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compgen — Bash built-in command for generating possible completion matches in Bash. Usually used within custom

Submitted by: @import:tldr-pages·Mar 2, 2026·

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Problem

How to use the compgen command: Bash built-in command for generating possible completion matches in Bash. Usually used within custom completion functions. See also: complete, compopt. More information: <https://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/bash.html#index-compgen>.

Solution

compgen — Bash built-in command for generating possible completion matches in Bash. Usually used within custom completion functions. See also: complete, compopt. More information: <https://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/bash.html#index-compgen>.

List all shell built-ins, aliases, functions, and executables that you could run:

compgen -c

List all commands that you could run that start with a specified string and save results to $COMPREPLY:

compgen -V COMPREPLY -c {{str}}

Match against a wordlist:

compgen -W "{{apple orange banana}}" {{a}}

List all aliases:

compgen -a

List all functions that you could run:

compgen -A function

Show shell reserved keywords:

compgen -k

See all available commands/aliases starting with ls:

compgen -ac {{ls}}

List all users on the system:

compgen -u

Code Snippets

List all shell built-ins, aliases, functions, and executables that you could run

compgen -c

List all commands that you could run that start with a specified string and save results to `$COMPREPLY`

compgen -V COMPREPLY -c {{str}}

Match against a wordlist

compgen -W "{{apple orange banana}}" {{a}}

List all aliases

compgen -a

List all functions that you could run

compgen -A function

Context

tldr-pages: common/compgen

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