Remiss for not mentioning "rlwrap": https://github.com/hanslub42/rlwrap https://github.com/hanslub42/rlwrap ...basically "readline in a can" that you can use t

Remiss for not mentioning "rlwrap": https://github.com/hanslub42/rlwrap https://github.com/hanslub42/rlwrap ...basically "readline in a can" that you can use to improve text input of other programs. I forget if it was RMS or ESR that really wanted to hold "readline" away from corporations, so it's licensed as GPLv3 (not v2), and he explicitly wanted it to _not_ be LGPL (ie: embeddable). My crazy readline/bash tip is `ESC, .` (or maybe `alt+.`, I'm not 100% sure, random search result here: https://gist.github.com/tuxfight3r/60051ac67c5f0445efee https://gist.github.com/tuxfight3r/60051ac67c5f0445efee ). Basically it up-arrows through the last "word" of previous commands, adding it to the current command. Example: mkdir foo cd `esc, .` => cd foo vim bar.txt cp `esc, .` baz.txt => cp bar.txt baz.txt It's crucial in that it reduces the number of keystrokes, and avoids typing errors completely, as you're "recalling" something rather than re-typing. I'm also in the same boat as the author in that `set -o vi` doesn't quite do it for me (although I consider myself an expert in vi). What I tend to do instead is: C-a # <cr> => go to the beginning of the line and insert a comment char fc => "fix command", see "help fc" (it's a built-in) ...basically it invokes: `$EDITOR "$( history | tail -1 )"` and whatever you save/quit will get executed as a command. This lets me intentionally "damage" a command, but then get into `vim` to "fix it up" (eg: `dw, cw, df/, etc...`). Remove the comment from the beginning of the line to execute it, or keep it there to take the command back "out" of `vim` so you can keep building it up.