I prefer how ZSH or FiSH does this, fuzzy matching without the need to remember the command/binary but can match the servername or a variable and no need for C-r
I think the Control-R that readline provides just does string matching on the history. I can do Control-R ssh to find the last ssh command, or I can do Control-R blah to find the last time I used that word anywhere in a command line.
I've got a long ssh command that I use to connect to a server and set up some tunnels and I always enter it by doing Control-R and looking for part of the server's name. If it ever falls of the end of my history I'm in trouble.
I prefer how ZSH or FiSH does this, fuzzy matching without the need to remember the command/binary but can match the servername or a variable and no need for C-r