Command completion - Amazon Command Line Interface
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This documentation is for Version 1 of the Amazon CLI only. For documentation related to Version 2 of the Amazon CLI, see the Version 2 User Guide.

Command completion

The Amazon Command Line Interface (Amazon CLI) includes a bash-compatible command-completion feature that enables you to use the Tab key to complete a partially entered command. On most systems you need to configure this manually.

How it works

When you partially enter a command, parameter, or option, the command-completion feature either automatically completes your command or displays a suggested list of commands. To prompt command completion, you partially enter in a command and press the completion key, which is typically Tab in most shells.

The following examples show different ways that you can use command completion:

  • Partially enter a command and press Tab to display a suggested list of commands.

    $ aws dynamodb dTAB delete-backup describe-global-table delete-item describe-global-table-settings delete-table describe-limits describe-backup describe-table describe-continuous-backups describe-table-replica-auto-scaling describe-contributor-insights describe-time-to-live describe-endpoints
  • Partially enter a parameter and press Tab to display a suggested list of parameters.

    $ aws dynamodb delete-table --TAB --ca-bundle --endpoint-url --profile --cli-connect-timeout --generate-cli-skeleton --query --cli-input-json --no-paginate --region --cli-read-timeout --no-sign-request --table-name --color --no-verify-ssl --version --debug --output
  • Enter a parameter and press Tab to display a suggested list of resource values. This feature is available only in the Amazon CLI version 2.

    $ aws dynamodb db delete-table --table-name TAB Table 1 Table 2 Table 3

Configuring command completion on Linux or macOS

To configure command completion on Linux or macOS, you must know the name of the shell you're using and the location of the aws_completer script.

Note

Command completion is automatically configured and enabled by default on Amazon EC2 instances that run Amazon Linux.

Confirm the completer's folder is in your path

For the Amazon completer to work successfully, the aws_completer needs to be in your shell's path. The which command can check if the completer is in your path.

$ which aws_completer /usr/local/bin/aws_completer

If the which command can't find the completer, then use the following steps to add the completer's folder to your path.

Step 1: Locate the Amazon completer

The location of the Amazon completer can vary depending on the installation method used.

  • Package Manager - Programs such as pip, yum, brew, and apt-get typically install the Amazon completer (or a symlink to it) to a standard path location.

    • If you used pip without the --user parameter, the default path is /usr/local/bin/aws_completer.

    • If you used pip with the --user parameter the default path is /home/username/.local/bin/aws_completer.

  • Bundled Installer - If you used the bundled installer, the default path is /usr/local/bin/aws_completer.

If all else fails, you can use the find command to search your file system for the Amazon completer.

$ find / -name aws_completer /usr/local/bin/aws_completer

Step 2: Identify your shell

To identify which shell you're using, you can use one of the following commands.

  • echo $SHELL – Displays the shell's program file name. This usually matches the name of the in-use shell, unless you launched a different shell after logging in.

    $ echo $SHELL /bin/bash
  • ps – Displays the processes running for the current user. One of them is the shell.

    $ ps PID TTY TIME CMD 2148 pts/1 00:00:00 bash 8756 pts/1 00:00:00 ps

Step 3: Add the completer to your path

  1. Find your shell's profile script in your user folder.

    $ ls -a ~/ . .. .bash_logout .bash_profile .bashrc Desktop Documents Downloads
    • Bash.bash_profile, .profile, or .bash_login

    • Zsh.zshrc

    • Tcsh.tcshrc, .cshrc, or .login

  2. Add an export command at the end of your profile script that's similar to the following example. Replace /usr/local/bin/ with the folder that you discovered in the previous section.

    export PATH=/usr/local/bin/:$PATH
  3. Reload the profile into the current session to put those changes into effect. Replace .bash_profile with the name of the shell script you discovered in the first section.

    $ source ~/.bash_profile

Enable command completion

After confirming the completer is in your path, enable command completion by running the appropriate command for the shell that you're using. You can add the command to your shell's profile to run it each time you open a new shell. In each command, replace the /usr/local/bin/ path with the one found on your system in Confirm the completer's folder is in your path.

  • bash – Use the built-in command complete.

    $ complete -C '/usr/local/bin/aws_completer' aws

    Add the previous command to ~/.bashrc to run it each time you open a new shell. Your ~/.bash_profile should source ~/.bashrc to ensure that the command is also run in login shells.

  • zsh – To run command completion, you need to run bashcompinit by adding the following autoload line at the end of your ~/.zshrc profile script.

    $ autoload bashcompinit && bashcompinit $ autoload -Uz compinit && compinit

    To enable command completion, use the built-in command complete.

    $ complete -C '/usr/local/bin/aws_completer' aws

    Add the previous commands to ~/.zshrc to run it each time you open a new shell.

  • tcsh – Complete for tcsh takes a word type and pattern to define the completion behavior.

    > complete aws 'p/*/`aws_completer`/'

    Add the previous command to ~/.tschrc to run it each time you open a new shell.

After you've enabled command completion, Verify command completion is working.

Verify command completion

After enabling command completion, reload your shell, enter a partial command, and press Tab to see the available commands.

$ aws sTAB s3 ses sqs sts swf s3api sns storagegateway support

Configuring command completion on Windows

Note

For information on how PowerShell handles their completion, including their various completion keys, see about_Tab_Expansion in the Microsoft PowerShell Docs.

To enable command completion for PowerShell on Windows, complete the following steps in PowerShell.

  1. Open your $PROFILE with the following command.

    PS C:\> Notepad $PROFILE

    If you do not have a $PROFILE, create a user profile using the following command.

    PS C:\> if (!(Test-Path -Path $PROFILE )) { New-Item -Type File -Path $PROFILE -Force }

    For more information on PowerShell profiles, see How to Use Profiles in Windows PowerShell ISE on the Microsoft Docs website.

  2. To enable command completion, add the following code block to your profile, save, and then close the file.

    Register-ArgumentCompleter -Native -CommandName aws -ScriptBlock { param($commandName, $wordToComplete, $cursorPosition) $env:COMP_LINE=$wordToComplete if ($env:COMP_LINE.Length -lt $cursorPosition){ $env:COMP_LINE=$env:COMP_LINE + " " } $env:COMP_POINT=$cursorPosition aws_completer.exe | ForEach-Object { [System.Management.Automation.CompletionResult]::new($_, $_, 'ParameterValue', $_) } Remove-Item Env:\COMP_LINE Remove-Item Env:\COMP_POINT }
  3. After enabling command completion, reload your shell, enter a partial command, and press Tab to cycle through the available commands.

    $ aws sTab
    $ aws s3

    To see all available commands available to your completion, enter a partial command and press Ctrl + Space.

    $ aws sCtrl + Space s3 ses sqs sts swf s3api sns storagegateway support