:mod:`rlcompleter` --- Completion function for GNU readline =========================================================== .. module:: rlcompleter :synopsis: Python identifier completion, suitable for the GNU readline library. .. sectionauthor:: Moshe Zadka **Source code:** :source:`Lib/rlcompleter.py` -------------- The :mod:`!rlcompleter` module defines a completion function suitable to be passed to :func:`~readline.set_completer` in the :mod:`readline` module. When this module is imported on a Unix platform with the :mod:`readline` module available, an instance of the :class:`Completer` class is automatically created and its :meth:`~Completer.complete` method is set as the :ref:`readline completer `. The method provides completion of valid Python :ref:`identifiers and keywords `. 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 :mod:`!rlcompleter` module is designed for use with Python's :ref:`interactive mode `. Unless Python is run with the :option:`-S` option, the module is automatically imported and configured (see :ref:`rlcompleter-config`). On platforms without :mod:`readline`, the :class:`Completer` class defined by this module can still be used for custom purposes. .. _completer-objects: .. class:: Completer Completer objects have the following method: .. method:: Completer.complete(text, state) Return the next possible completion for *text*. When called by the :mod:`readline` module, this method is called successively with ``state == 0, 1, 2, ...`` until the method returns ``None``. If called for *text* that doesn't include a period character (``'.'``), it will complete from names currently defined in :mod:`__main__`, :mod:`builtins` and keywords (as defined by the :mod:`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 :meth:`~object.__getattr__`) up to the last part, and find matches for the rest via the :func:`dir` function. Any exception raised during the evaluation of the expression is caught, silenced and :const:`None` is returned.