Databases, Systems & Networks

Occasionally I type a password or other sensitive information into a shell prompt. Using bash history, the command can be removed.

# say we start with an empty bash command history
bash-3.2$ history
 1 history
# enter a command that requires a password
bash-3.2$ sudo rm -i some_file
Password:
# accidentally ^C and type your password
# into the prompt and hit enter
bash-3.2$ secret_password
bash: secret_password: command not found
# your password is now there for all to
# see in your bash history
bash-3.2$ history
 1 history
 2 sudo rm -i some_file
 3 secret_password
 4 history
# first option to fix it, delete the numbered entry from
# history and write to your ~/.bash_history file
bash-3.2$ history -d 3
bash-3.2$ history -w
# entry 3 will be removed entirely from your command history
bash-3.2$ history
 1 history
 2 sudo rm -i some_file
 3 history
 4 history -d 3
 5 history -w
 6 history
# the second option is to clear the entire history
# and write the changes to disk
bash-3.2$ history -c
bash-3.2$ history -w
# it's now pretty obvious that your history has been
# scrubbed clean, but at least your password is history!
bash-3.2$ history
 1 history -w
 2 history