How to enable auto completion in Ruby's IRB

Question

When I use Merb's built in console, I get tab auto-completion similar to a standard bash prompt. I find this useful and would like to enable it in non-merb IRB sessions. How do I get auto-completion in IRB?

score 76 · Accepted Answer · edited Nov 03 '14 at 15:38

76

Just drop require 'irb/completion' in your irbrc.

If that doesn't work try bond, http://tagaholic.me/bond/:

   require 'bond'; require 'bond/completion'

Bond not only improves irb's completion, http://tagaholic.me/2009/07/22/better-irb-completion-with-bond.html, but also offers an easy dsl for making custom autocompletions.

edited Nov 03 '14 at 15:38

CMPS

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answered Sep 05 '09 at 05:14

cldwalker

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Works great! Minor history bug in Git Bash, but I'm sure it will be fixed. – mcandre Mar 15 '13 at 15:48
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Just wanted to add, if you are on Ubuntu, you can create the file ```.irbrc``` in your $HOME directory if it doesn't already exist. – snapfractalpop Aug 19 '14 at 00:40
Doesnt work on OSX 10.11.5 with irb version 0.9.6(09/06/30) – Joseph Jul 20 '16 at 12:18

John F. Miller · Answer 2 · 2009-09-08T23:45:31.547

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This is just repeating the information on Cody Caughlan's comment above so it is easier to find:

either require 'irb/completion' or add the following to ~/.irbrc

IRB.conf[:AUTO_INDENT] = true
IRB.conf[:USE_READLINE] = true
IRB.conf[:LOAD_MODULES] = [] unless IRB.conf.key?(:LOAD_MODULES)
unless IRB.conf[:LOAD_MODULES].include?('irb/completion')
  IRB.conf[:LOAD_MODULES] << 'irb/completion'
end

edited Sep 08 '09 at 23:45

answered Sep 05 '09 at 01:58

John F. Miller

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"the page above" is a little confusing, as the order of answers can be changed. You may wish to refer to answers by the author of those answers. – Andrew Grimm Sep 07 '09 at 05:51
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Why should I add this block to the ibrc if a simple require statement does the same? – maxschlepzig Oct 27 '10 at 17:06
@maxschlepzig so you don't have to type `require 'irb/completion'` everytime you use or open irb =) – Viktova Feb 05 '20 at 08:47
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@M03, I parsed the sentence 'either require irb/completion or add the following to ~/.irbrc' as "either **add** require irb/completion to ~/.irbrc or add the following to ~/.irbrc'. I haven't used `irb` for years, but I still have a `~/.irbrc` which indeed starts with `require 'irb/completion'` and doesn't include any `LOAD_MODULES` stuff. And with that a history file is loaded and written fine. – maxschlepzig Feb 05 '20 at 22:16

score 10 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 20 '16 at 12:24

This is what worked for me on Mac OS 10.11.5. using rvm. Do the following :

sudo gem install bond
Create the file .irbrc in your home directory. vi ~/.irbrc
Add the following lines in the .irbrc file require 'bond' Bond.start
Save and close the file
Open irb and use tab key to autocomplete

How to enable auto completion in Ruby's IRB

3 Answers3

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