Yes, I feel strongly that if dmenu_path used to keep its file in a standard
place (XDG_CACHE_HOME or as a dot in HOME), then the history should be
placed in the same location. It's just clean, uniform design.
I also realized that all the functionality of dmenu_run with history can
be kept inside one single file, removing the dependency on dmenu_path.
Basically merging dmenu_run and dmenu_path together with the history
stuff into one self-contained shell script: dmenu_run_history.
And the instructions on the wiki should simply say:
dmenu_run_history, a self-contained alternative to dmenu_run which
also handles history.
History is saved in a file in XDG_CACHE_HOME, with fallback to a dot
file in $HOME. Change as necessary.
In addition to the above, dmenu_run_history will launch each entry
immediately on Ctrl-Return (multiselect).
diff --git a/dmenu_run_history b/dmenu_run_history
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..6ef353d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dmenu_run_history
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+cachedir=${XDG_CACHE_HOME:-"$HOME/.cache"}
+if [ -d "$cachedir" ]; then
+ cache=$cachedir/dmenu_run
+ historyfile=$cachedir/dmenu_history
+else # if no xdg dir, fall back to dotfiles in ~
+ cache=$HOME/.dmenu_cache
+ historyfile=$HOME/.dmenu_history
+fi
+
+IFS=:
+if stest -dqr -n "$cache" $PATH; then
+ stest -flx $PATH | sort -u > "$cache"
+fi
+unset IFS
+
+awk -v histfile=$historyfile '
+ BEGIN {
+ while( (getline < histfile) > 0 ) {
+ sub("^[0-9]+\t","")
+ print
+ x[$0]=1
+ }
+ } !x[$0]++ ' "$cache" \
+ | dmenu "$@" \
+ | awk -v histfile=$historyfile '
+ BEGIN {
+ FS=OFS="\t"
+ while ( (getline < histfile) > 0 ) {
+ count=$1
+ sub("^[0-9]+\t","")
+ fname=$0
+ history[fname]=count
+ }
+ close(histfile)
+ }
+
+ {
+ history[$0]++
+ print
+ }
+
+ END {
+ if(!NR) exit
+ for (f in history)
+ print history[f],f | "sort -t '\t' -k1rn >"
histfile
+ }
+ ' \
+ | while read cmd; do ${SHELL:-"/bin/sh"} -c "$cmd" & done
