Zsh
Zsh is a powerful shell that operates as both an interactive shell and as a scripting language interpreter. While being compatible with Bash (not by default, only if issuing emulate sh
), it offers advantages such as improved tab completion and globbing.
The Zsh FAQ offers more reasons to use Zsh.
Contents
- 1 Installation
- 2 Startup/Shutdown files
-
3 Configure Zsh
- 3.1 Simple .zshrc
- 3.2 Configuring $PATH
- 3.3 Command completion
- 3.4 Autostart X at login
- 3.5 The "command not found" hook
- 3.6 The ttyctl command
- 3.7 Key bindings
- 3.8 History search
- 3.9 Prompts
- 3.10 Remembering recent directories
- 3.11 Help command
- 3.12 Fish-like syntax highlighting
- 3.13 Sample .zshrc files
- 3.14 Configuration Frameworks
- 3.15 Persistent rehash
- 4 Uninstallation
- 5 See also
Installation
Before starting users may want to see what shell is currently being used:
$ echo $SHELL
Install the zsh package. For additional completion definitions, install the zsh-completions package as well.
Initial configuration
Make sure that Zsh has been installed correctly by running the following in a terminal:
$ zsh
You should now see zsh-newuser-install, which will walk you through some basic configuration. If you want to skip this, press q
. If you did not see it, you can invoke it manually with
$ zsh /usr/share/zsh/functions/Newuser/zsh-newuser-install -f
Making Zsh your default shell
See Command-line shell#Changing your default shell.
Startup/Shutdown files
When starting Zsh, it'll source the following files in this order by default:
/etc/zsh/zshenv
- Used for setting system-wide environment variables; it should not contain commands that produce output or assume the shell is attached to a tty. This file will always be sourced, this cannot be overridden.
$ZDOTDIR/.zshenv
- Used for setting user's environment variables; it should not contain commands that produce output or assume the shell is attached to a tty. This file will always be sourced.
/etc/zsh/zprofile
- Used for executing commands at start, will be sourced when starting as a login shell. Please note that on Arch Linux, by default it contains one line which source the
/etc/profile
./etc/profile
- This file should be sourced by all Bourne-compatible shells upon login: it sets up
$PATH
and other environment variables and application-specific (/etc/profile.d/*.sh
) settings upon login.
$ZDOTDIR/.zprofile
- Used for executing user's commands at start, will be sourced when starting as a login shell.
/etc/zsh/zshrc
- Used for setting interactive shell configuration and executing commands, will be sourced when starting as a interactive shell.
$ZDOTDIR/.zshrc
- Used for setting user's interactive shell configuration and executing commands, will be sourced when starting as a interactive shell.
/etc/zsh/zlogin
- Used for executing commands at ending of initial progress, will be sourced when starting as a login shell.
$ZDOTDIR/.zlogin
- Used for executing user's commands at ending of initial progress, will be sourced when starting as a login shell.
$ZDOTDIR/.zlogout
- Will be sourced when a login shell exits.
/etc/zsh/zlogout
- Will be sourced when a login shell exits.
Configure Zsh
Although Zsh is usable out of the box, it is almost certainly not set up the way most users would like to use it, but due to the sheer amount of customization available in Zsh, configuring Zsh can be a daunting and time-consuming experience.
Simple .zshrc
Included below is a sample configuration file, it provides a decent set of default options as well as giving examples of many ways that Zsh can be customized. In order to use this configuration save it as a file named .zshrc
.
Here is a simple .zshrc
:
~/.zshrc
autoload -Uz compinit promptinit compinit promptinit # This will set the default prompt to the walters theme prompt walters
Configuring $PATH
Normally, the path should be set in ~/.zshenv
, but Arch Linux sources /etc/profile
after sourcing ~/.zshenv
.
To prevent your $PATH being overwritten, set it in ~/.zprofile
.
~/.zprofile
typeset -U path path=(~/bin /other/things/in/path $path[@])
See also A User's Guide to the Z-Shell and the note in #Startup/Shutdown files.
Command completion
Perhaps the most compelling feature of Zsh is its advanced autocompletion abilities. At the very least, enable autocompletion in .zshrc
. To enable autocompletion, add the following to your ~/.zshrc
:
~/.zshrc
autoload -Uz compinit compinit
The above configuration includes ssh/scp/sftp hostnames completion but in order for this feature to work, users need to prevent ssh from hashing hosts names in ~/.ssh/known_hosts
.
For autocompletion with an arrow-key driven interface, add the following to:
~/.zshrc
zstyle ':completion:*' menu select
- To activate the menu, press tab twice.
For autocompletion of command line switches for aliases, add the following to:
~/.zshrc
setopt COMPLETE_ALIASES
Autostart X at login
See Xinitrc#Autostart X at login.
The "command not found" hook
pkgfile includes a "command not found" hook that will automatically search the official repositories, when entering an unrecognized command.
You need to source the hook to enable it, for example:
~/.zshrc
source /usr/share/doc/pkgfile/command-not-found.zsh
The ttyctl command
[1] describes the ttyctl
command in Zsh.
This may be used to "freeze/unfreeze" the terminal.
Many programs change the terminal state, and often do not restore terminal settings on exiting abnormally.
To avoid the need to manually reset the terminal, use the following:
~/.zshrc
ttyctl -f
Key bindings
Zsh does not use readline, instead it uses its own and more powerful zle. It does not read /etc/inputrc
or ~/.inputrc
.
Zle has an emacs mode and a vi mode. If one of the $VISUAL
or $EDITOR
environment variables contain the string vi
then vi mode will be used; otherwise, it will default to emacs mode. Set the mode explicitly with bindkey -e
or bindkey -v
respectively for emacs mode or vi mode.
See also zshwiki: bindkeys.
Bind key to ncurses application
Bind a ncurses application to a keystoke, but it will not accept interaction. Use BUFFER
variable to make it work. The following example lets users open ncmpcpp using Alt+\
:
~/.zshrc
ncmpcppShow() { BUFFER="ncmpcpp"; zle accept-line; } zle -N ncmpcppShow bindkey '^[\' ncmpcppShow
Alternate way to bind ncurses application
This method will keep everything you entered in the line before calling application
~/.zshrc
ncmpcppShow() { ncmpcpp <$TTY; zle redisplay; } zle -N ncmpcppShow bindkey '^[\' ncmpcppShow
File manager key binds
Key binds like those used in graphic file managers may come handy. The first comes back in directory history (Alt+Left
), the second let the user go to the parent directory (Alt+Up
). They also display the directory content.
~/.zshrc
cdUndoKey() { popd > /dev/null zle reset-prompt echo ls echo } cdParentKey() { pushd .. > /dev/null zle reset-prompt echo ls echo } zle -N cdParentKey zle -N cdUndoKey bindkey '^[[1;3A' cdParentKey bindkey '^[[1;3D' cdUndoKey
History search
Add these lines to .zshrc
~/.zshrc
autoload -Uz up-line-or-beginning-search down-line-or-beginning-search zle -N up-line-or-beginning-search zle -N down-line-or-beginning-search [[ -n "${key[Up]}" ]] && bindkey "${key[Up]}" up-line-or-beginning-search [[ -n "${key[Down]}" ]] && bindkey "${key[Down]}" down-line-or-beginning-search
Doing this, only past commands matching the current line up to the current cursor position will be shown.
Prompts
Prompt themes
There is a quick and easy way to set up a colored prompt in Zsh. Make sure that prompt theme system is set to autoload in .zshrc
. This can be done by adding these lines to:
~/.zshrc
autoload -Uz promptinit promptinit
Available prompt themes are listed by running the command:
$ prompt -l
For example, to use the walters
theme, enter:
$ prompt walters
To preview all available themes, use this command:
$ prompt -p
Customized prompt
For users who are dissatisfied with the prompts mentioned above (or want to expand their usefulness), Zsh offers the possibility to build a custom prompt. Zsh supports a left- and right-sided prompt additional to the single, left-sided prompt that is common to all shells. Customize it by using PROMPT=
with prompt escapes.
See Prompt Expansion for a list of prompt variables and conditional substrings, or take a look at the zshmisc(1) manpage.
Colors
Zsh sets colors differently than Bash. Add autoload -Uz colors && colors
before PROMPT=
in .zshrc
to use them. Usually you will want to put these inside %{ [...] %}
so the cursor does not move.
Command | Description |
---|---|
$fg[color] |
will set the text color (red, green, blue, etc. - defaults to whatever format set prior to text) |
%F{color} [...] %f |
effectively the same as the previous, but with less typing. Can also prefix F with a number instead. |
$fg_no_bold[color] |
will set text to non-bold and set the text color |
$fg_bold[color] |
will set the text to bold and set the text color |
$reset_color |
will reset the text color to the default color. Does not reset bold. use %b to reset bold. Saves typing if it's just %f though.
|
%K{color} [...] %k |
will set the background color. Same color as non-bold text color. Prefixing with any single-digit number makes the bg black. |
%S [...] %s |
Standout mode, switches the text and background colors. Useful for Powerline-like prompts, especially if you switch between light/dark backgrounds. |
Possible color values | |
---|---|
black or 0 |
red or 1
|
green or 2 |
yellow or 3
|
blue or 4 |
magenta or 5
|
cyan or 6 |
white or 7
|
Example
This is an example of a two-sided prompt:
PROMPT="%{$fg[red]%}%n%{$reset_color%}@%{$fg[blue]%}%m %{$fg_no_bold[yellow]%}%1~ %{$reset_color%}%# " RPROMPT="[%{$fg_no_bold[yellow]%}%?%{$reset_color%}]"
And here's how it will be displayed:
username@host ~ % [0]
Remembering recent directories
Dirstack
Zsh can be configured to remember the DIRSTACKSIZE last visited folders. This can then be used to cd them very quickly. You need to add some lines to your configuration file:
.zshrc
DIRSTACKFILE="$HOME/.cache/zsh/dirs" if [[ -f $DIRSTACKFILE ]] && [[ $#dirstack -eq 0 ]]; then dirstack=( ${(f)"$(< $DIRSTACKFILE)"} ) [[ -d $dirstack[1] ]] && cd $dirstack[1] fi chpwd() { print -l $PWD ${(u)dirstack} >$DIRSTACKFILE } DIRSTACKSIZE=20 setopt AUTO_PUSHD PUSHD_SILENT PUSHD_TO_HOME ## Remove duplicate entries setopt PUSHD_IGNORE_DUPS ## This reverts the +/- operators. setopt PUSHD_MINUS
Now use
$ dirs -v
to print the dirstack. Use cd -<NUM>
to go back to a visited folder. Use autocompletion after the dash. This proves very handy if using the autocompletion menu.
cdr
cdr allows you to change the working directory to a previous working directory from a list maintained automatically. It stores all entries in files that are maintained across sessions and (by default) between terminal emulators in the current session. To use cdr add the following lines to shell configuration:
.zshrc
autoload -Uz chpwd_recent_dirs cdr add-zsh-hook add-zsh-hook chpwd chpwd_recent_dirs
Recent directories list by default is stored in ${ZDOTDIR:-$HOME}/.chpwd-recent-dirs
, to change it use zstyle
:
zstyle ':chpwd:*' recent-dirs-file "${XDG_CACHE_HOME:-$HOME/.cache}/zsh/chpwd-recent-dirs"
Every time you change directory interactively, no matter which command you use, the directory to which you change will be remembered in most-recent-first order.
To print the list of recent directories use:
$ cdr -l
Use cdr <NUM>
to go back to a visited folder. Completion for the argument to cdr is available if compinit has been run; menu selection is recommended.
Help command
Unlike bash, zsh does not enable a built in help
command. To use help
in zsh, add following to your zshrc
:
autoload -Uz run-help autoload -Uz run-help-git autoload -Uz run-help-svn autoload -Uz run-help-svk unalias run-help alias help=run-help
Fish-like syntax highlighting
Fish provides a very powerful shell syntax highlighting. To use this in zsh, you can install zsh-syntax-highlighting from offical repository and add following to your zshrc:
source /usr/share/zsh/plugins/zsh-syntax-highlighting/zsh-syntax-highlighting.zsh
Sample .zshrc files
- A package in offical repository named grml-zsh-config comes from https://grml.org/zsh and provides a zshrc file that includes many tweaks for Zshell. This is the default configuration for the monthly ISO releases.
- https://github.com/MrElendig/dotfiles-alice/blob/master/.zshrc - basic setup, with dynamic prompt and window title/hardinfo.
- https://github.com/slashbeast/things/blob/master/configs/DOTzshrc - zshrc with multiple features, be sure to check out comments into it. Notable features: confirm function to ensure that user want to run poweroff, reboot or hibernate, support for GIT in prompt (done without vcsinfo), tab completion with menu, printing current executed command into window's title bar and more.
See dotfiles#Repositories for more.
Configuration Frameworks
- Antigen — A plugin manager for zsh, inspired by oh-my-zsh and vundle.
- oh-my-zsh — A popular, community-driven framework for managing your Zsh configuration. It comes bundled with a ton of helpful functions, helpers, plugins, themes.
- Prezto — A configuration framework for Zsh. It comes with modules, enriching the command line interface environment with sane defaults, aliases, functions, auto completion, and prompt themes.
Persistent rehash
Typically, compinit will not automatically find new executables in the $PATH. For example, after you install a new package, the files in /usr/bin would not be immediately or automatically included in the completion. Thus, to have these new exectuables included, one would run:
$ rehash
This 'rehash' can be set to happen automatically. Simply include the following in your zshrc
:
~/.zshrc
zstyle ':completion:*' rehash true
Uninstallation
Change the default shell before removing the zsh package.
Run following command:
$ chsh -s /bin/bash user
Use it for every user with zsh set as their login shell (including root if needed). When completed, the zsh package can be removed.
Alternatively, change the default shell back to Bash by editing /etc/passwd
as root.
For example, change the following:
username:x:1000:1000:Full Name,,,:/home/username:/bin/zsh
To this:
username:x:1000:1000:Full Name,,,:/home/username:/bin/bash
See also
- A User's Guide to ZSH
- The Z Shell Manual (different format available here)
- Zsh FAQ
- zsh-lovers(1) (available as zsh-lovers package)
- Zsh Wiki
- Gentoo: Zsh/Guide
- Bash2Zsh Reference Card