cpython/Doc/library/rlcompleter.rst

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:mod:`rlcompleter` --- Completion function for GNU readline
===========================================================
.. module:: rlcompleter
:synopsis: Python identifier completion, suitable for the GNU readline library.
.. sectionauthor:: Moshe Zadka <moshez@zadka.site.co.il>
The :mod:`rlcompleter` module defines a completion function suitable for the
:mod:`readline` module by completing valid Python identifiers and keywords.
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:`complete` method is set as the :mod:`readline` completer.
Example::
>>> import rlcompleter
>>> import readline
>>> readline.parse_and_bind("tab: complete")
>>> readline. <TAB PRESSED>
readline.__doc__ readline.get_line_buffer( readline.read_init_file(
readline.__file__ readline.insert_text( readline.set_completer(
readline.__name__ readline.parse_and_bind(
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>>> readline.
The :mod:`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 :envvar:`PYTHONSTARTUP` environment variable) to get
automatic :kbd:`Tab` completion::
try:
import readline
except ImportError:
print "Module readline not available."
else:
import rlcompleter
readline.parse_and_bind("tab: complete")
On platforms without :mod:`readline`, the :class:`Completer` class defined by
this module can still be used for custom purposes.
.. _completer-objects:
Completer Objects
-----------------
Completer objects have the following method:
.. 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 :mod:`__main__`, :mod:`__builtin__` 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:`__getattr__`) up to the last part, and find matches for the rest via the
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:func:`dir` function. Any exception raised during the evaluation of the
expression is caught, silenced and :const:`None` is returned.
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