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This manual page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual. The Linux implementation of this interface
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NAME
fc — process the command history list
SYNOPSIS
fc [−r] [−e editor] [first [last]]
fc −l [−nr] [first [last]]
fc −s [old=new] [first]
DESCRIPTION
The fc utility shall list, or shall edit and re-execute, commands previously entered to an interactive
sh.
The command history list shall reference commands by number. The first number in the list is selected
arbitrarily. The relationship of a number to its command shall not change except when the user logs in
and no other process is accessing the list, at which time the system may reset the numbering to start the
oldest retained command at another number (usually 1). When the number reaches an implementation-defined
upper limit, which shall be no smaller than the value in HISTSIZE or 32767 (whichever is greater), the
shell may wrap the numbers, starting the next command with a lower number (usually 1). However, despite
this optional wrapping of numbers, fc shall maintain the time-ordering sequence of the commands. For
example, if four commands in sequence are given the numbers 32766, 32767, 1 (wrapped), and 2 as they are
executed, command 32767 is considered the command previous to 1, even though its number is higher.
When commands are edited (when the −l option is not specified), the resulting lines shall be entered at
the end of the history list and then re-executed by sh. The fc command that caused the editing shall not
be entered into the history list. If the editor returns a non-zero exit status, this shall suppress the
entry into the history list and the command re-execution. Any command line variable assignments or
redirection operators used with fc shall affect both the fc command itself as well as the command that
results; for example:
fc −s −− −1 2>/dev/null
reinvokes the previous command, suppressing standard error for both fc and the previous command.
OPTIONS
The fc utility shall conform to the Base Definitions volume of POSIX.1‐2008, Section 12.2, Utility Syntax
Guidelines.
The following options shall be supported:
−e editor Use the editor named by editor to edit the commands. The editor string is a utility name,
subject to search via the PATH variable (see the Base Definitions volume of POSIX.1‐2008,
Chapter 8, Environment Variables). The value in the FCEDIT variable shall be used as a default
when −e is not specified. If FCEDIT is null or unset, ed shall be used as the editor.
−l (The letter ell.) List the commands rather than invoking an editor on them. The commands shall
be written in the sequence indicated by the first and last operands, as affected by −r, with
each command preceded by the command number.
−n Suppress command numbers when listing with −l.
−r Reverse the order of the commands listed (with −l) or edited (with neither −l nor −s).
−s Re-execute the command without invoking an editor.
OPERANDS
The following operands shall be supported:
first, last
Select the commands to list or edit. The number of previous commands that can be accessed shall
be determined by the value of the HISTSIZE variable. The value of first or last or both shall
be one of the following:
[+]number A positive number representing a command number; command numbers can be displayed
with the −l option.
−number A negative decimal number representing the command that was executed number of
commands previously. For example, −1 is the immediately previous command.
string A string indicating the most recently entered command that begins with that string.
If the old=new operand is not also specified with −s, the string form of the first
operand cannot contain an embedded <equals-sign>.
When the synopsis form with −s is used:
* If first is omitted, the previous command shall be used.
For the synopsis forms without −s:
* If last is omitted, last shall default to the previous command when −l is specified;
otherwise, it shall default to first.
* If first and last are both omitted, the previous 16 commands shall be listed or the
previous single command shall be edited (based on the −l option).
* If first and last are both present, all of the commands from first to last shall be edited
(without −l) or listed (with −l). Editing multiple commands shall be accomplished by
presenting to the editor all of the commands at one time, each command starting on a new
line. If first represents a newer command than last, the commands shall be listed or edited
in reverse sequence, equivalent to using −r. For example, the following commands on the
first line are equivalent to the corresponding commands on the second:
fc −r 10 20 fc 30 40
fc 20 10 fc −r 40 30
* When a range of commands is used, it shall not be an error to specify first or last values
that are not in the history list; fc shall substitute the value representing the oldest or
newest command in the list, as appropriate. For example, if there are only ten commands in
the history list, numbered 1 to 10:
fc −l
fc 1 99
shall list and edit, respectively, all ten commands.
old=new Replace the first occurrence of string old in the commands to be re-executed by the string new.
STDIN
Not used.
INPUT FILES
None.
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
The following environment variables shall affect the execution of fc:
FCEDIT This variable, when expanded by the shell, shall determine the default value for the −e editor
option's editor option-argument. If FCEDIT is null or unset, ed shall be used as the editor.
HISTFILE Determine a pathname naming a command history file. If the HISTFILE variable is not set, the
shell may attempt to access or create a file .sh_history in the directory referred to by the
HOME environment variable. If the shell cannot obtain both read and write access to, or create,
the history file, it shall use an unspecified mechanism that allows the history to operate
properly. (References to history ``file'' in this section shall be understood to mean this
unspecified mechanism in such cases.) An implementation may choose to access this variable only
when initializing the history file; this initialization shall occur when fc or sh first attempt
to retrieve entries from, or add entries to, the file, as the result of commands issued by the
user, the file named by the ENV variable, or implementation-defined system start-up files. In
some historical shells, the history file is initialized just after the ENV file has been
processed. Therefore, it is implementation-defined whether changes made to HISTFILE after the
history file has been initialized are effective. Implementations may choose to disable the
history list mechanism for users with appropriate privileges who do not set HISTFILE; the
specific circumstances under which this occurs are implementation-defined. If more than one
instance of the shell is using the same history file, it is unspecified how updates to the
history file from those shells interact. As entries are deleted from the history file, they
shall be deleted oldest first. It is unspecified when history file entries are physically
removed from the history file.
HISTSIZE Determine a decimal number representing the limit to the number of previous commands that are
accessible. If this variable is unset, an unspecified default greater than or equal to 128
shall be used. The maximum number of commands in the history list is unspecified, but shall be
at least 128. An implementation may choose to access this variable only when initializing the
history file, as described under HISTFILE. Therefore, it is unspecified whether changes made
to HISTSIZE after the history file has been initialized are effective.
LANG Provide a default value for the internationalization variables that are unset or null. (See the
Base Definitions volume of POSIX.1‐2008, Section 8.2, Internationalization Variables for the
precedence of internationalization variables used to determine the values of locale
categories.)
LC_ALL If set to a non-empty string value, override the values of all the other internationalization
variables.
LC_CTYPE Determine the locale for the interpretation of sequences of bytes of text data as characters
(for example, single-byte as opposed to multi-byte characters in arguments and input files).
LC_MESSAGES
Determine the locale that should be used to affect the format and contents of diagnostic
messages written to standard error.
NLSPATH Determine the location of message catalogs for the processing of LC_MESSAGES.
ASYNCHRONOUS EVENTS
Default.
STDOUT
When the −l option is used to list commands, the format of each command in the list shall be as follows:
"%d\t%s\n", <line number>, <command>
If both the −l and −n options are specified, the format of each command shall be:
"\t%s\n", <command>
If the <command> consists of more than one line, the lines after the first shall be displayed as:
"\t%s\n", <continued-command>
STDERR
The standard error shall be used only for diagnostic messages.
OUTPUT FILES
None.
EXTENDED DESCRIPTION
None.
EXIT STATUS
The following exit values shall be returned:
0 Successful completion of the listing.
>0 An error occurred.
Otherwise, the exit status shall be that of the commands executed by fc.
CONSEQUENCES OF ERRORS
Default.
The following sections are informative.
APPLICATION USAGE
Since editors sometimes use file descriptors as integral parts of their editing, redirecting their file
descriptors as part of the fc command can produce unexpected results. For example, if vi is the FCEDIT
editor, the command:
fc −s | more
does not work correctly on many systems.
Users on windowing systems may want to have separate history files for each window by setting HISTFILE as
follows:
HISTFILE=$HOME/.sh_hist$$
EXAMPLES
None.
RATIONALE
This utility is based on the fc built-in of the KornShell.
An early proposal specified the −e option as [−e editor [old= new ]], which is not historical practice.
Historical practice in fc of either [−e editor] or [−e − [ old= new ]] is acceptable, but not both
together. To clarify this, a new option −s was introduced replacing the [−e −]. This resolves the
conflict and makes fc conform to the Utility Syntax Guidelines.
HISTFILE Some implementations of the KornShell check for the superuser and do not create a history file
unless HISTFILE is set. This is done primarily to avoid creating unlinked files in the root
file system when logging in during single-user mode. HISTFILE must be set for the superuser to
have history.
HISTSIZE Needed to limit the size of history files. It is the intent of the standard developers that
when two shells share the same history file, commands that are entered in one shell shall be
accessible by the other shell. Because of the difficulties of synchronization over a network,
the exact nature of the interaction is unspecified.
The initialization process for the history file can be dependent on the system start-up files, in that
they may contain commands that effectively preempt the settings the user has for HISTFILE and HISTSIZE.
For example, function definition commands are recorded in the history file. If the system administrator
includes function definitions in some system start-up file called before the ENV file, the history file
is initialized before the user can influence its characteristics. In some historical shells, the history
file is initialized just after the ENV file has been processed. Because of these situations, the text
requires the initialization process to be implementation-defined.
Consideration was given to omitting the fc utility in favor of the command line editing feature in sh.
For example, in vi editing mode, typing "<ESC>v" is equivalent to:
EDITOR=vi fc
However, the fc utility allows the user the flexibility to edit multiple commands simultaneously (such as
fc 10 20) and to use editors other than those supported by sh for command line editing.
In the KornShell, the alias r (``re-do'') is preset to fc −e − (equivalent to the POSIX fc −s). This is
probably an easier command name to remember than fc (``fix command''), but it does not meet the Utility
Syntax Guidelines. Renaming fc to hist or redo was considered, but since this description closely
matches historical KornShell practice already, such a renaming was seen as gratuitous. Users are free to
create aliases whenever odd historical names such as fc, awk, cat, grep, or yacc are standardized by
POSIX.
Command numbers have no ordering effects; they are like serial numbers. The −r option and −number
operand address the sequence of command execution, regardless of serial numbers. So, for example, if the
command number wrapped back to 1 at some arbitrary point, there would be no ambiguity associated with
traversing the wrap point. For example, if the command history were:
32766: echo 1
32767: echo 2
1: echo 3
the number −2 refers to command 32767 because it is the second previous command, regardless of serial
number.
FUTURE DIRECTIONS
None.
SEE ALSO
sh
The Base Definitions volume of POSIX.1‐2008, Chapter 8, Environment Variables, Section 12.2, Utility
Syntax Guidelines
COPYRIGHT
Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2013 Edition,
Standard for Information Technology -- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base
Specifications Issue 7, Copyright (C) 2013 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc
and The Open Group. (This is POSIX.1-2008 with the 2013 Technical Corrigendum 1 applied.) In the event
of any discrepancy between this version and the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard, the original
IEEE and The Open Group Standard is the referee document. The original Standard can be obtained online at
http://www.unix.org/online.html .
Any typographical or formatting errors that appear in this page are most likely to have been introduced
during the conversion of the source files to man page format. To report such errors, see
https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/reporting_bugs.html .