From e300864eaa9a3e6d23a1dec01ba965515e0c0875 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Kevin Van Brunt <kmvanbrunt@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 21 Apr 2026 00:00:13 -0400
Subject: [PATCH] Made CompletionItem deepcopy-safe.

---
 cmd2/completion.py       | 14 ++++++++++++++
 tests/test_completion.py | 31 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 45 insertions(+)

diff --git a/cmd2/completion.py b/cmd2/completion.py
index 6733e56c9..fff0e999d 100644
--- a/cmd2/completion.py
+++ b/cmd2/completion.py
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 """Provides classes and functions related to command-line completion."""
 
+import copy
 import re
 import sys
 from collections.abc import (
@@ -124,6 +125,19 @@ def __post_init__(self) -> None:
             ru.prepare_objects_for_rendering(*renderable_data),
         )
 
+    def __deepcopy__(self, memo: dict[int, Any]) -> "CompletionItem":
+        """Return a shallow copy of this CompletionItem during a deepcopy operation.
+
+        This is necessary because cmd2 deepcopies argument parsers to keep them unique
+        across command instances. This override prevents the deepcopying of
+        CompletionItems stored within a parser's 'choices' list.
+
+        Since the 'value' and 'table_data' fields may contain complex objects which
+        should not be deep copied, a shallow copy ensures the original object
+        references are preserved.
+        """
+        return copy.copy(self)
+
     def __str__(self) -> str:
         """Return the completion text."""
         return self.text
diff --git a/tests/test_completion.py b/tests/test_completion.py
index ecc5bcd1a..a8b02d95f 100644
--- a/tests/test_completion.py
+++ b/tests/test_completion.py
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 """
 
 import argparse
+import copy
 import dataclasses
 import enum
 import os
@@ -919,6 +920,36 @@ def test_remove_duplicates() -> None:
     assert new_meta in completions
 
 
+def test_completion_item_deepcopy() -> None:
+    """Test that deepcopy of a CompletionItem preserves identity of its members."""
+
+    class ComplexValue:
+        pass
+
+    value = ComplexValue()
+    table_data = (ComplexValue(),)
+    orig_item = CompletionItem(
+        value=value,
+        text="my_text",
+        display="my_display",
+        display_meta="my_meta",
+        table_data=table_data,
+    )
+
+    # Perform deepcopy
+    copied_item = copy.deepcopy(orig_item)
+
+    # We should have a new object
+    assert copied_item is not orig_item
+
+    # But its member should be the same objects
+    assert copied_item.value is orig_item.value
+    assert copied_item.text is orig_item.text
+    assert copied_item.display is orig_item.display
+    assert copied_item.display_meta is orig_item.display_meta
+    assert copied_item.table_data is orig_item.table_data
+
+
 def test_plain_fields() -> None:
     """Test the plain text fields in CompletionItem."""
     display = "\x1b[31mApple\x1b[0m"