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<section id="module-rlcompleter">
<span id="rlcompleter-completion-function-for-gnu-readline"></span><h1><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">rlcompleter</span></code> — Completion function for GNU readline<a class="headerlink" href="#module-rlcompleter" title="Link to this heading"></a></h1>
<p><strong>Source code:</strong> <a class="extlink-source reference external" href="https://github.com/python/cpython/tree/3.13/Lib/rlcompleter.py">Lib/rlcompleter.py</a></p>
<hr class="docutils" />
<p>The <code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">rlcompleter</span></code> module defines a completion function suitable to be
passed to <a class="reference internal" href="readline.html#readline.set_completer" title="readline.set_completer"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">set_completer()</span></code></a> in the <a class="reference internal" href="readline.html#module-readline" title="readline: GNU readline support for Python. (Unix)"><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">readline</span></code></a> module.</p>
<p>When this module is imported on a Unix platform with the <a class="reference internal" href="readline.html#module-readline" title="readline: GNU readline support for Python. (Unix)"><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">readline</span></code></a> module
available, an instance of the <a class="reference internal" href="#rlcompleter.Completer" title="rlcompleter.Completer"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Completer</span></code></a> class is automatically created
and its <a class="reference internal" href="#rlcompleter.Completer.complete" title="rlcompleter.Completer.complete"><code class="xref py py-meth docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">complete()</span></code></a> method is set as the
<a class="reference internal" href="readline.html#readline-completion"><span class="std std-ref">readline completer</span></a>. The method provides
completion of valid Python <a class="reference internal" href="../reference/lexical_analysis.html#identifiers"><span class="std std-ref">identifiers and keywords</span></a>.</p>
<p>Example:</p>
<div class="highlight-python3 notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="kn">import</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nn">rlcompleter</span>
<span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="kn">import</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nn">readline</span>
<span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">readline</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">parse_and_bind</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s2">&quot;tab: complete&quot;</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">readline</span><span class="o">.</span> <span class="o">&lt;</span><span class="n">TAB</span> <span class="n">PRESSED</span><span class="o">&gt;</span>
<span class="go">readline.__doc__ readline.get_line_buffer( readline.read_init_file(</span>
<span class="go">readline.__file__ readline.insert_text( readline.set_completer(</span>
<span class="go">readline.__name__ readline.parse_and_bind(</span>
<span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">readline</span><span class="o">.</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>The <code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">rlcompleter</span></code> module is designed for use with Pythons
<a class="reference internal" href="../tutorial/interpreter.html#tut-interactive"><span class="std std-ref">interactive mode</span></a>. Unless Python is run with the
<a class="reference internal" href="../using/cmdline.html#cmdoption-S"><code class="xref std std-option docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">-S</span></code></a> option, the module is automatically imported and configured
(see <a class="reference internal" href="site.html#rlcompleter-config"><span class="std std-ref">Readline configuration</span></a>).</p>
<p>On platforms without <a class="reference internal" href="readline.html#module-readline" title="readline: GNU readline support for Python. (Unix)"><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">readline</span></code></a>, the <a class="reference internal" href="#rlcompleter.Completer" title="rlcompleter.Completer"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Completer</span></code></a> class defined by
this module can still be used for custom purposes.</p>
<dl class="py class" id="completer-objects">
<dt class="sig sig-object py" id="rlcompleter.Completer">
<em class="property"><span class="k"><span class="pre">class</span></span><span class="w"> </span></em><span class="sig-prename descclassname"><span class="pre">rlcompleter.</span></span><span class="sig-name descname"><span class="pre">Completer</span></span><a class="headerlink" href="#rlcompleter.Completer" title="Link to this definition"></a></dt>
<dd><p>Completer objects have the following method:</p>
<dl class="py method">
<dt class="sig sig-object py" id="rlcompleter.Completer.complete">
<span class="sig-name descname"><span class="pre">complete</span></span><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em class="sig-param"><span class="n"><span class="pre">text</span></span></em>, <em class="sig-param"><span class="n"><span class="pre">state</span></span></em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#rlcompleter.Completer.complete" title="Link to this definition"></a></dt>
<dd><p>Return the next possible completion for <em>text</em>.</p>
<p>When called by the <a class="reference internal" href="readline.html#module-readline" title="readline: GNU readline support for Python. (Unix)"><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">readline</span></code></a> module, this method is called
successively with <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">state</span> <span class="pre">==</span> <span class="pre">0,</span> <span class="pre">1,</span> <span class="pre">2,</span> <span class="pre">...</span></code> until the method returns
<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">None</span></code>.</p>
<p>If called for <em>text</em> that doesnt include a period character (<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">'.'</span></code>), it will
complete from names currently defined in <a class="reference internal" href="__main__.html#module-__main__" title="__main__: The environment where top-level code is run. Covers command-line interfaces, import-time behavior, and ``__name__ == '__main__'``."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">__main__</span></code></a>, <a class="reference internal" href="builtins.html#module-builtins" title="builtins: The module that provides the built-in namespace."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">builtins</span></code></a> and
keywords (as defined by the <a class="reference internal" href="keyword.html#module-keyword" title="keyword: Test whether a string is a keyword in Python."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">keyword</span></code></a> module).</p>
<p>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
<a class="reference internal" href="../reference/datamodel.html#object.__getattr__" title="object.__getattr__"><code class="xref py py-meth docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">__getattr__()</span></code></a>) up to the last part, and find matches for the
rest via the <a class="reference internal" href="functions.html#dir" title="dir"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">dir()</span></code></a> function. Any exception raised during the
evaluation of the expression is caught, silenced and <a class="reference internal" href="constants.html#None" title="None"><code class="xref py py-const docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">None</span></code></a> is
returned.</p>
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