History - Search Shortcuts

Boost your productivity in the Linux shell with quick history search commands using your arrow keys.
These shortcuts let you instantly find previously executed commands without retyping them.

Why This Matters

If you often repeat commands or tweak long terminal instructions, history search is a huge time-saver.
By enabling this feature, your Up and Down arrows can search through your history by prefix, not just by recent order.

Steps

1. Open your bash configuration file:

   vi ~/.bashrc
   

2. Add the following lines at the end of the file:

   bind '"\e[A":history-search-backward'
   bind '"\e[B":history-search-forward'
   set show-all-if-ambiguous on
   set completion-ignore-case on
   

3. Save the file and refresh your current shell:

   source ~/.bashrc
   

Bonus section

1. In Powershell it is possible too, just create this file

   vim %HOME%\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\profile.ps1
   

2. Add the following lines to the file:

   Set-PSReadLineOption -HistorySearchCursorMovesToEnd
   Set-PSReadlineKeyHandler -Key UpArrow -Function HistorySearchBackward
   Set-PSReadlineKeyHandler -Key DownArrow -Function HistorySearchForward