How do I change bash history completion to complete what's already on the line?

Question

I found a command a couple of months ago that made my bash history auto-complete on what\'s already on the line when pressing the up arrow:

$ vim fi
         


        

Answer 1

You may need to enabled bash completion.

Check

• /etc/profile
• /etc/bash.bashrc
• ~/.bashrc

to see if any of the above files source /etc/bash_completion. i.e.

. /etc/bash_completion

If /etc/bash___completion is not sourced by any of the above files you will need to add it to one of them.

If you want all bash users on your machine to have bash completion, source /etc/bash_completion from /etc/bash.bashrc.

If it's just you who wants bash completion, source /etc/bash_completion from your ~/.bashrc.