complete

NAME

SYNOPSIS

complete -pr [-DE] [name ...]

DESCRIPTION

Specify how arguments to each name should be completed.  If the -p option is supplied, or if no options are supplied, existing completion specifications are printed in a way that allows them to be reused as input.  The -r option removes a completion specification for each name, or, if no names are supplied, all completion specifications.  The -D option indicates that the remaining options and actions should apply to the ``default'' command completion; that is, completion attempted on a command for which no completion has previously been defined.  The -E option indicates that the remaining options and actions should apply to ``empty'' command completion; that is, completion attempted on a blank line.

The process of applying these completion specifications when word completion is attempted is described above under Programmable Completion.

Other options, if specified, have the following meanings.  The arguments to the -G, -W, and -X options (and, if necessary, the -P and -S options) should be quoted to protect them from expansion before the complete builtin is invoked.

-o comp-option

The comp-option controls several aspects of the compspec's behavior beyond the simple generation of completions.  comp-option may be one of:

bashdefault

Perform the rest of the default bash completions if the compspec generates no matches.

default Use readline's default filename completion if the compspec generates no matches.

dirnames

Perform directory name completion if the compspec generates no matches.

filenames

Tell readline that the compspec generates filenames, so it can perform any filename-specific processing (like adding a slash to directory names, quoting special characters, or suppressing trailing spaces).  Intended to be used with shell functions.

noquote Tell readline not to quote the completed words if they are filenames (quoting filenames is the default).

nosort  Tell readline not to sort the list of possible completions alphabetically.

nospace Tell readline not to append a space (the default) to words completed at the end of the line.

plusdirs

After any matches defined by the compspec are generated, directory name completion is attempted and any matches are added to the results of the other actions.

-A action

The action may be one of the following to generate a list of possible completions:

alias   Alias names.  May also be specified as -a.

arrayvar

Array variable names.

binding Readline key binding names.

builtin Names of shell builtin commands.  May also be specified as -b.

command Command names.  May also be specified as -c.

directory

Directory names.  May also be specified as -d.

disabled

Names of disabled shell builtins.

enabled Names of enabled shell builtins.

export  Names of exported shell variables.  May also be specified as -e.

file    File names.  May also be specified as -f.

function

Names of shell functions.

group   Group names.  May also be specified as -g.

helptopic

Help topics as accepted by the help builtin.

hostname

Hostnames, as taken from the file specified by the HOSTFILE shell variable.

job     Job names, if job control is active.  May also be specified as -j.

keyword Shell reserved words.  May also be specified as -k.

running Names of running jobs, if job control is active.

service Service names.  May also be specified as -s.

setopt  Valid arguments for the -o option to the set builtin.

shopt   Shell option names as accepted by the shopt builtin.

signal  Signal names.

stopped Names of stopped jobs, if job control is active.

user    User names.  May also be specified as -u.

variable

Names of all shell variables.  May also be specified as -v.

-C command

command is executed in a subshell environment, and its output is used as the possible completions.

-F function

The shell function function is executed in the current shell environment.  When the function is executed, the first argument ($1) is the name of the command whose arguments are being completed, the second argument ($2) is the word being completed, and the third argument ($3) is the word preceding the word being completed on the current command line.  When it finishes, the possible completions are retrieved from the value of the COMPREPLY array variable.

-G globpat

The pathname expansion pattern globpat is expanded to generate the possible completions.

-P prefix

prefix is added at the beginning of each possible completion after all other options have been applied.

-S suffix

suffix is appended to each possible completion after all other options have been applied.

-W wordlist

The wordlist is split using the characters in the IFS special variable as delimiters, and each resultant word is expanded.  The possible completions are the members of the resultant list which match the word being completed.

-X filterpat

filterpat is a pattern as used for pathname expansion.  It is applied to the list of possible completions generated by the preceding options and arguments, and each completion matching filterpat is removed from the list.  A leading ! in filterpat negates the pattern; in this case, any completion not matching filterpat is removed.

The return value is true unless an invalid option is supplied, an option other than -p or -r is supplied without a name argument, an attempt is made to remove a completion specification for a name for which no specification exists, or an error occurs adding a completion specification.

SEE ALSO

This is extracted from the main bash man page, see there for more details.