UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

By default, we use ksh (88) as our shell. I prefer bash, so I added this line to my .profile:

Code:

exec bash -o vi

I also added this to my .bashrc?:

Code:

#***********************************************
#These are important tweaks specific to BASH:
#***********************************************
#this one makes sure that long commands strings line wrap to the next line
[ -z "$PS1" ] && return

#instead of wrapping onto the start of the same line.
shopt -s checkwinsize

#this corrects typos when spelling out paths.
shopt -s cdspell  

alias c=clear

Of course, the alias works fine, however, when I try to use the up key to pull up a previous command from the history, it doesn't work until I press the down key first. I also can't get the line wrapping to work correctly. When I start with a prompt like this:

Code:

myBashPrompt>

I end up with this after a long command:

Code:

andashPrompt> This is what happens when I type a really long comm

If you noticed, the wrap overwrote the prompt. How do I get this to wrap correctly onto a new line? Also, how do I get my bash history to come up without having to press down, up?

I should also mention that I am using putty to ssh into our machines.

There is probably a term mismatch. Try telling putty to use vt220. And in the settings window, there is a section for "keyboard". You might want to experiment with different keyboard emulations. Usually the "Esc" is preferred.

To match this on the unix side, throw this into the .profile/.bashrc:

Code:

export TERM=vt220

You can also try xterm-color or xterm-ansi or just ansi.

There are several ways to tell bash to use the "vi" command-editing mode, but if you are only familiar with up/down arrow keys, then you might want to use "set -o emacs". Additionally, there's a file called ".inputrc" which is read normally by bash and will configure the keyboard how you like. Look at the manpage for "readline".