Readline in vi mode: how can I enable up/down arrows?

When bash has vi bindings available (set -o vi), up/down arrows work in both command and insertion mode. When I setup readline's ~/.inputrc to use vi mode (set editing-mode vi), applications like irb don't get the arrow functionality. I've tried "set enable-keypad on" in inputrc to no effect.

How do I get bash-like arrow functionality in other readline aware applications?

Solution 1:

It seems to be an issue only with Ruby's readline (and it's still there).

I deal with it by skipping set editing-mode vi if we're using ruby's readline:

$if ruby
$else
  set editing-mode vi

  ...

$endif

There's not really anything else to do unless ruby's readline gets fixed.