diff --git a/etc/default.nix b/etc/default.nix
index da111cafff2..a89b78bf289 100644
--- a/etc/default.nix
+++ b/etc/default.nix
@@ -91,6 +91,11 @@ import ../helpers/make-etc.nix {
       target = "profile";
     }
 
+    { # Configuration for readline in bash.
+      source = ./inputrc;
+      target = "inputrc";
+    }
+
   ]
 
   # Configuration file for fontconfig used to locate
diff --git a/etc/inputrc b/etc/inputrc
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..e2e9e8ffa4b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/etc/inputrc
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+# inputrc borrowed from CentOS (RHEL).
+
+set bell-style none
+
+set meta-flag on
+set input-meta on
+set convert-meta off
+set output-meta on
+
+set mark-symlinked-directories on
+
+$if mode=emacs
+
+# for linux console and RH/Debian xterm
+"\e[1~": beginning-of-line
+"\e[4~": end-of-line
+"\e[5~": beginning-of-history
+"\e[6~": end-of-history
+"\e[3~": delete-char
+"\e[2~": quoted-insert
+"\e[5C": forward-word
+"\e[5D": backward-word
+"\e[1;5C": forward-word
+"\e[1;5D": backward-word
+
+# for rxvt
+"\e[8~": end-of-line
+
+# for non RH/Debian xterm, can't hurt for RH/DEbian xterm
+"\eOH": beginning-of-line
+"\eOF": end-of-line
+
+# for freebsd console
+"\e[H": beginning-of-line
+"\e[F": end-of-line
+$endif