:mod:`rlcompleter` --- Completion function for GNU readline =========================================================== .. module:: rlcompleter :synopsis: Python identifier completion, suitable for the GNU readline library. .. sectionauthor:: Moshe Zadka **Source code:** :source:`Lib/rlcompleter.py` -------------- 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. readline.__doc__ readline.get_line_buffer( readline.read_init_file( readline.__file__ readline.insert_text( readline.set_completer( readline.__name__ readline.parse_and_bind( >>> 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 :func:`dir` function. Any exception raised during the evaluation of the expression is caught, silenced and :const:`None` is returned.