diff --git a/Doc/library/readline.rst b/Doc/library/readline.rst
index cb1ae6dc108..c66731715f4 100644
--- a/Doc/library/readline.rst
+++ b/Doc/library/readline.rst
@@ -195,6 +195,7 @@ normally be executed automatically during interactive sessions from the user's
 :envvar:`PYTHONSTARTUP` file. ::
 
    import os
+   import readline
    histfile = os.path.join(os.environ["HOME"], ".pyhist")
    try:
        readline.read_history_file(histfile)