Doc/lib/librlcompleter.tex

   1 \section{\module{rlcompleter} ---
   2          Completion function for GNU readline}
   3
   4 \declaremodule{standard}{rlcompleter}
   5   \platform{Unix}
   6 \sectionauthor{Moshe Zadka}{moshez@zadka.site.co.il}
   7 \modulesynopsis{Python identifier completion for the GNU readline library.}
   8
   9 The \module{rlcompleter} module defines a completion function for
  10 the \refmodule{readline} module by completing valid Python identifiers
  11 and keywords.
  12
  13 This module is \UNIX-specific due to it's dependence on the
  14 \refmodule{readline} module.
  15
  16 The \module{rlcompleter} module defines the \class{Completer} class.
  17
  18 Example:
  19
  20 \begin{verbatim}
  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 \end{verbatim}
  30
  31 The \module{rlcompleter} module is designed for use with Python's
  32 interactive mode.  A user can add the following lines to his or her
  33 initialization file (identified by the \envvar{PYTHONSTARTUP}
  34 environment variable) to get automatic \kbd{Tab} completion:
  35
  36 \begin{verbatim}
  37 try:
  38     import readline
  39 except ImportError:
  40     print "Module readline not available."
  41 else:
  42     import rlcompleter
  43     readline.parse_and_bind("tab: complete")
  44 \end{verbatim}
  45
  46
  47 \subsection{Completer Objects \label{completer-objects}}
  48
  49 Completer objects have the following method:
  50
  51 \begin{methoddesc}[Completer]{complete}{text, state}
  52 Return the \var{state}th completion for \var{text}.
  53
  54 If called for \var{text} that doesn't include a period character
  55 (\character{.}), it will complete from names currently defined in
  56 \refmodule[main]{__main__}, \refmodule[builtin]{__builtin__} and
  57 keywords (as defined by the \refmodule{keyword} module).
  58
  59 If called for a dotted name, it will try to evaluate anything without
  60 obvious side-effects (i.e., functions will not be evaluated, but it
  61 can generate calls to \method{__getattr__()}) upto the last part, and
  62 find matches for the rest via the \function{dir()} function.
  63 \end{methoddesc}