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The GNU Readline library provides a set of functions for use by applications that allow users to edit command lines as they are typed in. Both Emacs and vi editing modes are available. The Readline library includes additional functions to maintain a list of previously-entered command lines, to recall and perhaps reedit those lines, and perform csh-like history expansion on previous commands.
The history facilites are also placed into a separate library, the History library, as part of the build process. The History library may be used without Readline in applications which desire its capabilities.
Readline is free software, distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License, version 2. This means that if you want to use Readline in a program that you release or distribute to anyone, the program must be free software and have a GPL-compatible license. If you would like advice on making your license GPL-compatible, contact licensing@gnu.org.
The current version of readline is readline-5.2. (GPG signature).
See the README file for more information.
See the CHANGES file for a list of changes and new features.
The current version of readline may be retrieved from ftp.cwru.edu. This distribution file includes formatted copies of the readline documentation.
These files are signed with my GPG key.
Readline is always available from the master GNU ftp site and its many mirrors.
Any patches for the current version are available here.
Previous Readline versions are available at ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/readline.
Readline is shipped as a standard library on most GNU/Linux and FreeBSD systems. It's also part of the NetBSD packages collection.
The OpenPKG project makes source and binary RPMs of readline-5.1 available for a variety of Unix and Linux systems as part of their latest current and stable releases.
Solaris users can get precompiled versions of readline-5.1 from the Sunfreeware site. Sun ships readline-4.2 as a supported part of the Solaris 9 and the Solaris 10 companion CDs. AIX users can get sources and precompiled versions of readline-5.0 and readline-5.1 for various versions of AIX from UCLA. IBM makes readline-4.3 available for AIX 5L as part of the AIX toolbox for [GNU/]Linux applications. They use RPM format; you can get RPM for AIX from there, too. SGI users can get an installable version of readline-4.3 from the SGI Freeware page. HP-UX users can get readline-5.1 packages and source code from the Software Porting and Archive Center for HP-UX. MacOS X users may obtain MacOS X packages for readline-4.2a (10.1 only) and readline-4.3 from Fink, and readline-5.1 from DarwinPorts.
The documentation for the Readline and History libraries appears in the `doc' subdirectory. There are three texinfo files and two Unix-style manual pages describing the facilities available in the Readline and History libraries. The texinfo files include both user and programmer's manuals. The current manuals are:
Bug reports for Readline should be sent to bug-readline@gnu.org, When reporting a bug, please include the following information:
If you would like to contact the Readline maintainer directly, send mail to the bug-readline@gnu.org mailing list. You may subscribe to the mailing list at lists.gnu.org.
Since Readline is developed along with bash, the bug-bash@gnu.org mailing list (mirrored to the Usenet newsgroup gnu.bash.bug) often contains Readline bug reports and fixes.
Archives of bug-bash dating from December, 1999 are available from mail.gnu.org. Google Groups has an archive of gnu.bash.bug.
Some files from the current distribution may be helpful.
I am the current Readline maintainer. Please send additions and corrections to this page to chet.ramey@case.edu.