<!DOCTYPE html> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head> <meta charset="utf-8" /> <title>rlcompleter — Completion function for GNU readline — Python 3.7.4 documentation</title> <link rel="stylesheet" href="../_static/pydoctheme.css" type="text/css" /> <link rel="stylesheet" href="../_static/pygments.css" type="text/css" /> <script type="text/javascript" id="documentation_options" data-url_root="../" src="../_static/documentation_options.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="../_static/jquery.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="../_static/underscore.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="../_static/doctools.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="../_static/language_data.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="../_static/sidebar.js"></script> <link rel="search" type="application/opensearchdescription+xml" title="Search within Python 3.7.4 documentation" href="../_static/opensearch.xml"/> <link rel="author" title="About these documents" href="../about.html" /> <link rel="index" title="Index" href="../genindex.html" /> <link rel="search" title="Search" href="../search.html" /> <link rel="copyright" title="Copyright" href="../copyright.html" /> <link rel="next" title="Binary Data Services" href="binary.html" /> <link rel="prev" title="readline — GNU readline interface" href="readline.html" /> <link rel="shortcut icon" type="image/png" href="../_static/py.png" /> <link rel="canonical" href="https://docs.python.org/3/library/rlcompleter.html" /> <script type="text/javascript" src="../_static/copybutton.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="../_static/switchers.js"></script> <style> @media only screen { table.full-width-table { width: 100%; } } </style> </head><body> <div class="related" role="navigation" aria-label="related navigation"> <h3>Navigation</h3> <ul> <li class="right" style="margin-right: 10px"> <a href="../genindex.html" title="General Index" accesskey="I">index</a></li> <li class="right" > <a href="../py-modindex.html" title="Python Module Index" >modules</a> |</li> <li class="right" > <a href="binary.html" title="Binary Data Services" accesskey="N">next</a> |</li> <li class="right" > <a href="readline.html" title="readline — GNU readline interface" accesskey="P">previous</a> |</li> <li><img src="../_static/py.png" alt="" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-top: -1px"/></li> <li><a href="https://www.python.org/">Python</a> »</li> <li> <span class="language_switcher_placeholder">en</span> <span class="version_switcher_placeholder">3.7.4</span> <a href="../index.html">Documentation </a> » </li> <li class="nav-item nav-item-1"><a href="index.html" >The Python Standard Library</a> »</li> <li class="nav-item nav-item-2"><a href="text.html" accesskey="U">Text Processing Services</a> »</li> <li class="right"> <div class="inline-search" style="display: none" role="search"> <form class="inline-search" action="../search.html" method="get"> <input placeholder="Quick search" type="text" name="q" /> <input type="submit" value="Go" /> <input type="hidden" name="check_keywords" value="yes" /> <input type="hidden" name="area" value="default" /> </form> </div> <script type="text/javascript">$('.inline-search').show(0);</script> | </li> </ul> </div> <div class="document"> <div class="documentwrapper"> <div class="bodywrapper"> <div class="body" role="main"> <div class="section" id="module-rlcompleter"> <span id="rlcompleter-completion-function-for-gnu-readline"></span><h1><a class="reference internal" href="#module-rlcompleter" title="rlcompleter: Python identifier completion, suitable for the GNU readline library."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">rlcompleter</span></code></a> — Completion function for GNU readline<a class="headerlink" href="#module-rlcompleter" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h1> <p><strong>Source code:</strong> <a class="reference external" href="https://github.com/python/cpython/tree/3.7/Lib/rlcompleter.py">Lib/rlcompleter.py</a></p> <hr class="docutils" /> <p>The <a class="reference internal" href="#module-rlcompleter" title="rlcompleter: Python identifier completion, suitable for the GNU readline library."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">rlcompleter</span></code></a> module defines a completion function suitable for the <a class="reference internal" href="readline.html#module-readline" title="readline: GNU readline support for Python. (Unix)"><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">readline</span></code></a> module by completing valid Python identifiers and keywords.</p> <p>When this module is imported on a Unix platform with the <a class="reference internal" href="readline.html#module-readline" title="readline: GNU readline support for Python. (Unix)"><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">readline</span></code></a> module available, an instance of the <code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Completer</span></code> class is automatically created and its <code class="xref py py-meth docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">complete()</span></code> method is set as the <a class="reference internal" href="readline.html#module-readline" title="readline: GNU readline support for Python. (Unix)"><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">readline</span></code></a> completer.</p> <p>Example:</p> <div class="highlight-python3 notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="kn">import</span> <span class="nn">rlcompleter</span> <span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="kn">import</span> <span class="nn">readline</span> <span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="n">readline</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">parse_and_bind</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s2">"tab: complete"</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="n">readline</span><span class="o">.</span> <span class="o"><</span><span class="n">TAB</span> <span class="n">PRESSED</span><span class="o">></span> <span class="go">readline.__doc__ readline.get_line_buffer( readline.read_init_file(</span> <span class="go">readline.__file__ readline.insert_text( readline.set_completer(</span> <span class="go">readline.__name__ readline.parse_and_bind(</span> <span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="n">readline</span><span class="o">.</span> </pre></div> </div> <p>The <a class="reference internal" href="#module-rlcompleter" title="rlcompleter: Python identifier completion, suitable for the GNU readline library."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">rlcompleter</span></code></a> module is designed for use with Python’s <a class="reference internal" href="../tutorial/interpreter.html#tut-interactive"><span class="std std-ref">interactive mode</span></a>. Unless Python is run with the <a class="reference internal" href="../using/cmdline.html#id3"><code class="xref std std-option docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">-S</span></code></a> option, the module is automatically imported and configured (see <a class="reference internal" href="site.html#rlcompleter-config"><span class="std std-ref">Readline configuration</span></a>).</p> <p>On platforms without <a class="reference internal" href="readline.html#module-readline" title="readline: GNU readline support for Python. (Unix)"><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">readline</span></code></a>, the <code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Completer</span></code> class defined by this module can still be used for custom purposes.</p> <div class="section" id="completer-objects"> <span id="id1"></span><h2>Completer Objects<a class="headerlink" href="#completer-objects" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2> <p>Completer objects have the following method:</p> <dl class="method"> <dt id="rlcompleter.Completer.complete"> <code class="descclassname">Completer.</code><code class="descname">complete</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>text</em>, <em>state</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#rlcompleter.Completer.complete" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>Return the <em>state</em>th completion for <em>text</em>.</p> <p>If called for <em>text</em> that doesn’t include a period character (<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">'.'</span></code>), it will complete from names currently defined in <a class="reference internal" href="__main__.html#module-__main__" title="__main__: The environment where the top-level script is run."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">__main__</span></code></a>, <a class="reference internal" href="builtins.html#module-builtins" title="builtins: The module that provides the built-in namespace."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">builtins</span></code></a> and keywords (as defined by the <a class="reference internal" href="keyword.html#module-keyword" title="keyword: Test whether a string is a keyword in Python."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">keyword</span></code></a> module).</p> <p>If called for a dotted name, it will try to evaluate anything without obvious side-effects (functions will not be evaluated, but it can generate calls to <a class="reference internal" href="../reference/datamodel.html#object.__getattr__" title="object.__getattr__"><code class="xref py py-meth docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">__getattr__()</span></code></a>) up to the last part, and find matches for the rest via the <a class="reference internal" href="functions.html#dir" title="dir"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">dir()</span></code></a> function. Any exception raised during the evaluation of the expression is caught, silenced and <a class="reference internal" href="constants.html#None" title="None"><code class="xref py py-const docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">None</span></code></a> is returned.</p> </dd></dl> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="sphinxsidebar" role="navigation" aria-label="main navigation"> <div class="sphinxsidebarwrapper"> <h3><a href="../contents.html">Table of Contents</a></h3> <ul> <li><a class="reference internal" href="#"><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">rlcompleter</span></code> — Completion function for GNU readline</a><ul> <li><a class="reference internal" href="#completer-objects">Completer Objects</a></li> </ul> </li> </ul> <h4>Previous topic</h4> <p class="topless"><a href="readline.html" title="previous chapter"><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">readline</span></code> — GNU readline interface</a></p> <h4>Next topic</h4> <p class="topless"><a href="binary.html" title="next chapter">Binary Data Services</a></p> <div role="note" aria-label="source link"> <h3>This Page</h3> <ul class="this-page-menu"> <li><a href="../bugs.html">Report a Bug</a></li> <li> <a href="https://github.com/python/cpython/blob/3.7/Doc/library/rlcompleter.rst" rel="nofollow">Show Source </a> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> <div class="clearer"></div> </div> <div class="related" role="navigation" aria-label="related navigation"> <h3>Navigation</h3> <ul> <li class="right" style="margin-right: 10px"> <a href="../genindex.html" title="General Index" >index</a></li> <li class="right" > <a href="../py-modindex.html" title="Python Module Index" >modules</a> |</li> <li class="right" > <a href="binary.html" title="Binary Data Services" >next</a> |</li> <li class="right" > <a href="readline.html" title="readline — GNU readline interface" >previous</a> |</li> <li><img src="../_static/py.png" alt="" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-top: -1px"/></li> <li><a href="https://www.python.org/">Python</a> »</li> <li> <span class="language_switcher_placeholder">en</span> <span class="version_switcher_placeholder">3.7.4</span> <a href="../index.html">Documentation </a> » </li> <li class="nav-item nav-item-1"><a href="index.html" >The Python Standard Library</a> »</li> <li class="nav-item nav-item-2"><a href="text.html" >Text Processing Services</a> »</li> <li class="right"> <div class="inline-search" style="display: none" role="search"> <form class="inline-search" action="../search.html" method="get"> <input placeholder="Quick search" type="text" name="q" /> <input type="submit" value="Go" /> <input type="hidden" name="check_keywords" value="yes" /> <input type="hidden" name="area" value="default" /> </form> </div> <script type="text/javascript">$('.inline-search').show(0);</script> | </li> </ul> </div> <div class="footer"> © <a href="../copyright.html">Copyright</a> 2001-2019, Python Software Foundation. <br /> The Python Software Foundation is a non-profit corporation. <a href="https://www.python.org/psf/donations/">Please donate.</a> <br /> Last updated on Jul 13, 2019. <a href="../bugs.html">Found a bug</a>? <br /> Created using <a href="http://sphinx.pocoo.org/">Sphinx</a> 2.0.1. </div> </body> </html>