Repeated long command in gnome-terminal do not show up in full

Question

Let's say I type a shell command in gnome-terminal/bash that spans multiple lines and run it.

shell> abcdef ghijk lmn
opq rstuv wxyz

Then when I want to run the same command again, I hit the up-arrow. Instead of seeing the same command again (which always used to be the case), gnome-terminal now only shows me parts of the last line with a < at the beginning of the line:

<stuv wxyz

That is, no prompt, just that line.

If I hit CTRL-A at that point, I will get the first line of the original command with a > at the end.

shell> abcdef ghijk l>

Here, the prompt is back.

How can I configure my setup so that hitting the up-arrow after a long command will simply display the complete long command again, spanning multiple lines and including the prompt?

Answer 1

Make sure that your TERM variable is set correctly, i.e. reflecting the type of terminal you are on. Typically, you would export the TERM variable in your ~/.bashrc file, as outlined by Justin Andrusk's answer:

export TERM=xterm

In the case of the question, I had played with a complex command to extract search terms from a file, and I used a variable named TERM for the search terms, without realizing the significance of that variable name.

Answer 2

Modify your XTERM variable to 'xterm' in ~/.bashrc with:

export TERM=xterm

:)