Change Directory Command Tabbing Issue

sadarax · 01-16-2006, 03:28 AM

Is there a way within the bash shell to make the 'cd' (change directory) command and tabbing only present you with directories as options?

What I mean is this, say my current working directory has these contents:

Code:

gprename-1.24/
gprename_0.92-1_all.deb
gprename-1.24.tar.bz2
install.txt
gprename-icons-1.0.tar.bz2

When I use the 'cd' command with a 'g' and then hit tab (literally 'cd g' then tab twice), I expect it to only show me directory options in the list.

In fills out the 'g' with 'gprename' and shows me:

Code:

gprename_0.92-1_all.deb     gprename-1.24.tar.bz2
gprename-1.24/              gprename-icons-1.0.tar.bz2

Now, there is only one directory there. I want to know if I can make cd only give me the option of using directories when I double tab.

BTW, I am sure this has been posted about in threads already, but the search criteria is too general for me to find anything.

WindowBreaker · 01-16-2006, 04:05 AM

Now I may be wrong, but I don't think bash will do that. Remember that in linux directories are a type of file. They also have an inode number and are treated [almost] the same.

I know one thing that alters how tab completion works is the permissions bit mask of the file name. If there are the following two files in a directory:

Quote:

-rw-r--r-- 1 pablo users 0 2006-01-16 02:00 test
-rwxr-xr-x 1 pablo users 0 2006-01-16 02:00 test2*

And you type in : ./te[TAB] , then it will fill in test2 , not test, because it (bash) knows that test is not executable, but test2 is.

If you find a way post it.

scott_R · 01-16-2006, 06:23 AM

This is extracted from Mepis' /etc/bash_completion file, but you'll need to alter it to fit your system. (And obviously, a bit of knowledge of bash scripting)

# This meta-cd function observes the CDPATH variable, so that cd additionally
# completes on directories under those specified in CDPATH.
#
_cd()
{
local IFS=$'\t\n' cur=${COMP_WORDS[COMP_CWORD]} i j k

# try to allow variable completion
if [[ "$cur" == ?(\\)\$* ]]; then
COMPREPLY=( $( compgen -v -P '$' -- "${cur#?(\\)$}" ) )
return 0
fi

# Use standard dir completion if no CDPATH or parameter starts with /,
# ./ or ../
if [ -z "${CDPATH:-}" ] || [[ "$cur" == ?(.)?(.)/* ]]; then
_filedir -d
return 0
fi

local -r mark_dirs=$(_rl_enabled mark-directories && echo y)
local -r mark_symdirs=$(_rl_enabled mark-symlinked-directories && echo y)

# we have a CDPATH, so loop on its contents
for i in ${CDPATH//:/$'\t'}; do
# create an array of matched subdirs
k=${#COMPREPLY[@]}
for j in $( compgen -d $i/$cur ); do
if [[ ( $mark_symdirs && -h $j || $mark_dirs && ! -h $j ) && ! -d ${j#$i/} ]]; then
j="${j}/"
fi
COMPREPLY[k++]=${j#$i/}
done
done

_filedir -d

if [[ ${#COMPREPLY[@]} -eq 1 ]]; then
i=${COMPREPLY[0]}
if [ "$i" == "$cur" ] && [[ $i != "*/" ]]; then
COMPREPLY[0]="${i}/"
fi
fi

return 0
}
if shopt -q cdable_vars; then
complete -v -F _cd $nospace $filenames cd
else
complete -F _cd $nospace $filenames cd
fi

sadarax · 01-17-2006, 02:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scott_R

This is extracted from Mepis' /etc/bash_completion file, but you'll need to alter it to fit your system. (And obviously, a bit of knowledge of bash scripting)

_cd()
{
local IFS=$'\t\n' cur=${COMP_WORDS[COMP_CWORD]} i j k
...
complete -F _cd $nospace $filenames cd
fi

Thanks for the code. I looked over my /etc/bash_completion file. In the _cd() section, the code in my file is the same as the code you gave me. So, we still have not anywhere yet.

I used Mepis in the past so that may be where I remember the proper cd command completion from.