Where is the history file for ipython

Question

I can not determine where the ipython is storing its history.

a. There is no ~/.pythonhistory:

12:49:00/dashboards $ll ~/.py*
ls: /Users/steve/.py*: No such file or directory

b. Nothing special in the python startup file:

12:49:07/dashboards $echo $PYTHONSTARTUP
/shared/.pythonstartup
12:49:43/dashboards $cat /shared/.pythonstartup
import rlcompleter
import readline

readline.parse_and_bind("tab: complete")

c. BUT: i do have plenty of history available in ipython when I start it up.

So where is that history being stored?

UPDATE the answer from @Stefano led the correct way: here is the actual path

13:30:05/shared $ll ~/.ipython/profile_default/history.sqlite
-rw-r--r--  1 steve  staff  372736 Jun  3 12:48 /Users/steve/.ipython/profile_default/history.sqlite

Gorgeous

Answer 1

IPython history is stored in a SQLite database located in the profile directory. By default:

~/.ipython/profile_default/history.sqlite

Older versions (1.x) stored profile data in ~/.config/ipython, at least on platforms conforming to XDG basedir specs (i.e. most Linux distributions).

Anyway, you can locate the profile directory with:

$ ipython locate profile default

Notice that the history database is shared between IPython and IPython3, if both are installed.

Stringy

Additionally, the table name is history. This would allow you for instance to search this database using sqlite3. – Fox

How to set the location of this file separate from profile? – Borman

Answer 2

If you want your IPython history in a plain-text file, you can export it yourself.

%history -g -f filename 

Seaborg

I find no -g works well for me, too. What does -g do? – Tootsie

Without -g it exports the history for the current session. With -g it exports history for all sessions. The only documentation I found for -g is by typing %quickref in to an IPython shell. – Seaborg