1 :mod:`rlcompleter` --- Completion function for GNU readline 2 =========================================================== 3 4 .. module:: rlcompleter 5 :synopsis: Python identifier completion, suitable for the GNU readline library. 6 .. sectionauthor:: Moshe Zadka <moshez (a] zadka.site.co.il> 7 8 **Source code:** :source:`Lib/rlcompleter.py` 9 10 -------------- 11 12 The :mod:`rlcompleter` module defines a completion function suitable for the 13 :mod:`readline` module by completing valid Python identifiers and keywords. 14 15 When this module is imported on a Unix platform with the :mod:`readline` module 16 available, an instance of the :class:`Completer` class is automatically created 17 and its :meth:`complete` method is set as the :mod:`readline` completer. 18 19 Example:: 20 21 >>> import rlcompleter 22 >>> import readline 23 >>> readline.parse_and_bind("tab: complete") 24 >>> readline. <TAB PRESSED> 25 readline.__doc__ readline.get_line_buffer( readline.read_init_file( 26 readline.__file__ readline.insert_text( readline.set_completer( 27 readline.__name__ readline.parse_and_bind( 28 >>> readline. 29 30 The :mod:`rlcompleter` module is designed for use with Python's interactive 31 mode. A user can add the following lines to his or her initialization file 32 (identified by the :envvar:`PYTHONSTARTUP` environment variable) to get 33 automatic :kbd:`Tab` completion:: 34 35 try: 36 import readline 37 except ImportError: 38 print "Module readline not available." 39 else: 40 import rlcompleter 41 readline.parse_and_bind("tab: complete") 42 43 On platforms without :mod:`readline`, the :class:`Completer` class defined by 44 this module can still be used for custom purposes. 45 46 47 .. _completer-objects: 48 49 Completer Objects 50 ----------------- 51 52 Completer objects have the following method: 53 54 55 .. method:: Completer.complete(text, state) 56 57 Return the *state*\ th completion for *text*. 58 59 If called for *text* that doesn't include a period character (``'.'``), it will 60 complete from names currently defined in :mod:`__main__`, :mod:`__builtin__` and 61 keywords (as defined by the :mod:`keyword` module). 62 63 If called for a dotted name, it will try to evaluate anything without obvious 64 side-effects (functions will not be evaluated, but it can generate calls to 65 :meth:`__getattr__`) up to the last part, and find matches for the rest via the 66 :func:`dir` function. Any exception raised during the evaluation of the 67 expression is caught, silenced and :const:`None` is returned. 68 69
