# Getting up arrow to work in irb on OSX **URL:** \ **Category:** ruby-talk\ **Created:** [26 March 2004 00:54 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/getting-up-arrow-to-work-in-irb-on-osx/10751 "2004-03-26T00:54:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ptkwt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f14d63/32.png) [@Ptkwt](https://rubytalk.org/u/Ptkwt)\ **Post date:** [26 March 2004 00:54 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/getting-up-arrow-to-work-in-irb-on-osx/10751/1 "2004-03-26T00:54:28Z")
How do you get the up arrow to give prior commands in irb on OSX? When I try to use the up arrow I just get garbage characters… Phil ---
**Author:** ![Ara.T.Howard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a8b319/32.png) [@Ara.T.Howard](https://rubytalk.org/u/Ara.T.Howard)\ **Post date:** [26 March 2004 03:14 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/getting-up-arrow-to-work-in-irb-on-osx/10751/2 "2004-03-26T03:14:27Z")
you need to compile with readline. probably readline is not installed or was not found when you installed. this should be in the config logs if you look… -a > **···** > > On 26 Mar 2004, Phil Tomson wrote: > > > How do you get the up arrow to give prior commands in irb on OSX? > > > > When I try to use the up arrow I just get garbage characters… > > # – > > > EMAIL :: Ara [dot] T [dot] Howard [at] noaa [dot] gov > > PHONE :: 303.497.6469 > > ADDRESS :: E/GC2 325 Broadway, Boulder, CO 80305-3328 > > URL :: [Solar-Terrestrial Physics Data | NCEI](http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/stp/) > > TRY :: for l in ruby perl;do $l -e “print "\x3a\x2d\x29\x0a"”;done > > =============================================================================== ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Roberts1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Sam\_Roberts1](https://rubytalk.org/u/Sam_Roberts1)\ **Post date:** [26 March 2004 03:40 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/getting-up-arrow-to-work-in-irb-on-osx/10751/3 "2004-03-26T03:40:12Z")
Quoteing [ptkwt@aracnet.com](mailto:ptkwt@aracnet.com), on Fri, Mar 26, 2004 at 09:54:28AM +0900: > How do you get the up arrow to give prior commands in irb on OSX? > > When I try to use the up arrow I just get garbage characters… There’s a way you can do without recompiling (for 10.2, anyhow). See: [http://www.rubygarden.org/ruby?RubyOnMacintosh](http://www.rubygarden.org/ruby?RubyOnMacintosh) Look for “OS X Ruby with readline”. Cheers, Sam ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Hwang1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecae2f/32.png) [@Francis\_Hwang1](https://rubytalk.org/u/Francis_Hwang1)\ **Post date:** [26 March 2004 20:59 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/getting-up-arrow-to-work-in-irb-on-osx/10751/4 "2004-03-26T20:59:26Z")
[ptkwt@aracnet.com](mailto:ptkwt@aracnet.com) (Phil Tomson) wrote in message news:[c3vtc00cqf@enews4.newsguy.com](mailto:c3vtc00cqf@enews4.newsguy.com)… > How do you get the up arrow to give prior commands in irb on OSX? > > When I try to use the up arrow I just get garbage characters… > > Phil Ya needs readline. Rich Kilmer wrote a great step-by-step about how to do this: [http://richkilmer.blogs.com/ether/2003/10/building\_ruby\_1.html](http://richkilmer.blogs.com/ether/2003/10/building_ruby_1.html) ---
**Author:** ![Laurent\_Julliard4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Laurent\_Julliard4](https://rubytalk.org/u/Laurent_Julliard4)\ **Post date:** [26 March 2004 08:39 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/getting-up-arrow-to-work-in-irb-on-osx/10751/5 "2004-03-26T08:39:27Z")
sidenote: I’m a windows user (ok, blame me ) and I think that irb has support for up-arrow even without readline (but no completion). It sounds strange that on \*nix this does not work 😕 side side note: someone else notices that he can’t type ‘[’ and ‘]’ on irb with readline ? I’m using the binaries from [http://jarp.jin.gr.jp/win32/](http://jarp.jin.gr.jp/win32/) > **···** > > il Thu, 25 Mar 2004 20:02:22 -0700, “Ara.T.Howard” [ahoward@fattire.ngdc.noaa.gov](mailto:ahoward@fattire.ngdc.noaa.gov) ha scritto:: > > > On 26 Mar 2004, Phil Tomson wrote: > > > > > How do you get the up arrow to give prior commands in irb on OSX? > > > > > > When I try to use the up arrow I just get garbage characters… > > > > you need to compile with readline. probably readline is not installed or was > > not found when you installed. this should be in the config logs if you > > look… ---
**Author:** ![Ptkwt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f14d63/32.png) [@Ptkwt](https://rubytalk.org/u/Ptkwt)\ **Post date:** [26 March 2004 19:24 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/getting-up-arrow-to-work-in-irb-on-osx/10751/6 "2004-03-26T19:24:26Z")
In article [pnq760lia7gr01nur2rin3dgcm4umsdk7h@4ax.com](mailto:pnq760lia7gr01nur2rin3dgcm4umsdk7h@4ax.com), > **···** > > gabriele renzi [surrender\_it@remove.yahoo.it](mailto:surrender_it@remove.yahoo.it) wrote: > > > il Thu, 25 Mar 2004 20:02:22 -0700, “Ara.T.Howard” \>[ahoward@fattire.ngdc.noaa.gov](mailto:ahoward@fattire.ngdc.noaa.gov) ha scritto:: > > > > > On 26 Mar 2004, Phil Tomson wrote: > > > > > > > How do you get the up arrow to give prior commands in irb on OSX? > > > > > > > > When I try to use the up arrow I just get garbage characters… > > > > > > you need to compile with readline. probably readline is not installed or was > > > not found when you installed. this should be in the config logs if you > > > look… > > > > sidenote: I’m a windows user (ok, blame me ) and I think that irb has > > support for up-arrow even without readline (but no completion). It > > sounds strange that on \*nix this does not work 😕 > > Generally it does work. On my Linux box it works fine. > > It might well work with the Ruby 1.6.8 that comes out of the box with > Panther, but I’ve gotten 1.8.1 from DarwinPorts. > > Phil