The rlcompleter Module

(Optional, Unix only) The rlcompleter module provides word completion for the readline module.

To enable word completion, just import this module. By default, the completion function is bound to the Esc key. Press Esc twice to finish the current word. To change the key, you can use something like:

import readline readline.parse_and_bind("tab: complete")

The script in Example 14-10 shows how to use the completion functions from within a program.

Example 14-10. Using the rlcompleter Module to Expand Names

File: rlcompleter-example-1.py import rlcompleter import sys completer = rlcompleter.Completer() for phrase in "co", "sys.p", "is": print phrase, "=>", # emulate readline completion handler try: for index in xrange(sys.maxint): term = completer.complete(phrase, index) if term is None: break print term, except: pass print co => continue compile complex coerce completer sys.p => sys.path sys.platform sys.prefix is => is isinstance issubclass