Completion System Configuration (zsh)

### 20.3 Completion System Configuration ¶

This section gives a short overview of how the completion system works, and then more detail on how users can configure how and when matches are generated.

#### 20.3.1 Overview ¶

When completion is attempted somewhere on the command line the completion system begins building the context. The context represents everything that the shell knows about the meaning of the command line and the significance of the cursor position. This takes account of a number of things including the command word (such as ‘`grep`’ or ‘`zsh`’) and options to which the current word may be an argument (such as the ‘`-o`’ option to `zsh` which takes a shell option as an argument).

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 (The zsh/zutil Module).

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 Control Functions 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 Bindable Commands.

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) pattern, and the name of the style itself, which must be matched exactly. The following examples demonstrate that 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 pattern 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 Completion Widgets)). 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. Strings are preferred over patterns (for example, ‘`:completion::complete:::foo`’ is more specific than ‘`:completion::complete:::*'`), and longer patterns are preferred over the pattern ‘`*`’. See The zsh/zutil Module for details.

Context patterns that use something other than a wildcard (`*`) to match the middle parts of the context — the completer, command, and argument in `:completion:` function`:`completer`:`command`:`argument`:`tag — should include all six colons (`:`) explicitly. Without this, a pattern such as `:completion:*:foo:*` could match `foo` against a component other than the intended one (for example, against completer when a match against command was intended).

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.

#### 20.3.2 Standard Tags ¶

Some of the following are only used when looking up particular styles and do not refer to a type of match.

`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

`interfaces` ¶

  for network interfaces

`jobs` ¶

  for jobs (as listed by the ‘`jobs`’ builtin)

`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

`mailboxes` ¶

  for e-mail folders

`manuals` ¶

  for names of manual pages

`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

`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

#### 20.3.3 Standard Styles ¶

Note that the values of several of these styles represent boolean values. Any of the strings ‘`true`’, ‘`on`’, ‘`yes`’, and ‘`1`’ can be used for the value ‘true’ and any of the strings ‘`false`’, ‘`off`’, ‘`no`’, and ‘`0`’ for the value ‘false’. The behavior for any other value is undefined except where explicitly mentioned. The default value may be either ‘true’ or ‘false’ if the style is not set.

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).

  When completing pathnames (where the tag used is ‘`paths`’) this style accepts any number of patterns as the value in addition to the boolean values. Pathnames matching one of these patterns will be accepted immediately even if the command line contains some more partially typed pathname components and these match no file under the directory accepted.

  This style is also used by the `_expand` completer to decide if words beginning with a tilde or parameter expansion should be expanded. For example, if there are parameters `foo` and `foobar`, the string ‘`$foo`’ will only be expanded if `accept-exact` is set to ‘true’; otherwise the completion system will be allowed to complete `$foo` to `$foobar`. If the style is set to ‘`continue`’, `_expand` will add the expansion as a match and the completion system will also be allowed to continue.

`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`.

  When this style is ‘true’, any prefix of a path that matches an existing directory is accepted without any attempt to complete it further. Hence, in the given example, the path `/usr/bin/` is accepted immediately and completion tried in that directory.

  This style is also useful when completing after directories that magically appear when referenced, such as ZFS `.zfs` directories or NetApp `.snapshot` directories. When the style is set the shell does not check for the existence of the directory within the parent directory.

  If you wish to inhibit this behaviour entirely, set the `path-completion` style (see below) to ‘false’.

`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 ‘`$(`...`)`’ or ‘`${`...`}`’.

  The `_prefix` completer uses this style as a simple boolean value to decide if a space should be inserted before the suffix.

`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.

  The default is to complete lists when the word on the line already contains a colon.

`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.

  The default value for this style is ‘`_expand _oldlist _correct _approximate`’, i.e. it contains the completers for which a string with all matches will almost never be wanted.

`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.

  As an example, the completion function for process IDs uses this style with the `processes` tag to generate the IDs to complete and the list of processes to display (if the `verbose` style is ‘true’). The list produced by the command should look like the output of the `ps` command. The first line is not displayed, but is searched for the string ‘`PID`’ (or ‘`pid`’) to find the position of the process IDs in the following lines. If the line does not contain ‘`PID`’, the first numbers in each of the other lines are taken as the process IDs to complete.

  Note that the completion function generally has to call the specified command for each attempt to generate the completion list. Hence care should be taken to specify only commands that take a short time to run, and in particular to avoid any that may never terminate.

`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 Control Functions.

  Each string may be either the name of a completer function or a string of the form ‘function`:`name’. In the first case the completer field of the context will contain the name of the completer without the leading underscore and with all other underscores replaced by hyphens. In the second case the function is the name of the completer to call, but the context will contain the user-defined name in the completer field of the context. If the name starts with a hyphen, the string for the context will be build from the name of the completer function as in the first case with the name appended to it. For example:

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

  Here, completion will call the `_complete` completer twice, once using ‘`complete`’ and once using ‘`complete-foo`’ in the completer field of the context. Normally, using the same completer more than once only makes sense when used with the ‘functions`:`name’ form, because otherwise the context name will be the same in all calls to the completer; possible exceptions to this rule are the `_ignored` and `_prefix` completers.

  The default value for this style is ‘`_complete _ignored`’: only completion will be done, first using the `ignored-patterns` style and the `$fignore` array and then without ignoring matches.

`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.

  If one of its values is the string ‘`prefix`’, the partially typed word from the line will be expanded as far as possible even if trailing parts cannot be completed.

  If one of its values is the string ‘`suffix`’, matching names for components after the first ambiguous one will also be added. This means that the resulting string is the longest unambiguous string possible. However, menu completion can be used to cycle through all matches.

`extra-verbose` ¶

  If this style set to ‘true’, the completion listing is still more verbose.

  Currently, it is used for `commands` and `parameters` tags. If it is ‘true’ for the `commands` (or `parameters`) tag, short descriptions of the commands (or the values of the parameters) are displayed along with the command (or parameter) 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.

  It is important to use a sufficiently restrictive context when specifying fake strings. Note that the styles `fake-files` and `fake-parameters` provide additional features when completing files or parameters.

`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 ‘`*`’.

  The following shows a way of supplementing any tag with arbitrary data, but having it behave for display purposes like a separate tag. In this example we use the features of the `tag-order` style to divide the `named-directories` tag into two when performing completion with the standard completer `complete` for arguments of `cd`. The tag `named-directories-normal` behaves as normal, but the tag `named-directories-mine` contains a fixed set of directories. This has the effect of adding the match group ‘`extra directories`’ with the given completions.

      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.

  This can be useful on systems that support special file systems whose top-level pathnames can not be listed or generated with glob patterns (but see `accept-exact-dirs` for a more general way of dealing with this problem). It can also be used for directories for which one does not have read permission.

  The pattern form can be used to add a certain ‘magic’ entry to all directories on a particular file system.

`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

  The style may either be set to a ‘true’ value (or ‘`all`’), or one of the values ‘`insert`’ or ‘`list`’, indicating that files are to be listed in long format in all circumstances, or when attempting to insert a file name, or when listing file names without attempting to insert one.

  More generally, the value may be an array of any of the above values, optionally followed by `=`num. If num is present it gives the maximum number of matches for which long listing style will be used. For example,

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

  specifies that long format will be used when listing up to 20 files or inserting a file with up to 10 matches (assuming a listing is to be shown at all, for example on an ambiguous completion), else short format will be used.

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

  specifies that long format will be used any time a numeric argument is supplied, else short format.

`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.

  The `file-patterns` style provides alternatives to the default tags, which are not used. Its value consists of elements of the form ‘pattern`:`tag’; each string may contain any number of such specifications separated by spaces.

  The pattern is a pattern that is to be used to generate filenames. Any occurrence of the sequence ‘`%p`’ is replaced by any pattern(s) passed by the function calling `_files`. Colons in the pattern must be preceded by a backslash to make them distinguishable from the colon before the tag. If more than one pattern is needed, the patterns can be given inside braces, separated by commas.

  The tags of all strings in the value will be offered by `_files` and used when looking up other styles. Any tags in the same word will be offered at the same time and before later words. If no ‘`:`tag’ is given the ‘`files`’ tag will be used.

  The tag may also be followed by an optional second colon and a description, which will be used for the ‘`%d`’ in the value of the `format` style (if that is set) instead of the default description supplied by the completion function. The inclusion of a description also gives precedence to associated options such as for completion grouping so it can be used where files should be separated.

  For example, to make the `rm` command first complete only names of object files and then the names of all files if there is no matching object file:

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

  To alter the default behaviour of file completion — offer files matching a pattern and directories on the first attempt, then all files — to offer only matching files on the first attempt, then directories, and finally all files:

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

  This works even where there is no special pattern: `_files` matches all files using the pattern ‘`*`’ at the first step and stops when it sees this pattern. Note also it will never try a pattern more than once for a single completion attempt.

  To separate directories into a separate group from the files but still complete them at the first attempt, a description needs to be given. Note that directories need to be explicitly excluded from the globbed-files because ‘`*`’ will match directories. For grouping, it is also necessary to set the `group-name` style.

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

  During the execution of completion functions, the `EXTENDED_GLOB` option is in effect, so the characters ‘`#`’, ‘`~`’ and ‘`^`’ have special meanings in the patterns.

`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.

  This style is tested for the default tag as well as for each tag valid for the current completion. Hence the listing can be forced only for certain types of match.

`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 Completion Widgets).

  The style is tested with each tag valid for the current completion before it is tested for the `descriptions` tag. Hence different format strings can be defined for different types of match.

  Note also that some completer functions define additional ‘`%`’-sequences. These are described for the completer functions that make use of them.

  Some completion functions display messages that may be customised by setting this style for the `messages` tag. Here, the ‘`%d`’ is replaced with a message given by the completion function.

  Finally, the format string is looked up with the `warnings` tag, for use when no matches could be generated at all. In this case the ‘`%d`’ is replaced with the descriptions for the matches that were expected separated by spaces. The sequence ‘`%D`’ is replaced with the same descriptions separated by newlines.

  It is possible to use printf-style field width specifiers with ‘`%d`’ and similar escape sequences. This is handled by the `zformat` builtin command from the `zsh/zutil` module, see The zsh/zutil Module.

`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.

`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

  As a consequence, any match with the same tag will be displayed in the same group.

  If the name given is the empty string the name of the tag for the matches will be used as the name of the group. So, to have all different types of matches displayed separately, one can just set:

      zstyle ':completion:*' group-name {No value for `dsq'}

  All matches for which no group name is defined will be put in a group named `-default-`.

  To display the group name in the output, see the `format` style (q.v.) under the `descriptions` tag.

`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.

  For example, to have names of builtin commands, shell functions and external commands appear in that order when completing in command position:

      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.

  Note that the matches will still be completed; they are just not shown in the list. To avoid having matches considered as possible completions at all, the `tag-order` style can be modified as described below.

`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.

  The values ‘`current`’ and ‘`current-shown`’ are a bit like the opposite of the `accept-exact` style: only strings with missing characters will be completed.

  Note that you almost certainly don’t want to set this to ‘true’ or ‘`other`’ for a general context such as ‘`:completion:*`’. This is because it would disallow completion of, for example, options multiple times even if the command in question accepts the option more than once.

`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:

  `parent`

    The name of any directory whose path is already contained in the word on the line is ignored. For example, when completing after `foo/../`, the directory `foo` will not be considered a valid completion.

  `pwd`

    The name of the current working directory will not be completed; hence, for example, completion after `../` will not use the name of the current directory.

  In addition, the value may include one or both of:

  `..`

    Ignore the specified directories only when the word on the line contains the substring ‘`../`’.

  `directory`

    Ignore the specified directories only when names of directories are completed, not when completing names of files.

  Excluded values act in a similar fashion to values of the `ignored-patterns` style, so they can be restored to consideration by the `_ignored` completer.

`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`.

  Note that the `EXTENDED_GLOB` option is set during the execution of completion functions, so the characters ‘`#`’, ‘`~`’ and ‘`^`’ have special meanings in the patterns.

`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.

  If the value of the style is ‘`single`’, the shell will wait until the user has typed enough to make the command unique before converting the name to an ID; attempts at completion will be unsuccessful until that point. If the value is any other string, menu completion will be started when the string typed by the user is longer than the common prefix to the corresponding IDs.

`insert-sections` ¶

  This style is used with tags of the form ‘`manuals.`X’ when completing names of manual pages. If set and the X in the tag name matches the section number of the page being completed, the section number is inserted along with the page name. For example, given

      zstyle ':completion:*:manuals.*' insert-sections true

  `man ssh_<TAB>` may be completed to `man 5 ssh_config`.

  The value may also be set to one of ‘`prepend`’, or ‘`suffix`’. ‘`prepend`’ behaves the same as ‘true’ as in the above example, while ‘`suffix`’ would complete `man ssh_<TAB>` as `man ssh_config.5`.

  This is especially useful in conjunction with `separate-sections`, as it ensures that the page requested of `man` corresponds to the one displayed in the completion listing when there are multiple pages with the same name (e.g., `printf(1)` and `printf(3)`).

  The default for this style is ‘false’.

`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.

  The value may also contain the substrings ‘`pending`’ or ‘`pending=`val’. In this case, the typed character will be inserted instead of starting completion when there is unprocessed input pending. If a val is given, completion will not be done if there are at least that many characters of unprocessed input. This is often useful when pasting characters into a terminal. Note however, that it relies on the `$PENDING` special parameter from the `zsh/zle` module being set properly which is not guaranteed on all platforms.

  The default value of this style is ‘true’ except for completion within `vared` builtin command where it is ‘false’.

`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.

  In the case of the `_approximate` completer, the completer field in the context will already have been set to one of `correct-`num or `approximate-`num, where num is the number of errors that were accepted.

  In the case of the `_match` completer, the style may also be set to the string ‘`pattern`’. Then the pattern on the line is left unchanged if it does not match unambiguously.

`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.

  The behaviour of `_expand` when this style is ‘true’ is to cause `_expand` to give up when a single expansion with the restored prefix is the same as the original; hence any remaining completers may be called.

`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.

`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.

`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 zsh/complist Module, but the syntax is the same.

  If this style is set for the `default` tag, the strings in the value are taken as specifications that are to be used everywhere. If it is set for other tags, the specifications are used only for matches of the type described by the tag. For this to work best, the `group-name` style must be set to an empty string.

  In addition to setting styles for specific tags, it is also possible to use group names specified explicitly by the `group-name` tag together with the ‘`(group)`’ syntax allowed by the `ZLS_COLORS` and `ZLS_COLOURS` parameters and simply using the `default` tag.

  It is possible to use any color specifications already set up for the GNU version of the `ls` command:

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

  The default colors are the same as for the GNU `ls` command and can be obtained by setting the style to an empty string (i.e. `{No value for `dsq'}`).

`list-dirs-first` ¶

  This is used by file completion and corresponds to a particular setting of the `file-patterns` style. If set, the default directories to be completed are listed separately from and before completion for other files.

`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 zsh/complist Module). 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.

  The value may contain the escape sequences: ‘`%l`’ or ‘`%L`’, which will be replaced by the number of the last line displayed and the total number of lines; ‘`%m`’ or ‘`%M`’, the number of the last match shown and the total number of matches; and ‘`%p`’ and ‘`%P`’, ‘`Top`’ when at the beginning of the list, ‘`Bottom`’ when at the end and the position shown as a percentage of the total length otherwise. In each case the form with the uppercase letter will be replaced by a string of fixed width, padded to the right with spaces, while the lowercase form will be replaced by a variable width string. As in other prompt strings, the escape sequences ‘`%S`’, ‘`%s`’, ‘`%B`’, ‘`%b`’, ‘`%U`’, ‘`%u`’ for entering and leaving the display modes standout, bold and underline, and ‘`%F`’, ‘`%f`’, ‘`%K`’, ‘`%k`’ for changing the foreground background colour, are also available, as is the form ‘`%{`...`%}`’ for enclosing escape sequences which display with zero (or, with a numeric argument, some other) width.

  After deleting this prompt the variable `LISTPROMPT` should be unset for the removal to take effect.

`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-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).

`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.

`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.

  For example:

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

  Completion after ‘`http://toast/stuff/`’ will look for files in the directory `/var/http/public/toast/stuff`, while completion after ‘`http://toast/~yousir/`’ will look for files in the directory `~yousir/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 Completion Matching Control. For examples of this, see the description of the `tag-order` style.

  For notes comparing the use of this and the `matcher-list` style, see under 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 Completion Matching Control. 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 {No value for `dsq'} 'm:{a-zA-Z}={A-Za-z}'

  By default each specification replaces the previous one; however, if a specification is prefixed with `+`, it is added to the existing list. Hence it is possible to create increasingly general specifications without repetition:

      zstyle ':completion:*' matcher-list \
             {No value for `dsq'} '+m:{a-z}={A-Z}' '+m:{A-Z}={a-z}'

  It is possible to create match specifications valid for particular completers by using the third field of the context. This applies only to completers that override the global matcher-list, which as of this writing includes only `_prefix` and `_ignored`. For example, to use the completers `_complete` and `_prefix` but allow case-insensitive completion only with `_complete`:

      zstyle ':completion:*' completer _complete _prefix
      zstyle ':completion:*:complete:*:*:*' matcher-list \
             {No value for `dsq'} 'm:{a-zA-Z}={A-Za-z}'

  User-defined names, as explained for the `completer` style, are available. This makes it possible to try the same completer more than once with different match specifications each time. For example, to try normal completion without a match specification, then normal completion with case-insensitive matching, then correction, and finally partial-word completion:

      zstyle ':completion:*' completer \
          _complete _correct _complete:foo
      zstyle ':completion:*:complete:*:*:*' matcher-list \
          {No value for `dsq'} 'm:{a-zA-Z}={A-Za-z}'
      zstyle ':completion:*:foo:*:*:*' matcher-list \
          'm:{a-zA-Z}={A-Za-z} r:|[-_./]=* r:|=*'

  If the style is unset in any context no match specification is applied. Note also that some completers such as `_correct` and `_approximate` do not use the match specifications at all, though these completers will only ever be called once even if the `matcher-list` contains more than one element.

  Where multiple specifications are useful, note that the entire completion is done for each element of `matcher-list`, which can quickly reduce the shell’s performance. As a rough rule of thumb, one to three strings will give acceptable performance. On the other hand, putting multiple space-separated values into the same string does not have an appreciable impact on performance.

  If there is no current matcher or it is empty, and the option `NO_CASE_GLOB` is in effect, the matching for files is performed case-insensitively in any case. However, any matcher must explicitly specify case-insensitive matching if that is required.

  For notes comparing the use of this and the `matcher` style, see under the description of the `tag-order` style.

`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.

  If the value for this style contains the string ‘`numeric`’, the completer function will take any numeric argument as the maximum number of errors allowed. For example, with

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

  two errors are allowed if no numeric argument is given, but with a numeric argument of six (as in ‘`ESC-6 TAB`’), up to six errors are accepted. Hence with a value of ‘`0 numeric`’, no correcting completion will be attempted unless a numeric argument is given.

  If the value contains the string ‘`not-numeric`’, the completer will not try to generate corrected completions when given a numeric argument, so in this case the number given should be greater than zero. For example, ‘`2 not-numeric`’ specifies that correcting completion with two errors will usually be performed, but if a numeric argument is given, correcting completion will not be performed.

  The default value for this style is ‘`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.

  This has the most impact when several matches have the same description and so will be grouped together. Increasing the style will allow more matches to be grouped together; decreasing it will allow more of the description to be visible.

`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.

  If none of the values found in this way is ‘true’ but at least one is set to ‘`auto`’, the shell behaves as if the `AUTO_MENU` option is set.

  If one of the values is explicitly set to ‘false’, menu completion will be explicitly turned off, overriding the `MENU_COMPLETE` option and other settings.

  In the form ‘`yes=`num’, where ‘`yes`’ may be any of the ‘true’ values (‘`yes`’, ‘`true`’, ‘`on`’ and ‘`1`’), menu completion will be turned on if there are at least num matches. In the form ‘`yes=long`’, menu completion will be turned on if the list does not fit on the screen. This does not activate menu completion if the widget normally only lists completions, but menu completion can be activated in that case with the value ‘`yes=long-list`’ (Typically, the value ‘`select=long-list`’ described later is more useful as it provides control over scrolling.)

  Similarly, with any of the ‘false’ values (as in ‘`no=10`’), menu completion will not be used if there are num or more matches.

  The value of this widget also controls menu selection, as implemented by the `zsh/complist` module. The following values may appear either alongside or instead of the values above.

  If the value contains the string ‘`select`’, menu selection will be started unconditionally.

  In the form ‘`select=`num’, menu selection will only be started if there are at least num matches. If the values for more than one tag provide a number, the smallest number is taken.

  Menu selection can be turned off explicitly by defining a value containing the string‘`no-select`’.

  It is also possible to start menu selection only if the list of matches does not fit on the screen by using the value ‘`select=long`’. To start menu selection even if the current widget only performs listing, use the value ‘`select=long-list`’.

  To turn on menu completion or menu selection when there are a certain number of matches or the list of matches does not fit on the screen, both of ‘`yes=`’ and ‘`select=`’ may be given twice, once with a number and once with ‘`long`’ or ‘`long-list`’.

  Finally, it is possible to activate two special modes of menu selection. The word ‘`interactive`’ in the value causes interactive mode to be entered immediately when menu selection is started; see The zsh/complist Module for a description of interactive mode. Including the string ‘`search`’ does the same for incremental search mode. To select backward incremental search, include the string ‘`search-backward`’.

`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.

  For example, suppose you type `^Xc` to use the `_correct_word` widget, which generates a list of corrections for the word under the cursor. Usually, typing `^D` would generate a standard list of completions for the word on the command line, and show that. With `_oldlist`, it will instead show the list of corrections already generated.

  As another example consider the `_match` completer: with the `insert-unambiguous` style set to ‘true’ it inserts only a common prefix string, if there is any. However, this may remove parts of the original pattern, so that further completion could produce more matches than on the first attempt. By using the `_oldlist` completer and setting this style to `_match`, the list of matches generated on the first attempt will be used again.

`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.

  If this style is set it is generally unwise to call the `_all_matches` completer unconditionally. One possible use is for either this style or the `completer` style to be defined with the `-e` option to `zstyle` to make the style conditional.

`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.

  For example, suppose you type `^Xc` to generate a list of corrections, and menu completion is started in one of the usual ways. Usually, or with this style set to ‘false’, typing `TAB` at this point would start trying to complete the line as it now appears. With `_oldlist`, it instead continues to cycle through the list of corrections.

`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

  causes available packages, rather than only installed packages, to be completed for ‘`dpkg -``-status`’.

`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`.

  Even with the style set to ‘false’, it is still possible to complete multiple paths by setting the option `COMPLETE_IN_WORD` and moving the cursor back to the first component in the path to be completed. For example, `/u/b/z` can be completed to `/usr/bin/zsh` if the cursor is after the `/u`.

`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.

  The default value for this style is ‘false’.

`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.

  The style is applicable to the `options`, `signals`, `jobs`, `functions`, and `parameters` completion tags.

  For command options, this means that the initial ‘`-`’, ‘`+`’, or ‘`-``-`’ must be typed explicitly before option names will be completed.

  For signals, an initial ‘`-`’ is required before signal names will be completed.

  For jobs, an initial ‘`%`’ is required before job names will be completed.

  For function and parameter names, an initial ‘`_`’ or ‘`.`’ is required before function or parameter names starting with those characters will be completed.

  The default value for this style is ‘false’ for `function` and `parameter` completions, and ‘true’ otherwise.

`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.

  If it is a single number, only the last N words from the history will be completed.

  If it is a range of the form ‘max`:`slice’, the last slice words will be completed; then if that yields no matches, the slice words before those will be tried and so on. This process stops either when at least one match has been found, or max words have been tried.

  The default is to complete all words from the history at once.

`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/*`’.

  For example,

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

  If the current directory is `/home/pws/zsh/Src`, then `zle_tr<TAB>` can be completed to `Zle/zle_tricky.c`.

`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.

  It is not always possible to know if connections are in fact to a remote site, so some may be prevented unnecessarily.

`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 ‘`manuals.`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. See also `insert-sections`.

  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.

  If its value is ‘`true`’ or ‘`false`’, sorting is enabled or disabled. Additionally the values associated with the ‘`-o`’ option to `compadd` can also be listed: `match`, `nosort`, `numeric`, `reverse`. If it is not set for the context, the standard behaviour of the calling widget is used.

  The style is tested first against the full context including the tag, and if that fails to produce a value against the context without the tag.

  In many cases where a calling widget explicitly selects a particular ordering in lieu of the default, a value of ‘`true`’ is not honoured. An example of where this is not the case is for command history where the default of sorting matches chronologically may be overridden by setting the style to ‘true’.

  In the `_expand` completer, if it is set to ‘true’, the expansions generated will always be sorted. If it is set to ‘`menu`’, then the expansions are only sorted when they are offered as single strings but not in the string containing all possible expansions.

`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.

  The following example sets `special-dirs` to ‘`..`’ when the current prefix is empty, is a single ‘`.`’, or consists only of a path beginning with ‘`../`’. Otherwise the value is ‘false’.

      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.

  The default for this style is ‘false’.

`substitute` ¶

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

  The default is ‘true’.

`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.

  The values for the style are sets of space-separated lists of tags. The tags in each value will be tried at the same time; if no match is found, the next value is used. (See the `file-patterns` style for an exception to this behavior.)

  For example:

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

  specifies that completion in command position first offers external commands and shell functions. Remaining tags will be tried if no completions are found.

  In addition to tag names, each string in the value may take one of the following forms:

  `-`

    If any value consists of only a hyphen, then only the tags specified in the other values are generated. Normally all tags not explicitly selected are tried last if the specified tags fail to generate any matches. This means that a single value consisting only of a single hyphen turns off completion.

  `!` tags...

    A string starting with an exclamation mark specifies names of tags that are not to be used. The effect is the same as if all other possible tags for the context had been listed.

  tag`:`label ...

    Here, tag is one of the standard tags and label is an arbitrary name. Matches are generated as normal but the name label is used in contexts instead of tag. This is not useful in words starting with `!`.

    If the label starts with a hyphen, the tag is prepended to the label to form the name used for lookup. This can be used to make the completion system try a certain tag more than once, supplying different style settings for each attempt; see below for an example.

  tag`:`label`:`description

    As before, but `description` will replace the ‘`%d`’ in the value of the `format` style instead of the default description supplied by the completion function. Spaces in the description must be quoted with a backslash. A ‘`%d`’ appearing in description is replaced with the description given by the completion function.

  In any of the forms above the tag may be a pattern or several patterns in the form ‘`{`pat1`,`pat2...`}`’. In this case all matching tags will be used except for any given explicitly in the same string.

  One use of these features is to try one tag more than once, setting other styles differently on each attempt, but still to use all the other tags without having to repeat them all. For example, to make completion of function names in command position ignore all the completion functions starting with an underscore the first time completion is tried:

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

  On the first attempt, all tags will be offered but the `functions` tag will be replaced by `functions-non-comp`. The `ignored-patterns` style is set for this tag to exclude functions starting with an underscore. If there are no matches, the second value of the `tag-order` style is used which completes functions using the default tag, this time presumably including all function names.

  The matches for one tag can be split into different groups. For example:

      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 '???*'

  With the `group-names` style set, options beginning with ‘`-``-`’, options beginning with a single ‘`-`’ or ‘`+`’ but containing multiple characters, and single-letter options will be displayed in separate groups with different descriptions.

  Another use of patterns is to try multiple match specifications one after another. The `matcher-list` style offers something similar, but it is tested very early in the completion system and hence can’t be set for single commands nor for more specific contexts. Here is how to try normal completion without any match specification and, if that generates no matches, try again with case-insensitive matching, restricting the effect to arguments of the command `foo`:

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

  First, all the tags offered when completing after `foo` are tried using the normal tag name. If that generates no matches, the second value of `tag-order` is used, which tries all tags again except that this time each has `-case` appended to its name for lookup of styles. Hence this time the value for the `matcher` style from the second call to `zstyle` in the example is used to make completion case-insensitive.

  It is possible to use the `-e` option of the `zstyle` builtin command to specify conditions for the use of particular tags. For example:

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

  Completion in command position will be attempted only if the string typed so far is not empty. This is tested using the `PREFIX` special parameter; see Completion Widgets for a description of parameters which are special inside completion widgets. Setting `reply` to an empty array provides the default behaviour of trying all tags at once; setting it to an array containing only a hyphen disables the use of all tags and hence of all completions.

  If no `tag-order` style has been defined for a context, the strings ‘`(|*-)argument-* (|*-)option-* values`’ and ‘`options`’ plus all tags offered by the completion function will be used to provide a sensible default behavior that causes arguments (whether normal command arguments or arguments of options) to be completed before option names for most commands.

`urls` ¶

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

  If the value consists of more than one string, or if the only string does not name a file or directory, the strings are used as the URLs to complete.

  If the value contains only one string which is the name of a normal file the URLs are taken from that file (where the URLs may be separated by white space or newlines).

  Finally, if the only string in the value names a directory, the directory hierarchy rooted at this directory gives the completions. The top level directory should be the file access method, such as ‘`http`’, ‘`ftp`’, ‘`bookmark`’ and so on. In many cases the next level of directories will be a filename. The directory hierarchy can descend as deep as necessary.

  For example,

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

  allows completion of all the components of the URL `ftp://ftp.zsh.org/pub` after suitable commands such as ‘`netscape`’ or ‘`lynx`’. Note, however, that access methods and files are completed separately, so if the `hosts` style is set hosts can be completed without reference to the `urls` style.

  See the description in the function `_urls` itself for more information (e.g. ‘`more $^fpath/_urls(N)`’).

`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`’.

  Note that this is only intended to smooth the transition from `compctl` to the new completion system and may disappear in the future.

  Note also that the definitions from `compctl` will only be used if there is no specific completion function for the command in question. For example, if there is a function `_foo` to complete arguments to the command `foo`, `compctl` will never be invoked for `foo`. However, the `compctl` version will be tried if `foo` only uses default completion.

`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.

  It is possible to group values for sets of commands which allow a remote login, such as `rlogin` and `ssh`, by using the `my-accounts` tag. Similarly, values for sets of commands which usually refer to the accounts of other people, such as `talk` and `finger`, can be grouped by using the `other-accounts` tag. More ambivalent commands may use the `accounts` tag.

`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.