You are reading the article Understanding The Different Shell In Linux : Zsh Shell updated in September 2023 on the website Speedmintonvn.com. We hope that the information we have shared is helpful to you. If you find the content interesting and meaningful, please share it with your friends and continue to follow and support us for the latest updates. Suggested October 2023 Understanding The Different Shell In Linux : Zsh Shell
HistoryThe first version of Zsh was created in 1990 by a Princeton Student named Paul Falstad. The name “Zsh” supposedly comes from the connection ID of the Princeton professor Zhong Shao. The shell in itself was influenced from Bash, Ksh, and Tcsh: Zsh has a very powerful auto-completion functionality, along with recursive searches and a corrector included. And of course, the prompt can be defined according to the user’s wish. For all that, some consider Zsh as an extended Bourne Shell.
InstallationNow that you know more about Zsh, let’s install it. For Ubuntu, the installation is fairly simple:
sudo
apt-get install
zsh
For other distributions, it should be available in your repositories too. In the worst case, download the package from the official page.
Once the package is installed, you can launch a Zsh Shell from any terminal via the command:
zsh
If you really like this shell and want it to replace your current one, you can do that by typing
sudo
usermod-s
/
bin/
zsh
[
user name]
Notice that as usual, the configuration file is at “~/.zshrc” and will be created on the first launch. As the same as bash, this can be used to add aliases and personalize the prompt.
UsageZsh is very intuitive. At first, you should not notice any difference in behavior with Bash. However, a good way to spot the first feature is to type:
rm – [tabulation key]and then use the tabulation key. This will display all the possible arguments for the “rm” command. As you can see, the auto-completion is incredible with Zsh.
Not only a command’s arguments, but also the ssh hosts presents in /etc/hosts, the possible targets for the “make” command, the manual pages, the files on a distant server, etc, all can be auto-completed by Zsh. And the auto-completion speed is also impressive.
You can also try type a wrong command like
gdit .zshrcand it will trigger the correction feature:
If the correction does not work at first, it means that you haven’t activate it yet. To do so, simply type:
setopt correctThe correction is not the only option that you can activate. After the “setopt” command, you can also use
beep: to play a beep sound when an error occurs
hist_ignore_all_dups: to prevent the same command from being recorded twice in the history
auto_cd: to move to a directory just by typing its name (no need of the cd command anymore)
On the contrary, if you want to delete an option, the syntax is:
unsetopt [option]Another good use of Zsh is the recursive search. You were used with Bash to the operator “*” meaning “all”. Now with Zsh, “**” can be translated “all within all”. In other words, recursive search. Let me illustrate with an example. If you want to delete a file named “foobar” but you cannot remember where it is, this line will become handy:
rm **/foobarZsh will search for the foobar file within the current directory, and in every sub-directory, until it removes it.
The recursive operator can become really useful when searching a particular type of file. It is possible to use the combination of the “ls” command and a regex. A simple command like
ls **/*.mp3will return all the mp3 files that Zsh can find recursively from the current directory.
Finally, let’s talk a little about the configuration of Zsh. As you know, it happens in ~/.zshrc. If you want to try some personalized prompts, Zsh comes with some saved themes. To see which one available, load the prompt system with
autoload -U promptinit promptinitAnd then list the themes with:
prompt -lAnd to change your current prompt, type
If you have create plenty of aliases in bash, they won’t work in zsh. You have to port them over th the ~/.zsh file. The basic syntax is the same as Bash’s:
alias [alias' name]="[command]"In addition, you can also define a specific alias for file extension. This allows you to automatically launch the appropriate command for the file that you want. For example, I use the program “mpg123” to play mp3’s from the command line. Therefore, I can add to my .zshrc:
alias -s mp3="mpg123"From there, each time I write something like
./song.mp3Mpg123 will be launched and play the song. With a little imagination, we can combine this functionality with my previous article on deal with archives from the command line:
alias -s tar="tar -xvf" alias -s rar="unrar x" alias -s zip="unzip" alias -s pdf="evince" ConclusionYes, Zsh and Bash are very similar, but zsh is more flexible that makes it more popular. Personally, I really appreciate the auto-completion feature and the alias for file extension. The above mentioned tips covered only a small part of what zsh can do. To find more about Zsh, I invite you to read the Archlinux wiki.
Adrien
Adrien is a young but passionate Linux aficionado. Command line, encryption, obscure distributions… you name it, he tried it. Always improving his system, he encountered multiple tricks and hacks and is ready to share them. Best things in the world? Math, computers and peanut butter!
Subscribe to our newsletter!
Our latest tutorials delivered straight to your inbox
Sign up for all newsletters.
By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy and European users agree to the data transfer policy. We will not share your data and you can unsubscribe at any time.
You're reading Understanding The Different Shell In Linux : Zsh Shell
Update the detailed information about Understanding The Different Shell In Linux : Zsh Shell on the Speedmintonvn.com website. We hope the article's content will meet your needs, and we will regularly update the information to provide you with the fastest and most accurate information. Have a great day!