On this page
rlcompleter — Completion function for GNU readline
Source code: Lib/rlcompleter.py
The rlcompleter
module defines a completion function suitable for the readline
module by completing valid Python identifiers and keywords.
When this module is imported on a Unix platform with the readline
module available, an instance of the Completer
class is automatically created and its complete()
method is set as the 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(
>>> readline.
The rlcompleter
module is designed for use with Python’s interactive mode. Unless Python is run with the -S
option, the module is automatically imported and configured (see Readline configuration).
On platforms without readline
, the Completer
class defined by this module can still be used for custom purposes.
Completer Objects
Completer objects have the following method:
Completer.
complete
( text, state )-
Return the stateth completion for text.
If called for text that doesn’t include a period character (
'.'
), it will complete from names currently defined in__main__
,builtins
and keywords (as defined by thekeyword
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
__getattr__()
) up to the last part, and find matches for the rest via thedir()
function. Any exception raised during the evaluation of the expression is caught, silenced andNone
is returned.