Nmap Tab Completion: Faster, Smarter Scanning

The cursor blinks, waiting. You type nmap and stop—your hands remember half the flags, your brain the rest. But the terminal stays silent. No help. No hints. Just you and an empty string.

Nmap tab completion removes that friction. It gives instant command-line suggestions for Nmap arguments, targets, and options. You don’t need to memorize every syntax detail. You hit Tab and see the right flags in seconds. It makes scanning faster, cleaner, harder to mess up.

Most modern shells can do it with the right script. For Bash, you drop an nmap completion file into /etc/bash_completion.d/ or source it in your .bashrc. For Zsh, you add an _nmap file to your $fpath and run compinit. The official Nmap source includes these scripts in the misc/ directory, or you can grab updated ones from your package manager.

With completion enabled, nmap - and Tab will list all supported options. Add partial words for specific scan types—nmap -s + Tab reveals all -s options. It works on hostnames, too. Start typing and get quick matches from your shell history or known hosts. This reduces errors, speeds scripting, and ensures you run the commands you actually mean to run.

Nmap tab completion is not a bonus feature. It’s a performance upgrade. Your scans start faster. Your commands are more precise. Your workflow is tighter.

Stop fumbling flags. Start scanning smart. See it live at hoop.dev and go from zero to working in minutes.