diff --git a/cmd/tools/vrepl.v b/cmd/tools/vrepl.v
index cfa177a7a1..936acb1803 100644
--- a/cmd/tools/vrepl.v
+++ b/cmd/tools/vrepl.v
@@ -42,7 +42,9 @@ enum FnType {
 
 fn new_repl() Repl {
 	return Repl{
-		readline: readline.Readline{}
+		readline: readline.Readline{
+			skip_empty: true
+		}
 		modules: ['os', 'time', 'math']
 		vstartup_lines: os.read_file(vstartup) or { '' }.trim_right('\n\r').split_into_lines()
 		// Test file used to check if a function as a void return or a
diff --git a/vlib/readline/readline.v b/vlib/readline/readline.v
index 620c6f7464..f3e426753f 100644
--- a/vlib/readline/readline.v
+++ b/vlib/readline/readline.v
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ mut:
 	prompt            string
 	prompt_offset     int
 	previous_lines    [][]rune
+	skip_empty        bool // skip the empty lines when calling .history_previous()
 	search_index      int
 	is_tty            bool
 }
diff --git a/vlib/readline/readline_linux.c.v b/vlib/readline/readline_linux.c.v
index aed8fa6cab..2bd562391a 100644
--- a/vlib/readline/readline_linux.c.v
+++ b/vlib/readline/readline_linux.c.v
@@ -551,9 +551,14 @@ fn (mut r Readline) history_previous() {
 		r.previous_lines[0] = r.current
 	}
 	r.search_index++
-	r.current = r.previous_lines[r.search_index]
-	r.cursor = r.current.len
-	r.refresh_line()
+	prev_line := r.previous_lines[r.search_index]
+	if r.skip_empty && prev_line == [] {
+		r.history_previous()
+	} else {
+		r.current = prev_line
+		r.cursor = r.current.len
+		r.refresh_line()
+	}
 }
 
 // history_next sets current line to the content of the next line in the history buffer.