zsh: menu completion for glob

Question

In zsh, if I type vim *.txt then Tab, it expands to vim f1.txt f2.txt f3.txt.

How can I make it show a completion menu listing files matching the pattern, so I can select a single file?

Answer 1

% PS1='%% ' exec zsh -f
% autoload -U compinit && compinit
% setopt GLOB_COMPLETE
% touch aa ab ac ad
% vim a*

Will cycle through the options; and then for a menu (on, like, everything)

% zstyle ':completion*:default' menu 'select=0'
% vim a*

For more information see zshoptions(1) and the "From Bash to Z Shell" book for slightly readable docs on the completion system.

Menu completion on demand would require a custom widget:

function blaah {
  local revert
  revert=0
  if [[ $options[(k)globcomplete] = off ]]; then
    setopt globcomplete
    revert=1
  fi
  zle menu-expand-or-complete
  if [[ $revert -eq 1 ]]; then
    unsetopt globcomplete
  fi
}
zle -N blaah

# or perhaps additionally 'vicmd' or instead 'emacs', depending
binkey -M viins "^W" blaah