diff --git a/tools/iperl b/tools/iperl
index 210c798..016bc51 100755
--- a/tools/iperl
+++ b/tools/iperl
@@ -153,6 +153,12 @@ sub complete {
     my $sigil = $1;
     my $name = $2;
     my $pre = substr($line, 0, $x1);
+
+    if(length($line) == $x1 && $pre =~ m/^[ \t]*$/) {
+        # hack to handle the case where we really do want a tab
+        return ("\t");
+    }
+
     if($pre =~ m/(\$(?:[a-zA-Z_][a-zA-Z0-9_]*::)*[a-zA-Z_][a-zA-Z0-9_]*)->$/) {
         # ref dereference
         my($obj, $reftype, $package) = resolve_ref($1);
@@ -279,18 +285,6 @@ sub main {
         $attribs->{special_prefixes} = '$@%*&';
         $attribs->{completion_function} = \&complete;
         $attribs->{completion_append_character} = '';
-        my $func = sub {
-            my ($count, $key) = @_;
-            print STDERR "\n$count $key\n";
-            my $line = substr($term->{line_buffer}, 0, $term->{point});
-            if($line =~ m/^[ \t]*$/) {
-                $term->insert_text("\t");
-            } else {
-                $term->call_function('complete', $count, $key);
-                #XYZ this is not the "normal" completion handler
-            }
-        };
-        #$term->add_defun("erik-func", $func, ord("\t"));
     }
 
     # the mighty read-exec-print loop!