Re: bash suggestion

[Chet Ramey]

> I'm a bash user and would like to make a suggestion. Is there a way to add
> reverse history searches on the command line after some text has been typed?
> I LOVE the up arrow feature, but it would be even better if up arrow would
> continue to work after a few characters have been typed, allowing the user
> to scroll through previous commands starting with the same phrase.

Bind some key sequence to the `history-search-backward' and
`history-search-forward' commands.  These search the history for the
text between the beginning of the line and the current cursor position.
It's a non-incremental search.

> I know that the CTRL-R command exists, but it does not let you scroll up once
> a few letters have been typed. You just have to continue typing until you find
> your desired command.

Of course it does.  Once you have typed enough characters to identify the
string you're searching for, type ^R to keep searching backward for that
search string.

-- 
``The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne.'' - Chaucer
( ``Discere est Dolere'' -- chet)

Chet Ramey, CWRU    chet@po.CWRU.Edu    http://cnswww.cns.cwru.edu/~chet/