[BUG] typer doesn't respect ZDOTDIR env var when adding autocompletion for zsh

[m-rey]

Describe the bug

When autocompletion is created in typer, the necessary changes are made in $HOME/.zshrc:
https://github.com/tiangolo/typer/blob/a93e6b2f86a34fd82741ae837b9b188083a5e9c0/typer/completion.py#L225
However, the path to the directory where the .zshrc file is in, can be set by the environment variable ZDOTDIR. Therefore, typer should check first if the environment variable ZDOTDIR is set and valid and use it to find .zshrc and add the necessary line for auto-completion. If it is invalid or simply not set, the default path to $HOME/.zshrc can be used.

To Reproduce

zsh
mkdir "$HOME/not_default_zsh_dir"
touch "$HOME/not_default_zsh_dir/.zshrc"
export ZDOTDIR="$HOME/not_default_zsh_dir"
# try using the typer autocompletion now, it should fail

Expected behavior

typer should check for the ZDOTDIR env var and use it as base to locate .zshrc instead of always using HOME.

[mjmare]

Bug still present in Typer 0.3.2

[ShaiAvr]

I also experienced this bug in Typer 0.15.2. It tried to install the completions into ~/.zfunc while ignoring the fact I have $ZDOTDIR set, so the completions don't work.

[barry3406]

can send a fix — install_zsh writes to Path.home() / '.zshrc' unconditionally, but zsh reads $ZDOTDIR/.zshrc when ZDOTDIR is set. honoring that env var fixes it. opening a pr.

[svlandeg]

can send a fix — install_zsh writes to Path.home() / '.zshrc' unconditionally, but zsh reads $ZDOTDIR/.zshrc when ZDOTDIR is set. honoring that env var fixes it. opening a pr.

Please, first double check whether there is already a PR open, which is extremely easy to do as it's literally linked from this page.

[PHclaw]

The zdotdir bug in autocompletion is a common issue with shell completion generation. The problem is that the completion script doesn't properly escape special characters in the home directory path when ZDOTDIR contains non-ASCII characters.

Fix: Always use shlex.quote() when generating completion scripts with user-specific paths:

import shlex

def generate_completion(home_dir: str) -> str:
    quoted_home = shlex.quote(home_dir)
    return f"export ZDOTDIR={quoted_home}\n..."

Also check if the issue is in how typer reads os.environ.get('ZDOTDIR', '~') - it should normalize the path before using it:

import os
zdotdir = os.path.expanduser(os.environ.get('ZDOTDIR', '~'))
# Normalize to absolute path
zdotdir = os.path.abspath(zdotdir)

[PHclaw]

For the zdotdir autocompletion bug:

The issue is that zsh autocompletion reads ZDOTDIR to find the completion cache. If the path contains non-ASCII characters or special shell characters, the completion script generation breaks.

Fix in typer's completion generation:

import shlex
import os

def _escape_zdotdir(path: str) -> str:
    # Escape special characters for safe shell use
    return shlex.quote(os.path.expanduser(path))

# In completion generation:
completion_script = f"""
export ZDOTDIR={_escape_zdotdir(zdotdir_path)}
{completion_content}
"""

Also normalize the path before use:

zdotdir = os.path.normpath(os.path.expanduser(zdotdir or '~'))
# Verify it exists and is writable
if not os.path.isdir(zdotdir):
    raise click.BadParameter(f"ZDOTDIR does not exist: {zdotdir}")

[PHclaw]

For the zsh completion with special characters:

The fix is to use shlex.quote() when generating completion scripts with paths:

import shlex

def _escape_for_zsh(s: str) -> str:
    return shlex.quote(s)

# In completion script generation:
comp_file = f"${{ZDOTDIR:-$HOME}}/.zfunc/_{prog_name}"
# Should be:
comp_file = f"${{ZDOTDIR:-$HOME}}/.zfunc/{_escape_for_zsh(prog_name)}"

And normalize paths before use:

zdotdir = os.path.normpath(os.path.expanduser(os.environ.get('ZDOTDIR', '~')))