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Date: Fri, 24 Apr 2009 08:35:22 -0500
From: Martin McCormick <martin@dc.cis.okstate.edu>
Subject: Re: Format of history output Sometimes is very Different. 
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Matthew Seaman writes:
> tcsh(1) includes timestamps in it's .history.  bash(1) doesn't.
> Not sure about other shells, but the historical (ahem!) behaviour
> 
> of csh(1) was not to use timestamps, and I think most shells subsequently
> developed have carried on the same history format, with
> 
> tcsh(1) being the exception.

	Thanks to you and "N. Raghavendra" <raghu@mri.ernet.in>
for your help. That has got to be what I did. On the times I
have seen this, I was in a hurry and may have somehow invoked
tcsh as I never use it normally. The prompt defaults to a >
symbol. If one runs the command tcsh history, tcsh gives an
error as there is no such file called history but if you launch
tcsh at the command prompt and then execute history, that is the
very output I was talking about. I am still not sure how I
didn't notice the different prompt and the fact that I was in
some other kind of shell, but I guess some of us are crazier
than we like to admit.

	At least I now know what generates that output and why I
couldn't find anything in the bash documentation. The closest I
get to tcsh is csh in root.

Again, many thanks.

Martin McCormick WB5AGZ  Stillwater, OK 
Systems Engineer
OSU Information Technology Department Telecommunications Services Group