:mod:!rlcompleter --- Completion function for GNU readline

.. module:: rlcompleter :synopsis: Python identifier completion, suitable for the GNU readline library.

Source code: :source:Lib/rlcompleter.py

The :mod:!rlcompleter module defines a completion function suitable to be passed to :func:~readline.set_completer in the :mod:readline module.

When this module is imported on a Unix platform with the :mod:readline module available, an instance of the :class:Completer class is automatically created and its :meth:~Completer.complete method is set as the :ref:readline completer <readline-completion>. The method provides completion of valid Python :ref:identifiers and keywords <identifiers>.

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 :mod:!rlcompleter module is designed for use with Python's :ref:interactive mode <tut-interactive>. Unless Python is run with the :option:-S option, the module is automatically imported and configured (see :ref:rlcompleter-config).

On platforms without :mod:readline, the :class:Completer class defined by this module can still be used for custom purposes.

.. _completer-objects:

.. class:: Completer

Completer objects have the following method:

.. method:: Completer.complete(text, state)

  Return the next possible completion for *text*.

  When called by the :mod:`readline` module, this method is called
  successively with ``state == 0, 1, 2, ...`` until the method returns
  ``None``.

  If called for *text* that doesn't include a period character (``'.'``), it will
  complete from names currently defined in :mod:`__main__`, :mod:`builtins` and
  keywords (as defined by the :mod:`keyword` 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
  :meth:`~object.__getattr__`) up to the last part, and find matches for the
  rest via the :func:`dir` function.  Any exception raised during the
  evaluation of the expression is caught, silenced and :const:`None` is
  returned.