Maven Bash Completion

Maven by default does not distribute with a Bash auto completion script, only a very simple guide is provided. This script gives you more to help your daily Maven build.

Installation

Example install manually:

1. Download bash_completion.bash and save it to any place you want, like ~/.maven_bash_completion.bash.
2. Make your login shell load the script automatically by adding the line below to ~/.bash_profile (note the space after dot):
   . ~/.maven_bash_completion.bash

Example install as a one-line command line call for Debian and other distro:

sudo wget https://raw.github.com/dimaj/maven-bash-completion/master/bash_completion.bash --output-document /etc/bash_completion.d/mvn

Usage

To list common lifecycle phases:
$ mvn [TAB][TAB] (list all common used lifecycle phases)
$ mvn cl[TAB][TAB] (complete to 'clean')

To list prefix of common used plugins:
$ mvn ar[TAB][TAB] (complete to 'archetype:')
$ mvn depe[TAB][TAB] (complete to 'dependency:')

To list available goals for common used plugins:
$ mvn help:[TAB][TAB] (list all available goals of maven-help-plugin)
$ mvn dependency:[TAB][TAB] (list all available goals of maven-dependency-plugin)

To list available options:
$ mvn -[TAB][TAB]

To list -D options (like -DskipTests):
$ mvn -D[TAB][TAB]

To list available profiles (from settings.xml and pom.xml):
$ mvn -P [TAB][TAB]
$ mvn -P myapp-core,[TAB][TAB] (multiple profles supported)

To list simple reactor projects:
$ mvn -pl [TAB][TAB]
$ mvn -pl myapp-core,[TAB][TAB]
$ mvn -rf [TAB][TAB]

FAQ

Q: I get error message: __git_reassemble_comp_words_by_ref: command not found
A: Please install git-bash-completion first.