Provided by: zsh-common_5.9-6ubuntu2_all bug

NAME

       zshcompwid - zsh completion widgets

DESCRIPTION

       The  shell's  programmable  completion  mechanism can be manipulated in two ways; here the
       low-level features supporting the newer, function-based mechanism are defined.  A complete
       set  of  shell  functions based on these features is described in zshcompsys(1), and users
       with no interest in adding to that system (or,  potentially,  writing  their  own  --  see
       dictionary entry for `hubris') should skip the current section.  The older system based on
       the compctl builtin command is described in zshcompctl(1).

       Completion widgets are defined by the -C option to the zle builtin command provided by the
       zsh/zle module (see zshzle(1)). For example,

              zle -C complete expand-or-complete completer

       defines  a widget named `complete'.  The second argument is the name of any of the builtin
       widgets     that     handle      completions:      complete-word,      expand-or-complete,
       expand-or-complete-prefix,  menu-complete, menu-expand-or-complete, reverse-menu-complete,
       list-choices, or delete-char-or-list.  Note that this will still work even if  the  widget
       in question has been re-bound.

       When this newly defined widget is bound to a key using the bindkey builtin command defined
       in the zsh/zle module (see zshzle(1)), typing  that  key  will  call  the  shell  function
       `completer'.  This  function  is  responsible  for generating completion matches using the
       builtins described below.  As with other ZLE widgets, the  function  is  called  with  its
       standard input closed.

       Once  the  function  returns,  the completion code takes over control again and treats the
       matches  in  the  same  manner  as  the   specified   builtin   widget,   in   this   case
       expand-or-complete.

COMPLETION SPECIAL PARAMETERS

       The   parameters  ZLE_REMOVE_SUFFIX_CHARS  and  ZLE_SPACE_SUFFIX_CHARS  are  used  by  the
       completion  mechanism,  but  are  not  special.  See  Parameters  Used  By  The  Shell  in
       zshparam(1).

       Inside  completion  widgets,  and  any  functions  called  from them, some parameters have
       special meaning; outside these functions they are not special to the  shell  in  any  way.
       These  parameters  are  used  to  pass  information  between  the  completion code and the
       completion widget. Some of the builtin commands and the condition codes use or change  the
       current  values  of these parameters.  Any existing values will be hidden during execution
       of completion widgets; except for compstate, the parameters are  reset  on  each  function
       exit  (including  nested  function  calls from within the completion widget) to the values
       they had when the function was entered.

       CURRENT
              This is the number of the current word, i.e. the word the cursor is currently on in
              the  words  array.  Note that this value is only correct if the ksharrays option is
              not set.

       IPREFIX
              Initially this will be set to the empty  string.   This  parameter  functions  like
              PREFIX; it contains a string which precedes the one in PREFIX and is not considered
              part of the list of matches.  Typically, a string is transferred from the beginning
              of PREFIX to the end of IPREFIX, for example:

                     IPREFIX=${PREFIX%%\=*}=
                     PREFIX=${PREFIX#*=}

              causes  the  part  of the prefix up to and including the first equal sign not to be
              treated as part of a matched string.  This can be done automatically by the compset
              builtin, see below.

       ISUFFIX
              As  IPREFIX,  but  for  a suffix that should not be considered part of the matches;
              note that the ISUFFIX string follows the SUFFIX string.

       PREFIX Initially this will be set to the part of the current word from  the  beginning  of
              the  word  up  to  the  position  of the cursor; it may be altered to give a common
              prefix for all matches.

       QIPREFIX
              This parameter is read-only and contains the quoted string up  to  the  word  being
              completed.  E.g.  when completing `"foo', this parameter contains the double quote.
              If the -q option of compset is used (see below), and the original string was  `"foo
              bar' with the cursor on the `bar', this parameter contains `"foo '.

       QISUFFIX
              Like QIPREFIX, but containing the suffix.

       SUFFIX Initially this will be set to the part of the current word from the cursor position
              to the end; it may be altered to give a common suffix for all matches.  It is  most
              useful  when the option COMPLETE_IN_WORD is set, as otherwise the whole word on the
              command line is treated as a prefix.

       compstate
              This is an associative array with various keys and values that the completion  code
              uses to exchange information with the completion widget.  The keys are:

              all_quotes
                     The  -q  option  of  the compset builtin command (see below) allows a quoted
                     string to be broken into separate words; if the cursor is on  one  of  those
                     words,   that  word  will  be  completed,  possibly  invoking  `compset  -q'
                     recursively.  With this key it is possible  to  test  the  types  of  quoted
                     strings  which  are  currently broken into parts in this fashion.  Its value
                     contains one character for each quoting level.  The characters are a  single
                     quote  or a double quote for strings quoted with these characters, a dollars
                     sign for strings quoted with $'...' and a backslash for strings not starting
                     with a quote character.  The first character in the value always corresponds
                     to the innermost quoting level.

              context
                     This will be set by the completion code to  the  overall  context  in  which
                     completion is attempted. Possible values are:

                     array_value
                            when completing inside the value of an array parameter assignment; in
                            this case the words array contains the words inside the parentheses.

                     brace_parameter
                            when completing the name of a  parameter  in  a  parameter  expansion
                            beginning  with  ${.   This  context will also be set when completing
                            parameter flags following ${(; the  full  command  line  argument  is
                            presented  and  the  handler  must  test the value to be completed to
                            ascertain that this is the case.

                     assign_parameter
                            when completing the name of a parameter in a parameter assignment.

                     command
                            when completing for a normal command (either in command  position  or
                            for an argument of the command).

                     condition
                            when  completing  inside  a `[[...]]' conditional expression; in this
                            case the words array contains only the words inside  the  conditional
                            expression.

                     math   when  completing  in  a  mathematical environment such as a `((...))'
                            construct.

                     parameter
                            when completing the name of a  parameter  in  a  parameter  expansion
                            beginning with $ but not ${.

                     redirect
                            when completing after a redirection operator.

                     subscript
                            when completing inside a parameter subscript.

                     value  when completing the value of a parameter assignment.

              exact  Controls  the behaviour when the REC_EXACT option is set.  It will be set to
                     accept if an exact match would be accepted, and will be unset otherwise.

                     If it was set when at least one match equal to the string on  the  line  was
                     generated, the match is accepted.

              exact_string
                     The string of an exact match if one was found, otherwise unset.

              ignored
                     The  number of completions that were ignored because they matched one of the
                     patterns given with the -F option to the compadd builtin command.

              insert This controls the manner in which a match is inserted into the command line.
                     On  entry  to the widget function, if it is unset the command line is not to
                     be changed; if set to unambiguous, any prefix common to all matches is to be
                     inserted;  if  set  to  automenu-unambiguous,  the  common  prefix  is to be
                     inserted and the next invocation of  the  completion  code  may  start  menu
                     completion  (due  to  the  AUTO_MENU  option  being  set); if set to menu or
                     automenu menu completion will be started for the matches currently generated
                     (in  the  latter  case  this  will happen because the AUTO_MENU is set). The
                     value may also contain the string  `tab'  when  the  completion  code  would
                     normally not really do completion, but only insert the TAB character.

                     On  exit  it  may be set to any of the values above (where setting it to the
                     empty string is the same as unsetting it), or to a number, in which case the
                     match  whose  number  is  given  will  be  inserted  into  the command line.
                     Negative numbers count backward from the last match (with `-1' selecting the
                     last  match)  and out-of-range values are wrapped around, so that a value of
                     zero selects the last match and a value one more than  the  maximum  selects
                     the  first.  Unless  the  value  of  this  key ends in a space, the match is
                     inserted as in a menu completion, i.e.  without  automatically  appending  a
                     space.

                     Both  menu  and automenu may also specify the number of the match to insert,
                     given after a colon.  For example, `menu:2' says to start  menu  completion,
                     beginning with the second match.

                     Note that a value containing the substring `tab' makes the matches generated
                     be ignored and only the TAB be inserted.

                     Finally, it may also be set to all, which makes  all  matches  generated  be
                     inserted into the line.

              insert_positions
                     When  the  completion  system  inserts  an unambiguous string into the line,
                     there may be multiple places where  characters  are  missing  or  where  the
                     character  inserted  differs from at least one match.  The value of this key
                     contains a colon separated list of all these positions, as indexes into  the
                     command line.

              last_prompt
                     If  this  is set to a non-empty string for every match added, the completion
                     code will move the cursor back to the previous  prompt  after  the  list  of
                     completions has been displayed.  Initially this is set or unset according to
                     the ALWAYS_LAST_PROMPT option.

              list   This controls whether or how the list of matches will be displayed.   If  it
                     is  unset or empty they will never be listed; if its value begins with list,
                     they will always be listed; if it begins with autolist  or  ambiguous,  they
                     will  be  listed  when  the AUTO_LIST or LIST_AMBIGUOUS options respectively
                     would normally cause them to be.

                     If the substring force appears in the value, this makes the  list  be  shown
                     even  if  there is only one match. Normally, the list would be shown only if
                     there are at least two matches.

                     The value contains the substring packed if the LIST_PACKED option is set. If
                     this  substring  is  given for all matches added to a group, this group will
                     show the LIST_PACKED behavior. The same  is  done  for  the  LIST_ROWS_FIRST
                     option with the substring rows.

                     Finally, if the value contains the string explanations, only the explanation
                     strings, if any, will be listed  and  if  it  contains  messages,  only  the
                     messages  (added  with  the  -x  option  of  compadd) will be listed.  If it
                     contains both explanations and messages both kinds  of  explanation  strings
                     will  be  listed.   It  will  be  set appropriately on entry to a completion
                     widget and may be changed there.

              list_lines
                     This gives the number of lines that are needed to display the full  list  of
                     completions.   Note  that  to calculate the total number of lines to display
                     you need to add the number of lines needed for  the  command  line  to  this
                     value, this is available as the value of the BUFFERLINES special parameter.

              list_max
                     Initially  this is set to the value of the LISTMAX parameter.  It may be set
                     to any other value; when the widget exits this value will  be  used  in  the
                     same way as the value of LISTMAX.

              nmatches
                     The number of matches added by the completion code so far.

              old_insert
                     On entry to the widget this will be set to the number of the match of an old
                     list of completions that is currently inserted into the command line. If  no
                     match has been inserted, this is unset.

                     As  with  old_list,  the  value  of  this key will only be used if it is the
                     string keep. If it was set to this value by the widget and there was an  old
                     match  inserted  into  the  command line, this match will be kept and if the
                     value of the insert key specifies that another  match  should  be  inserted,
                     this will be inserted after the old one.

              old_list
                     This  is  set  to  yes  if there is still a valid list of completions from a
                     previous completion at the time the widget is invoked.  This will usually be
                     the  case  if  and  only  if the previous editing operation was a completion
                     widget or one of the builtin completion functions.  If there is a valid list
                     and  it  is  also  currently  shown  on the screen, the value of this key is
                     shown.

                     After the widget has exited the value of this key is only used if it was set
                     to  keep.   In  this  case the completion code will continue to use this old
                     list.  If the widget generated new matches, they will not be used.

              parameter
                     The name of the parameter when completing in a subscript or in the value  of
                     a parameter assignment.

              pattern_insert
                     Normally  this  is set to menu, which specifies that menu completion will be
                     used whenever a set  of  matches  was  generated  using  pattern_match  (see
                     below).   If  it  is  set to any other non-empty string by the user and menu
                     completion is not selected by other option settings, the code  will  instead
                     insert   any  common  prefix  for  the  generated  matches  as  with  normal
                     completion.

              pattern_match
                     Locally controls the behaviour given by the GLOB_COMPLETE option.  Initially
                     it  is  set  to `*' if and only if the option is set.  The completion widget
                     may set it to this value, to an empty string (which has the same  effect  as
                     unsetting  it),  or  to  any  other  non-empty  string.  If it is non-empty,
                     unquoted metacharacters on the command line will be treated as patterns;  if
                     it  is  `*',  then  additionally  a  wildcard  `*'  is assumed at the cursor
                     position; if it is empty or unset, metacharacters will be treated literally.

                     Note that the match specifications given to the compadd builtin command  are
                     not used if this is set to a non-empty string.

              quote  When  completing  inside quotes, this contains the quotation character (i.e.
                     either a single quote, a double quote, or  a  backtick).   Otherwise  it  is
                     unset.

              quoting
                     When  completing  inside  single  quotes,  this is set to the string single;
                     inside double quotes,  the  string  double;  inside  backticks,  the  string
                     backtick.  Otherwise it is unset.

              redirect
                     The redirection operator when completing in a redirection position, i.e. one
                     of <, >, etc.

              restore
                     This is set to auto before a function is entered, which forces  the  special
                     parameters  mentioned  above  (words,  CURRENT, PREFIX, IPREFIX, SUFFIX, and
                     ISUFFIX) to be restored to their previous values when  the  function  exits.
                     If  a  function  unsets  it or sets it to any other string, they will not be
                     restored.

              to_end Specifies the occasions on which the cursor is moved to the end of a  string
                     when  a  match is inserted.  On entry to a widget function, it may be single
                     if this will happen when a single unambiguous match was inserted or match if
                     it  will  happen  any  time  a  match  is  inserted  (for  example,  by menu
                     completion; this is likely to be the effect of the ALWAYS_TO_END option).

                     On exit, it may be set to single as above.  It may also be set to always, or
                     to the empty string or unset; in those cases the cursor will be moved to the
                     end of the string always or never respectively.  Any other string is treated
                     as match.

              unambiguous
                     This  key  is  read-only  and will always be set to the common (unambiguous)
                     prefix the completion code has generated for all matches added so far.

              unambiguous_cursor
                     This gives the position the cursor would be placed at if the  common  prefix
                     in the unambiguous key were inserted, relative to the value of that key. The
                     cursor would be placed before the character whose index  is  given  by  this
                     key.

              unambiguous_positions
                     This  contains  all positions where characters in the unambiguous string are
                     missing or where the character inserted differs from at  least  one  of  the
                     matches.   The  positions  are given as indexes into the string given by the
                     value of the unambiguous key.

              vared  If completion is called while editing a line using the  vared  builtin,  the
                     value  of  this key is set to the name of the parameter given as an argument
                     to vared.  This key is only set while a vared command is active.

       words  This array contains the words present on the command line currently being edited.

COMPLETION BUILTIN COMMANDS

       compadd [ -akqQfenUl12C ] [ -F array ]
               [-P prefix ] [ -S suffix ]
               [-p hidden-prefix ] [ -s hidden-suffix ]
               [-i ignored-prefix ] [ -I ignored-suffix ]
               [-W file-prefix ] [ -d array ]
               [-J group-name ] [ -X explanation ] [ -x message ]
               [-V group-name ] [ -o [ order ] ]
               [-r remove-chars ] [ -R remove-func ]
               [-D array ] [ -O array ] [ -A array ]
               [-E number ]
               [-M match-spec ] [ -- ] [ completions ... ]

              This builtin command can be used to  add  matches  directly  and  control  all  the
              information  the  completion  code stores with each possible completion. The return
              status is zero if at least one match was added and  non-zero  if  no  matches  were
              added.

              The completion code breaks each match into seven fields in the order:

                     <ipre><apre><hpre><body><hsuf><asuf><isuf>

              The  first  field is an ignored prefix taken from the command line, the contents of
              the IPREFIX parameter plus the string given with the -i option. With the -U option,
              only  the string from the -i option is used. The field <apre> is an optional prefix
              string given with the -P option.  The <hpre> field is a string that  is  considered
              part of the match but that should not be shown when listing completions, given with
              the -p option; for example, functions that do filename generation might  specify  a
              common path prefix this way.  <body> is the part of the match that should appear in
              the list of matches shown to the user.  The  suffixes  <hsuf>,  <asuf>  and  <isuf>
              correspond  to  the prefixes <hpre>, <apre> and <ipre> and are given by the options
              -s, -S and -I, respectively.

              The supported flags are:

              -P prefix
                     This gives a string to be inserted before each match.  The string  given  is
                     not  considered as part of the match and any shell metacharacters in it will
                     not be quoted when the string is inserted.

              -S suffix
                     Like -P, but gives a string to be inserted after each match.

              -p hidden-prefix
                     This gives a string that should be  inserted  before  each  match  but  that
                     should  not  appear  in  the list of matches. Unless the -U option is given,
                     this string must be matched as part of the string on the command line.

              -s hidden-suffix
                     Like `-p', but gives a string to insert after each match.

              -i ignored-prefix
                     This gives a string to insert just before any string  given  with  the  `-P'
                     option.   Without  `-P'  the string is inserted before the string given with
                     `-p' or directly before each match.

              -I ignored-suffix
                     Like -i, but gives an ignored suffix.

              -a     With this flag the completions are taken as names of arrays and  the  actual
                     completions  are  their  values.   If  only  some elements of the arrays are
                     needed, the completions may also contain subscripts, as in `foo[2,-1]'.

              -k     With this flag the completions are taken as names of associative arrays  and
                     the  actual  completions  are  their  keys.   As  for -a, the words may also
                     contain subscripts, as in `foo[(R)*bar*]'.

              -d array
                     This adds per-completion display  strings.  The  array  should  contain  one
                     element  per  completion  given.  The  completion code will then display the
                     first element instead of the first completion, and so on. The array  may  be
                     given  as  the  name  of an array parameter or directly as a space-separated
                     list of words in parentheses.

                     If  there  are  fewer  display  strings  than  completions,   the   leftover
                     completions  will  be  displayed  unchanged  and  if  there are more display
                     strings than completions, the leftover  display  strings  will  be  silently
                     ignored.

              -l     This option only has an effect if used together with the -d option. If it is
                     given, the display strings are listed one per line, not arrayed in columns.

              -o [ order ]
                     This  controls  the  order  in  which  matches  are  sorted.  order   is   a
                     comma-separated list comprising the following possible values.  These values
                     can be abbreviated to their initial two or three characters.  Note that  the
                     order forms part of the group name space so matches with different orderings
                     will not be in the same group.

                     match  If given, the order of the output is determined by the match strings;
                            otherwise  it  is determined by the display strings (i.e. the strings
                            given by the -d option). This is the default if `-o' is specified but
                            the order argument is omitted.

                     nosort This  specifies  that  the completions are pre-sorted and their order
                            should be preserved.  This value only makes sense alone and cannot be
                            combined with any others.

                     numeric
                            If  the  matches  include  numbers, sort them numerically rather than
                            lexicographically.

                     reverse
                            Arrange the matches backwards by reversing the sort ordering.

              -J group-name
                     Gives the name of the group that the matches should be stored in.

              -V group-name
                     Like -J but naming an unsorted  group.  This  option  is  identical  to  the
                     combination of -J and -o nosort.

              -1     If  given  together with the -V option, makes only consecutive duplicates in
                     the group be removed. If combined with the -J option, this  has  no  visible
                     effect.  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.

              -X explanation
                     The  explanation  string will be printed with the list of matches, above the
                     group currently selected.

                     Within the explanation, the following  sequences  may  be  used  to  specify
                     output  attributes as described in the section EXPANSION OF PROMPT SEQUENCES
                     in  zshmisc(1):  `%B',  `%S',  `%U',  `%F',  `%K'  and  their   lower   case
                     counterparts, as well as `%{...%}'.  `%F', `%K' and `%{...%}' take arguments
                     in the same form as prompt expansion.  (Note that the sequence `%G'  is  not
                     available;  an  argument to `%{' should be used instead.)  The sequence `%%'
                     produces a literal `%'.

                     These sequences are most often employed by users when customising the format
                     style  (see  zshcompsys(1)),  but  they must also be taken into account when
                     writing completion functions, as passing  descriptions  with  unescaped  `%'
                     characters  to utility functions such as _arguments and _message may produce
                     unexpected results. If arbitrary text is to be passed in a  description,  it
                     can be escaped using e.g. ${my_str//\%/%%}.

              -x message
                     Like -X, but the message will be printed even if there are no matches in the
                     group.

              -q     The suffix given with -S will be automatically 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.

              -r remove-chars
                     This is a more versatile form of the -q option.  The suffix given with -S or
                     the   slash   automatically  added  after  completing  directories  will  be
                     automatically removed if  the  next  character  typed  inserts  one  of  the
                     characters given in the remove-chars.  This string is parsed as a characters
                     class and understands the backslash sequences used  by  the  print  command.
                     For  example,  `-r  "a-z\t"'  removes the suffix if the next character typed
                     inserts a lower case character or a TAB, and `-r "^0-9"' removes the  suffix
                     if  the  next  character  typed  inserts  anything  but  a  digit. One extra
                     backslash sequence is  understood  in  this  string:  `\-'  stands  for  all
                     characters  that  insert nothing. Thus `-S "=" -q' is the same as `-S "=" -r
                     "= \t\n\-"'.

                     This option may also be used without the -S option; then  any  automatically
                     added space will be removed when one of the characters in the list is typed.

              -R remove-func
                     This  is another form of the -r option. When a match has been accepted and a
                     suffix has been inserted, the function remove-func will be called after  the
                     next  character typed.  It is passed the length of the suffix as an argument
                     and can use the special parameters available  in  ordinary  (non-completion)
                     zle widgets (see zshzle(1)) to analyse and modify the command line.

              -f     If  this  flag  is  given, all of the matches built from the completions are
                     marked as being the names of files.  They are  not  required  to  be  actual
                     filenames, but if they are, and the option LIST_TYPES is set, the characters
                     describing the types of the files in the completion  lists  will  be  shown.
                     This  also  forces  a  slash  to  be  added  when the name of a directory is
                     completed.

              -e     This flag can be used to tell the completion code that the matches added are
                     parameter   names   for   a   parameter   expansion.   This  will  make  the
                     AUTO_PARAM_SLASH and AUTO_PARAM_KEYS options be used for the matches.

              -W file-prefix
                     This string is a pathname that will be prepended to each match together with
                     any  prefix  specified  by  the  -p  option  to form a complete filename for
                     testing.  Hence it is only useful if combined with the -f flag, as the tests
                     will not otherwise be performed.

              -F array
                     Specifies an array containing patterns.  completions that match one of these
                     patterns are ignored, that is, not considered to be matches.

                     The array may be the name of  an  array  parameter  or  a  list  of  literal
                     patterns  enclosed  in  parentheses and quoted, as in `-F "(*?.o *?.h)"'. If
                     the name of an array is given, the elements of the array are  taken  as  the
                     patterns.

              -Q     This  flag  instructs the completion code not to quote any metacharacters in
                     the matches when inserting them into the command line.

              -M match-spec
                     This gives local match specifications as  described  below  in  the  section
                     `Completion  Matching Control'. This option may be given more than once.  In
                     this case all match-specs given are concatenated with spaces between them to
                     form  the  specification string to use.  Note that they will only be used if
                     the -U option is not given.

              -n     Specifies that matching completions are to be added to the set  of  matches,
                     but are not to be listed to the user.

              -U     If  this  flag is given, all completions are added to the set of matches and
                     no matching will be done by the completion code. Normally this  is  used  in
                     functions that do the matching themselves.

              -O array
                     If  this  option  is  given,  the  completions  are  not added to the set of
                     matches.  Instead, matching is done as usual and all of the completions that
                     match will be stored in the array parameter whose name is given as array.

              -A array
                     As  the  -O  option,  except  that instead of those of the completions which
                     match being stored  in  array,  the  strings  generated  internally  by  the
                     completion  code are stored.  For example, with a match specification of `-M
                     "L:|no="', a current word of `nof' and completions  of  `foo',  this  option
                     stores  the  string  `nofoo'  in the array, whereas the -O option stores the
                     `foo' originally given.

              -D array
                     As with -O, the completions are not added to the set of  matches.   Instead,
                     whenever  the nth completion does not match, the nth element of the array is
                     removed.  Elements  for  which  the  corresponding  completion  matches  are
                     retained.   This  option  can be used more than once to remove elements from
                     multiple arrays.

              -C     This option adds a special match which expands to  all  other  matches  when
                     inserted into the line, even those that are added after this option is used.
                     Together with the -d option it is possible to specify a string  that  should
                     be  displayed in the list for this special match.  If no string is given, it
                     will be shown as a string containing the strings that would be inserted  for
                     the other matches, truncated to the width of the screen.

              -E number
                     This  option  adds number empty matches after matching completions have been
                     added.  An empty match takes up space in completion listings but will  never
                     be  inserted  in the line and can't be selected with menu completion or menu
                     selection.  This makes empty matches only useful to format completion  lists
                     and  to  make  explanatory  string be shown in completion lists (since empty
                     matches can be given display strings with the -d option).  And  because  all
                     but  one empty string would otherwise be removed, this option implies the -V
                     and -2 options (even if an explicit  -J  option  is  given).   This  can  be
                     important to note as it affects the name space into which matches are added.

              -
              --     This flag ends the list of flags and options. All arguments after it will be
                     taken as the completions even if they begin with hyphens.

              Except for the -M flag, if any of these flags is given more than  once,  the  first
              one (and its argument) will be used.

       compset -p number
       compset -P [ number ] pattern
       compset -s number
       compset -S [ number ] pattern
       compset -n begin [ end ]
       compset -N beg-pat [ end-pat ]
       compset -q
              This  command  simplifies  modification of the special parameters, while its return
              status allows tests on them to be carried out.

              The options are:

              -p number
                     If the value of the PREFIX parameter is at least number characters long, the
                     first  number characters are removed from it and appended to the contents of
                     the IPREFIX parameter.

              -P [ number ] pattern
                     If the value of the PREFIX parameter begins with anything that  matches  the
                     pattern, the matched portion is removed from PREFIX and appended to IPREFIX.

                     Without  the  optional  number, the longest match is taken, but if number is
                     given, anything up to the  numberth  match  is  moved.   If  the  number  is
                     negative,  the  numberth  longest  match  is  moved.  For example, if PREFIX
                     contains the string `a=b=c', then compset -P  '*\='  will  move  the  string
                     `a=b=' into the IPREFIX parameter, but compset -P 1 '*\=' will move only the
                     string `a='.

              -s number
                     As -p, but transfer the last number characters from the value of  SUFFIX  to
                     the front of the value of ISUFFIX.

              -S [ number ] pattern
                     As -P, but match the last portion of SUFFIX and transfer the matched portion
                     to the front of the value of ISUFFIX.

              -n begin [ end ]
                     If the current word position  as  specified  by  the  parameter  CURRENT  is
                     greater  than  or equal to begin, anything up to the beginth word is removed
                     from the words array and the value of the parameter CURRENT  is  decremented
                     by begin.

                     If  the  optional end is given, the modification is done only if the current
                     word position is also less than or equal to end. In  this  case,  the  words
                     from position end onwards are also removed from the words array.

                     Both  begin and end may be negative to count backwards from the last element
                     of the words array.

              -N beg-pat [ end-pat ]
                     If one of the elements of the words array before the one at the index  given
                     by  the  value  of  the  parameter  CURRENT matches the pattern beg-pat, all
                     elements up to and including the matching one are  removed  from  the  words
                     array  and  the value of CURRENT is changed to point to the same word in the
                     changed array.

                     If the optional pattern end-pat is also given, and there is  an  element  in
                     the  words  array matching this pattern, the parameters are modified only if
                     the index of this word is higher than the one given by the CURRENT parameter
                     (so  that  the  matching word has to be after the cursor). In this case, the
                     words starting with the one matching end-pat are also removed from the words
                     array.  If  words  contains  no  word  matching  end-pat,  the  testing  and
                     modification is performed as if it were not given.

              -q     The word currently being completed is split on spaces into  separate  words,
                     respecting  the  usual  shell  quoting conventions.  The resulting words are
                     stored in the words  array,  and  CURRENT,  PREFIX,  SUFFIX,  QIPREFIX,  and
                     QISUFFIX are modified to reflect the word part that is completed.

              In  all  the  above  cases  the return status is zero if the test succeeded and the
              parameters were modified and non-zero  otherwise.  This  allows  one  to  use  this
              builtin in tests such as:

                     if compset -P '*\='; then ...

              This  forces  anything up to and including the last equal sign to be ignored by the
              completion code.

       compcall [ -TD ]
              This allows the use of completions defined with the  compctl  builtin  from  within
              completion  widgets.   The  list  of  matches  will  be  generated as if one of the
              non-widget completion functions (complete-word, etc.)  had been called, except that
              only  compctls  given  for  specific  commands  are  used. To force the code to try
              completions defined with the -T option of compctl  and/or  the  default  completion
              (whether  defined  by compctl -D or the builtin default) in the appropriate places,
              the -T and/or -D flags can be passed to compcall.

              The return status can be used to test if a matching compctl definition  was  found.
              It is non-zero if a compctl was found and zero otherwise.

              Note that this builtin is defined by the zsh/compctl module.

COMPLETION CONDITION CODES

       The  following  additional  condition  codes  for  use  within the [[ ... ]] construct are
       available in completion widgets.  These work on the  special  parameters.   All  of  these
       tests can also be performed by the compset builtin, but in the case of the condition codes
       the contents of the special parameters are not modified.

       -prefix [ number ] pattern
              true if the test for the -P option of compset would succeed.

       -suffix [ number ] pattern
              true if the test for the -S option of compset would succeed.

       -after beg-pat
              true if the test of the -N option with only the beg-pat given would succeed.

       -between beg-pat end-pat
              true if the test for the -N option with both patterns would succeed.

COMPLETION MATCHING CONTROL

       When the user invokes completion, the current word on the command line (that is, the  word
       the  cursor  is currently on) is used to generate a match pattern.  Only those completions
       that match the pattern are offered to the user as matches.

       The default match pattern is generated from the current word by either

       •      appending a `*' (matching any number of characters in a completion) or,

       •      if the shell option  COMPLETE_IN_WORD  is  set,  inserting  a  `*'  at  the  cursor
              position.

       This  narrow  pattern can be broadened selectively by passing a match specification to the
       compadd builtin command through its -M option (see `Completion Builtin  Commands'  above).
       A  match specification consists of one or more matchers separated by whitespace.  Matchers
       in a match specification are applied one at a time, from left to right.  Once all matchers
       have  been  applied,  completions are compared to the final match pattern and non-matching
       ones are discarded.

       •      Note that the -M option is ignored if the current word contains a glob pattern  and
              the  shell  option  GLOB_COMPLETE is set or if the pattern_match key of the special
              associative array compstate is set to a non-empty value  (see  `Completion  Special
              Parameters' above).

       •      Users of the completion system (see zshcompsys(1))  should generally not use the -M
              option directly, but rather use  the  matcher-list  and  matcher  styles  (see  the
              subsection Standard Styles in the documentation for COMPLETION SYSTEM CONFIGURATION
              in zshcompsys(1)).

       Each matcher consists of

       •      a case-sensitive letter

       •      a `:',

       •      one or more patterns separated by pipes (`|'),

       •      an equals sign (`='), and

       •      another pattern.

       The patterns before the `=' are used to match substrings of the current  word.   For  each
       matched  substring,  the  corresponding  part  of  the match pattern is broadened with the
       pattern after the `=', by means of a logical OR.

       Each pattern in a matcher cosists of either

       •      the empty string or

       •      a sequence of

              •      literal characters (which may be quoted with a `\'),

              •      question marks (`?'),

              •      bracket expressions (`[...]'; see  the  subsection  Glob  Operators  in  the
                     documentation for GLOB OPERATORS in zshexpn(1)), and/or

              •      brace expressions (see below).

       Other shell patterns are not allowed.

       A brace expression, like a bracket expression, consists of a list of

       •      literal characters,

       •      ranges (`0-9'), and/or

       •      character classes (`[:name:]').

       However, they differ from each other as follows:

       •      A brace expression is delimited by a pair of braces (`{...}').

       •      Brace  expressions do not support negations.  That is, an initial `!' or `^' has no
              special meaning and will be interpreted as a literal character.

       •      When a character in the current word matches the nth pattern in a brace expression,
              the  corresponding part of the match pattern is broadened only with the nth pattern
              of the brace expression on the other side of the `=', if there is one; if there  is
              no  brace  expression  on  the  other  side, then this pattern is the empty string.
              However, if either brace expression has more elements  than  the  other,  then  the
              excess  entries are simply ignored.  When comparing indexes, each literal character
              or character class counts as one element, but each range is instead expanded to the
              full  list  of literal characters it represents.  Additionally, if on both sides of
              the `=', the nth pattern is `[:upper:]' or `[:lower:]', then these are expanded  as
              ranges, too.

       Note  that, although the matching system does not yet handle multibyte characters, this is
       likely to be a future extension.  Hence, using `[:upper:]' and `[:lower:]' is  recommended
       over `A-Z' and `a-z'.

       Below  are the different forms of matchers supported.  Each uppercase form behaves exactly
       like its lowercase counterpart, but adds an additional step after the  match  pattern  has
       filtered out non-matching completions:  Each of a match's substrings that was matched by a
       subpattern from an uppercase matcher is replaced with the corresponding substring  of  the
       current  word.   However,  patterns  from  lowercase  matchers  have  higher weight:  If a
       substring of the current word was matched  by  patterns  from  both  a  lowercase  and  an
       uppercase matcher, then the lowercase matcher's pattern wins and the corresponding part of
       the match is not modified.

       Unless indicated otherwise, each example listed assumes COMPLETE_IN_WORD to be  unset  (as
       it is by default).

       m:word-pat=match-pat
       M:word-pat=match-pat

              For  each  substring  of  the  current  word  that  matches  word-pat,  broaden the
              corresponding part of the match pattern to additionally match match-pat.

              Examples:

                     m:{[:lower:]}={[:upper:]} lets any lower case character in the current  word
                     be  completed  to  itself or its uppercase counterpart.  So, the completions
                     `foo', `FOO' and `Foo' will are be considered matches for the word `fo'.

                     M:_= inserts every underscore from the current word into each match, in  the
                     same  relative  position,  determined  by matching the substrings around it.
                     So, given a completion `foo', the word `f_o' will be completed to the  match
                     `f_oo', even though the latter was not present as a completion.

       b:word-pat=match-pat
       B:word-pat=match-pat
       e:word-pat=match-pat
       E:word-pat=match-pat

              For  each  consecutive substring at the b:eginning or e:nd of the current word that
              matches  word-pat,  broaden  the  corresponding  part  of  the  match  pattern   to
              additionally match match-pat.

              Examples:

                     `b:-=+'  lets  any  number  of  minuses  at the start of the current word be
                     completed to a minus or a plus.

                     `B:0=' adds all zeroes at the beginning of the current word to the beginning
                     of each match.

       l:|word-pat=match-pat
       L:|word-pat=match-pat
       R:word-pat|=match-pat
       r:word-pat|=match-pat

              If  there  is  a  substring  at  the  l:eft or r:ight edge of the current word that
              matches word-pat, then broaden the corresponding  part  of  the  match  pattern  to
              additionally match match-pat.

              For  each  l:,  L:,  r:  and  R:  matcher  (including  the ones below), the pattern
              match-pat may also  be  a  `*'.   This  matches  any  number  of  characters  in  a
              completion.

              Examples:

                     `r:|=*'  appends  a  `*' to the match pattern, even when COMPLETE_IN_WORD is
                     set and the cursor is not at the end of the current word.

                     If the current word starts with a minus, then `L:|-='  will  prepend  it  to
                     each match.

       l:anchor|word-pat=match-pat
       L:anchor|word-pat=match-pat
       r:word-pat|anchor=match-pat
       R:word-pat|anchor=match-pat

              For  each  substring of the current word that matches word-pat and has on its l:eft
              or r:ight another substring matching anchor, broaden the corresponding part of  the
              match pattern to additionally match match-pat.

              Note  that  these  matchers  (and  the  ones  below) modify only what is matched by
              word-pat; they do not change the matching behavior of what is matched by anchor (or
              coanchor;  see  the  matchers  below).   Thus, unless its corresponding part of the
              match pattern has been modified, the anchor  in  the  current  word  has  to  match
              literally in each completion, just like any other substring of the current word.

              If  a  matcher  includes  at least one anchor (which includes the matchers with two
              anchors, below), then match-pat may also be `*' or `**'.  `*' can match any part of
              a  completion  that does not contain any substrings matching anchor, whereas a `**'
              can match any part of a completion, period.  (Note that this is different from  the
              behavior  of  `*'  in  the anchorless forms of `l:' and `r:' and and also different
              from `*' and `**' in glob expressions.)

              Examples:

                     `r:|.=*' makes the completion `comp.sources.unix' a match for the word `..u'
                     -- but not for the word `.u'.

                     Given  a  completion `--foo', the matcher `L:--|no-=' will complete the word
                     `--no-' to the match `--no-foo'.

       l:anchor||coanchor=match-pat
       L:anchor||coanchor=match-pat
       r:coanchor||anchor=match-pat
       R:coanchor||anchor=match-pat

              For any two consecutive substrings of  the  current  word  that  match  anchor  and
              coanchor,   in  the  order  given,  insert  the  pattern  match-pat  between  their
              corresponding parts in the match pattern.

              Note that, unlike anchor, the pattern coanchor does not change what `*' can match.

              Examples:

                     `r:?||[[:upper:]]=*' will complete the current word `fB' to `fooBar', but it
                     will  not complete it to `fooHooBar' (because `*' here cannot match anything
                     that includes a match  for  `[[:upper:]]),  nor  will  it  complete  `B'  to
                     `fooBar'  (because  there  is  no  character  in  the  current word to match
                     coanchor).

                     Given the current word `pass.n' and a completion `pass.byname', the  matcher
                     `L:.||[[:alpha:]]=by' will produce the match `pass.name'.

       x:

              Ignore this matcher and all matchers to its right.

              This  matcher  is  used  to  mark  the  end  of a match specification.  In a single
              standalone list of matchers, this has no use, but where  match  specifications  are
              concatenated,  as  is  often  the  case  when  using  the  completion  system  (see
              zshcompsys(1)), it can allow one match specification to override another.

COMPLETION WIDGET EXAMPLE

       The first step is to define the widget:

              zle -C complete complete-word complete-files

       Then the widget can be bound to a key using the bindkey builtin command:

              bindkey '^X\t' complete

       After that the shell function complete-files will be invoked after  typing  control-X  and
       TAB. The function should then generate the matches, e.g.:

              complete-files () { compadd - * }

       This function will complete files in the current directory matching the current word.