If invoked with no arguments,
history
displays a list of commands that you have executed. Valid options are:
-w
file- Write the current history to the file file. If the name is omitted, use the default history file (normally ~/.octave_hist).
-r
file- Read the file file, replacing the current history list with its contents. If the name is omitted, use the default history file (normally ~/.octave_hist).
- n
- Only display the most recent n lines of history.
-q
- Don't number the displayed lines of history. This is useful for cutting and pasting commands if you are using the X Window System.
For example, to display the five most recent commands that you have typed without displaying line numbers, use the command history -q 5.