1ZSHMODULES(1) General Commands Manual ZSHMODULES(1)
2
6 zshmodules - zsh loadable modules
7
9 Some optional parts of zsh are in modules, separate from the core of
10 the shell. Each of these modules may be linked in to the shell at
11 build time, or can be dynamically linked while the shell is running if
12 the installation supports this feature. Modules are linked at runtime
13 with the zmodload command, see zshbuiltins(1).
14 The modules that are bundled with the zsh distribution are:
16 zsh/attr
18 Builtins for manipulating extended attributes (xattr).
19 zsh/cap
21 Builtins for manipulating POSIX.1e (POSIX.6) capability (privi‐
22 lege) sets.
23 zsh/clone
25 A builtin that can clone a running shell onto another terminal.
26 zsh/compctl
28 The compctl builtin for controlling completion.
29 zsh/complete
31 The basic completion code.
32 zsh/complist
34 Completion listing extensions.
35 zsh/computil
37 A module with utility builtins needed for the shell function
38 based completion system.
39 zsh/curses
41 curses windowing commands
42 zsh/datetime
44 Some date/time commands and parameters.
45 zsh/db/gdbm
47 Builtins for managing associative array parameters tied to GDBM
48 databases.
49 zsh/deltochar
51 A ZLE function duplicating EMACS' zap-to-char.
52 zsh/example
54 An example of how to write a module.
55 zsh/files
57 Some basic file manipulation commands as builtins.
58 zsh/langinfo
60 Interface to locale information.
61 zsh/mapfile
63 Access to external files via a special associative array.
64 zsh/mathfunc
66 Standard scientific functions for use in mathematical evalua‐
67 tions.
68 zsh/nearcolor
70 Map colours to the nearest colour in the available palette.
71 zsh/newuser
73 Arrange for files for new users to be installed.
74 zsh/parameter
76 Access to internal hash tables via special associative arrays.
77 zsh/pcre
79 Interface to the PCRE library.
80 zsh/param/private
82 Builtins for managing private-scoped parameters in function con‐
83 text.
84 zsh/regex
86 Interface to the POSIX regex library.
87 zsh/sched
89 A builtin that provides a timed execution facility within the
90 shell.
91 zsh/net/socket
93 Manipulation of Unix domain sockets
94 zsh/stat
96 A builtin command interface to the stat system call.
97 zsh/system
99 A builtin interface to various low-level system features.
100 zsh/net/tcp
102 Manipulation of TCP sockets
103 zsh/termcap
105 Interface to the termcap database.
106 zsh/terminfo
108 Interface to the terminfo database.
109 zsh/zftp
111 A builtin FTP client.
112 zsh/zle
114 The Zsh Line Editor, including the bindkey and vared builtins.
115 zsh/zleparameter
117 Access to internals of the Zsh Line Editor via parameters.
118 zsh/zprof
120 A module allowing profiling for shell functions.
121 zsh/zpty
123 A builtin for starting a command in a pseudo-terminal.
124 zsh/zselect
126 Block and return when file descriptors are ready.
127 zsh/zutil
129 Some utility builtins, e.g. the one for supporting configuration
130 via styles.
131
133 The zsh/attr module is used for manipulating extended attributes. The
134 -h option causes all commands to operate on symbolic links instead of
135 their targets. The builtins in this module are:
136 zgetattr [ -h ] filename attribute [ parameter ]
138 Get the extended attribute attribute from the specified file‐
139 name. If the optional argument parameter is given, the attribute
140 is set on that parameter instead of being printed to stdout.
141 zsetattr [ -h ] filename attribute value
143 Set the extended attribute attribute on the specified filename
144 to value.
145 zdelattr [ -h ] filename attribute
147 Remove the extended attribute attribute from the specified file‐
148 name.
149 zlistattr [ -h ] filename [ parameter ]
151 List the extended attributes currently set on the specified
152 filename. If the optional argument parameter is given, the list
153 of attributes is set on that parameter instead of being printed
154 to stdout.
155 zgetattr and zlistattr allocate memory dynamically. If the attribute
157 or list of attributes grows between the allocation and the call to get
158 them, they return 2. On all other errors, 1 is returned. This allows
159 the calling function to check for this case and retry.
160
162 The zsh/cap module is used for manipulating POSIX.1e (POSIX.6) capabil‐
163 ity sets. If the operating system does not support this interface, the
164 builtins defined by this module will do nothing. The builtins in this
165 module are:
166 cap [ capabilities ]
168 Change the shell's process capability sets to the specified
169 capabilities, otherwise display the shell's current capabili‐
170 ties.
171 getcap filename ...
173 This is a built-in implementation of the POSIX standard utility.
174 It displays the capability sets on each specified filename.
175 setcap capabilities filename ...
177 This is a built-in implementation of the POSIX standard utility.
178 It sets the capability sets on each specified filename to the
179 specified capabilities.
180
182 The zsh/clone module makes available one builtin command:
183 clone tty
185 Creates a forked instance of the current shell, attached to the
186 specified tty. In the new shell, the PID, PPID and TTY special
187 parameters are changed appropriately. $! is set to zero in the
188 new shell, and to the new shell's PID in the original shell.
189 The return status of the builtin is zero in both shells if suc‐
191 cessful, and non-zero on error.
192 The target of clone should be an unused terminal, such as an
194 unused virtual console or a virtual terminal created by
195 xterm -e sh -c 'trap : INT QUIT TSTP; tty;
197 while :; do sleep 100000000; done'
198 Some words of explanation are warranted about this long xterm
200 command line: when doing clone on a pseudo-terminal, some other
201 session ("session" meant as a unix session group, or SID) is
202 already owning the terminal. Hence the cloned zsh cannot acquire
203 the pseudo-terminal as a controlling tty. That means two things:
204 · the job control signals will go to the
206 sh-started-by-xterm process group (that's why we disable
207 INT QUIT and TSTP with trap; otherwise the while loop
208 could get suspended or killed)
209 · the cloned shell will have job control disabled, and the
211 job control keys (control-C, control-\ and control-Z)
212 will not work.
213 This does not apply when cloning to an unused vc.
215 Cloning to a used (and unprepared) terminal will result in two
217 processes reading simultaneously from the same terminal, with
218 input bytes going randomly to either process.
219 clone is mostly useful as a shell built-in replacement for
221 openvt.
222
224 The zsh/compctl module makes available two builtin commands. compctl,
225 is the old, deprecated way to control completions for ZLE. See zshcom‐
226 pctl(1). The other builtin command, compcall can be used in
227 user-defined completion widgets, see zshcompwid(1).
228
230 The zsh/complete module makes available several builtin commands which
231 can be used in user-defined completion widgets, see zshcompwid(1).
232
234 The zsh/complist module offers three extensions to completion listings:
235 the ability to highlight matches in such a list, the ability to scroll
236 through long lists and a different style of menu completion.
237 Colored completion listings
239 Whenever one of the parameters ZLS_COLORS or ZLS_COLOURS is set and the
240 zsh/complist module is loaded or linked into the shell, completion
241 lists will be colored. Note, however, that complist will not automati‐
242 cally be loaded if it is not linked in: on systems with dynamic load‐
243 ing, `zmodload zsh/complist' is required.
244 The parameters ZLS_COLORS and ZLS_COLOURS describe how matches are
246 highlighted. To turn on highlighting an empty value suffices, in which
247 case all the default values given below will be used. The format of
248 the value of these parameters is the same as used by the GNU version of
249 the ls command: a colon-separated list of specifications of the form
250 `name=value'. The name may be one of the following strings, most of
251 which specify file types for which the value will be used. The strings
252 and their default values are:
253 no 0 for normal text (i.e. when displaying something other than a
255 matched file)
256 fi 0 for regular files
258 di 32 for directories
260 ln 36 for symbolic links. If this has the special value target, sym‐
262 bolic links are dereferenced and the target file used to deter‐
263 mine the display format.
264 pi 31 for named pipes (FIFOs)
266 so 33 for sockets
268 bd 44;37
270 for block devices
271 cd 44;37
273 for character devices
274 or none
276 for a symlink to nonexistent file (default is the value defined
277 for ln)
278 mi none
280 for a non-existent file (default is the value defined for fi);
281 this code is currently not used
282 su 37;41
284 for files with setuid bit set
285 sg 30;43
287 for files with setgid bit set
288 tw 30;42
290 for world writable directories with sticky bit set
291 ow 34;43
293 for world writable directories without sticky bit set
294 sa none
296 for files with an associated suffix alias; this is only tested
297 after specific suffixes, as described below
298 st 37;44
300 for directories with sticky bit set but not world writable
301 ex 35 for executable files
303 lc \e[ for the left code (see below)
305 rc m for the right code
307 tc 0 for the character indicating the file type printed after file‐
309 names if the LIST_TYPES option is set
310 sp 0 for the spaces printed after matches to align the next column
312 ec none
314 for the end code
315 Apart from these strings, the name may also be an asterisk (`*') fol‐
317 lowed by any string. The value given for such a string will be used for
318 all files whose name ends with the string. The name may also be an
319 equals sign (`=') followed by a pattern; the EXTENDED_GLOB option will
320 be turned on for evaluation of the pattern. The value given for this
321 pattern will be used for all matches (not just filenames) whose display
322 string are matched by the pattern. Definitions for the form with the
323 leading equal sign take precedence over the values defined for file
324 types, which in turn take precedence over the form with the leading
325 asterisk (file extensions).
326 The leading-equals form also allows different parts of the displayed
328 strings to be colored differently. For this, the pattern has to use
329 the `(#b)' globbing flag and pairs of parentheses surrounding the parts
330 of the strings that are to be colored differently. In this case the
331 value may consist of more than one color code separated by equal signs.
332 The first code will be used for all parts for which no explicit code is
333 specified and the following codes will be used for the parts matched by
334 the sub-patterns in parentheses. For example, the specification
335 `=(#b)(?)*(?)=0=3=7' will be used for all matches which are at least
336 two characters long and will use the code `3' for the first character,
337 `7' for the last character and `0' for the rest.
338 All three forms of name may be preceded by a pattern in parentheses.
340 If this is given, the value will be used only for matches in groups
341 whose names are matched by the pattern given in the parentheses. For
342 example, `(g*)m*=43' highlights all matches beginning with `m' in
343 groups whose names begin with `g' using the color code `43'. In case
344 of the `lc', `rc', and `ec' codes, the group pattern is ignored.
345 Note also that all patterns are tried in the order in which they appear
347 in the parameter value until the first one matches which is then used.
348 Patterns may be matched against completions, descriptions (possibly
349 with spaces appended for padding), or lines consisting of a completion
350 followed by a description. For consistent coloring it may be necessary
351 to use more than one pattern or a pattern with backreferences.
352 When printing a match, the code prints the value of lc, the value for
354 the file-type or the last matching specification with a `*', the value
355 of rc, the string to display for the match itself, and then the value
356 of ec if that is defined or the values of lc, no, and rc if ec is not
357 defined.
358 The default values are ISO 6429 (ANSI) compliant and can be used on
360 vt100 compatible terminals such as xterms. On monochrome terminals the
361 default values will have no visible effect. The colors function from
362 the contribution can be used to get associative arrays containing the
363 codes for ANSI terminals (see the section `Other Functions' in zshcon‐
364 trib(1)). For example, after loading colors, one could use
365 `$color[red]' to get the code for foreground color red and
366 `$color[bg-green]' for the code for background color green.
367 If the completion system invoked by compinit is used, these parameters
369 should not be set directly because the system controls them itself.
370 Instead, the list-colors style should be used (see the section `Comple‐
371 tion System Configuration' in zshcompsys(1)).
372 Scrolling in completion listings
374 To enable scrolling through a completion list, the LISTPROMPT parameter
375 must be set. Its value will be used as the prompt; if it is the empty
376 string, a default prompt will be used. The value may contain escapes
377 of the form `%x'. It supports the escapes `%B', `%b', `%S', `%s',
378 `%U', `%u', `%F', `%f', `%K', `%k' and `%{...%}' used also in shell
379 prompts as well as three pairs of additional sequences: a `%l' or `%L'
380 is replaced by the number of the last line shown and the total number
381 of lines in the form `number/total'; a `%m' or `%M' is replaced with
382 the number of the last match shown and the total number of matches; and
383 `%p' or `%P' is replaced with `Top', `Bottom' or the position of the
384 first line shown in percent of the total number of lines, respectively.
385 In each of these cases the form with the uppercase letter will be
386 replaced with a string of fixed width, padded to the right with spaces,
387 while the lowercase form will not be padded.
388 If the parameter LISTPROMPT is set, the completion code will not ask if
390 the list should be shown. Instead it immediately starts displaying the
391 list, stopping after the first screenful, showing the prompt at the
392 bottom, waiting for a keypress after temporarily switching to the
393 listscroll keymap. Some of the zle functions have a special meaning
394 while scrolling lists:
395 send-break
397 stops listing discarding the key pressed
398 accept-line, down-history, down-line-or-history
400 down-line-or-search, vi-down-line-or-history
401 scrolls forward one line
402 complete-word, menu-complete, expand-or-complete
404 expand-or-complete-prefix, menu-complete-or-expand
405 scrolls forward one screenful
406 accept-search
408 stop listing but take no other action
409 Every other character stops listing and immediately processes the key
411 as usual. Any key that is not bound in the listscroll keymap or that
412 is bound to undefined-key is looked up in the keymap currently
413 selected.
414 As for the ZLS_COLORS and ZLS_COLOURS parameters, LISTPROMPT should not
416 be set directly when using the shell function based completion system.
417 Instead, the list-prompt style should be used.
418 Menu selection
420 The zsh/complist module also offers an alternative style of selecting
421 matches from a list, called menu selection, which can be used if the
422 shell is set up to return to the last prompt after showing a completion
423 list (see the ALWAYS_LAST_PROMPT option in zshoptions(1)).
424 Menu selection can be invoked directly by the widget menu-select
426 defined by this module. This is a standard ZLE widget that can be
427 bound to a key in the usual way as described in zshzle(1).
428 Alternatively, the parameter MENUSELECT can be set to an integer, which
430 gives the minimum number of matches that must be present before menu
431 selection is automatically turned on. This second method requires that
432 menu completion be started, either directly from a widget such as
433 menu-complete, or due to one of the options MENU_COMPLETE or AUTO_MENU
434 being set. If MENUSELECT is set, but is 0, 1 or empty, menu selection
435 will always be started during an ambiguous menu completion.
436 When using the completion system based on shell functions, the MENUSE‐
438 LECT parameter should not be used (like the ZLS_COLORS and ZLS_COLOURS
439 parameters described above). Instead, the menu style should be used
440 with the select=... keyword.
441 After menu selection is started, the matches will be listed. If there
443 are more matches than fit on the screen, only the first screenful is
444 shown. The matches to insert into the command line can be selected
445 from this list. In the list one match is highlighted using the value
446 for ma from the ZLS_COLORS or ZLS_COLOURS parameter. The default value
447 for this is `7' which forces the selected match to be highlighted using
448 standout mode on a vt100-compatible terminal. If neither ZLS_COLORS
449 nor ZLS_COLOURS is set, the same terminal control sequence as for the
450 `%S' escape in prompts is used.
451 If there are more matches than fit on the screen and the parameter
453 MENUPROMPT is set, its value will be shown below the matches. It sup‐
454 ports the same escape sequences as LISTPROMPT, but the number of the
455 match or line shown will be that of the one where the mark is placed.
456 If its value is the empty string, a default prompt will be used.
457 The MENUSCROLL parameter can be used to specify how the list is
459 scrolled. If the parameter is unset, this is done line by line, if it
460 is set to `0' (zero), the list will scroll half the number of lines of
461 the screen. If the value is positive, it gives the number of lines to
462 scroll and if it is negative, the list will be scrolled the number of
463 lines of the screen minus the (absolute) value.
464 As for the ZLS_COLORS, ZLS_COLOURS and LISTPROMPT parameters, neither
466 MENUPROMPT nor MENUSCROLL should be set directly when using the shell
467 function based completion system. Instead, the select-prompt and
468 select-scroll styles should be used.
469 The completion code sometimes decides not to show all of the matches in
471 the list. These hidden matches are either matches for which the com‐
472 pletion function which added them explicitly requested that they not
473 appear in the list (using the -n option of the compadd builtin command)
474 or they are matches which duplicate a string already in the list
475 (because they differ only in things like prefixes or suffixes that are
476 not displayed). In the list used for menu selection, however, even
477 these matches are shown so that it is possible to select them. To
478 highlight such matches the hi and du capabilities in the ZLS_COLORS and
479 ZLS_COLOURS parameters are supported for hidden matches of the first
480 and second kind, respectively.
481 Selecting matches is done by moving the mark around using the zle move‐
483 ment functions. When not all matches can be shown on the screen at the
484 same time, the list will scroll up and down when crossing the top or
485 bottom line. The following zle functions have special meaning during
486 menu selection. Note that the following always perform the same task
487 within the menu selection map and cannot be replaced by user defined
488 widgets, nor can the set of functions be extended:
489 accept-line, accept-search
491 accept the current match and leave menu selection (but do not
492 cause the command line to be accepted)
493 send-break
495 leaves menu selection and restores the previous contents of the
496 command line
497 redisplay, clear-screen
499 execute their normal function without leaving menu selection
500 accept-and-hold, accept-and-menu-complete
502 accept the currently inserted match and continue selection
503 allowing to select the next match to insert into the line
504 accept-and-infer-next-history
506 accepts the current match and then tries completion with menu
507 selection again; in the case of files this allows one to select
508 a directory and immediately attempt to complete files in it; if
509 there are no matches, a message is shown and one can use undo to
510 go back to completion on the previous level, every other key
511 leaves menu selection (including the other zle functions which
512 are otherwise special during menu selection)
513 undo removes matches inserted during the menu selection by one of the
515 three functions before
516 down-history, down-line-or-history
518 vi-down-line-or-history, down-line-or-search
519 moves the mark one line down
520 up-history, up-line-or-history
522 vi-up-line-or-history, up-line-or-search
523 moves the mark one line up
524 forward-char, vi-forward-char
526 moves the mark one column right
527 backward-char, vi-backward-char
529 moves the mark one column left
530 forward-word, vi-forward-word
532 vi-forward-word-end, emacs-forward-word
533 moves the mark one screenful down
534 backward-word, vi-backward-word, emacs-backward-word
536 moves the mark one screenful up
537 vi-forward-blank-word, vi-forward-blank-word-end
539 moves the mark to the first line of the next group of matches
540 vi-backward-blank-word
542 moves the mark to the last line of the previous group of matches
543 beginning-of-history
545 moves the mark to the first line
546 end-of-history
548 moves the mark to the last line
549 beginning-of-buffer-or-history, beginning-of-line
551 beginning-of-line-hist, vi-beginning-of-line
552 moves the mark to the leftmost column
553 end-of-buffer-or-history, end-of-line
555 end-of-line-hist, vi-end-of-line
556 moves the mark to the rightmost column
557 complete-word, menu-complete, expand-or-complete
559 expand-or-complete-prefix, menu-expand-or-complete
560 moves the mark to the next match
561 reverse-menu-complete
563 moves the mark to the previous match
564 vi-insert
566 this toggles between normal and interactive mode; in interactive
567 mode the keys bound to self-insert and self-insert-unmeta insert
568 into the command line as in normal editing mode but without
569 leaving menu selection; after each character completion is tried
570 again and the list changes to contain only the new matches; the
571 completion widgets make the longest unambiguous string be
572 inserted in the command line and undo and backward-delete-char
573 go back to the previous set of matches
574 history-incremental-search-forward
576 history-incremental-search-backward
577 this starts incremental searches in the list of completions dis‐
578 played; in this mode, accept-line only leaves incremental
579 search, going back to the normal menu selection mode
580 All movement functions wrap around at the edges; any other zle function
582 not listed leaves menu selection and executes that function. It is
583 possible to make widgets in the above list do the same by using the
584 form of the widget with a `.' in front. For example, the widget
585 `.accept-line' has the effect of leaving menu selection and accepting
586 the entire command line.
587 During this selection the widget uses the keymap menuselect. Any key
589 that is not defined in this keymap or that is bound to undefined-key is
590 looked up in the keymap currently selected. This is used to ensure
591 that the most important keys used during selection (namely the cursor
592 keys, return, and TAB) have sensible defaults. However, keys in the
593 menuselect keymap can be modified directly using the bindkey builtin
594 command (see zshmodules(1)). For example, to make the return key leave
595 menu selection without accepting the match currently selected one could
596 call
597 bindkey -M menuselect '^M' send-break
599 after loading the zsh/complist module.
601
603 The zsh/computil module adds several builtin commands that are used by
604 some of the completion functions in the completion system based on
605 shell functions (see zshcompsys(1) ). Except for compquote these
606 builtin commands are very specialised and thus not very interesting
607 when writing your own completion functions. In summary, these builtin
608 commands are:
609 comparguments
611 This is used by the _arguments function to do the argument and
612 command line parsing. Like compdescribe it has an option -i to
613 do the parsing and initialize some internal state and various
614 options to access the state information to decide what should be
615 completed.
616 compdescribe
618 This is used by the _describe function to build the displays for
619 the matches and to get the strings to add as matches with their
620 options. On the first call one of the options -i or -I should
621 be supplied as the first argument. In the first case, display
622 strings without the descriptions will be generated, in the sec‐
623 ond case, the string used to separate the matches from their
624 descriptions must be given as the second argument and the
625 descriptions (if any) will be shown. All other arguments are
626 like the definition arguments to _describe itself.
627 Once compdescribe has been called with either the -i or the -I
629 option, it can be repeatedly called with the -g option and the
630 names of four parameters as its arguments. This will step
631 through the different sets of matches and store the value of
632 compstate[list] in the first scalar, the options for compadd in
633 the second array, the matches in the third array, and the
634 strings to be displayed in the completion listing in the fourth
635 array. The arrays may then be directly given to compadd to reg‐
636 ister the matches with the completion code.
637 compfiles
639 Used by the _path_files function to optimize complex recursive
640 filename generation (globbing). It does three things. With the
641 -p and -P options it builds the glob patterns to use, including
642 the paths already handled and trying to optimize the patterns
643 with respect to the prefix and suffix from the line and the
644 match specification currently used. The -i option does the
645 directory tests for the ignore-parents style and the -r option
646 tests if a component for some of the matches are equal to the
647 string on the line and removes all other matches if that is
648 true.
649 compgroups
651 Used by the _tags function to implement the internals of the
652 group-order style. This only takes its arguments as names of
653 completion groups and creates the groups for it (all six types:
654 sorted and unsorted, both without removing duplicates, with
655 removing all duplicates and with removing consecutive dupli‐
656 cates).
657 compquote [ -p ] names ...
659 There may be reasons to write completion functions that have to
660 add the matches using the -Q option to compadd and perform quot‐
661 ing themselves. Instead of interpreting the first character of
662 the all_quotes key of the compstate special association and
663 using the q flag for parameter expansions, one can use this
664 builtin command. The arguments are the names of scalar or array
665 parameters and the values of these parameters are quoted as
666 needed for the innermost quoting level. If the -p option is
667 given, quoting is done as if there is some prefix before the
668 values of the parameters, so that a leading equal sign will not
669 be quoted.
670 The return status is non-zero in case of an error and zero oth‐
672 erwise.
673 comptags
675 comptry
676 These implement the internals of the tags mechanism.
677 compvalues
679 Like comparguments, but for the _values function.
680
682 The zsh/curses module makes available one builtin command and various
683 parameters.
684 Builtin
686 zcurses init
687 zcurses end
688 zcurses addwin targetwin nlines ncols begin_y begin_x [ parentwin ]
689 zcurses delwin targetwin
690 zcurses refresh [ targetwin ... ]
691 zcurses touch targetwin ...
692 zcurses move targetwin new_y new_x
693 zcurses clear targetwin [ redraw | eol | bot ]
694 zcurses position targetwin array
695 zcurses char targetwin character
696 zcurses string targetwin string
697 zcurses border targetwin border
698 zcurses attr targetwin [ [+|-]attribute | fg_col/bg_col ] [...]
699 zcurses bg targetwin [ [+|-]attribute | fg_col/bg_col | @char ] [...]
700 zcurses scroll targetwin [ on | off | [+|-]lines ]
701 zcurses input targetwin [ param [ kparam [ mparam ] ] ]
702 zcurses mouse [ delay num | [+|-]motion ]
703 zcurses timeout targetwin intval
704 zcurses querychar targetwin [ param ]
705 zcurses resize height width [ endwin | nosave | endwin_nosave ]
706 Manipulate curses windows. All uses of this command should be
707 bracketed by `zcurses init' to initialise use of curses, and
708 `zcurses end' to end it; omitting `zcurses end' can cause the
709 terminal to be in an unwanted state.
710 The subcommand addwin creates a window with nlines lines and
712 ncols columns. Its upper left corner will be placed at row
713 begin_y and column begin_x of the screen. targetwin is a string
714 and refers to the name of a window that is not currently
715 assigned. Note in particular the curses convention that verti‐
716 cal values appear before horizontal values.
717 If addwin is given an existing window as the final argument, the
719 new window is created as a subwindow of parentwin. This differs
720 from an ordinary new window in that the memory of the window
721 contents is shared with the parent's memory. Subwindows must be
722 deleted before their parent. Note that the coordinates of sub‐
723 windows are relative to the screen, not the parent, as with
724 other windows.
725 Use the subcommand delwin to delete a window created with
727 addwin. Note that end does not implicitly delete windows, and
728 that delwin does not erase the screen image of the window.
729 The window corresponding to the full visible screen is called
731 stdscr; it always exists after `zcurses init' and cannot be
732 delete with delwin.
733 The subcommand refresh will refresh window targetwin; this is
735 necessary to make any pending changes (such as characters you
736 have prepared for output with char) visible on the screen.
737 refresh without an argument causes the screen to be cleared and
738 redrawn. If multiple windows are given, the screen is updated
739 once at the end.
740 The subcommand touch marks the targetwins listed as changed.
742 This is necessary before refreshing windows if a window that was
743 in front of another window (which may be stdscr) is deleted.
744 The subcommand move moves the cursor position in targetwin to
746 new coordinates new_y and new_x. Note that the subcommand
747 string (but not the subcommand char) advances the cursor posi‐
748 tion over the characters added.
749 The subcommand clear erases the contents of targetwin. One (and
751 no more than one) of three options may be specified. With the
752 option redraw, in addition the next refresh of targetwin will
753 cause the screen to be cleared and repainted. With the option
754 eol, targetwin is only cleared to the end of the current cursor
755 line. With the option bot, targetwin is cleared to the end of
756 the window, i.e everything to the right and below the cursor is
757 cleared.
758 The subcommand position writes various positions associated with
760 targetwin into the array named array. These are, in order:
761 - The y and x coordinates of the cursor relative to the top
762 left of targetwin
763 - The y and x coordinates of the top left of targetwin on
764 the screen
765 - The size of targetwin in y and x dimensions.
766 Outputting characters and strings are achieved by char and
768 string respectively.
769 To draw a border around window targetwin, use border. Note that
771 the border is not subsequently handled specially: in other
772 words, the border is simply a set of characters output at the
773 edge of the window. Hence it can be overwritten, can scroll off
774 the window, etc.
775 The subcommand attr will set targetwin's attributes or fore‐
777 ground/background color pair for any successive character out‐
778 put. Each attribute given on the line may be prepended by a +
779 to set or a - to unset that attribute; + is assumed if absent.
780 The attributes supported are blink, bold, dim, reverse, stand‐
781 out, and underline.
782 Each fg_col/bg_col attribute (to be read as `fg_col on bg_col')
784 sets the foreground and background color for character output.
785 The color default is sometimes available (in particular if the
786 library is ncurses), specifying the foreground or background
787 color with which the terminal started. The color pair
788 default/default is always available. To use more than the 8
789 named colors (red, green, etc.) construct the fg_col/bg_col
790 pairs where fg_col and bg_col are decimal integers, e.g 128/200.
791 The maximum color value is 254 if the terminal supports 256 col‐
792 ors.
793 bg overrides the color and other attributes of all characters in
795 the window. Its usual use is to set the background initially,
796 but it will overwrite the attributes of any characters at the
797 time when it is called. In addition to the arguments allowed
798 with attr, an argument @char specifies a character to be shown
799 in otherwise blank areas of the window. Owing to limitations of
800 curses this cannot be a multibyte character (use of ASCII char‐
801 acters only is recommended). As the specified set of attributes
802 override the existing background, turning attributes off in the
803 arguments is not useful, though this does not cause an error.
804 The subcommand scroll can be used with on or off to enabled or
806 disable scrolling of a window when the cursor would otherwise
807 move below the window due to typing or output. It can also be
808 used with a positive or negative integer to scroll the window up
809 or down the given number of lines without changing the current
810 cursor position (which therefore appears to move in the opposite
811 direction relative to the window). In the second case, if
812 scrolling is off it is temporarily turned on to allow the window
813 to be scrolled.
814 The subcommand input reads a single character from the window
816 without echoing it back. If param is supplied the character is
817 assigned to the parameter param, else it is assigned to the
818 parameter REPLY.
819 If both param and kparam are supplied, the key is read in `key‐
821 pad' mode. In this mode special keys such as function keys and
822 arrow keys return the name of the key in the parameter kparam.
823 The key names are the macros defined in the curses.h or
824 ncurses.h with the prefix `KEY_' removed; see also the descrip‐
825 tion of the parameter zcurses_keycodes below. Other keys cause
826 a value to be set in param as before. On a successful return
827 only one of param or kparam contains a non-empty string; the
828 other is set to an empty string.
829 If mparam is also supplied, input attempts to handle mouse
831 input. This is only available with the ncurses library; mouse
832 handling can be detected by checking for the exit status of
833 `zcurses mouse' with no arguments. If a mouse button is clicked
834 (or double- or triple-clicked, or pressed or released with a
835 configurable delay from being clicked) then kparam is set to the
836 string MOUSE, and mparam is set to an array consisting of the
837 following elements:
838 - An identifier to discriminate different input devices;
839 this is only rarely useful.
840 - The x, y and z coordinates of the mouse click relative to
841 the full screen, as three elements in that order (i.e.
842 the y coordinate is, unusually, after the x coordinate).
843 The z coordinate is only available for a few unusual
844 input devices and is otherwise set to zero.
845 - Any events that occurred as separate items; usually there
846 will be just one. An event consists of PRESSED,
847 RELEASED, CLICKED, DOUBLE_CLICKED or TRIPLE_CLICKED fol‐
848 lowed immediately (in the same element) by the number of
849 the button.
850 - If the shift key was pressed, the string SHIFT.
851 - If the control key was pressed, the string CTRL.
852 - If the alt key was pressed, the string ALT.
853 Not all mouse events may be passed through to the terminal win‐
855 dow; most terminal emulators handle some mouse events them‐
856 selves. Note that the ncurses manual implies that using input
857 both with and without mouse handling may cause the mouse cursor
858 to appear and disappear.
859 The subcommand mouse can be used to configure the use of the
861 mouse. There is no window argument; mouse options are global.
862 `zcurses mouse' with no arguments returns status 0 if mouse han‐
863 dling is possible, else status 1. Otherwise, the possible argu‐
864 ments (which may be combined on the same command line) are as
865 follows. delay num sets the maximum delay in milliseconds
866 between press and release events to be considered as a click;
867 the value 0 disables click resolution, and the default is one
868 sixth of a second. motion proceeded by an optional `+' (the
869 default) or - turns on or off reporting of mouse motion in addi‐
870 tion to clicks, presses and releases, which are always reported.
871 However, it appears reports for mouse motion are not currently
872 implemented.
873 The subcommand timeout specifies a timeout value for input from
875 targetwin. If intval is negative, `zcurses input' waits indefi‐
876 nitely for a character to be typed; this is the default. If
877 intval is zero, `zcurses input' returns immediately; if there is
878 typeahead it is returned, else no input is done and status 1 is
879 returned. If intval is positive, `zcurses input' waits intval
880 milliseconds for input and if there is none at the end of that
881 period returns status 1.
882 The subcommand querychar queries the character at the current
884 cursor position. The return values are stored in the array
885 named param if supplied, else in the array reply. The first
886 value is the character (which may be a multibyte character if
887 the system supports them); the second is the color pair in the
888 usual fg_col/bg_col notation, or 0 if color is not supported.
889 Any attributes other than color that apply to the character, as
890 set with the subcommand attr, appear as additional elements.
891 The subcommand resize resizes stdscr and all windows to given
893 dimensions (windows that stick out from the new dimensions are
894 resized down). The underlying curses extension (resize_term
895 call) can be unavailable. To verify, zeroes can be used for
896 height and width. If the result of the subcommand is 0,
897 resize_term is available (2 otherwise). Tests show that resizing
898 can be normally accomplished by calling zcurses end and zcurses
899 refresh. The resize subcommand is provided for versatility. Mul‐
900 tiple system configurations have been checked and zcurses end
901 and zcurses refresh are still needed for correct terminal state
902 after resize. To invoke them with resize, use endwin argument.
903 Using nosave argument will cause new terminal state to not be
904 saved internally by zcurses. This is also provided for versatil‐
905 ity and should normally be not needed.
906 Parameters
908 ZCURSES_COLORS
909 Readonly integer. The maximum number of colors the terminal
910 supports. This value is initialised by the curses library and
911 is not available until the first time zcurses init is run.
912 ZCURSES_COLOR_PAIRS
914 Readonly integer. The maximum number of color pairs
915 fg_col/bg_col that may be defined in `zcurses attr' commands;
916 note this limit applies to all color pairs that have been used
917 whether or not they are currently active. This value is ini‐
918 tialised by the curses library and is not available until the
919 first time zcurses init is run.
920 zcurses_attrs
922 Readonly array. The attributes supported by zsh/curses; avail‐
923 able as soon as the module is loaded.
924 zcurses_colors
926 Readonly array. The colors supported by zsh/curses; available
927 as soon as the module is loaded.
928 zcurses_keycodes
930 Readonly array. The values that may be returned in the second
931 parameter supplied to `zcurses input' in the order in which they
932 are defined internally by curses. Not all function keys are
933 listed, only F0; curses reserves space for F0 up to F63.
934 zcurses_windows
936 Readonly array. The current list of windows, i.e. all windows
937 that have been created with `zcurses addwin' and not removed
938 with `zcurses delwin'.
939
941 The zsh/datetime module makes available one builtin command:
942 strftime [ -s scalar ] format [ epochtime [ nanoseconds ] ]
944 strftime -r [ -q ] [ -s scalar ] format timestring
945 Output the date in the format specified. With no epochtime, the
946 current system date/time is used; optionally, epochtime may be
947 used to specify the number of seconds since the epoch, and
948 nanoseconds may additionally be used to specify the number of
949 nanoseconds past the second (otherwise that number is assumed to
950 be 0). See strftime(3) for details. The zsh extensions
951 described in the section EXPANSION OF PROMPT SEQUENCES in zsh‐
952 misc(1) are also available.
953 -q Run quietly; suppress printing of all error messages
955 described below. Errors for invalid epochtime values are
956 always printed.
957 -r With the option -r (reverse), use format to parse the
959 input string timestring and output the number of seconds
960 since the epoch at which the time occurred. The parsing
961 is implemented by the system function strptime; see strp‐
962 time(3). This means that zsh format extensions are not
963 available, but for reverse lookup they are not required.
964 In most implementations of strftime any timezone in the
966 timestring is ignored and the local timezone declared by
967 the TZ environment variable is used; other parameters are
968 set to zero if not present.
969 If timestring does not match format the command returns
971 status 1 and prints an error message. If timestring
972 matches format but not all characters in timestring were
973 used, the conversion succeeds but also prints an error
974 message.
975 If either of the system functions strptime or mktime is
977 not available, status 2 is returned and an error message
978 is printed.
979 -s scalar
981 Assign the date string (or epoch time in seconds if -r is
982 given) to scalar instead of printing it.
983 Note that depending on the system's declared integral time type,
985 strftime may produce incorrect results for epoch times greater
986 than 2147483647 which corresponds to 2038-01-19 03:14:07 +0000.
987 The zsh/datetime module makes available several parameters; all are
989 readonly:
990 EPOCHREALTIME
992 A floating point value representing the number of seconds since
993 the epoch. The notional accuracy is to nanoseconds if the
994 clock_gettime call is available and to microseconds otherwise,
995 but in practice the range of double precision floating point and
996 shell scheduling latencies may be significant effects.
997 EPOCHSECONDS
999 An integer value representing the number of seconds since the
1000 epoch.
1001 epochtime
1003 An array value containing the number of seconds since the epoch
1004 in the first element and the remainder of the time since the
1005 epoch in nanoseconds in the second element. To ensure the two
1006 elements are consistent the array should be copied or otherwise
1007 referenced as a single substitution before the values are used.
1008 The following idiom may be used:
1009 for secs nsecs in $epochtime; do
1011 ...
1012 done
1013
1015 The zsh/db/gdbm module is used to create "tied" associative arrays that
1016 interface to database files. If the GDBM interface is not available,
1017 the builtins defined by this module will report an error. This module
1018 is also intended as a prototype for creating additional database inter‐
1019 faces, so the ztie builtin may move to a more generic module in the
1020 future.
1021 The builtins in this module are:
1023 ztie -d db/gdbm -f filename [ -r ] arrayname
1025 Open the GDBM database identified by filename and, if success‐
1026 ful, create the associative array arrayname linked to the file.
1027 To create a local tied array, the parameter must first be
1028 declared, so commands similar to the following would be executed
1029 inside a function scope:
1030 local -A sampledb
1032 ztie -d db/gdbm -f sample.gdbm sampledb
1033 The -r option opens the database file for reading only, creating
1035 a parameter with the readonly attribute. Without this option,
1036 using `ztie' on a file for which the user does not have write
1037 permission is an error. If writable, the database is opened
1038 synchronously so fields changed in arrayname are immediately
1039 written to filename.
1040 Changes to the file modes filename after it has been opened do
1042 not alter the state of arrayname, but `typeset -r arrayname'
1043 works as expected.
1044 zuntie [ -u ] arrayname ...
1046 Close the GDBM database associated with each arrayname and then
1047 unset the parameter. The -u option forces an unset of parame‐
1048 ters made readonly with `ztie -r'.
1049 This happens automatically if the parameter is explicitly unset
1051 or its local scope (function) ends. Note that a readonly param‐
1052 eter may not be explicitly unset, so the only way to unset a
1053 global parameter created with `ztie -r' is to use `zuntie -u'.
1054 zgdbmpath parametername
1056 Put path to database file assigned to parametername into REPLY
1057 scalar.
1058 zgdbm_tied
1060 Array holding names of all tied parameters.
1061 The fields of an associative array tied to GDBM are neither cached nor
1063 otherwise stored in memory, they are read from or written to the data‐
1064 base on each reference. Thus, for example, the values in a readonly
1065 array may be changed by a second writer of the same database file.
1066
1068 The zsh/deltochar module makes available two ZLE functions:
1069 delete-to-char
1071 Read a character from the keyboard, and delete from the cursor
1072 position up to and including the next (or, with repeat count n,
1073 the nth) instance of that character. Negative repeat counts
1074 mean delete backwards.
1075 zap-to-char
1077 This behaves like delete-to-char, except that the final occur‐
1078 rence of the character itself is not deleted.
1079
1081 The zsh/example module makes available one builtin command:
1082 example [ -flags ] [ args ... ]
1084 Displays the flags and arguments it is invoked with.
1085 The purpose of the module is to serve as an example of how to write a
1087 module.
1088
1090 The zsh/files module makes available some common commands for file
1091 manipulation as builtins; these commands are probably not needed for
1092 many normal situations but can be useful in emergency recovery situa‐
1093 tions with constrained resources. The commands do not implement all
1094 features now required by relevant standards committees.
1095 For all commands, a variant beginning zf_ is also available and loaded
1097 automatically. Using the features capability of zmodload will let you
1098 load only those names you want. Note that it's possible to load only
1099 the builtins with zsh-specific names using the following command:
1100 zmodload -m -F zsh/files b:zf_\*
1102 The commands loaded by default are:
1104 chgrp [ -hRs ] group filename ...
1106 Changes group of files specified. This is equivalent to chown
1107 with a user-spec argument of `:group'.
1108 chown [ -hRs ] user-spec filename ...
1110 Changes ownership and group of files specified.
1111 The user-spec can be in four forms:
1113 user change owner to user; do not change group
1115 user:: change owner to user; do not change group
1116 user: change owner to user; change group to user's primary
1117 group
1118 user:group
1119 change owner to user; change group to group
1120 :group do not change owner; change group to group
1121 In each case, the `:' may instead be a `.'. The rule is that if
1123 there is a `:' then the separator is `:', otherwise if there is
1124 a `.' then the separator is `.', otherwise there is no separa‐
1125 tor.
1126 Each of user and group may be either a username (or group name,
1128 as appropriate) or a decimal user ID (group ID). Interpretation
1129 as a name takes precedence, if there is an all-numeric username
1130 (or group name).
1131 If the target is a symbolic link, the -h option causes chown to
1133 set the ownership of the link instead of its target.
1134 The -R option causes chown to recursively descend into directo‐
1136 ries, changing the ownership of all files in the directory after
1137 changing the ownership of the directory itself.
1138 The -s option is a zsh extension to chown functionality. It
1140 enables paranoid behaviour, intended to avoid security problems
1141 involving a chown being tricked into affecting files other than
1142 the ones intended. It will refuse to follow symbolic links, so
1143 that (for example) ``chown luser /tmp/foo/passwd'' can't acci‐
1144 dentally chown /etc/passwd if /tmp/foo happens to be a link to
1145 /etc. It will also check where it is after leaving directories,
1146 so that a recursive chown of a deep directory tree can't end up
1147 recursively chowning /usr as a result of directories being moved
1148 up the tree.
1149 ln [ -dfhins ] filename dest
1151 ln [ -dfhins ] filename ... dir
1152 Creates hard (or, with -s, symbolic) links. In the first form,
1153 the specified destination is created, as a link to the specified
1154 filename. In the second form, each of the filenames is taken in
1155 turn, and linked to a pathname in the specified directory that
1156 has the same last pathname component.
1157 Normally, ln will not attempt to create hard links to directo‐
1159 ries. This check can be overridden using the -d option. Typi‐
1160 cally only the super-user can actually succeed in creating hard
1161 links to directories. This does not apply to symbolic links in
1162 any case.
1163 By default, existing files cannot be replaced by links. The -i
1165 option causes the user to be queried about replacing existing
1166 files. The -f option causes existing files to be silently
1167 deleted, without querying. -f takes precedence.
1168 The -h and -n options are identical and both exist for compati‐
1170 bility; either one indicates that if the target is a symlink
1171 then it should not be dereferenced. Typically this is used in
1172 combination with -sf so that if an existing link points to a
1173 directory then it will be removed, instead of followed. If this
1174 option is used with multiple filenames and the target is a sym‐
1175 bolic link pointing to a directory then the result is an error.
1176 mkdir [ -p ] [ -m mode ] dir ...
1178 Creates directories. With the -p option, non-existing parent
1179 directories are first created if necessary, and there will be no
1180 complaint if the directory already exists. The -m option can be
1181 used to specify (in octal) a set of file permissions for the
1182 created directories, otherwise mode 777 modified by the current
1183 umask (see umask(2)) is used.
1184 mv [ -fi ] filename dest
1186 mv [ -fi ] filename ... dir
1187 Moves files. In the first form, the specified filename is moved
1188 to the specified destination. In the second form, each of the
1189 filenames is taken in turn, and moved to a pathname in the spec‐
1190 ified directory that has the same last pathname component.
1191 By default, the user will be queried before replacing any file
1193 that the user cannot write to, but writable files will be
1194 silently removed. The -i option causes the user to be queried
1195 about replacing any existing files. The -f option causes any
1196 existing files to be silently deleted, without querying. -f
1197 takes precedence.
1198 Note that this mv will not move files across devices. Histori‐
1200 cal versions of mv, when actual renaming is impossible, fall
1201 back on copying and removing files; if this behaviour is
1202 desired, use cp and rm manually. This may change in a future
1203 version.
1204 rm [ -dfirs ] filename ...
1206 Removes files and directories specified.
1207 Normally, rm will not remove directories (except with the -r
1209 option). The -d option causes rm to try removing directories
1210 with unlink (see unlink(2)), the same method used for files.
1211 Typically only the super-user can actually succeed in unlinking
1212 directories in this way. -d takes precedence over -r.
1213 By default, the user will be queried before removing any file
1215 that the user cannot write to, but writable files will be
1216 silently removed. The -i option causes the user to be queried
1217 about removing any files. The -f option causes files to be
1218 silently deleted, without querying, and suppresses all error
1219 indications. -f takes precedence.
1220 The -r option causes rm to recursively descend into directories,
1222 deleting all files in the directory before removing the direc‐
1223 tory with the rmdir system call (see rmdir(2)).
1224 The -s option is a zsh extension to rm functionality. It
1226 enables paranoid behaviour, intended to avoid common security
1227 problems involving a root-run rm being tricked into removing
1228 files other than the ones intended. It will refuse to follow
1229 symbolic links, so that (for example) ``rm /tmp/foo/passwd''
1230 can't accidentally remove /etc/passwd if /tmp/foo happens to be
1231 a link to /etc. It will also check where it is after leaving
1232 directories, so that a recursive removal of a deep directory
1233 tree can't end up recursively removing /usr as a result of
1234 directories being moved up the tree.
1235 rmdir dir ...
1237 Removes empty directories specified.
1238 sync Calls the system call of the same name (see sync(2)), which
1240 flushes dirty buffers to disk. It might return before the I/O
1241 has actually been completed.
1242
1244 The zsh/langinfo module makes available one parameter:
1245 langinfo
1247 An associative array that maps langinfo elements to their val‐
1248 ues.
1249 Your implementation may support a number of the following keys:
1251 CODESET, D_T_FMT, D_FMT, T_FMT, RADIXCHAR, THOUSEP, YESEXPR,
1253 NOEXPR, CRNCYSTR, ABDAY_{1..7}, DAY_{1..7}, ABMON_{1..12},
1254 MON_{1..12}, T_FMT_AMPM, AM_STR, PM_STR, ERA, ERA_D_FMT,
1255 ERA_D_T_FMT, ERA_T_FMT, ALT_DIGITS
1256
1258 The zsh/mapfile module provides one special associative array parameter
1259 of the same name.
1260 mapfile
1262 This associative array takes as keys the names of files; the
1263 resulting value is the content of the file. The value is
1264 treated identically to any other text coming from a parameter.
1265 The value may also be assigned to, in which case the file in
1266 question is written (whether or not it originally existed); or
1267 an element may be unset, which will delete the file in question.
1268 For example, `vared mapfile[myfile]' works as expected, editing
1269 the file `myfile'.
1270 When the array is accessed as a whole, the keys are the names of
1272 files in the current directory, and the values are empty (to
1273 save a huge overhead in memory). Thus ${(k)mapfile} has the
1274 same affect as the glob operator *(D), since files beginning
1275 with a dot are not special. Care must be taken with expressions
1276 such as rm ${(k)mapfile}, which will delete every file in the
1277 current directory without the usual `rm *' test.
1278 The parameter mapfile may be made read-only; in that case, files
1280 referenced may not be written or deleted.
1281 A file may conveniently be read into an array as one line per
1283 element with the form `array=("${(f@)mapfile[filename]}")'. The
1284 double quotes and the `@' are necessary to prevent empty lines
1285 from being removed. Note that if the file ends with a newline,
1286 the shell will split on the final newline, generating an addi‐
1287 tional empty field; this can be suppressed by using
1288 `array=("${(f@)${mapfile[filename]%$'\n'}}")'.
1289 Limitations
1291 Although reading and writing of the file in question is efficiently
1292 handled, zsh's internal memory management may be arbitrarily baroque;
1293 however, mapfile is usually very much more efficient than anything
1294 involving a loop. Note in particular that the whole contents of the
1295 file will always reside physically in memory when accessed (possibly
1296 multiple times, due to standard parameter substitution operations). In
1297 particular, this means handling of sufficiently long files (greater
1298 than the machine's swap space, or than the range of the pointer type)
1299 will be incorrect.
1300 No errors are printed or flagged for non-existent, unreadable, or
1302 unwritable files, as the parameter mechanism is too low in the shell
1303 execution hierarchy to make this convenient.
1304 It is unfortunate that the mechanism for loading modules does not yet
1306 allow the user to specify the name of the shell parameter to be given
1307 the special behaviour.
1308
1310 The zsh/mathfunc module provides standard mathematical functions for
1311 use when evaluating mathematical formulae. The syntax agrees with nor‐
1312 mal C and FORTRAN conventions, for example,
1313 (( f = sin(0.3) ))
1315 assigns the sine of 0.3 to the parameter f.
1317 Most functions take floating point arguments and return a floating
1319 point value. However, any necessary conversions from or to integer
1320 type will be performed automatically by the shell. Apart from atan
1321 with a second argument and the abs, int and float functions, all func‐
1322 tions behave as noted in the manual page for the corresponding C func‐
1323 tion, except that any arguments out of range for the function in ques‐
1324 tion will be detected by the shell and an error reported.
1325 The following functions take a single floating point argument: acos,
1327 acosh, asin, asinh, atan, atanh, cbrt, ceil, cos, cosh, erf, erfc, exp,
1328 expm1, fabs, floor, gamma, j0, j1, lgamma, log, log10, log1p, log2,
1329 logb, sin, sinh, sqrt, tan, tanh, y0, y1. The atan function can
1330 optionally take a second argument, in which case it behaves like the C
1331 function atan2. The ilogb function takes a single floating point argu‐
1332 ment, but returns an integer.
1333 The function signgam takes no arguments, and returns an integer, which
1335 is the C variable of the same name, as described in gamma(3). Note
1336 that it is therefore only useful immediately after a call to gamma or
1337 lgamma. Note also that `signgam()' and `signgam' are distinct expres‐
1338 sions.
1339 The functions min, max, and sum are defined not in this module but in
1341 the zmathfunc autoloadable function, described in the section `Mathe‐
1342 matical Functions' in zshcontrib(1).
1343 The following functions take two floating point arguments: copysign,
1345 fmod, hypot, nextafter.
1346 The following take an integer first argument and a floating point sec‐
1348 ond argument: jn, yn.
1349 The following take a floating point first argument and an integer sec‐
1351 ond argument: ldexp, scalb.
1352 The function abs does not convert the type of its single argument; it
1354 returns the absolute value of either a floating point number or an
1355 integer. The functions float and int convert their arguments into a
1356 floating point or integer value (by truncation) respectively.
1357 Note that the C pow function is available in ordinary math evaluation
1359 as the `**' operator and is not provided here.
1360 The function rand48 is available if your system's mathematical library
1362 has the function erand48(3). It returns a pseudo-random floating point
1363 number between 0 and 1. It takes a single string optional argument.
1364 If the argument is not present, the random number seed is initialised
1366 by three calls to the rand(3) function --- this produces the same ran‐
1367 dom numbers as the next three values of $RANDOM.
1368 If the argument is present, it gives the name of a scalar parameter
1370 where the current random number seed will be stored. On the first
1371 call, the value must contain at least twelve hexadecimal digits (the
1372 remainder of the string is ignored), or the seed will be initialised in
1373 the same manner as for a call to rand48 with no argument. Subsequent
1374 calls to rand48(param) will then maintain the seed in the parameter
1375 param as a string of twelve hexadecimal digits, with no base signifier.
1376 The random number sequences for different parameters are completely
1377 independent, and are also independent from that used by calls to rand48
1378 with no argument.
1379 For example, consider
1381 print $(( rand48(seed) ))
1383 print $(( rand48() ))
1384 print $(( rand48(seed) ))
1385 Assuming $seed does not exist, it will be initialised by the first
1387 call. In the second call, the default seed is initialised; note, how‐
1388 ever, that because of the properties of rand() there is a correlation
1389 between the seeds used for the two initialisations, so for more secure
1390 uses, you should generate your own 12-byte seed. The third call
1391 returns to the same sequence of random numbers used in the first call,
1392 unaffected by the intervening rand48().
1393
1395 The zsh/nearcolor module replaces colours specified as hex triplets
1396 with the nearest colour in the 88 or 256 colour palettes that are
1397 widely used by terminal emulators. By default, 24-bit true colour
1398 escape codes are generated when colours are specified using hex
1399 triplets. These are not supported by all terminals. The purpose of
1400 this module is to make it easier to define colour preferences in a form
1401 that can work across a range of terminal emulators.
1402 Aside from the default colour, the ANSI standard for terminal escape
1404 codes provides for eight colours. The bright attribute brings this to
1405 sixteen. These basic colours are commonly used in terminal applications
1406 due to being widely supported. Expanded 88 and 256 colour palettes are
1407 also common and, while the first sixteen colours vary somewhat between
1408 terminals and configurations, these add a generally consistent and pre‐
1409 dictable set of colours.
1410 In order to use the zsh/nearcolor module, it only needs to be loaded.
1412 Thereafter, whenever a colour is specified using a hex triplet, it will
1413 be compared against each of the available colours and the closest will
1414 be selected. The first sixteen colours are never matched in this
1415 process due to being unpredictable.
1416 It isn't possible to reliably detect support for true colour in the
1418 terminal emulator. It is therefore recommended to be selective in load‐
1419 ing the zsh/nearcolor module. For example, the following checks the
1420 COLORTERM environment variable:
1421 [[ $COLORTERM = *(24bit|truecolor)* ]] || zmodload zsh/nearcolor
1423 Note that some terminals accept the true color escape codes but map
1425 them internally to a more limited palette in a similar manner to the
1426 zsh/nearcolor module.
1427
1429 The zsh/newuser module is loaded at boot if it is available, the RCS
1430 option is set, and the PRIVILEGED option is not set (all three are true
1431 by default). This takes place immediately after commands in the global
1432 zshenv file (typically /etc/zshenv), if any, have been executed. If
1433 the module is not available it is silently ignored by the shell; the
1434 module may safely be removed from $MODULE_PATH by the administrator if
1435 it is not required.
1436 On loading, the module tests if any of the start-up files .zshenv,
1438 .zprofile, .zshrc or .zlogin exist in the directory given by the envi‐
1439 ronment variable ZDOTDIR, or the user's home directory if that is not
1440 set. The test is not performed and the module halts processing if the
1441 shell was in an emulation mode (i.e. had been invoked as some other
1442 shell than zsh).
1443 If none of the start-up files were found, the module then looks for the
1445 file newuser first in a sitewide directory, usually the parent direc‐
1446 tory of the site-functions directory, and if that is not found the mod‐
1447 ule searches in a version-specific directory, usually the parent of the
1448 functions directory containing version-specific functions. (These
1449 directories can be configured when zsh is built using the
1450 --enable-site-scriptdir=dir and --enable-scriptdir=dir flags to config‐
1451 ure, respectively; the defaults are prefix/share/zsh and pre‐
1452 fix/share/zsh/$ZSH_VERSION where the default prefix is /usr/local.)
1453 If the file newuser is found, it is then sourced in the same manner as
1455 a start-up file. The file is expected to contain code to install
1456 start-up files for the user, however any valid shell code will be exe‐
1457 cuted.
1458 The zsh/newuser module is then unconditionally unloaded.
1460 Note that it is possible to achieve exactly the same effect as the
1462 zsh/newuser module by adding code to /etc/zshenv. The module exists
1463 simply to allow the shell to make arrangements for new users without
1464 the need for intervention by package maintainers and system administra‐
1465 tors.
1466 The script supplied with the module invokes the shell function
1468 zsh-newuser-install. This may be invoked directly by the user even if
1469 the zsh/newuser module is disabled. Note, however, that if the module
1470 is not installed the function will not be installed either. The func‐
1471 tion is documented in the section User Configuration Functions in zsh‐
1472 contrib(1).
1473
1475 The zsh/parameter module gives access to some of the internal hash
1476 tables used by the shell by defining some special parameters.
1477 options
1479 The keys for this associative array are the names of the options
1480 that can be set and unset using the setopt and unsetopt
1481 builtins. The value of each key is either the string on if the
1482 option is currently set, or the string off if the option is
1483 unset. Setting a key to one of these strings is like setting or
1484 unsetting the option, respectively. Unsetting a key in this
1485 array is like setting it to the value off.
1486 commands
1488 This array gives access to the command hash table. The keys are
1489 the names of external commands, the values are the pathnames of
1490 the files that would be executed when the command would be
1491 invoked. Setting a key in this array defines a new entry in this
1492 table in the same way as with the hash builtin. Unsetting a key
1493 as in `unset "commands[foo]"' removes the entry for the given
1494 key from the command hash table.
1495 functions
1497 This associative array maps names of enabled functions to their
1498 definitions. Setting a key in it is like defining a function
1499 with the name given by the key and the body given by the value.
1500 Unsetting a key removes the definition for the function named by
1501 the key.
1502 dis_functions
1504 Like functions but for disabled functions.
1505 functions_source
1507 This readonly associative array maps names of enabled functions
1508 to the name of the file containing the source of the function.
1509 For an autoloaded function that has already been loaded, or
1511 marked for autoload with an absolute path, or that has had its
1512 path resolved with `functions -r', this is the file found for
1513 autoloading, resolved to an absolute path.
1514 For a function defined within the body of a script or sourced
1516 file, this is the name of that file. In this case, this is the
1517 exact path originally used to that file, which may be a relative
1518 path.
1519 For any other function, including any defined at an interactive
1521 prompt or an autoload function whose path has not yet been
1522 resolved, this is the empty string. However, the hash element
1523 is reported as defined just so long as the function is present:
1524 the keys to this hash are the same as those to $funcions.
1525 dis_functions_source
1527 Like functions_source but for disabled functions.
1528 builtins
1530 This associative array gives information about the builtin com‐
1531 mands currently enabled. The keys are the names of the builtin
1532 commands and the values are either `undefined' for builtin com‐
1533 mands that will automatically be loaded from a module if invoked
1534 or `defined' for builtin commands that are already loaded.
1535 dis_builtins
1537 Like builtins but for disabled builtin commands.
1538 reswords
1540 This array contains the enabled reserved words.
1541 dis_reswords
1543 Like reswords but for disabled reserved words.
1544 patchars
1546 This array contains the enabled pattern characters.
1547 dis_patchars
1549 Like patchars but for disabled pattern characters.
1550 aliases
1552 This maps the names of the regular aliases currently enabled to
1553 their expansions.
1554 dis_aliases
1556 Like aliases but for disabled regular aliases.
1557 galiases
1559 Like aliases, but for global aliases.
1560 dis_galiases
1562 Like galiases but for disabled global aliases.
1563 saliases
1565 Like raliases, but for suffix aliases.
1566 dis_saliases
1568 Like saliases but for disabled suffix aliases.
1569 parameters
1571 The keys in this associative array are the names of the parame‐
1572 ters currently defined. The values are strings describing the
1573 type of the parameter, in the same format used by the t parame‐
1574 ter flag, see zshexpn(1) . Setting or unsetting keys in this
1575 array is not possible.
1576 modules
1578 An associative array giving information about modules. The keys
1579 are the names of the modules loaded, registered to be
1580 autoloaded, or aliased. The value says which state the named
1581 module is in and is one of the strings `loaded', `autoloaded',
1582 or `alias:name', where name is the name the module is aliased
1583 to.
1584 Setting or unsetting keys in this array is not possible.
1586 dirstack
1588 A normal array holding the elements of the directory stack. Note
1589 that the output of the dirs builtin command includes one more
1590 directory, the current working directory.
1591 history
1593 This associative array maps history event numbers to the full
1594 history lines. Although it is presented as an associative
1595 array, the array of all values (${history[@]}) is guaranteed to
1596 be returned in order from most recent to oldest history event,
1597 that is, by decreasing history event number.
1598 historywords
1600 A special array containing the words stored in the history.
1601 These also appear in most to least recent order.
1602 jobdirs
1604 This associative array maps job numbers to the directories from
1605 which the job was started (which may not be the current direc‐
1606 tory of the job).
1607 The keys of the associative arrays are usually valid job num‐
1609 bers, and these are the values output with, for example,
1610 ${(k)jobdirs}. Non-numeric job references may be used when
1611 looking up a value; for example, ${jobdirs[%+]} refers to the
1612 current job.
1613 jobtexts
1615 This associative array maps job numbers to the texts of the com‐
1616 mand lines that were used to start the jobs.
1617 Handling of the keys of the associative array is as described
1619 for jobdirs above.
1620 jobstates
1622 This associative array gives information about the states of the
1623 jobs currently known. The keys are the job numbers and the val‐
1624 ues are strings of the form `job-state:mark:pid=state...'. The
1625 job-state gives the state the whole job is currently in, one of
1626 `running', `suspended', or `done'. The mark is `+' for the cur‐
1627 rent job, `-' for the previous job and empty otherwise. This is
1628 followed by one `:pid=state' for every process in the job. The
1629 pids are, of course, the process IDs and the state describes the
1630 state of that process.
1631 Handling of the keys of the associative array is as described
1633 for jobdirs above.
1634 nameddirs
1636 This associative array maps the names of named directories to
1637 the pathnames they stand for.
1638 userdirs
1640 This associative array maps user names to the pathnames of their
1641 home directories.
1642 usergroups
1644 This associative array maps names of system groups of which the
1645 current user is a member to the corresponding group identifiers.
1646 The contents are the same as the groups output by the id com‐
1647 mand.
1648 funcfiletrace
1650 This array contains the absolute line numbers and corresponding
1651 file names for the point where the current function, sourced
1652 file, or (if EVAL_LINENO is set) eval command was called. The
1653 array is of the same length as funcsourcetrace and functrace,
1654 but differs from funcsourcetrace in that the line and file are
1655 the point of call, not the point of definition, and differs from
1656 functrace in that all values are absolute line numbers in files,
1657 rather than relative to the start of a function, if any.
1658 funcsourcetrace
1660 This array contains the file names and line numbers of the
1661 points where the functions, sourced files, and (if EVAL_LINENO
1662 is set) eval commands currently being executed were defined.
1663 The line number is the line where the `function name' or `name
1664 ()' started. In the case of an autoloaded function the line
1665 number is reported as zero. The format of each element is file‐
1666 name:lineno.
1667 For functions autoloaded from a file in native zsh format, where
1669 only the body of the function occurs in the file, or for files
1670 that have been executed by the source or `.' builtins, the trace
1671 information is shown as filename:0, since the entire file is the
1672 definition. The source file name is resolved to an absolute
1673 path when the function is loaded or the path to it otherwise
1674 resolved.
1675 Most users will be interested in the information in the func‐
1677 filetrace array instead.
1678 funcstack
1680 This array contains the names of the functions, sourced files,
1681 and (if EVAL_LINENO is set) eval commands. currently being exe‐
1682 cuted. The first element is the name of the function using the
1683 parameter.
1684 The standard shell array zsh_eval_context can be used to deter‐
1686 mine the type of shell construct being executed at each depth:
1687 note, however, that is in the opposite order, with the most
1688 recent item last, and it is more detailed, for example including
1689 an entry for toplevel, the main shell code being executed either
1690 interactively or from a script, which is not present in $func‐
1691 stack.
1692 functrace
1694 This array contains the names and line numbers of the callers
1695 corresponding to the functions currently being executed. The
1696 format of each element is name:lineno. Callers are also shown
1697 for sourced files; the caller is the point where the source or
1698 `.' command was executed.
1699
1701 The zsh/pcre module makes some commands available as builtins:
1702 pcre_compile [ -aimxs ] PCRE
1704 Compiles a perl-compatible regular expression.
1705 Option -a will force the pattern to be anchored. Option -i will
1707 compile a case-insensitive pattern. Option -m will compile a
1708 multi-line pattern; that is, ^ and $ will match newlines within
1709 the pattern. Option -x will compile an extended pattern,
1710 wherein whitespace and # comments are ignored. Option -s makes
1711 the dot metacharacter match all characters, including those that
1712 indicate newline.
1713 pcre_study
1715 Studies the previously-compiled PCRE which may result in faster
1716 matching.
1717 pcre_match [ -v var ] [ -a arr ] [ -n offset ] [ -b ] string
1719 Returns successfully if string matches the previously-compiled
1720 PCRE.
1721 Upon successful match, if the expression captures substrings
1723 within parentheses, pcre_match will set the array match to those
1724 substrings, unless the -a option is given, in which case it will
1725 set the array arr. Similarly, the variable MATCH will be set to
1726 the entire matched portion of the string, unless the -v option
1727 is given, in which case the variable var will be set. No vari‐
1728 ables are altered if there is no successful match. A -n option
1729 starts searching for a match from the byte offset position in
1730 string. If the -b option is given, the variable ZPCRE_OP will
1731 be set to an offset pair string, representing the byte offset
1732 positions of the entire matched portion within the string. For
1733 example, a ZPCRE_OP set to "32 45" indicates that the matched
1734 portion began on byte offset 32 and ended on byte offset 44.
1735 Here, byte offset position 45 is the position directly after the
1736 matched portion. Keep in mind that the byte position isn't nec‐
1737 essarily the same as the character position when UTF-8 charac‐
1738 ters are involved. Consequently, the byte offset positions are
1739 only to be relied on in the context of using them for subsequent
1740 searches on string, using an offset position as an argument to
1741 the -n option. This is mostly used to implement the "find all
1742 non-overlapping matches" functionality.
1743 A simple example of "find all non-overlapping matches":
1745 string="The following zip codes: 78884 90210 99513"
1747 pcre_compile -m "\d{5}"
1748 accum=()
1749 pcre_match -b -- $string
1750 while [[ $? -eq 0 ]] do
1751 b=($=ZPCRE_OP)
1752 accum+=$MATCH
1753 pcre_match -b -n $b[2] -- $string
1754 done
1755 print -l $accum
1756 The zsh/pcre module makes available the following test condition:
1758 expr -pcre-match pcre
1760 Matches a string against a perl-compatible regular expression.
1761 For example,
1763 [[ "$text" -pcre-match ^d+$ ]] &&
1765 print text variable contains only "d's".
1766 If the REMATCH_PCRE option is set, the =~ operator is equivalent
1768 to -pcre-match, and the NO_CASE_MATCH option may be used. Note
1769 that NO_CASE_MATCH never applies to the pcre_match builtin,
1770 instead use the -i switch of pcre_compile.
1771
1773 The zsh/param/private module is used to create parameters whose scope
1774 is limited to the current function body, and not to other functions
1775 called by the current function.
1776 This module provides a single autoloaded builtin:
1778 private [ {+|-}AHUahlprtux ] [ {+|-}EFLRZi [ n ] ] [ name[=value] ... ]
1780 The private builtin accepts all the same options and arguments
1781 as local (zshbuiltins(1)) except for the `-T' option. Tied
1782 parameters may not be made private.
1783 If used at the top level (outside a function scope), private
1785 creates a normal parameter in the same manner as declare or
1786 typeset. A warning about this is printed if WARN_CREATE_GLOBAL
1787 is set (zshoptions(1)). Used inside a function scope, private
1788 creates a local parameter similar to one declared with local,
1789 except having special properties noted below.
1790 Special parameters which expose or manipulate internal shell
1792 state, such as ARGC, argv, COLUMNS, LINES, UID, EUID, IFS,
1793 PROMPT, RANDOM, SECONDS, etc., cannot be made private unless the
1794 `-h' option is used to hide the special meaning of the parame‐
1795 ter. This may change in the future.
1796 As with other typeset equivalents, private is both a builtin and a
1798 reserved word, so arrays may be assigned with parenthesized word list
1799 name=(value...) syntax. However, the reserved word `private' is not
1800 available until zsh/param/private is loaded, so care must be taken with
1801 order of execution and parsing for function definitions which use pri‐
1802 vate. To compensate for this, the module also adds the option `-P' to
1803 the `local' builtin to declare private parameters.
1804 For example, this construction fails if zsh/param/private has not yet
1806 been loaded when `bad_declaration' is defined:
1807 bad_declaration() {
1808 zmodload zsh/param/private
1809 private array=( one two three )
1810 }
1811 This construction works because local is already a keyword, and the
1813 module is loaded before the statement is executed:
1814 good_declaration() {
1815 zmodload zsh/param/private
1816 local -P array=( one two three )
1817 }
1818 The following is usable in scripts but may have trouble with autoload:
1820 zmodload zsh/param/private
1821 iffy_declaration() {
1822 private array=( one two three )
1823 }
1824 The private builtin may always be used with scalar assignments and for
1826 declarations without assignments.
1827 Parameters declared with private have the following properties:
1829 · Within the function body where it is declared, the parameter
1831 behaves as a local, except as noted above for tied or special
1832 parameters.
1833 · The type of a parameter declared private cannot be changed in
1835 the scope where it was declared, even if the parameter is unset.
1836 Thus an array cannot be assigned to a private scalar, etc.
1837 · Within any other function called by the declaring function, the
1839 private parameter does NOT hide other parameters of the same
1840 name, so for example a global parameter of the same name is vis‐
1841 ible and may be assigned or unset. This includes calls to
1842 anonymous functions, although that may also change in the
1843 future.
1844 · An exported private remains in the environment of inner scopes
1846 but appears unset for the current shell in those scopes. Gener‐
1847 ally, exporting private parameters should be avoided.
1848 Note that this differs from the static scope defined by compiled lan‐
1850 guages derived from C, in that the a new call to the same function cre‐
1851 ates a new scope, i.e., the parameter is still associated with the call
1852 stack rather than with the function definition. It differs from ksh
1853 `typeset -S' because the syntax used to define the function has no
1854 bearing on whether the parameter scope is respected.
1855
1857 The zsh/regex module makes available the following test condition:
1858 expr -regex-match regex
1860 Matches a string against a POSIX extended regular expression.
1861 On successful match, matched portion of the string will normally
1862 be placed in the MATCH variable. If there are any capturing
1863 parentheses within the regex, then the match array variable will
1864 contain those. If the match is not successful, then the vari‐
1865 ables will not be altered.
1866 For example,
1868 [[ alphabetical -regex-match ^a([^a]+)a([^a]+)a ]] &&
1870 print -l $MATCH X $match
1871 If the option REMATCH_PCRE is not set, then the =~ operator will
1873 automatically load this module as needed and will invoke the
1874 -regex-match operator.
1875 If BASH_REMATCH is set, then the array BASH_REMATCH will be set
1877 instead of MATCH and match.
1878
1880 The zsh/sched module makes available one builtin command and one param‐
1881 eter.
1882 sched [-o] [+]hh:mm[:ss] command ...
1884 sched [-o] [+]seconds command ...
1885 sched [ -item ]
1886 Make an entry in the scheduled list of commands to execute. The
1887 time may be specified in either absolute or relative time, and
1888 either as hours, minutes and (optionally) seconds separated by a
1889 colon, or seconds alone. An absolute number of seconds indi‐
1890 cates the time since the epoch (1970/01/01 00:00); this is use‐
1891 ful in combination with the features in the zsh/datetime module,
1892 see the zsh/datetime module entry in zshmodules(1).
1893 With no arguments, prints the list of scheduled commands. If
1895 the scheduled command has the -o flag set, this is shown at the
1896 start of the command.
1897 With the argument `-item', removes the given item from the list.
1899 The numbering of the list is continuous and entries are in time
1900 order, so the numbering can change when entries are added or
1901 deleted.
1902 Commands are executed either immediately before a prompt, or
1904 while the shell's line editor is waiting for input. In the lat‐
1905 ter case it is useful to be able to produce output that does not
1906 interfere with the line being edited. Providing the option -o
1907 causes the shell to clear the command line before the event and
1908 redraw it afterwards. This should be used with any scheduled
1909 event that produces visible output to the terminal; it is not
1910 needed, for example, with output that updates a terminal emula‐
1911 tor's title bar.
1912 To effect changes to the editor buffer when an event executes,
1914 use the `zle' command with no arguments to test whether the edi‐
1915 tor is active, and if it is, then use `zle widget' to access the
1916 editor via the named widget.
1917 The sched builtin is not made available by default when the
1919 shell starts in a mode emulating another shell. It can be made
1920 available with the command `zmodload -F zsh/sched b:sched'.
1921 zsh_scheduled_events
1923 A readonly array corresponding to the events scheduled by the
1924 sched builtin. The indices of the array correspond to the num‐
1925 bers shown when sched is run with no arguments (provided that
1926 the KSH_ARRAYS option is not set). The value of the array con‐
1927 sists of the scheduled time in seconds since the epoch (see the
1928 section `The zsh/datetime Module' for facilities for using this
1929 number), followed by a colon, followed by any options (which may
1930 be empty but will be preceded by a `-' otherwise), followed by a
1931 colon, followed by the command to be executed.
1932 The sched builtin should be used for manipulating the events.
1934 Note that this will have an immediate effect on the contents of
1935 the array, so that indices may become invalid.
1936
1938 The zsh/net/socket module makes available one builtin command:
1939 zsocket [ -altv ] [ -d fd ] [ args ]
1941 zsocket is implemented as a builtin to allow full use of shell
1942 command line editing, file I/O, and job control mechanisms.
1943 Outbound Connections
1945 zsocket [ -v ] [ -d fd ] filename
1946 Open a new Unix domain connection to filename. The shell param‐
1947 eter REPLY will be set to the file descriptor associated with
1948 that connection. Currently, only stream connections are sup‐
1949 ported.
1950 If -d is specified, its argument will be taken as the target
1952 file descriptor for the connection.
1953 In order to elicit more verbose output, use -v.
1955 File descriptors can be closed with normal shell syntax when no
1957 longer needed, for example:
1958 exec {REPLY}>&-
1960 Inbound Connections
1962 zsocket -l [ -v ] [ -d fd ] filename
1963 zsocket -l will open a socket listening on filename. The shell
1964 parameter REPLY will be set to the file descriptor associated
1965 with that listener.
1966 If -d is specified, its argument will be taken as the target
1968 file descriptor for the connection.
1969 In order to elicit more verbose output, use -v.
1971 zsocket -a [ -tv ] [ -d targetfd ] listenfd
1973 zsocket -a will accept an incoming connection to the socket
1974 associated with listenfd. The shell parameter REPLY will be set
1975 to the file descriptor associated with the inbound connection.
1976 If -d is specified, its argument will be taken as the target
1978 file descriptor for the connection.
1979 If -t is specified, zsocket will return if no incoming connec‐
1981 tion is pending. Otherwise it will wait for one.
1982 In order to elicit more verbose output, use -v.
1984
1986 The zsh/stat module makes available one builtin command under two pos‐
1987 sible names:
1988 zstat [ -gnNolLtTrs ] [ -f fd ] [ -H hash ] [ -A array ] [ -F fmt ]
1990 [ +element ] [ file ... ]
1991 stat ...
1992 The command acts as a front end to the stat system call (see
1993 stat(2)). The same command is provided with two names; as the
1994 name stat is often used by an external command it is recommended
1995 that only the zstat form of the command is used. This can be
1996 arranged by loading the module with the command `zmodload -F
1997 zsh/stat b:zstat'.
1998 If the stat call fails, the appropriate system error message
2000 printed and status 1 is returned. The fields of struct stat
2001 give information about the files provided as arguments to the
2002 command. In addition to those available from the stat call, an
2003 extra element `link' is provided. These elements are:
2004 device The number of the device on which the file resides.
2006 inode The unique number of the file on this device (`inode'
2008 number).
2009 mode The mode of the file; that is, the file's type and access
2011 permissions. With the -s option, this will be returned
2012 as a string corresponding to the first column in the dis‐
2013 play of the ls -l command.
2014 nlink The number of hard links to the file.
2016 uid The user ID of the owner of the file. With the -s
2018 option, this is displayed as a user name.
2019 gid The group ID of the file. With the -s option, this is
2021 displayed as a group name.
2022 rdev The raw device number. This is only useful for special
2024 devices.
2025 size The size of the file in bytes.
2027 atime
2029 mtime
2030 ctime The last access, modification and inode change times of
2031 the file, respectively, as the number of seconds since
2032 midnight GMT on 1st January, 1970. With the -s option,
2033 these are printed as strings for the local time zone; the
2034 format can be altered with the -F option, and with the -g
2035 option the times are in GMT.
2036 blksize
2038 The number of bytes in one allocation block on the device
2039 on which the file resides.
2040 block The number of disk blocks used by the file.
2042 link If the file is a link and the -L option is in effect,
2044 this contains the name of the file linked to, otherwise
2045 it is empty. Note that if this element is selected
2046 (``zstat +link'') then the -L option is automatically
2047 used.
2048 A particular element may be selected by including its name pre‐
2050 ceded by a `+' in the option list; only one element is allowed.
2051 The element may be shortened to any unique set of leading char‐
2052 acters. Otherwise, all elements will be shown for all files.
2053 Options:
2055 -A array
2057 Instead of displaying the results on standard output,
2058 assign them to an array, one struct stat element per
2059 array element for each file in order. In this case nei‐
2060 ther the name of the element nor the name of the files
2061 appears in array unless the -t or -n options were given,
2062 respectively. If -t is given, the element name appears
2063 as a prefix to the appropriate array element; if -n is
2064 given, the file name appears as a separate array element
2065 preceding all the others. Other formatting options are
2066 respected.
2067 -H hash
2069 Similar to -A, but instead assign the values to hash.
2070 The keys are the elements listed above. If the -n option
2071 is provided then the name of the file is included in the
2072 hash with key name.
2073 -f fd Use the file on file descriptor fd instead of named
2075 files; no list of file names is allowed in this case.
2076 -F fmt Supplies a strftime (see strftime(3)) string for the for‐
2078 matting of the time elements. The format string supports
2079 all of the zsh extensions described in the section EXPAN‐
2080 SION OF PROMPT SEQUENCES in zshmisc(1). The -s option is
2081 implied.
2082 -g Show the time elements in the GMT time zone. The -s
2084 option is implied.
2085 -l List the names of the type elements (to standard output
2087 or an array as appropriate) and return immediately; argu‐
2088 ments, and options other than -A, are ignored.
2089 -L Perform an lstat (see lstat(2)) rather than a stat system
2091 call. In this case, if the file is a link, information
2092 about the link itself rather than the target file is
2093 returned. This option is required to make the link ele‐
2094 ment useful. It's important to note that this is the
2095 exact opposite from ls(1), etc.
2096 -n Always show the names of files. Usually these are only
2098 shown when output is to standard output and there is more
2099 than one file in the list.
2100 -N Never show the names of files.
2102 -o If a raw file mode is printed, show it in octal, which is
2104 more useful for human consumption than the default of
2105 decimal. A leading zero will be printed in this case.
2106 Note that this does not affect whether a raw or formatted
2107 file mode is shown, which is controlled by the -r and -s
2108 options, nor whether a mode is shown at all.
2109 -r Print raw data (the default format) alongside string data
2111 (the -s format); the string data appears in parentheses
2112 after the raw data.
2113 -s Print mode, uid, gid and the three time elements as
2115 strings instead of numbers. In each case the format is
2116 like that of ls -l.
2117 -t Always show the type names for the elements of struct
2119 stat. Usually these are only shown when output is to
2120 standard output and no individual element has been
2121 selected.
2122 -T Never show the type names of the struct stat elements.
2124
2126 The zsh/system module makes available various builtin commands and
2127 parameters.
2128 Builtins
2130 syserror [ -e errvar ] [ -p prefix ] [ errno | errname ]
2131 This command prints out the error message associated with errno,
2132 a system error number, followed by a newline to standard error.
2133 Instead of the error number, a name errname, for example ENOENT,
2135 may be used. The set of names is the same as the contents of
2136 the array errnos, see below.
2137 If the string prefix is given, it is printed in front of the
2139 error message, with no intervening space.
2140 If errvar is supplied, the entire message, without a newline, is
2142 assigned to the parameter names errvar and nothing is output.
2143 A return status of 0 indicates the message was successfully
2145 printed (although it may not be useful if the error number was
2146 out of the system's range), a return status of 1 indicates an
2147 error in the parameters, and a return status of 2 indicates the
2148 error name was not recognised (no message is printed for this).
2149 sysopen [ -arw ] [ -m permissions ] [ -o options ]
2152 -u fd file
2153 This command opens a file. The -r, -w and -a flags indicate
2154 whether the file should be opened for reading, writing and
2155 appending, respectively. The -m option allows the initial per‐
2156 missions to use when creating a file to be specified in octal
2157 form. The file descriptor is specified with -u. Either an
2158 explicit file descriptor in the range 0 to 9 can be specified or
2159 a variable name can be given to which the file descriptor number
2160 will be assigned.
2161 The -o option allows various system specific options to be spec‐
2163 ified as a comma-separated list. The following is a list of pos‐
2164 sible options. Note that, depending on the system, some may not
2165 be available.
2166 cloexec
2167 mark file to be closed when other programs are executed
2168 create
2170 creat create file if it does not exist
2171 excl create file, error if it already exists
2173 noatime
2175 suppress updating of the file atime
2176 nofollow
2178 fail if file is a symbolic link
2179 sync request that writes wait until data has been physically
2181 written
2182 truncate
2184 trunc truncate file to size 0
2185 To close the file, use one of the following:
2187 exec {fd}<&-
2189 exec {fd}>&-
2190 sysread [ -c countvar ] [ -i infd ] [ -o outfd ]
2193 [ -s bufsize ] [ -t timeout ] [ param ]
2194 Perform a single system read from file descriptor infd, or zero
2195 if that is not given. The result of the read is stored in param
2196 or REPLY if that is not given. If countvar is given, the number
2197 of bytes read is assigned to the parameter named by countvar.
2198 The maximum number of bytes read is bufsize or 8192 if that is
2200 not given, however the command returns as soon as any number of
2201 bytes was successfully read.
2202 If timeout is given, it specifies a timeout in seconds, which
2204 may be zero to poll the file descriptor. This is handled by the
2205 poll system call if available, otherwise the select system call
2206 if available.
2207 If outfd is given, an attempt is made to write all the bytes
2209 just read to the file descriptor outfd. If this fails, because
2210 of a system error other than EINTR or because of an internal zsh
2211 error during an interrupt, the bytes read but not written are
2212 stored in the parameter named by param if supplied (no default
2213 is used in this case), and the number of bytes read but not
2214 written is stored in the parameter named by countvar if that is
2215 supplied. If it was successful, countvar contains the full num‐
2216 ber of bytes transferred, as usual, and param is not set.
2217 The error EINTR (interrupted system call) is handled internally
2219 so that shell interrupts are transparent to the caller. Any
2220 other error causes a return.
2221 The possible return statuses are
2223 0 At least one byte of data was successfully read and, if
2224 appropriate, written.
2225 1 There was an error in the parameters to the command.
2227 This is the only error for which a message is printed to
2228 standard error.
2229 2 There was an error on the read, or on polling the input
2231 file descriptor for a timeout. The parameter ERRNO gives
2232 the error.
2233 3 Data were successfully read, but there was an error writ‐
2235 ing them to outfd. The parameter ERRNO gives the error.
2236 4 The attempt to read timed out. Note this does not set
2238 ERRNO as this is not a system error.
2239 5 No system error occurred, but zero bytes were read. This
2241 usually indicates end of file. The parameters are set
2242 according to the usual rules; no write to outfd is
2243 attempted.
2244 sysseek [ -u fd ] [ -w start|end|current ] offset
2246 The current file position at which future reads and writes will
2247 take place is adjusted to the specified byte offset. The offset
2248 is evaluated as a math expression. The -u option allows the file
2249 descriptor to be specified. By default the offset is specified
2250 relative to the start or the file but, with the -w option, it is
2251 possible to specify that the offset should be relative to the
2252 current position or the end of the file.
2253 syswrite [ -c countvar ] [ -o outfd ] data
2255 The data (a single string of bytes) are written to the file
2256 descriptor outfd, or 1 if that is not given, using the write
2257 system call. Multiple write operations may be used if the first
2258 does not write all the data.
2259 If countvar is given, the number of byte written is stored in
2261 the parameter named by countvar; this may not be the full length
2262 of data if an error occurred.
2263 The error EINTR (interrupted system call) is handled internally
2265 by retrying; otherwise an error causes the command to return.
2266 For example, if the file descriptor is set to non-blocking out‐
2267 put, an error EAGAIN (on some systems, EWOULDBLOCK) may result
2268 in the command returning early.
2269 The return status may be 0 for success, 1 for an error in the
2271 parameters to the command, or 2 for an error on the write; no
2272 error message is printed in the last case, but the parameter
2273 ERRNO will reflect the error that occurred.
2274 zsystem flock [ -t timeout ] [ -f var ] [-er] file
2276 zsystem flock -u fd_expr
2277 The builtin zsystem's subcommand flock performs advisory file
2278 locking (via the fcntl(2) system call) over the entire contents
2279 of the given file. This form of locking requires the processes
2280 accessing the file to cooperate; its most obvious use is between
2281 two instances of the shell itself.
2282 In the first form the named file, which must already exist, is
2284 locked by opening a file descriptor to the file and applying a
2285 lock to the file descriptor. The lock terminates when the shell
2286 process that created the lock exits; it is therefore often con‐
2287 venient to create file locks within subshells, since the lock is
2288 automatically released when the subshell exits. Status 0 is
2289 returned if the lock succeeds, else status 1.
2290 In the second form the file descriptor given by the arithmetic
2292 expression fd_expr is closed, releasing a lock. The file
2293 descriptor can be queried by using the `-f var' form during the
2294 lock; on a successful lock, the shell variable var is set to the
2295 file descriptor used for locking. The lock will be released if
2296 the file descriptor is closed by any other means, for example
2297 using `exec {var}>&-'; however, the form described here performs
2298 a safety check that the file descriptor is in use for file lock‐
2299 ing.
2300 By default the shell waits indefinitely for the lock to succeed.
2302 The option -t timeout specifies a timeout for the lock in sec‐
2303 onds; currently this must be an integer. The shell will attempt
2304 to lock the file once a second during this period. If the
2305 attempt times out, status 2 is returned.
2306 If the option -e is given, the file descriptor for the lock is
2308 preserved when the shell uses exec to start a new process; oth‐
2309 erwise it is closed at that point and the lock released.
2310 If the option -r is given, the lock is only for reading, other‐
2312 wise it is for reading and writing. The file descriptor is
2313 opened accordingly.
2314 zsystem supports subcommand
2316 The builtin zsystem's subcommand supports tests whether a given
2317 subcommand is supported. It returns status 0 if so, else status
2318 1. It operates silently unless there was a syntax error (i.e.
2319 the wrong number of arguments), in which case status 255 is
2320 returned. Status 1 can indicate one of two things: subcommand
2321 is known but not supported by the current operating system, or
2322 subcommand is not known (possibly because this is an older ver‐
2323 sion of the shell before it was implemented).
2324 Math Functions
2326 systell(fd)
2327 The systell math function returns the current file position for
2328 the file descriptor passed as an argument.
2329 Parameters
2331 errnos A readonly array of the names of errors defined on the system.
2332 These are typically macros defined in C by including the system
2333 header file errno.h. The index of each name (assuming the
2334 option KSH_ARRAYS is unset) corresponds to the error number.
2335 Error numbers num before the last known error which have no name
2336 are given the name Enum in the array.
2337 Note that aliases for errors are not handled; only the canonical
2339 name is used.
2340 sysparams
2342 A readonly associative array. The keys are:
2343 pid Returns the process ID of the current process, even in
2345 subshells. Compare $$, which returns the process ID of
2346 the main shell process.
2347 ppid Returns the process ID of the parent of the current
2349 process, even in subshells. Compare $PPID, which returns
2350 the process ID of the parent of the main shell process.
2351 procsubstpid
2353 Returns the process ID of the last process started for
2354 process substitution, i.e. the <(...) and >(...) expan‐
2355 sions.
2356
2358 The zsh/net/tcp module makes available one builtin command:
2359 ztcp [ -acflLtv ] [ -d fd ] [ args ]
2361 ztcp is implemented as a builtin to allow full use of shell com‐
2362 mand line editing, file I/O, and job control mechanisms.
2363 If ztcp is run with no options, it will output the contents of
2365 its session table.
2366 If it is run with only the option -L, it will output the con‐
2368 tents of the session table in a format suitable for automatic
2369 parsing. The option is ignored if given with a command to open
2370 or close a session. The output consists of a set of lines, one
2371 per session, each containing the following elements separated by
2372 spaces:
2373 File descriptor
2375 The file descriptor in use for the connection. For nor‐
2376 mal inbound (I) and outbound (O) connections this may be
2377 read and written by the usual shell mechanisms. However,
2378 it should only be close with `ztcp -c'.
2379 Connection type
2381 A letter indicating how the session was created:
2382 Z A session created with the zftp command.
2384 L A connection opened for listening with `ztcp -l'.
2386 I An inbound connection accepted with `ztcp -a'.
2388 O An outbound connection created with `ztcp host
2390 ...'.
2391 The local host
2393 This is usually set to an all-zero IP address as the
2394 address of the localhost is irrelevant.
2395 The local port
2397 This is likely to be zero unless the connection is for
2398 listening.
2399 The remote host
2401 This is the fully qualified domain name of the peer, if
2402 available, else an IP address. It is an all-zero IP
2403 address for a session opened for listening.
2404 The remote port
2406 This is zero for a connection opened for listening.
2407 Outbound Connections
2409 ztcp [ -v ] [ -d fd ] host [ port ]
2410 Open a new TCP connection to host. If the port is omitted, it
2411 will default to port 23. The connection will be added to the
2412 session table and the shell parameter REPLY will be set to the
2413 file descriptor associated with that connection.
2414 If -d is specified, its argument will be taken as the target
2416 file descriptor for the connection.
2417 In order to elicit more verbose output, use -v.
2419 Inbound Connections
2421 ztcp -l [ -v ] [ -d fd ] port
2422 ztcp -l will open a socket listening on TCP port. The socket
2423 will be added to the session table and the shell parameter REPLY
2424 will be set to the file descriptor associated with that lis‐
2425 tener.
2426 If -d is specified, its argument will be taken as the target
2428 file descriptor for the connection.
2429 In order to elicit more verbose output, use -v.
2431 ztcp -a [ -tv ] [ -d targetfd ] listenfd
2433 ztcp -a will accept an incoming connection to the port associ‐
2434 ated with listenfd. The connection will be added to the session
2435 table and the shell parameter REPLY will be set to the file
2436 descriptor associated with the inbound connection.
2437 If -d is specified, its argument will be taken as the target
2439 file descriptor for the connection.
2440 If -t is specified, ztcp will return if no incoming connection
2442 is pending. Otherwise it will wait for one.
2443 In order to elicit more verbose output, use -v.
2445 Closing Connections
2447 ztcp -cf [ -v ] [ fd ]
2448 ztcp -c [ -v ] [ fd ]
2449 ztcp -c will close the socket associated with fd. The socket
2450 will be removed from the session table. If fd is not specified,
2451 ztcp will close everything in the session table.
2452 Normally, sockets registered by zftp (see zshmodules(1) ) cannot
2454 be closed this way. In order to force such a socket closed, use
2455 -f.
2456 In order to elicit more verbose output, use -v.
2458 Example
2460 Here is how to create a TCP connection between two instances of zsh.
2461 We need to pick an unassigned port; here we use the randomly chosen
2462 5123.
2463 On host1,
2465 zmodload zsh/net/tcp
2466 ztcp -l 5123
2467 listenfd=$REPLY
2468 ztcp -a $listenfd
2469 fd=$REPLY
2470 The second from last command blocks until there is an incoming connec‐
2471 tion.
2472 Now create a connection from host2 (which may, of course, be the same
2474 machine):
2475 zmodload zsh/net/tcp
2476 ztcp host1 5123
2477 fd=$REPLY
2478 Now on each host, $fd contains a file descriptor for talking to the
2480 other. For example, on host1:
2481 print This is a message >&$fd
2482 and on host2:
2483 read -r line <&$fd; print -r - $line
2484 prints `This is a message'.
2485 To tidy up, on host1:
2487 ztcp -c $listenfd
2488 ztcp -c $fd
2489 and on host2
2490 ztcp -c $fd
2491
2493 The zsh/termcap module makes available one builtin command:
2494 echotc cap [ arg ... ]
2496 Output the termcap value corresponding to the capability cap,
2497 with optional arguments.
2498 The zsh/termcap module makes available one parameter:
2500 termcap
2502 An associative array that maps termcap capability codes to their
2503 values.
2504
2506 The zsh/terminfo module makes available one builtin command:
2507 echoti cap [ arg ]
2509 Output the terminfo value corresponding to the capability cap,
2510 instantiated with arg if applicable.
2511 The zsh/terminfo module makes available one parameter:
2513 terminfo
2515 An associative array that maps terminfo capability names to
2516 their values.
2517
2519 The zsh/zftp module makes available one builtin command:
2520 zftp subcommand [ args ]
2522 The zsh/zftp module is a client for FTP (file transfer proto‐
2523 col). It is implemented as a builtin to allow full use of shell
2524 command line editing, file I/O, and job control mechanisms.
2525 Often, users will access it via shell functions providing a more
2526 powerful interface; a set is provided with the zsh distribution
2527 and is described in zshzftpsys(1). However, the zftp command is
2528 entirely usable in its own right.
2529 All commands consist of the command name zftp followed by the
2531 name of a subcommand. These are listed below. The return sta‐
2532 tus of each subcommand is supposed to reflect the success or
2533 failure of the remote operation. See a description of the vari‐
2534 able ZFTP_VERBOSE for more information on how responses from the
2535 server may be printed.
2536 Subcommands
2538 open host[:port] [ user [ password [ account ] ] ]
2539 Open a new FTP session to host, which may be the name of a
2540 TCP/IP connected host or an IP number in the standard dot nota‐
2541 tion. If the argument is in the form host:port, open a connec‐
2542 tion to TCP port port instead of the standard FTP port 21. This
2543 may be the name of a TCP service or a number: see the descrip‐
2544 tion of ZFTP_PORT below for more information.
2545 If IPv6 addresses in colon format are used, the host should be
2547 surrounded by quoted square brackets to distinguish it from the
2548 port, for example '[fe80::203:baff:fe02:8b56]'. For consistency
2549 this is allowed with all forms of host.
2550 Remaining arguments are passed to the login subcommand. Note
2552 that if no arguments beyond host are supplied, open will not
2553 automatically call login. If no arguments at all are supplied,
2554 open will use the parameters set by the params subcommand.
2555 After a successful open, the shell variables ZFTP_HOST,
2557 ZFTP_PORT, ZFTP_IP and ZFTP_SYSTEM are available; see `Vari‐
2558 ables' below.
2559 login [ name [ password [ account ] ] ]
2561 user [ name [ password [ account ] ] ]
2562 Login the user name with parameters password and account. Any
2563 of the parameters can be omitted, and will be read from standard
2564 input if needed (name is always needed). If standard input is a
2565 terminal, a prompt for each one will be printed on standard
2566 error and password will not be echoed. If any of the parameters
2567 are not used, a warning message is printed.
2568 After a successful login, the shell variables ZFTP_USER,
2570 ZFTP_ACCOUNT and ZFTP_PWD are available; see `Variables' below.
2571 This command may be re-issued when a user is already logged in,
2573 and the server will first be reinitialized for a new user.
2574 params [ host [ user [ password [ account ] ] ] ]
2576 params -
2577 Store the given parameters for a later open command with no
2578 arguments. Only those given on the command line will be remem‐
2579 bered. If no arguments are given, the parameters currently set
2580 are printed, although the password will appear as a line of
2581 stars; the return status is one if no parameters were set, zero
2582 otherwise.
2583 Any of the parameters may be specified as a `?', which may need
2585 to be quoted to protect it from shell expansion. In this case,
2586 the appropriate parameter will be read from stdin as with the
2587 login subcommand, including special handling of password. If
2588 the `?' is followed by a string, that is used as the prompt for
2589 reading the parameter instead of the default message (any neces‐
2590 sary punctuation and whitespace should be included at the end of
2591 the prompt). The first letter of the parameter (only) may be
2592 quoted with a `\'; hence an argument "\\$word" guarantees that
2593 the string from the shell parameter $word will be treated liter‐
2594 ally, whether or not it begins with a `?'.
2595 If instead a single `-' is given, the existing parameters, if
2597 any, are deleted. In that case, calling open with no arguments
2598 will cause an error.
2599 The list of parameters is not deleted after a close, however it
2601 will be deleted if the zsh/zftp module is unloaded.
2602 For example,
2604 zftp params ftp.elsewhere.xx juser '?Password for juser: '
2606 will store the host ftp.elsewhere.xx and the user juser and then
2608 prompt the user for the corresponding password with the given
2609 prompt.
2610 test Test the connection; if the server has reported that it has
2612 closed the connection (maybe due to a timeout), return status 2;
2613 if no connection was open anyway, return status 1; else return
2614 status 0. The test subcommand is silent, apart from messages
2615 printed by the $ZFTP_VERBOSE mechanism, or error messages if the
2616 connection closes. There is no network overhead for this test.
2617 The test is only supported on systems with either the select(2)
2619 or poll(2) system calls; otherwise the message `not supported on
2620 this system' is printed instead.
2621 The test subcommand will automatically be called at the start of
2623 any other subcommand for the current session when a connection
2624 is open.
2625 cd directory
2627 Change the remote directory to directory. Also alters the shell
2628 variable ZFTP_PWD.
2629 cdup Change the remote directory to the one higher in the directory
2631 tree. Note that cd .. will also work correctly on non-UNIX sys‐
2632 tems.
2633 dir [ arg ... ]
2635 Give a (verbose) listing of the remote directory. The args are
2636 passed directly to the server. The command's behaviour is imple‐
2637 mentation dependent, but a UNIX server will typically interpret
2638 args as arguments to the ls command and with no arguments return
2639 the result of `ls -l'. The directory is listed to standard out‐
2640 put.
2641 ls [ arg ... ]
2643 Give a (short) listing of the remote directory. With no arg,
2644 produces a raw list of the files in the directory, one per line.
2645 Otherwise, up to vagaries of the server implementation, behaves
2646 similar to dir.
2647 type [ type ]
2649 Change the type for the transfer to type, or print the current
2650 type if type is absent. The allowed values are `A' (ASCII), `I'
2651 (Image, i.e. binary), or `B' (a synonym for `I').
2652 The FTP default for a transfer is ASCII. However, if zftp finds
2654 that the remote host is a UNIX machine with 8-bit byes, it will
2655 automatically switch to using binary for file transfers upon
2656 open. This can subsequently be overridden.
2657 The transfer type is only passed to the remote host when a data
2659 connection is established; this command involves no network
2660 overhead.
2661 ascii The same as type A.
2663 binary The same as type I.
2665 mode [ S | B ]
2667 Set the mode type to stream (S) or block (B). Stream mode is
2668 the default; block mode is not widely supported.
2669 remote file ...
2671 local [ file ... ]
2672 Print the size and last modification time of the remote or local
2673 files. If there is more than one item on the list, the name of
2674 the file is printed first. The first number is the file size,
2675 the second is the last modification time of the file in the for‐
2676 mat CCYYMMDDhhmmSS consisting of year, month, date, hour, min‐
2677 utes and seconds in GMT. Note that this format, including the
2678 length, is guaranteed, so that time strings can be directly com‐
2679 pared via the [[ builtin's < and > operators, even if they are
2680 too long to be represented as integers.
2681 Not all servers support the commands for retrieving this infor‐
2683 mation. In that case, the remote command will print nothing and
2684 return status 2, compared with status 1 for a file not found.
2685 The local command (but not remote) may be used with no argu‐
2687 ments, in which case the information comes from examining file
2688 descriptor zero. This is the same file as seen by a put command
2689 with no further redirection.
2690 get file ...
2692 Retrieve all files from the server, concatenating them and send‐
2693 ing them to standard output.
2694 put file ...
2696 For each file, read a file from standard input and send that to
2697 the remote host with the given name.
2698 append file ...
2700 As put, but if the remote file already exists, data is appended
2701 to it instead of overwriting it.
2702 getat file point
2704 putat file point
2705 appendat file point
2706 Versions of get, put and append which will start the transfer at
2707 the given point in the remote file. This is useful for append‐
2708 ing to an incomplete local file. However, note that this abil‐
2709 ity is not universally supported by servers (and is not quite
2710 the behaviour specified by the standard).
2711 delete file ...
2713 Delete the list of files on the server.
2714 mkdir directory
2716 Create a new directory directory on the server.
2717 rmdir directory
2719 Delete the directory directory on the server.
2720 rename old-name new-name
2722 Rename file old-name to new-name on the server.
2723 site arg ...
2725 Send a host-specific command to the server. You will probably
2726 only need this if instructed by the server to use it.
2727 quote arg ...
2729 Send the raw FTP command sequence to the server. You should be
2730 familiar with the FTP command set as defined in RFC959 before
2731 doing this. Useful commands may include STAT and HELP. Note
2732 also the mechanism for returning messages as described for the
2733 variable ZFTP_VERBOSE below, in particular that all messages
2734 from the control connection are sent to standard error.
2735 close
2737 quit Close the current data connection. This unsets the shell param‐
2738 eters ZFTP_HOST, ZFTP_PORT, ZFTP_IP, ZFTP_SYSTEM, ZFTP_USER,
2739 ZFTP_ACCOUNT, ZFTP_PWD, ZFTP_TYPE and ZFTP_MODE.
2740 session [ sessname ]
2742 Allows multiple FTP sessions to be used at once. The name of
2743 the session is an arbitrary string of characters; the default
2744 session is called `default'. If this command is called without
2745 an argument, it will list all the current sessions; with an
2746 argument, it will either switch to the existing session called
2747 sessname, or create a new session of that name.
2748 Each session remembers the status of the connection, the set of
2750 connection-specific shell parameters (the same set as are unset
2751 when a connection closes, as given in the description of close),
2752 and any user parameters specified with the params subcommand.
2753 Changing to a previous session restores those values; changing
2754 to a new session initialises them in the same way as if zftp had
2755 just been loaded. The name of the current session is given by
2756 the parameter ZFTP_SESSION.
2757 rmsession [ sessname ]
2759 Delete a session; if a name is not given, the current session is
2760 deleted. If the current session is deleted, the earliest exist‐
2761 ing session becomes the new current session, otherwise the cur‐
2762 rent session is not changed. If the session being deleted is
2763 the only one, a new session called `default' is created and
2764 becomes the current session; note that this is a new session
2765 even if the session being deleted is also called `default'. It
2766 is recommended that sessions not be deleted while background
2767 commands which use zftp are still active.
2768 Parameters
2770 The following shell parameters are used by zftp. Currently none of
2771 them are special.
2772 ZFTP_TMOUT
2774 Integer. The time in seconds to wait for a network operation to
2775 complete before returning an error. If this is not set when the
2776 module is loaded, it will be given the default value 60. A
2777 value of zero turns off timeouts. If a timeout occurs on the
2778 control connection it will be closed. Use a larger value if
2779 this occurs too frequently.
2780 ZFTP_IP
2782 Readonly. The IP address of the current connection in dot nota‐
2783 tion.
2784 ZFTP_HOST
2786 Readonly. The hostname of the current remote server. If the
2787 host was opened as an IP number, ZFTP_HOST contains that
2788 instead; this saves the overhead for a name lookup, as IP num‐
2789 bers are most commonly used when a nameserver is unavailable.
2790 ZFTP_PORT
2792 Readonly. The number of the remote TCP port to which the con‐
2793 nection is open (even if the port was originally specified as a
2794 named service). Usually this is the standard FTP port, 21.
2795 In the unlikely event that your system does not have the appro‐
2797 priate conversion functions, this appears in network byte order.
2798 If your system is little-endian, the port then consists of two
2799 swapped bytes and the standard port will be reported as 5376.
2800 In that case, numeric ports passed to zftp open will also need
2801 to be in this format.
2802 ZFTP_SYSTEM
2804 Readonly. The system type string returned by the server in
2805 response to an FTP SYST request. The most interesting case is a
2806 string beginning "UNIX Type: L8", which ensures maximum compati‐
2807 bility with a local UNIX host.
2808 ZFTP_TYPE
2810 Readonly. The type to be used for data transfers , either `A'
2811 or `I'. Use the type subcommand to change this.
2812 ZFTP_USER
2814 Readonly. The username currently logged in, if any.
2815 ZFTP_ACCOUNT
2817 Readonly. The account name of the current user, if any. Most
2818 servers do not require an account name.
2819 ZFTP_PWD
2821 Readonly. The current directory on the server.
2822 ZFTP_CODE
2824 Readonly. The three digit code of the last FTP reply from the
2825 server as a string. This can still be read after the connection
2826 is closed, and is not changed when the current session changes.
2827 ZFTP_REPLY
2829 Readonly. The last line of the last reply sent by the server.
2830 This can still be read after the connection is closed, and is
2831 not changed when the current session changes.
2832 ZFTP_SESSION
2834 Readonly. The name of the current FTP session; see the descrip‐
2835 tion of the session subcommand.
2836 ZFTP_PREFS
2838 A string of preferences for altering aspects of zftp's behav‐
2839 iour. Each preference is a single character. The following are
2840 defined:
2841 P Passive: attempt to make the remote server initiate data
2843 transfers. This is slightly more efficient than sendport
2844 mode. If the letter S occurs later in the string, zftp
2845 will use sendport mode if passive mode is not available.
2846 S Sendport: initiate transfers by the FTP PORT command.
2848 If this occurs before any P in the string, passive mode
2849 will never be attempted.
2850 D Dumb: use only the bare minimum of FTP commands. This
2852 prevents the variables ZFTP_SYSTEM and ZFTP_PWD from
2853 being set, and will mean all connections default to ASCII
2854 type. It may prevent ZFTP_SIZE from being set during a
2855 transfer if the server does not send it anyway (many
2856 servers do).
2857 If ZFTP_PREFS is not set when zftp is loaded, it will be set to
2859 a default of `PS', i.e. use passive mode if available, otherwise
2860 fall back to sendport mode.
2861 ZFTP_VERBOSE
2863 A string of digits between 0 and 5 inclusive, specifying which
2864 responses from the server should be printed. All responses go
2865 to standard error. If any of the numbers 1 to 5 appear in the
2866 string, raw responses from the server with reply codes beginning
2867 with that digit will be printed to standard error. The first
2868 digit of the three digit reply code is defined by RFC959 to cor‐
2869 respond to:
2870 1. A positive preliminary reply.
2872 2. A positive completion reply.
2874 3. A positive intermediate reply.
2876 4. A transient negative completion reply.
2878 5. A permanent negative completion reply.
2880 It should be noted that, for unknown reasons, the reply `Service
2882 not available', which forces termination of a connection, is
2883 classified as 421, i.e. `transient negative', an interesting
2884 interpretation of the word `transient'.
2885 The code 0 is special: it indicates that all but the last line
2887 of multiline replies read from the server will be printed to
2888 standard error in a processed format. By convention, servers
2889 use this mechanism for sending information for the user to read.
2890 The appropriate reply code, if it matches the same response,
2891 takes priority.
2892 If ZFTP_VERBOSE is not set when zftp is loaded, it will be set
2894 to the default value 450, i.e., messages destined for the user
2895 and all errors will be printed. A null string is valid and
2896 specifies that no messages should be printed.
2897 Functions
2899 zftp_chpwd
2900 If this function is set by the user, it is called every time the
2901 directory changes on the server, including when a user is logged
2902 in, or when a connection is closed. In the last case, $ZFTP_PWD
2903 will be unset; otherwise it will reflect the new directory.
2904 zftp_progress
2906 If this function is set by the user, it will be called during a
2907 get, put or append operation each time sufficient data has been
2908 received from the host. During a get, the data is sent to stan‐
2909 dard output, so it is vital that this function should write to
2910 standard error or directly to the terminal, not to standard out‐
2911 put.
2912 When it is called with a transfer in progress, the following
2914 additional shell parameters are set:
2915 ZFTP_FILE
2917 The name of the remote file being transferred from or to.
2918 ZFTP_TRANSFER
2920 A G for a get operation and a P for a put operation.
2921 ZFTP_SIZE
2923 The total size of the complete file being transferred:
2924 the same as the first value provided by the remote and
2925 local subcommands for a particular file. If the server
2926 cannot supply this value for a remote file being
2927 retrieved, it will not be set. If input is from a pipe
2928 the value may be incorrect and correspond simply to a
2929 full pipe buffer.
2930 ZFTP_COUNT
2932 The amount of data so far transferred; a number between
2933 zero and $ZFTP_SIZE, if that is set. This number is
2934 always available.
2935 The function is initially called with ZFTP_TRANSFER set appro‐
2937 priately and ZFTP_COUNT set to zero. After the transfer is fin‐
2938 ished, the function will be called one more time with
2939 ZFTP_TRANSFER set to GF or PF, in case it wishes to tidy up. It
2940 is otherwise never called twice with the same value of
2941 ZFTP_COUNT.
2942 Sometimes the progress meter may cause disruption. It is up to
2944 the user to decide whether the function should be defined and to
2945 use unfunction when necessary.
2946 Problems
2948 A connection may not be opened in the left hand side of a pipe as this
2949 occurs in a subshell and the file information is not updated in the
2950 main shell. In the case of type or mode changes or closing the connec‐
2951 tion in a subshell, the information is returned but variables are not
2952 updated until the next call to zftp. Other status changes in subshells
2953 will not be reflected by changes to the variables (but should be other‐
2954 wise harmless).
2955 Deleting sessions while a zftp command is active in the background can
2957 have unexpected effects, even if it does not use the session being
2958 deleted. This is because all shell subprocesses share information on
2959 the state of all connections, and deleting a session changes the order‐
2960 ing of that information.
2961 On some operating systems, the control connection is not valid after a
2963 fork(), so that operations in subshells, on the left hand side of a
2964 pipeline, or in the background are not possible, as they should be.
2965 This is presumably a bug in the operating system.
2966
2968 The zsh/zle module contains the Zsh Line Editor. See zshzle(1).
2969
2971 The zsh/zleparameter module defines two special parameters that can be
2972 used to access internal information of the Zsh Line Editor (see zsh‐
2973 zle(1)).
2974 keymaps
2976 This array contains the names of the keymaps currently defined.
2977 widgets
2979 This associative array contains one entry per widget. The name
2980 of the widget is the key and the value gives information about
2981 the widget. It is either
2982 the string `builtin' for builtin widgets,
2983 a string of the form `user:name' for user-defined widgets,
2984 where name is the name of the shell function implementing
2985 the widget,
2986 a string of the form `completion:type:name'
2987 for completion widgets,
2988 or a null value if the widget is not yet fully defined. In
2989 the penultimate case, type is the name of the builtin widget the
2990 completion widget imitates in its behavior and name is the name
2991 of the shell function implementing the completion widget.
2992
2994 When loaded, the zsh/zprof causes shell functions to be profiled. The
2995 profiling results can be obtained with the zprof builtin command made
2996 available by this module. There is no way to turn profiling off other
2997 than unloading the module.
2998 zprof [ -c ]
3000 Without the -c option, zprof lists profiling results to standard
3001 output. The format is comparable to that of commands like
3002 gprof.
3003 At the top there is a summary listing all functions that were
3005 called at least once. This summary is sorted in decreasing
3006 order of the amount of time spent in each. The lines contain
3007 the number of the function in order, which is used in other
3008 parts of the list in suffixes of the form `[num]', then the num‐
3009 ber of calls made to the function. The next three columns list
3010 the time in milliseconds spent in the function and its descen‐
3011 dants, the average time in milliseconds spent in the function
3012 and its descendants per call and the percentage of time spent in
3013 all shell functions used in this function and its descendants.
3014 The following three columns give the same information, but
3015 counting only the time spent in the function itself. The final
3016 column shows the name of the function.
3017 After the summary, detailed information about every function
3019 that was invoked is listed, sorted in decreasing order of the
3020 amount of time spent in each function and its descendants. Each
3021 of these entries consists of descriptions for the functions that
3022 called the function described, the function itself, and the
3023 functions that were called from it. The description for the
3024 function itself has the same format as in the summary (and shows
3025 the same information). The other lines don't show the number of
3026 the function at the beginning and have their function named
3027 indented to make it easier to distinguish the line showing the
3028 function described in the section from the surrounding lines.
3029 The information shown in this case is almost the same as in the
3031 summary, but only refers to the call hierarchy being displayed.
3032 For example, for a calling function the column showing the total
3033 running time lists the time spent in the described function and
3034 its descendants only for the times when it was called from that
3035 particular calling function. Likewise, for a called function,
3036 this columns lists the total time spent in the called function
3037 and its descendants only for the times when it was called from
3038 the function described.
3039 Also in this case, the column showing the number of calls to a
3041 function also shows a slash and then the total number of invoca‐
3042 tions made to the called function.
3043 As long as the zsh/zprof module is loaded, profiling will be
3045 done and multiple invocations of the zprof builtin command will
3046 show the times and numbers of calls since the module was loaded.
3047 With the -c option, the zprof builtin command will reset its
3048 internal counters and will not show the listing.
3049
3051 The zsh/zpty module offers one builtin:
3052 zpty [ -e ] [ -b ] name [ arg ... ]
3054 The arguments following name are concatenated with spaces
3055 between, then executed as a command, as if passed to the eval
3056 builtin. The command runs under a newly assigned pseudo-termi‐
3057 nal; this is useful for running commands non-interactively which
3058 expect an interactive environment. The name is not part of the
3059 command, but is used to refer to this command in later calls to
3060 zpty.
3061 With the -e option, the pseudo-terminal is set up so that input
3063 characters are echoed.
3064 With the -b option, input to and output from the pseudo-terminal
3066 are made non-blocking.
3067 The shell parameter REPLY is set to the file descriptor assigned
3069 to the master side of the pseudo-terminal. This allows the ter‐
3070 minal to be monitored with ZLE descriptor handlers (see zsh‐
3071 zle(1)) or manipulated with sysread and syswrite (see THE
3072 ZSH/SYSTEM MODULE in zshmodules(1)). Warning: Use of sysread
3073 and syswrite is not recommended, use zpty -r and zpty -w unless
3074 you know exactly what you are doing.
3075 zpty -d [ name ... ]
3077 The second form, with the -d option, is used to delete commands
3078 previously started, by supplying a list of their names. If no
3079 name is given, all commands are deleted. Deleting a command
3080 causes the HUP signal to be sent to the corresponding process.
3081 zpty -w [ -n ] name [ string ... ]
3083 The -w option can be used to send the to command name the given
3084 strings as input (separated by spaces). If the -n option is not
3085 given, a newline is added at the end.
3086 If no string is provided, the standard input is copied to the
3088 pseudo-terminal; this may stop before copying the full input if
3089 the pseudo-terminal is non-blocking. The exact input is always
3090 copied: the -n option is not applied.
3091 Note that the command under the pseudo-terminal sees this input
3093 as if it were typed, so beware when sending special tty driver
3094 characters such as word-erase, line-kill, and end-of-file.
3095 zpty -r [ -mt ] name [ param [ pattern ] ]
3097 The -r option can be used to read the output of the command
3098 name. With only a name argument, the output read is copied to
3099 the standard output. Unless the pseudo-terminal is non-block‐
3100 ing, copying continues until the command under the pseudo-termi‐
3101 nal exits; when non-blocking, only as much output as is immedi‐
3102 ately available is copied. The return status is zero if any
3103 output is copied.
3104 When also given a param argument, at most one line is read and
3106 stored in the parameter named param. Less than a full line may
3107 be read if the pseudo-terminal is non-blocking. The return sta‐
3108 tus is zero if at least one character is stored in param.
3109 If a pattern is given as well, output is read until the whole
3111 string read matches the pattern, even in the non-blocking case.
3112 The return status is zero if the string read matches the pat‐
3113 tern, or if the command has exited but at least one character
3114 could still be read. If the option -m is present, the return
3115 status is zero only if the pattern matches. As of this writing,
3116 a maximum of one megabyte of output can be consumed this way; if
3117 a full megabyte is read without matching the pattern, the return
3118 status is non-zero.
3119 In all cases, the return status is non-zero if nothing could be
3121 read, and is 2 if this is because the command has finished.
3122 If the -r option is combined with the -t option, zpty tests
3124 whether output is available before trying to read. If no output
3125 is available, zpty immediately returns the status 1. When used
3126 with a pattern, the behaviour on a failed poll is similar to
3127 when the command has exited: the return value is zero if at
3128 least one character could still be read even if the pattern
3129 failed to match.
3130 zpty -t name
3132 The -t option without the -r option can be used to test whether
3133 the command name is still running. It returns a zero status if
3134 the command is running and a non-zero value otherwise.
3135 zpty [ -L ]
3137 The last form, without any arguments, is used to list the com‐
3138 mands currently defined. If the -L option is given, this is
3139 done in the form of calls to the zpty builtin.
3140
3142 The zsh/zselect module makes available one builtin command:
3143 zselect [ -rwe ] [ -t timeout ] [ -a array ] [ -A assoc ] [ fd ... ]
3145 The zselect builtin is a front-end to the `select' system call,
3146 which blocks until a file descriptor is ready for reading or
3147 writing, or has an error condition, with an optional timeout.
3148 If this is not available on your system, the command prints an
3149 error message and returns status 2 (normal errors return status
3150 1). For more information, see your systems documentation for
3151 select(3). Note there is no connection with the shell builtin
3152 of the same name.
3153 Arguments and options may be intermingled in any order.
3155 Non-option arguments are file descriptors, which must be decimal
3156 integers. By default, file descriptors are to be tested for
3157 reading, i.e. zselect will return when data is available to be
3158 read from the file descriptor, or more precisely, when a read
3159 operation from the file descriptor will not block. After a -r,
3160 -w and -e, the given file descriptors are to be tested for read‐
3161 ing, writing, or error conditions. These options and an arbi‐
3162 trary list of file descriptors may be given in any order.
3163 (The presence of an `error condition' is not well defined in the
3165 documentation for many implementations of the select system
3166 call. According to recent versions of the POSIX specification,
3167 it is really an exception condition, of which the only standard
3168 example is out-of-band data received on a socket. So zsh users
3169 are unlikely to find the -e option useful.)
3170 The option `-t timeout' specifies a timeout in hundredths of a
3172 second. This may be zero, in which case the file descriptors
3173 will simply be polled and zselect will return immediately. It
3174 is possible to call zselect with no file descriptors and a
3175 non-zero timeout for use as a finer-grained replacement for
3176 `sleep'; note, however, the return status is always 1 for a
3177 timeout.
3178 The option `-a array' indicates that array should be set to
3180 indicate the file descriptor(s) which are ready. If the option
3181 is not given, the array reply will be used for this purpose.
3182 The array will contain a string similar to the arguments for
3183 zselect. For example,
3184 zselect -t 0 -r 0 -w 1
3186 might return immediately with status 0 and $reply containing `-r
3188 0 -w 1' to show that both file descriptors are ready for the
3189 requested operations.
3190 The option `-A assoc' indicates that the associative array assoc
3192 should be set to indicate the file descriptor(s) which are
3193 ready. This option overrides the option -a, nor will reply be
3194 modified. The keys of assoc are the file descriptors, and the
3195 corresponding values are any of the characters `rwe' to indicate
3196 the condition.
3197 The command returns status 0 if some file descriptors are ready
3199 for reading. If the operation timed out, or a timeout of 0 was
3200 given and no file descriptors were ready, or there was an error,
3201 it returns status 1 and the array will not be set (nor modified
3202 in any way). If there was an error in the select operation the
3203 appropriate error message is printed.
3204
3206 The zsh/zutil module only adds some builtins:
3207 zstyle [ -L [ pattern [ style ] ] ]
3209 zstyle [ -e | - | -- ] pattern style string ...
3210 zstyle -d [ pattern [ style ... ] ]
3211 zstyle -g name [ pattern [ style ] ]
3212 zstyle -{a|b|s} context style name [ sep ]
3213 zstyle -{T|t} context style [ string ... ]
3214 zstyle -m context style pattern
3215 This builtin command is used to define and lookup styles.
3216 Styles are pairs of names and values, where the values consist
3217 of any number of strings. They are stored together with pat‐
3218 terns and lookup is done by giving a string, called the `con‐
3219 text', which is compared to the patterns. The definition stored
3220 for the first matching pattern will be returned.
3221 For ordering of comparisons, patterns are searched from most
3223 specific to least specific, and patterns that are equally spe‐
3224 cific keep the order in which they were defined. A pattern is
3225 considered to be more specific than another if it contains more
3226 components (substrings separated by colons) or if the patterns
3227 for the components are more specific, where simple strings are
3228 considered to be more specific than patterns and complex pat‐
3229 terns are considered to be more specific than the pattern `*'.
3230 The first form (without arguments) lists the definitions.
3232 Styles are shown in alphabetic order and patterns are shown in
3233 the order zstyle will test them.
3234 If the -L option is given, listing is done in the form of calls
3236 to zstyle. The optional first argument is a pattern which will
3237 be matched against the string supplied as the pattern for the
3238 context; note that this means, for example, `zstyle -L ":comple‐
3239 tion:*"' will match any supplied pattern beginning `:comple‐
3240 tion:', not just ":completion:*": use ":completion:\*" to match
3241 that. The optional second argument limits the output to a spe‐
3242 cific style (not a pattern). -L is not compatible with any
3243 other options.
3244 The other forms are the following:
3246 zstyle [ - | -- | -e ] pattern style string ...
3248 Defines the given style for the pattern with the strings
3249 as the value. If the -e option is given, the strings
3250 will be concatenated (separated by spaces) and the
3251 resulting string will be evaluated (in the same way as it
3252 is done by the eval builtin command) when the style is
3253 looked up. In this case the parameter `reply' must be
3254 assigned to set the strings returned after the evalua‐
3255 tion. Before evaluating the value, reply is unset, and
3256 if it is still unset after the evaluation, the style is
3257 treated as if it were not set.
3258 zstyle -d [ pattern [ style ... ] ]
3260 Delete style definitions. Without arguments all defini‐
3261 tions are deleted, with a pattern all definitions for
3262 that pattern are deleted and if any styles are given,
3263 then only those styles are deleted for the pattern.
3264 zstyle -g name [ pattern [ style ] ]
3266 Retrieve a style definition. The name is used as the name
3267 of an array in which the results are stored. Without any
3268 further arguments, all patterns defined are returned.
3269 With a pattern the styles defined for that pattern are
3270 returned and with both a pattern and a style, the value
3271 strings of that combination is returned.
3272 The other forms can be used to look up or test patterns.
3274 zstyle -s context style name [ sep ]
3276 The parameter name is set to the value of the style
3277 interpreted as a string. If the value contains several
3278 strings they are concatenated with spaces (or with the
3279 sep string if that is given) between them.
3280 zstyle -b context style name
3282 The value is stored in name as a boolean, i.e. as the
3283 string `yes' if the value has only one string and that
3284 string is equal to one of `yes', `true', `on', or `1'. If
3285 the value is any other string or has more than one
3286 string, the parameter is set to `no'.
3287 zstyle -a context style name
3289 The value is stored in name as an array. If name is
3290 declared as an associative array, the first, third, etc.
3291 strings are used as the keys and the other strings are
3292 used as the values.
3293 zstyle -t context style [ string ... ]
3295 zstyle -T context style [ string ... ]
3296 Test the value of a style, i.e. the -t option only
3297 returns a status (sets $?). Without any string the
3298 return status is zero if the style is defined for at
3299 least one matching pattern, has only one string in its
3300 value, and that is equal to one of `true', `yes', `on' or
3301 `1'. If any strings are given the status is zero if and
3302 only if at least one of the strings is equal to at least
3303 one of the strings in the value. If the style is defined
3304 but doesn't match, the return status is 1. If the style
3305 is not defined, the status is 2.
3306 The -T option tests the values of the style like -t, but
3308 it returns status zero (rather than 2) if the style is
3309 not defined for any matching pattern.
3310 zstyle -m context style pattern
3312 Match a value. Returns status zero if the pattern matches
3313 at least one of the strings in the value.
3314 zformat -f param format spec ...
3316 zformat -a array sep spec ...
3317 This builtin provides two different forms of formatting. The
3318 first form is selected with the -f option. In this case the for‐
3319 mat string will be modified by replacing sequences starting with
3320 a percent sign in it with strings from the specs. Each spec
3321 should be of the form `char:string' which will cause every
3322 appearance of the sequence `%char' in format to be replaced by
3323 the string. The `%' sequence may also contain optional minimum
3324 and maximum field width specifications between the `%' and the
3325 `char' in the form `%min.maxc', i.e. the minimum field width is
3326 given first and if the maximum field width is used, it has to be
3327 preceded by a dot. Specifying a minimum field width makes the
3328 result be padded with spaces to the right if the string is
3329 shorter than the requested width. Padding to the left can be
3330 achieved by giving a negative minimum field width. If a maximum
3331 field width is specified, the string will be truncated after
3332 that many characters. After all `%' sequences for the given
3333 specs have been processed, the resulting string is stored in the
3334 parameter param.
3335 The %-escapes also understand ternary expressions in the form
3337 used by prompts. The % is followed by a `(' and then an ordi‐
3338 nary format specifier character as described above. There may
3339 be a set of digits either before or after the `('; these specify
3340 a test number, which defaults to zero. Negative numbers are
3341 also allowed. An arbitrary delimiter character follows the for‐
3342 mat specifier, which is followed by a piece of `true' text, the
3343 delimiter character again, a piece of `false' text, and a clos‐
3344 ing parenthesis. The complete expression (without the digits)
3345 thus looks like `%(X.text1.text2)', except that the `.' charac‐
3346 ter is arbitrary. The value given for the format specifier in
3347 the char:string expressions is evaluated as a mathematical
3348 expression, and compared with the test number. If they are the
3349 same, text1 is output, else text2 is output. A parenthesis may
3350 be escaped in text2 as %). Either of text1 or text2 may contain
3351 nested %-escapes.
3352 For example:
3354 zformat -f REPLY "The answer is '%3(c.yes.no)'." c:3
3356 outputs "The answer is 'yes'." to REPLY since the value for the
3358 format specifier c is 3, agreeing with the digit argument to the
3359 ternary expression.
3360 The second form, using the -a option, can be used for aligning
3362 strings. Here, the specs are of the form `left:right' where
3363 `left' and `right' are arbitrary strings. These strings are
3364 modified by replacing the colons by the sep string and padding
3365 the left strings with spaces to the right so that the sep
3366 strings in the result (and hence the right strings after them)
3367 are all aligned if the strings are printed below each other.
3368 All strings without a colon are left unchanged and all strings
3369 with an empty right string have the trailing colon removed. In
3370 both cases the lengths of the strings are not used to determine
3371 how the other strings are to be aligned. A colon in the left
3372 string can be escaped with a backslash. The resulting strings
3373 are stored in the array.
3374 zregexparse
3376 This implements some internals of the _regex_arguments function.
3377 zparseopts [ -D -K -M -E ] [ -a array ] [ -A assoc ] [ - ] spec ...
3379 This builtin simplifies the parsing of options in positional
3380 parameters, i.e. the set of arguments given by $*. Each spec
3381 describes one option and must be of the form `opt[=array]'. If
3382 an option described by opt is found in the positional parameters
3383 it is copied into the array specified with the -a option; if the
3384 optional `=array' is given, it is instead copied into that
3385 array, which should be declared as a normal array and never as
3386 an associative array.
3387 Note that it is an error to give any spec without an `=array'
3389 unless one of the -a or -A options is used.
3390 Unless the -E option is given, parsing stops at the first string
3392 that isn't described by one of the specs. Even with -E, parsing
3393 always stops at a positional parameter equal to `-' or `--'.
3394 The opt description must be one of the following. Any of the
3396 special characters can appear in the option name provided it is
3397 preceded by a backslash.
3398 name
3400 name+ The name is the name of the option without the leading
3401 `-'. To specify a GNU-style long option, one of the
3402 usual two leading `-' must be included in name; for exam‐
3403 ple, a `--file' option is represented by a name of
3404 `-file'.
3405 If a `+' appears after name, the option is appended to
3407 array each time it is found in the positional parameters;
3408 without the `+' only the last occurrence of the option is
3409 preserved.
3410 If one of these forms is used, the option takes no argu‐
3412 ment, so parsing stops if the next positional parameter
3413 does not also begin with `-' (unless the -E option is
3414 used).
3415 name:
3417 name:-
3418 name:: If one or two colons are given, the option takes an argu‐
3419 ment; with one colon, the argument is mandatory and with
3420 two colons it is optional. The argument is appended to
3421 the array after the option itself.
3422 An optional argument is put into the same array element
3424 as the option name (note that this makes empty strings as
3425 arguments indistinguishable). A mandatory argument is
3426 added as a separate element unless the `:-' form is used,
3427 in which case the argument is put into the same element.
3428 A `+' as described above may appear between the name and
3430 the first colon.
3431 The options of zparseopts itself cannot be stacked because, for
3433 example, the stack `-DEK' is indistinguishable from a spec for
3434 the GNU-style long option `--DEK'. The options of zparseopts
3435 itself are:
3436 -a array
3438 As described above, this names the default array in which
3439 to store the recognised options.
3440 -A assoc
3442 If this is given, the options and their values are also
3443 put into an associative array with the option names as
3444 keys and the arguments (if any) as the values.
3445 -D If this option is given, all options found are removed
3447 from the positional parameters of the calling shell or
3448 shell function, up to but not including any not described
3449 by the specs. This is similar to using the shift
3450 builtin.
3451 -K With this option, the arrays specified with the -a option
3453 and with the `=array' forms are kept unchanged when none
3454 of the specs for them is used. Otherwise the entire
3455 array is replaced when any of the specs is used. Indi‐
3456 vidual elements of associative arrays specified with the
3457 -A option are preserved by -K. This allows assignment of
3458 default values to arrays before calling zparseopts.
3459 -M This changes the assignment rules to implement a map
3461 among equivalent option names. If any spec uses the
3462 `=array' form, the string array is interpreted as the
3463 name of another spec, which is used to choose where to
3464 store the values. If no other spec is found, the values
3465 are stored as usual. This changes only the way the val‐
3466 ues are stored, not the way $* is parsed, so results may
3467 be unpredictable if the `name+' specifier is used incon‐
3468 sistently.
3469 -E This changes the parsing rules to not stop at the first
3471 string that isn't described by one of the specs. It can
3472 be used to test for or (if used together with -D) extract
3473 options and their arguments, ignoring all other options
3474 and arguments that may be in the positional parameters.
3475 For example,
3477 set -- -a -bx -c y -cz baz -cend
3479 zparseopts a=foo b:=bar c+:=bar
3480 will have the effect of
3482 foo=(-a)
3484 bar=(-b x -c y -c z)
3485 The arguments from `baz' on will not be used.
3487 As an example for the -E option, consider:
3489 set -- -a x -b y -c z arg1 arg2
3491 zparseopts -E -D b:=bar
3492 will have the effect of
3494 bar=(-b y)
3496 set -- -a x -c z arg1 arg2
3497 I.e., the option -b and its arguments are taken from the posi‐
3499 tional parameters and put into the array bar.
3500 The -M option can be used like this:
3502 set -- -a -bx -c y -cz baz -cend
3504 zparseopts -A bar -M a=foo b+: c:=b
3505 to have the effect of
3507 foo=(-a)
3509 bar=(-a '' -b xyz)
3510zsh 5.7.1 February 3, 2019 ZSHMODULES(1)