REPL¶

When started without -e or batch files, ibcli enters an interactive Read-Eval-Print Loop (REPL) powered by prompt_toolkit.

#####################################################################
#
# the Infoblox CLI (Python port, beta)
#
#####################################################################

( press <tab> for help )

Prompt¶

The prompt starts as ibcli > and changes to user@host > after a successful configure server connection:

ibcli > configure server gm.example user admin password s3cr3t
admin@gm.example >

Line continuation¶

Use \ at the end of a line to continue the command on the next line, just like bash:

ibcli > configure grid Infoblox member add dns1.example.com \
      >     ipaddress 10.0.0.5/24 \
      >     platform VNIOS hwtype IB-V4126 \
      >     license enterprise license dns

Type \ at the very end of the line and press Enter; the REPL will show a continuation prompt and keep collecting input. Pressing Enter on a line that does not end with \ submits the whole accumulated command.

Pasting multi-line text (with literal \+newline in the paste buffer) also works - ibcli strips the continuation markers before tokenising.

Key bindings¶

Key	Action
`<Tab>`	Show completions / expand unambiguous prefix
`<Shift-Tab>`	Cycle backward through completion menu
`<Enter>`	Execute the current line (or continue if line ends with `\`)
`?`	Print quick help reminder (does not clear the buffer)
`\` (mid-line)	Clear the current line
`\` (end of line)	Insert `\` as a line-continuation marker
`Ctrl-U`	Clear the current line (readline standard)
`Ctrl-D`	Exit (on an empty line)
`Ctrl-C`	Clear the line (does not exit - matches Perl's `SIG{INT} = 'IGNORE'`)
`↑` / `↓`	Navigate history
`Ctrl-R`	Reverse-search history

Ctrl-D behaviour

Ctrl-D on a non-empty line is treated as "end of input for this buffer" by prompt_toolkit, which clears the line. Press it on an empty prompt to exit ibcli.

History¶

Command history is stored persistently in ~/.ibcli_history (Windows: %USERPROFILE%\.ibcli_history). This is an upgrade over the Perl version, which kept history only in memory.

Up/down arrows navigate history in the order commands were entered.
Ctrl-R opens reverse incremental search - type a substring to jump to matching entries.
History is shared across sessions.

The history command in the REPL prints a short reminder that history is managed by prompt_toolkit; there is no inline !N syntax.

`?` for help¶

Pressing ? at any point prints:

  press <tab> for options; '\' at end of line to continue; Ctrl-D to exit

The buffer is not modified. This is implemented as a custom prompt_toolkit key binding.

`help` command¶

The help command (or h<Tab>) prints the same message. help all points to the full documentation.

Incomplete commands¶

If you press <Enter> on a valid but incomplete command (one that has no handler at that parse depth), ibcli prints:

  Incomplete : configure zone  (add <zone>)

The message shows the expanded line and the expected next tokens. This matches Perl's behaviour at line 730.

Quit¶

Any of quit, exit, or bye exits the REPL. Ctrl-D on an empty line also exits.