warning: line editing not enabled

Question

I found this helpful command bind -x '"\C-r"':reset to clear the terminal but I wanted to make a simple bash script:

#!/bin/bash
bind -x '"\C-r"':reset

output:

alfred@alfred-laptop:~/bash$ ./bind 
./bind: line 2: bind: warning: line editing not enabled

Could someone please explain:

How can I fix this?
What does warning: line editing not enabled mean?

I fixed this already using echo -e '\0033\0143' thanks to http://superuser.com/questions/122911/bash-reset-and-clear-commands/123007#123007, but I still would like to know what this error means and how to fix this. Many thanks. — Alfred, Feb 01 '11 at 01:55
@squircle thanks for good improvements. Might you also know answer to my question :P? — Alfred, Feb 01 '11 at 02:10
Just for the record (because this hasn't really been answered): you get "line editing not enabled", because in the bash that is spawned when you invoke your script it simply isn't enabled and you have to do it yourself, .e.g by inserting a set -o emacs or set -o vi into your script (before the bind, of course). — Elmar Zander, Nov 27 '15 at 17:01
could try piping it to dev null. bind -x '"\C-r"':reset 2>/dev/null; — john-jones, Oct 12 '21 at 11:11
@kingsjester that just clears the screen. Reset does that, but in addition, it also resets the terminal to its normal state, in case you or some application messed with its state/capabilities. — ychaouche, Dec 07 '23 at 08:29

score 14 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 01 '11 at 02:11

14

You need to source that script. Do . ./bind or source ./bind to make that key binding active in the current session.

Running it normally, it doesn't have a terminal so it gives you that error message. Also, if it were to work, it would only be active for the duration of the script.

If you want that keybinding to be persistent, add that command to your ~/.bashrc.

answered Feb 01 '11 at 02:11

Dennis Williamson

108,309

I know about the persistence. 2. Your example does work, but adds complexity running command(in my opinion). I guess I now know this, but I would like to have a simple bash file which I can run without this source.

Alfred

Feb 01 '11 at 02:25

2

@alfredwesterveld: If you don't want the binding loaded every time you start a shell, but you want to be able to activate it any time without having to use source or dot (.), add a function to your ~/.bashrc: rbind () { bind -x '"\C-r"':reset; } then you can enter rbind by itself as a command and the binding will be activated. – Dennis Williamson Feb 01 '11 at 02:42

score 10 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 10 '13 at 09:35

10

I had a similar message but mine was from a script being run outside of an interactive (login) shell; it was a shell script being run via a CGI script. My message was:

/home/richard/.bash_profile: line 4: bind: warning: line editing not enabled

and although it wasn't actually on line 4, the only bind in that file was:

bind 'set completion-ignore-case on'

which of course only makes sense if line editing is enabled, i.e. if it's an interactive shell.

answered Dec 10 '13 at 09:35

IpsRich

200

Here's how to avoid the warning. – Janosh May 13 '21 at 14:33
1

@Casimir Thanks; I also found this which seems to be the "official" method of detecting whether a shell is interactive. – IpsRich May 14 '21 at 06:59

score 8 · Answer 3 · answered May 04 '23 at 09:38

Just trying to improve the accepted answer.

You get "line editing not enabled" when running in a non-interactive shell, because bind requires a TTY.

Wrap your bind commands in a check like this:

if [ -t 1 ]
then
    # standard output is a TTY
    bind -x '"\C-r"':reset
fi

lgnom · Answer 4 · 2023-12-12T10:42:24.960

I don't have enough reputation to comment the answer of rustyx. So I add an answer instead but just improving the answer of rustyx.

Using test "-t 1" to check if bind will work is not enough. See Remote SSH Commands - bash bind warning: line editing not enabled for explanation and also some improved checks.

What worked best for me for Bash was using one of the checks described in https://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/bash.html#Is-this-Shell-Interactive_003f :

test if $PS1 is not zero
test if $- contains "i"

E.g.

if [ "$PS1" ] ; then
  # shell is interactive
  bind -x '"\C-r"':reset
fi

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Dec 07 '23 at 09:16

I would test if the shell is interactive instead.
Here's a block of code I found in my distro's bashrc file

# Test for an interactive shell.  There is no need to set anything
# past this point for scp and rcp, and it's important to refrain from
# outputting anything in those cases.
# if [[ $- != *i* ]] ; then
#   # Shell is non-interactive.  Be done now!
#   return
# fi

warning: line editing not enabled

5 Answers5