I am a user of Sage, a computer algebra system relying on GNU readline library. In Sage FAQ, you can find the following article. (Magma is another computer algebra system relying on "readline" via IPython)
1. Why is Sage's command history different than Magma's
QUESTION:
Using Sage, I am missing a feature of Magma command line interface. In
Magma, if I enter a line found in history using up arrow key, and then press
down arrow key, then the next line in history is fetched. This feature
allows me to fetch as many successive lines in history as like. Does
Sage(or readline) have a similar feature?
ANSWER:
No, Sage does not have a similar feature. The IPython command prompt
uses the readline library (via pyreadline), which evidently doesn't
support this feature. Magma has its own custom "readline-like" library,
which does support this feature. (Since so many people have requested
this feature, if anybody can figure out how to implement it, then such
an implementation would certainly be welcome!)
It seems that the only way Sage can have the convenient feature is that GNU readline library have such a feature in its history facility. I wish this happens in the new version of the GNU readline library. Thank you for your attention. Have a nice day.
Best regards,
Kwankyu Lee Department of Mathematics Chosun University