Bashtags

Searching through my bash history, I find this command:

hugo server --cleanDestinationDir --buildDrafts #hugo #blog

I use it for building my blog locally in dev mode, so I can proofread it and remove typos. Attempts to memorise this command have previously failed.

The interesting part is the #hugo #blog part at the end. This is may look like a further symptom of society’s slide into social media fueled Götterdämmerung, but that isn’t what bash thinks it is. As far as bash and zsh are concerned, everything after the first # is a comment.

Searching through my bash history, by typing Ctrl + r followed by #blog, or by running history | grep '#blog', finds a command I would otherwise not be able to remember. The # symbol, or bashtag, is simply a way of labelling parts of my history that I wish to retrieve quickly later.