Zsh

Zsh is a powerful shell that operates as both an interactive shell and as a scripting language interpreter. While being compatible with the POSIX sh (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.

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:

$ autoload -Uz zsh-newuser-install
$ zsh-newuser-install -f

Note: Make sure your terminal's size is at least 72×15 otherwise zsh-newuser-install will not run.

Making Zsh your default shell

Change your shell to /usr/bin/zsh. See Command-line shell#Changing your default shell.

Tip: If replacing bash, users may want to move some code from ~/.bashrc to ~/.zshrc (e.g. the prompt and the aliases) and from ~/.bash_profile to ~/.zprofile (e.g. the code that starts the X Window System).

Startup/Shutdown files

Tip: See A User's Guide to the Z-Shell for explanation on interactive and login shells, and what to put in your startup files.

Note:

• If $ZDOTDIR is not set, $HOME is used instead.
• If option RCS is unset in any of the files, no configuration files will be read after that file.
• If option GLOBAL_RCS is unset in any of the files, no global configuration files (/etc/zsh/*) will be read after that file.

When starting, Zsh will read commands from the following files in this order by default, provided they exist.

• /etc/zsh/zshenv Used for setting environment variables for all users; it should not contain commands that produce output or assume the shell is attached to a TTY. When this file exists it will always be read, 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. When this file exists it will always be read.
• Used for executing commands at start for all users, will be read when starting as a login shell. Please note that on Arch Linux, by default it contains one line which sources /etc/profile. See warning below before wanting to remove that!
  • /etc/profile This file should be sourced by all POSIX sh-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 read when starting as a login shell. Typically used to autostart graphical sessions and to set session-wide environment variables.
• /etc/zsh/zshrc Used for setting interactive shell configuration and executing commands for all users, will be read when starting as an interactive shell.
• Used for setting user's interactive shell configuration and executing commands, will be read when starting as an interactive shell.
• Used for executing commands for all users at ending of initial progress, will be read when starting as a login shell.
• Used for executing user's commands at ending of initial progress, will be read when starting as a login shell. Typically used to autostart command line utilities. Should not be used to autostart graphical sessions, as at this point the session might contain configuration meant only for an interactive shell.
• Used for executing commands when a login shell exits.
• /etc/zsh/zlogout Used for executing commands for all users when a login shell exits.

See the graphic representation.

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. For automatic configuration, see #Third-party extensions.

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 .

Here is a simple :

See #Prompt themes for more details about the prompt theme system.

Configuring $PATH

Zsh ties the PATH variable to a path array. This allows you to manipulate PATH by simply modifying the path array. See A User's Guide to the Z-Shell for details.

To add to the PATH:

Command completion

Perhaps the most compelling feature of Zsh is its advanced autocompletion abilities. At the very least, enable autocompletion in . To enable autocompletion, add the following to your :

The above configuration includes ssh/scp/sftp hostnames completion but in order for this feature to work, users must not enable ssh's hostname hashing (i.e. option in ssh client configuration).

For autocompletion with an arrow-key driven interface, add the following to:

To activate the menu, press twice.

For enabling autocompletion of privileged environments in privileged commands (e.g. if you complete a command starting with sudo, completion scripts will also try to determine your completions with sudo), include:

Warning: This will let Zsh completion scripts run commands with sudo privileges. You should not enable this if you use untrusted autocompletion scripts.

Key bindings

Zsh does not use readline, instead it uses its own and more powerful Zsh Line Editor (ZLE). It does not read /etc/inputrc or . Read A closer look at the zsh line editor and creating custom widgets for an introduction to ZLE configuration.

ZLE has an Emacs mode and a vi mode. If one of the or environment variables contain the string then vi mode will be used; otherwise, it will default to Emacs mode. Set the mode explicitly with or respectively for Emacs mode or vi mode.

Key bindings are assigned by mapping an escape sequence matching a keypress to a ZLE widget. The available widgets, with descriptions of their actions and their default keybindings, are listed in and .

The recommended way to set key bindings in Zsh is by using string capabilities from terminfo(5). For example:

{{hc|~/.zshrc|2=

1. create a zkbd compatible hash;
2. to add other keys to this hash, see: man 5 terminfo

typeset -g -A key

key[Home]="${terminfo[khome]}" key[End]="${terminfo[kend]}" key[Insert]="${terminfo[kich1]}" key[Backspace]="${terminfo[kbs]}" key[Delete]="${terminfo[kdch1]}" key[Up]="${terminfo[kcuu1]}" key[Down]="${terminfo[kcud1]}" key[Left]="${terminfo[kcub1]}" key[Right]="${terminfo[kcuf1]}" key[PageUp]="${terminfo[kpp]}" key[PageDown]="${terminfo[knp]}" key[Shift-Tab]="${terminfo[kcbt]}"

1. setup key accordingly

[[ -n "${key[Home]}" ]] && bindkey -- "${key[Home]}" beginning-of-line [[ -n "${key[End]}" ]] && bindkey -- "${key[End]}" end-of-line [[ -n "${key[Insert]}" ]] && bindkey -- "${key[Insert]}" overwrite-mode [[ -n "${key[Backspace]}" ]] && bindkey -- "${key[Backspace]}" backward-delete-char [[ -n "${key[Delete]}" ]] && bindkey -- "${key[Delete]}" delete-char [[ -n "${key[Up]}" ]] && bindkey -- "${key[Up]}" up-line-or-history [[ -n "${key[Down]}" ]] && bindkey -- "${key[Down]}" down-line-or-history [[ -n "${key[Left]}" ]] && bindkey -- "${key[Left]}" backward-char [[ -n "${key[Right]}" ]] && bindkey -- "${key[Right]}" forward-char [[ -n "${key[PageUp]}" ]] && bindkey -- "${key[PageUp]}" beginning-of-buffer-or-history [[ -n "${key[PageDown]}" ]] && bindkey -- "${key[PageDown]}" end-of-buffer-or-history [[ -n "${key[Shift-Tab]}" ]] && bindkey -- "${key[Shift-Tab]}" reverse-menu-complete

1. Finally, make sure the terminal is in application mode, when zle is
2. active. Only then are the values from $terminfo valid.

if (( ${+terminfo[smkx]} && ${+terminfo[rmkx]} )); then autoload -Uz add-zle-hook-widget function zle_application_mode_start { echoti smkx } function zle_application_mode_stop { echoti rmkx } add-zle-hook-widget -Uz zle-line-init zle_application_mode_start add-zle-hook-widget -Uz zle-line-finish zle_application_mode_stop fi }}

History search

You need to set up the array and make sure that ZLE enters application mode to use the following instructions; see #Key bindings.

To enable history search add these lines to file:

{{hc|~/.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 }}

By doing this, only the past commands matching the current line up to the current cursor position will be shown when or keys are pressed.

Shift, Alt, Ctrl and Meta modifiers

xterm-compatible terminals can use extended key-definitions from . Those are combinations of , Alt, and together with , , , , , PageDown, , or . Refer to the zkbd source for a list of recommended names for the modifier keys and key combinations.

For example, for to move to the beginning of the previous word and to move to the beginning of the next word:

{{hc|~/.zshrc|2= key[Control-Left]="${terminfo[kLFT5]}" key[Control-Right]="${terminfo[kRIT5]}"

[[ -n "${key[Control-Left]}" ]] && bindkey -- "${key[Control-Left]}" backward-word [[ -n "${key[Control-Right]}" ]] && bindkey -- "${key[Control-Right]}" forward-word }}

Prompts

Zsh offers the options of using a prompt theme or, for users who are dissatisfied with the themes (or want to expand their usefulness), the possibility to build a custom prompt.

Prompt themes

Prompt themes are a quick and easy way to set up a colored prompt in Zsh. See zshcontrib(1) § PROMPT THEMES for information about prompt themes and how to write your own theme.

To use a theme, make sure that prompt theme system is set to autoload in . This can be done by adding these lines to:

Available prompt themes are listed by running the command:

$ prompt -l

For example, to use the theme, enter:

$ prompt walters

To preview all available themes, use this command:

$ prompt -p

Manually installing prompt themes

It is possible to install themes manually, without external configuration manager tools. For a local installation, first create a folder and add it to the array, eg:

$ mkdir ~/.zprompts
$ fpath=("$HOME/.zprompts" "$fpath[@]")

Now create a symbolic link of your theme file in this folder:

$ ln -s mytheme.zsh ~/.zprompts/prompt_mytheme_setup

If instead you wish to install a theme globally, do:

# ln -s mytheme.zsh /usr/share/zsh/functions/Prompts/prompt_mytheme_setup

Now you should be able to activate it using:

$ prompt mytheme

If everything works, you can edit your accordingly.

Adding prompt themes without a separate file for each one

In addition to adding a prompt theme through its own file, it is possible to add themes from within another file (like your ), eg:

~/.zshrc

# Load promptinit
autoload -Uz promptinit && promptinit

# Define the theme
prompt_mytheme_setup() {
  PS1="%~%# "
}

# Add the theme to promptsys
prompt_themes+=( mytheme )

# Load the theme
prompt mytheme

Customized prompt

Additionally to a primary left-sided prompt (, ) that is common to all shells, Zsh also supports a right-sided prompt (). These two variables are the ones you will want to set to a custom value.

Other special purpose prompts, such as (PROMPT2), (), (PROMPT4), (), () and , are explained in .

All prompts can be customized with prompt escapes. The available prompt escapes are listed in .

Colors

Zsh sets colors differently than Bash; You do not need to use profuse ANSI escape sequences or terminal capabilities from terminfo(5). Zsh provides convenient prompt escapes to set the foreground color, background color and other visual effects; see for a list of them and their descriptions.

Colors can be specified using a decimal integer, the name of one of the eight most widely-supported colors or as a # followed by an RGB triplet in hexadecimal format. See the description of fg=colour in zshzle(1) § CHARACTER HIGHLIGHTING for more details.

Most terminals support the following colors by name:

Name	Number
yellow
	4

Color numbers 0–255 for terminal emulators compatible with xterm 256 colors can be found in the xterm-256color chart.

With a correctly set TERM environment variable, the terminal's supported maximum number of colors can be found from the terminfo(5) database using echoti colors. In the case of 24-bit colors, also check the COLORTERM environment variable with . If it returns or then your terminal supports 16777216 (2²⁴) colors even if terminfo shows a smaller number.

Note:

• The colors 0–15 may differ between terminal emulators and their used color schemes.
• Many terminal emulators display bold with a brighter color.

Example

An example of a simple colorless prompt:

PROMPT='%n@%m %~ %# '

How it will be displayed:

username@host ~ %

This is an example of a two-sided prompt with color:

PROMPT='%F{green}%n%f@%F{magenta}%m%f %F{blue}%B%~%b%f %# '
RPROMPT='[%F{yellow}%?%f]'

And here is how it will be displayed:

username@host ~ % [0]

To use colors from the 16-255 range and 24-bit true color, you can use the number from 0 to 255 assigned to the wanted color and its hexadecimal color code, respectively:

PROMPT='%F{2}%n%f@%F{5}%m%f %F{4}%B%~%b%f %# '
RPROMPT='[%F{3}%?%f]'

PROMPT='%F{#c0c0c0}%n%f@%F{#008000}%m%f %F{#800080}%B%~%b%f %# '
RPROMPT='[%F{#0000ff}%?%f]'

Sample .zshrc files

• To get the same setup as the monthly ISO releases (which use Zsh by default), install . It includes the many tweaks and advanced optimizations from grml.
• https://github.com/MrElendig/dotfiles-alice/blob/master/.zshrc - basic setup, with dynamic prompt and window title/hardinfo.
• https://github.com/slashbeast/conf-mgmt/blob/master/roles/home_files/files/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#User repositories for more.

Tips and tricks

Autostart X at login

See xinit#Autostart X at login.

Restore terminal settings after a program exits abnormally

Many programs change the terminal state, and often do not restore terminal settings on exiting abnormally (e.g. when crashing or encountering SIGINT).

This can typically be solved by executing :

$ reset

The following sections describe ways to avoid the need to manually reset the terminal.

The ttyctl command

The ttyctl command can be used to "freeze/unfreeze" the terminal. To freeze the interactive shell on launch, use the following:

Resetting the terminal with escape sequences

Alternate linedrawing character set can screw up the terminal in a way which ttyctl cannot prevent.

A simple solution is to output the escape sequences that reset the terminal from the hook function, so that they are executed every time before the prompt is drawn. For example, using the escape sequence :

~/.zshrc

autoload -Uz add-zsh-hook

function reset_broken_terminal () {
	printf '%b' '\e[0m\e(B\e)0\017\e[?5l\e7\e[0;0r\e8'
}

add-zsh-hook -Uz precmd reset_broken_terminal

To test if it works, run:

$ print '\e(0\e)B'

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:

Now use

$ dirs -v

to print the dirstack. Use 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.

See for setup instructions.

zoxide

zoxide is a smarter cd command that lets you navigate anywhere in just a few keystrokes. It remembers your frequently used directories and uses a scoring mechanism to guess where you want to go.

Help command

Unlike Bash, Zsh does not enable a built in command, instead it provides . By default is an alias to , it can be either executed manually by prepending it to a command or it can be invoked for the currently typed command with the keyboard shortcuts or .

Since by default it is just an alias to man, it will only work on external commands. To improve its functionality, so that it works on shell builtins and other shell features, you need to use the function. See zshcontrib(1) for more information on the and its assistant functions.

First load the function and then remove the existing alias. For convenience can be aliased to . For example, add following to your :

autoload -Uz run-help
(( ${+aliases[run-help]} )) && unalias run-help
alias help=run-help

Assistant functions have to be enabled separately:

autoload -Uz run-help-git run-help-ip run-help-openssl run-help-p4 run-help-sudo run-help-svk run-help-svn

For example, command will now open the man page instead of .

Persistent rehash

Typically, compinit will not automatically find new executables in the $PATH. For example, after you install a new package, the files in would not be immediately or automatically included in the completion. Thus, to have these new executables included, one would run:

$ rehash

This 'rehash' can be set to happen automatically. Simply include the following in your :

~/.zshrc

zstyle ':completion:*' rehash true

On-demand rehash

As above, however pacman can be configured with hooks to automatically request a , which does not incur the performance penalty of constant rehashing as above. To enable this, create the directory, and a directory, then create a hook file:

/etc/pacman.d/hooks/zsh.hook

[Trigger]
Operation = Install
Operation = Upgrade
Operation = Remove
Type = Path
Target = usr/bin/*
[Action]
Depends = zsh
When = PostTransaction
Exec = /usr/bin/install -Dm644 /dev/null /var/cache/zsh/pacman

This keeps the modification date of the file consistent with the last time a package was installed, upgraded or removed. Then, must be coaxed into rehashing its own command cache when it goes out of date, by adding to your :

If the hook is triggered before is updated, completion may not work until a new prompt is initiated. Running an empty command, e.g. pressing , should be sufficient.

Alternative on-demand rehash using SIGUSR1

As above, however the hook file looks like this:

Warning: This sends SIGUSR1 to all running zsh instances. Note that the default behavior for SIGUSR1 is terminate so when you first configure this all running zsh instances of all users (including login shells) will terminate if they have not sourced the trap below.

The function trap above can be replaced with a list trap . See for differences between types of traps.

This method will instantly all instances, removing the need to press enter to trigger .

Bind key to ncurses application

Bind a ncurses application to a keystroke, but it will not accept interaction. Use variable to make it work. The following example lets users open ncmpcpp using Alt+\:

An alternate method, that will keep everything you entered in the line before calling application:

File manager key binds

Key binds like those used in graphic file managers may come handy. The first comes back in directory history (), the second let the user go to the parent directory (). They also display the directory content.

xterm title

If your terminal emulator supports it, you can set its title from Zsh. This allows dynamically changing the title to display relevant information about the shell state, for example showing the user name and current directory or the currently executing command.

The xterm title is set with the xterm escape sequence \a. For example:

$ print -n '\e]2;My xterm title\a'

will set the title to

My xterm title

A simple way to have a dynamic title is to set the title in the and hook functions. See for a list of available hook functions and their descriptions.

By using you can additionally take advantage of Zsh's prompt escapes.

Note:

• Do not use the -P option of print when printing variables to prevent them from being parsed as prompt escapes.
• Use the q parameter expansion flag when printing variables to prevent them from being parsed as escape sequences.

Terminal emulator tab title

Some terminal emulators and multiplexers support setting the title of the tab. The escape sequences depend on the terminal:

Terminal	Escape sequences	Description
GNU Screen		Screen's window title ().
Konsole	\a	Konsole's tab title.

Shell environment detection

See a repository about shell environment detection for tests to detect the shell environment. This includes login/interactive shell, Xorg session, TTY and SSH session.

/dev/tcp equivalent: ztcp

Use the module:

$ zmodload zsh/net/tcp

You can now establish TCP connections:

$ ztcp example.com 80

More details are available in zshmodules(1) § THE_ZSH/NET/TCP_MODULE and .

Shortcut to exit shell on partial command line

By default, will not close your shell if the command line is filled, this fixes it:

pacman -F "command not found" handler

pacman includes functionality to search for packages containing a file. The following command-not-found handler will use pacman directly to search for matching packages when an unknown command is executed.

{{hc|1=~/.zshrc|2= ... function command_not_found_handler {

   local purple='\e[1;35m' bright='\e[0;1m' green='\e[1;32m' reset='\e[0m'
   printf 'zsh: command not found: %s\n' "$1"
   local entries=(
       ${(f)"$(/usr/bin/pacman -F --machinereadable -- "/usr/bin/$1")"}
   )
   if (( ${#entries[@]} ))
   then
       printf "${bright}$1${reset} may be found in the following packages:\n"
       local pkg
       for entry in "${entries[@]}"
       do
           # (repo package version file)
           local fields=(
               ${(0)entry}
           )
           if [[ "$pkg" != "${fields[2]}" ]]
           then
               printf "${purple}%s/${bright}%s ${green}%s${reset}\n" "${fields[1]}" "${fields[2]}" "${fields[3]}"
           fi
           printf '    /%s\n' "${fields[4]}"
           pkg="${fields[2]}"
       done
   fi
   return 127

} ... }}

For an alternative using pkgfile, see #pkgfile "command not found" handler.

Clear the backbuffer using a key binding

By default, the clear screen keybinding will not clear the backbuffer (the part you need to scroll up for to see it) on most terminal emulators. A possible solution to this problem is the following.

Third-party extensions

Configuration frameworks

Note: Frameworks introduce a level of abstraction and complexity. They can, and often do, introduce undefined behavior. In case of shell breakage, the first debugging step should be to revert to the plain shell.

Plugin managers

• Antidote — A feature complete Zsh implementation of the legacy Antibody plugin manager.

https://github.com/mattmc3/antidote || zsh-antidote^AUR

Fish-like syntax highlighting and autosuggestions

Fish provides very powerful shell syntax highlighting and autosuggestions. To use both in Zsh, you can install , , and finally source one or both of the provided scripts from your zshrc:

source /usr/share/zsh/plugins/zsh-syntax-highlighting/zsh-syntax-highlighting.zsh
source /usr/share/zsh/plugins/zsh-autosuggestions/zsh-autosuggestions.zsh

pkgfile "command not found" handler

pkgfile includes a Zsh script file that provides a command_not_found_handler function that will automatically search the pkgfile database when entering an unrecognized command.

You need to source the script to enable it. For example:

For an alternative using pacman's native functionality, see #pacman -F "command not found" handler.

See also

• Wikipedia:Zsh
• An Introduction to the Z Shell
• A User's Guide to ZSH
• The Z Shell Manual (different format available here)
• Zsh FAQ
• (available as package)
• Gentoo: Zsh/Guide
• Bash2Zsh Reference Card