readline rl_completion_append_character equivalent

[holger krekel]

Andrew Lusk wrote:
> I've been writing a readline application with a custom completer.
> What I can't figure out is an equivalent to
> rl_completion_append_character in the underlying C library.

ASFAIK there is no equivalent. 

> rl_completion_append_character tells readline to append a character
> (usually ' ') after the number of completions has dropped down to
> one.

The readline module in python2.2.2 defaults to an empty
rl_completion_append_character.  This is the desired behaviour
for the stdlib rlcompleter. 

> Either I'm doing something wrong elsewhere, or I need a function
> like this, because when my number of completions drops to one with the
> python readline, I keep hitting tab and it keeps writing out the
> single completion option.  Here's my completer, for what it's worth:
> 
> def completer(text,state):
>     global comp_list
>     regex = re.compile("^%s.*"%text)
>     if readline.get_begidx() == 0:
>         pos_list = []
>         for pos in comp_list:
>             if regex.match(pos):
>                 pos_list.append(pos)

if i am not mistaken you should/could write here

          for pos in comp_list:
              if pos.startswith(text) and pos!=text:
                  pos_list.append(pos)

this would prevent completion if the complete completion 
is already there. 

> 
>         if state > len(pos_list):
>             return None

maybe you want to insert

          elif len(pos_list)==1:
              return pos_list[0]+' '

>         else:
>             return pos_list[state]


if you provide the complete thing (stripped down if possible)
i could also test it myself. 

HTH,

    holger