Autocomplete is nothing but a collection of various hacks that specify how arguments are to be completed by Readline using complete built-in. By default, this feature is turned on many Linux distributions such as Debian Linux, Ubuntu Linux and more. However, this feature is not installed and turned on on RHEL based Linux distributions including CentOS Linux. This tutorials shows you how to install Bash Autocomplete feature on a CentOS/RHEL/Oracle/Scientific or Fedora Linux.
Packages to install and enable Bash completion on CentOS/RHEL
You need to install two packages:
- bash-completion: Programmable completion for Bash
- bash-completion-extras : Additional programmable completions for Bash (only for CentOS/RHEL/Oracle/SL v7.x)
RHEL / CentOS Linux install and activate Bash completion
First, turn on the EPEL repo on a CentOS/RHEL version 6 (if you are using CentOS/RHEL 7.x, see this page to turn on EPEL repo) and type the following yum command to install bash-completion package:
# yum install bash-completion
OR
# yum install bash-completion bash-completion-extras
Sample outputs:
Loaded plugins: fastestmirror Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile * base: ftp.iitm.ac.in * epel: ftp.cuhk.edu.hk * extras: ftp.iitm.ac.in * updates: ftp.iitm.ac.in Resolving Dependencies --> Running transaction check ---> Package bash-completion.noarch 1:2.1-6.el7 will be installed ---> Package bash-completion-extras.noarch 1:2.1-11.el7 will be installed --> Finished Dependency Resolution Dependencies Resolved ======================================================================================================= Package Arch Version Repository Size ======================================================================================================= Installing: bash-completion noarch 1:2.1-6.el7 base 85 k bash-completion-extras noarch 1:2.1-11.el7 epel 123 k Transaction Summary ======================================================================================================= Install 2 Packages Total download size: 208 k Installed size: 648 k Is this ok [y/d/N]: y Downloading packages: (1/2): bash-completion-2.1-6.el7.noarch.rpm | 85 kB 00:00:03 (2/2): bash-completion-extras-2.1-11.el7.noarch.rpm | 123 kB 00:00:07 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total 26 kB/s | 208 kB 00:00:07 Running transaction check Running transaction test Transaction test succeeded Running transaction Installing : 1:bash-completion-2.1-6.el7.noarch 1/2 Installing : 1:bash-completion-extras-2.1-11.el7.noarch 2/2 Verifying : 1:bash-completion-extras-2.1-11.el7.noarch 1/2 Verifying : 1:bash-completion-2.1-6.el7.noarch 2/2 Installed: bash-completion.noarch 1:2.1-6.el7 bash-completion-extras.noarch 1:2.1-11.el7 Complete! |
Fedora Linux user type the following dnf command:
$ sudo dnf install bash-completion
Related: How to install and enable Bash auto completion in Fedora Linux
How do I use bash Autocomplete feature?
Then exits a login shell / ssh session and log back in using the following command:
# logout
Open a terminal or log in using ssh:
$ ssh nixcraft@server1.cyberciti.biz
Alternatively, use the following command to source completion code for bash:
$ . /etc/bash_completion
OR
$ source /etc/bash_completion
For newer version try:
$ source /etc/profile.d/bash_completion.sh
Usage examples
You need to simply press [TAB] key. The syntax is:
command [TAB] command arg[TAB][TAB] man da[TAB] |
rpm usage
Type the following command (type rpm -qi ph followed by [TAB]):
$ rpm -qi ph[TAB][TAB] php php-cli php-common php-devel php-imap
yum usage
Type the following command:
$ yum [TAB][TAB] --assumeyes --enableplugin list search --cacheonly --enablerepo makecache --setopt check --errorlevel --nogpgcheck shell check-update --exclude --noplugins --showduplicates clean groupinfo --obsoletes --skip-broken --color groupinstall provides --tolerant --config grouplist --quiet update --debuglevel groupremove --randomwait upgrade deplist help reinstall --verbose --disableexcludes --help --releasever version --disableplugin history remove --version --disablerepo info repolist distro-sync install resolvedep downgrade --installroot --rpmverbosity
To search a package called lsof:
$ yum se[TAB] lsof
Or search and install on fly:
# yum in[TAB] ls[TAB] lshell.noarch lslk-debuginfo.x86_64 lsscsi-debuginfo.x86_64 lshw-gui.x86_64 lslk.x86_64 lsscsi.x86_64 lshw.x86_64 lsof-debuginfo.x86_64 lsyncd.x86_64
cryptsetup usage
Linux Unified Key Setup-on-disk-format (LUKS) allows you to encrypt whole disks and you can use cryptsetup command to mount or remount encrypted partition:
cryptsetup [TAB] luksOpen /dev/md[TAB]
Sample outputs:
A list of all commands supported by Autocomplete feature
Type the following command:
$ cd /etc/bash_completion.d
$ ls
Sample outputs:
autoconf gpg2 ntpdate shadow automake gzip open-iscsi smartctl bash-builtins iconv openssl sqlite3 bind-utils iftop perl ssh brctl ifupdown pkg-config strace bzip2 info pm-utils subscription-manager chkconfig ipmitool postfix tar configure iproute2 procps tcpdump coreutils iptables python util-linux cpio lsof quota-tools wireless-tools crontab lvm redefine_filedir xmllint cryptsetup lzma rfkill xmlwf dd make rpm xz dhclient man rsync yum.bash e2fsprogs mdadm scl.bash yum-utils.bash findutils module-init-tools service getent net-tools sh
8 comment
Thanks for sharing
wow, that is what I have seeking looking for.
It is what Cisco and other companies have been doing for a while for them CLI.
Awesome article.
But i dont find this package to be installed for Cent OS 6.4.
OK how on earth can anyone run a ‘YUM’ command without yum being installed? or even downloaded?
Tar very much, Bibibibiii
I have getting error on running yum install bash-completion
Error: rpmdevtools conflicts with bash-completion-20060301-1.el6.rf.noarch
You could try using –skip-broken to work around the problem
You could try running: rpm -Va –nofiles –nodigest
Should i continue with option recommended by yum. Any other stable build available.
This works as well:
yum install bash-completion
vim ~/.bashrc
Add this line
source /etc/bash_completion.d/git
Save and then
source ~/.bashrc
Jayakrishnan Nair,
Run this and then it should work:
sudo yum remove rpmdevtools