Readline Init File

Although the Readline library comes with a set of Emacs-like keybindings installed by default, it is possible to use a different set of keybindings. Any user can customize programs that use Readline by putting commands in an inputrc file, conventionally in his home directory. The name of this file is taken from the value of the shell variable INPUTRC. If that variable is unset, the default is ~/.inputrc. If that file does not exist or cannot be read, the ultimate default is /etc/inputrc. The bind builtin command can also be used to set Readline keybindings and variables. See Bash Builtins.

When a program which uses the Readline library starts up, the init file is read, and the key bindings are set.

In addition, the C-x C-r command re-reads this init file, thus incorporating any changes that you might have made to it.

Readline Init File Syntax	Syntax for the commands in the inputrc file.
Conditional Init Constructs	Conditional key bindings in the inputrc file.
Sample Init File	An example inputrc file.