Use method name for SublimeText 2 autocomplete as well as tab trigger

Question

The default SublimeText 2 snippets, located in the Packages directory and then under, say, Ruby are useful but only if you happen to know the tab trigger. For example the file ~/Library/Application Support/Sublime Text 2/Packages/Ruby/alias_method-..-(am).sublime-snippet contains:

<snippet>
    <content><![CDATA[alias_method :${1:new_name}, :${0:old_name}]]></content>
    <tabTrigger>am</tabTrigger>
    <scope>source.ruby</scope>
    <description>alias_method ..</description>
</snippet>

So we can access this trigger by hitting am then tab.

My question is, if this snippet chucks in alias_method :${1:new_name}, :${0:old_name} isn't there a way that I can use this snippet without knowing its am trigger, just by starting to type alias_m... for example?

Answer 1

Umm, no, not that I can find. I just opened up a blank Ruby file, hit a, and autocomplete popped up with all sorts of options, including the snippet you mentioned. However, if I then typed an l (starting to spell out alias...), the option for the am snippet disappeared. So, it looks like autocomplete is not searching the <description> field, only the <tabTrigger> field. There aren't any options in Preferences -> Settings - Default that would seem to address this situation.

So, unfortunately it would seem the solution is one of two things - either edit all your commonly-used snippets to have tabTriggers that make more sense to you, or put together a snippet cheat sheet. It looks like at least one other person was thinking the same thing, as I found this collection without too much searching.

Good luck!