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Need to delete or change history because of DNS change

  • 6 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 7 views
  • Last reply by cor-el

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The company I work for recently underwent a massive DNS change. Many of the urls that I have in bookmarks and history have changed - but only slightly and it is highly predictable.

The problem is that these 'old' names come up, redirect me (maybe) to the new site, and I waste time editing the url 1 by 1. The next time I search, it will likely bring up the 'wrong' url again because I referenced it.

Is there a way to do a mass change?

If there was a flat file, I would used sed:

sed -i 's/foobar.com/notfoobar.com/g'

But I don't see a thing like this on Linux FF v47.0. In my profile directory I see:

./ gmp/ safebrowsing/ ../ gmp-gmpopenh264/ saved-telemetry-pings/ addons.json gm_scripts/ search.json addons.sqlite healthreport/ search.json.mozlz4 blocklist.xml httpRequester/ search-metadata.json bookmarkbackups/ jetpack/ searchplugins/ _CACHE_CLEAN_ key3.db search.sqlite cert8.db localstore-1.rdf secmod.db cert_override.txt localstore.rdf serviceworker.txt chrome/ localstore-safe.rdf sessionCheckpoints.json compatibility.ini lock@ sessionstore-backups/ content-prefs.sqlite logins.json sessionstore.bak cookies.sqlite marionette.log sessionstore.bak-20140924083558 cookies.sqlite.orig mimeTypes.rdf signedInUser.json cookies.sqlite-shm minidumps/ signedInUserOAuthTokens.json cookies.sqlite-wal mozilla-media-cache/ signons.sqlite crashes/ notificationstore.json SiteSecurityServiceState.txt dactyl/ .parentlock storage/ datareporting/ permissions.sqlite times.json downloads.json permissions.sqlite-journal UnMHT/ extensions/ places.sqlite urlclassifier3.sqlite extensions.ini places.sqlite-shm urlclassifierkey3.txt extensions.json places.sqlite-wal urlclassifier.pset extensions.sqlite pluginreg.dat user.js extensions.sqlite-journal prefs-1.js user.js~ febeBUhistory.json* prefs-2.js weave/ febeExtensionData.json* prefs-3.js webapps/ febeIgnoreListData.json* prefs-4.js webappsstore.sqlite FEBEresults.html* prefs-5.js webappsstore.sqlite-shm febeUserDefinedBuData.json* prefs.js webappsstore.sqlite-wal formhistory.sqlite revocations.txt xulstore.json


Thanks,

Rick

The company I work for recently underwent a massive DNS change. Many of the urls that I have in bookmarks and history have changed - but only slightly and it is highly predictable. The problem is that these 'old' names come up, redirect me (maybe) to the new site, and I waste time editing the url 1 by 1. The next time I search, it will likely bring up the 'wrong' url again because I referenced it. Is there a way to do a mass change? If there was a flat file, I would used sed: sed -i 's/foobar.com/notfoobar.com/g' But I don't see a thing like this on Linux FF v47.0. In my profile directory I see: ./ gmp/ safebrowsing/ ../ gmp-gmpopenh264/ saved-telemetry-pings/ addons.json gm_scripts/ search.json addons.sqlite healthreport/ search.json.mozlz4 blocklist.xml httpRequester/ search-metadata.json bookmarkbackups/ jetpack/ searchplugins/ _CACHE_CLEAN_ key3.db search.sqlite cert8.db localstore-1.rdf secmod.db cert_override.txt localstore.rdf serviceworker.txt chrome/ localstore-safe.rdf sessionCheckpoints.json compatibility.ini lock@ sessionstore-backups/ content-prefs.sqlite logins.json sessionstore.bak cookies.sqlite marionette.log sessionstore.bak-20140924083558 cookies.sqlite.orig mimeTypes.rdf signedInUser.json cookies.sqlite-shm minidumps/ signedInUserOAuthTokens.json cookies.sqlite-wal mozilla-media-cache/ signons.sqlite crashes/ notificationstore.json SiteSecurityServiceState.txt dactyl/ .parentlock storage/ datareporting/ permissions.sqlite times.json downloads.json permissions.sqlite-journal UnMHT/ extensions/ places.sqlite urlclassifier3.sqlite extensions.ini places.sqlite-shm urlclassifierkey3.txt extensions.json places.sqlite-wal urlclassifier.pset extensions.sqlite pluginreg.dat user.js extensions.sqlite-journal prefs-1.js user.js~ febeBUhistory.json* prefs-2.js weave/ febeExtensionData.json* prefs-3.js webapps/ febeIgnoreListData.json* prefs-4.js webappsstore.sqlite FEBEresults.html* prefs-5.js webappsstore.sqlite-shm febeUserDefinedBuData.json* prefs.js webappsstore.sqlite-wal formhistory.sqlite revocations.txt xulstore.json Thanks, Rick

All Replies (6)

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Hi Rick, bookmarks and history are stored together in the

places.sqlite

database file. Firefox doesn't have an interface for bulk database edits, and I'm not sure I would trust a third party SQL editor to do it correctly.

For bookmarks, how many are we talking about? If it's a dozen, you can edit them by hand in the Library dialog ("Show All Bookmarks"). If that would be too slow, you could export to an HTML-format file (you will lose tags and possibly other metadata), edit, then re-import.

For history, it's probably easiest to delete history for foobar.com: in the Library dialog ("Show All History") use the search bar at the upper right to filter down to foobar.com, then select all relevant URLs and delete them.

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Thanks for the quick reply.

History? Hundreds of entries. Years of history.  ;)

Bookmarks aren't a problem because I can easily edit them.

When I export the bookmarks, does the history go with it?

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I see that your directory listing show FEBE backup files like febeBUhistory.json

There are also files from older Firefox versions and files like numbered prefs-#.js that shouldn't be there at all.

extensions.sqlite (extensions.json)
localstore.rdf (xulstore.json)
sessionstore.bak (sessionstore-backups)
search.json and search-metadata.json and search.sqlite (search-metadata.json)

Firefox may still be using these old files to rebuild the new file if you would remove the currently used file.

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rbeldin said

When I export the bookmarks, does the history go with it?

No. Firefox doesn't have any import/export feature for history as far as I know.

I think the Nirsoft program mentioned earlier might have something for exporting, but I don't know about importing.

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You can use FEBE to backup the history.