overwriting all previous records.

To prevent a command from being saved to history you can configure the HISTCONTROL variable.
For example: Add export HISTCONTROL=ignorespace to your ~/.bashrc. After applying it, any command you type that starts with a leading space (e.g., mysql -u root -pPassword) will completely bypass the history file.