Import bash history to zsh history.

bash_to_zsh_history.rb

#################################################################
# = This script transfers bash history to zsh history
# = Change bash and zsh history files, if you don't use defaults
#
# = Usage: ruby bash_to_zsh_history.rb
#
# = Author: Ankit Goyal
#################################################################

# change if you don't use default values
BASH_HISTORY_FILE_PATH="#{ENV['HOME']}/.bash_history"
ZSH_HISTORY_FILE_PATH="#{ENV['HOME']}/.zsh_history"

# Read the bash history file
bash_hist_file = File.read(BASH_HISTORY_FILE_PATH)

# Get the list of commands from bash history hile
command_list = bash_hist_file.split("\n")

# Open the zsh history file
zsh_hist_file = File.open(ZSH_HISTORY_FILE_PATH, "a")

# Get timestamp required for zsh history file format and update the history file
time = Time.now.to_i
command_list.each do |command|
  time += 1
  zsh_hist_file.write(": #{time}:0;#{command}\n")
end

# Close the file
zsh_hist_file.close

I was surprised to see the top Google results for this are Ruby and Python scripts, huh! Then I missed the awk command at the bottom here and did it with Perl. First I checked the format of both my histories:

$ head -n1 ~/.zsh_history
: 1551826967:0;ls -al ~
$ head -n2 ~/.bash_history
#1532234168
exit

Then wrote a Perl command that I ran under Bash so Zsh would not be running and conflict (from Zsh, I ran exec bash and confirmed Zsh was not running with pgrep zsh):

perl -0777 -pe 's/^#(\d+)\n(.*?)$/: \1:0;\2/gm' ~/.bash_history >> ~/.zsh_history

Thanks, it's work fine!

awesome dude

Thanks, works perfectly.

Worked perfectly.

Worth noting that you should remember to increase your SAVEHIST value first.

Cool! This is a node script version

https://gist.github.com/marchrius/71f858c2b032f037d286cbf2394ad8a7

getting this error message - anyone have a solution?

./bash_to_zsh_history.rb: line 15: syntax error near unexpected token (' ./bash_to_zsh_history.rb: line 15: bash_hist_file = File.read(BASH_HISTORY_FILE_PATH)'

Ruby version is ruby 2.6.3p62 (2019-04-16 revision 67580) [universal.x86_64-darwin19]

getting this error message - anyone have a solution?

./bash_to_zsh_history.rb: line 15: syntax error near unexpected token (' ./bash_to_zsh_history.rb: line 15: bash_hist_file = > File.read(BASH_HISTORY_FILE_PATH)'

Ruby version is ruby 2.6.3p62 (2019-04-16 revision 67580) [universal.x86_64-darwin19]

@robertstrom You probably copy-pasted the script wrong. There's an extra ' at the end of line 15.

Worked perfectly! Thanks!

Thanks bigplum & gimpf,

sort ~/.bash_history | uniq | awk '{print ": :0:;"$0}' >> ~/.zsh_history

just what I needed on a VM without ruby installed

Thanks for the script

Awesome work! Thank you!

clean, simple and fast - thx

Personally I found awk and PERL to be to heavy weight :) So I went for

cat ~/.bash_history | cut -d' ' -f1- | sort | uniq | xargs -I % echo ": $(date +%s):0;" % >> ~/.zsh_history

Personally I found awk and PERL to be to heavy weight :) So I went for

cat ~/.bash_history | cut -d' ' -f1- | sort | uniq | xargs -I % echo ": $(date +%s):0;" % >> ~/.zsh_history

This worked like a charm on OSX Catalina from bash to zsh.

Script is working for me. Ubuntu 20.20. History moved. Thank you!

Guys ;)
cp ~/.bash_history ~/.zsh_history works
Probably zsh wrote some import from just cmdlines in history

Since I didn't see trusty old sed, here's one I made with my friend sed

cat ~/.bash_history | uniq | sed "s/^/\: $(date +%s)\:0;/" >> ~/.zsh_history

Since I didn't see trusty old sed, here's one I made with my friend sed

cat ~/.bash_history | uniq | sed "s/^/\: $(date +%s)\:0;/" >> ~/.zsh_history

Works a treat. Cheers.

Thanks a lot brother.