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Zsh Shell Guide

Zsh (Z Shell) is a powerful shell that extends bash with many additional features. It's especially popular thanks to Oh My Zsh, a community-driven framework for managing Zsh configuration.

Key Features

Enhanced Completion - Intelligent tab completion - Cursor-based menu selection - Expandable abbreviations

Plugins & Themes - Oh My Zsh framework - Thousands of plugins - Hundreds of themes

Advanced Features - Shared history between sessions - Globbing improvements - Spelling correction

Installation

macOS 

# Install via Homebrew
brew install zsh

# Set as default shell
chsh -s /bin/zsh

Ubuntu/Debian 

sudo apt install zsh

# Set as default
chsh -s /usr/bin/zsh

Verify 

echo $SHELL

Oh My Zsh

Installation

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

Configuration File

  • Location: ~/.zshrc

Update Oh My Zsh

omz update

Configuration Files

File Purpose
~/.zshrc Main configuration file
~/.zprofile Login shell config
~/.zshenv Always sourced
~/.zlogin After .zprofile

Essential Plugins

Enable Plugins

# Edit ~/.zshrc
plugins=(
    git
    docker
    python
    pip
    kubectl
    zsh-autosuggestions
    zsh-syntax-highlighting
)

zsh-autosuggestions - Suggests commands as you type - Based on history - Install: git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-autosuggestions ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-~/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/plugins/zsh-autosuggestions

zsh-syntax-highlighting - Syntax highlighting for commands - Red for invalid, green for valid - Install: git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-syntax-highlighting ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-~/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/plugins/zsh-syntax-highlighting

z - Quick directory jumping - Based on frecency (frequent + recent)

Useful Built-in Plugins

Plugin Description
git Git aliases and functions
docker Docker completions
kubectl Kubernetes completions
pip Python pip completions
python Python virtualenv support
npm npm completions
brew Homebrew completions

Aliases

# Shortcuts
alias ll='eza -lah'
alias la='eza -a'
alias l='eza -l'

# Git
alias gs='git status'
alias ga='git add'
alias gc='git commit'
alias gp='git push'
alias gco='git checkout'

# Navigation
alias ..='cd ..'
alias ...='cd ../..'

# Safety
alias rm='rm -i'
alias cp='cp -i'
alias mv='mv -i'

Functions

# Create and cd into directory
function mkcd() {
    mkdir -p "$1" && cd "$1"
}

# Extract archives
extract() {
    if [ -f "$1" ] ; then
        case "$1" in
            *.tar.bz2) tar xjf "$1" ;;
            *.tar.gz) tar xzf "$1" ;;
            *.bz2) bunzip2 "$1" ;;
            *.rar) unrar x "$1" ;;
            *.gz) gunzip "$1" ;;
            *.tar) tar xf "$1" ;;
            *.tbz2) tar xjf "$1" ;;
            *.tgz) tar xzf "$1" ;;
            *.zip) unzip "$1" ;;
            *.7z) 7z x "$1" ;;
            *) echo "'$1' cannot be extracted" ;;
        esac
    else
        echo "'$1' is not a valid file"
    fi
}

Themes

Using a Theme

# In ~/.zshrc
ZSH_THEME="robbyrussell"
Theme Description
robbyrussell Default, simple and clean
agnoster Powerline-style, requires font
powerlevel10k Highly customizable, popular
starship Fast, cross-shell

Powerlevel10k

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

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

# Configure
p10k configure

Useful Shortcuts

Shortcut Action
Ctrl+A Move to beginning
Ctrl+E Move to end
Ctrl+U Clear line before
Ctrl+K Clear line after
Ctrl+R Search history
Ctrl+O Accept and run
Alt+. Insert last argument
Esc+Q Push current line to stack
Ctrl+X,G Insert all completions

Environment Variables

# In ~/.zshrc
export PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH"
export EDITOR=vim
export VISUAL=vim

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

Advanced Features

Globbing

# Recursive search
ls **/*.txt

# Case-insensitive
ls -l (**).txt

History

# Shared history (enable in ~/.zshrc)
setopt SHARE_HISTORY
setopt HIST_IGNORE_DUPS

Spelling Correction

# Enable
setopt CORRECT
setopt CORRECT_ALL

Useful Options

# In ~/.zshrc
setopt AUTO_CD              # cd by typing directory
setopt AUTO_PUSHD          # Push directory to stack
setopt AUTO_LIST           # Automatically list choices
setopt MENU_COMPLETE        # Auto-insert first match
setopt HIST_IGNORE_ALL_DUPS # No duplicate commands
setopt SHARE_HISTORY        # Share history between sessions

Tips & Tricks

Faster completions

# In ~/.zshrc
zstyle ':completion:*' matcher-list 'm:{a-z}={A-Z}'

Colorize completions

zstyle ':completion:*' menu select

Disable automatic updates

DISABLE_AUTO_UPDATE="true"

Additional Resources