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My system is Manjaro Linux based on Arch Linux, I use bash and bash-completion.

It works perfectly when I type something as regular user (no sudo)

$ rfkill <TAB><TAB>
block    event    help     list     unblock

but when I type it with sudo 

$ sudo rfkill <TAB><TAB>
Display all 3811 possibilities? (y or n)

Obviously, it tries to complete sudo command but I want it to complete rfkill.

I know I can change this behavior by editing /usr/share/bash-completion/completions/sudo file, but I have no idea how to say if second word is not a flag for sudo then use completion for next word.

Do you have?

UPD: I'm testing Ubuntu 16.04 in virtual machine and I see it works as expected. I'll check the difference between ubuntu's /usr/share/bash-completion/completions/sudo file and mine, if any.

UPD2: There is some mirror (meaningless) difference between these files, anyway that didn't help. I have more ideas to test...

Yet Another John Smith
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  • Are you sure you have removed `complete -cf sudo` in your `.bashrc` and your `.bash_profile` (this was my problem)? And are you sure you've sourced the completion file, i.e. `. /usr/share/bash-completion/bash_completion` in your `.bashrc`? – Tim Kersten Jul 12 '19 at 18:29

2 Answers2

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I had exactly the same problem (running Manjaro) and found a solution in the Manjaro Forum (Source):

  1. Make sure bash-completion is actually installed by checking whether /usr/share/bash-completion/bash_completion exists. If not install it with pacman -S bash-completion
  2. In your ~/.bashrc file make sure that complete -cf sudo is commented out. Otherwise, this will make sudo only auto-complete filenames and commands but not use bash-completion.

I hope this helps you solving the problem

bentocin
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  • I couldn't figure out what file bash was sourcing that was calling `complete -cf sudo` so I used bash -x to see what files get sourced. I have seen several forums/comments/threads that say that you *want* the above line, but if bash-completion is installed correctly, this is definitely not what you want. This should be marked as the correct answer. – AKstat Feb 24 '20 at 01:25
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use double tab:

sudo rfkill <TAB><TAB>

UPD

if there is not that line, add this to your .bashrc

complete -cf sudo
tso
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