Clarify how to use the PowerShell completions

[JanPokorny]

Describe the feature or problem you’d like to solve

The page https://cli.github.com/manual/gh_completion explains to use the completions by adding eval "$(gh completion)" to a profile file.

For PowerShell, the equivalent command is gh completion -s powershell | iex, which produces the following error:

> gh completion -s powershell | iex
iex : At line:1 char:67
+ Register-ArgumentCompleter -Native -CommandName 'gh' -ScriptBlock {
+                                                                   ~
Missing closing '}' in statement block or type definition.
At line:1 char:31
+ gh completion -s powershell | iex
+                               ~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : ParserError: (:) [Invoke-Expression], ParseException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : MissingEndCurlyBrace,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.InvokeExpressionCommand

Proposed solution

Explain how to use the PowerShell completions

[dougbu]

I got the following to work:

gh completion --shell powershell |Out-File -FilePath gh.completion.ps1 -Encoding utf8
./gh.completion.ps1

or

gh completion --shell powershell |Out-String |Invoke-Expression

[JanPokorny]

@dougbu I tried running gh completion --shell powershell |Out-String |Invoke-Expression in my PowerShell, which produced no output. Subsequently typing gh followed by space and pressing TAB triggers file autocompletion, not command autocompletion, sadly. Does this need to be placed in $PROFILE? I was under the impression that this would (temporarily) work in a shell in which the command was ran.

[dougbu]

@JanPokorny the completions themselves are seemingly incomplete. If I type gh pr then hit tab, I get completions for the rest of the command e.g. checkout. But, I don't get completions for anything but files if I just type gh .

W.r.t. your profile, I found the command didn't work because profiles aren't sourced. Needed the following in my profile:

New-Item function::global:Complete-gh -value { gh completion --shell powershell | Out-String | Invoke-Expression } >$null

I then execute Complete-gh at the PowerShell prompt. It's a bit clunky and there's probably a better way to do this.

[bc3tech]

in my $profile file I added:

Invoke-Expression -Command $(gh completion -s powershell | Out-String)

and I get the expected result in a new powershell window. Agreed, though, I expected gh <tab> to give me some options and it does not.

[dougbu]

Ah, great. Thanks @bc3tech❕ (The lack of completion after gh likely confused me when I set this up.)

[musm]

and I get the expected result in a new powershell window. Agreed, though, I expected gh <tab> to give me some options and it does not.

Gotta agree, found it very odd gh <tab> doesn't have any completions

[binyamin]

I can confirm that in git bash, gh <tab> does complete.

[jasonsyoung]

I can confirm that in git bash, gh <tab> does complete.

Well that would not be coming from the Powershell completion, which is the topic of this issue, since you are explicitely using BASH.

I am able to get a second level of tab expansion (as they're called in Powershell, as opposed to tab completion in bash), but not a first level. For example (note: I am not a PS expert), creating the tab completion file:

> gh completion --shell powershell > C:\Users\<user>\Documents\PowerShell\Github.Completion.ps1

then sourcing it in my $Profile to avoid the performance hit of recreating it on each launch (as others have done above):

Invoke-Command -ScriptBlock {
    . C:\Users\<user>\Documents\PowerShell\Github.Completion.ps1
}

leads me to have this work: > gh repo <tab> -- resulting in cycling through clone, create, credits, etc. But just > gh <tab> results in the shell cycling through my directories instead of the top level items.

Any suggestions?

[peschkaj]

@jasonsyoung Take a look in #1775 for a current workaround

[thomaslevesque]

I can't get any of the suggested solutions to work. I tried in PowerShell Core and Windows Powershell, in all cases I only have the usual file completion, no command completion. It would be nice to have an answer from the team...

[LRitzdorf]

As of 6/12/2021, with version 1.11.0, command and subcommand autocompletion are present.

I used @bc3tech 's command in my PowerShell $PROFILE, and everything seems to be working as expected. I get command autocompletion, then file autocompletion when typing after a subcommand.