When you execute commands, the entries that display in the command history are color-coded by item type. To work with these entries, you use key combinations, icons, and context menu options.

History Color-Coding

In a command history entry, you identify the type of each item by its text color:

History Key Combinations

To move between command history entries, you use the following key combinations:

Additional keyboard shortcuts are described in Using Console Keyboard Shortcuts.

Command History Toolbar Buttons

To work with command history entries, you use these buttons on the toolbar:

History Search

When you click the search toolbar button ( ) to search the command history, a reverse search is performed using the text currently entered in the command line. The following figure shows five executed commands and command entered in the command line.

To start the search, either click the search toolbar button ( ) or press Ctrl + R. A search box appears to the right of the command line. Besides displaying the current search string, the search box provides buttons for stepping backward   and forward   through the command history entries and a button for closing   the search box. When the search starts, it immediately steps backward through the command history, stopping when it finds an entry with a match. In this example, the search stops when it finds command5 = 5, displaying this entry in the command line. If you wanted to execute this command again, you would press Enter.

To resume the reverse search, you either press Ctrl + R or click the up arrow button   for the search box. To change the search direction to step forward rather than backward in the history, you either press Ctrl + Shift + R or click the down arrow button   for the search box. To clear the search string, you click the button with the small X to the right of the search string.

As long as the result in the command line matches the current search string, no change occurs. When the result no longer matches the search string, the search automatically steps backward to find the next match. Assume that you enter command2 as the search string. Because command5 = 5 no longer matches command2, the search steps back through the command entries to find a match, displaying command2 = 2 in the command line. Now assume that you enter command21 as the search string. The search box turns red because no match exists in the command history.

If you enter command as the search string once again, the search box is no longer red. Because command2 = 2 still matches the current search string, it remains displayed in the command line.

If the search reaches the end of the history without finding a match, it wraps around to the beginning of the command history. When you finish searching, you click the close button   for the search box.

History Context Menu

For a command history entry, you can access a drop-down menu and select an action to apply to it. When you click the button with the three dots to the right of an entry, the following actions are available: