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<div class="section" id="module-rlcompleter">
<h1>17.9. <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">rlcompleter</span></tt> — Completion function for GNU readline<a class="headerlink" href="#module-rlcompleter" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h1>
<p>The <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">rlcompleter</span></tt> module defines a completion function suitable for the
<a title="(Unix) GNU readline support for Python." class="reference external" href="readline.html#module-readline"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">readline</span></tt></a> module by completing valid Python identifiers and keywords.</p>
<p>When this module is imported on a Unix platform with the <a title="(Unix) GNU readline support for Python." class="reference external" href="readline.html#module-readline"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">readline</span></tt></a> module
available, an instance of the <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">Completer</span></tt> class is automatically created
and its <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">complete()</span></tt> method is set as the <a title="(Unix) GNU readline support for Python." class="reference external" href="readline.html#module-readline"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">readline</span></tt></a> completer.</p>
<p>Example:</p>
<div class="highlight-python"><div class="highlight"><pre><span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="kn">import</span> <span class="nn">rlcompleter</span>
<span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="kn">import</span> <span class="nn">readline</span>
<span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="n">readline</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">parse_and_bind</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s">"tab: complete"</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="n">readline</span><span class="o">.</span> <span class="o"><</span><span class="n">TAB</span> <span class="n">PRESSED</span><span class="o">></span>
<span class="go">readline.__doc__ readline.get_line_buffer( readline.read_init_file(</span>
<span class="go">readline.__file__ readline.insert_text( readline.set_completer(</span>
<span class="go">readline.__name__ readline.parse_and_bind(</span>
<span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="n">readline</span><span class="o">.</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>The <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">rlcompleter</span></tt> 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 <span class="target" id="index-534"></span><a class="reference external" href="../using/cmdline.html#envvar-PYTHONSTARTUP"><strong class="xref">PYTHONSTARTUP</strong></a> environment variable) to get
automatic <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">Tab</span></tt> completion:</p>
<div class="highlight-python"><div class="highlight"><pre><span class="k">try</span><span class="p">:</span>
<span class="kn">import</span> <span class="nn">readline</span>
<span class="k">except</span> <span class="ne">ImportError</span><span class="p">:</span>
<span class="k">print</span> <span class="s">"Module readline not available."</span>
<span class="k">else</span><span class="p">:</span>
<span class="kn">import</span> <span class="nn">rlcompleter</span>
<span class="n">readline</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">parse_and_bind</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s">"tab: complete"</span><span class="p">)</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>On platforms without <a title="(Unix) GNU readline support for Python." class="reference external" href="readline.html#module-readline"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">readline</span></tt></a>, the <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">Completer</span></tt> class defined by
this module can still be used for custom purposes.</p>
<div class="section" id="completer-objects">
<span id="id1"></span><h2>17.9.1. Completer Objects<a class="headerlink" href="#completer-objects" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>Completer objects have the following method:</p>
<dl class="method">
<dt id="rlcompleter.Completer.complete">
<tt class="descclassname">Completer.</tt><tt class="descname">complete</tt><big>(</big><em>text</em>, <em>state</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#rlcompleter.Completer.complete" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Return the <em>state</em>th completion for <em>text</em>.</p>
<p>If called for <em>text</em> that doesn’t include a period character (<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">'.'</span></tt>), it will
complete from names currently defined in <a title="The environment where the top-level script is run." class="reference external" href="__main__.html#module-__main__"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">__main__</span></tt></a>, <a title="The module that provides the built-in namespace." class="reference external" href="__builtin__.html#module-__builtin__"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">__builtin__</span></tt></a> and
keywords (as defined by the <a title="Test whether a string is a keyword in Python." class="reference external" href="keyword.html#module-keyword"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">keyword</span></tt></a> module).</p>
<p>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
<a title="object.__getattr__" class="reference external" href="../reference/datamodel.html#object.__getattr__"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">__getattr__()</span></tt></a>) up to the last part, and find matches for the rest via the
<a title="dir" class="reference external" href="functions.html#dir"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">dir()</span></tt></a> function. Any exception raised during the evaluation of the
expression is caught, silenced and <a title="None" class="reference external" href="constants.html#None"><tt class="xref xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">None</span></tt></a> is returned.</p>
</dd></dl>
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<h3><a href="../contents.html">Table Of Contents</a></h3>
<ul>
<li><a class="reference external" href="#">17.9. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">rlcompleter</span></tt> — Completion function for GNU readline</a><ul>
<li><a class="reference external" href="#completer-objects">17.9.1. Completer Objects</a></li>
</ul>
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<h4>Previous topic</h4>
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