.TH AUTO-AUTO-COMPLETE 1 AUTO-AUTO-COMPLETE
.SH NAME
auto-auto-complete - Autogenerate shell auto-completion scripts
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B auto-auto-complete
.I shell
.RB ( \-w
.I command
|
.B \-o
.I output
.B \-s
.I source
.RI [ variable \fB=\fP value "] ...)"
.SH DESCRIPTION
.B auto-auto-complete
generates a shell auto-completion script.
.PP
.B auto-auto-complete
provides a LISP-like declarative language for creating auto-completion
scripts for commands in a shell-agnostic way. However,
.BR auto-auto-complete 's
language is limited in comparsion to for example raw auto-completion
scripts for the bash shell, however it is well enough for most projects.
.SH OPTIONS
.BR \-o ,\ \-\-output \ \fIoutput\fP
The name of the file to generate.
.TP
.BR \-s ,\ \-f ,\ \-\-source ,\ \-\-file \ \fIsource\fP
The name of the file to parse.
.TP
.BR \-w ,\ \-\-where \ \fIcommand\fP
Print where, sans the path prefix, the script shall be installed if
the name of the command is
.IR command .
For example, for the command
.RB \(dq cmd \(dq,
.I auto-auto-complete bash -w cmd
would print
.RB \(dq /share/bash-completion/completions/cmd \(dq,
meaning that the script shall be installed to
.RB \(dq /usr/share/bash-completion/completions/cmd \(dq
or
.RB \(dq /usr/local/share/bash-completion/completions/cmd \(dq
depending on the path prefix used for the package.
.SH OPERANDS
.TP
.I shell
The shell the auto-completion script shall be generated for.
Currently supported
.IR shell s
are:
.BR bash ,
.BR fish ,
and
.BR zsh .
.TP
.IB variable = value
Define a variable to have a specific value.
Defining a variable multiple times creates an array
of values for that variable.
.SH EXTENDED DESCRIPTION
.B auto-auto-complete
uses a LISP-like free form syntax.
syntax. Valid whitespace is normal blank space,
horizontal tab space, carriage return, line feed (new line)
and form feed (new page). Comments can be started with either
a semicolon
.RB ( ; )
or a hash
.RB ( # ).
Comments end at the next following new line, which may either
be a carriage return, line feed or form feed. Comments cannot
be started inside quotes.
.PP
The backslash character
.RB ( \e )
can be used to force the following character to be parsed
verbatim, this is called escaping. It is highly discourage to
use this to escape new lines, especially if the new line
encoding used in the document is carrige return–line feed, as
that would only escape the carrige return. There is also a set
of characters that have a special meaning when they are escaped:
.TP
.B a
Audible bell character.
.TP
.B b
Backspace character.
.TP
.B e
Escape character.
.TP
.B f
Form feed character.
.TP
.B n
Line feed character.
.TP
.B r
Carriage character.
.TP
.B t
Horizontal tab space character.
.TP
.B v
Vertical tab space character.
.TP
.B 0
Null character.
.PP
Quotes, either simple quotes
.RB ( \(aq )
or double quotes
.RB ( \(dq )
can be used to parse all character verbatim except backslash
.RB ( \e ).
A quote ends at the next quote character that is not escaped
by a backslash
.RB ( \e )
and is identical to the opening quote character. This is
especially useful for escaping whitespace and round brackets.
.PP
The rest of this chapter will demonstrate how to write a script
by example of
.BR ponysay (6)
(because it uses most of the syntax).
.PP
The first thing we do is to declare which command the script
is for. We do this by creating the root brackets and put the
name of the command as the first element.
.PP
.RS
.nf
(ponysay)
.fi
.RE
.PP
However,
.BR ponysay (6)
has a very similar command called
.BR ponythink (6).
It is sensible to let the same script be used for auto-complete
for both commands, to do this we utilise that we can define
variables when we invoke
.BR auto-auto-complete .
.PP
.RS
.nf
((value command))
.fi
.RE
.PP
Now when we compile this script we need invoke
.B auto-auto-complete
with either
.B command=ponysay
or
.BR command=ponythink .
If we want
.BR ponysay (6)
to be used if we do not specify a value for command we instead
write:
.PP
.RS
.nf
((value command ponysay))
.fi
.RE
.PP
Remember that we could give a variable multiple values. This can
also be done here. However in this example we only want one value.
For example,
.I ((value var a b))
would generate
.I (a b)
if var has not been set.
.PP
.BR ponysay (6)
recognises the options
.B -h
and
.B --help
for printing a summary of recognised options. These options does not
take any arguments and hence are specified with
.IR (unargumented) .
.PP
.RS
.nf
((value command ponysay)
(unargumented (options -h --help)
(desc \(aqShow summary of options\(aq))
)
.fi
.RE
.PP
This only specifies that these option exists, if we also want the
generated scripts to suggest
.B --help
we need to add
.IR "(complete --help)" .
.PP
.RS
.nf
((value command ponysay)
(unargumented (options -h --help)
(complete --help)
(desc \(aqShow summary of options\(aq))
)
.fi
.RE
.PP
Now that we have our first option, let's add a few others, to keep the
example short, we will skip the most of the options.
.PP
.RS
.nf
((value command ponysay)
(unargumented (options -h --help)
(complete --help)
(desc \(aqShow summary of options\(aq))
(unargumented (options -l --list)
(complete --list)
(desc \(aqList all MLP:FiM ponies\(aq))
(unargumented (options +l ++list)
(complete ++list)
(desc \(aqList all non-MLP:FiM ponies\(aq))
(unargumented (options -X --256-colours --256colours --x-colours)
(desc \(aqUse xterm colours\(aq))
)
.fi
.RE
.PP
Now (especially if we had added all options) we have many
.I (unargumented)
blocks. We can use
.I (multiple)
so we do not have to write
.B unargumented
so many times.
.PP
.RS
.nf
((value command ponysay)
(multiple unargumented
((options -h --help) (complete --help)
(desc \(aqShow summary of options\(aq))
((options -l --list) (complete --list)
(desc \(aqList all MLP:FiM ponies\(aq))
((options +l ++list) (complete ++list)
(desc \(aqList all non-MLP:FiM ponies\(aq))
((options -X --256-colours --256colours --x-colours)
(desc \(aqUse xterm colours\(aq))
)
)
.fi
.RE
.PP
To keep this example short we will truncate this to:
.PP
.RS
.nf
((value command ponysay)
(multiple unargumented ...) ;We have cut out the options.
)
.fi
.RE
.PP
.BR ponysay (6)
also have a number of options that does take an argument.
We will add a few of them.
.PP
.RS
.nf
((value command ponysay)
(multiple unargumented ...) ;We have cut out the options.
(multiple argumented
((options -f --file --pony) (complete --file --pony)
(desc \(aqSpecify the pony that should printed\(aq))
((options -b --bubble --balloon) (complete --balloon)
(desc \(aqSpecify message balloon style\(aq))
((options -W --wrap) (complete --wrap)
(desc \(aqSpecify wrapping column\(aq))
((options +c --colour) (complete --colour)
(desc \(aqSpecify colour of the balloon, balloon link and message\(aq))
)
)
.fi
.RE
.PP
Just like
.B ponysay --help
prints
.B --wrap COLUMN
to indicate that the argument for
.B --wrap
is an index of the column where the message printed by
.BR ponysay (6)
is wrapped, shells could display the text
.B COLUMN
as a placeholder for the next argument when you have typed
.BR --wrap .
To enable this in shells that support it, we use
.IR (arg) .
.PP
.RS
.nf
((value command ponysay)
(multiple unargumented ...) ;We have cut out the options.
(multiple argumented
((options -f --file --pony) (complete --file --pony) (arg PONY)
(desc \(aqSpecify the pony that should printed\(aq))
((options -b --bubble --balloon) (complete --balloon) (arg STYLE)
(desc \(aqSpecify message balloon style\(aq))
((options -W --wrap) (complete --wrap) (arg COLUMN)
(desc \(aqSpecify wrapping column)\(aq)
((options +c --colour) (complete --colour) (arg ANSI-COLOUR)
(desc \(aqSpecify colour of the balloon, balloon link and message\(aq))
)
)
.fi
.RE
.PP
The next step now is to specify the type of argument the
options want. To do this we use
.IR (files) .
The elements in
.I (files)
specify what type of file the shell should suggest. Multiple
type can be used. The recognised ones are:
.TP
.B -0
Do not suggest files, or do not suggest files of types specified after
.BR -0 .
.TP
.B -a
Suggest all files.
.TP
.B -f
Suggest regular files and pipes.
.TP
.B -r
Suggest regular files but not pipes.
.TP
.B -p
Suggest pipes but not regular files.
.TP
.B -d
Suggest directories.
.TP
.B -l
Suggest symlinks. This is suggest by default, but
.B -0
can be used to stop this.
.TP
.B -s
Suggest sockets.
.TP
.B -D
Suggest doors.
.TP
.B -b
Suggest block devices.
.TP
.B -c
Suggest character devices.
.TP
.B -S
Suggest block devices and character devices.
.PP
.RS
.nf
((value command ponysay)
(multiple unargumented ...) ;We have cut out the options.
(multiple argumented
((options -f --file --pony) (complete --file --pony) (arg PONY)
(files -f)
(desc \(aqSpecify the pony that should printed\(aq))
((options -b --bubble --balloon) (complete --balloon) (arg STYLE)
(files -f)
(desc \(aqSpecify message balloon style\(aq))
((options -W --wrap) (complete --wrap) (arg COLUMN)
(files -0)
(desc Specify wrapping column))
((options +c --colour) (complete --colour) (arg ANSI-COLOUR)
(files -0)
(desc \(aqSpecify colour of the balloon, balloon link and message\(aq))
)
)
.fi
.RE
.PP
.I (files)
can also be used to specify patterns (using
.BR sh (1)-globbing)
for the filenames of the files to suggest. For example
.B --pony
in
.BR ponysay (6)
should only, in respect to files, suggest files that end with
.BR .pony .
.PP
.RS
.nf
((value command ponysay)
(multiple unargumented ...) ;We have cut out the options.
(multiple argumented
((options -f --file --pony) (complete --file --pony) (arg PONY)
(files -f *.pony)
(desc \(aqSpecify the pony that should printed\(aq))
((options -b --bubble --balloon) (complete --balloon) (arg STYLE)
(files -f *.say)
(desc \(aqSpecify message balloon style\(aq))
((options -W --wrap) (complete --wrap) (arg COLUMN)
(files -0)
(desc Specify wrapping column))
((options +c --colour) (complete --colour) (arg ANSI-COLOUR)
(files -0)
(desc \(aqSpecify colour of the balloon, balloon link and message\(aq))
)
)
.fi
.RE
.PP
For
.B --balloon
files ending with
.B .say
should be suggested if the completion is for
.BR ponysay (6),
but for
.BR ponythink (6)
.BR .think -files
should be suggested. We can use
.I (case)
to select this based on the value of the first element in the root
block, which is the name of the command.
.PP
.RS
.nf
((value command ponysay)
(multiple unargumented ...) ;We have cut out the options.
(multiple argumented
((options -f --file --pony) (complete --file --pony) (arg PONY)
(files -f *.pony)
(desc \(aqSpecify the pony that should printed\(aq))
((options -b --bubble --balloon) (complete --balloon) (arg STYLE)
(files -f (case (ponysay *.say) (ponythink *.think)))
(desc \(aqSpecify message balloon style\(aq))
((options -W --wrap) (complete --wrap) (arg COLUMN)
(files -0)
(desc Specify wrapping column))
((options +c --colour) (complete --colour) (arg ANSI-COLOUR)
(files -0)
(desc \(aqSpecify colour of the balloon, balloon link and message\(aq))
)
)
.fi
.RE
.PP
Another part of options with arguments is suggestions that
are not based on filenames.
.PP
.RS
.nf
((value command ponysay)
(multiple unargumented ...) ;We have cut out the options.
(multiple argumented
((options -f --file --pony) (complete --file --pony) (arg PONY)
(suggest pony-f) (files -f *.pony)
(desc \(aqSpecify the pony that should printed\(aq))
((options -b --bubble --balloon) (complete --balloon) (arg STYLE)
(suggest balloon)
(files -f (case (ponysay *.say) (ponythink *.think)))
(desc \(aqSpecify message balloon style\(aq))
((options -W --wrap) (complete --wrap) (arg COLUMN)
(suggest wrap) (files -0)
(desc Specify wrapping column))
((options +c --colour) (complete --colour) (arg ANSI-COLOUR)
(files -0)
(desc \(aqSpecify colour of the balloon, balloon link and message\(aq))
)
(suggestion pony-f) ;We will fill this in later...
(suggestion balloon) ;We will fill this in later...
(suggestion wrap) ;We will fill this in later...
)
.fi
.RE
.PP
Let's cut out the options again to make this shorter.
.PP
.RS
.nf
((value command ponysay)
(multiple unargumented ...) ;We have cut out the options.
(multiple argumented ...) ;We have cut out the options.
(suggestion pony-f) ;We will fill this in later...
(suggestion balloon) ;We will fill this in later...
(suggestion wrap) ;We will fill this in later...
)
.fi
.RE
.PP
Another part of
.BR ponysay (6)
is that it will take also arguments that are not associated with
any option, operands, which make up the message it prints out.
.PP
.RS
.nf
((value command ponysay)
(default (arg MESSAGE) (files -0) (suggest message)
(desc \(aqMessage spoken by the pony\(aq))
(multiple unargumented ...) ;We have cut out the options.
(multiple argumented ...) ;We have cut out the options.
(suggestion message) ;We will fill this in later...
(suggestion pony-f) ;We will fill this in later...
(suggestion balloon) ;We will fill this in later...
(suggestion wrap) ;We will fill this in later...
)
.fi
.RE
.PP
A rather unusual part of
.BR ponysay (6)
is that it has variadic options. A variadic option is a option
that takes all following arguments, unconditionally. For example, in
.BR ponysay (6)
you can write
.B --ponies twilight trixie
instead of
.BR "--pony twilight --pony trixie" .
.I (variadic)
is used to declare a variadic option.
.I (bind)
becomes interesting here; because
.BR ponysay (6)'s
variadic options have non-variadic counterparts, it is pleasant
to reuse the non-variadic options' configurations.
.I (bind)
will copy everything that is missing except
.I (options)
and
.IR (complete) .
In this example we will not use
.I (complete)
because we do not want variadic options to be suggest but we will use
.I (desc)
because we want to adjust the descriptions.
.PP
.RS
.nf
((value command ponysay)
(default (arg MESSAGE) (files -0) (suggest message)
(desc \(aqMessage spoken by the pony\(aq))
(multiple unargumented ...) ;We have cut out the options.
(multiple argumented ...) ;We have cut out the options.
(variadic (options --f --files --ponies) (bind -f)
(desc \(aqSpecify the ponies that may be printed\(aq))
(suggestion message) ;We will fill this in later...
(suggestion pony-f) ;We will fill this in later...
(suggestion balloon) ;We will fill this in later...
(suggestion wrap) ;We will fill this in later...
)
.fi
.RE
.PP
Notice that we used
.B -f
for the element in
.IR (bind) ,
this is because we want
.BR --f ,
.B --files
and
.B --ponies
to have the same configurations (with exception for the
description) as the
.B -f
option.
.PP
Once again, to make the example shorter we will cut out
some parts.
.PP
.RS
.nf
( ;We have cut out everything but the (suggestion):s.
(suggestion message) ;We will fill this in later...
(suggestion pony-f) ;We will fill this in later...
(suggestion balloon) ;We will fill this in later...
(suggestion wrap) ;We will fill this in later...
)
.fi
.RE
.PP
For
.I (suggestion message)
we want the word
.RB \(dq MESSAGE \(dq
to be suggested to let the user know that the non-option
arguments make up the message that is printed (if used).
.PP
.RS
.nf
( ;We have cut out everything but the (suggestion):s.
(suggestion message (verbatim MESSAGE))
(suggestion pony-f) ;We will fill this in later...
(suggestion balloon) ;We will fill this in later...
(suggestion wrap) ;We will fill this in later...
)
.fi
.RE
.PP
For
.I (suggestion pony-f)
we want, in addition to the
.BR .pony -files
which as already been configured,
.BR .pony -files
from
.I /usr/share/ponysay/ponies
to be suggested without the
.IR .pony- suffix.
.PP
.RS
.nf
( ;We have cut out everything but the (suggestion):s.
(suggestion message (verbatim MESSAGE))
(suggestion pony-f (ls \(dq\(aq/usr/share/ponysay/ponies\(aq\(dq .pony))
(suggestion balloon) ;We will fill this in later...
(suggestion wrap) ;We will fill this in later...
)
.fi
.RE
.PP
However, if the shell supports executing comments
to get suggetions we want to utilise this.
.PP
.RS
.nf
( ;We have cut out everything but the (suggestion):s.
(suggestion message (verbatim MESSAGE))
(suggestion pony-f (exec \(dq\(aq/usr/bin/ponysay\(aq\(dq --onelist)
(noexec ls \(dq\(aq/usr/share/ponysay/ponies\(aq\(dq .pony))
(suggestion balloon) ;We will fill this in later...
(suggestion wrap) ;We will fill this in later...
)
.fi
.RE
.PP
.I (suggestion balloon)
will work very similarly.
.PP
.RS
.nf
( ;We have cut out everything but the (suggestion):s.
(suggestion message (verbatim MESSAGE))
(suggestion pony-f (exec \(dq\(aq/usr/bin/ponysay\(aq\(dq --onelist)
(noexec ls \(dq\(aq/usr/share/ponysay/ponies\(aq\(dq .pony))
(suggestion balloon (exec \(dq\(aq/usr/bin/ponysay\(aq\(dq --balloonlist)
(no-exec ls \(dq\(aq/usr/share/ponysay/balloons\(aq\(dq
(case (ponysay .say) (ponythink .think))))
(suggestion wrap) ;We will fill this in later...
)
.fi
.RE
.PP
The first thing we want to do for
.B --wrap
is to give it some default suggestion.
.PP
.RS
.nf
( ;We have cut out everything but (suggestion wrap).
(suggestion wrap (verbatim none inherit 100 60))
)
.fi
.RE
.PP
The next step is to suggest the terminal’s width minus 10 columns.
In the POSIX shell this can be calculated with
.IR "$(( $(stty size <&2 | cut -d \(aq \(aq -f 2) - 10 ))" .
.PP
.RS
.nf
( ;We have cut out everything but (suggestion wrap).
(suggestion wrap
(verbatim none inherit 100 60)
(calc (pipe (stdin-fd (stty size) (stderr)) (cut -d \(aq \(aq -f 2)) - 10)
)
)
.fi
.RE
.PP
As seen here
.I (pipe (a) (b) (c))
translates into
.IR "(a | b | c)" .
There are a few similar blocks that can be used.
.TP
.I (fullpipe (a) (b) (c))
.BR "(a |& b |& c)" ,
or equivalently:
.B (a 2>&1 | b 2>&1 | c)
.TP
.I (cat (a) (b) (c))
.B (a ; b ; c)
.TP
.I (and (a) (b) (c))
.B (a && b && c)
.TP
.I (or (a) (b) (c))
.B (a || b || c)
.PP
It was also shown that
.I (stdin-fd (a) (stderr))
translates into
.BR "a <&2 " .
.IR (stdin) ,
.IR (stdout) ,
and
.I (stderr)
translates into
.BR 0 ,
.BR 1 ,
and
.BR 2 ,
respectively. Additional
.I (stdin-fd a b)
translates into
.BR "a <&b" ,
.I (stdout-fd a b)
into
.BR "a >&b" ,
.I (stderr-fd a b)
into
.BR "a 2>&b" ,
and
.I (fd-fd a b c)
into
.BR "a b<>&c ".
You can also redirect to files:
.TP
.I (stdin a b)
.B a<b
.TP
.I (stdout a b)
.B a>b
.TP
.I (stderr a b)
.B a 2> b
.TP
.I (fd a b c)
.B a b> c
.SH RATIONALE
Noone really wants to write shell auto-completion scripts,
especially not for more than one shell. But of course we
want to have it.
.SH SEE ALSO
.BR bash-completion ,
.BR bash (1),
.BR fish (1),
.BR zsh (1)
