_path_files and compadd ignore-files parameter

Question

What is the format for the -F option of _path_files and compadd?

I'm passing several directories to _path_files:

_path_files -W "($base_directories)" -/

But some of those directory trees I don't want to complete for this particular command.

The documentation I can find for _path_files says it accepts a -F option—just like compadd, but I can't find the format to pass them in.

Twiddling around hasn't been very fruitful either.

I've tried, for example,

_path_files -W "($base_directories)" -/ -F shared; # shared still shows up
_path_files -W "($base_directories)" -/ -F "(shared)"; # barfs on that guy

Answer 1

That looks correct if you want to ignore shared at the root of the directory tree, i.e. if you're ignoring one of the $base_directories. But if you meant to ignore shared somewhere deeper in the hierarchy, you need -F "(shared **shared)". You can also put the patterns in an array, which will reduce the quoting pains.

local -a ignored base_directories
base_directories=(…)
ignored=(shared '*/shared')
_path_files -W base_directories -/ -F ignored

There are examples in the standard distribution in _cvs and _darcs.

If this doesn't help, try investigating what's going on by adding set -x and set +x around the problematic code, or setopt local_options xtrace (a.k.a set -x and change options only for the duration of the current function).