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I use PuTTY to connect to an Ubuntu Server (VPS). I would like to use Tab-Completion when I'm working with the command line on Ubuntu Server... How can I configure it?

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2 Answers

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Tab completion should work in PuTTY. Tab completion is provided by the shell you're running on the server, not by PuTTY itself. Please edit your question and provide more details including what shell you're using and what specifically happens when you try to use tab completion.

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OK, thanks. How can I see what shell I am using? I have a Ubuntu VPS, so I guess it is the default one. Is it Bash? – Jonas Mar 12 '10 at 13:52
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try echo $SHELL to see what shell you're running. – Kevin M Mar 12 '10 at 13:57
Thanks. I'm running: /bin/sh – Jonas Mar 12 '10 at 14:03
What do you try and type which doesn't auto-complete? Do you press tab once or twice? Have you tried using bash instead of sh? (I think on Ubuntu /bin/sh is a symlink to /bin/bash but I could be wrong) – Josh Mar 12 '10 at 14:11
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Even if it's a symbolic link to /bin/bash, the executable might alter functionality depending on how it's called. Since Sanoj is seeing that the login shell is /bin/sh, it's probably acting like Bourne shell (sh) and not Bourne-again shell (bash). The best thing to do is to change your login shell. Try chsh /bin/bash – Doug Harris Mar 12 '10 at 14:20
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I know this is an old question but I've run into this problem a few times and have found that the real solution is not server side at all but it's on the client side and this is the first thing that comes up when I searched for a solution to the problem.

OK, the OP mentions that he is using the VPS version of Ubuntu. This makes me suspect that he is running a virtual server and because he is having this particular problem I'd bet that the server is being hosted locally. When I've encountered this in the past it is due to a problem with VM tools. It is annoying because you'll need to completely restart the host OS but afterwards you should be good. You may want to just try shutting down VMware or maybe just unplugging your keyboard would also work but my desktop starts up really fast so I usually just do a full restart.

In my particular case, this problem happens every time I try to install the latest Kubuntu release using the VMware quick install feature (which also fails BTW). It even happens when the server I'm connecting to is a remote server. Hope this helps someone.

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