shcompgen - Generate shell completion scripts
This document describes version 0.321 of shcompgen (from Perl distribution App-shcompgen), released on 2018-02-08.
Initialize (this will create completion scripts directory, create shell script to initialize completion system):
% shcompgen init
Generate shell completion scripts for all detectable programs in PATH:
% shcompgen generate
Note that this distribution automatically runs 'init' and 'generate' the first time it is installed, or when you upgrade from an older version. So normally you don't have to do this manually.
Generate some programs only, replace if previously already exists, be verbose:
% shcompgen generate --verbose --replace prog1 prog2 ./bin/prog3
List all shell completion scripts generated by us:
% shcompgen list % shcompgen list --detail
Remove some shell completion scripts:
% shcompgen remove prog1 prog2
Remove all generated shell completion scripts:
% shcompgen remove
Some shells, like bash/fish/zsh/tcsh, supports tab completion for programs. They are usually activated by issuing one or more complete (zsh uses compctl) internal shell commands. The completion scripts which contain these commands are usually put in (e.g., for fish) /etc/fish/completion/PROGNAME.fish (if one wants to install globally) or ~/.config/fish/completions/PROGNAME.fish (if one wants to install per-user).
complete
compctl
/etc/fish/completion/PROGNAME.fish
~/.config/fish/completions/PROGNAME.fish
This utility, shcompgen, can detect how to generate shell completion scripts for some programs and then install the completion scripts into the abovementioned location (the default is to per-user directory, but if running as root or with --global switch will install to the global directory).
--global
It can also list all completion scripts generated by it, and be instructed to uninstall them again.
It supports several shells, currently: bash, fish, zsh, and tcsh. Shell-specific information can be found below.
This script can work with the bash-completion package (and uses the same global completion directory: /etc/bash_completion.d). At the time of this writing, bash-completion (at version 2.1) does not yet look at per-user completion scripts directory. This script picks ~/.config/bash/completions/PROGNAME as location for per-user completion scripts. If later on bash-completion package decides on a different per-user location, this script will probably be adjusted too.
bash-completion
/etc/bash_completion.d
~/.config/bash/completions/PROGNAME
Known issues include proper escaping of completion answer (e.g. when an answer contains a whitespace). To demonstrate this problem, try peri-eg-complete-fruits-any and type:
% peri-eg-complete-fruits-any --fruit <tab>
The answer butternut squash is returned as butternut\\\ squash.
butternut squash
butternut\\\ squash
So far I couldn't get fallback (a.k.a catch-all) completion mechanism to work in tcsh. For example if I do:
complete '*' 'p/*/`helper`/'
then it will eclipse the other existing completion definitions.
So in tcsh, activating (or deactivating) completion is currently less convenient compared to the other shells. Instead of the complete definitions being put on a per-command basis in ~/.config/tcsh/completions/ directory, the init script ~/.config/shcompgen.tcsh will directly contain all the complete definitions. This script must be sourced to update the definitions. So after you
~/.config/tcsh/completions/
~/.config/shcompgen.tcsh
% shcompgen generate foo
you will need to re-source the init script (or logout from + login back to the shell). And after you remove a completion script, you will need to uncomplete + re-source the init script (or logout from + login back to the shell).
uncomplete
The answer butternut squash is only returned as butternut\\ .
butternut\\
Another known issue is still having to compinit after shcompgen generate or shcompgen remove.
compinit
shcompgen generate
shcompgen remove
And yet another known issue is having to compinit in the init script (~/.config/shcompgen.zsh) which is slowing down the shell startup.
~/.config/shcompgen.zsh
Below are the types/kinds of programs that can be detected. Expect the list to expand as more methods are added.
Scripts which are tagged with hints of what completion program to use
You can put this line in a script, e.g. in a script called foo:
foo
# FRAGMENT id=shcompgen-hint command=bar
The above line tells shcompgen that the script should be completed using an external program called bar. This will construct this completion script, e.g. for bash:
shcompgen
bar
complete -C bar foo
Completion programs which are tagged with hints of what programs they complete
You can create a completion script in Perl (or other language, actually), e.g. _foo and tag it with hints of what programs they complete, e.g.
_foo
# FRAGMENT id=shcompgen-hint completer=1 for=foo,foo-this-host
This will add completion script for foo:
complete -C _foo foo
as well as for foo-this-host:
foo-this-host
complete -C _foo foo-this-host
Getopt::Long::Complete-based CLI scripts
If a script foo is detected as a Perl script using Getopt::Long::Complete, we know that it can complete itself. Thus, shcompgen will generate this completion script (e.g. for bash):
complete -C foo foo
Getopt::Long::Subcommand-based CLI scripts
If a script foo is detected as a Perl script using Getopt::Long::Subcommand, we know that it can complete itself. Thus, shcompgen will generate this completion script (e.g. for bash):
Perinci::CmdLine-based CLI scripts
If a script like foo is detected as a Perl script using Perinci::CmdLine (or its variant like Perinci::CmdLine::Lite or Perinci::CmdLine::Any) we know that it can complete itself. Thus, shcompgen will add this completion script e.g. for bash:
Other methods
Other methods will be added in the future, e.g. by parsing manpage or POD, and so on.
(Utility) Guess running shell.
Generate shell completion scripts for detectable programs.
(Utility) detect a program.
Initialize shcompgen.
This subcommand creates the completion directories and initialization shell script, as well as run generate.
generate
List all shell completion scripts generated by this script.
Remove shell completion scripts generated by this script.
* marks required options.
*
Set path to configuration file.
Can be specified multiple times.
Set configuration profile to use.
Shortcut for --log-level=debug.
Shortcut for --shell=fish.
See --shell.
--shell
Choose output format, e.g. json, text.
Default value:
undef
Display help message and exit.
Set output format to json.
Set log level.
When outputing as JSON, strip result envelope.
0
By default, when outputing as JSON, the full enveloped result is returned, e.g.:
[200,"OK",[1,2,3],{"func.extra"=>4}]
The reason is so you can get the status (1st element), status message (2nd element) as well as result metadata/extra result (4th element) instead of just the result (3rd element). However, sometimes you want just the result, e.g. when you want to pipe the result for more post-processing. In this case you can use `--naked-res` so you just get:
[1,2,3]
Do not use any configuration file.
Do not read environment for default options.
Shortcut for --log-level=error.
Override guessing and select shell manually.
Valid values:
["bash","fish","zsh","tcsh"]
List available subcommands.
Shortcut for --shell=tcsh.
Shortcut for --log-level=trace.
Shortcut for --log-level=info.
Display program's version and exit.
Shortcut for --shell=zsh.
Create per-option completion script if possible.
If set to true, then attempt to create completion script that register each option. This creates nicer completion in some shells, e.g. fish and zsh. For example, option description can be shown.
This is possible for only some types of scripts, e.g. <pm:Perinci::CmdLine>- (that does not have subcommands) or <pm:Getopt::Long::Descriptive>-based ones.
Program(s) to generate completion for (JSON-encoded).
See --prog.
--prog
Program(s) to generate completion for.
Can contain path (e.g. `../foo`) or a plain word (`foo`) in which case will be searched from PATH.
Remove completion for script that (now) is not detected to have completion.
The default behavior is to simply ignore existing completion script if the program is not detected to have completion. When the `remove` setting is enabled, however, such existing completion script will be removed.
Replace existing script.
The default behavior is to skip if an existing completion script exists.
Output completion script to STDOUT.
Program(s) to remove completion script of (JSON-encoded).
Program(s) to remove completion script of.
This script has shell tab completion capability with support for several shells.
To activate bash completion for this script, put:
complete -C shcompgen shcompgen
in your bash startup (e.g. ~/.bashrc). Your next shell session will then recognize tab completion for the command. Or, you can also directly execute the line above in your shell to activate immediately.
It is recommended, however, that you install modules using cpanm-shcompgen which can activate shell completion for scripts immediately.
To activate tcsh completion for this script, put:
complete shcompgen 'p/*/`shcompgen`/'
in your tcsh startup (e.g. ~/.tcshrc). Your next shell session will then recognize tab completion for the command. Or, you can also directly execute the line above in your shell to activate immediately.
It is also recommended to install shcompgen (see above).
For fish and zsh, install shcompgen as described above.
This script can read configuration files. Configuration files are in the format of IOD, which is basically INI with some extra features.
By default, these names are searched for configuration filenames (can be changed using --config-path): ~/.config/shcompgen.conf, ~/shcompgen.conf, or /etc/shcompgen.conf.
--config-path
All found files will be read and merged.
To disable searching for configuration files, pass --no-config.
--no-config
To put configuration for a certain subcommand only, use a section name like [subcommand=NAME] or [SOMESECTION subcommand=NAME].
[subcommand=NAME]
[SOMESECTION subcommand=NAME]
You can put multiple profiles in a single file by using section names like [profile=SOMENAME] or [SOMESECTION profile=SOMENAME] or [subcommand=SUBCOMMAND_NAME profile=SOMENAME] or [SOMESECTION subcommand=SUBCOMMAND_NAME profile=SOMENAME]. Those sections will only be read if you specify the matching --config-profile SOMENAME.
[profile=SOMENAME]
[SOMESECTION profile=SOMENAME]
[subcommand=SUBCOMMAND_NAME profile=SOMENAME]
[SOMESECTION subcommand=SUBCOMMAND_NAME profile=SOMENAME]
--config-profile SOMENAME
You can also put configuration for multiple programs inside a single file, and use filter program=NAME in section names, e.g. [program=NAME ...] or [SOMESECTION program=NAME]. The section will then only be used when the reading program matches.
program=NAME
[program=NAME ...]
[SOMESECTION program=NAME]
Finally, you can filter a section by environment variable using the filter env=CONDITION in section names. For example if you only want a section to be read if a certain environment variable is true: [env=SOMEVAR ...] or [SOMESECTION env=SOMEVAR ...]. If you only want a section to be read when the value of an environment variable has value equals something: [env=HOSTNAME=blink ...] or [SOMESECTION env=HOSTNAME=blink ...]. If you only want a section to be read when the value of an environment variable does not equal something: [env=HOSTNAME!=blink ...] or [SOMESECTION env=HOSTNAME!=blink ...]. If you only want a section to be read when an environment variable contains something: [env=HOSTNAME*=server ...] or [SOMESECTION env=HOSTNAME*=server ...]. Note that currently due to simplistic parsing, there must not be any whitespace in the value being compared because it marks the beginning of a new section filter or section name.
env=CONDITION
[env=SOMEVAR ...]
[SOMESECTION env=SOMEVAR ...]
[env=HOSTNAME=blink ...]
[SOMESECTION env=HOSTNAME=blink ...]
[env=HOSTNAME!=blink ...]
[SOMESECTION env=HOSTNAME!=blink ...]
[env=HOSTNAME*=server ...]
[SOMESECTION env=HOSTNAME*=server ...]
List of available configuration parameters:
format (see --format) log_level (see --log-level) naked_res (see --naked-res) shell (see --shell)
prog (see --prog)
per_option (see --per-option) prog (see --prog) remove (see --remove) replace (see --replace) stdout (see --stdout)
per_option (see --per-option)
detail (see --detail) per_option (see --per-option)
per_option (see --per-option) prog (see --prog)
Specify additional command-line options.
~/.config/shcompgen.conf
~/shcompgen.conf
/etc/shcompgen.conf
Please visit the project's homepage at https://metacpan.org/release/App-shcompgen.
Source repository is at https://github.com/perlancar/perl-App-shcompgen.
Please report any bugs or feature requests on the bugtracker website https://rt.cpan.org/Public/Dist/Display.html?Name=App-shcompgen
When submitting a bug or request, please include a test-file or a patch to an existing test-file that illustrates the bug or desired feature.
Dist::Zilla::Plugin::GenShellCompletion
perlancar <perlancar@cpan.org>
This software is copyright (c) 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014 by perlancar@cpan.org.
This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.
To install App::shcompgen, copy and paste the appropriate command in to your terminal.
cpanm
cpanm App::shcompgen
CPAN shell
perl -MCPAN -e shell install App::shcompgen
For more information on module installation, please visit the detailed CPAN module installation guide.