Linux.com: CLI Magic: Bash Complete | Linux Today

Linux.com: CLI Magic: Bash Complete

Written By
Web Webster
Web Webster
May 9, 2006

“The auto complete feature of the Bourne Again SHell makes bash
one of the most loved and newbie-friendly Linux shells. Just by
pressing the Tab key you can complete commands and filenames. Press
the Tab key twice and all files in the directory get displayed. But
you can do more with autocomplete–such as associating file types
with applications, and automatically designating whether you’re
looking for directories, text, or MP3 files. With simple commands
such as complete and the use of Escape sequences, you can save time
and have fun on the command line.

“You can use the dollar sign ($), tilde (~), and at (@)
characters along with the Tab key to get quick results in
autocomplete…”

Complete
Story

Web Webster

Web Webster

Web Webster has more than 20 years of writing and editorial experience in the tech sector. He’s written and edited news, demand generation, user-focused, and thought leadership content for business software solutions, consumer tech, and Linux Today, he edits and writes for a portfolio of tech industry news and analysis websites including webopedia.com, and DatabaseJournal.com.

Linux Today Logo

LinuxToday is a trusted, contributor-driven news resource supporting all types of Linux users. Our thriving international community engages with us through social media and frequent content contributions aimed at solving problems ranging from personal computing to enterprise-level IT operations. LinuxToday serves as a home for a community that struggles to find comparable information elsewhere on the web.

Property of TechnologyAdvice. © 2026 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.