Different Bash History Per VS Code Workspace: A Tech Support Guide

Different Bash History per VS Code Workspace: A Tech Support Guide

If you are working with multiple projects in Visual Studio Code (VS Code) and want to keep the Bash history separate for each project, this guide will show you how to achieve that. By following the steps outlined below, you can ensure that each VS Code workspace has its own Bash history, making it easier to track and manage commands for different projects.

Background

By default, Bash uses the ~/.bash_history file to store command history. However, when working with VS Code and the integrated terminal, the history is shared among all workspaces. This can be problematic if you want to maintain a clean and organized command history for each project.

Setting Up Different Bash History per VS Code Workspace

To set up different Bash history per VS Code workspace, you will need to modify the terminal.integrated.env.linux setting in your workspace settings. This setting allows you to specify the environment variables for the integrated terminal in Linux. In this case, you will use it to set a custom history file for each workspace.

Here's how to do it:

1. In VS Code, open the workspace settings by clicking on File > Preferences > Settings or pressing Ctrl + ,.
2. Search for terminal.integrated.env.linux in the settings search bar.
3. Click on Edit in settings.json to open the workspace settings JSON file.
4. Add the following lines to the JSON file:

   {
       "terminal.integrated.env.linux": {
           "HISTFILE": "${workspaceFolder}/.bash_history"
       }
   }

   This sets the HISTFILE environment variable to a custom history file located in the root of the workspace folder.

5. Save the settings JSON file and restart the integrated terminal.

Key Concepts

• terminal.integrated.env.linux: A VS Code setting for specifying environment variables for the integrated terminal in Linux.
• HISTFILE: An environment variable that specifies the file where Bash stores the command history.
• Workspaces: VS Code projects that can have their own settings and environment.
• Custom history file: A history file located in the root of the workspace folder, separate from the default ~/.bash_history file.

In this article, you learned how to set up different Bash history per VS Code workspace by modifying the terminal.integrated.env.linux setting in the workspace settings. By setting a custom history file for each workspace, you can keep the Bash history organized and easy to manage for different projects.

References

• VS Code Integrated Terminal: Linux Environment Variables
• Bash Manual: HISTFILE
• VS Code: Workspaces