Autocomplete for the ruby command in bash

Question

In the Bash shell, I would like to run a directory of ruby scripts from anywhere. Adding the directory to the $PATH doesn't do it.

I want to type 'ruby,' start typing the first letters of a script name, and then press tab to autocomplete the script name.

For instance, I'm in /~/username/foo/bar and want to run /~/ruby/test/script1.rb

~/username/foo/bar $ ruby scri

press tab and

/username/foo/bar $ ruby script1.rb

appears. Hit enter and the script runs, even though I'm not in the right directory.

Is this possible?

Answer 1

As far as I know, the only bash completion that you can do is running the script itself. If you were to make the script executable and put it in your path, you should be able to simply run the script by typing

my_scri

and then hitting tab. This would probably be the easiest method. What OS are you on? We might be able to help a bit more.

Answer 2

If you add this to the top line of you scripts. Use 'which ruby' to find out where your interpreter is located and use that path instead.

#!/usr/local/bin/ruby -w

Then change them to be executable with

chmod +x ruby_script.rb

You'll be able to ruby them like any normal program, for example (although you may want to lose the .rb extension)

ruby_script.rb

Answer 3

Have a look at the /etc/bash_completion file and the complete command. Googling these keywords should yield you some tutorials as how to customize bash autocompletion.

Also make sure your ruby scripts have a correct she-bang line.

Answer 4

Why don't you just make your ruby executable and include the interpreter in the first line as in:

$cat >un.rb<<END
> #!/usr/bin/ruby
> puts "Hi"
> END
$chmod +x un.rb 
$export PATH=$PATH:/Users/oscarreyes
$cd /tmp 
$un.rb 
Hi

I've used tab to autocomplete my command un.rb