Case insensitive tab completion in Bash

141

Is there any way to make Bash tab complete case insensitively?

$ bash --version
GNU bash, version 3.2.48(1)-release (x86_64-apple-darwin10.0)
Copyright (C) 2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

I am using Mac OS X 10.6

Jeffrey Aylesworth

Posted 2010-01-01T20:02:33.613

Reputation: 2 170

Answers

172

Update the text in /etc/inputrc to include

set completion-ignore-case on

Then use ^X ^R to reload the configuration.

John T

Posted 2010-01-01T20:02:33.613

Reputation: 149 037

1So that's what msysgit has but MSYS2 lacks! Here I was trying to find it in e.g. /etc/profile ... – SamB – 2015-08-31T18:01:16.117

Writing this to ~/.inputrc breaks the ctrl key functionality. Or am I the only one with this problem? – Exocom – 2016-10-05T11:55:44.003

if not successful with reload the configuration, can just restart bash – Liker777 – 2018-03-25T19:46:50.000

I'm on macOS and new to bash. How exactly does one "Update the text in /etc/inputrc" ? – StatsScared – 2020-01-04T03:27:17.423

14@DennisWilliamson: you can do bind "set completion-ignore-case on" from the command line; for, I believe, that terminal session only – Clay Bridges – 2011-10-04T19:45:56.710

31"as well" - /etc/inputrc or ~/.inputrc or a file designated by INPUTRC are the only places it can go. Entering that at a Bash prompt won't work. – Paused until further notice. – 2010-01-01T21:11:39.013

whoops! you're right :) – John T – 2010-01-01T21:18:06.423

10^X ^R to reload inputrc – user1686 – 2010-01-02T09:37:24.957

114

^{Restructured with the benefit of hindsight to contrast the pros and cons of using [.]inputrc vs. .bash_profile.

Tip of the hat to underscore_d for his help.}

Note: Command-line editing in Bash is provided by the Readline library; customizing it is non-trivial, but well worth learning; its features include the ability to define custom keyboard shortcuts for inserting predefined snippets of text - see Command Line Editing in the Bash Reference Manual

To persistently make tab-completion case-insensitive in Bash:

Option A: If you either already have:

an /etc/inputrc file (applies system-wide, modification requires sudo)
and/or a ~/.inputrc file (user-specific)

and/or

you're planning to customize the readline library extensively and/or want to make customizations effective for scripts too when they call read -e:

Add line

set completion-ignore-case on

to either file, depending on whether you want the setting to be effective for all users or the current user (create the file, if necessary).

A related command that makes completion of file and directory names easier is:

set show-all-if-ambiguous on

This makes it unnecessary to press Tab twice when there is more than one match.

Option B: Alternatively, you may add Readline commands to your user-specific ~/.bash_profile file on OS X (or ~/.bashrc on Linux), by passing them as a single argument to the bind builtin:

bind "set completion-ignore-case on"
bind "set show-all-if-ambiguous on"

Note that bind commands in ~/.bash_profile / ~/.bashrc take precedence over equivalent commands in either /etc/inputrc or ~/.inputrc.

As implied above, Readline configuration defined this way will not take effect in scripts that call read -e to activate Readline support for reading user input.

mklement0

Posted 2010-01-01T20:02:33.613

Reputation: 1 519

1Great point re show-all-if-ambiguous. However, since you say "as an alternative", is there actually any benefit to doing this via bind, when the inputrc files seem to make that unncessary? – underscore_d – 2015-10-18T21:07:07.300

1@underscore_d: Good question; please see my updated answer. – mklement0 – 2015-10-18T21:25:34.613

1Cool, thanks! On Debian 8.2 I had neither inputrc, but I happily created ~/.inputrc & added these, plus other really useful directives. I guess we're assuming all readers know that /etc/inputrc affects other users (unless the latter override the affected settings)? Just while we're mentioning caveats ;) – underscore_d – 2015-10-18T22:04:41.483

1I think that covers everything - thanks for your efforts making a great answer even better! – underscore_d – 2015-10-19T08:41:14.603

11show-all-if-ambiguous is so nice! I often wondered why they made me tab twice to perform that action. thousands of keystrokes saved in my future! thanks! – user34112 – 2013-09-24T07:16:21.317

Awesome, it even works for cd commands. Which solves this question and will be saving me thousands of keystrokes too. :)

– hoosierEE – 2014-03-27T00:08:22.807

To avoid changing configuration for all users and to avoid root permissions use the following:

if [ ! -a ~/.inputrc ]; then echo '$include /etc/inputrc' > ~/.inputrc; fi
echo 'set completion-ignore-case on' >> ~/.inputrc

Then re-login or reload ~/.inputrc

Ankur A Sharma

Posted 2010-01-01T20:02:33.613

Reputation: 11