Tanguy Ortolo

Did you ever use a tool such as netcat, which has no history and does not allow you to edit the line you are typing?

% nc localhost smtp
220 cocorico.example.com ESMTP Postfix
HELO localhost
250 cocorico.example.com
MAIL FROM: <tanguy@localhost>
250 2.1.0 Ok
RCTP TO: <tanguy@localhost>
502 5.5.2 Error: command not recognized
^[[A Sh*t, line recall does not work!
502 5.5.2 Error: command not recognized

Here comes rlwrap: it is a small and useful tool that wraps any command line-oriented tool using readline to provide you a history allow you to edit each line before you send it:

% rlwrap nc localhost smtp
220 cocorico.example.com ESMTP Postfix
HELO localhost
250 cocorico.example.com
MAIL FROM: <tanguy@localhost>
250 2.1.0 Ok
RCTP TO: <tanguy@localhost>
502 5.5.2 Error: command not recognized
↑ RCTP TO: <tanguy@localhost> ⇱…

rlwrap's effect is hard to describe with a transcript, so here are two screencasts, with and without it. If you often use tools such as netcat, try it!