really? on my bash: BASH_VERSION='3.1.16(1)-release', the above code does keep the the full history of the commands, not just the last command. (that was the hardest part of writing it :) ).

and i believe that there is probably a way to set a .history file so that it would keep commands between sessions.

anyway, good luck digging through the bash manpages. i hope you can get it to work "well enough" for your needs. it's probably just one of the bash 'set' options or an environment variable that you need set correctly to make the history work.