Completions Files

See Also

Completions : Introduction to the different types of completions

Completions aren't limited to completions files, because other sources contribute to the completions list (see above). However, the most explicit way Sublime Text provides you to feed it completions is by means of .sublime-completions files.

This topic only deals with the format of a .sublime-completions file.

File Format

Completions are JSON files with the .sublime-completions extension. Entries in completions files can contain either snippet-like strings or plain text.

Example

Here's an example (with HTML completions):

{
   "scope": "text.html - source - meta.tag, punctuation.definition.tag.begin",

   "completions":
   [
      { "trigger": "a", "contents": "<a href=\"$1\">$0</a>" },
      { "trigger": "abbr\t<abbr>", "contents": "<abbr>$0</abbr>" },
      { "trigger": "acronym", "contents": "<acronym>$0</acronym>" }
   ]
}

scope : Determines when the completions list will be populated with this list of completions.

See Scopes for more information.

completions : Array of completions.

Types of Completions

Plain Strings

Plain strings are equivalent to an entry where the trigger is identical to the contents:

"foo"
// is equivalent to:
{ "trigger": "foo", "contents": "foo" }

Trigger-based Completions

{ "trigger": "foo", "contents": "foobar" },
{ "trigger": "foo\ttest", "contents": "foobar" }

trigger : Text that will be displayed in the completions list and will cause the contents to be inserted when chosen.

You can use a \t tab character to add an annotation for the preceding trigger. The annotation will be displayed right-aligned, slightly grayed and does not affect the trigger itself.

contents : Text to be inserted in the buffer. Supports the same string interpolation features as snippets.

Refer to Snippet Features.

TIP

If you want a literal $, you have to escape it like this: \\$ (double backslashes are needed because we are within a JSON string).