How do I implement tab completion in node.js shell?

Question

I was looking for this feature in node.js and I haven't found it.
Can I implement it myself? As far as I know, node.js doesn't load any file at it's startup (like Bash does with .bashrc) and I haven't noticed any way to somehow override shell prompt.

Is there a way to implement it without writing custom shell?

AFAIK there is not autocomplete option for the v8 terminal. Maybe tools such as with-readline can be helpful to you, however. — brandizzi
– brandizzi, Commented Aug 17, 2011 at 17:19

tjklemz · Accepted Answer · 2020-11-21 04:34:18Z

12

You could monkey-patch the REPL. Note that you must use the callback version of the completer, otherwise it won't work correctly:

var repl = require('repl').start()
var _completer = repl.completer.bind(repl)
repl.completer = function(line, cb) {
  // ...
  _completer(line, cb)
}

edited Nov 21, 2020 at 4:34

tjklemz

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answered Aug 17, 2011 at 17:25

thejh

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2 Comments

andy Over a year ago

this method didn't work for me. What worked better is to provide a "completer" function in the options for repl.start({}) - nodejs.org/api/repl.html#repl_repl_start_options

tjklemz Over a year ago

^ I had to use the callback version for it to work, but it does work.

jiyinyiyong · Accepted Answer · 2014-02-24 01:33:37Z

9

Just as a reference.

readline module has readline.createInterface(options) method that accepts an optional completer function that makes a tab completion.

function completer(line) {
  var completions = '.help .error .exit .quit .q'.split(' ')
  var hits = completions.filter(function(c) { return c.indexOf(line) == 0 })
  // show all completions if none found
  return [hits.length ? hits : completions, line]
}

and

function completer(linePartial, callback) {
  callback(null, [['123'], linePartial]);
}

link to the api docs: http://nodejs.org/api/readline.html#readline_readline_createinterface_options

answered Feb 24, 2014 at 1:33

jiyinyiyong

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