use strict;
use warnings;

############################# OP data

# dummy items to play with
my @animals = (qw( cow camel dog cat  ));
my @foods   = (qw( fish pasture meat  ));
my @places  = (qw( wood sea    desert ));

# commands 
my $commands = {
    select => {
        completion_list => \@animals,
        commands => {
                        give => {
                                    completion_list => \@foods,
                        },
                        take_to => {
                                    completion_list => \@places,
                        },
        },
    },
    kill  => {
        completion_list => \@animals,
    }
};
#############################

my $branch = { commands => $commands };
my @path;

BRANCH: {
    if ( exists $branch-> { completion_list }) {
        my $choice = choose( @{ $branch-> { completion_list }}); 
        push @path, $choice
    }
    if ( exists $branch-> { commands }) {
        my $choice = choose( sort keys %{ $branch-> { commands }}); 
        push @path, $choice;
        $branch = $branch-> { commands }{ $choice };
        redo BRANCH
    }
}

sub choose { $_[ 0 ]}

print "Excellent choice! ===> [ @path ]\n";


##</code><code>##

Excellent choice! ===> [ kill cow ]

##</code><code>##

sub choose {
    my @list = @_;
    
    use Term::Completion;
    STDOUT-> autoflush( 1 );
    
    my $tc = Term::Completion-> new(
        prompt     => "Choose (@list): ",
        choices    => \@list,
        columns    => 80,
        validation => 'nonempty fromchoices',
    );
    return $tc-> complete
}


##</code><code>##

--- Completion.pm.orig  Sat Feb 23 18:39:15 2013
+++ Completion.pm       Mon Feb 13 15:06:00 2023
@@ -179,19 +179,24 @@

         # (TAB) attempt completion
         $_ =~ $this->{tab} && do {
+            last GETC if grep /^$return$/, $this->get_choices($return);
           if($tab_pressed++) {
-            $this->show_choices($return);
-            redo LOOP;
+#            $this->show_choices($return);
+#            redo LOOP;
           }
           my @match = $this->get_choices($return);
           if (@match == 0) {
+            $this->show_choices($return);
+            redo LOOP;
             # sound bell if there is no match
-            $this->bell();
+#            $this->bell();
           } else {
             my $l = length(my $test = shift(@match));
             if(@match) {
+                $this->show_choices($return);
+                redo LOOP;
               # sound bell if multiple choices
-              $this->bell();
+#              $this->bell();
             }
             elsif($this->{delim}) {
               $test .= $this->{delim};
@@ -361,7 +366,7 @@
 {
   my __PACKAGE__ $this = shift;
   my $return = shift;
-  unless($this->{validate}) {
+  unless($this->{validation}) {
     return $return;
   }
   elsif(ref $this->{validate}) {
@@ -376,7 +381,7 @@
   }

   # we may have several validation options
-  my @vals = split(/[\s,]+/, $this->{validate});
+  my @vals = split(/[\s,]+/, $this->{validation});

   VALIDATE_OPTIONS: foreach my $val (@vals) {

##</code><code>##

Choose (kill select):              # TAB (for choices)
kill   select
Choose (kill select): select       # sTAB (to complete) + TAB or ENTER
Choose (cow camel dog cat): c      # cTAB (for choices)
cow   camel cat
Choose (cow camel dog cat): ca     # aTAB (for choices)
camel cat
Choose (cow camel dog cat): camel  # mTAB (to complete) + TAB or ENTER
Choose (give take_to): take_to     # tTAB (to complete) + TAB or ENTER
Choose (wood sea desert): desert   # dTAB (to complete) + TAB or ENTER
Excellent choice! ===> [ select camel take_to desert ]