diff --git a/lib/reline.rb b/lib/reline.rb
index 96b78587b5..42dbd3e8e9 100644
--- a/lib/reline.rb
+++ b/lib/reline.rb
@@ -31,7 +31,6 @@ module Reline
   end
 
   @@config = Reline::Config.new
-  @@config.read
   @@line_editor = Reline::LineEditor.new(@@config)
   @@ambiguous_width = nil
 
@@ -134,6 +133,7 @@ module Reline
 
   def inner_readline(prompt, add_hist, multiline, &confirm_multiline_termination)
     otio = prep
+    @@config.read
 
     may_req_ambiguous_char_width
     if multiline
diff --git a/lib/reline/config.rb b/lib/reline/config.rb
index 0800dfd30f..6e4ccd544c 100644
--- a/lib/reline/config.rb
+++ b/lib/reline/config.rb
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ class Reline::Config
   end
 
   def read(file = DEFAULT_PATH)
+    file = ENV['INPUTRC'] if ENV['INPUTRC']
     begin
       if file.respond_to?(:readlines)
         lines = file.readlines