How do I get bash completion to work with aliases?
Solution 1:
As stated in the comments above,
complete -o default -o nospace -F _git_checkout gco
will no longer work. However, there's a __git_complete
function in git-completion.bash which can be used to set up completion for aliases like so:
__git_complete gco _git_checkout
Solution 2:
I ran into this problem as well and came up with this code snippet. This will automatically give you completion for all aliases. Run it after declaring all (or any) alias.
# wrap_alias takes three arguments:
# $1: The name of the alias
# $2: The command used in the alias
# $3: The arguments in the alias all in one string
# Generate a wrapper completion function (completer) for an alias
# based on the command and the given arguments, if there is a
# completer for the command, and set the wrapper as the completer for
# the alias.
function wrap_alias() {
[[ "$#" == 3 ]] || return 1
local alias_name="$1"
local aliased_command="$2"
local alias_arguments="$3"
local num_alias_arguments=$(echo "$alias_arguments" | wc -w)
# The completion currently being used for the aliased command.
local completion=$(complete -p $aliased_command 2> /dev/null)
# Only a completer based on a function can be wrapped so look for -F
# in the current completion. This check will also catch commands
# with no completer for which $completion will be empty.
echo $completion | grep -q -- -F || return 0
local namespace=alias_completion::
# Extract the name of the completion function from a string that
# looks like: something -F function_name something
# First strip the beginning of the string up to the function name by
# removing "* -F " from the front.
local completion_function=${completion##* -F }
# Then strip " *" from the end, leaving only the function name.
completion_function=${completion_function%% *}
# Try to prevent an infinite loop by not wrapping a function
# generated by this function. This can happen when the user runs
# this twice for an alias like ls='ls --color=auto' or alias l='ls'
# and alias ls='l foo'
[[ "${completion_function#$namespace}" != $completion_function ]] && return 0
local wrapper_name="${namespace}${alias_name}"
eval "
function ${wrapper_name}() {
let COMP_CWORD+=$num_alias_arguments
args=( \"${alias_arguments}\" )
COMP_WORDS=( $aliased_command \${args[@]} \${COMP_WORDS[@]:1} )
$completion_function
}
"
# To create the new completion we use the old one with two
# replacements:
# 1) Replace the function with the wrapper.
local new_completion=${completion/-F * /-F $wrapper_name }
# 2) Replace the command being completed with the alias.
new_completion="${new_completion% *} $alias_name"
eval "$new_completion"
}
# For each defined alias, extract the necessary elements and use them
# to call wrap_alias.
eval "$(alias -p | sed -e 's/alias \([^=][^=]*\)='\''\([^ ][^ ]*\) *\(.*\)'\''/wrap_alias \1 \2 '\''\3'\'' /')"
unset wrap_alias
Solution 3:
Ideally I'd like autocompletion to just magically work for all my aliases. Is it possible?
Yes, it is possible with the complete-alias project (on Linux). Support for Mac is experimental but users have reported success.
Solution 4:
In git-completion.bash
there is a line:
complete -o default -o nospace -F _git git
Looking at that line (and the _git function) you can add this line to your .bash_profile
:
complete -o default -o nospace -F _git_checkout gco