diff -u -r bash-3.1/doc/bashref.info bash-3.1-ellipsis/doc/bashref.info
--- bash-3.1/doc/bashref.info	2005-10-03 21:07:32.000000000 +0200
+++ bash-3.1-ellipsis/doc/bashref.info	2005-12-10 22:43:09.091010680 +0100
@@ -5986,6 +5986,12 @@
           `insert-comment' command is executed.  The default value is
           `"#"'.
 
+    `completion-ellipsis'
+          If set to `on', Readline will transform the common prefix
+          of matched words in an ellipsis when showing possible
+          options, if the prefix is longer than three characters.
+          The default value is `off'.
+
     `completion-ignore-case'
           If set to `on', Readline performs filename matching and
           completion in a case-insensitive fashion.  The default value
diff -u -r bash-3.1/lib/readline/bind.c bash-3.1-ellipsis/lib/readline/bind.c
--- bash-3.1/lib/readline/bind.c	2005-10-14 17:04:27.000000000 +0200
+++ bash-3.1-ellipsis/lib/readline/bind.c	2005-12-10 22:39:20.485763960 +0100
@@ -1383,6 +1383,7 @@
   { "bind-tty-special-chars",	&_rl_bind_stty_chars,		0 },
   { "blink-matching-paren",	&rl_blink_matching_paren,	V_SPECIAL },
   { "byte-oriented",		&rl_byte_oriented,		0 },
+  { "completion-ellipsis",	&_rl_completion_ellipsis,	0 },
   { "completion-ignore-case",	&_rl_completion_case_fold,	0 },
   { "convert-meta",		&_rl_convert_meta_chars_to_ascii, 0 },
   { "disable-completion",	&rl_inhibit_completion,		0 },
diff -u -r bash-3.1/lib/readline/complete.c bash-3.1-ellipsis/lib/readline/complete.c
--- bash-3.1/lib/readline/complete.c	2005-10-08 04:30:18.000000000 +0200
+++ bash-3.1-ellipsis/lib/readline/complete.c	2005-12-10 22:36:58.844296736 +0100
@@ -110,8 +110,8 @@
 static int _rl_internal_pager PARAMS((int));
 static char *printable_part PARAMS((char *));
 static int fnwidth PARAMS((const char *));
-static int fnprint PARAMS((const char *));
-static int print_filename PARAMS((char *, char *));
+static int fnprint PARAMS((const char *, const int));
+static int print_filename PARAMS((char *, char *, int));
 
 static char **gen_completion_matches PARAMS((char *, int, int, rl_compentry_func_t *, int, int));
 
@@ -160,6 +160,11 @@
 int _rl_completion_case_fold;
 #endif
 
+/* If non-zero, the common part of the displayed matches is substituted
+   with an ellipsis if it's longer than ELLIPSIS_LENGTH characters */
+int _rl_completion_ellipsis = 0;
+#define ELLIPSIS_LENGTH 3
+
 /* If non-zero, don't match hidden files (filenames beginning with a `.' on
    Unix) when doing filename completion. */
 int _rl_match_hidden_files = 1;
@@ -615,8 +620,9 @@
 }
 
 static int
-fnprint (to_print)
+fnprint (to_print, common_length)
      const char *to_print;
+     const int common_length;
 {
   int printed_len;
   const char *s;
@@ -632,7 +638,21 @@
 #endif
 
   printed_len = 0;
-  s = to_print;
+  /* Before looping over output charactes, see if we have to skip some. */
+  if (common_length)
+    {
+      int count;
+      char ellipsis = '.';
+
+      /* Change ellipsis character if equals dot. */
+      if (ellipsis == *(to_print + common_length))
+        ellipsis = '_';
+
+      for (count = 0; count < ELLIPSIS_LENGTH; count++)
+	  putc (ellipsis, rl_outstream);
+    }
+
+  s = to_print + common_length;
   while (*s)
     {
       if (CTRL_CHAR (*s))
@@ -691,14 +711,15 @@
    filenames.  Return the number of characters we output. */
 
 static int
-print_filename (to_print, full_pathname)
+print_filename (to_print, full_pathname, common_length)
      char *to_print, *full_pathname;
+     int common_length;
 {
   int printed_len, extension_char, slen, tlen;
   char *s, c, *new_full_pathname, *dn;
 
   extension_char = 0;
-  printed_len = fnprint (to_print);
+  printed_len = fnprint (to_print, common_length);
 
 #if defined (VISIBLE_STATS)
  if (rl_filename_completion_desired && (rl_visible_stats || _rl_complete_mark_directories))
@@ -1267,9 +1288,25 @@
      int len, max;
 {
   int count, limit, printed_len, lines;
-  int i, j, k, l;
+  int i, j, k, l, common_length;
   char *temp;
 
+  /* First match stores the common text, find out it's file length */
+  common_length = 0;
+  if (_rl_completion_ellipsis)
+    {
+      temp = strrchr (printable_part (matches[0]), '/');
+      if (!temp)
+	common_length = strlen (printable_part (matches[0]));
+      else
+	common_length = strlen (temp);
+
+      if (common_length > ELLIPSIS_LENGTH)
+	max -= common_length - ELLIPSIS_LENGTH;
+      else
+	common_length = 0;
+    }
+
   /* How many items of MAX length can we fit in the screen window? */
   max += 2;
   limit = _rl_screenwidth / max;
@@ -1307,7 +1344,7 @@
 	      else
 		{
 		  temp = printable_part (matches[l]);
-		  printed_len = print_filename (temp, matches[l]);
+		  printed_len = print_filename (temp, matches[l], common_length);
 
 		  if (j + 1 < limit)
 		    for (k = 0; k < max - printed_len; k++)
@@ -1331,7 +1368,7 @@
       for (i = 1; matches[i]; i++)
 	{
 	  temp = printable_part (matches[i]);
-	  printed_len = print_filename (temp, matches[i]);
+	  printed_len = print_filename (temp, matches[i], common_length);
 	  /* Have we reached the end of this line? */
 	  if (matches[i+1])
 	    {
@@ -1381,7 +1418,7 @@
     {
       temp = printable_part (matches[0]);
       rl_crlf ();
-      print_filename (temp, matches[0]);
+      print_filename (temp, matches[0], 0);
       rl_crlf ();
 
       rl_forced_update_display ();
diff -u -r bash-3.1/lib/readline/doc/rluser.texi bash-3.1-ellipsis/lib/readline/doc/rluser.texi
--- bash-3.1/lib/readline/doc/rluser.texi	2005-09-14 20:22:30.000000000 +0200
+++ bash-3.1-ellipsis/lib/readline/doc/rluser.texi	2005-12-10 22:41:37.553926432 +0100
@@ -420,6 +420,12 @@
 @code{insert-comment} command is executed.  The default value
 is @code{"#"}.
 
+@item completion-ellipsis
+If set to @samp{on}, Readline will transform the common prefix of matched
+words in an ellipsis when showing possible options, if the prefix is
+longer than three characters.
+The default value is @samp{off}.
+
 @item completion-ignore-case
 If set to @samp{on}, Readline performs filename matching and completion
 in a case-insensitive fashion.
diff -u -r bash-3.1/lib/readline/rlprivate.h bash-3.1-ellipsis/lib/readline/rlprivate.h
--- bash-3.1/lib/readline/rlprivate.h	2005-08-27 02:58:19.000000000 +0200
+++ bash-3.1-ellipsis/lib/readline/rlprivate.h	2005-12-10 22:44:12.241410360 +0100
@@ -346,6 +346,7 @@
 extern int _rl_complete_mark_directories;
 extern int _rl_complete_mark_symlink_dirs;
 extern int _rl_print_completions_horizontally;
+extern int _rl_completion_ellipsis;
 extern int _rl_completion_case_fold;
 extern int _rl_match_hidden_files;
 extern int _rl_page_completions;