How to configure command history within SQL*Plus

Refer to the following blog for a full description.

http://sysdba.wordpress.com/2006/10/08/how-to-use-rlwrap-to-get-a-command-history-in-sqlplus/

For a short summary, the rlwrap (readline wrapper) utility can be used to wrap the sqlplus command to allow for command history.

1. Download the rlwrap utility from here.

http://utopia.knoware.nl/~hlub/uck/rlwrap/

2. After downloading and unpacking the tar.gz run the following as root.

./configure
make
make check
make install

3. The rlwrap utility can now be used to call sqlplus.

$ rlwrap sqlplus user/password

4. Create an alias.

alias sqlp ='rlwrap sqlplus'