Autocompletion when browsing ssh server in zsh

Question

i realized that my zsh does not autocomplete the folders of a SSH server when I am in a local terminal and use cd, rsync or any other command. The bash in Ubuntu does this.

e.g.:

rsync -avh --progress user@host:/folder1/subfolder/another_subf . -n

the command works so I can connect, its just very uncomfortable when you have to type and know every foldername by heart.

Answer 1

ZSH can tab complete for rsync over SSH; the feature is probably simply not enabled in your ZSH. Here's what I see for a localhost: TAB

% rsync -avz . localhost:
Applications/  Desktop/       Documents/     Downloads/     Library/
...

First, you will ideally need automated login setup, unless you like typing your password after every TAB. For SSH this can be done with public key authentication, among other methods. There are other questions on how to set this up.

Then, in ZSH the completion system will need to be enabled. A minimal test of this is:

% zsh -f
lion% rsync -avz . localhost:
# (remote tab completion is not available, I hit control+c)
lion% autoload -U compinit
lion% compinit
lion% rsync -avz . localhost:
Applications/  Desktop/       Documents/     Downloads/     Library/
...
lion% exit

Therefore you will need to enable the completion system by placing the commands

autoload -U compinit
compinit

into a ZSH "run command", usually ~/.zshrc and then load a new shell with exec zsh -l or some similar action.