If you really want to put them in .bashrc instead of .inputrc, you can source readline directives with the 'bind' command, like so: bind '"\e[A": history-s

If you really want to put them in .bashrc instead of .inputrc, you can source readline directives with the 'bind' command, like so: bind '"\e[A": history-search-backward' # up-arrow bind '"\e[B": history-search-forward' # down-arrow