10 Zsh Tips & Tricks: Configuration, Customization & Usage

On this article, I’ll present you how one can set up zsh, then provide ten suggestions and methods to make you extra productive when working with it.

As internet builders, the command line is turning into an ever extra vital a part of our workflow. We use it to put in packages from npm, to check API endpoints, to push commits to GitHub, and plenty extra apart from.

My shell of selection is zsh. zsh is a extremely customizable Unix shell, that packs some very highly effective options equivalent to killer tab completion, intelligent historical past, distant file enlargement, and much more.

This can be a beginner-level zsh information which could be adopted by anyone (even Home windows customers, because of Home windows Subsystem for Linux). Nonetheless, in gentle of Apple’s announcement that zsh is now the standard shell on macOS Catalina, Mac customers would possibly discover it particularly useful.

Let’s get began.

Putting in zsh

I don’t wish to provide in-depth set up directions for every working system, however relatively some common tips as a substitute. For those who get caught putting in zsh, there’s loads of assist out there on-line.

On the time of writing, the present zsh model is 5.7.1.

Putting in zsh on macOS

Most variations of macOS ship with zsh pre-installed. You may verify if so, and in that case, which model you’re operating utilizing the command: zsh --version. If the model is 4.3.9 or increased, try to be good to go (we’ll want at the least this model to put in Oh My Zsh afterward). If not, you’ll be able to comply with this guide to put in a newer model of zsh utilizing Homebrew.

As soon as put in, you’ll be able to set zsh because the default shell utilizing chsh -s $(which zsh). After issuing this command, you’ll must sign off, then log again in once more for the adjustments to take impact.

If at any level you determine you don’t like zsh, you’ll be able to revert to Bash utilizing chsh -s $(which bash).

Putting in zsh on Linux

On Ubuntu-based distros, you’ll be able to set up zsh utilizing sudo apt-get set up zsh. As soon as the set up completes, you’ll be able to verify the model utilizing zsh --version, then make zsh your default shell utilizing chsh -s $(which zsh). You’ll must sign off, then log again in for the adjustments to take impact.

As with macOS, you’ll be able to revert again to Bash utilizing chsh -s $(which bash).

For those who’re operating a non-Ubuntu-based distro, then take a look at the instructions for other distros.

Putting in zsh on Home windows

Sadly, that is the place issues begin to get somewhat difficult. Zsh is a Unix shell, and for it to work on Home windows, you’ll must activate Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), an surroundings in Home windows 10 and 11 for operating Linux binaries.

There are numerous tutorials on-line explaining how one can rise up and operating with zsh in Home windows 10. I discovered these two to be up-to-date and straightforward to comply with:

Word that it’s additionally potential to get zsh operating with Cygwin. Listed here are instructions for doing that.

First Run

Whenever you first open zsh, you’ll be greeted by the next menu.

If you choose (1), you’ll be taken to a menu that permits you to configure historical past, keybindings and a bunch of different issues. Nonetheless, I recommend deciding on (2), which is able to create a configuration profile with the advisable default settings.

Finding the Configuration File

Now let’s take a look on the file that zsh simply created. Enter your private home listing and open the .zshrc file in your editor of selection. This file is run everytime you begin zsh and is the place the place any customized configuration lives.

Word: file names that start with a dot are hidden by default on most working methods, so that you’ll must make it seen earlier than you’ll be able to edit it. For those who’re unsure how, seek for “Present hidden dot recordsdata mac/Linux and so forth”.

We are able to show how this file works by creating an alias. Of their easiest type, aliases are terminal shortcuts for normal instructions. Add the next to the underside of .zshrc and save the file:

alias myip="curl http://ipecho.web/plain; echo"

Restart your shell (for instance, by closing it then opening it once more), then sort myip. Offering you’ve the cURL program put in, you need to see your present public IP tackle output to the terminal. For those who’d wish to experiment extra with aliases, take a look at 7 Super Useful Aliases to make your development life easier.

Shut the terminal by typing exit, then find the .zsh_history file, which can also be in your house listing. That is the place zsh shops a listing of your earlier terminal instructions. At present it ought to include two strains — myip and exit.

Word: we’ll be reloading our shell a number of occasions via out the tutorial. It’s also possible to do that with a command: supply ~/.zshrc.

Verify Your Progress

By this level you need to have zsh put in and set as your default shell. For those who expertise any issues, strive creating a subject on Pylogix’s forums and ask for assist there.

Now let’s get into some suggestions.

1. Set up Oh My Zsh

For those who solely comply with certainly one of the following tips, it must be this one.

Oh My Zsh is a community-driven framework for managing your zsh configuration and comes bundled with 1000’s of useful capabilities, helpers, plugins and themes. Most of the following suggestions will depend on you having this put in.

As is defined on the mission’s residence web page, you’ll be able to set up it utilizing cURL or wget:

sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://uncooked.github.com/robbyrussell/oh-my-zsh/grasp/instruments/set up.sh)"

sh -c "$(wget https://uncooked.github.com/robbyrussell/oh-my-zsh/grasp/instruments/set up.sh -O -)"

This assumes you’ve Git put in, which you hopefully do already. If not, you’ll be able to grab it from the project’s homepage.

As you’ll be able to see, from the publish set up message, Oh My Zsh created a backup of your .zshrc file, then changed it with its personal model. Which means you’ll want to repeat over any customized configuration (equivalent to our myip alias) to your new .zshrc file.

2. Choose a Theme

For those who spend plenty of time within the terminal, it’s value investing some effort in making it visually interesting. Fortunately Oh My Zsh ships with a whole bunch of themes.

For those who look within the ~/.zshrc file for the ZSH_THEME variable, you’ll discover it’s set to robbyrussel. That is the default theme that the creator of Oh My Zsh makes use of.

To put in a distinct theme, decide one from the hyperlink above and alter the worth of the ZSH_THEME variable, earlier than restarting your shell. For instance, setting ZSH_THEME="avit" will trigger Oh My Zsh to make use of the avit theme.

You may additionally like to change the colour scheme to your terminal. On my Linux machine, I might do that through Edit > Preferences > Colours. Eradicating the tick from Use colours from system theme, then deciding on Solarized darkish as a scheme, offers me a really interesting end in subsequent to no time.

Discover how the theme acknowledges that it’s in a Git repo, tells me which department I’m on, and shows a inexperienced tick to let me know that every little thing is updated.

I encourage you to take a look via the out there themes and discover one which fits you.

Troubleshooting

After I was testing this on WSL, I used to be seeing damaged characters in my terminal, as quickly as I put in Oh My Zsh. To treatment this, I needed to set up the Powerline fonts and inform my terminal to make use of them:

git clone https://github.com/powerline/fonts.git

Then open an admin PowerShell, navigate to the foundation of the repo and run:

.set up.ps1

If PowerShell blocks you from operating the script, then strive setting the ExecutionPolicy as per this Stack Overflow answer. As soon as the fonts are put in, remember to set it again once more.

Lastly, proper click on on the terminal’s title bar, select Properties > Font and ensure a Powerline font is chosen. In testing, Deja Vu Sans Mono for Powerline labored nicely for me.

Additionally notice that a few the themes require Powerline fonts, whatever the working system. We’ll have a look at putting in certainly one of these themes (Agnoster) in the direction of the tip of the article.

3. Working with Historical past

One among my favourite Oh My Zsh options is the way in which that it enables you to search via your historical past. Think about that the contents of .zsh_history appear like this:

cd Desktop
mkdir my-project
cd my-project
npm init -y
mkdir {src,construct}
contact index.js

For those who’re within the terminal and press the ↑ key, you’d anticipate to cycle via every of these historical past entries one after the other, proper? No shock there.

Nonetheless, Oh My Zsh permits you to enter the start of a command, then press the ↑ key to cycle via matching entries. So, within the above instance when you entered “mkdir” after which pressed the ↑ key, you’ll see “mkdir {src,construct}” displayed. For those who pressed it once more, you’ll then see “mkdir my-project”.

I exploit this characteristic on a regular basis. For example, once I wish to ssh right into a server and might’t keep in mind the precise credentials, I simply enter “ssh” and might cycle via current connections till I discover the proper one. Or, once I can’t keep in mind the precise syntax of a command, I can simply enter the primary few characters and cycle via any matches.

4. Autosuggestions FTW!

One other nice characteristic of Oh My Zsh is plugins. These add new options to your shell and increase its performance.

Oh My Zsh ships with hundreds of plugins for each conceivable use and we’ll have a look at a few of these later within the article. On this part nevertheless, I’d wish to introduce you to a 3rd celebration plugin referred to as autosuggestions. This implies instructions as you sort primarily based on historical past.

To put in, it’s essential to clone its repository into $ZSH_CUSTOM/plugins. By default that is ~/.oh-my-zsh/customized/plugins:

git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-autosuggestions ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-~/.oh-my-zsh/customized}/plugins/zsh-autosuggestions

As soon as carried out, to activate it, hop into the ~/.zshrc file and uncomment the next line:

# plugins=(git)

Then substitute git with zsh-autosuggestions:

plugins=(zsh-autosuggestions)

Restart your shell, and also you’ll discover that as you sort a command, Oh My Zsh will make ideas primarily based in your historical past. If the suggestion is the one you might be in search of, press the → key to just accept it. An actual time saver!

5. File Navigation with Oh My Zsh

One other superior factor about Oh My Zsh is how straightforward it makes it to navigate round your machine.

For instance, once you wish to change listing, it isn’t essential to enter the cd command; cd Desktop simply turns into Desktop. And that works with paths, too: you’ll be able to enter /residence/jim/Desktop and find yourself proper the place you needed to go.

Oh My Zsh has nice autocomplete, too. After getting began typing a path, you’ll be able to press TAB to have it increase a listing of all potential folders you’ll be able to navigate to. For those who proceed tabbing, you’ll be able to transfer via this record till you choose a folder by urgent Return. Urgent TAB once more after that may restart the method.

Lastly, it’s value mentioning that Oh My Zsh gives quite a few commands and aliases for working with, and navigating directories. For instance, typing ... will transfer you up two directories and typing take <dir-name> will create a brand new listing and navigate to it. Oh My Zsh additionally helps dynamic path completion, so typing (for instance) /h/j/De and urgent Tab will increase the trail to /residence/jim/Desktop. Cool, eh?

Bonus Tip: when you’re feeling lazy, you’ll be able to simply drag and drop a folder onto the terminal window and the trail can be expanded for you.

6. Navigate to Something Utilizing z

z is a handy plugin that builds a listing of your most frequent and up to date folders (it calls these “frecent”) and permits you to leap to them with one command. That is usually rather more handy than having to tab via a nested folder construction.

To put in the plugin, all it’s a must to do is add it to your .zshrc file like so:

plugins=(z zsh-autosuggestions)

Then restart your terminal.

As soon as put in, z may have a brief studying part because it observes you navigating round your PC with the terminal. After some time, nevertheless, you’ll have the ability to sort z adopted by any phrase that’s in your required listing path. The plugin will use fuzzy matching to determine which folder you wish to go to and increase the trail accordingly. If there’s a couple of risk, you’ll be able to tab via the choices as described within the earlier tip.

This won’t sound like an enormous deal, however you’ll have the ability to open a shell, sort z my-project and have it increase the trail to /residence/jim/recordsdata/some/deeply/nested/listing/or/different/my-project. Then once you’re in that listing, you’ll be able to sort z my-other-project and have it increase the trail to /var/www/html/tasks/high/secret/my-other.mission.

Word: the primary time I ran z, and tried to vary listing, I obtained the error
_z_dirs:2: no such file or listing: /residence/jim/.z. This was a one off, as z apparently wanted to make a .z file in my residence listing. For those who run into any issues, this article has some suggestions.

7. Working with Git

Zsh contains some primary Git integration out of the field. For instance, when you sort git and press the Tab key, zsh will helpfully spit out an extended record of potential git instructions. This turns into barely extra helpful when you sort git, adopted by the primary couple of letters of the command you’re in search of. For instance git a + Tab produces this:

add        -- add file contents to index
am         -- apply patches from a mailbox
apply      -- apply patch to recordsdata and/or to index
archimport -- import an Arch repository into git
archive    -- create archive of recordsdata from named tree

Issues begin to get extra attention-grabbing once you set up the Oh My Zsh git plugin:

plugins=(git z zsh-autosuggestions)

This gives an entire bunch of aliases, in addition to some helpful capabilities for working with Git. Among the ones I exploit incessantly are:

• gaa – git add all
• gdca – git diff --cached
• gp – git push
• gpf! – git push --force
• grhh – git reset --hard
• gst – git standing

You possibly can additionally create an alias for a number of instructions without delay, by including the next to your .zshrc file:

operate acp() {
  git add .
  git commit -m "$1"
  git push
}

Now, once you’re in a Git repo, typing acp "a commit message" will add all modified recordsdata, commit them with no matter commit message you specified, then push them to your distant. Credit score for this concept goes to Ali Spittel.

8. Get Instantaneous Suggestions on the State of a git Repo

On the high of the article, we activated a theme referred to as avit. When in a Git repo, this theme will show the department title, in addition to a cross or tick indicating whether or not every little thing department is up-to-date. I like with the ability to see this data at a look, and it’s undoubtedly an enormous step up from having to sort git standing on a regular basis.

There are a few themes, nevertheless, that show this data in a extra intuitive method. My favourite is Agnoster. Let’s set up that now.

For Agnoster to render arrows and Git icons accurately, you’ll seemingly want to put in a Powerline-patched font. WSL customers can do that by following the directions within the troubleshooting section above. For macOS and Linux customers, installation instructions can be found in the project’s repo.

Mac customers on Excessive Sierra or later might must carry out some extra work to get these fonts to show. Except you might be on Catalina, this method is recommended. Catalina customers might want to set up a patched font and choose it of their terminal settings.

To check in case your terminal can show the entire needed characters, run the next command:

echo "ue0b0 u00b1 ue0a0 u27a6 u2718 u26a1 u2699"

The outcome ought to appear like the picture beneath.

After that, allow the theme by altering the next line in your .zshrc file:

ZSH_THEME="agnoster"

Then restart the terminal. As soon as Agnoster is up and operating, you’ll have a extra intuitive view of the standing of any Git repository. You’ll additionally obtain visible suggestions as as to whether the earlier command succeeded or failed, and whether or not you might be working with elevated privileges.

Tip: when you don’t just like the person@host a part of the immediate, you may make this disappear by including DEFAULT_USER=your_user_name to the .zshrc file.

9. Plugins, Plugins, Plugins

As talked about, Oh My Zsh ships with a lot of plugins. You actually ought to look via these and make investments a while studying these that may assist your workflow. To get you began, listed below are some widespread ones to pay attention to:

• cloudapp – uploads recordsdata and piped contents to the Cloudapp service. Outputs and copies the resultant URL to the clipboard.
• command-not-found: if a command isn’t acknowledged within the $PATH, this can use Ubuntu’s command-not-found package deal to search out it or recommend spelling errors (just for Ubuntu and openSUSE).
• node: open the Node API, to your present model, in your browser.
• npm: provides autocompletion to npm.
• sudo: hitting ESC twice places sudo in entrance of the present command, or the final one if the command line is empty.
• vscode: makes interplay between the command line and the code editor simpler.

10. Key Combos

This isn’t a zsh particular tip, however to wrap up I needed to make you conscious of those 5 time-saving key combos.

• Ctrl + U: delete from the cursor to the beginning of the road.
• Ctrl + Ok: delete from the cursor to the tip of the road.
• Ctrl + W: delete from the cursor to the beginning of the previous phrase.
• Alt + D: delete from the cursor to the tip of the following phrase.
• Ctrl + L: clear the terminal.

For those who can memorize these, you’ll be stunned at how usually they turn out to be useful.

Conclusion

On this article, I’ve demonstrated how one can set up zsh (Z shell) and set it as your default shell. I’ve additionally confirmed how one can get essentially the most out of your new terminal with the Oh My Zsh framework. It’s my hope that, when you give these a strive for a few weeks, you’ll surprise the way you ever did with out them.

And don’t overlook: in case you have any issues with any of this, you’ll be able to jump over to Pylogix forums and ask for assist there. I’d even be completely satisfied to listen to if I missed something out — for instance, your favourite theme, plugin, alias, or productiveness tip.

You may hit me up both on the boards or on Twitter.

FAQs about Zsh (Z shell)