Introduction

Filename completion lets you type part of a filename and then press the TAB key; if what you have typed so far uniquely specifies a filename, tcsh will complete it for you.

Notes

• If you are in a directory with two files, one named mail and one named oldmail, you can remove oldmail by typing:

  
  % rm oTAB
  
  

• The TAB part of that is just the Tab key.
• tcsh will fill in the whole name of the file on the command line for you, leaving you with:

  
  % rm oldmail
  
  

• But you didn't have to type the ldmail!
• If what you typed so far when you press the Tab key isn't unique, tcsh will fill in as much as it can and then send a bell which will make your terminal beep to indicate it didn't finish the filename.
• For example, if you are in a directory with files mail.1 and mail.2 and you type:

  
  % rm mTAB
  
  

  ... then tcsh will add ail. and beep.
• If you want to see what files match what you have typed so far, you can press control-D and tcsh will show you all the files that match as much as you have typed:

  
  % ls
  mail.1  mail.2
  % rm mail.^D
  mail.1  mail.2
  % rm mail.