Use of compinit

To initialize the system, the function compinit should be in a directory mentioned in the fpath parameter, and should be autoloaded (`autoload -U compinit' is recommended), and then run simply as `compinit'. This will define a few utility functions, arrange for all the necessary shell functions to be autoloaded, and will then re-define all widgets that do completion to use the new system. If you use the menu-select widget, which is part of the zsh/complist module, you should make sure that that module is loaded before the call to compinit so that that widget is also re-defined. If completion styles (see below) are set up to perform expansion as well as completion by default, and the TAB key is bound to expand-or-complete, compinit will rebind it to complete-word; this is necessary to use the correct form of expansion.

Should you need to use the original completion commands, you can still bind keys to the old widgets by putting a `.' in front of the widget name, e.g. `.expand-or-complete'.

To speed up the running of compinit, it can be made to produce a dumped configuration that will be read in on future invocations; this is the default, but can be turned off by calling compinit with the option -D. The dumped file is .zcompdump in the same directory as the startup files (i.e. $ZDOTDIR or $HOME); alternatively, an explicit file name can be given by `compinit -d dumpfile'. The next invocation of compinit will read the dumped file instead of performing a full initialization.

If the number of completion files changes, compinit will recognise this and produce a new dump file. However, if the name of a function or the arguments in the first line of a #compdef function (as described below) change, it is easiest to delete the dump file by hand so that compinit will re-create it the next time it is run. The check performed to see if there are new functions can be omitted by giving the option -C. In this case the dump file will only be created if there isn't one already.

The dumping is actually done by another function, compdump, but you will only need to run this yourself if you change the configuration (e.g. using compdef) and then want to dump the new one. The name of the old dumped file will be remembered for this purpose.

If the parameter _compdir is set, compinit uses it as a directory where completion functions can be found; this is only necessary if they are not already in the function search path.

For security reasons compinit also checks if the completion system would use files not owned by root or by the current user, or files in directories that are world- or group-writable or that are not owned by root or by the current user. If such files or directories are found, compinit will ask if the completion system should really be used. To avoid these tests and make all files found be used without asking, use the option -u, and to make compinit silently ignore all insecure files and directories use the option -i. This security check is skipped entirely when the -C option is given.

The security check can be retried at any time by running the function compaudit. This is the same check used by compinit, but when it is executed directly any changes to fpath are made local to the function so they do not persist. The directories to be checked may be passed as arguments; if none are given, compaudit uses fpath and _compdir to find completion system directories, adding missing ones to fpath as necessary. To force a check of exactly the directories currently named in fpath, set _compdir to an empty string before calling compaudit or compinit.

The function bashcompinit provides compatibility with bash's programmable completion system. When run it will define the functions, compgen and complete which correspond to the bash builtins with the same names. It will then be possible to use completion specifications and functions written for bash.

Autoloaded files

For incomplete installations, if compinit does not find enough files beginning with an underscore (fewer than twenty) in the search path, it will try to find more by adding the directory _compdir to the search path. If that directory has a subdirectory named Base, all subdirectories will be added to the path. Furthermore, if the subdirectory Base has a subdirectory named Core, compinit will add all subdirectories of the subdirectories to the path: this allows the functions to be in the same format as in the zsh source distribution.

When compinit is run, it searches all such files accessible via fpath/FPATH and reads the first line of each of them. This line should contain one of the tags described below. Files whose first line does not start with one of these tags are not considered to be part of the completion system and will not be treated specially.

The tags are:

#compdef name ... [ -{p|P} pattern ... [ -N name ... ] ]

The file will be made autoloadable and the function defined in it will be called when completing names, each of which is either the name of a command whose arguments are to be completed or one of a number of special contexts in the form -context- described below.

#compdef -k style key-sequence ...

This option creates a widget behaving like the builtin widget style and binds it to the given key-sequences, if any. The style must be one of the builtin widgets that perform completion, namely complete-word, delete-char-or-list, expand-or-complete, expand-or-complete-prefix, list-choices, menu-complete, menu-expand-or-complete, or reverse-menu-complete. If the zsh/complist module is loaded (see zshmodules(1)) the widget menu-select is also available.

#compdef -K widget-name style key-sequence [ name style seq ... ]

This is similar to -k except that only one key-sequence argument may be given for each widget-name style pair. However, the entire set of three arguments may be repeated with a different set of arguments. Note in particular that the widget-name must be distinct in each set. If it does not begin with `_' this will be added. The widget-name should not clash with the name of any existing widget: names based on the name of the function are most useful. For example,

#compdef -K _foo_complete complete-word "^X^C" \ 
  _foo_list list-choices "^X^D"

#autoload [ options ]

Functions with the #autoload tag are marked for autoloading but are not otherwise treated specially. Typically they are to be called from within one of the completion functions. Any options supplied will be passed to the autoload builtin; a typical use is +X to force the function to be loaded immediately. Note that the -U and -z flags are always added implicitly.

The # is part of the tag name and no white space is allowed after it. The #compdef tags use the compdef function described below; the main difference is that the name of the function is supplied implicitly.

The special contexts for which completion functions can be defined are:

-array-value-

The right hand side of an array-assignment (`name=(...)')

-brace-parameter-

The name of a parameter expansion within braces (`${...}')

-assign-parameter-

The name of a parameter in an assignment, i.e. on the left hand side of an `='

-command-

A word in command position

-condition-

A word inside a condition (`[[...]]')

-default-

Any word for which no other completion is defined

-equal-

A word beginning with an equals sign

-first-

This is tried before any other completion function. The function called may set the _compskip parameter to one of various values: all: no further completion is attempted; a string containing the substring patterns: no pattern completion functions will be called; a string containing default: the function for the `-default-' context will not be called, but functions defined for commands will be.

-math-

Inside mathematical contexts, such as `((...))'

-parameter-

The name of a parameter expansion (`$...')

-redirect-

The word after a redirection operator.

-subscript-

The contents of a parameter subscript.

-tilde-

After an initial tilde (`~'), but before the first slash in the word.

-value-

On the right hand side of an assignment.

Default implementations are supplied for each of these contexts. In most cases the context -context- is implemented by a corresponding function _context, for example the context `-tilde-' and the function `_tilde').

The contexts -redirect- and -value- allow extra context-specific information. (Internally, this is handled by the functions for each context calling the function _dispatch.) The extra information is added separated by commas.

For the -redirect- context, the extra information is in the form `-redirect-,op,command', where op is the redirection operator and command is the name of the command on the line. If there is no command on the line yet, the command field will be empty.

For the -value- context, the form is `-value-,name,command', where name is the name of the parameter on the left hand side of the assignment. In the case of elements of an associative array, for example `assoc=(key <TAB>', name is expanded to `name-key'. In certain special contexts, such as completing after `make CFLAGS=', the command part gives the name of the command, here make; otherwise it is empty.

It is not necessary to define fully specific completions as the functions provided will try to generate completions by progressively replacing the elements with `-default-'. For example, when completing after `foo=<TAB>', _value will try the names `-value-,foo,' (note the empty command part), `-value-,foo,-default-' and`-value-,-default-,-default-', in that order, until it finds a function to handle the context.

As an example:

compdef '_files -g "*.log"' '-redirect-,2>,-default-'

completes files matching `*.log' after `2> <TAB>' for any command with no more specific handler defined.

Also:

compdef _foo -value-,-default-,-default-

specifies that _foo provides completions for the values of parameters for which no special function has been defined. This is usually handled by the function _value itself.

The same lookup rules are used when looking up styles (as described below); for example

zstyle ':completion:*:*:-redirect-,2>,*:*' file-patterns '*.log'

is another way to make completion after `2> <TAB>' complete files matching `*.log'.

Functions

compdef [ -ane ] function name ... [ -{p|P} pattern ... [ -N name ...]]

compdef -d name ...

compdef -k [ -an ] function style key-sequence [ key-sequence ... ]

compdef -K [ -an ] function name style key-seq [ name style seq ... ]

The first form defines the function to call for completion in the given contexts as described for the #compdef tag above.

compdef '_files -g "*.h"' foo

The function compdef can be used to associate existing completion functions with new commands. For example,

compdef _pids foo

uses the function _pids to complete process IDs for the command foo.

Note also the _gnu_generic function described below, which can be used to complete options for commands that understand the `--help' option.

Overview

The context starts out very generic ("we are beginning a completion") and becomes more specific as more is learned ("the current word is in a position that is usually a command name" or "the current word might be a variable name" and so on). Therefore the context will vary during the same call to the completion system.

This context information is condensed into a string consisting of multiple fields separated by colons, referred to simply as `the context' in the remainder of the documentation. Note that a user of the completion system rarely needs to compose a context string, unless for example a new function is being written to perform completion for a new command. What a user may need to do is compose a style pattern, which is matched against a context when needed to look up context-sensitive options that configure the completion system.

The next few paragraphs explain how a context is composed within the completion function suite. Following that is discussion of how styles are defined. Styles determine such things as how the matches are generated, similarly to shell options but with much more control. They are defined with the zstyle builtin command (see zshmodules(1)).

The context string always consists of a fixed set of fields, separated by colons and with a leading colon before the first. Fields which are not yet known are left empty, but the surrounding colons appear anyway. The fields are always in the order :completion:function:completer:command:argument:tag. These have the following meaning:

•

The literal string completion, saying that this style is used by the completion system. This distinguishes the context from those used by, for example, zle widgets and ZFTP functions.

•

The function, if completion is called from a named widget rather than through the normal completion system. Typically this is blank, but it is set by special widgets such as predict-on and the various functions in the Widget directory of the distribution to the name of that function, often in an abbreviated form.

•

The completer currently active, the name of the function without the leading underscore and with other underscores converted to hyphens. A `completer' is in overall control of how completion is to be performed; `complete' is the simplest, but other completers exist to perform related tasks such as correction, or to modify the behaviour of a later completer. See the section `Control Functions' below for more information.

•

The command or a special -context-, just at it appears following the #compdef tag or the compdef function. Completion functions for commands that have sub-commands usually modify this field to contain the name of the command followed by a minus sign and the sub-command. For example, the completion function for the cvs command sets this field to cvs-add when completing arguments to the add subcommand.

•

The argument; this indicates which command line or option argument we are completing. For command arguments this generally takes the form argument-n, where n is the number of the argument, and for arguments to options the form option-opt-n where n is the number of the argument to option opt. However, this is only the case if the command line is parsed with standard UNIX-style options and arguments, so many completions do not set this.

•

The tag. As described previously, tags are used to discriminate between the types of matches a completion function can generate in a certain context. Any completion function may use any tag name it likes, but a list of the more common ones is given below.

The context is gradually put together as the functions are executed, starting with the main entry point, which adds :completion: and the function element if necessary. The completer then adds the completer element. The contextual completion adds the command and argument options. Finally, the tag is added when the types of completion are known. For example, the context name

:completion::complete:dvips:option-o-1:files

says that normal completion was attempted as the first argument to the option -o of the command dvips:

dvips -o ...

and the completion function will generate filenames.

Usually completion will be tried for all possible tags in an order given by the completion function. However, this can be altered by using the tag-order style. Completion is then restricted to the list of given tags in the given order.

The _complete_help bindable command shows all the contexts and tags available for completion at a particular point. This provides an easy way of finding information for tag-order and other styles. It is described in the section `Bindable Commands' below.

When looking up styles the completion system uses full context names, including the tag. Looking up the value of a style therefore consists of two things: the context, which is matched to the most specific (best fitting) style pattern, and the name of the style itself, which must be matched exactly. The following examples demonstrate that style patterns may be loosely defined for styles that apply broadly, or as tightly defined as desired for styles that apply in narrower circumstances.

For example, many completion functions can generate matches in a simple and a verbose form and use the verbose style to decide which form should be used. To make all such functions use the verbose form, put

zstyle ':completion:*' verbose yes

in a startup file (probably .zshrc). This gives the verbose style the value yes in every context inside the completion system, unless that context has a more specific definition. It is best to avoid giving the context as `*' in case the style has some meaning outside the completion system.

Many such general purpose styles can be configured simply by using the compinstall function.

A more specific example of the use of the verbose style is by the completion for the kill builtin. If the style is set, the builtin lists full job texts and process command lines; otherwise it shows the bare job numbers and PIDs. To turn the style off for this use only:

zstyle ':completion:*:*:kill:*:*' verbose no

For even more control, the style can use one of the tags `jobs' or `processes'. To turn off verbose display only for jobs:

zstyle ':completion:*:*:kill:*:jobs' verbose no

The -e option to zstyle even allows completion function code to appear as the argument to a style; this requires some understanding of the internals of completion functions (see see zshcompwid(1))). For example,

zstyle -e ':completion:*' hosts 'reply=($myhosts)'

This forces the value of the hosts style to be read from the variable myhosts each time a host name is needed; this is useful if the value of myhosts can change dynamically. For another useful example, see the example in the description of the file-list style below. This form can be slow and should be avoided for commonly examined styles such as menu and list-rows-first.

Note that the order in which styles are defined does not matter; the style mechanism uses the most specific possible match for a particular style to determine the set of values. More precisely, strings are preferred over patterns (for example, `:completion::complete:::foo' is more specific than `:completion::complete:::*'), and longer patterns are preferred over shorter patterns.

A good rule of thumb is that any completion style pattern that needs to include more than one wildcard (*) and that does not end in a tag name, should include all six colons (:), possibly surrounding additional wildcards.

Style names like those of tags are arbitrary and depend on the completion function. However, the following two sections list some of the most common tags and styles.

Standard Tags

accounts

used to look up the users-hosts style

all-expansions

used by the _expand completer when adding the single string containing all possible expansions

all-files

for the names of all files (as distinct from a particular subset, see the globbed-files tag).

arguments

for arguments to a command

arrays

for names of array parameters

association-keys

for keys of associative arrays; used when completing inside a subscript to a parameter of this type

bookmarks

when completing bookmarks (e.g. for URLs and the zftp function suite)

builtins

for names of builtin commands

characters

for single characters in arguments of commands such as stty. Also used when completing character classes after an opening bracket

colormapids

for X colormap ids

colors

for color names

commands

for names of external commands. Also used by complex commands such as cvs when completing names subcommands.

contexts

for contexts in arguments to the zstyle builtin command

corrections

used by the _approximate and _correct completers for possible corrections

cursors

for cursor names used by X programs

default

used in some contexts to provide a way of supplying a default when more specific tags are also valid. Note that this tag is used when only the function field of the context name is set

descriptions

used when looking up the value of the format style to generate descriptions for types of matches

devices

for names of device special files

directories

for names of directories -- local-directories is used instead when completing arguments of cd and related builtin commands when the cdpath array is set

directory-stack

for entries in the directory stack

displays

for X display names

domains

for network domains

email-plugin

for email addresses from the `_email-plugin' backend of _email_addresses

expansions

used by the _expand completer for individual words (as opposed to the complete set of expansions) resulting from the expansion of a word on the command line

extensions

for X server extensions

file-descriptors

for numbers of open file descriptors

files

the generic file-matching tag used by functions completing filenames

fonts

for X font names

fstypes

for file system types (e.g. for the mount command)

functions

names of functions -- normally shell functions, although certain commands may understand other kinds of function

globbed-files

for filenames when the name has been generated by pattern matching

groups

for names of user groups

history-words

for words from the history

hosts

for hostnames

indexes

for array indexes

jobs

for jobs (as listed by the `jobs' builtin)

interfaces

for network interfaces

keymaps

for names of zsh keymaps

keysyms

for names of X keysyms

libraries

for names of system libraries

limits

for system limits

local-directories

for names of directories that are subdirectories of the current working directory when completing arguments of cd and related builtin commands (compare path-directories) -- when the cdpath array is unset, directories is used instead

manuals

for names of manual pages

mailboxes

for e-mail folders

maps

for map names (e.g. NIS maps)

messages

used to look up the format style for messages

modifiers

for names of X modifiers

modules

for modules (e.g. zsh modules)

my-accounts

used to look up the users-hosts style

named-directories

for named directories (you wouldn't have guessed that, would you?)

names

for all kinds of names

newsgroups

for USENET groups

nicknames

for nicknames of NIS maps

options

for command options

original

used by the _approximate, _correct and _expand completers when offering the original string as a match

other-accounts

used to look up the users-hosts style

other-files

for the names of any non-directory files. This is used instead of all-files when the list-dirs-first style is in effect.

packages

for packages (e.g. rpm or installed Debian packages)

parameters

for names of parameters

path-directories

for names of directories found by searching the cdpath array when completing arguments of cd and related builtin commands (compare local-directories)

paths

used to look up the values of the expand, ambiguous and special-dirs styles

pods

for perl pods (documentation files)

ports

for communication ports

prefixes

for prefixes (like those of a URL)

printers

for print queue names

processes

for process identifiers

processes-names

used to look up the command style when generating the names of processes for killall

sequences

for sequences (e.g. mh sequences)

sessions

for sessions in the zftp function suite

signals

for signal names

strings

for strings (e.g. the replacement strings for the cd builtin command)

styles

for styles used by the zstyle builtin command

suffixes

for filename extensions

tags

for tags (e.g. rpm tags)

targets

for makefile targets

time-zones

for time zones (e.g. when setting the TZ parameter)

types

for types of whatever (e.g. address types for the xhost command)

urls

used to look up the urls and local styles when completing URLs

users

for usernames

values

for one of a set of values in certain lists

variant

used by _pick_variant to look up the command to run when determining what program is installed for a particular command name.

visuals

for X visuals

warnings

used to look up the format style for warnings

widgets

for zsh widget names

windows

for IDs of X windows

zsh-options

for shell options

Standard Styles

Some of these styles are tested first for every possible tag corresponding to a type of match, and if no style was found, for the default tag. The most notable styles of this type are menu, list-colors and styles controlling completion listing such as list-packed and last-prompt. When tested for the default tag, only the function field of the context will be set so that a style using the default tag will normally be defined along the lines of:

zstyle ':completion:*:default' menu ...

accept-exact

This is tested for the default tag in addition to the tags valid for the current context. If it is set to `true' and any of the trial matches is the same as the string on the command line, this match will immediately be accepted (even if it would otherwise be considered ambiguous).

accept-exact-dirs

This is used by filename completion. Unlike accept-exact it is a boolean. By default, filename completion examines all components of a path to see if there are completions of that component, even if the component matches an existing directory. For example, when completion after /usr/bin/, the function examines possible completions to /usr.

add-space

This style is used by the _expand completer. If it is `true' (the default), a space will be inserted after all words resulting from the expansion, or a slash in the case of directory names. If the value is `file', the completer will only add a space to names of existing files. Either a boolean `true' or the value `file' may be combined with `subst', in which case the completer will not add a space to words generated from the expansion of a substitution of the form `$(...)' or `${...}'.

ambiguous

This applies when completing non-final components of filename paths, in other words those with a trailing slash. If it is set, the cursor is left after the first ambiguous component, even if menu completion is in use. The style is always tested with the paths tag.

assign-list

When completing after an equals sign that is being treated as an assignment, the completion system normally completes only one filename. In some cases the value may be a list of filenames separated by colons, as with PATH and similar parameters. This style can be set to a list of patterns matching the names of such parameters.

auto-description

If set, this style's value will be used as the description for options that are not described by the completion functions, but that have exactly one argument. The sequence `%d' in the value will be replaced by the description for this argument. Depending on personal preferences, it may be useful to set this style to something like `specify: %d'. Note that this may not work for some commands.

avoid-completer

This is used by the _all_matches completer to decide if the string consisting of all matches should be added to the list currently being generated. Its value is a list of names of completers. If any of these is the name of the completer that generated the matches in this completion, the string will not be added.

cache-path

This style defines the path where any cache files containing dumped completion data are stored. It defaults to `$ZDOTDIR/.zcompcache', or `$HOME/.zcompcache' if $ZDOTDIR is not defined. The completion cache will not be used unless the use-cache style is set.

cache-policy

This style defines the function that will be used to determine whether a cache needs rebuilding. See the section on the _cache_invalid function below.

call-command

This style is used in the function for commands such as make and ant where calling the command directly to generate matches suffers problems such as being slow or, as in the case of make can potentially cause actions in the makefile to be executed. If it is set to `true' the command is called to generate matches. The default value of this style is `false'.

command

In many places, completion functions need to call external commands to generate the list of completions. This style can be used to override the command that is called in some such cases. The elements of the value are joined with spaces to form a command line to execute. The value can also start with a hyphen, in which case the usual command will be added to the end; this is most useful for putting `builtin' or `command' in front to make sure the appropriate version of a command is called, for example to avoid calling a shell function with the same name as an external command.

command-path

This is a list of directories to search for commands to complete. The default for this style is the value of the special parameter path.

commands

This is used by the function completing sub-commands for the system initialisation scripts (residing in /etc/init.d or somewhere not too far away from that). Its values give the default commands to complete for those commands for which the completion function isn't able to find them out automatically. The default for this style are the two strings `start' and `stop'.

complete

This is used by the _expand_alias function when invoked as a bindable command. If set to `true' and the word on the command line is not the name of an alias, matching alias names will be completed.

complete-options

This is used by the completer for cd, chdir and pushd. For these commands a - is used to introduce a directory stack entry and completion of these is far more common than completing options. Hence unless the value of this style is `true' options will not be completed, even after an initial -. If it is `true', options will be completed after an initial - unless there is a preceding -- on the command line.

completer

The strings given as the value of this style provide the names of the completer functions to use. The available completer functions are described in the section `Control Functions' below.

zstyle ':completion:*' completer _complete _complete:-foo

condition

This style is used by the _list completer function to decide if insertion of matches should be delayed unconditionally. The default is `true'.

delimiters

This style is used when adding a delimiter for use with history modifiers or glob qualifiers that have delimited arguments. It is an array of preferred delimiters to add. Non-special characters are preferred as the completion system may otherwise become confused. The default list is :, +, /, -, %. The list may be empty to force a delimiter to be typed.

disabled

If this is set to `true', the _expand_alias completer and bindable command will try to expand disabled aliases, too. The default is `false'.

domains

A list of names of network domains for completion. If this is not set, domain names will be taken from the file /etc/resolv.conf.

environ

The environ style is used when completing for `sudo'. It is set to an array of `VAR=value' assignments to be exported into the local environment before the completion for the target command is invoked.

zstyle ':completion:*:sudo::' environ \ 
  PATH="/sbin:/usr/sbin:$PATH" HOME="/root"

expand

This style is used when completing strings consisting of multiple parts, such as path names.

fake

This style may be set for any completion context. It specifies additional strings that will always be completed in that context. The form of each string is `value:description'; the colon and description may be omitted, but any literal colons in value must be quoted with a backslash. Any description provided is shown alongside the value in completion listings.

fake-always

This works identically to the fake style except that the ignored-patterns style is not applied to it. This makes it possible to override a set of matches completely by setting the ignored patterns to `*'.

zstyle ':completion::complete:cd:*' tag-order \ 
  'named-directories:-mine:extra\ directories
  named-directories:-normal:named\ directories *'
zstyle ':completion::complete:cd:*:named-directories-mine' \ 
  fake-always mydir1 mydir2
zstyle ':completion::complete:cd:*:named-directories-mine' \ 
  ignored-patterns '*'

fake-files

This style is used when completing files and looked up without a tag. Its values are of the form `dir:names...'. This will add the names (strings separated by spaces) as possible matches when completing in the directory dir, even if no such files really exist. The dir may be a pattern; pattern characters or colons in dir should be quoted with a backslash to be treated literally.

fake-parameters

This is used by the completion function for parameter names. Its values are names of parameters that might not yet be set but should be completed nonetheless. Each name may also be followed by a colon and a string specifying the type of the parameter (like `scalar', `array' or `integer'). If the type is given, the name will only be completed if parameters of that type are required in the particular context. Names for which no type is specified will always be completed.

file-list

This style controls whether files completed using the standard builtin mechanism are to be listed with a long list similar to ls -l. Note that this feature uses the shell module zsh/stat for file information; this loads the builtin stat which will replace any external stat executable. To avoid this the following code can be included in an initialization file:

zmodload -i zsh/stat
disable stat

zstyle ':completion:*' file-list list=20 insert=10

zstyle -e ':completion:*' file-list \ 
       '(( ${+NUMERIC} )) && reply=(true)'

file-patterns

This is used by the standard function for completing filenames, _files. If the style is unset up to three tags are offered, `globbed-files',`directories' and `all-files', depending on the types of files expected by the caller of _files. The first two (`globbed-files' and `directories') are normally offered together to make it easier to complete files in sub-directories.

zstyle ':completion:*:*:rm:*:*' file-patterns \ 
    '*.o:object-files' '%p:all-files'

zstyle ':completion:*' file-patterns \ 
    '%p:globbed-files' '*(-/):directories' '*:all-files'

file-sort

The standard filename completion function uses this style without a tag to determine in which order the names should be listed; menu completion will cycle through them in the same order. The possible values are: `size' to sort by the size of the file; `links' to sort by the number of links to the file; `modification' (or `time' or `date') to sort by the last modification time; `access' to sort by the last access time; and `inode' (or `change') to sort by the last inode change time. If the style is set to any other value, or is unset, files will be sorted alphabetically by name. If the value contains the string `reverse', sorting is done in the opposite order. If the value contains the string `follow', timestamps are associated with the targets of symbolic links; the default is to use the timestamps of the links themselves.

file-split-chars

A set of characters that will cause all file completions for the given context to be split at the point where any of the characters occurs. A typical use is to set the style to :; then everything up to and including the last : in the string so far is ignored when completing files. As this is quite heavy-handed, it is usually preferable to update completion functions for contexts where this behaviour is useful.

filter

The ldap plugin of email address completion (see _email_addresses) uses this style to specify the attributes to match against when filtering entries. So for example, if the style is set to `sn', matching is done against surnames. Standard LDAP filtering is used so normal completion matching is bypassed. If this style is not set, the LDAP plugin is skipped. You may also need to set the command style to specify how to connect to your LDAP server.

force-list

This forces a list of completions to be shown at any point where listing is done, even in cases where the list would usually be suppressed. For example, normally the list is only shown if there are at least two different matches. By setting this style to `always', the list will always be shown, even if there is only a single match that will immediately be accepted. The style may also be set to a number. In this case the list will be shown if there are at least that many matches, even if they would all insert the same string.

format

If this is set for the descriptions tag, its value is used as a string to display above matches in completion lists. The sequence `%d' in this string will be replaced with a short description of what these matches are. This string may also contain the output attribute sequences understood by compadd -X (see zshcompwid(1)).

glob

This is used by the _expand completer. If it is set to `true' (the default), globbing will be attempted on the words resulting from a previous substitution (see the substitute style) or else the original string from the line.

global

If this is set to `true' (the default), the _expand_alias completer and bindable command will try to expand global aliases.

group-name

The completion system can group different types of matches, which appear in separate lists. This style can be used to give the names of groups for particular tags. For example, in command position the completion system generates names of builtin and external commands, names of aliases, shell functions and parameters and reserved words as possible completions. To have the external commands and shell functions listed separately:

zstyle ':completion:*:*:-command-:*:commands' \ 
       group-name commands
zstyle ':completion:*:*:-command-:*:functions' \ 
       group-name functions

zstyle ':completion:*' group-name ''

group-order

This style is additional to the group-name style to specify the order for display of the groups defined by that style (compare tag-order, which determines which completions appear at all). The groups named are shown in the given order; any other groups are shown in the order defined by the completion function.

zstyle ':completion:*:*:-command-:*:*' group-order \ 
       builtins functions commands

groups

A list of names of UNIX groups. If this is not set, group names are taken from the YP database or the file `/etc/group'.

hidden

If this is set to `true', matches for the given context will not be listed, although any description for the matches set with the format style will be shown. If it is set to `all', not even the description will be displayed.

hosts

A list of names of hosts that should be completed. If this is not set, hostnames are taken from the file `/etc/hosts'.

hosts-ports

This style is used by commands that need or accept hostnames and network ports. The strings in the value should be of the form `host:port'. Valid ports are determined by the presence of hostnames; multiple ports for the same host may appear.

ignore-line

This is tested for each tag valid for the current completion. If it is set to `true', none of the words that are already on the line will be considered as possible completions. If it is set to `current', the word the cursor is on will not be considered as a possible completion. The value `current-shown' is similar but only applies if the list of completions is currently shown on the screen. Finally, if the style is set to `other', all words on the line except for the current one will be excluded from the possible completions.

ignore-parents

The style is tested without a tag by the function completing pathnames in order to determine whether to ignore the names of directories already mentioned in the current word, or the name of the current working directory. The value must include one or both of the following strings:

extra-verbose

If set, the completion listing is more verbose at the cost of a probable decrease in completion speed. Completion performance will suffer if this style is set to `true'.

ignored-patterns

A list of patterns; any trial completion matching one of the patterns will be excluded from consideration. The _ignored completer can appear in the list of completers to restore the ignored matches. This is a more configurable version of the shell parameter $fignore.

insert

This style is used by the _all_matches completer to decide whether to insert the list of all matches unconditionally instead of adding the list as another match.

insert-ids

When completing process IDs, for example as arguments to the kill and wait builtins the name of a command may be converted to the appropriate process ID. A problem arises when the process name typed is not unique. By default (or if this style is set explicitly to `menu') the name will be converted immediately to a set of possible IDs, and menu completion will be started to cycle through them.

insert-tab

If this is set to `true', the completion system will insert a TAB character (assuming that was used to start completion) instead of performing completion when there is no non-blank character to the left of the cursor. If it is set to `false', completion will be done even there.

insert-unambiguous

This is used by the _match and _approximate completers. These completers are often used with menu completion since the word typed may bear little resemblance to the final completion. However, if this style is `true', the completer will start menu completion only if it could find no unambiguous initial string at least as long as the original string typed by the user.

gain-privileges

If set to true, this style enables the use of commands like sudo or doas to gain extra privileges when retrieving information for completion. This is only done when a command such as sudo appears on the command-line. To force the use of, e.g. sudo or to override any prefix that might be added due to gain-privileges, the command style can be used with a value that begins with a hyphen.

keep-prefix

This style is used by the _expand completer. If it is `true', the completer will try to keep a prefix containing a tilde or parameter expansion. Hence, for example, the string `~/f*' would be expanded to `~/foo' instead of `/home/user/foo'. If the style is set to `changed' (the default), the prefix will only be left unchanged if there were other changes between the expanded words and the original word from the command line. Any other value forces the prefix to be expanded unconditionally.

last-prompt

This is a more flexible form of the ALWAYS_LAST_PROMPT option. If it is `true', the completion system will try to return the cursor to the previous command line after displaying a completion list. It is tested for all tags valid for the current completion, then the default tag. The cursor will be moved back to the previous line if this style is `true' for all types of match. Note that unlike the ALWAYS_LAST_PROMPT option this is independent of the numeric argument.

known-hosts-files

This style should contain a list of files to search for host names and (if the use-ip style is set) IP addresses in a format compatible with ssh known_hosts files. If it is not set, the files /etc/ssh/ssh_known_hosts and ~/.ssh/known_hosts are used.

list

This style is used by the _history_complete_word bindable command. If it is set to `true' it has no effect. If it is set to `false' matches will not be listed. This overrides the setting of the options controlling listing behaviour, in particular AUTO_LIST. The context always starts with `:completion:history-words'.

list-colors

If the zsh/complist module is loaded, this style can be used to set color specifications. This mechanism replaces the use of the ZLS_COLORS and ZLS_COLOURS parameters described in the section `The zsh/complist Module' in zshmodules(1), but the syntax is the same.

zstyle ':completion:*:default' list-colors \ 
       ${(s.:.)LS_COLORS}

list-dirs-first

This is used by file completion. If set, directories to be completed are listed separately from and before completion for other files, regardless of tag ordering. In addition, the tag other-files is used in place of all-files for the remaining files, to indicate that no directories are presented with that tag.

list-grouped

If this style is `true' (the default), the completion system will try to make certain completion listings more compact by grouping matches. For example, options for commands that have the same description (shown when the verbose style is set to `true') will appear as a single entry. However, menu selection can be used to cycle through all the matches.

list-packed

This is tested for each tag valid in the current context as well as the default tag. If it is set to `true', the corresponding matches appear in listings as if the LIST_PACKED option were set. If it is set to `false', they are listed normally.

list-prompt

If this style is set for the default tag, completion lists that don't fit on the screen can be scrolled (see the description of the zsh/complist module in zshmodules(1)). The value, if not the empty string, will be displayed after every screenful and the shell will prompt for a key press; if the style is set to the empty string, a default prompt will be used.

list-rows-first

This style is tested in the same way as the list-packed style and determines whether matches are to be listed in a rows-first fashion as if the LIST_ROWS_FIRST option were set.

list-suffixes

This style is used by the function that completes filenames. If it is `true', and completion is attempted on a string containing multiple partially typed pathname components, all ambiguous components will be shown. Otherwise, completion stops at the first ambiguous component.

list-separator

The value of this style is used in completion listing to separate the string to complete from a description when possible (e.g. when completing options). It defaults to `--' (two hyphens).

local

This is for use with functions that complete URLs for which the corresponding files are available directly from the file system. Its value should consist of three strings: a hostname, the path to the default web pages for the server, and the directory name used by a user placing web pages within their home area.

zstyle ':completion:*' local toast \ 
    /var/http/public/toast public_html

mail-directory

If set, zsh will assume that mailbox files can be found in the directory specified. It defaults to `~/Mail'.

match-original

This is used by the _match completer. If it is set to only, _match will try to generate matches without inserting a `*' at the cursor position. If set to any other non-empty value, it will first try to generate matches without inserting the `*' and if that yields no matches, it will try again with the `*' inserted. If it is unset or set to the empty string, matching will only be performed with the `*' inserted.

matcher

This style is tested separately for each tag valid in the current context. Its value is placed before any match specifications given by the matcher-list style so can override them via the use of an x: specification. The value should be in the form described in the section `Completion Matching Control' in zshcompwid(1). For examples of this, see the description of the tag-order style.

matcher-list

This style can be set to a list of match specifications that are to be applied everywhere. Match specifications are described in the section `Completion Matching Control' in zshcompwid(1). The completion system will try them one after another for each completer selected. For example, to try first simple completion and, if that generates no matches, case-insensitive completion:

zstyle ':completion:*' matcher-list '' 'm:{a-zA-Z}={A-Za-z}'

zstyle ':completion:*' matcher-list \ 
       '' '+m:{a-z}={A-Z}' '+m:{A-Z}={a-z}'

zstyle ':completion:*' completer _complete _prefix
zstyle ':completion:*:complete:*:*:*' matcher-list \ 
       '' 'm:{a-zA-Z}={A-Za-z}'

zstyle ':completion:*' completer \ 
    _complete _correct _complete:foo
zstyle ':completion:*:complete:*:*:*' matcher-list \ 
    '' 'm:{a-zA-Z}={A-Za-z}'
zstyle ':completion:*:foo:*:*:*' matcher-list \ 
    'm:{a-zA-Z}={A-Za-z} r:|[-_./]=* r:|=*'

max-errors

This is used by the _approximate and _correct completer functions to determine the maximum number of errors to allow. The completer will try to generate completions by first allowing one error, then two errors, and so on, until either a match or matches were found or the maximum number of errors given by this style has been reached.

zstyle ':completion:*:approximate:::' max-errors 2 numeric

max-matches-width

This style is used to determine the trade off between the width of the display used for matches and the width used for their descriptions when the verbose style is in effect. The value gives the number of display columns to reserve for the matches. The default is half the width of the screen.

menu

If this is `true' in the context of any of the tags defined for the current completion menu completion will be used. The value for a specific tag will take precedence over that for the `default' tag.

muttrc

If set, gives the location of the mutt configuration file. It defaults to `~/.muttrc'.

numbers

This is used with the jobs tag. If it is `true', the shell will complete job numbers instead of the shortest unambiguous prefix of the job command text. If the value is a number, job numbers will only be used if that many words from the job descriptions are required to resolve ambiguities. For example, if the value is `1', strings will only be used if all jobs differ in the first word on their command lines.

old-list

This is used by the _oldlist completer. If it is set to `always', then standard widgets which perform listing will retain the current list of matches, however they were generated; this can be turned off explicitly with the value `never', giving the behaviour without the _oldlist completer. If the style is unset, or any other value, then the existing list of completions is displayed if it is not already; otherwise, the standard completion list is generated; this is the default behaviour of _oldlist. However, if there is an old list and this style contains the name of the completer function that generated the list, then the old list will be used even if it was generated by a widget which does not do listing.

old-matches

This is used by the _all_matches completer to decide if an old list of matches should be used if one exists. This is selected by one of the `true' values or by the string `only'. If the value is `only', _all_matches will only use an old list and won't have any effect on the list of matches currently being generated.

old-menu

This is used by the _oldlist completer. It controls how menu completion behaves when a completion has already been inserted and the user types a standard completion key such as TAB. The default behaviour of _oldlist is that menu completion always continues with the existing list of completions. If this style is set to `false', however, a new completion is started if the old list was generated by a different completion command; this is the behaviour without the _oldlist completer.

original

This is used by the _approximate and _correct completers to decide if the original string should be added as a possible completion. Normally, this is done only if there are at least two possible corrections, but if this style is set to `true', it is always added. Note that the style will be examined with the completer field in the context name set to correct-num or approximate-num, where num is the number of errors that were accepted.

packageset

This style is used when completing arguments of the Debian `dpkg' program. It contains an override for the default package set for a given context. For example,

zstyle ':completion:*:complete:dpkg:option--status-1:*' \ 
               packageset avail

path

The function that completes color names uses this style with the colors tag. The value should be the pathname of a file containing color names in the format of an X11 rgb.txt file. If the style is not set but this file is found in one of various standard locations it will be used as the default.

path-completion

This is used by filename completion. By default, filename completion examines all components of a path to see if there are completions of that component. For example, /u/b/z can be completed to /usr/bin/zsh. Explicitly setting this style to `false' inhibits this behaviour for path components up to the / before the cursor; this overrides the setting of accept-exact-dirs.

pine-directory

If set, specifies the directory containing PINE mailbox files. There is no default, since recursively searching this directory is inconvenient for anyone who doesn't use PINE.

ports

A list of Internet service names (network ports) to complete. If this is not set, service names are taken from the file `/etc/services'.

prefix-hidden

This is used for certain completions which share a common prefix, for example command options beginning with dashes. If it is `true', the prefix will not be shown in the list of matches.

prefix-needed

This style is also relevant for matches with a common prefix. If it is set to `true' this common prefix must be typed by the user to generate the matches.

preserve-prefix

This style is used when completing path names. Its value should be a pattern matching an initial prefix of the word to complete that should be left unchanged under all circumstances. For example, on some Unices an initial `//' (double slash) has a special meaning; setting this style to the string `//' will preserve it. As another example, setting this style to `?:/' under Cygwin would allow completion after `a:/...' and so on.

range

This is used by the _history completer and the _history_complete_word bindable command to decide which words should be completed.

recursive-files

If this style is set, its value is an array of patterns to be tested against `$PWD/': note the trailing slash, which allows directories in the pattern to be delimited unambiguously by including slashes on both sides. If an ordinary file completion fails and the word on the command line does not yet have a directory part to its name, the style is retrieved using the same tag as for the completion just attempted, then the elements tested against $PWD/ in turn. If one matches, then the shell reattempts completion by prepending the word on the command line with each directory in the expansion of **/*(/) in turn. Typically the elements of the style will be set to restrict the number of directories beneath the current one to a manageable number, for example `*/.git/*'.

zstyle ':completion:*' recursive-files '*/zsh/*'

regular

This style is used by the _expand_alias completer and bindable command. If set to `true' (the default), regular aliases will be expanded but only in command position. If it is set to `false', regular aliases will never be expanded. If it is set to `always', regular aliases will be expanded even if not in command position.

rehash

If this is set when completing external commands, the internal list (hash) of commands will be updated for each search by issuing the rehash command. There is a speed penalty for this which is only likely to be noticeable when directories in the path have slow file access.

remote-access

If set to `false', certain commands will be prevented from making Internet connections to retrieve remote information. This includes the completion for the CVS command.

remove-all-dups

The _history_complete_word bindable command and the _history completer use this to decide if all duplicate matches should be removed, rather than just consecutive duplicates.

select-prompt

If this is set for the default tag, its value will be displayed during menu selection (see the menu style above) when the completion list does not fit on the screen as a whole. The same escapes as for the list-prompt style are understood, except that the numbers refer to the match or line the mark is on. A default prompt is used when the value is the empty string.

select-scroll

This style is tested for the default tag and determines how a completion list is scrolled during a menu selection (see the menu style above) when the completion list does not fit on the screen as a whole. If the value is `0' (zero), the list is scrolled by half-screenfuls; if it is a positive integer, the list is scrolled by the given number of lines; if it is a negative number, the list is scrolled by a screenful minus the absolute value of the given number of lines. The default is to scroll by single lines.

separate-sections

This style is used with the manuals tag when completing names of manual pages. If it is `true', entries for different sections are added separately using tag names of the form `manual.X', where X is the section number. When the group-name style is also in effect, pages from different sections will appear separately. This style is also used similarly with the words style when completing words for the dict command. It allows words from different dictionary databases to be added separately. The default for this style is `false'.

show-ambiguity

If the zsh/complist module is loaded, this style can be used to highlight the first ambiguous character in completion lists. The value is either a color indication such as those supported by the list-colors style or, with a value of `true', a default of underlining is selected. The highlighting is only applied if the completion display strings correspond to the actual matches.

show-completer

Tested whenever a new completer is tried. If it is `true', the completion system outputs a progress message in the listing area showing what completer is being tried. The message will be overwritten by any output when completions are found and is removed after completion is finished.

single-ignored

This is used by the _ignored completer when there is only one match. If its value is `show', the single match will be displayed but not inserted. If the value is `menu', then the single match and the original string are both added as matches and menu completion is started, making it easy to select either of them.

sort

This allows the standard ordering of matches to be overridden.

special-dirs

Normally, the completion code will not produce the directory names `.' and `..' as possible completions. If this style is set to `true', it will add both `.' and `..' as possible completions; if it is set to `..', only `..' will be added.

zstyle -e ':completion:*' special-dirs \ 
   '[[ $PREFIX = (../)#(|.|..) ]] && reply=(..)'

squeeze-slashes

If set to `true', sequences of slashes in filename paths (for example in `foo//bar') will be treated as a single slash. This is the usual behaviour of UNIX paths. However, by default the file completion function behaves as if there were a `*' between the slashes.

stop

If set to `true', the _history_complete_word bindable command will stop once when reaching the beginning or end of the history. Invoking _history_complete_word will then wrap around to the opposite end of the history. If this style is set to `false' (the default), _history_complete_word will loop immediately as in a menu completion.

strip-comments

If set to `true', this style causes non-essential comment text to be removed from completion matches. Currently it is only used when completing e-mail addresses where it removes any display name from the addresses, cutting them down to plain user@host form.

subst-globs-only

This is used by the _expand completer. If it is set to `true', the expansion will only be used if it resulted from globbing; hence, if expansions resulted from the use of the substitute style described below, but these were not further changed by globbing, the expansions will be rejected.

substitute

This boolean style controls whether the _expand completer will first try to expand all substitutions in the string (such as `$(...)' and `${...}').

suffix

This is used by the _expand completer if the word starts with a tilde or contains a parameter expansion. If it is set to `true', the word will only be expanded if it doesn't have a suffix, i.e. if it is something like `~foo' or `$foo' rather than `~foo/' or `$foo/bar', unless that suffix itself contains characters eligible for expansion. The default for this style is `true'.

tag-order

This provides a mechanism for sorting how the tags available in a particular context will be used.

zstyle ':completion:*:complete:-command-:*:*' tag-order \ 
    'commands functions'

zstyle ':completion:*:*:-command-:*:*' tag-order \ 
    'functions:-non-comp *' functions
zstyle ':completion:*:functions-non-comp' \ 
    ignored-patterns '_*'

zstyle ':completion:*' tag-order \ 
    'options:-long:long\ options
     options:-short:short\ options
     options:-single-letter:single\ letter\ options'
zstyle ':completion:*:options-long' \ 
     ignored-patterns '[-+](|-|[^-]*)'
zstyle ':completion:*:options-short' \ 
     ignored-patterns '--*' '[-+]?'
zstyle ':completion:*:options-single-letter' \ 
     ignored-patterns '???*'

zstyle ':completion:*:*:foo:*:*' tag-order '*' '*:-case'
zstyle ':completion:*-case' matcher 'm:{a-z}={A-Z}'

zstyle -e '*:-command-:*' tag-order '
    if [[ -n $PREFIX$SUFFIX ]]; then
      reply=( )
    else
      reply=( - )
    fi'

urls

This is used together with the urls tag by functions completing URLs.

zstyle ':completion:*' urls ~/.urls
mkdir -p ~/.urls/ftp/ftp.zsh.org/pub

use-cache

If this is set, the completion caching layer is activated for any completions which use it (via the _store_cache, _retrieve_cache, and _cache_invalid functions). The directory containing the cache files can be changed with the cache-path style.

use-compctl

If this style is set to a string not equal to false, 0, no, and off, the completion system may use any completion specifications defined with the compctl builtin command. If the style is unset, this is done only if the zsh/compctl module is loaded. The string may also contain the substring `first' to use completions defined with `compctl -T', and the substring `default' to use the completion defined with `compctl -D'.

use-ip

By default, the function _hosts that completes host names strips IP addresses from entries read from host databases such as NIS and ssh files. If this style is `true', the corresponding IP addresses can be completed as well. This style is not use in any context where the hosts style is set; note also it must be set before the cache of host names is generated (typically the first completion attempt).

users

This may be set to a list of usernames to be completed. If it is not set all usernames will be completed. Note that if it is set only that list of users will be completed; this is because on some systems querying all users can take a prohibitive amount of time.

users-hosts

The values of this style should be of the form `user@host' or `user:host'. It is used for commands that need pairs of user- and hostnames. These commands will complete usernames from this style (only), and will restrict subsequent hostname completion to hosts paired with that user in one of the values of the style.

users-hosts-ports

Like users-hosts but used for commands like telnet and containing strings of the form `user@host:port'.

verbose

If set, as it is by default, the completion listing is more verbose. In particular many commands show descriptions for options if this style is `true'.

word

This is used by the _list completer, which prevents the insertion of completions until a second completion attempt when the line has not changed. The normal way of finding out if the line has changed is to compare its entire contents between the two occasions. If this style is `true', the comparison is instead performed only on the current word. Hence if completion is performed on another word with the same contents, completion will not be delayed.