Command completion

An overview of command completion, keystrokes and symbols and nodes.

To save keystrokes, the system accepts unambiguous command prefixes in place of the full command. For example, typing sh configu in operational mode is equivalent to typing show configuration.

You can also have the system automatically complete a command syntax by entering or pressing any of the following at the command prompt.

Table 1. CLI help keystrokes
Enter or press this:	To display this:
<Tab>	Automatic completion of a command. If the command is unambiguous, the system generates the next token in the syntax. If more than one completion is possible, the system displays the set of possible tokens. Pressing <Tab> a second time displays command help for each possible token. (Note that the space following a command or keyword counts as a token.)
? or <Alt>-?	The set of possible tokens. Pressing ? a second time displays command help for each possible token. Note: To enter a literal question mark, first enter <Ctrl>+v, then the question mark.

The following example shows how to find all available commands.

vyatta@R1:~$ <Tab>

The following example shows how to request command completion for the sh entered character string. In this example, the command to be completed is unambiguous.

vyatta@R1:~$ sh<Tab>

vyatta@R1:~$ show

The following example shows how to request command completion for the s entered character string. In this case, more than one command can complete the entry and the system lists all valid completions.

vyatta@R1:~$:s<Tab>

set           show

Note that neither the <Tab> key nor the <Alt>+? key combination provides a help function when enclosed in double quotation marks. When used within double quotation marks, the <Tab> key generates a tab character and the <Alt>+? key combination generates a question mark (?) character.

In configuration mode, the following symbols are displayed next to nodes in their completion help text to indicate the node type.

Table 2. Symbols and nodes
Symbol	Node
+	Multinode
>	Nonleaf node
+>	Tag node (multiple nonleaf)

The following example shows the node symbols next to possible completions for the interfaces dataplane command.

vyatta@vyatta:~$ configure

[edit]
vyatta@vyatta# set interfaces dataplane dp0p0p1
<Tab>
Possible Completions:
   <Enter>             Execute the current command
+  address             IP address
 > bridge-group        Add this interface to a bridge group
   description         Description
 > dhcpv6-options      DHCPv6 options
   disable             Disable interface
   disable-link-detect Ignore link state changes
 > firewall            Firewall options
 > flow-monitoring     Flow-Monitoring configuration for interface
 > ip                  <No help text available>
 > ipv6                IPv6 parameters
   log_martians        Enable the logging of bogus packets
   mac                 Media Access Control (MAC) address
   mtu                 Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU)
 > policy              PBR Options
   qos-policy          Qos policy for interface
   sflow               Enable/Disable sflow for interface
+> vif                 Virtual Interface (VIF) ID
 > vrrp                Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP)
 > xconnect            Specify the parameters for cross-connect

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Command completion

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