How do I control when bash auto-completion shows a paged list of completions?











up vote
6
down vote

favorite
1












In my previous linux installations the bash auto-completion has always worked without problems. If I wanted to do anything to files, giving a prefix of the filename and pressing tabulator listed all that matched the prefix but it also repeated the prompt below it with my command and prefix, so that I could immediately continue typing.



Now I have updated my system to kubuntu 18.04 and the auto-completion doesn't work as fluently anymore. What is even stranger, the behaviour is unpredictable like it depended on the konsole. If the command is less, it works always correctly (as described above), but if the command is cp or mv, the behaviour varies. Sometimes it works correctly, but often it shows a list of matching files with more (hiding my prompt) and I have to type q to exit more and be able to continue. A small thing, but annoying since it requires extra typing.



I see that .bashrc calls /usr/share/bash-completion/bash_completion
but I haven't done any changes to this.



Question: What causes this unpredictable behaviour? How can I fix it?










share|improve this question









New contributor




whamalai is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
























    up vote
    6
    down vote

    favorite
    1












    In my previous linux installations the bash auto-completion has always worked without problems. If I wanted to do anything to files, giving a prefix of the filename and pressing tabulator listed all that matched the prefix but it also repeated the prompt below it with my command and prefix, so that I could immediately continue typing.



    Now I have updated my system to kubuntu 18.04 and the auto-completion doesn't work as fluently anymore. What is even stranger, the behaviour is unpredictable like it depended on the konsole. If the command is less, it works always correctly (as described above), but if the command is cp or mv, the behaviour varies. Sometimes it works correctly, but often it shows a list of matching files with more (hiding my prompt) and I have to type q to exit more and be able to continue. A small thing, but annoying since it requires extra typing.



    I see that .bashrc calls /usr/share/bash-completion/bash_completion
    but I haven't done any changes to this.



    Question: What causes this unpredictable behaviour? How can I fix it?










    share|improve this question









    New contributor




    whamalai is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
    Check out our Code of Conduct.






















      up vote
      6
      down vote

      favorite
      1









      up vote
      6
      down vote

      favorite
      1






      1





      In my previous linux installations the bash auto-completion has always worked without problems. If I wanted to do anything to files, giving a prefix of the filename and pressing tabulator listed all that matched the prefix but it also repeated the prompt below it with my command and prefix, so that I could immediately continue typing.



      Now I have updated my system to kubuntu 18.04 and the auto-completion doesn't work as fluently anymore. What is even stranger, the behaviour is unpredictable like it depended on the konsole. If the command is less, it works always correctly (as described above), but if the command is cp or mv, the behaviour varies. Sometimes it works correctly, but often it shows a list of matching files with more (hiding my prompt) and I have to type q to exit more and be able to continue. A small thing, but annoying since it requires extra typing.



      I see that .bashrc calls /usr/share/bash-completion/bash_completion
      but I haven't done any changes to this.



      Question: What causes this unpredictable behaviour? How can I fix it?










      share|improve this question









      New contributor




      whamalai is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.











      In my previous linux installations the bash auto-completion has always worked without problems. If I wanted to do anything to files, giving a prefix of the filename and pressing tabulator listed all that matched the prefix but it also repeated the prompt below it with my command and prefix, so that I could immediately continue typing.



      Now I have updated my system to kubuntu 18.04 and the auto-completion doesn't work as fluently anymore. What is even stranger, the behaviour is unpredictable like it depended on the konsole. If the command is less, it works always correctly (as described above), but if the command is cp or mv, the behaviour varies. Sometimes it works correctly, but often it shows a list of matching files with more (hiding my prompt) and I have to type q to exit more and be able to continue. A small thing, but annoying since it requires extra typing.



      I see that .bashrc calls /usr/share/bash-completion/bash_completion
      but I haven't done any changes to this.



      Question: What causes this unpredictable behaviour? How can I fix it?







      command-line bash kubuntu auto-completion konsole






      share|improve this question









      New contributor




      whamalai is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.











      share|improve this question









      New contributor




      whamalai is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.









      share|improve this question




      share|improve this question








      edited 52 mins ago









      muru

      134k19282483




      134k19282483






      New contributor




      whamalai is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.









      asked 8 hours ago









      whamalai

      914




      914




      New contributor




      whamalai is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.





      New contributor





      whamalai is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.






      whamalai is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.






















          1 Answer
          1






          active

          oldest

          votes

















          up vote
          6
          down vote













          The reason turned out to be very simple: If the terminal is sufficiently large, auto-completion can show all alternatives above the prompt (on two columns), but if it is too small, it uses more. So, the trick is to use sufficiently large terminals.



          For some reason, I had not encountered this in my previous installations, maybe due to larger terminals/smaller font. With less, everything worked well, because there were fewer alternatives and they fitted the terminal.






          share|improve this answer








          New contributor




          whamalai is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
          Check out our Code of Conduct.


















            Your Answer








            StackExchange.ready(function() {
            var channelOptions = {
            tags: "".split(" "),
            id: "89"
            };
            initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

            StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
            // Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
            if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
            StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
            createEditor();
            });
            }
            else {
            createEditor();
            }
            });

            function createEditor() {
            StackExchange.prepareEditor({
            heartbeatType: 'answer',
            convertImagesToLinks: true,
            noModals: true,
            showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
            reputationToPostImages: 10,
            bindNavPrevention: true,
            postfix: "",
            imageUploader: {
            brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
            contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
            allowUrls: true
            },
            onDemand: true,
            discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
            ,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
            });


            }
            });






            whamalai is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.










             

            draft saved


            draft discarded


















            StackExchange.ready(
            function () {
            StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2faskubuntu.com%2fquestions%2f1096251%2fhow-do-i-control-when-bash-auto-completion-shows-a-paged-list-of-completions%23new-answer', 'question_page');
            }
            );

            Post as a guest















            Required, but never shown

























            1 Answer
            1






            active

            oldest

            votes








            1 Answer
            1






            active

            oldest

            votes









            active

            oldest

            votes






            active

            oldest

            votes








            up vote
            6
            down vote













            The reason turned out to be very simple: If the terminal is sufficiently large, auto-completion can show all alternatives above the prompt (on two columns), but if it is too small, it uses more. So, the trick is to use sufficiently large terminals.



            For some reason, I had not encountered this in my previous installations, maybe due to larger terminals/smaller font. With less, everything worked well, because there were fewer alternatives and they fitted the terminal.






            share|improve this answer








            New contributor




            whamalai is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
            Check out our Code of Conduct.






















              up vote
              6
              down vote













              The reason turned out to be very simple: If the terminal is sufficiently large, auto-completion can show all alternatives above the prompt (on two columns), but if it is too small, it uses more. So, the trick is to use sufficiently large terminals.



              For some reason, I had not encountered this in my previous installations, maybe due to larger terminals/smaller font. With less, everything worked well, because there were fewer alternatives and they fitted the terminal.






              share|improve this answer








              New contributor




              whamalai is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
              Check out our Code of Conduct.




















                up vote
                6
                down vote










                up vote
                6
                down vote









                The reason turned out to be very simple: If the terminal is sufficiently large, auto-completion can show all alternatives above the prompt (on two columns), but if it is too small, it uses more. So, the trick is to use sufficiently large terminals.



                For some reason, I had not encountered this in my previous installations, maybe due to larger terminals/smaller font. With less, everything worked well, because there were fewer alternatives and they fitted the terminal.






                share|improve this answer








                New contributor




                whamalai is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                Check out our Code of Conduct.









                The reason turned out to be very simple: If the terminal is sufficiently large, auto-completion can show all alternatives above the prompt (on two columns), but if it is too small, it uses more. So, the trick is to use sufficiently large terminals.



                For some reason, I had not encountered this in my previous installations, maybe due to larger terminals/smaller font. With less, everything worked well, because there were fewer alternatives and they fitted the terminal.







                share|improve this answer








                New contributor




                whamalai is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                Check out our Code of Conduct.









                share|improve this answer



                share|improve this answer






                New contributor




                whamalai is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                Check out our Code of Conduct.









                answered 7 hours ago









                whamalai

                914




                914




                New contributor




                whamalai is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                Check out our Code of Conduct.





                New contributor





                whamalai is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                Check out our Code of Conduct.






                whamalai is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                Check out our Code of Conduct.






















                    whamalai is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.










                     

                    draft saved


                    draft discarded


















                    whamalai is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.













                    whamalai is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.












                    whamalai is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.















                     


                    draft saved


                    draft discarded














                    StackExchange.ready(
                    function () {
                    StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2faskubuntu.com%2fquestions%2f1096251%2fhow-do-i-control-when-bash-auto-completion-shows-a-paged-list-of-completions%23new-answer', 'question_page');
                    }
                    );

                    Post as a guest















                    Required, but never shown





















































                    Required, but never shown














                    Required, but never shown












                    Required, but never shown







                    Required, but never shown

































                    Required, but never shown














                    Required, but never shown












                    Required, but never shown







                    Required, but never shown







                    Popular posts from this blog

                    flock() on closed filehandle LOCK_FILE at /usr/bin/apt-mirror

                    Mangá

                    Eduardo VII do Reino Unido