# Tab completion is not working in VS Code

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/tab-completion-is-not-working-in-vs-code/44580>\
**Category:** VS Code\
**Created:** [August 8, 2020, 7:02pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/tab-completion-is-not-working-in-vs-code/44580 "2020-08-08T19:02:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 8\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![yarnabrina](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/yarnabrina/32/16888_2.png) [@yarnabrina](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/yarnabrina)\
**Post date:** [August 8, 2020, 7:02pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/tab-completion-is-not-working-in-vs-code/44580/1 "2020-08-08T19:02:17Z")

</div>

Hi!

I’m using Think Julia to learn Julia on my Windows 10 laptop using Visual Studio Code. I’m not using Atom+Juno as I’m much more familiar with VS Code.

It is suggested in the book that pressing Tab after `x\^1` or `x\_2` should result in x^1 or x\_2.

However, it is not working in the editor. It is working in REPL, but not always in editor. `^` is never working, and sometimes `_` is also not working.

For now, I’m copy-pasting from REPL to use in editor, but that’s not a good method. Is there some settings needed to be configured?

My system details:

> OS: Windows 10 1909  
> Julia: 1.5.0  
> VS Code: 1.47.3

Thanks in advance.

* * *

**Edit**

I’m also using Julia extension version `1.0.2` as _nilshg_, forgot to mention that.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![nilshg](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/nilshg/32/2283_2.png) [@nilshg](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/nilshg)\
**Post date:** [August 8, 2020, 7:28pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/tab-completion-is-not-working-in-vs-code/44580/2 "2020-08-08T19:28:43Z")

</div>

I’m seeing the same thing for `^` (VSCode 1.47.3, Julia plugin 1.0.2, on Manjaro Linux)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pfitzseb](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/pfitzseb/32/45566_2.png) [@pfitzseb](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/pfitzseb)\
**Post date:** [August 9, 2020, 7:39am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/tab-completion-is-not-working-in-vs-code/44580/3 "2020-08-09T07:39:31Z")

</div>

Just hit `Ctrl-Space` to force the autocomplete pop-up to open.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![onButtonUp](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/onbuttonup/32/3098_2.png) [@onButtonUp](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/onButtonUp)\
**Post date:** [August 9, 2020, 1:01pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/tab-completion-is-not-working-in-vs-code/44580/4 "2020-08-09T13:01:55Z")

</div>

> [@yarnabrina](#):
>
> It is suggested in the book that pressing Tab after `x\^1` or `x\_2` should result in x1x^1 or x2x\_2 .

The above tab completion works for me in the VS Code terminal. However, in the VS Code editor `x\_2` auto-completes but `x\^2` does not.

(And on a mac, `Ctrl-Space` maps to a system keyboard shortcut to open Apps (`Command-Space`)).

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![yarnabrina](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/yarnabrina/32/16888_2.png) [@yarnabrina](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/yarnabrina)\
**Post date:** [August 9, 2020, 4:59pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/tab-completion-is-not-working-in-vs-code/44580/5 "2020-08-09T16:59:03Z")

</div>

> The above tab completion works for me in the VS Code terminal.

Yes, same for me. When I said REPL works, I meant that. I’m not yet familiar with all terminologies.

* * *

Regarding `Ctrl` + `Space` , unfortunately I’m unable to try this. I’ve somehow corrupted my boot manager and can’t login. I’ll try to fix that and try this, but it’ll take some time I guess. But since `_` works and `^` does not, I think it is not an intended behaviour, and hence reported. If it’s actually intended, I’ll close this issue happily accepting your solution.

Thanks.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Markus\_Hauschel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Markus\_Hauschel](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Markus_Hauschel)\
**Post date:** [August 11, 2020, 7:53pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/tab-completion-is-not-working-in-vs-code/44580/6 "2020-08-11T19:53:30Z")

</div>

To force autocompletion is really nice 👌  
`^2` does not work for me neither but others like `^delta` does.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![yarnabrina](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/yarnabrina/32/16888_2.png) [@yarnabrina](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/yarnabrina)\
**Post date:** [September 25, 2020, 4:24pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/tab-completion-is-not-working-in-vs-code/44580/7 "2020-09-25T16:24:06Z")

</div>

I checked this after more than a month, and today both `\^` and `\_` worked. So, I think it was fixed in some update in between, and I’m closing the thread marking this as the solution.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kapple](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/kapple/32/218915_2.png) [@kapple](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/kapple)\
**Post date:** [October 1, 2020, 8:50am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/tab-completion-is-not-working-in-vs-code/44580/8 "2020-10-01T08:50:41Z")

</div>

Reopening this thread because I’m still experiencing this issue.

`CTRL + SPACE` doesn’t always resolve this issue.

Within one session, the tab-completion functionality would switch between working and not working multiple times, which is giving me a headache.

It’s currently an [issue](https://github.com/julia-vscode/julia-vscode/issues/613) on Github.