Tab Auto-Completion in Python Shell

Strangely enough, I discovered that I do not get bash-like auto-completion in my python interactive shell.

Looking up helped.

Just need to have a file called .pythonrc in your home directory containing the following:

#!/usr/bin/python
import os
import sys

try:
 import readline
except ImportError:
 print "Module readline not available."
else:
 import rlcompleter
 readline.parse_and_bind("tab: complete")

Apparently, that was not enough. I also needed to add the following line to my .bashrc file (in my home directory again).

export PYTHONSTARTUP=~/.pythonrc

That's all. Open a new shell and start the python shell.

And enjoy auto-completion!