Autocomplete with C++ (NOT with Shell)

Question

I am trying to add autocomplete functionality to my command line application. So far all the answers are saying that it is priority of the shell but in my case it is different. My program goes into a loop (to get commands) in main(), so I don't think it has anything to do with shell. How can I achieve such goal?

This following is my program. It starts parsing when the user hits enter (std::getline()). How can I get user input at runtime without using any external libraries?

while (input != "exit") {

  std::cout << "\nCommand >> ";
  std::getline(std::cin, input);

  com.parse(input);
}

You wil need to use a library. Take a look into `readline` if it is available for your platform. — David Rodríguez - dribeas, Jul 30 '13 at 15:41
@DavidRodríguez-dribeas Thanks, I am actually using linux, so I will try :) — khajvah, Jul 30 '13 at 15:44
I suppose this is what you're looking for: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/421860/c-c-capture-characters-from-standard-input-without-waiting-for-enter-to-be-pr — Bogolt, Jul 30 '13 at 16:39
@DavidRodríguez-dribeas I would mark your comment as an answer if it was possible, thank you :) — khajvah, Jul 30 '13 at 17:42
@khajvah: That is an answer only if you are using a platform that is supported by that library and if you wanted to go the library way and not implement it manually... you can also add an answer yourself and accept it (which will help you a bit with the rep) — David Rodríguez - dribeas, Jul 30 '13 at 18:12
@DavidRodríguez-dribeas ok, I will write full answer as soon as I get free time to actually make autocomplete work. — khajvah, Jul 30 '13 at 18:31

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 31 '13 at 14:06

3

As David Rodríguez said, using readline GNU does the job (I had to use a library) in linux.

This is the official documentation, it has some C examples but they are too confusing, so I used this to create my custom autocompletion.

answered Jul 31 '13 at 14:06

khajvah

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Autocomplete with C++ (NOT with Shell)

1 Answers1