How to disable auto completion (tab completion) in bash shell

Disabling auto-complete feature globally for all the users

With bash shell you would usually have the auto completion feature turned on by default. To disable the auto complete feature of the Bash shell for all the users of the system, you can add the following parameter in the file /etc/inputrc:

# vi /etc/inputrc
set disable-completion on

This disable the auto complete feature of bash shell for all the users on the system. After saving the file, users will have to logout and login again for the changes to be reflected.

Disabling auto-complete feature per user only

In case you need to disable auto complete feature for a particular user only, then you will have to copy the /etc/inputrc file to the user’s home directory and add the same parameter.

For example, for the user “john” do the following:

# su - john
# cat /etc/inputrc  > ~/.inputrc
# echo "set disable-completion on" >> ~/.inputrc
# exit

Now you will notice that tab completion is disabled for the “john” user only.

Reverting the changes back

To revert back, just change the parameter to “set disable-completion off” in the file /home/[user]/.inputrc or /etc/inputrc and login again.