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# Completion
`cmd2.Cmd` adds tab completion of file system paths for all built-in commands where it makes sense,
including:
- [edit](./builtin_commands.md#edit)
- [run_pyscript](./builtin_commands.md#run_pyscript)
- [run_script](./builtin_commands.md#run_script)
- [shell](./builtin_commands.md#shell)
`cmd2.Cmd` also adds tab completion of shell commands to the [shell](./builtin_commands.md#shell)
command.
It is easy to add identical file system path completion to your own custom commands. Suppose you
have defined a custom command `foo` by implementing the `do_foo` method. To enable path completion
for the `foo` command, then add a line of code similar to the following to your class which inherits
from `cmd2.Cmd`:
```py
complete_foo = cmd2.Cmd.path_complete
```
This will effectively define the `complete_foo` readline completer method in your class and make it
utilize the same path completion logic as the built-in commands.
The built-in logic allows for a few more advanced path completion capabilities, such as cases where
you only want to match directories. Suppose you have a custom command `bar` implemented by the
`do_bar` method. You can enable path completion of directories only for this command by adding a
line of code similar to the following to your class which inherits from `cmd2.Cmd`:
```py
# Make sure you have an "import functools" somewhere at the top
complete_bar = functools.partialmethod(cmd2.Cmd.path_complete, path_filter=os.path.isdir)
```
## Included Tab Completion Functions
[cmd2.Cmd][] provides the following tab completion functions
- [basic_complete][cmd2.Cmd.basic_complete] - helper method for tab completion against a list
- [path_complete][cmd2.Cmd.path_complete] - helper method provides flexible tab completion of file
system paths
> - See the
> [paged_output](https://github.com/python-cmd2/cmd2/blob/main/examples/paged_output.py)
> example for a simple use case
> - See the
> [python_scripting](https://github.com/python-cmd2/cmd2/blob/main/examples/python_scripting.py)
> example for a more full-featured use case
- [delimiter_complete][cmd2.Cmd.delimiter_complete] - helper method for tab completion against a
list but each match is split on a delimiter
> - See the
> [basic_completion](https://github.com/python-cmd2/cmd2/blob/main/examples/basic_completion.py)
> example for a demonstration of how to use this feature
- [flag_based_complete][cmd2.Cmd.flag_based_complete] - helper method for tab completion based on a
particular flag preceding the token being completed
- [index_based_complete][cmd2.Cmd.index_based_complete] - helper method for tab completion based on
a fixed position in the input string
> - See the
> [basic_completion](https://github.com/python-cmd2/cmd2/blob/main/examples/basic_completion.py)
> example for a demonstration of how to use these features
> - `flag_based_complete()` and `index_based_complete()` are basic methods and should only be
> used if you are not familiar with argparse. The recommended approach for tab completing
> positional tokens and flags is to use [argparse-based](#argparse-based) completion.
## Raising Exceptions During Completion
There are times when an error occurs while tab completing and a message needs to be reported to the
user. These include the following example cases:
- Reading a database to retrieve a tab completion data set failed
- A previous command line argument that determines the data set being completed is invalid
- Tab completion hints
`cmd2` provides the [CompletionError][cmd2.CompletionError] exception class for this capability. If
an error occurs in which it is more desirable to display a message than a stack trace, then raise a
`CompletionError`. By default, the message displays in red like an error. However, `CompletionError`
has a member called `apply_style`. Set this False if the error style should not be applied. For
instance, `ArgparseCompleter` sets it to False when displaying completion hints.
## Tab Completion Using the argparse Decorator {: #argparse-based }
When using `cmd2`'s [@with_argparser][cmd2.with_argparser] decorator, `cmd2` provides automatic tab
completion of flag names.
Tab completion of argument values can be configured by using one of three parameters to
[argparse.ArgumentParser.add_argument](https://docs.python.org/3/library/argparse.html#argparse.ArgumentParser.add_argument)
- `choices`
- `choices_provider`
- `completer`
See the
[argparse_example](https://github.com/python-cmd2/cmd2/blob/main/examples/argparse_example.py)
example for a demonstration of how to use the `choices` parameter. See the
[argparse_completion](https://github.com/python-cmd2/cmd2/blob/main/examples/argparse_completion.py)
example for a demonstration of how to use the `choices_provider` parameter. See the
[argparse_example](https://github.com/python-cmd2/cmd2/blob/main/examples/argparse_example.py) or
[argparse_completion](https://github.com/python-cmd2/cmd2/blob/main/examples/argparse_completion.py)
example for a demonstration of how to use the `completer` parameter.
When tab completing flags or argument values for a `cmd2` command using the `@with_argparser`
decorator, `cmd2` keeps track of state so that once a flag has already previously been provided, it
won't attempt to tab complete it again. When no completion results exist, a hint for the current
argument will be displayed to help the user.
## CompletionItem For Providing Extra Context
When tab completing things like a unique ID from a database, it can often be beneficial to provide
the user with some extra context about the item being completed, such as a description. To
facilitate this, `cmd2` defines the [CompletionItem][cmd2.CompletionItem] class which can be
returned from any of the 3 completion parameters: `choices`, `choices_provider`, and `completer`.
See the
[argparse_completion](https://github.com/python-cmd2/cmd2/blob/main/examples/argparse_completion.py)
example or the implementation of the built-in [set](./builtin_commands.md#set) command for
demonstration of how this is used.
## Custom Completion with `read_input()`
`cmd2` provides [cmd2.Cmd.read_input][] as an alternative to Python's `input()` function.
`read_input` supports configurable tab completion and up-arrow history at the prompt. See
[read_input](https://github.com/python-cmd2/cmd2/blob/main/examples/read_input.py) example for a
demonstration.
## For More Information
See [cmd2's argparse_custom API](../api/argparse_custom.md) for a more detailed discussion of
argparse completion.
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