I spend a lot of time working at the Powershell console so it is common for me to type (or retype) the same command multiple times; of course I tend to not really retype the same command every time but rather use Get-History and related cmdlets to re-execute previous commands:
λ 10 carlo@CARLOCXPS 12:24:53 carlo >_ Get-History Id CommandLine -- ----------- 1 Invoke-Expression '. ''C:\Utility\cmder\vendor\conemu-maximus5\..\profile.ps1''' 2 dir 3 gl 4 h 5 gps 6 Get-AzContext 7 h 8 gmo 9 h
The quickest way to re-execute a previous command is to use Invoke-History followed by the Id from Get-History:
λ 11 carlo@CARLOCXPS 12:32:46 carlo >_ Invoke-History 8
gmo
ModuleType Version Name ExportedCommands
---------- ------- ---- ----------------
Script 1.5.2 Az.Accounts {Add-AzEnvironment, Clear-AzContext, Clear-AzDefault, Connect-AzAccount…}
Script 2.7.3 LSEFunctions {Convert-CertBase64DataToFile, Convert-CertificateToBase64String, ConvertFrom-Base64, ConvertFrom-HashtableToPsCustomObject…}
Manifest 6.1.0.0 Microsoft.PowerShell.Management {Add-Content, Clear-Content, Clear-Item, Clear-ItemProperty…}
Manifest 6.1.0.0 Microsoft.PowerShell.Utility {Add-Member, Add-Type, Clear-Variable, Compare-Object…}
Script 1.1.7.0 PackageManagement {Find-Package, Find-PackageProvider, Get-Package, Get-PackageProvider…}
Script 1.6.0 PowerShellGet {Find-Command, Find-DscResource, Find-Module, Find-RoleCapability…}
Script 1.2 PSReadLine {Get-PSReadlineKeyHandler, Get-PSReadlineOption, Remove-PSReadlineKeyHandler, Set-PSReadlineKeyHandler…}
I like to use shortcuts (or aliases, as you can see from my history above 😊) so I would normally use h (Get-History) and r <id> (Invoke-History <id>). Sometimes I need to slightly modify the command before running it again, there’s an easy solution for that as well:
λ 12 carlo@CARLOCXPS 12:54:48 carlo >_ (h 8).CommandLine | clip
Simply copy the CommandLine value from Get-History to the clipboard, paste it to the console and change what’s needed
PSReadLine improves the history search capability, here’s a list of bound key handlers related to history management:
λ 16 carlo@CARLOCXPS 12:58:19 carlo >_ Get-PSReadlineKeyHandler -Bound | ? Function -Match history Key Function Description --- -------- ----------- UpArrow PreviousHistory Replace the input with the previous item in the history DownArrow NextHistory Replace the input with the next item in the history Ctrl+r ReverseSearchHistory Search history backwards interactively Ctrl+s ForwardSearchHistory Search history forward interactively Alt+F7 ClearHistory Remove all items from the command line history (not PowerShell history) F8 HistorySearchBackward Search for the previous item in the history that starts with the current input - like PreviousHistory if the input is empty Shift+F8 HistorySearchForward Search for the next item in the history that starts with the current input - like NextHistory if the input is empty
For example, using Ctrl+R (search history backwards) I can type a part of a string (“keyhan” in this example) and PSReadLine shows the first matching command, I can either hit TAB to accept the command and run it, or use CTRL+R to cycle through other commands matching the same substring. CTRL+S searches the history forward. Notice the “KeyHan” substring different coloring in the screenshot below, that is the match string I was typing:
To proof that there is always something new to learn, by happy mistake the other day I typed the pound sign followed by TAB (# > TAB) and I noticed Powershell transformed the input into the last entry from Get-History; hitting TAB again showed the previous history entry and so on. Moreover, #<string> > TAB (pound sign followed by a string and TAB) cycles through history entry that match the string typed after #: in other words considering the history below, #mod > TAB would loop through Install-Module and find-module commands.
A couple more interesting points to close with: this behavior seems to closely resemble CTRL+R from PSReadLine but I can reproduce it without PSReadLine loaded in my console; also, despite my research I could not find this behavior documented so here it is,
λ 31 carlo@CARLOCXPS 18:27:29 carlo >_ h
Id CommandLine
-- -----------
1 Invoke-Expression '. ''C:\Utility\cmder\vendor\conemu-maximus5\..\profile.ps1'''
2 dir
3 gl
4 h
5 gps
6 Get-AzContext
7 h
8 gmo
9 h
10 Get-History
11 gmo
12 (h 8).CommandLine | clip
13 Get-PSReadlineKeyHandler -Bound
14 Get-PSReadlineKeyHandler -Unbound
15 Get-PSReadlineKeyHandler
16 Get-PSReadlineKeyHandler -Bound | ? Function -Match history
17 gmo PSReadLine
18 find-module psreadline
19 find-module psreadline -AllowPrerelease
20 find-module psreadline -AllowPrerelease | Install-Module -Scope CurrentUser -Force -AllowClobber
21 Install-Module psreadline -AllowPrerelease -Scope CurrentUser -Force
22 gmo -list psreadline
23 ipmo PSReadline -Version 2.0.0 -Force
24 gmo
25 h
26 gcm #
27 gcm $("#")
28 gcm $("`#")
29 gcm `#
30 cls
λ 34 carlo@CARLOCXPS 18:45:23 carlo >_ gmo
ModuleType Version Name ExportedCommands
---------- ------- ---- ----------------
Script 1.5.2 Az.Accounts {Add-AzEnvironment, Clear-AzContext, Clear-AzDefault, Connect-AzAccount…}
Manifest 6.1.0.0 Microsoft.PowerShell.Management {Add-Content, Clear-Content, Clear-Item, Clear-ItemProperty…}
Manifest 6.1.0.0 Microsoft.PowerShell.Utility {Add-Member, Add-Type, Clear-Variable, Compare-Object…}
Script 1.1.7.0 PackageManagement {Find-Package, Find-PackageProvider, Get-Package, Get-PackageProvider…}
Script 1.6.0 PowerShellGet {Find-Command, Find-DscResource, Find-Module, Find-RoleCapability…}
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