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When I want to traverse between directories, zsh is throwing a screenfull of tab completions. It's making the experience very bad. How can I get only few suggestions?

nikhilreddydev
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  • You mean `cd` completions are numerous? What's in your `PATH`? – Jens Feb 20 '22 at 10:36
  • Yeah cd completions. I am using Ubuntu on wsl2 and my path contains windows directories too.. okay, there's all the mess coming from. How can I not get cd completions from windows folders? – nikhilreddydev Feb 21 '22 at 03:50
  • Do you need the windows folders in your PATH? If not, remove them. There may also be a `CDPATH` variable. Any excess directories in there? – Jens Feb 21 '22 at 13:26
  • CDPATH is empty. How do I remove windows folders from path? Can you guide me please? – nikhilreddydev Feb 23 '22 at 04:15
  • You simply set `PATH=/bin:/usr/bin:/some/other/dir` in your `.zshrc`. You can test if this has any effect on the command line first with `OLD=$PATH`, `PATH=/bin:/usr/bin:...`, `rehash`. Undo with `PATH=$OLD`. – Jens Feb 23 '22 at 06:50
  • Thank you @Jens. I finally set my path to only /bin. And now completions are a bit cleaner. – nikhilreddydev Feb 24 '22 at 10:39
  • Only `/bin` might be a bit underpowered. It's better to use the system default, which you can query with `getconf PATH` and set with `PATH=$(/usr/bin/getconf PATH)`. – Jens Feb 24 '22 at 13:55

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Turning the comment conversation into an answer.

  1. Check your PATH and CDPATH variables for directories you don't need.
  2. Assign stripped down values somewhere in your .zshrc.
  3. A good value for PATH is the system default, PATH=$(/usr/bin/getconf PATH).
  4. Add to your liking, maybe $HOME/bin and /usr/local/bin if they exist.
Jens
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