Multi-dot paths in zsh, like `cd …`

Question

All shells understand these commands:

$ cd .
$ cd ..

And zsh will also understand:

$ cd ...
$ cd ....

Provide

Answer 1

You have to use compinit and use _expand_alias as completer. Here is an example:

zstyle ':completion:*' completer _complete _ignored _expand_alias
autoload -Uz compinit
compinit

_complete _ignored is the default setting for completer, you could set it to only _expand_alias but then completion would only work for aliases.

If compinit is already configured in your ~/.zshrc, then you just need to add _expand_alias into the list for completer, for example:

zstyle ':completion:*' completer _expand _complete _ignored _approximate _expand_alias

By default _expand_alias expands global and and regular aliases, if you do not want to expand regular aliases, set:

zstyle ':completion:*' regular false

Note: This of course works only, where global aliases would work. So they would not be expanded as part of an entire path like a/b/..../c/d