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Zsh

Extended Bash shell with autocompletion, plugins, and themes - boost your terminal productivity

TL;DR

What: Z shell, an extended Bourne shell with many improvements.

Why: Better completion, plugins, themes, spelling correction, powerful scripting.

Quick Start

Install:

# macOS (default since Catalina)
# Already installed

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install zsh

# Set as default shell
chsh -s $(which zsh)

Install Oh My Zsh (recommended):

sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/master/tools/install.sh)"

Cheatsheet

FeatureDescription
TabAuto-completion
Ctrl+RHistory search
cd -Previous directory
!!Last command
!$Last argument
**/*.jsRecursive glob

Gotchas

Configuration (~/.zshrc)

# Theme
ZSH_THEME="robbyrussell"

# Plugins
plugins=(
    git
    docker
    npm
    zsh-autosuggestions
    zsh-syntax-highlighting
)

# Aliases
alias ll='ls -la'
alias gs='git status'
alias gc='git commit'

# Path
export PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH"

# Editor
export EDITOR='vim'

Useful plugins

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

# Install zsh-syntax-highlighting
git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-syntax-highlighting \
  ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-~/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/plugins/zsh-syntax-highlighting

# Add to plugins in .zshrc
plugins=(git zsh-autosuggestions zsh-syntax-highlighting)

History

# History settings in .zshrc
HISTSIZE=10000
SAVEHIST=10000
HISTFILE=~/.zsh_history

setopt SHARE_HISTORY          # Share between sessions
setopt HIST_IGNORE_DUPS       # Ignore duplicates
setopt HIST_IGNORE_SPACE      # Ignore commands starting with space

# Search history
Ctrl+R                        # Reverse search
history | grep "pattern"      # Search in history
!pattern                      # Run last command starting with pattern

Glob patterns

# Recursive glob
ls **/*.js              # All .js files in subdirectories

# Qualifiers
ls *(.)                 # Files only
ls *(/)                 # Directories only
ls *(@)                 # Symlinks only
ls *(om[1,5])           # 5 most recent files

# Extended globs
ls ^*.txt               # Not .txt files
ls *.{js,ts}            # .js or .ts files

Custom functions

# In .zshrc
mkcd() {
    mkdir -p "$1" && cd "$1"
}

# Extract any archive
extract() {
    case $1 in
        *.tar.bz2) tar xjf $1 ;;
        *.tar.gz)  tar xzf $1 ;;
        *.zip)     unzip $1 ;;
        *.gz)      gunzip $1 ;;
        *)         echo "Unknown format" ;;
    esac
}

# Quick git add, commit, push
gac() {
    git add .
    git commit -m "$1"
    git push
}

Powerlevel10k theme

# Install
git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/romkatv/powerlevel10k.git \
  ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-$HOME/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/themes/powerlevel10k

# Set in .zshrc
ZSH_THEME="powerlevel10k/powerlevel10k"

# Configure
p10k configure

Next Steps