How to make the emacs not to pop up a window when using tab-completion?

Question

When I use the emacs shell mode or in gdb, when I type double tab, the emacs pop up a new window which always cover an existed window. While in terminal, when I type double tab, to complete a directory, the terminal just print all the candidates in the same window. Can I make the emacs not to pop up a new window when I use this feature?

Answer 1

You could conceivably modify it to show completions in the minibuffer, but (a) you can't scroll the minibuffer sanely if needed, and (b) it would just expand and cover your other windows anyway. Creating a dedicated minibuffer frame might help.

Answer 2

Agreed, that's a really annoying behaviour. But you could use popwin. In short, popwin makes you can close windows such like *Help*, *Completion* by press C-g in anytime. By the way, you can install it from ELPA.