Alternatives and detailed information of cdhist

Linux Directory History

cdhist is a utility which provides a Linux shell cd history directory stack. A shell cd wrapper function calls cdhist to intercept your typed cd command and maintain an ordered stack of all directories you have previously visited which can be listed and quickly navigated to.

cdhist can also be used with the Command Line Fuzzy Finder fzf to fuzzy search and select on previously visited directories, and can be used to easily cd between git worktree directories. See the sections below about FZF Integration and Git Worktree Integration.

The latest version and documentation is available at http://github.com/bulletmark/cdhist.

Example Usage

Use the cd command to change directory as normal:

$ cd /tmp
$ cd /etc
$ cd /usr/share/doc
$ cd /boot/loader
$ cd ~/etc
$ cd

At any point you can use the cd -- command to list all your previously visited directories and be prompted for one to select and cd to:

$ cd --
  6 ...
  5 /tmp
  4 /etc
  3 /usr/share/doc
  2 /boot/loader
  1 ~/etc
  0 ~
Select index [or <enter> to quit]: 3
$ pwd
/usr/share/doc

That's it! The above is all you really need to know. Instead of having to type the directory name you merely enter it's index. The directories are displayed most recently visited last, without duplicates. Index 0 is the current directory, index 1 is the previous, index 2 is the second previous, up to a user configurable number (default 50). Other available commands and options are:

List the current stack and its indices (without prompting):

$ cd -l

Change immediately to directory having stack index "n":

$ cd -n

Search back through stack for directory containing "string" and cd there:

$ cd -/string

Note, you can also type string at the cd -- prompt to search.

Show this help:

$ cd -h|?

Installation

Arch users can install cdhist from the AUR and skip to the next section.

Ensure pip3 is installed. Python 3.7 or later is required.

Note cdhist is on PyPI so you can just type sudo pip3 install -U cdhist. Or do the following to install from this repository:

$ git clone http://github.com/bulletmark/cdhist
$ cd cdhist
$ sudo pip3 install -U .

Setup

Each user who wants to use the cdhist facility should add the following lines to their ~/.bashrc or ~.zshrc file (after where your PATH is set up so that the command cdhist can be found). This creates the cd wrapper command in your interactive shell session as a tiny function. Note you can customize the command name if you want.

if type cdhist &>/dev/null; then
    . <(cdhist -i)
fi

Then log out and back in again.

FZF Integration

The popular Command Line Fuzzy Finder fzf can easily be integrated with cdhist to provide fuzzy search navigation over your directory history. Set the following in your environment to have fzf search the directories recorded by cdhist:

export FZF_ALT_C_COMMAND="cat $HOME/.cd_history"

Since fzf version 0.31.0, you also should make a small change to the way you source the fzf completion and key-binding files into your shell, e.g. in your ~/.bashrc. The following is a typical script to load fzf except the source line must be changed to do an "on the fly" edit of builtin cd to regular cd. E.g:

for _d in /usr/share/fzf /usr/share/fzf/shell /usr/share/doc/fzf/examples \
          /usr/share/bash-completion/completions/fzf ; do
    if [[ -d $_d ]]; then
        for _f in $_d/key-bindings.bash $_d/completion.bash; do
            if [[ -f $_f ]]; then
                . <(sed 's/builtin cd/cd/' $_f)
            fi
        done
    fi
done

After doing this (and reloading your shell session), you can use the fzf key binding <ALT+C> to have fzf list all your previous directories and fuzzy match on them for selection as you type. fzf can also provide fancy directory previews using tree, etc. Of course the cdhist native command cd -- and other cdhist commands described above are still available, in addition to the fzf key binding.

Pruning Non-Existent Directories

If you prefer that directories that do not exist are excluded from fzf and your cd history (i.e. exclude directories that have been deleted since they were last visited), then you can define the fzf command as:

export FZF_ALT_C_COMMAND="cdhist -p && cat $HOME/.cd_history"

An alternative is to always exclude non-existent directories from your cd history by setting the --prune-always as a default option.

Alternative Command Name

Some people may prefer not to alias their system cd command to this utility and just use an alternative unique command name. To do this, simply add your desired command name as an extra argument to the cdhist command in your shell initialization code. E.g, to use the command name xd rather than cd, use the following in your ~/.bashrc or ~.zshrc file:

if type cdhist &>/dev/null; then
    . <(cdhist -i xd)
fi

Then log out/in, and then just type xd /tmp to change dir, xd -- to see and select directories, etc.

GIT Worktree Integration

cdhist can be used to easily cd between git worktree directories. You use the cd -g command to list all your worktrees and be prompted for one to select, and then you will be switched to the associated directory, and it will be added to your cd history.

# Current directory:
$ pwd
/home/mark/src/myprog

# List worktrees using standard git command:
$ git worktree list
/home/mark/src/myprog       cbbe856 [main]
/home/mark/src/development  a1bf827 [development]
/home/mark/src/milestone1   c40f826 [milestone1]
/home/mark/src/test         e2be219 [test]

# Alternately, usd cdhist to list worktrees and choose one to navigate to:
$ cd -g
  0 ~/src/myprog      cbbe856 [main]
  1 ~/src/development a1bf827 [development]
  2 ~/src/milestone1  c40f826 [milestone1]
  3 ~/src/test        e2be219 [test]
Select index [or <enter> to quit]: 2

$ pwd
/home/mark/src/milestone1

# Or, use cdhist to navigate to worktree dir for given branch name or
# commit:
$ cd -g main
$ pwd
/home/mark/src/myprog

Instead of having to type the full git repository directory name you merely are prompted with a list and enter it's index. Or just directly enter the branch name (or commit hash). The directories are displayed in the same order as the output of the git worktree list command. You only need to enter as much of the branch name, or commit hash, as needed to be unique. Note that cd -g nicely presents paths based from your HOME directory with a tilde (~) unlike the longer full path displayed by git worktree list (although you can change that with the -u/--no-user option, likely set as a default option).

Relative Git Worktree Directories

The git worktree list command displays absolute directory paths, and cdhist does also by default, but many users prefer them displayed as relative paths. The Git worktree command does not provide this but you can enable it in cdhist by adding the -r/--relative option, e.g:

$ cd -gr
  0 . cbbe856      [main]
  1 ../development a1bf827 [development]
  2 ../milestone1  c40f826 [milestone1]
  3 ../test        e2be219 [test]
Select index [or <enter> to quit]:

Most likely you will want to set this as your default so do that by adding --relative as a default option.

Git Worktree Functionality Alone

Some users may want the git worktree functionality provided by cdhist but are not interested in the standard cd history functionality, or alternately, want to use a completely separate command for the git worktree functionality. To do this, simply add your desired command name and the git option as an extra argument to the cdhist command in your shell initialization code. E.g, to use the command name wt for git worktree functionality (only), change/add the following in your ~/.bashrc or ~.zshrc file:

if type cdhist &>/dev/null; then
    . <(cdhist -i "wt -g")
fi

Then log out/in, and then just type wt to list the git worktrees and be prompted to select the directory etc. Of course, you can define this wt command in parallel to using cdhist for your cd command if you want.

Default Options

You can add default options to a personal configuration file ~/.config/cdhist-flags.conf. If that file exists then each line in the file will be concatenated and automatically prepended to your command line options. The following options are sensible candidates to set as default options: --purge-always, --git-relative, --no-user, --size. Comments on any line are excluded.

You are best to use the full name for options and to add them on individual lines in the file so they are easy to read and easy to comment out temporarily etc.

Command Line Usage

Type cdhist -h to view the usage summary:

usage: cdhist [-i] [-h] [-p] [-a] [-g] [-r] [-u] [-l] [-m SIZE] [-L] [-P]
                   [directory]

A Linux shell directory stack "cd history" function.

positional arguments:
  directory             directory (or branch for git worktree) to cd to, or
                        "--" to list history and prompt, or "-n" for n'th
                        entry in list or "-/<string>" to match for "string" in
                        dir

options:
  -i, --init            output shell initialization code. Optionally specify
                        alternative command name as argument, default="cd"
  -h, --help            show help/usage
  -p, --purge           just purge non-existent directories from history
  -a, --purge-always    always purge non-existent directories every write
  -g, --git             show git worktree directories instead
  -r, --git-relative    show relative git worktree paths instead of absolute
  -u, --no-user         do not substitute "~" for home directory
  -l, --list            just list directory history
  -m SIZE, --size SIZE  maximum size of directory history (default=50)
  -L, --follow-links    follow symbolic links (default=true)
  -P, --follow-physical
                        follow links to physical directory

Note you can set default options in ~/.config/cdhist-flags.conf.

Limitations

Regular cd, e.g. as provided by the bash builtin, offers some esoteric command line options such as -e and -@, and shell options such as autocd, cdspell, cdable_vars. These rarely used options are not supported by cdhist.

Upgrade

$ cd cdhist  # Source dir, as above
$ git pull
$ sudo pip3 install -U .

Removal

$ unset cd
$ sudo pip3 uninstall cdhist

Major Version Change History

Version 3.0 changes and new features:

Added function to cd between git worktrees. Can configure this as separate command if preferred, with option to display relative paths.
Cleaner installation using -i option so no need for separate cdhist.rc file and can set arguments when installing to customise command name + options etc.
Added -L/-P standard cd options.
Added -a/--purge-always option to always prune history.
Added ability to set default options in ~/.config/cdhist-flags.conf.
Parses options/arguments using standard Python argparse.
Let setuptools build the main program stub rather than install our own.
Min Python version up from 3.4 to 3.7.
Now installed as a Python package (directory) rather than a module (single file).
Some of these changes slow the program down but architecture is changed so the program is run once only, not twice as it ran before. Second run was to save the new directory after cd had validated it, but now we validate it ourself before passing to cd. So net performance is quicker than previous version, at least for the vanilla case of changing directory. This is not noticeable on normal PC's but is on constrained platforms like Raspberry Pi 2/3 using SD card.
If you were previously setting CDHISTSIZE or CDHISTTILDE settings via environment variables then you now need to set them using --size and --no-user in ~/.config/cdhist-flags.conf.
The -s option to return a cdhist.rc file name for initialisation is still currently supported for backwards-compatibility but is undocumented and depreciated (a temporary file is created and returned). It will likely eventually be removed.

License

Copyright (C) 2010 Mark Blakeney. This program is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License. This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or any later version. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License at http://www.gnu.org/licenses/ for more details.

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