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NAME

       zshcompctl - zsh programmable completion

DESCRIPTION

       This  version  of  zsh has two ways of performing completion of words on the command line.
       New users of the shell may prefer to use the newer and more powerful system based on shell
       functions;  this  is  described  in  zshcompsys(1),  and  the basic shell mechanisms which
       support it are described in zshcompwid(1).  This manual entry describes the older  compctl
       command.

       compctl [ -CDT ] options [ command ... ]
       compctl [ -CDT ] options [ -x pattern options - ... -- ]
               [ + options [ -x ... -- ] ... [+] ] [ command ... ]
       compctl -M match-specs ...
       compctl -L [ -CDTM ] [ command ... ]
       compctl + command ...

       Control  the  editor's  completion  behavior  according  to  the  supplied set of options.
       Various editing commands, notably expand-or-complete-word,  usually  bound  to  tab,  will
       attempt  to  complete a word typed by the user, while others, notably delete-char-or-list,
       usually bound to ^D in EMACS editing mode, list the possibilities; compctl  controls  what
       those  possibilities  are.   They  may for example be filenames (the most common case, and
       hence the default), shell variables, or words from a user-specified list.

COMMAND FLAGS

       Completion of the arguments of a command may be different for each command or may use  the
       default.   The  behavior  when  completing  the command word itself may also be separately
       specified.  These correspond to the following flags and arguments, all  of  which  (except
       for  -L) may be combined with any combination of the options described subsequently in the
       section `Option Flags':

       command ...
              controls completion for the named commands,  which  must  be  listed  last  on  the
              command  line.  If completion is attempted for a command with a pathname containing
              slashes and no completion definition is found, the search is retried with the  last
              pathname  component.  If  the command starts with a =, completion is tried with the
              pathname of the command.

              Any of the command strings may be patterns of the form normally used  for  filename
              generation.   These  should be quoted to protect them from immediate expansion; for
              example the command string 'foo*' arranges for  completion  of  the  words  of  any
              command  beginning with foo.  When completion is attempted, all pattern completions
              are tried in the reverse order of their definition until one matches.  By  default,
              completion  then  proceeds  as  normal,  i.e.  the  shell will try to generate more
              matches for the specific command on the command line; this  can  be  overridden  by
              including -tn in the flags for the pattern completion.

              Note  that  aliases  are  expanded before the command name is determined unless the
              COMPLETE_ALIASES option is set.  Commands may not be combined with the -C, -D or -T
              flags.

       -C     controls completion when the command word itself is being completed.  If no compctl
              -C command has been issued,  the names of any executable command  (whether  in  the
              path or specific to the shell, such as aliases or functions) are completed.

       -D     controls default completion behavior for the arguments of commands not assigned any
              special behavior.  If  no  compctl  -D  command  has  been  issued,  filenames  are
              completed.

       -T     supplies  completion  flags  to  be  used before any other processing is done, even
              before processing for compctls defined for specific commands.  This  is  especially
              useful  when  combined  with  extended  completion  (the  -x  flag, see the section
              `Extended Completion' below).  Using this flag  you  can  define  default  behavior
              which  will  apply to all commands without exception, or you can alter the standard
              behavior for all commands.  For example, if your access to the user database is too
              slow and/or it contains too many users (so that completion after `~' is too slow to
              be usable), you can use

                     compctl -T -x 's[~] C[0,[^/]#]' -k friends -S/ -tn

              to complete the strings in the array friends after a `~'.  The C[...]  argument  is
              necessary  so  that this form of ~-completion is not tried after the directory name
              is finished.

       -L     lists the existing completion behavior in a manner  suitable  for  putting  into  a
              start-up  script;  the  existing  behavior  is not changed.  Any combination of the
              above forms, or the -M flag (which must follow the  -L  flag),  may  be  specified,
              otherwise  all  defined  completions  are  listed.   Any  other  flags supplied are
              ignored.

       no argument
              If no argument is given, compctl lists all defined completions  in  an  abbreviated
              form;   with  a list of options, all completions with those flags set (not counting
              extended completion) are listed.

       If the + flag is alone and followed  immediately  by  the  command  list,  the  completion
       behavior  for  all  the  commands  in  the  list is reset to the default.  In other words,
       completion will subsequently use the options specified by the -D flag.

       The form with -M as the first and only option defines global matching specifications  (see
       zshcompwid).  The  match  specifications  given  will be used for every completion attempt
       (only when using compctl, not with the new completion system) and are tried in  the  order
       in which they are defined until one generates at least one match. E.g.:

              compctl -M '' 'm:{a-zA-Z}={A-Za-z}'

       This  will first try completion without any global match specifications (the empty string)
       and, if that generates no matches, will try case insensitive completion.

OPTION FLAGS

       [ -fcFBdeaRGovNAIOPZEnbjrzu/12 ]
       [ -k array ] [ -g globstring ] [ -s subststring ]
       [ -K function ]
       [ -Q ] [ -P prefix ] [ -S suffix ]
       [ -W file-prefix ] [ -H num pattern ]
       [ -q ] [ -X explanation ] [ -Y explanation ]
       [ -y func-or-var ] [ -l cmd ] [ -h cmd ] [ -U ]
       [ -t continue ] [ -J name ] [ -V name ]
       [ -M match-spec ]

       The remaining options specify the type of command arguments to look for during completion.
       Any  combination  of  these flags may be specified; the result is a sorted list of all the
       possibilities.  The options are as follows.

   Simple Flags
       These produce completion lists made up by the shell itself:

       -f     Filenames and file system paths.

       -/     Just file system paths.

       -c     Command names, including aliases, shell functions, builtins and reserved words.

       -F     Function names.

       -B     Names of builtin commands.

       -m     Names of external commands.

       -w     Reserved words.

       -a     Alias names.

       -R     Names of regular (non-global) aliases.

       -G     Names of global aliases.

       -d     This can be combined with -F, -B, -w, -a, -R  and  -G  to  get  names  of  disabled
              functions, builtins, reserved words or aliases.

       -e     This option (to show enabled commands) is in effect by default, but may be combined
              with -d; -de in combination with -F, -B, -w, -a, -R and -G will complete  names  of
              functions, builtins, reserved words or aliases whether or not they are disabled.

       -o     Names of shell options (see zshoptions(1)).

       -v     Names of any variable defined in the shell.

       -N     Names of scalar (non-array) parameters.

       -A     Array names.

       -I     Names of integer variables.

       -O     Names of read-only variables.

       -p     Names of parameters used by the shell (including special parameters).

       -Z     Names of shell special parameters.

       -E     Names of environment variables.

       -n     Named directories.

       -b     Key binding names.

       -j     Job  names:   the first word of the job leader's command line.  This is useful with
              the kill builtin.

       -r     Names of running jobs.

       -z     Names of suspended jobs.

       -u     User names.

   Flags with Arguments
       These have user supplied arguments to determine how the list of completions is to be  made
       up:

       -k array
              Names  taken  from the elements of $array (note that the `$' does not appear on the
              command line).  Alternatively, the argument array itself may be a set of space-  or
              comma-separated values in parentheses, in which any delimiter may be escaped with a
              backslash; in this case the argument should be quoted.  For example,

                     compctl -k "(cputime filesize datasize stacksize
                                 coredumpsize resident descriptors)" limit

       -g globstring
              The globstring is expanded using filename globbing; it should be quoted to  protect
              it  from  immediate  expansion.  The  resulting filenames are taken as the possible
              completions.  Use `*(/)' instead of `*/'  for  directories.   The  fignore  special
              parameter  is  not  applied  to  the resulting files.  More than one pattern may be
              given separated by blanks. (Note that brace expansion is not part of globbing.  Use
              the syntax `(either|or)' to match alternatives.)

       -s subststring
              The  subststring  is  split  into words and these words are than expanded using all
              shell expansion mechanisms (see zshexpn(1)).  The  resulting  words  are  taken  as
              possible  completions.   The  fignore  special  parameter  is  not  applied  to the
              resulting files.  Note that -g is faster for filenames.

       -K function
              Call the given function to get the completions.  Unless the  name  starts  with  an
              underscore,  the function is passed two arguments: the prefix and the suffix of the
              word on which completion is to be attempted, in other words those characters before
              the cursor position, and those from the cursor position onwards.  The whole command
              line can be accessed with the -c and -l flags of the  read  builtin.  The  function
              should  set  the  variable  reply  to  an  array  containing  the  completions (one
              completion per element); note that reply should not be made local to the  function.
              From  such  a function the command line can be accessed with the -c and -l flags to
              the read builtin.  For example,

                     function whoson { reply=(`users`); }
                     compctl -K whoson talk

              completes only logged-on users after `talk'.  Note that  `whoson'  must  return  an
              array, so `reply=`users`' would be incorrect.

       -H num pattern
              The  possible  completions  are  taken from the last num history lines.  Only words
              matching pattern are taken.  If num is  zero  or  negative  the  whole  history  is
              searched  and  if pattern is the empty string all words are taken (as with `*').  A
              typical use is

                     compctl -D -f + -H 0 ''

              which forces completion to look back in the history list for a word if no  filename
              matches.

   Control Flags
       These  do  not  directly specify types of name to be completed, but manipulate the options
       that do:

       -Q     This  instructs  the  shell  not  to  quote  any  metacharacters  in  the  possible
              completions.   Normally  the  results of a completion are inserted into the command
              line with any  metacharacters  quoted  so  that  they  are  interpreted  as  normal
              characters.   This is appropriate for filenames and ordinary strings.  However, for
              special effects, such as inserting a backquoted expression from a completion  array
              (-k)  so  that  the  expression  will  not  be evaluated until the complete line is
              executed, this option must be used.

       -P prefix
              The prefix is inserted just before the completed string; any initial  part  already
              typed  will be completed and the whole prefix ignored for completion purposes.  For
              example,

                     compctl -j -P "%" kill

              inserts a `%' after the kill command and then completes job names.

       -S suffix
              When a completion is found the suffix is inserted after the completed  string.   In
              the  case  of  menu  completion the suffix is inserted immediately, but it is still
              possible to cycle through the list of completions by repeatedly  hitting  the  same
              key.

       -W file-prefix
              With  directory  file-prefix:  for command, file, directory and globbing completion
              (options -c, -f, -/, -g), the file prefix is  implicitly  added  in  front  of  the
              completion.  For example,

                     compctl -/ -W ~/Mail maildirs

              completes  any  subdirectories  to any depth beneath the directory ~/Mail, although
              that prefix does not appear on the command line.  The file-prefix may  also  be  of
              the  form  accepted  by the -k flag, i.e. the name of an array or a literal list in
              parenthesis. In this case all the directories in the  list  will  be  searched  for
              possible completions.

       -q     If  used  with a suffix as specified by the -S option, this causes the suffix to be
              removed if the next character typed is a blank or does not insert  anything  or  if
              the  suffix consists of only one character and the next character typed is the same
              character; this the same rule used for the AUTO_REMOVE_SLASH option.  The option is
              most useful for list separators (comma, colon, etc.).

       -l cmd This  option  restricts  the  range of command line words that are considered to be
              arguments.  If combined with one of  the  extended  completion  patterns  `p[...]',
              `r[...]',  or  `R[...]'  (see the section `Extended Completion' below) the range is
              restricted to the range of arguments specified in the brackets.  Completion is then
              performed  as  if  these  had  been given as arguments to the cmd supplied with the
              option. If the cmd string is empty the first word in the range is instead taken  as
              the  command  name,  and command name completion performed on the first word in the
              range.  For example,

                     compctl -x 'r[-exec,;]' -l '' -- find

              completes arguments between `-exec' and the  following  `;'  (or  the  end  of  the
              command line if there is no such string) as if they were a separate command line.

       -h cmd Normally  zsh completes quoted strings as a whole. With this option, completion can
              be done separately on different parts of such strings. It works like the -l  option
              but  makes  the  completion  code  work  on  the parts of the current word that are
              separated by spaces. These parts are completed as if they  were  arguments  to  the
              given  cmd.  If  cmd  is the empty string, the first part is completed as a command
              name, as with -l.

       -U     Use the whole list of possible completions, whether or not they actually match  the
              word  on  the  command  line.  The word typed so far will be deleted.  This is most
              useful with a function (given  by  the  -K  option)  which  can  examine  the  word
              components passed to it (or via the read builtin's -c and -l flags) and use its own
              criteria to decide what matches.  If there is no completion, the original  word  is
              retained.   Since  the produced possible completions seldom have interesting common
              prefixes and suffixes, menu completion is started immediately if AUTO_MENU  is  set
              and this flag is used.

       -y func-or-var
              The  list  provided  by func-or-var is displayed instead of the list of completions
              whenever a listing is required; the actual  completions  to  be  inserted  are  not
              affected.   It can be provided in two ways. Firstly, if func-or-var begins with a $
              it defines a variable, or if it begins with a left  parenthesis  a  literal  array,
              which  contains  the  list.   A  variable may have been set by a call to a function
              using the -K option.  Otherwise it contains the name of a function  which  will  be
              executed  to  create the list.  The function will be passed as an argument list all
              matching completions, including prefixes and suffixes expanded in full, and  should
              set  the  array  reply to the result.  In both cases, the display list will only be
              retrieved after a complete list of matches has been created.

              Note that the returned list does not have to correspond, even  in  length,  to  the
              original  set  of  matches,  and may be passed as a scalar instead of an array.  No
              special formatting of characters is performed  on  the  output  in  this  case;  in
              particular,  newlines are printed literally and if they appear output in columns is
              suppressed.

       -X explanation
              Print explanation when trying completion on the current set of options. A  `%n'  in
              this  string  is  replaced  by  the  number  of  matches  that  were added for this
              explanation string.  The explanation only appears if completion was tried and there
              was  no  unique  match,  or  when  listing completions. Explanation strings will be
              listed together with the matches of the group specified together with the -X option
              (using the -J or -V option). If the same explanation string is given to multiple -X
              options, the string appears only once (for each group) and the  number  of  matches
              shown  for  the  `%n' is the total number of all matches for each of these uses. In
              any case, the explanation string will only be shown if there was at least one match
              added for the explanation string.

              The sequences %B, %b, %S, %s, %U, and %u specify output attributes (bold, standout,
              and underline), %F, %f, %K, %k  specify  foreground  and  background  colours,  and
              %{...%} can be used to include literal escape sequences as in prompts.

       -Y explanation
              Identical  to  -X,  except that the explanation first undergoes expansion following
              the usual rules for strings in double quotes.  The expansion will  be  carried  out
              after  any  functions  are  called  for  the -K or -y options, allowing them to set
              variables.

       -t continue
              The continue-string contains a character that specifies  which  set  of  completion
              flags should be used next.  It is useful:

              (i)  With  -T,  or  when  trying  a list of pattern completions, when compctl would
              usually continue with ordinary  processing  after  finding  matches;  this  can  be
              suppressed with `-tn'.

              (ii)  With  a list of alternatives separated by +, when compctl would normally stop
              when one of the alternatives generates matches.  It can be forced to  consider  the
              next  set of completions by adding `-t+' to the flags of the alternative before the
              `+'.

              (iii) In an extended completion list  (see  below),  when  compctl  would  normally
              continue  until  a  set  of  conditions  succeeded,  then  use only the immediately
              following flags.  With `-t-', compctl will  continue  trying  extended  completions
              after  the  next `-'; with `-tx' it will attempt completion with the default flags,
              in other words those before the `-x'.

       -J name
              This gives the name of the group the matches should be placed in. Groups are listed
              and  sorted  separately;  likewise,  menu  completion will offer the matches in the
              groups in the order in  which  the  groups  were  defined.  If  no  group  name  is
              explicitly given, the matches are stored in a group named default. The first time a
              group name is encountered, a group with  that  name  is  created.  After  that  all
              matches with the same group name are stored in that group.

              This can be useful with non-exclusive alternative completions.  For example, in

                     compctl -f -J files -t+ + -v -J variables foo

              both  files  and variables are possible completions, as the -t+ forces both sets of
              alternatives before and after the + to be considered at once.  Because  of  the  -J
              options, however, all files are listed before all variables.

       -V name
              Like  -J,  but  matches within the group will not be sorted in listings nor in menu
              completion. These unsorted groups are in a different name  space  from  the  sorted
              ones, so groups defined as -J files and -V files are distinct.

       -1     If  given  together  with  the  -V option, makes only consecutive duplicates in the
              group be removed. Note that groups with and without this flag are in different name
              spaces.

       -2     If  given  together  with the -J or -V option, makes all duplicates be kept. Again,
              groups with and without this flag are in different name spaces.

       -M match-spec
              This defines additional matching control specifications that should  be  used  only
              when  testing  words  for the list of flags this flag appears in. The format of the
              match-spec string is described in zshcompwid.

ALTERNATIVE COMPLETION

       compctl [ -CDT ] options + options [ + ... ] [ + ] command ...

       The form with `+' specifies alternative options. Completion  is  tried  with  the  options
       before the first `+'. If this produces no matches completion is tried with the flags after
       the `+' and so on. If there are no flags after the last `+' and a match has not been found
       up  to that point, default completion is tried.  If the list of flags contains a -t with a
       + character, the next list of flags is used even if the current list produced matches.

       Additional options are available that restrict completion to  some  part  of  the  command
       line; this is referred to as `extended completion'.

EXTENDED COMPLETION

       compctl [ -CDT ] options -x pattern options - ... --
               [ command ... ]
       compctl [ -CDT ] options [ -x pattern options - ... -- ]
               [ + options [ -x ... -- ] ... [+] ] [ command ... ]

       The  form with `-x' specifies extended completion for the commands given; as shown, it may
       be combined with alternative completion using `+'.  Each pattern is examined in turn; when
       a  match  is  found, the corresponding options, as described in the section `Option Flags'
       above, are used to generate possible completions.  If  no  pattern  matches,  the  options
       given before the -x are used.

       Note  that  each  pattern  should be supplied as a single argument and should be quoted to
       prevent expansion of metacharacters by the shell.

       A pattern is built of sub-patterns separated by commas; it matches  if  at  least  one  of
       these  sub-patterns  matches (they are `or'ed). These sub-patterns are in turn composed of
       other sub-patterns separated by white spaces which match if all of the sub-patterns  match
       (they  are  `and'ed).   An element of the sub-patterns is of the form `c[...][...]', where
       the pairs of brackets may be repeated as often as necessary, and matches  if  any  of  the
       sets of brackets match (an `or').  The example below makes this clearer.

       The elements may be any of the following:

       s[string]...
              Matches  if  the  current  word  on the command line starts with one of the strings
              given in brackets.  The string is not removed and is not part of the completion.

       S[string]...
              Like s[string] except that the string is part of the completion.

       p[from,to]...
              Matches if the number of the current word is between one of the from and  to  pairs
              inclusive.  The  comma  and to are optional; to defaults to the same value as from.
              The numbers may be negative: -n refers to the n'th last word on the line.

       c[offset,string]...
              Matches if the string matches the word offset  by  offset  from  the  current  word
              position.  Usually offset will be negative.

       C[offset,pattern]...
              Like c but using pattern matching instead.

       w[index,string]...
              Matches  if  the word in position index is equal to the corresponding string.  Note
              that the word count is made after any alias expansion.

       W[index,pattern]...
              Like w but using pattern matching instead.

       n[index,string]...
              Matches if the current word contains string.  Anything  up  to  and  including  the
              indexth  occurrence  of  this string will not be considered part of the completion,
              but the rest will.  index may be negative to count from the  end:  in  most  cases,
              index will be 1 or -1.  For example,

                     compctl -s '`users`' -x 'n[1,@]' -k hosts -- talk

              will  usually complete usernames, but if you insert an @ after the name, names from
              the array hosts (assumed to contain hostnames,  though  you  must  make  the  array
              yourself) will be completed.  Other commands such as rcp can be handled similarly.

       N[index,string]...
              Like  n  except that the string will be taken as a character class.  Anything up to
              and including the indexth occurrence of any of the characters in string will not be
              considered part of the completion.

       m[min,max]...
              Matches if the total number of words lies between min and max inclusive.

       r[str1,str2]...
              Matches  if  the  cursor is after a word with prefix str1.  If there is also a word
              with prefix str2 on the command line after the one matched by str1 it matches  only
              if the cursor is before this word. If the comma and str2 are omitted, it matches if
              the cursor is after a word with prefix str1.

       R[str1,str2]...
              Like r but using pattern matching instead.

       q[str]...
              Matches the word currently being completed is in single quotes and the  str  begins
              with  the letter `s', or if completion is done in double quotes and str starts with
              the letter `d', or if completion is done in backticks and str starts with a `b'.

EXAMPLE

              compctl -u -x 's[+] c[-1,-f],s[-f+]' \
                -g '~/Mail/*(:t)' - 's[-f],c[-1,-f]' -f -- mail

       This is to be interpreted as follows:

       If the current command is mail, then

              if ((the current word begins with + and the previous word is -f)
              or (the current word begins with -f+)), then complete the
              non-directory part (the `:t' glob modifier) of files in the directory
              ~/Mail; else

              if the current word begins with -f or the previous word was -f, then
              complete any file; else

              complete user names.