How to make PowerShell tab completion work like Bash

Question

Let's say I have the following files in my current directory:

buildBar.bat
buildFoo.bat
buildHouse.bat

And I type the following at my command prompt, ./bu and then TAB.

In Bash, it gets expanded to ./build
In PowerShell, it gets expanded to ./buildBar.bat -- the first item in the list.
In Cmd, the behavior is the same as PowerShell.

I prefer the Bash behaviour - is there a way to make PowerShell behave like Bash?

Yes - that's what I've been doing for the last decade or so, but I'm trying to transition to PowerShell, because I want to be able to fly on the command line on systems other than my own, where Cygwin isn't installed. — RobSiklos
– RobSiklos, Commented Nov 28, 2011 at 13:41
Does this answer your question? powershell.exe tab completion - list alternatives? — kingsjester
– kingsjester, Commented Sep 6, 2023 at 14:56

Ian Kemp - SO dead by AI greed · Accepted Answer · 2023-02-14 09:04:26Z

351

New versions of PowerShell include PSReadline, which can be used to do this:

Set-PSReadlineKeyHandler -Key Tab -Function Complete

or, to make it even more like bash where you can use arrow-keys to navigate available options:

Set-PSReadlineKeyHandler -Key Tab -Function MenuComplete

To make it permanent, put this command into your powershell profile, defined by $PROFILE (usually %UserProfile%\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\profile.ps1 for Windows PowerShell 5.x and %UserProfile%\Documents\PowerShell\profile.ps1 for PowerShell 6+).

edited Feb 14, 2023 at 9:04

Ian Kemp - SO dead by AI greed

1

answered Jun 9, 2016 at 0:51

svick

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17 Comments

stib Over a year ago

MenuComplete instead of Complete is more like bash, it lets you use the arrow keys to choose from the available options

Reinis Over a year ago

BTW, if the profile.ps1 file does not exist on your machine, you can generate one with a command new-item $profile -itemtype file -force

R.F Over a year ago

It is very likely that your machine will not have C:\Users\[User]\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\profile.ps1. You actually need to run new-item $profile -itemtype file -force

SamB Over a year ago

That's a really inconvenient spelling for touch :-(

Ben Thul Over a year ago

Instead of needing to generate a new profile, can't you just do notepad $profile and save it? It'll complain about it not existing but you'll be good once you save the file.

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GorvGoyl · Accepted Answer · 2022-02-12 17:48:09Z

40

tab only completes the command name not its previous arguments/parameters.

to also autocomplete the complete command with arguments from history set the below keybinding.

Set-PSReadlineKeyHandler -Key UpArrow -Function HistorySearchBackward
Set-PSReadlineKeyHandler -Key DownArrow -Function HistorySearchForward

Now, type few characters of command name and use up/down arrow to autocomplete this command (with arguments) from history.

real time saver.

See more: Power up your PowerShell

edited Feb 12, 2022 at 17:48

answered Dec 14, 2019 at 11:50

GorvGoyl

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1 Comment

Dongdong Kong Over a year ago

This solution works best for me

Peter Mortensen · Accepted Answer · 2019-05-04 14:17:18Z

30

It is now possible to get PowerShell to do Bash-style completion, using PSReadline.

Check out blog post Bash-like tab completion in PowerShell.

edited May 4, 2019 at 14:17

Peter Mortensen

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answered Nov 8, 2012 at 15:43

Jay Bazuzi

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2 Comments

GameScripting Over a year ago

The link in the blogpost is broken, however at the end of the day it brings you to PsReadline (last commit in 2012) which has been forked (last commit in 2013)

Drew Noakes Over a year ago

Nowadays you can do this with a one-liner, as described here: stackoverflow.com/a/37715242/24874

Community · Accepted Answer · 2024-07-05 16:34:13Z

15

Take a look here, not really your desiderata:

PowerTab

but I think is the best tab expansion feature for PowerShell console!!!

edited Jul 5, 2024 at 16:34

CommunityBot

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answered Nov 25, 2011 at 6:13

CB.

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2 Comments

Andriy M Over a year ago

Interesting. If there's a way to do something like that, then it seems quite possible to make the expansion work like in bash. I'm far from being an expert in PowerShell, though, so may be missing something.

CB. Over a year ago

Sure! Start studying the PowerTab Module's code to try doing your expansion needs. But PowerTab offers expansions for almost any command, wmi, comobject, assembly with a easy selection way!

徐志鹏 · Accepted Answer · 2020-07-18 04:41:54Z

13

# keep or reset to powershell default
Set-PSReadlineKeyHandler -Key Shift+Tab -Function TabCompletePrevious

# define Ctrl+Tab like default Tab behavior
Set-PSReadlineKeyHandler -Key Ctrl+Tab -Function TabCompleteNext

# define Tab like bash
Set-PSReadlineKeyHandler -Key Tab -Function Complete

answered Jul 18, 2020 at 4:41

徐志鹏

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Comments

Anubioz · Accepted Answer · 2022-01-01 21:02:11Z

7

Actually, bash behavior is governed by /etc/inputrc, which varies heavily from distro to distro.

So here's how to make PowerShell behave more like a bash with sane defaults (Gentoo, CentOS)

# Press tab key to get a list of possible completions (also on Ctrl+Space)

Set-PSReadlineKeyHandler -Chord Tab -Function PossibleCompletions


# Search history based on input on PageUp/PageDown

Set-PSReadlineKeyHandler -Key PageUp -Function  HistorySearchBackward
Set-PSReadlineKeyHandler -Key PageDown -Function HistorySearchForward


# If you feel cursor should be at the end of the line after pressing PageUp/PageDown (saving you an End press), you may add:

Set-PSReadLineOption -HistorySearchCursorMovesToEnd

# Set-PSReadLineOption -HistorySearchCursorMovesToEnd:$False to remove

edited Jan 1, 2022 at 21:02

answered Jan 1, 2022 at 20:55

Anubioz

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Comments

mjsr · Accepted Answer · 2011-11-25 12:18:53Z

6

Modify the TabExpansion function to achieve what you want. Remember that perhaps it completes till the end if you press tab again the new suggestion modify from where you originally press the key. I strongly prefer the actual behaviour, I want the line writted as fast as possible. Finally don't forget the wildcard expansion, for example: bu*h[Tab] automatically completes to buildHouse.bat

answered Nov 25, 2011 at 12:18

mjsr

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1 Comment

RobSiklos Over a year ago

Modifying the TabExpansion function is probably the way to go, still a lot more complicated than what I was looking for though. I think I'll need to get way more fluent in powershell before I'm able to mess around with that.

Nilesh Gule · Accepted Answer · 2020-07-08 00:06:33Z

5

With Powershell Core we can set the PredictionSource property for PSReadLine as History to get auto suggestion. Refer to the YouTube video for more details https://youtu.be/I0iIZe0dUNw

answered Jul 8, 2020 at 0:06

Nilesh Gule

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Comments

user8395964 · Accepted Answer · 2024-04-16 12:04:49Z

inspired and provoked by Anubioz's answer, here's the difference in the available completion presets:

option	suggestions	cycling	var expansion	unique completion	akin to
`PossibleCompletions`	static print	no	no	no	~~~bash~~~
**msys2 default `bash`	static print	no	no	yes
`Complete`	static print	no	yes	yes	~~~bash~~~
`MenuComplete`	interactive	visual	yes	yes	`nu`shell default
`TabComplete*`	no	blind inline	yes	yes	`cmd` default
`ViTabComplete*`	no	blind inline	yes	yes

lack of completion means that it ain't completed even if there exists single unambiguous match
expand the variable (like ~ or $env:USERPROFILE to its value i.e. 'C:\Users\<name>') under favourable conditions like say with invoking command lsd ~/.conf
i think vitabcomplete* is to enable tabcomplete* in vi mode. maybe someone can correct me.
i wish there were an option with "interactive suggestions, visual cycling, yes unique completion, no expansion" i.e. say smth with name like MenuPossibleCompletions or MenuCompletions; but it seems the oldest answer's suggestion to define it perself using the tabexpansion function will be only way to achieve that lol

to check if that's all, i did the foll in msys2 bash. and it indeed seems that these are all the available presets for completions.

command (pretty printed per line)

powershell -c Set-PSReadlineKeyHandler -Key Tab -Function MenuCompletions 2>&1 | 
tr -d '\r\n' | 
tr ',' '\n' | 
sed 's/\. /.\n/g' |
grep -i complet

The argument "MenuCompletions" does not belong to the set "Abort
Complete
MenuComplete
PossibleCompletions
TabCompleteNext
TabCompletePrevious
ViTabCompleteNext
ViTabCompletePrevious
Supply an argument that is in the set and then try the command again.At line:1 char:45+ Set-PSReadlineKeyHandler -Key Tab -Function MenuCompletions+                                             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidData: (:) [Set-PSReadLineKeyHandler    ]

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