5

There are several options to disable saving commands to bash history e.g.

set +o history

or

unset HISTFILE

How to start a new bash session with history disabled?

I tried bash +o history but it didn't work.

EDIT: I don't want to modify my rc or profile files. I just want to start a single bash session with a different configuration.

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1
  • @DopeGhoti bash: history: invalid shell option name, +O is for shopt
    – timakro
    Aug 9, 2017 at 15:41

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
3 
bash --init-file <(echo '. ~/.bashrc; unset HISTFILE')

OR

bash --rcfile <(echo '. ~/.bashrc; unset HISTFILE')

And better put it in ~/.bash_aliases as permanent alias:

alias bash2="bash --init-file <(echo '. ~/.bashrc; unset HISTFILE')"
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1
  • Another solution is to unset the HISTFILE variable before calling bash: HISTFILE= bash
    – Manolo
    Nov 7, 2021 at 15:17
0

If you want to permanently disable history you can add shopt -u -o history or set +o history to your ~/.bashrc, or /etc/profile. Then clear your history!

history -c
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0

Add the set +o history option in:

~/.bashrc

(it might change depending on the distro)

Then clear the history with:

history -c

Log off and log on again.

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2
  • I wrote the exact same thing couple minutes before you, why the repost?
    – Hunter.S.Thompson
    Aug 9, 2017 at 15:47
  • Sorry dude, I probably had a couple of tabs opened and your reply wasn't there when I first opened it.
    – Adonist
    Aug 10, 2017 at 16:32

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