Arrow keys in Putty returning ^[[A ^[[D ^[[B instead of moving the cursor

Question

Has anyone else ever had this error in PuTTy?

For example, pressing the Up Key now produces:

>>> ^[[A

Google doesn't let you search for special characters so I'm stumped at finding existing version of this problem.

EDIT:

So this happened after I pasted in some unicode (when, I think, the translation was already set to utf-8).

I've checked the Change Settings dialog box for different settings than my other open PuTTy windows, but the settings appear to be identical.

EDIT2:

This is fixed by restarting PuTTy, but still a nuisance.

EDIT3:

How to replicate the exact same bug:

Open a putty terminal to a linux PC (I'm using RedHat)
Open Python 2.7.* - using the command python2.7 (note: error does not appear in 2.6)
import codecs
Now use the arrow keys, and these bizarre characters appear.

[This answer](http://stackoverflow.com/a/15795658/564764) on a similar thread worked for me. — JRS, Feb 22 '16 at 21:38

score 180 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 10 '14 at 12:16

180

In my experience that's because "bash" is not running. Simply run "/bin/bash" to enjoy colors, history and more.

answered Jun 10 '14 at 12:16

olvlvl

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Yes. from SH (shell) to BASH (born again shell). :) – Mehrad Sep 10 '14 at 03:59
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There may be a reason that one needs to use a different shell, such as ksh. – em_bo May 08 '19 at 19:16
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See https://superuser.com/a/546763/157035 for instructions to set bash as your default shell. – Alien Technology Dec 08 '19 at 17:38

score 11 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 24 '16 at 22:19

11

I've found that specifying "The Function Keys and Keypad" option to match your operating system resolves many issues.

[Putty]

Terminal -> Keyboard --> RadioButton "Linux"

(if you're using Linux) and then you can start your session

answered Dec 24 '16 at 22:19

Mike Cameron

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score 4 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 12 '13 at 16:43

4

You could try changing the 'Application Cursor Keys' mode. It's in the Terminal->Keyboard subsection of the initial configuration window (these settings may potenitally be overridden by your server).

http://the.earth.li/~sgtatham/putty/0.55/htmldoc/Chapter4.html#S4.4.4

answered Feb 12 '13 at 16:43

paul

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as I mentioned **these settings may potentially be overridden by your server** - might anything have changed there? – paul Feb 12 '13 at 16:50
I'm not sure. I think it may be an error in python or the codecs module. See my Edit 3 - does this bug happen for you too? – LittleBobbyTables Feb 12 '13 at 16:58
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Nope, I did have a similar problem though. The settings in putty config fixed it for me. – paul Feb 12 '13 at 17:01
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Windows 10 PuTTY to locally-hosted FreeBSD VM, arrow key was on wrong line and cursor position wonky, changing this ("Initial state of cursor keys" from "normal" to "application") fixed it for me. Thanks Paul. – Kevin_Kinsey Apr 24 '18 at 16:32

score 4 · Answer 4 · answered Jan 15 '16 at 13:58

4

Just run the simple bash command or sudo bash in ssh. It usually works.

answered Jan 15 '16 at 13:58

Ahmad.S

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score 1 · Answer 5 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:02

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For those interested in the issue, had same simptoms in a virtualenvironment, resolved the issue with

pip install readlines

See following answer for details.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:02

Community

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answered Nov 08 '13 at 21:30

latheiere

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Interestingly, this weird problem exists ONLY for Ruby eval prompt on Redhat (RHEL). I executed the command for python 2.6.6 and followed by the error message `Could not find any downloads that satisfy the requirement readlines` and `No distributions at all found for readlines`. – Ivan Chau Jan 03 '14 at 09:39

score 1 · Answer 6 · answered Oct 10 '21 at 21:07

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Terminal >>> Local line editing >>> Force off

Arrow keys in Putty returning ^[[A ^[[D ^[[B instead of moving the cursor

6 Answers6