Arrows do not work, all I see is ^[[A ^[[B^ [[C ^[[D

Question

That should be something obvious, but I can't seem to find a way to fix it.

I am using iTerm and logging in to Ubuntu server remotely.

This is what I see when I press arrows:

$ ^[[A^[[B^[[C^[[D

User was added via useradd so the home folder is empty. How can I fix arrows?

Thanks

score 5 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:24

Those arrow keys work if you use an appropriate shell like bash.

The $ is a a clear indicator you are not using one of them (otherwise you would, by default, see more than just a $ as a prompt).

You should have done something like this:

useradd -u {username} -d /home/{username} -s /bin/bash -p {password}

You do not have to recreate the user though; Afterwards you can change the shell (permanently) when logged into the user:

chsh -s /bin/bash

There are more shells. If you feel adventurous change bash to zsh
Also have a read on useradd and adduser: https://askubuntu.com/a/381646/15811 (you should use adduser)

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