16.9. rlcompleter — Completion function for GNU readline — Python 2.7.18 documentation (original) (raw)

Source code: Lib/rlcompleter.py

The rlcompleter module defines a completion function suitable for thereadline module by completing valid Python identifiers and keywords.

When this module is imported on a Unix platform with the readline module available, an instance of the Completer class is automatically created and its complete() method is set as the readline completer.

Example:

import rlcompleter import readline readline.parse_and_bind("tab: complete") readline. readline.doc readline.get_line_buffer( readline.read_init_file( readline.file readline.insert_text( readline.set_completer( readline.name readline.parse_and_bind( readline.

The rlcompleter module is designed for use with Python’s interactive mode. A user can add the following lines to his or her initialization file (identified by the PYTHONSTARTUP environment variable) to get automatic Tab completion:

try: import readline except ImportError: print "Module readline not available." else: import rlcompleter readline.parse_and_bind("tab: complete")

On platforms without readline, the Completer class defined by this module can still be used for custom purposes.

16.9.1. Completer Objects¶

Completer objects have the following method:

Completer. complete(text, state)¶

Return the _state_th completion for text.

If called for text that doesn’t include a period character ('.'), it will complete from names currently defined in __main__, __builtin__ and keywords (as defined by the keyword module).

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__getattr__()) up to the last part, and find matches for the rest via thedir() function. Any exception raised during the evaluation of the expression is caught, silenced and None is returned.