1ZSH(1) General Commands Manual ZSH(1)
2
6 zsh - the Z shell
7
9 Because zsh contains many features, the zsh manual has been split into
10 a number of sections:
11 zsh Zsh overview (this section)
13 zshroadmap Informal introduction to the manual
14 zshmisc Anything not fitting into the other sections
15 zshexpn Zsh command and parameter expansion
16 zshparam Zsh parameters
17 zshoptions Zsh options
18 zshbuiltins Zsh built-in functions
19 zshzle Zsh command line editing
20 zshcompwid Zsh completion widgets
21 zshcompsys Zsh completion system
22 zshcompctl Zsh completion control
23 zshmodules Zsh loadable modules
24 zshcalsys Zsh built-in calendar functions
25 zshtcpsys Zsh built-in TCP functions
26 zshzftpsys Zsh built-in FTP client
27 zshcontrib Additional zsh functions and utilities
28 zshall Meta-man page containing all of the above
29
31 Zsh is a UNIX command interpreter (shell) usable as an interactive
32 login shell and as a shell script command processor. Of the standard
33 shells, zsh most closely resembles ksh but includes many enhancements.
34 Zsh has command line editing, builtin spelling correction, programmable
35 command completion, shell functions (with autoloading), a history mech‐
36 anism, and a host of other features.
37
39 Zsh was originally written by Paul Falstad <pf@zsh.org>. Zsh is now
40 maintained by the members of the zsh-workers mailing list <zsh-work‐
41 ers@zsh.org>. The development is currently coordinated by Peter
42 Stephenson <pws@zsh.org>. The coordinator can be contacted at <coordi‐
43 nator@zsh.org>, but matters relating to the code should generally go to
44 the mailing list.
45
47 Zsh is available from the following anonymous FTP sites. These mirror
48 sites are kept frequently up to date. The sites marked with (H) may be
49 mirroring ftp.cs.elte.hu instead of the primary site.
50 Primary site
52 ftp://ftp.zsh.org/pub/
53 http://www.zsh.org/pub/
54 Australia
56 ftp://ftp.zsh.org/pub/
57 http://www.zsh.org/pub/
58 http://mirror.dejanseo.com.au/pub/zsh/
59 Hungary
61 ftp://ftp.cs.elte.hu/pub/zsh/
62 http://www.cs.elte.hu/pub/zsh/
63 The up-to-date source code is available via Git from Sourceforge. See
65 http://sourceforge.net/projects/zsh/ for details. A summary of
66 instructions for the archive can be found at http://zsh.source‐
67 forge.net/.
68
70 Zsh has 3 mailing lists:
71 <zsh-announce@zsh.org>
73 Announcements about releases, major changes in the shell and the
74 monthly posting of the Zsh FAQ. (moderated)
75 <zsh-users@zsh.org>
77 User discussions.
78 <zsh-workers@zsh.org>
80 Hacking, development, bug reports and patches.
81 To subscribe or unsubscribe, send mail to the associated administrative
83 address for the mailing list.
84 <zsh-announce-subscribe@zsh.org>
86 <zsh-users-subscribe@zsh.org>
87 <zsh-workers-subscribe@zsh.org>
88 <zsh-announce-unsubscribe@zsh.org>
89 <zsh-users-unsubscribe@zsh.org>
90 <zsh-workers-unsubscribe@zsh.org>
91 YOU ONLY NEED TO JOIN ONE OF THE MAILING LISTS AS THEY ARE NESTED. All
93 submissions to zsh-announce are automatically forwarded to zsh-users.
94 All submissions to zsh-users are automatically forwarded to zsh-work‐
95 ers.
96 If you have problems subscribing/unsubscribing to any of the mailing
98 lists, send mail to <listmaster@zsh.org>. The mailing lists are main‐
99 tained by Karsten Thygesen <karthy@kom.auc.dk>.
100 The mailing lists are archived; the archives can be accessed via the
102 administrative addresses listed above. There is also a hypertext ar‐
103 chive, maintained by Geoff Wing <gcw@zsh.org>, available at
104 http://www.zsh.org/mla/.
105
107 Zsh has a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), maintained by Peter
108 Stephenson <pws@zsh.org>. It is regularly posted to the newsgroup
109 comp.unix.shell and the zsh-announce mailing list. The latest version
110 can be found at any of the Zsh FTP sites, or at
111 http://www.zsh.org/FAQ/. The contact address for FAQ-related matters
112 is <faqmaster@zsh.org>.
113
115 Zsh has a web page which is located at http://www.zsh.org/. This is
116 maintained by Karsten Thygesen <karthy@zsh.org>, of SunSITE Denmark.
117 The contact address for web-related matters is <webmaster@zsh.org>.
118
120 A userguide is currently in preparation. It is intended to complement
121 the manual, with explanations and hints on issues where the manual can
122 be cabbalistic, hierographic, or downright mystifying (for example, the
123 word `hierographic' does not exist). It can be viewed in its current
124 state at http://zsh.sourceforge.net/Guide/. At the time of writing,
125 chapters dealing with startup files and their contents and the new com‐
126 pletion system were essentially complete.
127
129 A `wiki' website for zsh has been created at http://www.zshwiki.org/.
130 This is a site which can be added to and modified directly by users
131 without any special permission. You can add your own zsh tips and con‐
132 figurations.
133
135 The following flags are interpreted by the shell when invoked to deter‐
136 mine where the shell will read commands from:
137 -c Take the first argument as a command to execute, rather than
139 reading commands from a script or standard input. If any fur‐
140 ther arguments are given, the first one is assigned to $0,
141 rather than being used as a positional parameter.
142 -i Force shell to be interactive. It is still possible to specify
144 a script to execute.
145 -s Force shell to read commands from the standard input. If the -s
147 flag is not present and an argument is given, the first argument
148 is taken to be the pathname of a script to execute.
149 If there are any remaining arguments after option processing, and nei‐
151 ther of the options -c or -s was supplied, the first argument is taken
152 as the file name of a script containing shell commands to be executed.
153 If the option PATH_SCRIPT is set, and the file name does not contain a
154 directory path (i.e. there is no `/' in the name), first the current
155 directory and then the command path given by the variable PATH are
156 searched for the script. If the option is not set or the file name
157 contains a `/' it is used directly.
158 After the first one or two arguments have been appropriated as
160 described above, the remaining arguments are assigned to the positional
161 parameters.
162 For further options, which are common to invocation and the set
164 builtin, see zshoptions(1).
165 The long option `--emulate' followed (in a separate word) by an emula‐
167 tion mode may be passed to the shell. The emulation modes are those
168 described for the emulate builtin, see zshbuiltins(1). The `--emulate'
169 option must precede any other options (which might otherwise be over‐
170 ridden), but following options are honoured, so may be used to modify
171 the requested emulation mode. Note that certain extra steps are taken
172 to ensure a smooth emulation when this option is used compared with the
173 emulate command within the shell: for example, variables that conflict
174 with POSIX usage such as path are not defined within the shell.
175 Options may be specified by name using the -o option. -o acts like a
177 single-letter option, but takes a following string as the option name.
178 For example,
179 zsh -x -o shwordsplit scr
181 runs the script scr, setting the XTRACE option by the corresponding
183 letter `-x' and the SH_WORD_SPLIT option by name. Options may be
184 turned off by name by using +o instead of -o. -o can be stacked up
185 with preceding single-letter options, so for example `-xo shwordsplit'
186 or `-xoshwordsplit' is equivalent to `-x -o shwordsplit'.
187 Options may also be specified by name in GNU long option style,
189 `--option-name'. When this is done, `-' characters in the option name
190 are permitted: they are translated into `_', and thus ignored. So, for
191 example, `zsh --sh-word-split' invokes zsh with the SH_WORD_SPLIT
192 option turned on. Like other option syntaxes, options can be turned
193 off by replacing the initial `-' with a `+'; thus `+-sh-word-split' is
194 equivalent to `--no-sh-word-split'. Unlike other option syntaxes,
195 GNU-style long options cannot be stacked with any other options, so for
196 example `-x-shwordsplit' is an error, rather than being treated like
197 `-x --shwordsplit'.
198 The special GNU-style option `--version' is handled; it sends to stan‐
200 dard output the shell's version information, then exits successfully.
201 `--help' is also handled; it sends to standard output a list of options
202 that can be used when invoking the shell, then exits successfully.
203 Option processing may be finished, allowing following arguments that
205 start with `-' or `+' to be treated as normal arguments, in two ways.
206 Firstly, a lone `-' (or `+') as an argument by itself ends option pro‐
207 cessing. Secondly, a special option `--' (or `+-'), which may be spec‐
208 ified on its own (which is the standard POSIX usage) or may be stacked
209 with preceding options (so `-x-' is equivalent to `-x --'). Options
210 are not permitted to be stacked after `--' (so `-x-f' is an error), but
211 note the GNU-style option form discussed above, where `--shwordsplit'
212 is permitted and does not end option processing.
213 Except when the sh/ksh emulation single-letter options are in effect,
215 the option `-b' (or `+b') ends option processing. `-b' is like `--',
216 except that further single-letter options can be stacked after the `-b'
217 and will take effect as normal.
218
220 Zsh tries to emulate sh or ksh when it is invoked as sh or ksh respec‐
221 tively; more precisely, it looks at the first letter of the name by
222 which it was invoked, excluding any initial `r' (assumed to stand for
223 `restricted'), and if that is `b', `s' or `k' it will emulate sh or
224 ksh. Furthermore, if invoked as su (which happens on certain systems
225 when the shell is executed by the su command), the shell will try to
226 find an alternative name from the SHELL environment variable and per‐
227 form emulation based on that.
228 In sh and ksh compatibility modes the following parameters are not spe‐
230 cial and not initialized by the shell: ARGC, argv, cdpath, fignore,
231 fpath, HISTCHARS, mailpath, MANPATH, manpath, path, prompt, PROMPT,
232 PROMPT2, PROMPT3, PROMPT4, psvar, status, watch.
233 The usual zsh startup/shutdown scripts are not executed. Login shells
235 source /etc/profile followed by $HOME/.profile. If the ENV environment
236 variable is set on invocation, $ENV is sourced after the profile
237 scripts. The value of ENV is subjected to parameter expansion, command
238 substitution, and arithmetic expansion before being interpreted as a
239 pathname. Note that the PRIVILEGED option also affects the execution
240 of startup files.
241 The following options are set if the shell is invoked as sh or ksh:
243 NO_BAD_PATTERN, NO_BANG_HIST, NO_BG_NICE, NO_EQUALS, NO_FUNC‐
244 TION_ARGZERO, GLOB_SUBST, NO_GLOBAL_EXPORT, NO_HUP, INTERACTIVE_COM‐
245 MENTS, KSH_ARRAYS, NO_MULTIOS, NO_NOMATCH, NO_NOTIFY, POSIX_BUILTINS,
246 NO_PROMPT_PERCENT, RM_STAR_SILENT, SH_FILE_EXPANSION, SH_GLOB,
247 SH_OPTION_LETTERS, SH_WORD_SPLIT. Additionally the BSD_ECHO and
248 IGNORE_BRACES options are set if zsh is invoked as sh. Also, the
249 KSH_OPTION_PRINT, LOCAL_OPTIONS, PROMPT_BANG, PROMPT_SUBST and SIN‐
250 GLE_LINE_ZLE options are set if zsh is invoked as ksh.
251
253 When the basename of the command used to invoke zsh starts with the
254 letter `r' or the `-r' command line option is supplied at invocation,
255 the shell becomes restricted. Emulation mode is determined after
256 stripping the letter `r' from the invocation name. The following are
257 disabled in restricted mode:
258 · changing directories with the cd builtin
260 · changing or unsetting the EGID, EUID, GID, HISTFILE, HISTSIZE,
262 IFS, LD_AOUT_LIBRARY_PATH, LD_AOUT_PRELOAD, LD_LIBRARY_PATH,
263 LD_PRELOAD, MODULE_PATH, module_path, PATH, path, SHELL, UID and
264 USERNAME parameters
265 · specifying command names containing /
267 · specifying command pathnames using hash
269 · redirecting output to files
271 · using the exec builtin command to replace the shell with another
273 command
274 · using jobs -Z to overwrite the shell process' argument and envi‐
276 ronment space
277 · using the ARGV0 parameter to override argv[0] for external com‐
279 mands
280 · turning off restricted mode with set +r or unsetopt RESTRICTED
282 These restrictions are enforced after processing the startup files.
284 The startup files should set up PATH to point to a directory of com‐
285 mands which can be safely invoked in the restricted environment. They
286 may also add further restrictions by disabling selected builtins.
287 Restricted mode can also be activated any time by setting the
289 RESTRICTED option. This immediately enables all the restrictions
290 described above even if the shell still has not processed all startup
291 files.
292
294 Commands are first read from /etc/zshenv; this cannot be overridden.
295 Subsequent behaviour is modified by the RCS and GLOBAL_RCS options; the
296 former affects all startup files, while the second only affects global
297 startup files (those shown here with an path starting with a /). If
298 one of the options is unset at any point, any subsequent startup
299 file(s) of the corresponding type will not be read. It is also possi‐
300 ble for a file in $ZDOTDIR to re-enable GLOBAL_RCS. Both RCS and
301 GLOBAL_RCS are set by default.
302 Commands are then read from $ZDOTDIR/.zshenv. If the shell is a login
304 shell, commands are read from /etc/zprofile and then $ZDOTDIR/.zpro‐
305 file. Then, if the shell is interactive, commands are read from
306 /etc/zshrc and then $ZDOTDIR/.zshrc. Finally, if the shell is a login
307 shell, /etc/zlogin and $ZDOTDIR/.zlogin are read.
308 When a login shell exits, the files $ZDOTDIR/.zlogout and then
310 /etc/zlogout are read. This happens with either an explicit exit via
311 the exit or logout commands, or an implicit exit by reading end-of-file
312 from the terminal. However, if the shell terminates due to exec'ing
313 another process, the logout files are not read. These are also
314 affected by the RCS and GLOBAL_RCS options. Note also that the RCS
315 option affects the saving of history files, i.e. if RCS is unset when
316 the shell exits, no history file will be saved.
317 If ZDOTDIR is unset, HOME is used instead. Files listed above as being
319 in /etc may be in another directory, depending on the installation.
320 As /etc/zshenv is run for all instances of zsh, it is important that it
322 be kept as small as possible. In particular, it is a good idea to put
323 code that does not need to be run for every single shell behind a test
324 of the form `if [[ -o rcs ]]; then ...' so that it will not be executed
325 when zsh is invoked with the `-f' option.
326 Any of these files may be pre-compiled with the zcompile builtin com‐
328 mand (see zshbuiltins(1)). If a compiled file exists (named for the
329 original file plus the .zwc extension) and it is newer than the origi‐
330 nal file, the compiled file will be used instead.
331
333 $ZDOTDIR/.zshenv
334 $ZDOTDIR/.zprofile
335 $ZDOTDIR/.zshrc
336 $ZDOTDIR/.zlogin
337 $ZDOTDIR/.zlogout
338 ${TMPPREFIX}* (default is /tmp/zsh*)
339 /etc/zshenv
340 /etc/zprofile
341 /etc/zshrc
342 /etc/zlogin
343 /etc/zlogout (installation-specific - /etc is the default)
344
346 sh(1), csh(1), tcsh(1), rc(1), bash(1), ksh(1), zshall(1), zsh‐
347 builtins(1), zshcalsys(1), zshcompwid(1), zshcompsys(1), zshcompctl(1),
348 zshcontrib(1), zshexpn(1), zshmisc(1), zshmodules(1), zshoptions(1),
349 zshparam(1), zshroadmap(1), zshtcpsys(1), zshzftpsys(1), zshzle(1)
350 IEEE Standard for information Technology - Portable Operating System
352 Interface (POSIX) - Part 2: Shell and Utilities, IEEE Inc, 1993, ISBN
353 1-55937-255-9.
354zsh 5.5.1 April 16, 2018 ZSH(1)