Show Timestamps in Bash History

The default Bash history is fine. But when you’re trying to remember when you ran a command or debug a past session, t’s basically useless.

Here’s how to fix that.

Add Timestamps to Your Bash History

Append this line to your ~/.bashrc:

HISTTIMEFORMAT="%b-%d-%Y %T "

Then reload:

source ~/.bashrc

Now when you run history , you’ll see this instead of just a wall of commands:

  421  Jul-22-2025 10:12:33 sudo apt update
  422  Jul-22-2025 10:12:50 sudo apt upgrade
  423  Jul-22-2025 10:13:02 ./battery_level.py -c

Way more helpful.

Format Breakdown

%b - abbreviated month (e.g., Jul)  
%d - day of month  
%Y - full year  
%T - time (HH:MM:SS)

You can tweak the format to whatever you like. If you prefer slashes or numeric dates:

HISTTIMEFORMAT="%m/%d/%y %T "

Why It Matters

• Know exactly when you ran a specific command

• Troubleshoot system issues by timeline

• Reconstruct sessions after a reboot or crash

• Just a better mental model of your workflow

Bonus Tip: View a Timestamped History of a Specific Command

history | grep rsync

Now you’ll know when you ran that rsync that corrupted your files, not just that you ran it.

Little shell upgrades like this make a big difference