Re: path completion with cd <tab> - similar to tcsh

[Clark J. Wang]

On Fri, Apr 15, 2011 at 6:19 AM, Peter Toft <pto@linuxbog.dk> wrote:

> Hi all
>
> I have been using tcsh for a long time on Red Hat Linux boxes, and
> bash on other UNIX-boxes. One thing I really love with tcsh is the way
> I can swiftly operate using the <TAB> to do auto-complete, when having
> a deep directory hierarchy. I have that...
>
> With bash I surely could use your skills to improve my usage of bash
> (read; allow me to ditch tcsh fully).
>
> I have an annoying bash-problem on Red Hat Linux 5.x. If I e.g. try to move
> to a subdirectory of another directory (e.g. $HOME), where the tab-expand
> works poorly;
>
> Assume $HOME=/home/pto
>
> "cd $HOME<TAB>" is expanded to "cd /home/pto " (without the quotes).
> I get $HOME expanded - quite ok - but I get an annoying space efter the
> path.
> I will never like that space, I strongly prefer if I could get
> "cd $HOME<TAB>" expanded to "cd /home/pto/" (without the quotes) so I could
> continue to press <TAB> and see the allowed sub-directories - much faster
> for me.
>
> I have also understood I can do
> $ complete -o nospace  cd
> to change the mode of operation, but this seems to disable the
> auto-complete
> function when doing cd $VARIABLE<TAB>.
>
> I am guestimating, that you have discussed this in February
> (cf. http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/gentoo/user/227574)
> but the February archive seems to be lost;
> http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-bash/2011-02/msg00274.html
> so I cannot get the details of it.
>
> That cited link is suggesting; "ESC ctrl-e gets rid of the
> backslash, and if you want to keep the $VAR as $VAR, backspace over
> the terminal space and continue. Or you can ESC ctrl-e again, and
> convert the $VAR to its value, so you won't need to repeat the single
> ESC ctrl-e for each further <tab>."
> which IMHO is not really what I want.
>
> Any hints on this? Can I set the mode of operation as I like where the
> infamous space is replaced by a slash when doing "cd ... <TAB>"?
>
> Best
>
> --
> Peter Toft, PhD
> http://petertoft.dk
>
>
That also annoys me much. Try like this:

$ complete -o default -o nospace -d cd
$ cd $VAR/<TAB>

-- 
Clark J. Wang