bash reverse search (ctrl+r), starting at line start
<p>How can I tell a BASH reverse search (ctrl+r) that the string I give it should be the start of the command line?</p>

<p>E.g. in my system I have 2 common programs: "activate module" and "deactivate module", but when searching for "activate" I don't want to get any results about "deactivate".
When I start the search string with an "^" the reverse search seems to stop working, I can no longer input anything and have to abort it via Ctrl+C.</p>

<p>(The solution of <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1030182/how-do-i-change-bash-history-completion-to-complete-whats-already-on-the-line">How do I change bash history completion to complete what&#39;s already on the line?</a> is not working, since a search via that for "acti" gives as first result "deactivate", and so a result I do not want to get.</p>

<p>The solution of <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/665274/bash-select-a-previous-command-that-matches-a-pattern">Bash: select a previous command that matches a pattern</a> is not addressing my question of only including hits that include the beginning of the line...</p>