'pwd' question

Captain Morgan · 06-20-2009, 03:37 PM

Hi all,

I'm not sure exactly how to describe this so bear with me. When I create a shortcut in CentOS for example, instead of typing the full path I can usually type ln -s `pwd`/ and then I press tab for it to print out the working directory before finishing the full path. In some distros I can't do this (use tab to complete) and I'm not sure what has to be set in the environment to make this work. In particular, I'm trying to do this in debian/ubuntu.

e.g.

If I'm currently in /usr/local/morgan and want to create a shortcut named blah to the folder called "test" I would type:

ln -s `pwd`/test *press tab* and then it would become:

ln -s /usr/local/morgan/test

so all I have to do is hit spacebar and type "blah".

Thanks

Andy Alkaline · 06-20-2009, 04:23 PM

You might need a package called bash-completion.

http://www.debian-administration.org/articles/316

Quote:

One of the nicest facilities of the modern shell is the built in "completion" support. These facilities allow you to complete commands and their arguments easily. Read on for a brief introduction to adding your own command completions.
Most shells allow command completion, typically bound to the TAB key, which allow you to complete the names of commands stored upon your PATH, file names, or directory names. This is typically used like so:

I think it must be built into bash on some distros because I don't have it installed on my system, but the tab key auto-completes filenames and commands anyway, just having the bash package installed.

But I'd see if bash-completion is in the repository for your distro. If not, wait for someone else to answer.

mufy · 08-19-2009, 04:59 AM

In AIX, I use 'Esc' followed by '\' for auto completion. I must warn you though that this isn't as neat as the bash "tab" feature because:

1) You do not get to see all possible options by hitting tab twice for a
given sequence of characters.
2) If there are more than one possibility for a given sequence, the prompt
just refuses to budge unless you give the next few characters.