Put this file in your home folder to get history search via up/down keys

.inputrc

# from http://www.pixelbeat.org/settings/.inputrc


# By default up/down are bound to previous-history
# and next-history respectively. The following does the
# same but gives the extra functionality where if you
# type any text (or more accurately, if there is any text
# between the start of the line and the cursor),
# the subset of the history starting with that text
# is searched (like 4dos for e.g.).
# Note to get rid of a line just Ctrl-C
#
"\e[B": history-search-forward
"\e[A": history-search-backward

$if Bash
  # F10 toggles mc on and off
  # Note Ctrl-o toggles panes on and off in mc
  "\e[21~": "mc\C-M"

  #do history expansion when space entered
  Space: magic-space
$endif

# Include system wide settings which are ignored
# by default if one has their own .inputrc
$include /etc/inputrc