@Torsten: Okay, I didn't realize that there were differences between systems.  I just tried bash on my system and it requires two tabs, tcsh requires one.  Maybe this is something that has a configuration setting.

@Torsten: The double <Tab> is not required in the shell I am using (tcsh).  Try typing 'ls<Tab>'.  Does that produce a list of possibilities in the shell or do you have to type 'ls<Tab><Tab>'?

I think we want to find a way to disable completion for pasting, not transform the text.

I just noticed that I need to type the <Tab> character twice in order to have name completion work on the Octave command line.  This is not how completion works in the shell where only one keystroke is required.

As an example, type 'sig' and then <Tab> (nothing happens) and then <Tab> again, when the interpreter will then complete with

sighup_dumps_octave_core   sign                       sign_test                  sigterm_dumps_octave_core

I checked back to Octave version 3.2.4 and apparently it has always behaved this way.