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ZSHCOMPWID(1)               General Commands Manual              ZSHCOMPWID(1)

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  inter-
       est 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 zsh-
       compctl(1).

       Completion widgets are defined by the -C option to the zle builtin com-
       mand 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,  ex-
       pand-or-complete,  expand-or-complete-prefix,  menu-complete,  menu-ex-
       pand-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 re-
       sponsible  for  generating  the possible matches using the builtins de-
       scribed 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 wid-
       get, 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 pa-
       rameters have special meaning; outside these  functions  they  are  not
       special to the shell in any way.  These parameters are used to pass in-
       formation between the completion code and the completion  widget.  Some
       of  the builtin commands and the condition codes use or change the cur-
       rent values of these parameters.  Any existing values  will  be  hidden
       during  execution  of completion widgets; except for compstate, the pa-
       rameters 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 pa-
              rameter 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 com-
              mon suffix for all matches.  It is most useful when  the  option
              COMPLETE_IN_WORD is set, as otherwise the whole word on the com-
              mand 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 com-
              pletion 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 quot-
                     ing 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 inner-
                     most 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  pa-
                            rameter  assignment;  in this case the words array
                            contains the words inside the parentheses.

                     brace_parameter
                            when completing the name of a parameter in  a  pa-
                            rameter 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 pa-
                            rameter assignment.

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

                     condition
                            when completing inside a `[[...]]' conditional ex-
                            pression;  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 pa-
                            rameter 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  assign-
                            ment.

              exact  Controls  the behaviour when the REC_EXACT option is set.
                     It will be set to accept if an exact match would  be  ac-
                     cepted, 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  words  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 com-
                     mon 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.   Nega-
                     tive  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. with-
                     out 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 in-
                     serted.

                     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 charac-
                     ters  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  op-
                     tions 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.  Nor-
                     mally, 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 num-
                     ber  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 parame-
                     ter.  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 generated and accepted by the  com-
                     pletion 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 in-
                     serted, 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 in-
                     serted, this will be inserted after the old one.

              old_list
                     This is set to yes if there is still a valid list of com-
                     pletions from a previous completion at the time the  wid-
                     get  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  matching.  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 in-
                     stead 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 addition-
                     ally a wildcard `*' is assumed at the cursor position; if
                     it is empty or unset, metacharacters will be treated lit-
                     erally.

                     Note that the matcher 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  quota-
                     tion  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  re-
                     stored  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 hap-
                     pen when a single unambiguous match was inserted or match
                     if it will happen any time a match is inserted (for exam-
                     ple, 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 com-
                     mon (unambiguous) prefix the completion code  has  gener-
                     ated 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 unam-
                     biguous string are missing or  where  the  character  in-
                     serted differs from at least one of the matches.  The po-
                     sitions 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  cur-
              rently 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 ] [ -- ] [ words ... ]

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

              The completion code breaks the string  to  complete  into  seven
              fields in the order:

                     _ipre__apre__hpre__word__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 pre-
              fix  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.  _word_ is the part of the match
              that should appear in the list of completions, i.e. one  of  the
              words given at the end of the compadd command line. 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  the  given
                     words.  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 the
                     match.

              -p hidden-prefix
                     This gives a string that should be inserted into the com-
                     mand  line before the 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 com-
                     mand line.

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

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

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

              -a     With this flag the words are taken as names of arrays and
                     the possible matches are their values.  If only some ele-
                     ments  of  the arrays are needed, the words may also con-
                     tain subscripts, as in `foo[2,-1]'.

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

              -d array
                     This  adds  per-match  display  strings. The array should
                     contain one element per word given. The  completion  code
                     will  then display the first element instead of the first
                     word, 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 words, the  left-
                     over  words  will be displayed unchanged and if there are
                     more display strings than  words,  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. or-
                     der 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 or-
                     der  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 speci-
                            fied but the order argument is omitted.

                     nosort This specifies that the matches 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 numeri-
                            cally rather than lexicographically.

                     reverse
                            Arrange the matches  backwards  by  reversing  the
                            sort ordering.

              -J group-name
                     Gives  the  name of the group of matches the words 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 consecu-
                     tive 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 du-
                     plicates 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 coun-
                     terparts, as well as `%{...%}'.  `%F', `%K' and `%{...%}'
                     take  arguments  in  the  same  form as prompt expansion.
                     (Note that the sequence `%G' is not available;  an  argu-
                     ment  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 comple-
                     tion  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 suf-
                     fix 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"' re-
                     moves 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  in-
                     sert  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 suffix  has
                     been  inserted  and the completion accepted, the function
                     remove-func will  be  called  after  the  next  character
                     typed.  It is passed the length of the suffix as an argu-
                     ment and can use the special parameters available in  or-
                     dinary  (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
                     words  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 ex-
                     pansion.  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
                     of the matches formed by the given  words  together  with
                     any  prefix specified by the -p option to form a complete
                     filename for testing.  Hence it is only  useful  if  com-
                     bined  with  the -f flag, as the tests will not otherwise
                     be performed.

              -F array
                     Specifies an array containing  patterns.  Words  matching
                     one of these patterns are ignored, i.e. not considered to
                     be possible 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 pat-
                     terns.

              -Q     This flag instructs the completion code not to quote  any
                     metacharacters  in the words 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 the words added are to be used as possible
                     matches, but are not to appear in the completion listing.

              -U     If this flag is given, all words given will  be  accepted
                     and no matching will be done by the completion code. Nor-
                     mally this is used in  functions  that  do  the  matching
                     themselves.

              -O array
                     If  this  option is given, the words are not added to the
                     set of possible completions.  Instead, matching  is  done
                     as  usual  and  all  of the words given as arguments that
                     match the string on the command line 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
                     words which match being stored in array, the strings gen-
                     erated  internally by the completion code are stored. For
                     example, with a matching specification of `-M  "L:|no="',
                     the string `nof' on the command line and the string `foo'
                     as one of the words, this option stores the  string  `no-
                     foo' in the array, whereas the -O option stores the `foo'
                     originally given.

              -D array
                     As with -O, the words are not added to the set of  possi-
                     ble  completions.   Instead,  the  completion  code tests
                     whether each word in turn matches what is  on  the  line.
                     If  the  nth  word does not match, the nth element of the
                     array is removed.  Elements for which  the  corresponding
                     word is matched are retained.

              -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  con-
                     taining  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  the  words
                     have  been  added.  An empty match takes up space in com-
                     pletion listings but will never be inserted in  the  line
                     and can't be selected with menu completion or menu selec-
                     tion.  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 op-
                     tion is given).  This can be important to note as it  af-
                     fects the name space into which matches are added.

              -
              --     This  flag  ends the list of flags and options. All argu-
                     ments after it will be taken  as  the  words  to  use  as
                     matches 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 pa-
                     rameter.

              -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  long-
                     est  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  parame-
                     ter  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  in-
                     cluding 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  parame-
                     ter  (so  that the matching word has to be after the cur-
                     sor). 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  QISUF-
                     FIX  are  modified  to reflect the word part that is com-
                     pleted.

              In all the above cases the return status is  zero  if  the  test
              succeeded  and  the parameters were modified and non-zero other-
              wise. 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 func-
              tions (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 def-
              inition 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  spe-
       cial  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 suc-
              ceed.

COMPLETION MATCHING CONTROL
       It  is  possible by use of the -M option of the compadd builtin command
       to specify how the characters in the string to be  completed  (referred
       to  here  as  the  command line) map onto the characters in the list of
       matches produced by the completion code (referred to here as the  trial
       completions). Note that this is not used if the command line contains a
       glob pattern and the GLOB_COMPLETE option is set or  the  pattern_match
       of the compstate special association is set to a non-empty string.

       The  match-spec given as the argument to the -M option (see `Completion
       Builtin Commands' above) consists of one or more matching  descriptions
       separated  by  whitespace.   Each description consists of a letter fol-
       lowed by a colon and then the patterns describing which  character  se-
       quences  on  the line match which character sequences in the trial com-
       pletion.  Any sequence of characters not handled in this  fashion  must
       match exactly, as usual.

       The  forms  of  match-spec understood are as follows. In each case, the
       form with an upper case initial character retains  the  string  already
       typed on the command line as the final result of completion, while with
       a lower case initial character  the  string  on  the  command  line  is
       changed into the corresponding part of the trial completion.

       m:lpat=tpat
       M:lpat=tpat
              Here, lpat is a pattern that matches on the command line, corre-
              sponding to tpat which matches in the trial completion.

       l:lanchor|lpat=tpat
       L:lanchor|lpat=tpat
       l:lanchor||ranchor=tpat
       L:lanchor||ranchor=tpat
       b:lpat=tpat
       B:lpat=tpat
              These letters are for patterns that are anchored by another pat-
              tern  on  the  left side. Matching for lpat and tpat is as for m
              and M, but the pattern lpat matched on the command line must  be
              preceded  by  the  pattern lanchor.  The lanchor can be blank to
              anchor the match to the start of the command line string; other-
              wise  the  anchor can occur anywhere, but must match in both the
              command line and trial completion strings.

              If no lpat is given but a ranchor is, this matches the  gap  be-
              tween substrings matched by lanchor and ranchor. Unlike lanchor,
              the ranchor only needs to match the trial completion string.

              The b and B forms are similar to l and L with an  empty  anchor,
              but  need to match only the beginning of the word on the command
              line or trial completion, respectively.

       r:lpat|ranchor=tpat
       R:lpat|ranchor=tpat
       r:lanchor||ranchor=tpat
       R:lanchor||ranchor=tpat
       e:lpat=tpat
       E:lpat=tpat
              As l, L, b and B, with the difference that the command line  and
              trial  completion patterns are anchored on the right side.  Here
              an empty ranchor and the e and E forms force the  match  to  the
              end of the command line or trial completion string.

       x:     This  form  is  used to mark the end of matching specifications:
              subsequent specifications are ignored. In  a  single  standalone
              list of specifications this has no use but where matching speci-
              fications are accumulated, such as from nested  function  calls,
              it can allow one function to override another.

       Each  lpat,  tpat  or anchor is either an empty string or consists of a
       sequence of literal characters (which may be quoted with a  backslash),
       question marks, character classes, and correspondence classes; ordinary
       shell patterns are not used.  Literal characters match only themselves,
       question marks match any character, and character classes are formed as
       for globbing and match any character in the given set.

       Correspondence classes are defined like character classes, but with two
       differences:  they  are  delimited  by  a  pair  of braces, and negated
       classes are not allowed, so the characters !  and  ^  have  no  special
       meaning  directly  after the opening brace.  They indicate that a range
       of characters on the line match a range of characters in the trial com-
       pletion,  but  (unlike  ordinary character classes) paired according to
       the corresponding position in the sequence.  For example, to  make  any
       ASCII  lower case letter on the line match the corresponding upper case
       letter in the trial completion, you can use  `m:{a-z}={A-Z}'  (however,
       see  below  for  the recommended form for this).  More than one pair of
       classes can occur, in which case the first class before  the  =  corre-
       sponds  to  the  first  after it, and so on.  If one side has more such
       classes than the other side, the superfluous classes behave like normal
       character  classes.  In anchor patterns correspondence classes also be-
       have like normal character classes.

       The standard `[:name:]' forms described  for  standard  shell  patterns
       (see  the section FILENAME GENERATION in zshexpn(1)) may appear in cor-
       respondence classes as well as normal character classes.  The only spe-
       cial behaviour in correspondence classes is if the form on the left and
       the form on the right are each one of [:upper:], [:lower:].   In  these
       cases  the  character in the word and the character on the line must be
       the same up to a difference in case.  Hence  to  make  any  lower  case
       character  on  the line match the corresponding upper case character in
       the trial completion you can use `m:{[:lower:]}={[:upper:]}'.  Although
       the  matching  system does not yet handle multibyte characters, this is
       likely to be a future extension, at which point this syntax will handle
       arbitrary  alphabets;  hence this form, rather than the use of explicit
       ranges, is the recommended form.  In other cases `[:name:]'  forms  are
       allowed.   If  the  two  forms  on the left and right are the same, the
       characters must match exactly.  In remaining cases,  the  corresponding
       tests  are  applied to both characters, but they are not otherwise con-
       strained; any matching character in one  set  goes  with  any  matching
       character in the other set:  this is equivalent to the behaviour of or-
       dinary character classes.

       The pattern tpat may also be one or two stars, `*' or `**'. This  means
       that the pattern on the command line can match any number of characters
       in the trial completion. In this case the pattern must be anchored  (on
       either  side); in the case of a single star, the anchor then determines
       how much of the trial completion is to be included -- only the  charac-
       ters  up to the next appearance of the anchor will be matched. With two
       stars, substrings matched by the anchor can be matched, too.

       Examples:

       The keys of the options association defined by the parameter module are
       the option names in all-lower-case form, without underscores, and with-
       out the optional no at the beginning even though  the  builtins  setopt
       and  unsetopt  understand  option names with upper case letters, under-
       scores, and the optional no.  The following alters the  matching  rules
       so  that  the  prefix  no and any underscore are ignored when trying to
       match the trial completions generated and upper  case  letters  on  the
       line match the corresponding lower case letters in the words:

              compadd -M 'L:|[nN][oO]= M:_= M:{[:upper:]}={[:lower:]}' - \
                ${(k)options}

       The  first  part says that the pattern `[nN][oO]' at the beginning (the
       empty anchor before the pipe symbol) of the string on the line  matches
       the  empty  string  in the list of words generated by completion, so it
       will be ignored if present. The second part does the same for an under-
       score anywhere in the command line string, and the third part uses cor-
       respondence classes so that any upper case letter on the  line  matches
       the  corresponding  lower case letter in the word. The use of the upper
       case forms of the specification characters (L and  M)  guarantees  that
       what has already been typed on the command line (in particular the pre-
       fix no) will not be deleted.

       Note that the use of L in the first part means  that  it  matches  only
       when  at  the  beginning  of both the command line string and the trial
       completion.  I.e.,  the  string  `_NO_f'  would  not  be  completed  to
       `_NO_foo', nor would `NONO_f' be completed to `NONO_foo' because of the
       leading underscore or the second `NO' on the line which makes the  pat-
       tern  fail  even  though  they  are otherwise ignored. To fix this, one
       would use `B:[nN][oO]=' instead of the first part. As described  above,
       this  matches  at the beginning of the trial completion, independent of
       other characters or substrings at the beginning  of  the  command  line
       word which are ignored by the same or other match-specs.

       The second example makes completion case insensitive.  This is just the
       same as in the option example, except here we wish to retain the  char-
       acters in the list of completions:

              compadd -M 'm:{[:lower:]}={[:upper:]}' ...

       This  makes lower case letters match their upper case counterparts.  To
       make upper case letters match the lower case forms as well:

              compadd -M 'm:{[:lower:][:upper:]}={[:upper:][:lower:]}' ...

       A nice example for the use of * patterns is  partial  word  completion.
       Sometimes  you  would  like  to  make  strings like `c.s.u' complete to
       strings like `comp.source.unix', i.e. the word on the command line con-
       sists of multiple parts, separated by a dot in this example, where each
       part should be completed separately -- note,  however,  that  the  case
       where  each  part of the word, i.e. `comp', `source' and `unix' in this
       example, is to be completed from separate sets of matches is a  differ-
       ent  problem  to be solved by the implementation of the completion wid-
       get.  The example can be handled by:

              compadd -M 'r:|.=* r:|=*' \
                - comp.sources.unix comp.sources.misc ...

       The first specification says that lpat is the empty string,  while  an-
       chor is a dot; tpat is *, so this can match anything except for the `.'
       from the anchor in the trial  completion  word.   So  in  `c.s.u',  the
       matcher  sees `c', followed by the empty string, followed by the anchor
       `.', and likewise for the second dot, and replaces  the  empty  strings
       before  the  anchors,  giving `c[omp].s[ources].u[nix]', where the last
       part of the completion is just as normal.

       With the pattern shown above, the string `c.u' could not  be  completed
       to  `comp.sources.unix'  because  the  single  star  means  that no dot
       (matched by the anchor) can be  skipped.  By  using  two  stars  as  in
       `r:|.=**',  however,  `c.u'  could be completed to `comp.sources.unix'.
       This also shows that in some cases, especially if the anchor is a  real
       pattern,  like a character class, the form with two stars may result in
       more matches than one would like.

       The second specification is needed to make this work when the cursor is
       in  the  middle  of  the string on the command line and the option COM-
       PLETE_IN_WORD is set. In this case the completion code  would  normally
       try  to  match  trial  completions that end with the string as typed so
       far, i.e. it will only insert new characters  at  the  cursor  position
       rather  than at the end.  However in our example we would like the code
       to recognise matches which contain extra characters after the string on
       the  line  (the  `nix'  in  the  example).  Hence we say that the empty
       string at the end of the string on the line matches any  characters  at
       the end of the trial completion.

       More generally, the specification

              compadd -M 'r:|[.,_-]=* r:|=*' ...

       allows one to complete words with abbreviations before any of the char-
       acters in the square brackets.  For example, to complete  veryverylong-
       file.c  rather  than veryverylongheader.h with the above in effect, you
       can just type very.c before attempting completion.

       The specifications with both a left and a right anchor  are  useful  to
       complete  partial  words  whose parts are not separated by some special
       character. For example, in some places strings  have  to  be  completed
       that are formed `LikeThis' (i.e. the separate parts are determined by a
       leading upper case letter) or maybe one has to  complete  strings  with
       trailing  numbers. Here one could use the simple form with only one an-
       chor as in:

              compadd -M 'r:|[[:upper:]0-9]=* r:|=*' LikeTHIS FooHoo 5foo123 5bar234

       But with this, the string `H' would neither complete to `FooHoo' nor to
       `LikeTHIS'  because  in  each case there is an upper case letter before
       the `H' and that is matched by the anchor. Likewise, a `2' would not be
       completed.  In  both  cases  this  could be changed by using `r:|[[:up-
       per:]0-9]=**', but then `H' completes to both `LikeTHIS'  and  `FooHoo'
       and  a `2' matches the other strings because characters can be inserted
       before every upper case letter and digit. To avoid this one would use:

              compadd -M 'r:[^[:upper:]0-9]||[[:upper:]0-9]=** r:|=*' \
                  LikeTHIS FooHoo foo123 bar234

       By using these two anchors, a `H' matches only upper case `H's that are
       immediately  preceded  by  something  matching the left anchor `[^[:up-
       per:]0-9]'. The effect is, of course, that `H' matches only the  string
       `FooHoo', a `2' matches only `bar234' and so on.

       When  using the completion system (see zshcompsys(1)), users can define
       match specifications that are to be used for specific contexts by using
       the  matcher and matcher-list styles. The values for the latter will be
       used everywhere.

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  com-
       mand:

              bindkey '^X\t' complete

       After that the shell function complete-files will be invoked after typ-
       ing 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.

zsh 5.8                        February 14, 2020                 ZSHCOMPWID(1)

NAME | DESCRIPTION | COMPLETION SPECIAL PARAMETERS | COMPLETION BUILTIN COMMANDS | COMPLETION CONDITION CODES | COMPLETION MATCHING CONTROL | COMPLETION WIDGET EXAMPLE