How to get german umlauts in bash?

How to get german umlauts in bash?


Author: Jochem Huhmann
Email: joh@revier.com
Web Page: http://www.revier.com/redhat/

System Architecture: Intel
RedHat Release: RHL 5.1 (Manhattan)
FAQ Category: General/Other
Modification Date: Oct 4, 1998

Question:

As delivered by Red Hat, the configuration of the readline-library (used by
bash and several other GNU programs) does not handle 8 bit codes. Effect: no
characters other than 7 Bit ASCII characters can be entered.

Answer:

Put the following 3 lines in a file ".inputrc" in your home directory:

set metaflag on
set convert-meta off
set output-meta on

Note for sysadmins: You may put this file into /etc/skel to make sure it is
copied to the home directory of new added users.

References:

man readline

The Linux keyboard and console HOWTO:
http://www.ssc.com/linux/LDP/HOWTO/Keyboard-and-Console-HOWTO.html

German HOWTO:
http://www.ssc.com/linux/LDP/HOWTO/German-HOWTO.html