All of these commands are bound to the same readline function. That
function behaves differently depending on the editing mode.
The default (emacs) mode behavior is to set point at the end of the line.
POSIX.2 defines the behavior of vi mode. The `k' command in vi `command
mode' (what you enter by hitting ESC) is defined to put point at the
beginning of the line. The up-arrow is equivalent to `k' when in vi
command mode.
Since POSIX.2 doesn't define the behavior of the arrow keys when in insert
mode, readline makes them behave as they do in emacs mode.
This behavior is more or less hardcoded into readline and not changeable
by any variable or keybinding.
Chet
--
``The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne.'' - Chaucer
( ``Discere est Dolere'' -- chet )
Live...Laugh...Love
Chet Ramey, ITS, CWRU ch...@case.edu http://tiswww.tis.cwru.edu/~chet/