tcsh

name	tcsh
description	Use when working with tcsh shell internals — programmable completion, complete builtin, COMMAND_LINE, command-line editor, bindkey, quoting/expansion, execution model, startup files, or tcsh-specific features. Triggers on: "tcsh", "tcsh completion", "tcsh complete", "tcsh bindkey", "tcsh quoting", "tcsh startup", "COMMAND_LINE", "complete builtin", "addsuffix", "autolist", "wordchars", "tenematch", "csh", "TENEX".
user-invocable	true

Tcsh Shell In-Depth Reference

Comprehensive reference for tcsh shell internals, with emphasis on the completion system and how external tools hook into it.

Sub-Resources

Load the reference that matches your task. When in doubt, load multiple references.

Keywords	Reference
complete, uncomplete, COMMAND_LINE, p/c/n/N word spec, list types, select pattern, suffix, addsuffix, autolist, fignore, complete enhance, recexact, listmax, listmaxrows, tenematch, tw_complete, tw_result, complete-word, list-choices, complete-word-raw, complete-word-fwd, complete-word-back, external command completion, backtick completion, COMP_WORDBREAKS, wordchars, spelling correction, autocorrect, correct variable	references/completion.md
bindkey, editor, emacs mode, vi mode, vimode, key binding, editing commands, wordchars, complete-word, list-choices, history-search, i-search, dabbrev-expand, expand-history, expand-glob, normalize-command, which-command, run-help, prompt, rprompt, prompt2, prompt3, visiblebell, color, ls-F	references/editor.md
quoting, single quotes, double quotes, backslash, backtick, backslash_quote, variable expansion, $name, ${name}, command substitution, history expansion, !, alias expansion, globbing, filename substitution, *, ?, [...], brace expansion, tilde expansion, globstar, nonomatch, noglob, fignore, csubstnonl	references/quoting-expansion.md
execution, pipeline, job control, background, foreground, suspend, stop, notify, nohup, hup, onintr, signal, trap, autologout, exit, exec, source, repeat, foreach, while, if, switch, goto, cdpath, hash, rehash, noclobber, redirect, pipefail	references/execution.md
startup, .tcshrc, .cshrc, .login, .logout, /etc/csh.cshrc, /etc/csh.login, /etc/csh.logout, login shell, interactive shell, set, setenv, unset, unsetenv, shell variables, environment variables, path, cwd, home, history, savehist, histfile, prompt, term, tcsh version, -f flag, -l flag, -m flag	references/startup-config.md

Quick Guide

• How do I write a completion for a command? → references/completion.md
• How does an external completion generator hook into tcsh? → references/completion.md
• What is COMMAND_LINE and how is it set? → references/completion.md
• How does the complete builtin word specification work? → references/completion.md
• How does the command-line editor handle completion? → references/editor.md
• How do I bind keys for completion? → references/editor.md
• How does quoting affect completions? → references/quoting-expansion.md
• How does history expansion work? → references/quoting-expansion.md
• How does tcsh execute commands and handle signals? → references/execution.md
• Which startup files does tcsh read? → references/startup-config.md
• How do I set shell and environment variables? → references/startup-config.md
• What is the addsuffix variable? → references/completion.md
• How does the complete builtin differ from bash's complete? → references/completion.md
• How does spelling correction work? → references/completion.md
• How do I configure the prompt? → references/editor.md

Cross-Project References

For carapace-specific tcsh integration (snippet, value formatting, quoting), see the carapace-dev skill → references/shell.md (tcsh is covered in the secondary shells comparison table).