Use rlwrap to enable arrow keys, command history, history completion and search

$more mma.sh

#!/usr/bin/env bash

rlwrap --file /opt/local/share/rlwrap/MathKernel /Applications/Mathematica.app/Contents/MacOS/MathKernel


$ ./mma.sh
Mathematica 8.0 for macOS x86 (64-bit)
Copyright 1988-2011 Wolfram Research, Inc.

In[1]:= 1+Sin[2]//N

Out[1]= 1.9093

In[2]:= 

At an input In[XXX], one can

• press up and down arrow keys to insert previously entered commands

• press left and right arrow keys to move cursor

Use XXX to colorise terminal