Can I get the Ruby on Rails console to remember my command history, umm, better?

Question

I'm using the console in Ruby on Rails 3.1.1, and I'm finding its command history (up arrow) to be really flaky. I've run the commands p = Product.by_name 'Acme' and p.add_search_term('Snipe') several times today, across several console sessions.

Yet, when I reload the Ruby on Rails console, only the first one shows in my command history, not the second. Sometimes they are both there in the history after I reload the console. On top of that, I see commands in my history that are from several days ago after pressing up arrow only a few times. Is there some sort of configuration that I need to change or is this a bug?

Ruby on Rails 3.1.1`
Ruby 1.9.2p290`
Ubuntu 11.10`

Is the problem only with multiple consoles? That would certainly result in unexpected history. — Andrew Marshall, May 06 '12 at 02:24
@AndrewMarshall nope, it's always a dev console that I'm opening in the same window with the same shell script — jcollum, May 09 '12 at 23:59
Is the problem Rails specific, or do you get the same on a plain irb? Related question for no-Rails: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2065923/irb-history-not-working — Ciro Santilli Путлер Капут 六四事, Oct 14 '14 at 16:54
Ciro that was a LONG time ago. I don't have this setup anymore and I don't work in Rails anymore. I can't answer your question. — jcollum, Oct 14 '14 at 19:09
See also https://stackoverflow.com/questions/37847822/irb-history-not-working-with-ruby-2-3-0?noredirect=1&lq=1 which discusses how ruby must be complied with `readline` — Jared Beck, Jan 31 '18 at 17:04

ctcherry · Accepted Answer · 2013-02-18T07:01:09.857

159

From How To – Persist Rails or IRB Console Command History After Exit.

Create, or edit your ~/.irbrc file to include:

require 'irb/ext/save-history'
IRB.conf[:SAVE_HISTORY] = 200
IRB.conf[:HISTORY_FILE] = "#{ENV['HOME']}/.irb-history"

edited Feb 18 '13 at 07:01

answered May 06 '12 at 02:17

ctcherry

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I wish you'd put the solution (all 3 lines of it) in the body of the answer, in case the link ever goes away. – Ovesh Feb 18 '13 at 05:33
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Note that RVM has a built-in irbrc that adds history for us: that's why it was working on my local machine but not on the server even without a `~/.irbrc`. – Ciro Santilli Путлер Капут 六四事 Sep 14 '14 at 10:59
Also, make sure you install Readline. See this post: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/37847822/irb-history-not-working-with-ruby-2-3-0 – Ryan Francis Jul 23 '18 at 19:15

Can I get the Ruby on Rails console to remember my command history, umm, better?

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