Autocompletion on console?

Question

I configured a bare-bone FreeBSD box. And I surprised that console does not support auto-completion. In fact, it supported on root account, but not in normal user account. I'm guessing it caused by some kind of shell selection. (1) What's the default shell of root account? (which support auto-completion) Or (2) any recommended shells? (3) And How can I know the shell that I'm using.

Answer 1

Default csh. Recommend root login shell csh.

Add in /root/.cshrc:

set autolist = ambiguous
set complete = enhance

Also you can install bash(zsh) and run it. But i don't recommend change root shell. Because bash(zsh) have more shared library dependencies and the upgrade may break your system(root login).

Or install bash and change login bash. But, before upgrade system change shell back.

Change shell:

chsh USER -s SHELL
chsh root -s /usr/local/bin/bash

Answer 2

You probably want to install and use a shell shell such as bash or zsh for your user accounts. I'm not sure if this applies to freebsh but on linux you can change your login shell using chsh to any of the shells listed as being allowed by the system.

If this isnt' your problem, it might be helpful to post a note about what shell you are using. You can find this by looking at the value of $SHELL.