readline vi mode in python interactive shell

[Micah Elliott]

On Nov 16, tnoell at gmail.com wrote:
> Hi comp.lang.python:
> New to the group and new to python, so don't tear me up too much ...
> I installed the GNU readline support in python2.4, and it is working,
> but there is one annoying behaviour that I am hoping to squash ...
> 
> Namely, when I hit <esc> to go to edit mode, then hit 'k' to go up
> in the command history, the prompt is put at the start of the line.

Amazing that you brought this up right now; I was just thinking about
whether or not to bother posting my own annoyance (invisible last
history command) with readline 4.3-5 (default with Fedora Core 3) and
Python 2.4.2.  Since you brought it up, here's my test case:

    My ~/.inputrc simply contains "set editing-mode vi".  When I start
    python I type "print 'a'".  Then "<Esc>k" to recall the last
    command -- but the line is invisible!  If I start editing the
    blank/invisible line the text magically appears.  Or if I press
    "k" twice I have visible history again.  So now I have in muscle
    memory "<Esc>kkj" to get my last command :-(

This is not a problem on the same machine with older versions of python
that are installed.  Is this worth filing a bug against python?  I
didn't find anything reported on sf.net/projects/python.

> Other places I use vi mode command line editing (e.g., zsh),  the
> cursor is at the end of the previous command. More often than not, I
> am wanting to edit the latter part of the previous command, not the
> start.

In bash "<Esc>k" puts me at the *beginning* of the line.  Of course $
puts you where you want to be then, but I'm not sure how to affect the
behavior you're asking for; "help bind" might be useful, and "bind -P"
shows some mappings.

-- 
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|V|icah |- lliott             <><             mde at micah.elliott.name
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