User Commands						     =(1)

NAME
     =,	== - redo previous shell command

SYNOPSIS
     = [ pattern ] [ substitutions ]
     ==	[ pattern ] [ substitutions ]

DESCRIPTION
     The = command provides a simple history  mechanism	 for  the
     shell,  sh(1).   If the environment variable HISTORY is set,
     it	names a	file to	which the shell	appends	the text of  each
     command  before execution.	 = reads the HISTORY file for the
     first previous command matching the  pattern,  performs  the
     substitutions, and	executes it.  If no pattern is specified,
     the most recent command is	selected.  If no substitution  is
     specified,	the command is executed	without	modification.

     The pattern matching works	for literal text, and is anchored
     to	the beginning of the command line.  Adjacent arguments in
     the pattern are treated as	one argument formed of the origi-
     nal argument strings separated by spaces.

     Substitutions are of the form
	  old=new
     specifying	that the string	`old' in the  command  is  to  be
     replaced by `new.'	 Substitutions are performed in	the order
     given, and	operate	on the single leftmost match in	the  com-
     mand line.

     The == command is identical to the	 =  command,  but  before
     running  the  command (and	after substitutions) allows it to
     be	edited.	 The command is	typed  out,  and  a  modification
     request is	read from the terminal.	 Generally each	character
     in	the request specifies how to modify the	character immedi-
     ately above it, in	the original command, as described in the
     following table.

     #	  Delete the above character.
     %	  Replace the above character with a space.
     ^	  Insert the rest of the request line  before  the  above
	  character.
     $	  Delete the characters	in the command from this position
	  on; replace them with	the rest of the	request	line.
     space or tab
	  Leave	above character(s) unchanged.
     =	  as the first and only	edit character.	Back  up  to  the
	  prior	 occurrence  of	 the pattern in	the history file;
	  this may be iterated,	and the	displayed lines	 will  be
	  unique.
     any other
	  This character replaces the one above	it.

     If	the request line is longer than	the command, the overhang
     is	 added	to the end of the command without interpretation,
     that is, without treating `#', `%', `^'  or  `$'  specially.
     Any  characters  after  a	`^' or `$' request are not inter-
     preted either.

     While correlating character positions, the	editor	will  not
     process control characters	other than tab and newline.

     The tab character prints as a sequence of spaces, and may be
     modified  as  if it were that sequence.  As long as the last
     space is unmodified, it and the remaining contiguous  spaces
     will represent a tab.

     The history mechanism performs best if each  login	 terminal
     uses  a  different	 HISTORY  file.	  The  following commands
     accomplish	this.


	  HISTORY=$HOME/hist/`basename \`tty\``
	  >$HISTORY
	  export HISTORY