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macosdarwin

Display all <n> possibilities? (y or n) -- why am I getting this?

Environment: Mac OS 10.13.6 - High Sierra.

Lately I've been getting the following prompt:

Display all 1401 possibilities? (y or n)

...where '1401' could be any number that happens to be relevant at the time.

Here's a snapshot: 

$~/workarea/move/Core2-ios:ls
CODEOWNERS          Jenkinsfile-Feature-Rentals Project/
Jenkinsfile-Core        Jenkinsfile-Rentals     README.md
Jenkinsfile-Feature-Core    JenkinsfileHelper.sh        Tests/
$~/workarea/move/Core2-ios:
Display all 1401 possibilities? (y or n)
$~/workarea/move/Core2-ios:

Why am I getting this and how can I stop this from happening?

Solution

  • The dreaded TouchBar strikes again...

    Let me guess: You're running a MacBook with a Touch Bar?

    I just ran into this myself and found that I was accidentally resting my left hand just barely touching the Touch Bar right next to the ESC key. This is apparently generating multiple TAB key presses!?!

    After reading the comment by @jasonharper above, I did some testing in different apps and found that, indeed:

    1. Multiple tabs DO create the observed behavior, and
    2. Pressing the blank area just left of the ESC 'key' in the Touch Bar apparently generates multiple TABs.

    Please let me know if this is your situation, I'm curious.