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
    


Answer: 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](http://standards.freedesktop.org/basedir-spec/basedir-spec-latest.html)
(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.

