<div>
Thanks. &nbsp;I tried it as you have it and without the quotes and for some reason it is not working. &nbsp;<br />
<br />
Here is what is in my script:<br />
<br />
#!/bin/sh<br />
<br />
var='history -n|head -1'<br />
echo $var<br />
<br />
Here is the output: <br />
<br />
history -n|head -1<br />
<br />
<br />
I took the quotes of out of the script and got this:<br />
<br />
-n: not found<br />

</div>


Thanks.  I tried it as you have it and without the quotes and for some reason it is not working.  

Here is what is in my script:

#!/bin/sh

var='history -n|head -1'
echo $var

Here is the output:

history -n|head -1


I took the quotes of out of the script and got this:

-n: not found


<div>
it's useless without quotes.<br />
and you (probably) used quotes, but I posted backticks !!
</div>


it's useless without quotes.
and you (probably) used quotes, but I posted backticks !!

<div>
No comment has been added lately, so it's time to clean up this Topic Area.<br />
I will leave a recommendation for this question in the Cleanup topic area as follows:<br />
<br />
- Answered by ahoffmann<br />
<br />
Please leave any comments here within the next 7 days<br />
<br />
PLEASE DO NOT ACCEPT THIS COMMENT AS AN ANSWER !<br />
<br />
tfewster<br />
Cleanup Volunteer
</div>


No comment has been added lately, so it's time to clean up this Topic Area.
I will leave a recommendation for this question in the Cleanup topic area as follows:

- Answered by ahoffmann

Please leave any comments here within the next 7 days

PLEASE DO NOT ACCEPT THIS COMMENT AS AN ANSWER !

tfewster
Cleanup Volunteer

<div>
per recommendation<br />
<br />
SpideyMod<br />
Community Support Moderator @Experts Exchange
</div>


per recommendation

SpideyMod
Community Support Moderator @Experts Exchange

<div>
<div class="content wysiwyg-content">
If I were to type history -n at the command prompt I would get a list of recent commands that have been typed. &nbsp;<br />
<br />
I need to trap the first command in the list and pass it to a variable where I can use it as I please.<br />
<br />
How do I do this?<br />
<br />
Thanks in advance!
</div>
</div>


If I were to type history -n at the command prompt I would get a list of recent commands that have been typed.  

I need to trap the first command in the list and pass it to a variable where I can use it as I please.

How do I do this?

Thanks in advance!

Passing History to a variable

Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 at Bell Labs. Today, it is a modern OS with many commercial flavors and licensees, including FreeBSD, Hewlett-Packard’s UX, IBM AIX and Apple Mac OS-X. Apart from its command-line interface, most UNIX variations support the standardized X Window System for GUIs, with the exception of the Mac OS, which uses a proprietary system.