I have a little helper command in ~/.zshrc called stfu.

stfu() {
    if [ -z "$1" ]; then
        echo "Usage: stfu <program> [arguments...]"
        return 1
    fi

    nohup "$@" &>/dev/null &
    disown
}
complete -W "$(ls /usr/bin)" stfu

stfu will run some other command but also detach it from the terminal and make any output shut up. I use it for things such as starting a browser from the terminal without worrying about CTRL+Z, bg, and disown.

$ stfu firefox -safe-mode
# Will not output stuff to the terminal, and
# I can close the terminal too.

Here’s my issue:

On the second argument and above, when I hit tab, how do I let autocomplete suggest me the arguments and command line switches for the command I’m passing in?

e.g. stfu ls -<tab> should show me whatever ls’s completion function is, rather than listing every /usr/bin command again.

# Intended completion
$ stfu cat -<TAB>
-e                      -- equivalent to -vE                                                                                                                                                     
--help                  -- display help and exit                                                                                                                                                 
--number            -n  -- number all output lines                                                                                                                                               
--number-nonblank   -b  -- number nonempty output lines, overrides -n                                                                                                                            
--show-all          -A  -- equivalent to -vET                                                                                                                                                    
--show-ends         -E  -- display $ at end of each line                                                                                                                                         
--show-nonprinting  -v  -- use ^ and M- notation, except for LFD and TAB                                                                                                                         
--show-tabs         -T  -- display TAB characters as ^I                                                                                                                                          
--squeeze-blank     -s  -- suppress repeated empty output lines                                                                                                                                  
-t                      -- equivalent to -vT                                                                                                                                                     
-u                      -- ignored  

# Actual completion
$ stfu cat <tab>
...a list of all /usr/bin commands
$ stfu cat -<tab>
...nothing, since no /usr/bin commands start with -
  • hallettj@leminal.space
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    4 months ago

    All I can tell you is that this is done differently for each shell. So decide whether you want completions for bash, zsh, fish, all of the above, or whatever, and look at the docs for the relevant shells.