How do I delete specific history entries in Nushell? - nushell

Question

Given a history like this in Nushell, how do I delete specific entries; e.g. entries 6, 8, and 10?
nu > history
╭────┬────────────────────╮
│ # │ command │
├────┼────────────────────┤
│ 0 │ history --clear │
│ 1 │ php --version │
│ 2 │ composer --version │
│ 3 │ node --version │
│ 4 │ npm --version │
│ 5 │ composer --version │
│ 6 │ history │
│ 7 │ php --version │
│ 8 │ history │
│ 9 │ php --version │
│ 10 │ history │
│ 11 │ composer --version │
╰────┴────────────────────╯

Answer 1

Based on the code that I can read here and on the documentation here, it appears that an option like this is not currently available.
However, the code indicates that the history.txt file is located at ~/.config/nushell. Utilizing this information, it is possible to accomplish what you asked by using my script below:
nushell_history_manager.py
import os
import sys
def delete_lines(file_path, line_numbers):
# open the file in read mode
with open(file_path, 'r') as f:
# read all the lines and store them in a list
lines = f.readlines()
# open the file in write mode
with open(file_path, 'w') as f:
for i, line in enumerate(lines):
# check if the current line number is not in the list of line numbers to delete
if i+1 not in line_numbers:
# if it's not, write the line to the file
f.write(line)
def print_table(file_path):
# open the file in read mode
with open(file_path, 'r') as f:
# read all the lines and store them in a list
lines = f.readlines()
# print the table header
print("╭──────┬───────────────────────────────╮")
print("│ ## │ command │")
print("├──────┼───────────────────────────────┤")
for i, line in enumerate(lines):
# print each line number and the corresponding command
print(f"│ {i+1:3} │ {line.strip():26} │")
# print the table footer
print("╰──────┴───────────────────────────────╯")
if __name__ == '__main__':
# set the file path to the history.txt file in the nushell config directory
file_path = os.path.expanduser('~/.config/nushell/history.txt')
# print the initial contents of the file in a table format
print_table(file_path)
# ask the user to enter line numbers to delete
line_numbers_str = input("Enter line numbers to delete (separated by commas): ")
# convert the entered line numbers to a list of integers
line_numbers = list(map(int, line_numbers_str.split(',')))
# delete the specified lines from the file
delete_lines(file_path, line_numbers)
# print the updated contents of the file in a table format
print_table(file_path)
Usage:
python nushell_history_manager.py
Runtime:
╭──────┬────────────────────╮
│ ## │ command │
├──────┼────────────────────┤
│ 1 │ history --clear │
│ 2 │ php --version │
│ 3 │ composer --version │
│ 4 │ node --version │
│ 5 │ npm --version │
│ 6 │ composer --version │
│ 7 │ history │
│ 8 │ php --version │
│ 9 │ history │
│ 10 │ php --version │
│ 11 │ history │
│ 12 │ composer --version │
╰──────┴────────────────────╯
Enter line numbers to delete (separated by commas): 7,9,11
╭──────┬────────────────────╮
│ ## │ command │
├──────┼────────────────────┤
│ 1 │ history --clear │
│ 2 │ php --version │
│ 3 │ composer --version │
│ 4 │ node --version │
│ 5 │ npm --version │
│ 6 │ composer --version │
│ 7 │ php --version │
│ 8 │ php --version │
│ 9 │ composer --version │
╰──────┴────────────────────╯

Answer 2

nu's history command does not (yet) provide a functionality to delete items similar to bash's history -d. However, you can query where the history file is located using $nu.history-path, then use drop nth to delete the lines in question.
open $nu.history-path | lines | drop nth 6 8 10 | save -f $nu.history-path

Answer 3

While #pmf response does EXACTLY what you ask, a more generic form is shown below. Here you don't even have to know the lines of the file that are duplicates:
export def dedupeLines [filepath: string = $"($nu.history-path)"] {
open $filepath | lines | uniq | save --force $filepath
}
In your specific case, filepath = $nu.history-path.
Executing the command below will accomplish your request
dedupeLines # since $nu.history-path is the default filepath for the command
Also for the future, Discords nushell has many questions and answers and the fellows there are extremely helpful and prompt in responding to queries. I had actually asked your question there before too.
I don't know if the python solution lines of code could be reduced, but it is interesting what nushell accomplishes in a single line when compared to the python solution.