ruby irb on windows using gitbash shell - can'

Question

when I do rails console my git bash shell permits me to use up arrow to recall commands, and use left/right arrows to modify the text I'm entering

when I run irb the shell ignores backspace and arrow keys

I'm not sure why the arrow keys would work fine in the shell for rails console but not when running irb?

Answer 1

As documented here https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/rubyinstaller/HgswOz1T-eE, use the below command/alias:

alias irb="ruby -S irb"

Answer 2

As I just wrote in the related Backspace and arrow keys aren't working in IRB(Git Bash console) on windows machine:

running irb with --noreadline solved this problem for me:

irb --noreadline

Answer 3

Doing the following command fixed the problem for me on Windows

gem install wirble win32console

Answer 4

What operating system are you running? You may need install the GNU Readline Library and reinstall ruby.