AIX : retrieving previous command using up arrow

Question

I know about set -o vi and k and j combinations. I want to map these to up arrow and down arrow so that I can use AIX(ksh prompt) just like bash . Any suggestions?

Answer 1

You may be able to write a trap on the KEYBD signal that will process the arrow keystrokes and issue the vi k and j keystrokes in their place.

You can find out what characters are emitted by your arrow keys by pressing Ctrl-v then the key. You should see something like ^[[A.

For example:

f () { if [[ ${.sh.edchar} == $'\033[A' ]]; then .sh.edchar="k"; fi; }
trap f KEYBD

Test the .sh.edmode variable to control whether the key is substituted in insert or command mode (its value will be 0x1b while in insert mode and null otherwise.

Answer 2

Here is one way that worked for me: Put the following in to .profile script

set -o emacs
alias __A=$(print -n "\020")
alias __B=$(print -n "\016")
alias __C=$(print -n "\006")
alias __D=$(print -n "\002")