# rlwrap

7 Hacker News commenters recommended rlwrap and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 4 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** A free wrapper that adds readline line editing and history to any command line program that lacks it, such as SQL clients.

## Why people recommend it

- Adds readline editing to any program (3 comments): "Wait till people learn they can use rlwrap to get the benefit of readline even in things like commandline sql clients" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46575918)) "imbues whatever program with readline editing and history niceness. Really helpful." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46602304)) "you can run it with rlwrap to remedy that" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49293631))
- Useful with SQL and database clients (2 comments): "Wait till people learn they can use rlwrap to get the benefit of readline even in things like commandline sql clients" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46575918)) "This has helped me a lot some years ago when I was working with Oracle Databases" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48643760))
- Essential daily tool for many (2 comments): "Rlwrap has made my life easier so many times, it's in my top 3 most useful CLI tools." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47832515)) "rlwrap has been an essential tool for me" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47833667))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [fzf](https://hackerapproved.com/p/fzf.md): 78 recommend
- [jq](https://hackerapproved.com/p/jq.md): 75 recommend
- [grep](https://hackerapproved.com/p/grep.md): 65 recommend
- [Atuin](https://hackerapproved.com/p/atuin.md): 63 recommend
- [GitHub CLI](https://hackerapproved.com/p/github-cli.md): 49 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "rlwrap", https://hackerapproved.com/p/rlwrap/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).