{ "mode": "man", "parameter": "zshcompctl", "section": "1", "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/zshcompctl/1/json", "generated": "2026-08-29T19:52:48Z", "sections": { "NAME": { "content": "zshcompctl - zsh programmable completion\n", "subsections": [] }, "DESCRIPTION": { "content": "This version of zsh has two ways of performing completion of words on the command line. New\nusers of the shell may prefer to use the newer and more powerful system based on shell func‐\ntions; this is described in zshcompsys(1), and the basic shell mechanisms which support it\nare described in zshcompwid(1). This manual entry describes the older compctl command.\n\ncompctl [ -CDT ] options [ command ... ]\ncompctl [ -CDT ] options [ -x pattern options - ... -- ]\n[ + options [ -x ... -- ] ... [+] ] [ command ... ]\ncompctl -M match-specs ...\ncompctl -L [ -CDTM ] [ command ... ]\ncompctl + command ...\n\nControl the editor's completion behavior according to the supplied set of options. Various\nediting commands, notably expand-or-complete-word, usually bound to tab, will attempt to com‐\nplete a word typed by the user, while others, notably delete-char-or-list, usually bound to\n^D in EMACS editing mode, list the possibilities; compctl controls what those possibilities\nare. They may for example be filenames (the most common case, and hence the default), shell\nvariables, or words from a user-specified list.\n", "subsections": [] }, "COMMAND FLAGS": { "content": "Completion of the arguments of a command may be different for each command or may use the de‐\nfault. The behavior when completing the command word itself may also be separately speci‐\nfied. These correspond to the following flags and arguments, all of which (except for -L)\nmay be combined with any combination of the options described subsequently in the section\n`Option Flags':\n\ncommand ...\ncontrols completion for the named commands, which must be listed last on the command\nline. If completion is attempted for a command with a pathname containing slashes and\nno completion definition is found, the search is retried with the last pathname compo‐\nnent. If the command starts with a =, completion is tried with the pathname of the\ncommand.\n\nAny of the command strings may be patterns of the form normally used for filename gen‐\neration. These should be quoted to protect them from immediate expansion; for example\nthe command string 'foo*' arranges for completion of the words of any command begin‐\nning with foo. When completion is attempted, all pattern completions are tried in the\nreverse order of their definition until one matches. By default, completion then pro‐\nceeds as normal, i.e. the shell will try to generate more matches for the specific\ncommand on the command line; this can be overridden by including -tn in the flags for\nthe pattern completion.\n\nNote that aliases are expanded before the command name is determined unless the COM‐\nPLETEALIASES option is set. Commands may not be combined with the -C, -D or -T\nflags.\n", "subsections": [ { "name": "-C", "content": "command has been issued, the names of any executable command (whether in the path or\nspecific to the shell, such as aliases or functions) are completed.\n", "flag": "-C" }, { "name": "-D", "content": "special behavior. If no compctl -D command has been issued, filenames are completed.\n", "flag": "-D" }, { "name": "-T", "content": "processing for compctls defined for specific commands. This is especially useful when\ncombined with extended completion (the -x flag, see the section `Extended Completion'\nbelow). Using this flag you can define default behavior which will apply to all com‐\nmands without exception, or you can alter the standard behavior for all commands. For\nexample, if your access to the user database is too slow and/or it contains too many\nusers (so that completion after `~' is too slow to be usable), you can use\n\ncompctl -T -x 's[~] C[0,[^/]#]' -k friends -S/ -tn\n\nto complete the strings in the array friends after a `~'. The C[...] argument is nec‐\nessary so that this form of ~-completion is not tried after the directory name is fin‐\nished.\n", "flag": "-T" }, { "name": "-L", "content": "start-up script; the existing behavior is not changed. Any combination of the above\nforms, or the -M flag (which must follow the -L flag), may be specified, otherwise all\ndefined completions are listed. Any other flags supplied are ignored.\n\nno argument\nIf no argument is given, compctl lists all defined completions in an abbreviated form;\nwith a list of options, all completions with those flags set (not counting extended\ncompletion) are listed.\n\nIf the + flag is alone and followed immediately by the command list, the completion behavior\nfor all the commands in the list is reset to the default. In other words, completion will\nsubsequently use the options specified by the -D flag.\n\nThe form with -M as the first and only option defines global matching specifications (see\nzshcompwid). The match specifications given will be used for every completion attempt (only\nwhen using compctl, not with the new completion system) and are tried in the order in which\nthey are defined until one generates at least one match. E.g.:\n\ncompctl -M '' 'm:{a-zA-Z}={A-Za-z}'\n\nThis will first try completion without any global match specifications (the empty string)\nand, if that generates no matches, will try case insensitive completion.\n", "flag": "-L" } ] }, "OPTION FLAGS": { "content": "[ -fcFBdeaRGovNAIOPZEnbjrzu/12 ]\n[ -k array ] [ -g globstring ] [ -s subststring ]\n[ -K function ]\n[ -Q ] [ -P prefix ] [ -S suffix ]\n[ -W file-prefix ] [ -H num pattern ]\n[ -q ] [ -X explanation ] [ -Y explanation ]\n[ -y func-or-var ] [ -l cmd ] [ -h cmd ] [ -U ]\n[ -t continue ] [ -J name ] [ -V name ]\n[ -M match-spec ]\n\nThe remaining options specify the type of command arguments to look for during completion.\nAny combination of these flags may be specified; the result is a sorted list of all the pos‐\nsibilities. The options are as follows.\n", "subsections": [ { "name": "Simple Flags", "content": "These produce completion lists made up by the shell itself:\n" }, { "name": "-f", "content": "-/ Just file system paths.\n", "flag": "-f" }, { "name": "-c", "content": "", "flag": "-c" }, { "name": "-F", "content": "", "flag": "-F" }, { "name": "-B", "content": "", "flag": "-B" }, { "name": "-m", "content": "", "flag": "-m" }, { "name": "-w", "content": "", "flag": "-w" }, { "name": "-a", "content": "", "flag": "-a" }, { "name": "-R", "content": "", "flag": "-R" }, { "name": "-G", "content": "", "flag": "-G" }, { "name": "-d -F -B -w -a -R -G", "content": "tions, builtins, reserved words or aliases.\n", "flag": "-G" }, { "name": "-e", "content": "with -d; -de in combination with -F, -B, -w, -a, -R and -G will complete names of\nfunctions, builtins, reserved words or aliases whether or not they are disabled.\n", "flag": "-e" }, { "name": "-o", "content": "", "flag": "-o" }, { "name": "-v", "content": "", "flag": "-v" }, { "name": "-N", "content": "", "flag": "-N" }, { "name": "-A", "content": "", "flag": "-A" }, { "name": "-I", "content": "", "flag": "-I" }, { "name": "-O", "content": "", "flag": "-O" }, { "name": "-p", "content": "", "flag": "-p" }, { "name": "-Z", "content": "", "flag": "-Z" }, { "name": "-E", "content": "", "flag": "-E" }, { "name": "-n", "content": "", "flag": "-n" }, { "name": "-b", "content": "", "flag": "-b" }, { "name": "-j", "content": "kill builtin.\n", "flag": "-j" }, { "name": "-r", "content": "", "flag": "-r" }, { "name": "-z", "content": "", "flag": "-z" }, { "name": "-u", "content": "", "flag": "-u" }, { "name": "Flags with Arguments", "content": "These have user supplied arguments to determine how the list of completions is to be made up:\n" }, { "name": "-k _", "content": "Names taken from the elements of $array (note that the `$' does not appear on the com‐\nmand line). Alternatively, the argument array itself may be a set of space- or\ncomma-separated values in parentheses, in which any delimiter may be escaped with a\nbackslash; in this case the argument should be quoted. For example,\n\ncompctl -k \"(cputime filesize datasize stacksize\ncoredumpsize resident descriptors)\" limit\n", "flag": "-k" }, { "name": "-g _", "content": "The globstring is expanded using filename globbing; it should be quoted to protect it\nfrom immediate expansion. The resulting filenames are taken as the possible comple‐\ntions. Use `*(/)' instead of `*/' for directories. The fignore special parameter is\nnot applied to the resulting files. More than one pattern may be given separated by\nblanks. (Note that brace expansion is not part of globbing. Use the syntax `(ei‐\nther|or)' to match alternatives.)\n", "flag": "-g" }, { "name": "-s _", "content": "The subststring is split into words and these words are than expanded using all shell\nexpansion mechanisms (see zshexpn(1)). The resulting words are taken as possible com‐\npletions. The fignore special parameter is not applied to the resulting files. Note\nthat -g is faster for filenames.\n", "flag": "-s" }, { "name": "-K _", "content": "Call the given function to get the completions. Unless the name starts with an under‐\nscore, the function is passed two arguments: the prefix and the suffix of the word on\nwhich completion is to be attempted, in other words those characters before the cursor\nposition, and those from the cursor position onwards. The whole command line can be\naccessed with the -c and -l flags of the read builtin. The function should set the\nvariable reply to an array containing the completions (one completion per element);\nnote that reply should not be made local to the function. From such a function the\ncommand line can be accessed with the -c and -l flags to the read builtin. For exam‐\nple,\n\nfunction whoson { reply=(`users`); }\ncompctl -K whoson talk\n\ncompletes only logged-on users after `talk'. Note that `whoson' must return an array,\nso `reply=`users`' would be incorrect.\n", "flag": "-K" }, { "name": "-H _", "content": "The possible completions are taken from the last num history lines. Only words match‐\ning pattern are taken. If num is zero or negative the whole history is searched and\nif pattern is the empty string all words are taken (as with `*'). A typical use is\n\ncompctl -D -f + -H 0 ''\n\nwhich forces completion to look back in the history list for a word if no filename\nmatches.\n", "flag": "-H" }, { "name": "Control Flags", "content": "These do not directly specify types of name to be completed, but manipulate the options that\ndo:\n" }, { "name": "-Q", "content": "Normally the results of a completion are inserted into the command line with any\nmetacharacters quoted so that they are interpreted as normal characters. This is ap‐\npropriate for filenames and ordinary strings. However, for special effects, such as\ninserting a backquoted expression from a completion array (-k) so that the expression\nwill not be evaluated until the complete line is executed, this option must be used.\n", "flag": "-Q" }, { "name": "-P _", "content": "The prefix is inserted just before the completed string; any initial part already\ntyped will be completed and the whole prefix ignored for completion purposes. For ex‐\nample,\n\ncompctl -j -P \"%\" kill\n\ninserts a `%' after the kill command and then completes job names.\n", "flag": "-P" }, { "name": "-S _", "content": "When a completion is found the suffix is inserted after the completed string. In the\ncase of menu completion the suffix is inserted immediately, but it is still possible\nto cycle through the list of completions by repeatedly hitting the same key.\n", "flag": "-S" }, { "name": "-W _", "content": "With directory file-prefix: for command, file, directory and globbing completion (op‐\ntions -c, -f, -/, -g), the file prefix is implicitly added in front of the completion.\nFor example,\n\ncompctl -/ -W ~/Mail maildirs\n\ncompletes any subdirectories to any depth beneath the directory ~/Mail, although that\nprefix does not appear on the command line. The file-prefix may also be of the form\naccepted by the -k flag, i.e. the name of an array or a literal list in parenthesis.\nIn this case all the directories in the list will be searched for possible comple‐\ntions.\n", "flag": "-W" }, { "name": "-q -S", "content": "moved if the next character typed is a blank or does not insert anything or if the\nsuffix consists of only one character and the next character typed is the same charac‐\nter; this the same rule used for the AUTOREMOVESLASH option. The option is most\nuseful for list separators (comma, colon, etc.).\n", "flag": "-S" }, { "name": "-l _", "content": "ments. If combined with one of the extended completion patterns `p[...]', `r[...]',\nor `R[...]' (see the section `Extended Completion' below) the range is restricted to\nthe range of arguments specified in the brackets. Completion is then performed as if\nthese had been given as arguments to the cmd supplied with the option. If the cmd\nstring is empty the first word in the range is instead taken as the command name, and\ncommand name completion performed on the first word in the range. For example,\n\ncompctl -x 'r[-exec,;]' -l '' -- find\n\ncompletes arguments between `-exec' and the following `;' (or the end of the command\nline if there is no such string) as if they were a separate command line.\n", "flag": "-l" }, { "name": "-h _", "content": "done separately on different parts of such strings. It works like the -l option but\nmakes the completion code work on the parts of the current word that are separated by\nspaces. These parts are completed as if they were arguments to the given cmd. If cmd\nis the empty string, the first part is completed as a command name, as with -l.\n", "flag": "-h" }, { "name": "-U", "content": "word on the command line. The word typed so far will be deleted. This is most useful\nwith a function (given by the -K option) which can examine the word components passed\nto it (or via the read builtin's -c and -l flags) and use its own criteria to decide\nwhat matches. If there is no completion, the original word is retained. Since the\nproduced possible completions seldom have interesting common prefixes and suffixes,\nmenu completion is started immediately if AUTOMENU is set and this flag is used.\n", "flag": "-U" }, { "name": "-y _", "content": "The list provided by func-or-var is displayed instead of the list of completions when‐\never a listing is required; the actual completions to be inserted are not affected.\nIt can be provided in two ways. Firstly, if func-or-var begins with a $ it defines a\nvariable, or if it begins with a left parenthesis a literal array, which contains the\nlist. A variable may have been set by a call to a function using the -K option. Oth‐\nerwise it contains the name of a function which will be executed to create the list.\nThe function will be passed as an argument list all matching completions, including\nprefixes and suffixes expanded in full, and should set the array reply to the result.\nIn both cases, the display list will only be retrieved after a complete list of\nmatches has been created.\n\nNote that the returned list does not have to correspond, even in length, to the origi‐\nnal set of matches, and may be passed as a scalar instead of an array. No special\nformatting of characters is performed on the output in this case; in particular, new‐\nlines are printed literally and if they appear output in columns is suppressed.\n", "flag": "-y" }, { "name": "-X _", "content": "Print explanation when trying completion on the current set of options. A `%n' in this\nstring is replaced by the number of matches that were added for this explanation\nstring. The explanation only appears if completion was tried and there was no unique\nmatch, or when listing completions. Explanation strings will be listed together with\nthe matches of the group specified together with the -X option (using the -J or -V op‐\ntion). If the same explanation string is given to multiple -X options, the string ap‐\npears only once (for each group) and the number of matches shown for the `%n' is the\ntotal number of all matches for each of these uses. In any case, the explanation\nstring will only be shown if there was at least one match added for the explanation\nstring.\n\nThe sequences %B, %b, %S, %s, %U, and %u specify output attributes (bold, standout,\nand underline), %F, %f, %K, %k specify foreground and background colours, and %{...%}\ncan be used to include literal escape sequences as in prompts.\n", "flag": "-X" }, { "name": "-Y _", "content": "Identical to -X, except that the explanation first undergoes expansion following the\nusual rules for strings in double quotes. The expansion will be carried out after any\nfunctions are called for the -K or -y options, allowing them to set variables.\n", "flag": "-Y" }, { "name": "-t _", "content": "The continue-string contains a character that specifies which set of completion flags\nshould be used next. It is useful:\n\n(i) With -T, or when trying a list of pattern completions, when compctl would usually\ncontinue with ordinary processing after finding matches; this can be suppressed with\n`-tn'.\n\n(ii) With a list of alternatives separated by +, when compctl would normally stop when\none of the alternatives generates matches. It can be forced to consider the next set\nof completions by adding `-t+' to the flags of the alternative before the `+'.\n\n(iii) In an extended completion list (see below), when compctl would normally continue\nuntil a set of conditions succeeded, then use only the immediately following flags.\nWith `-t-', compctl will continue trying extended completions after the next `-'; with\n`-tx' it will attempt completion with the default flags, in other words those before\nthe `-x'.\n", "flag": "-t" }, { "name": "-J _", "content": "This gives the name of the group the matches should be placed in. Groups are listed\nand sorted separately; likewise, menu completion will offer the matches in the groups\nin the order in which the groups were defined. If no group name is explicitly given,\nthe matches are stored in a group named default. The first time a group name is en‐\ncountered, a group with that name is created. After that all matches with the same\ngroup name are stored in that group.\n\nThis can be useful with non-exclusive alternative completions. For example, in\n\ncompctl -f -J files -t+ + -v -J variables foo\n\nboth files and variables are possible completions, as the -t+ forces both sets of al‐\nternatives before and after the + to be considered at once. Because of the -J op‐\ntions, however, all files are listed before all variables.\n", "flag": "-J" }, { "name": "-V _", "content": "Like -J, but matches within the group will not be sorted in listings nor in menu com‐\npletion. These unsorted groups are in a different name space from the sorted ones, so\ngroups defined as -J files and -V files are distinct.\n", "flag": "-V" }, { "name": "-1 -V", "content": "be removed. Note that groups with and without this flag are in different name spaces.\n", "flag": "-V" }, { "name": "-2 -J -V", "content": "groups with and without this flag are in different name spaces.\n", "flag": "-V" }, { "name": "-M _", "content": "This defines additional matching control specifications that should be used only when\ntesting words for the list of flags this flag appears in. The format of the match-spec\nstring is described in zshcompwid.\n", "flag": "-M" } ] }, "ALTERNATIVE COMPLETION": { "content": "compctl [ -CDT ] options + options [ + ... ] [ + ] command ...\n\nThe form with `+' specifies alternative options. Completion is tried with the options before\nthe first `+'. If this produces no matches completion is tried with the flags after the `+'\nand so on. If there are no flags after the last `+' and a match has not been found up to that\npoint, default completion is tried. If the list of flags contains a -t with a + character,\nthe next list of flags is used even if the current list produced matches.\n\nAdditional options are available that restrict completion to some part of the command line;\nthis is referred to as `extended completion'.\n", "subsections": [] }, "EXTENDED COMPLETION": { "content": "compctl [ -CDT ] options -x pattern options - ... --\n[ command ... ]\ncompctl [ -CDT ] options [ -x pattern options - ... -- ]\n[ + options [ -x ... -- ] ... [+] ] [ command ... ]\n\nThe form with `-x' specifies extended completion for the commands given; as shown, it may be\ncombined with alternative completion using `+'. Each pattern is examined in turn; when a\nmatch is found, the corresponding options, as described in the section `Option Flags' above,\nare used to generate possible completions. If no pattern matches, the options given before\nthe -x are used.\n\nNote that each pattern should be supplied as a single argument and should be quoted to pre‐\nvent expansion of metacharacters by the shell.\n\nA pattern is built of sub-patterns separated by commas; it matches if at least one of these\nsub-patterns matches (they are `or'ed). These sub-patterns are in turn composed of other\nsub-patterns separated by white spaces which match if all of the sub-patterns match (they are\n`and'ed). An element of the sub-patterns is of the form `c[...][...]', where the pairs of\nbrackets may be repeated as often as necessary, and matches if any of the sets of brackets\nmatch (an `or'). The example below makes this clearer.\n\nThe elements may be any of the following:\n\ns[string]...\nMatches if the current word on the command line starts with one of the strings given\nin brackets. The string is not removed and is not part of the completion.\n\nS[string]...\nLike s[string] except that the string is part of the completion.\n\np[from,to]...\nMatches if the number of the current word is between one of the from and to pairs in‐\nclusive. The comma and to are optional; to defaults to the same value as from. The\nnumbers may be negative: -n refers to the n'th last word on the line.\n\nc[offset,string]...\nMatches if the string matches the word offset by offset from the current word posi‐\ntion. Usually offset will be negative.\n\nC[offset,pattern]...\nLike c but using pattern matching instead.\n\nw[index,string]...\nMatches if the word in position index is equal to the corresponding string. Note that\nthe word count is made after any alias expansion.\n\nW[index,pattern]...\nLike w but using pattern matching instead.\n\nn[index,string]...\nMatches if the current word contains string. Anything up to and including the indexth\noccurrence of this string will not be considered part of the completion, but the rest\nwill. index may be negative to count from the end: in most cases, index will be 1 or\n-1. For example,\n\ncompctl -s '`users`' -x 'n[1,@]' -k hosts -- talk\n\nwill usually complete usernames, but if you insert an @ after the name, names from the\narray hosts (assumed to contain hostnames, though you must make the array yourself)\nwill be completed. Other commands such as rcp can be handled similarly.\n\nN[index,string]...\nLike n except that the string will be taken as a character class. Anything up to and\nincluding the indexth occurrence of any of the characters in string will not be con‐\nsidered part of the completion.\n\nm[min,max]...\nMatches if the total number of words lies between min and max inclusive.\n\nr[str1,str2]...\nMatches if the cursor is after a word with prefix str1. If there is also a word with\nprefix str2 on the command line after the one matched by str1 it matches only if the\ncursor is before this word. If the comma and str2 are omitted, it matches if the cur‐\nsor is after a word with prefix str1.\n\nR[str1,str2]...\nLike r but using pattern matching instead.\n\nq[str]...\nMatches the word currently being completed is in single quotes and the str begins with\nthe letter `s', or if completion is done in double quotes and str starts with the let‐\nter `d', or if completion is done in backticks and str starts with a `b'.\n", "subsections": [] }, "EXAMPLE": { "content": "compctl -u -x 's[+] c[-1,-f],s[-f+]' \\\n-g '~/Mail/*(:t)' - 's[-f],c[-1,-f]' -f -- mail\n\nThis is to be interpreted as follows:\n\nIf the current command is mail, then\n\nif ((the current word begins with + and the previous word is -f)\nor (the current word begins with -f+)), then complete the\nnon-directory part (the `:t' glob modifier) of files in the directory\n~/Mail; else\n\nif the current word begins with -f or the previous word was -f, then\ncomplete any file; else\n\ncomplete user names.\n\n\nzsh 5.9 May 14, 2022 ZSHCOMPCTL(1)", "subsections": [] } }, "summary": "zshcompctl - zsh programmable completion", "flags": [], "examples": [ "compctl -u -x 's[+] c[-1,-f],s[-f+]' \\", "-g '~/Mail/*(:t)' - 's[-f],c[-1,-f]' -f -- mail", "This is to be interpreted as follows:", "If the current command is mail, then", "if ((the current word begins with + and the previous word is -f)", "or (the current word begins with -f+)), then complete the", "non-directory part (the `:t' glob modifier) of files in the directory", "~/Mail; else", "if the current word begins with -f or the previous word was -f, then", "complete any file; else", "complete user names.", "zsh 5.9 May 14, 2022 ZSHCOMPCTL(1)" ], "see_also": [] }