# Simply a bug?

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/simply-a-bug/71254>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [December 17, 2005, 11:51pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/simply-a-bug/71254 "2005-12-17T23:51:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kane](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/76d3ee/32.png) [@kane](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/kane)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2005, 11:51pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/simply-a-bug/71254/1 "2005-12-17T23:51:44Z")

</div>

Hello,

I’ve a problem under windows xp, someone will told “of course”, but in  
this case i didn’t think it’s only windows.  
Bref, on IRB all characters “[ | {” and also all characters which use  
the ALTGR key under a french keyboard are unusable.

Someone have also this problem ? Someone knows how fix it ?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kane](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/76d3ee/32.png) [@kane](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/kane)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2005, 1:02am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/simply-a-bug/71254/2 "2005-12-18T01:02:11Z")

</div>

Kane wrote:

> Hello,
> 
> I’ve a problem under windows xp, someone will told “of course”, but in  
> this case i didn’t think it’s only windows.  
> Bref, on IRB all characters “[ | {” and also all characters which use  
> the ALTGR key under a french keyboard are unusable.
> 
> Someone have also this problem ? Someone knows how fix it ?

Yeap, it happens with german and spanish keyboard layouts as well and is  
one of the reasons I don’t use irb much.  
I work around it by switching to a US layout, but it is a PITA.  
Just confirming, can’t help much.  
V.-

–  
[http://www.braveworld.net/riva](http://www.braveworld.net/riva)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kane](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/76d3ee/32.png) [@kane](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/kane)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2005, 2:38am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/simply-a-bug/71254/3 "2005-12-18T02:38:25Z")

</div>

Kane ha scritto:

> Hello,
> 
> I’ve a problem under windows xp, someone will told “of course”, but in  
> this case i didn’t think it’s only windows.  
> Bref, on IRB all characters “[ | {” and also all characters which use  
> the ALTGR key under a french keyboard are unusable.
> 
> Someone have also this problem ? Someone knows how fix it ?

look in the archives for problems with irb and readline on win32,  
basically you need to set up a proper .inputrc file or run irb with  
–noreadline.  
Sorry I don’t have some urls at hand.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kane](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/76d3ee/32.png) [@kane](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/kane)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2006, 2:32pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/simply-a-bug/71254/4 "2006-01-03T14:32:49Z")

</div>

Kane wrote:

> gabriele renzi wrote:
> 
> > look in the archives for problems with irb and readline on win32,  
> > basically you need to set up a proper .inputrc file or run irb with  
> > –noreadline.  
> > Sorry I don’t have some urls at hand.
> 
> Really, --noreadline fix the problerm. It’s stange but its walk.
> 
> Thanks !

Hi, here is the solution (at least for french keyboards) :

1. create a file called .inputrc containing :  
“\M-[”: “[”  
“\M-]”: “]”  
“\M-{”: “{”  
“\M-}”: “}”  
“\M-\”: “\”  
“\M-|”: “|”  
“\M-@”: “@”  
“\M-~”: “~”

I personally put this file at c:\Documents and Settings\Lionel.inputrc

1. set an environment variable INPUTRC pointing to the full path of  
.inputrc. In my case :

INPUTRC=%HOMEPATH%.inputrc

You can access to the environment variables under Windows XP in the  
Advanced tab of the System control panel. You can also declare it for  
your console session running by typing  
SET INPUTRC=%HOMEPATH%.inputrc

Then, readline behaves correctly and accepts these important characters.

Cheers

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kane](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/76d3ee/32.png) [@kane](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/kane)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2005, 4:12am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/simply-a-bug/71254/5 "2005-12-18T04:12:35Z")

</div>

gabriele renzi wrote:

> look in the archives for problems with irb and readline on win32,  
> basically you need to set up a proper .inputrc file or run irb with  
> –noreadline.  
> Sorry I don’t have some urls at hand.

Really, --noreadline fix the problerm. It’s stange but its walk.

Thanks !