diff --git a/dmenu_path b/dmenu_path
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
index 338bac4..f16f562
--- a/dmenu_path
+++ b/dmenu_path
@@ -1,4 +1,11 @@
 #!/bin/sh
+if [ -z "$1" ]; then
+	echo "Need a history file as first argument."
+	exit
+else
+	HISTORY=$1
+fi
+
 cachedir=${XDG_CACHE_HOME:-"$HOME/.cache"}
 if [ -d "$cachedir" ]; then
 	cache=$cachedir/dmenu_run
@@ -7,7 +14,8 @@ else
 fi
 IFS=:
 if stest -dqr -n "$cache" $PATH; then
-	stest -flx $PATH | sort -u | tee "$cache"
+	stest -flx $PATH | sort -u > "$cache"
+	awk -F$'\t' '!x[$1]++' "$HISTORY" "$cache"
 else
-	cat "$cache"
+	awk -F$'\t' '!x[$1]++' "$HISTORY" "$cache"
 fi
diff --git a/dmenu_run b/dmenu_run
index 834ede5..051a2c4 100755
--- a/dmenu_run
+++ b/dmenu_run
@@ -1,2 +1,5 @@
 #!/bin/sh
-dmenu_path | dmenu "$@" | ${SHELL:-"/bin/sh"} &
+
+historyfile=~/.cache/dmenu/dmenuhistory
+
+dmenu_path $historyfile | dmenu "$@" | awk -v histfile=$historyfile -f updhist.awk | ${SHELL:-"/bin/sh"} &
diff --git a/updhist.awk b/updhist.awk
index e69de29..76820bf 100755
--- a/updhist.awk
+++ b/updhist.awk
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+#!/usr/bin/awk -f
+
+BEGIN {
+    if(histfile=="") {
+        print "updhist.awk: no history file specified" > "/dev/stderr"
+        print "usage: awk -v histfile=<path-to-history-file> -f updhist.awk" > "/dev/stderr"
+        exit(1)
+    }
+    FS=OFS="\t" # explicit tabs on input to allow file names with spaces
+    while ( (getline < histfile) > 0 )
+        history[$1]=$2 # assumption: file name does not contain tabs
+    close(histfile)
+}
+
+{
+    history[$0]++
+    print
+}
+
+END {
+    for (f in history)
+        print f,history[f] | "sort -t '\t' -k2rn >" histfile
+}