If I understand your problem with bash correctly, it can be remedied using `shopt -s cmdhist` and `shopt -s lithist`.

I commonly write long for loops in the shell and hitting the up arrow to bring it back up, should I want to edit it, etc., then it appears with all the newlines just as I typed it.

http://www.delorie.com/gnu/docs/bash/bashref_108.html