Bug 160105

Summary: TAB-Complete not always available
Product: [Applications] konsole Reporter: Alexander Buchner <alexander.buchner>
Component: generalAssignee: Konsole Developer <konsole-devel>
Status: RESOLVED NOT A BUG    
Severity: normal    
Priority: NOR    
Version: 1.6.6   
Target Milestone: ---   
Platform: unspecified   
OS: Linux   
Latest Commit: Version Fixed In:

Description Alexander Buchner 2008-03-30 13:26:23 UTC
Version:           1.6.6 (using 3.5.9, Kubuntu (hardy) 4:3.5.9-0ubuntu5)
Compiler:          Target: x86_64-linux-gnu
OS:                Linux (x86_64) release 2.6.24-12-generic

On my Konsole Tab-Completion doesn't always work. A reoccuring example ist the following:
I type "sud", then TAB, it completes to "sudo", which is correct. But when I type "apti" and TAB afterwards, there es no completion given.
So I have to write "aptitude install PACKAGE" by myself, without any help. This is quite annoying, because sometimes you just misspell one word, and you have to correct by hand again.
Comment 1 Robert Knight 2008-03-30 18:06:11 UTC
Hello,

Konsole does not actually provide the tab completion.  This is a facility provided by the shell.  A terminal is divided into two parts:

- The terminal emulator (Konsole) which provides the window, menus, sends input to the shell and displays output from it.
- The shell ("bash" in Ubuntu) which prints the prompt, reads commands you input and executes them

What I think is happening when you type in "apti" and press TAB is that there is more than one possible match, in which case nothing happens on the first TAB press in bash.  If you press TAB twice, bash will print a list of possible matches.  When entering the command you need to add a few more characters so that there is no ambiguity.
Comment 2 Alexander Buchner 2008-03-30 18:26:58 UTC
Thanks for the info about the terminal emulator and bash, as I'm quite new to the Linux world.
But unfortunately the TAB-Completion really doesn't work, so there also nothing happens, when I press TAB a second or third or .... time.
Comment 3 Robert Knight 2008-03-30 18:40:08 UTC
> But unfortunately the TAB-Completion really doesn't work

It might be related to a bug in Kubuntu Hardy:  https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/bash-completion/+bug/194860

This is apparently fixed so running the Adept Update tool might fix the problem (orange icon in the system tray at the bottom right-hand corner of the screen).  
Comment 4 Alexander Buchner 2008-03-30 19:35:16 UTC
Thanks a lot for linking to the other bug.

This one resolved my problem:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/bash-completion/+bug/194860/comments/12