Bizarre terminal behavior

[Patton Echols]

On 12/08/2011 12:39 AM, Mark Widdicombe wrote:
>
> On 8 December 2011 11:38, Patton Echols <p.echols at comcast.net 
> <mailto:p.echols at comcast.net>> wrote:
>
>     On 12/07/2011 11:37 PM, Mark Widdicombe wrote:
>
>
>         On 8 December 2011 10:37, Patton Echols <p.echols at comcast.net
>         <mailto:p.echols at comcast.net> <mailto:p.echols at comcast.net
>         <mailto:p.echols at comcast.net>>> wrote:
>
>            Greetings all,
>
>            Tonight I opened a terminal session and used [ctrl]+r to
>         search a
>            prior command. When I keyed the first letter, the terminal
>         window
>            was filled with the characters below. I had to [ctrl]+c to
>         return
>            to normal usage. Any thoughts?
>
>            Oh, 10.4, on an asus netbook
>
>            Here is the characters copied and pasted from the terminal
>         window:
>
>            patton at mycroft:~$
>            (reverse-i-search)`a': �^P�<��(�̤�{9]��xmh�^Ni���Q^Q@}�
>            xxmh�^Ni���Q^Q@}� � xxmh�^Ni���Q^Q@}� xxmh�^Ni���Q^Q@}�
>            xxmh�^Ni���Q^Q@}� � xxmh�^Ni���Q^Q@}� xxmh�^Ni���Q^Q@}�
>            xxmh�^Ni���Q^Q@}� � xxmh�^Ni���Q^Q@}� xxmh�^Ni���Q^Q@}�
>            xxmh�^Ni���Q^Q@}� � xxmh�^Ni���Q^Q@}� xxmh�^Ni���Q^Q@}�
>            xxmh�^Ni���Q^Q@}� �
>         <snip>
>         Was the last command to edit (with vi, say) a binary file?
>
>
>     I don't think so, but I don't remember.  This laptop had been
>     hibernating, crashed when woke up and I had just opened the
>     terminal with ctrl+alt+t.
>
>     Since posting, I opened alsamixer in that terminal window and the
>     line drawing characters were replaced with letters, but it functioned.
>
>     I've closed that terminal and opened a new one but have been
>     unable to replicate the problem.
>
>     I wonder whether it is something unlikely to repeat?  Like a mess
>     left by that crash that, once cleaned up, will not be back?
>
> You could have a look at your .bash_history file to see whether you 
> have issued a command that could be causing the problem.  If you find 
> one, then delete it. You should be able to use your history without 
> repeating the problematic command.

Hmmm, It turns out that my .bash_history is filled with the garbage 
characters except for the 1/2 dozen commands I have used since this 
started.  I cleared it by doing $ mv .bash_history .bash_history-junk.  
Hopefully that's the end of it.

Thanks for the suggestion.