Using csh & tcsh

When Programmed Completions Do Not Apply

There are various circumstances under which programmed completions do not apply and for which tcsh reverts to its regular built-in completion behavior:

• A regular completion is done when you try to complete a word of a command for which a programmed completion has been defined and none of the completion rules apply. This rule makes better sense if you consider, for example, a case in which you are trying to complete word 2 and have supplied a rule only for word 1. However, you may find regular completions being done unexpectedly. The usual symptom of such occurrences is that a word unexpectedly completes as a filename, that was to be excluded. When such instances happen, check your completion rules, because they probably aren't set up correctly.

• Words beginning with $ or ˜ are completed to $variable or ˜name references, and any programmed completions are ignored. However, if $variable or ˜name is followed by a slash, tcsh knows the whole variable or username has been supplied and can tell which directory you're referring to. At that point, programmed completions apply again.

• You can override programmed completions and do a regular completion or match listing by typing CTRL-X TAB or CTRL-X CTRL-D, rather than TAB or CTRL-D.