1ZSHCONTRIB(1) General Commands Manual ZSHCONTRIB(1)
2
6 zshcontrib - user contributions to zsh
7
9 The Zsh source distribution includes a number of items contributed by
10 the user community. These are not inherently a part of the shell, and
11 some may not be available in every zsh installation. The most signifi‐
12 cant of these are documented here. For documentation on other contrib‐
13 uted items such as shell functions, look for comments in the function
14 source files.
15
17 Accessing On-Line Help
18 The key sequence ESC h is normally bound by ZLE to execute the run-help
19 widget (see zshzle(1)). This invokes the run-help command with the
20 command word from the current input line as its argument. By default,
21 run-help is an alias for the man command, so this often fails when the
22 command word is a shell builtin or a user-defined function. By re‐
23 defining the run-help alias, one can improve the on-line help provided
24 by the shell.
25 The helpfiles utility, found in the Util directory of the distribution,
27 is a Perl program that can be used to process the zsh manual to produce
28 a separate help file for each shell builtin and for many other shell
29 features as well. The autoloadable run-help function, found in Func‐
30 tions/Misc, searches for these helpfiles and performs several other
31 tests to produce the most complete help possible for the command.
32 Help files are installed by default to a subdirectory of /usr/share/zsh
34 or /usr/local/share/zsh.
35 To create your own help files with helpfiles, choose or create a direc‐
37 tory where the individual command help files will reside. For example,
38 you might choose ~/zsh_help. If you unpacked the zsh distribution in
39 your home directory, you would use the commands:
40 mkdir ~/zsh_help
42 perl ~/zsh-5.9/Util/helpfiles ~/zsh_help
43 The HELPDIR parameter tells run-help where to look for the help files.
45 When unset, it uses the default installation path. To use your own set
46 of help files, set this to the appropriate path in one of your startup
47 files:
48 HELPDIR=~/zsh_help
50 To use the run-help function, you need to add lines something like the
52 following to your .zshrc or equivalent startup file:
53 unalias run-help
55 autoload run-help
56 Note that in order for `autoload run-help' to work, the run-help file
58 must be in one of the directories named in your fpath array (see zsh‐
59 param(1)). This should already be the case if you have a standard zsh
60 installation; if it is not, copy Functions/Misc/run-help to an appro‐
61 priate directory.
62 Recompiling Functions
64 If you frequently edit your zsh functions, or periodically update your
65 zsh installation to track the latest developments, you may find that
66 function digests compiled with the zcompile builtin are frequently out
67 of date with respect to the function source files. This is not usually
68 a problem, because zsh always looks for the newest file when loading a
69 function, but it may cause slower shell startup and function loading.
70 Also, if a digest file is explicitly used as an element of fpath, zsh
71 won't check whether any of its source files has changed.
72 The zrecompile autoloadable function, found in Functions/Misc, can be
74 used to keep function digests up to date.
75 zrecompile [ -qt ] [ name ... ]
77 zrecompile [ -qt ] -p arg ... [ -- arg ... ]
78 This tries to find *.zwc files and automatically re-compile them
79 if at least one of the original files is newer than the compiled
80 file. This works only if the names stored in the compiled files
81 are full paths or are relative to the directory that contains
82 the .zwc file.
83 In the first form, each name is the name of a compiled file or a
85 directory containing *.zwc files that should be checked. If no
86 arguments are given, the directories and *.zwc files in fpath
87 are used.
88 When -t is given, no compilation is performed, but a return sta‐
90 tus of zero (true) is set if there are files that need to be
91 re-compiled and non-zero (false) otherwise. The -q option qui‐
92 ets the chatty output that describes what zrecompile is doing.
93 Without the -t option, the return status is zero if all files
95 that needed re-compilation could be compiled and non-zero if
96 compilation for at least one of the files failed.
97 If the -p option is given, the args are interpreted as one or
99 more sets of arguments for zcompile, separated by `--'. For ex‐
100 ample:
101 zrecompile -p \
103 -R ~/.zshrc -- \
104 -M ~/.zcompdump -- \
105 ~/zsh/comp.zwc ~/zsh/Completion/*/_*
106 This compiles ~/.zshrc into ~/.zshrc.zwc if that doesn't exist
108 or if it is older than ~/.zshrc. The compiled file will be
109 marked for reading instead of mapping. The same is done for
110 ~/.zcompdump and ~/.zcompdump.zwc, but this compiled file is
111 marked for mapping. The last line re-creates the file
112 ~/zsh/comp.zwc if any of the files matching the given pattern is
113 newer than it.
114 Without the -p option, zrecompile does not create function di‐
116 gests that do not already exist, nor does it add new functions
117 to the digest.
118 The following shell loop is an example of a method for creating func‐
120 tion digests for all functions in your fpath, assuming that you have
121 write permission to the directories:
122 for ((i=1; i <= $#fpath; ++i)); do
124 dir=$fpath[i]
125 zwc=${dir:t}.zwc
126 if [[ $dir == (.|..) || $dir == (.|..)/* ]]; then
127 continue
128 fi
129 files=($dir/*(N-.))
130 if [[ -w $dir:h && -n $files ]]; then
131 files=(${${(M)files%/*/*}#/})
132 if ( cd $dir:h &&
133 zrecompile -p -U -z $zwc $files ); then
134 fpath[i]=$fpath[i].zwc
135 fi
136 fi
137 done
138 The -U and -z options are appropriate for functions in the default zsh
140 installation fpath; you may need to use different options for your per‐
141 sonal function directories.
142 Once the digests have been created and your fpath modified to refer to
144 them, you can keep them up to date by running zrecompile with no argu‐
145 ments.
146 Keyboard Definition
148 The large number of possible combinations of keyboards, workstations,
149 terminals, emulators, and window systems makes it impossible for zsh to
150 have built-in key bindings for every situation. The zkbd utility,
151 found in Functions/Misc, can help you quickly create key bindings for
152 your configuration.
153 Run zkbd either as an autoloaded function, or as a shell script:
155 zsh -f ~/zsh-5.9/Functions/Misc/zkbd
157 When you run zkbd, it first asks you to enter your terminal type; if
159 the default it offers is correct, just press return. It then asks you
160 to press a number of different keys to determine characteristics of
161 your keyboard and terminal; zkbd warns you if it finds anything out of
162 the ordinary, such as a Delete key that sends neither ^H nor ^?.
163 The keystrokes read by zkbd are recorded as a definition for an asso‐
165 ciative array named key, written to a file in the subdirectory .zkbd
166 within either your HOME or ZDOTDIR directory. The name of the file is
167 composed from the TERM, VENDOR and OSTYPE parameters, joined by hy‐
168 phens.
169 You may read this file into your .zshrc or another startup file with
171 the `source' or `.' commands, then reference the key parameter in bind‐
172 key commands, like this:
173 source ${ZDOTDIR:-$HOME}/.zkbd/$TERM-$VENDOR-$OSTYPE
175 [[ -n ${key[Left]} ]] && bindkey "${key[Left]}" backward-char
176 [[ -n ${key[Right]} ]] && bindkey "${key[Right]}" forward-char
177 # etc.
178 Note that in order for `autoload zkbd' to work, the zkdb file must be
180 in one of the directories named in your fpath array (see zshparam(1)).
181 This should already be the case if you have a standard zsh installa‐
182 tion; if it is not, copy Functions/Misc/zkbd to an appropriate direc‐
183 tory.
184 Dumping Shell State
186 Occasionally you may encounter what appears to be a bug in the shell,
187 particularly if you are using a beta version of zsh or a development
188 release. Usually it is sufficient to send a description of the problem
189 to one of the zsh mailing lists (see zsh(1)), but sometimes one of the
190 zsh developers will need to recreate your environment in order to track
191 the problem down.
192 The script named reporter, found in the Util directory of the distribu‐
194 tion, is provided for this purpose. (It is also possible to autoload
195 reporter, but reporter is not installed in fpath by default.) This
196 script outputs a detailed dump of the shell state, in the form of an‐
197 other script that can be read with `zsh -f' to recreate that state.
198 To use reporter, read the script into your shell with the `.' command
200 and redirect the output into a file:
201 . ~/zsh-5.9/Util/reporter > zsh.report
203 You should check the zsh.report file for any sensitive information such
205 as passwords and delete them by hand before sending the script to the
206 developers. Also, as the output can be voluminous, it's best to wait
207 for the developers to ask for this information before sending it.
208 You can also use reporter to dump only a subset of the shell state.
210 This is sometimes useful for creating startup files for the first time.
211 Most of the output from reporter is far more detailed than usually is
212 necessary for a startup file, but the aliases, options, and zstyles
213 states may be useful because they include only changes from the de‐
214 faults. The bindings state may be useful if you have created any of
215 your own keymaps, because reporter arranges to dump the keymap creation
216 commands as well as the bindings for every keymap.
217 As is usual with automated tools, if you create a startup file with re‐
219 porter, you should edit the results to remove unnecessary commands.
220 Note that if you're using the new completion system, you should not
221 dump the functions state to your startup files with reporter; use the
222 compdump function instead (see zshcompsys(1)).
223 reporter [ state ... ]
225 Print to standard output the indicated subset of the current
226 shell state. The state arguments may be one or more of:
227 all Output everything listed below.
229 aliases
230 Output alias definitions.
231 bindings
232 Output ZLE key maps and bindings.
233 completion
234 Output old-style compctl commands. New completion is
235 covered by functions and zstyles.
236 functions
237 Output autoloads and function definitions.
238 limits Output limit commands.
239 options
240 Output setopt commands.
241 styles Same as zstyles.
242 variables
243 Output shell parameter assignments, plus export commands
244 for any environment variables.
245 zstyles
246 Output zstyle commands.
247 If the state is omitted, all is assumed.
249 With the exception of `all', every state can be abbreviated by any pre‐
251 fix, even a single letter; thus a is the same as aliases, z is the same
252 as zstyles, etc.
253 Manipulating Hook Functions
255 add-zsh-hook [ -L | -dD ] [ -Uzk ] hook function
256 Several functions are special to the shell, as described in the
257 section SPECIAL FUNCTIONS, see zshmisc(1), in that they are au‐
258 tomatically called at specific points during shell execution.
259 Each has an associated array consisting of names of functions to
260 be called at the same point; these are so-called `hook func‐
261 tions'. The shell function add-zsh-hook provides a simple way
262 of adding or removing functions from the array.
263 hook is one of chpwd, periodic, precmd, preexec, zshaddhistory,
265 zshexit, or zsh_directory_name, the special functions in ques‐
266 tion. Note that zsh_directory_name is called in a different way
267 from the other functions, but may still be manipulated as a
268 hook.
269 function is name of an ordinary shell function. If no options
271 are given this will be added to the array of functions to be ex‐
272 ecuted in the given context. Functions are invoked in the order
273 they were added.
274 If the option -L is given, the current values for the hook ar‐
276 rays are listed with typeset.
277 If the option -d is given, the function is removed from the ar‐
279 ray of functions to be executed.
280 If the option -D is given, the function is treated as a pattern
282 and any matching names of functions are removed from the array
283 of functions to be executed.
284 The options -U, -z and -k are passed as arguments to autoload
286 for function. For functions contributed with zsh, the options
287 -Uz are appropriate.
288 add-zle-hook-widget [ -L | -dD ] [ -Uzk ] hook widgetname
290 Several widget names are special to the line editor, as de‐
291 scribed in the section Special Widgets, see zshzle(1), in that
292 they are automatically called at specific points during editing.
293 Unlike function hooks, these do not use a predefined array of
294 other names to call at the same point; the shell function
295 add-zle-hook-widget maintains a similar array and arranges for
296 the special widget to invoke those additional widgets.
297 hook is one of isearch-exit, isearch-update, line-pre-redraw,
299 line-init, line-finish, history-line-set, or keymap-select, cor‐
300 responding to each of the special widgets zle-isearch-exit, etc.
301 The special widget names are also accepted as the hook argument.
302 widgetname is the name of a ZLE widget. If no options are given
304 this is added to the array of widgets to be invoked in the given
305 hook context. Widgets are invoked in the order they were added,
306 with
307 zle widgetname -Nw -f "nolast" -- "$@"
308 Note that this means that the `WIDGET' special parameter tracks
310 the widgetname when the widget function is called, rather than
311 tracking the name of the corresponding special hook widget.
312 If the option -d is given, the widgetname is removed from the
314 array of widgets to be executed.
315 If the option -D is given, the widgetname is treated as a pat‐
317 tern and any matching names of widgets are removed from the ar‐
318 ray.
319 If widgetname does not name an existing widget when added to the
321 array, it is assumed that a shell function also named widgetname
322 is meant to provide the implementation of the widget. This name
323 is therefore marked for autoloading, and the options -U, -z and
324 -k are passed as arguments to autoload as with add-zsh-hook.
325 The widget is also created with `zle -N widgetname' to cause the
326 corresponding function to be loaded the first time the hook is
327 called.
328 The arrays of widgetname are currently maintained in zstyle con‐
330 texts, one for each hook context, with a style of `widgets'. If
331 the -L option is given, this set of styles is listed with
332 `zstyle -L'. This implementation may change, and the special
333 widgets that refer to the styles are created only if
334 add-zle-hook-widget is called to add at least one widget, so if
335 this function is used for any hooks, then all hooks should be
336 managed only via this function.
337
339 The function cdr allows you to change the working directory to a previ‐
340 ous working directory from a list maintained automatically. It is sim‐
341 ilar in concept to the directory stack controlled by the pushd, popd
342 and dirs builtins, but is more configurable, and as it stores all en‐
343 tries in files it is maintained across sessions and (by default) be‐
344 tween terminal emulators in the current session. Duplicates are auto‐
345 matically removed, so that the list reflects the single most recent use
346 of each directory.
347 Note that the pushd directory stack is not actually modified or used by
349 cdr unless you configure it to do so as described in the configuration
350 section below.
351 Installation
353 The system works by means of a hook function that is called every time
354 the directory changes. To install the system, autoload the required
355 functions and use the add-zsh-hook function described above:
356 autoload -Uz chpwd_recent_dirs cdr add-zsh-hook
358 add-zsh-hook chpwd chpwd_recent_dirs
359 Now every time you change directly interactively, no matter which com‐
361 mand you use, the directory to which you change will be remembered in
362 most-recent-first order.
363 Use
365 All direct user interaction is via the cdr function.
366 The argument to cdr is a number N corresponding to the Nth most re‐
368 cently changed-to directory. 1 is the immediately preceding directory;
369 the current directory is remembered but is not offered as a destina‐
370 tion. Note that if you have multiple windows open 1 may refer to a di‐
371 rectory changed to in another window; you can avoid this by having
372 per-terminal files for storing directory as described for the re‐
373 cent-dirs-file style below.
374 If you set the recent-dirs-default style described below cdr will be‐
376 have the same as cd if given a non-numeric argument, or more than one
377 argument. The recent directory list is updated just the same however
378 you change directory.
379 If the argument is omitted, 1 is assumed. This is similar to pushd's
381 behaviour of swapping the two most recent directories on the stack.
382 Completion for the argument to cdr is available if compinit has been
384 run; menu selection is recommended, using:
385 zstyle ':completion:*:*:cdr:*:*' menu selection
387 to allow you to cycle through recent directories; the order is pre‐
389 served, so the first choice is the most recent directory before the
390 current one. The verbose style is also recommended to ensure the di‐
391 rectory is shown; this style is on by default so no action is required
392 unless you have changed it.
393 Options
395 The behaviour of cdr may be modified by the following options.
396 -l lists the numbers and the corresponding directories in abbrevi‐
398 ated form (i.e. with ~ substitution reapplied), one per line.
399 The directories here are not quoted (this would only be an issue
400 if a directory name contained a newline). This is used by the
401 completion system.
402 -r sets the variable reply to the current set of directories.
404 Nothing is printed and the directory is not changed.
405 -e allows you to edit the list of directories, one per line. The
407 list can be edited to any extent you like; no sanity checking is
408 performed. Completion is available. No quoting is necessary
409 (except for newlines, where I have in any case no sympathy); di‐
410 rectories are in unabbreviated form and contain an absolute
411 path, i.e. they start with /. Usually the first entry should be
412 left as the current directory.
413 -p 'pattern'
415 Prunes any items in the directory list that match the given ex‐
416 tended glob pattern; the pattern needs to be quoted from immedi‐
417 ate expansion on the command line. The pattern is matched
418 against each completely expanded file name in the list; the full
419 string must match, so wildcards at the end (e.g. '*removeme*')
420 are needed to remove entries with a given substring.
421 If output is to a terminal, then the function will print the new
423 list after pruning and prompt for confirmation by the user.
424 This output and confirmation step can be skipped by using -P in‐
425 stead of -p.
426 Configuration
428 Configuration is by means of the styles mechanism that should be famil‐
429 iar from completion; if not, see the description of the zstyle command
430 in see zshmodules(1). The context for setting styles should be ':ch‐
431 pwd:*' in case the meaning of the context is extended in future, for
432 example:
433 zstyle ':chpwd:*' recent-dirs-max 0
435 sets the value of the recent-dirs-max style to 0. In practice the
437 style name is specific enough that a context of '*' should be fine.
438 An exception is recent-dirs-insert, which is used exclusively by the
440 completion system and so has the usual completion system context
441 (':completion:*' if nothing more specific is needed), though again '*'
442 should be fine in practice.
443 recent-dirs-default
445 If true, and the command is expecting a recent directory index,
446 and either there is more than one argument or the argument is
447 not an integer, then fall through to "cd". This allows the lazy
448 to use only one command for directory changing. Completion
449 recognises this, too; see recent-dirs-insert for how to control
450 completion when this option is in use.
451 recent-dirs-file
453 The file where the list of directories is saved. The default is
454 ${ZDOTDIR:-$HOME}/.chpwd-recent-dirs, i.e. this is in your home
455 directory unless you have set the variable ZDOTDIR to point
456 somewhere else. Directory names are saved in $'...' quoted
457 form, so each line in the file can be supplied directly to the
458 shell as an argument.
459 The value of this style may be an array. In this case, the
461 first file in the list will always be used for saving directo‐
462 ries while any other files are left untouched. When reading the
463 recent directory list, if there are fewer than the maximum num‐
464 ber of entries in the first file, the contents of later files in
465 the array will be appended with duplicates removed from the list
466 shown. The contents of the two files are not sorted together,
467 i.e. all the entries in the first file are shown first. The
468 special value + can appear in the list to indicate the default
469 file should be read at that point. This allows effects like the
470 following:
471 zstyle ':chpwd:*' recent-dirs-file \
473 ~/.chpwd-recent-dirs-${TTY##*/} +
474 Recent directories are read from a file numbered according to
476 the terminal. If there are insufficient entries the list is
477 supplemented from the default file.
478 It is possible to use zstyle -e to make the directory config‐
480 urable at run time:
481 zstyle -e ':chpwd:*' recent-dirs-file pick-recent-dirs-file
483 pick-recent-dirs-file() {
484 if [[ $PWD = ~/text/writing(|/*) ]]; then
485 reply=(~/.chpwd-recent-dirs-writing)
486 else
487 reply=(+)
488 fi
489 }
490 In this example, if the current directory is ~/text/writing or a
492 directory under it, then use a special file for saving recent
493 directories, else use the default.
494 recent-dirs-insert
496 Used by completion. If recent-dirs-default is true, then set‐
497 ting this to true causes the actual directory, rather than its
498 index, to be inserted on the command line; this has the same ef‐
499 fect as using the corresponding index, but makes the history
500 clearer and the line easier to edit. With this setting, if part
501 of an argument was already typed, normal directory completion
502 rather than recent directory completion is done; this is because
503 recent directory completion is expected to be done by cycling
504 through entries menu fashion.
505 If the value of the style is always, then only recent directo‐
507 ries will be completed; in that case, use the cd command when
508 you want to complete other directories.
509 If the value is fallback, recent directories will be tried
511 first, then normal directory completion is performed if recent
512 directory completion failed to find a match.
513 Finally, if the value is both then both sets of completions are
515 presented; the usual tag mechanism can be used to distinguish
516 results, with recent directories tagged as recent-dirs. Note
517 that the recent directories inserted are abbreviated with direc‐
518 tory names where appropriate.
519 recent-dirs-max
521 The maximum number of directories to save to the file. If this
522 is zero or negative there is no maximum. The default is 20.
523 Note this includes the current directory, which isn't offered,
524 so the highest number of directories you will be offered is one
525 less than the maximum.
526 recent-dirs-prune
528 This style is an array determining what directories should (or
529 should not) be added to the recent list. Elements of the array
530 can include:
531 parent Prune parents (more accurately, ancestors) from the re‐
533 cent list. If present, changing directly down by any
534 number of directories causes the current directory to be
535 overwritten. For example, changing from ~pws to
536 ~pws/some/other/dir causes ~pws not to be left on the re‐
537 cent directory stack. This only applies to direct
538 changes to descendant directories; earlier directories on
539 the list are not pruned. For example, changing from
540 ~pws/yet/another to ~pws/some/other/dir does not cause
541 ~pws to be pruned.
542 pattern:pattern
544 Gives a zsh pattern for directories that should not be
545 added to the recent list (if not already there). This
546 element can be repeated to add different patterns. For
547 example, 'pattern:/tmp(|/*)' stops /tmp or its descen‐
548 dants from being added. The EXTENDED_GLOB option is al‐
549 ways turned on for these patterns.
550 recent-dirs-pushd
552 If set to true, cdr will use pushd instead of cd to change the
553 directory, so the directory is saved on the directory stack. As
554 the directory stack is completely separate from the list of
555 files saved by the mechanism used in this file there is no obvi‐
556 ous reason to do this.
557 Use with dynamic directory naming
559 It is possible to refer to recent directories using the dynamic direc‐
560 tory name syntax by using the supplied function zsh_directory_name_cdr
561 a hook:
562 autoload -Uz add-zsh-hook
564 add-zsh-hook -Uz zsh_directory_name zsh_directory_name_cdr
565 When this is done, ~[1] will refer to the most recent directory other
567 than $PWD, and so on. Completion after ~[... also works.
568 Details of directory handling
570 This section is for the curious or confused; most users will not need
571 to know this information.
572 Recent directories are saved to a file immediately and hence are pre‐
574 served across sessions. Note currently no file locking is applied: the
575 list is updated immediately on interactive commands and nowhere else
576 (unlike history), and it is assumed you are only going to change direc‐
577 tory in one window at once. This is not safe on shared accounts, but
578 in any case the system has limited utility when someone else is chang‐
579 ing to a different set of directories behind your back.
580 To make this a little safer, only directory changes instituted from the
582 command line, either directly or indirectly through shell function
583 calls (but not through subshells, evals, traps, completion functions
584 and the like) are saved. Shell functions should use cd -q or pushd -q
585 to avoid side effects if the change to the directory is to be invisible
586 at the command line. See the contents of the function chpwd_re‐
587 cent_dirs for more details.
588
590 The dynamic directory naming system is described in the subsection Dy‐
591 namic named directories of the section Filename Expansion in zsh‐
592 expn(1). In this, a reference to ~[...] is expanded by a function
593 found by the hooks mechanism.
594 The contributed function zsh_directory_name_generic provides a system
596 allowing the user to refer to directories with only a limited amount of
597 new code. It supports all three of the standard interfaces for direc‐
598 tory naming: converting from a name to a directory, converting in the
599 reverse direction to find a short name, and completion of names.
600 The main feature of this function is a path-like syntax, combining ab‐
602 breviations at multiple levels separated by ":". As an example,
603 ~[g:p:s] might specify:
604 g The top level directory for your git area. This first component
605 has to match, or the function will return indicating another di‐
606 rectory name hook function should be tried.
607 p The name of a project within your git area.
609 s The source area within that project. This allows you to col‐
611 lapse references to long hierarchies to a very compact form,
612 particularly if the hierarchies are similar across different ar‐
613 eas of the disk.
614 Name components may be completed: if a description is shown at the top
616 of the list of completions, it includes the path to which previous com‐
617 ponents expand, while the description for an individual completion
618 shows the path segment it would add. No additional configuration is
619 needed for this as the completion system is aware of the dynamic direc‐
620 tory name mechanism.
621 Usage
623 To use the function, first define a wrapper function for your specific
624 case. We'll assume it's to be autoloaded. This can have any name but
625 we'll refer to it as zdn_mywrapper. This wrapper function will define
626 various variables and then call this function with the same arguments
627 that the wrapper function gets. This configuration is described below.
628 Then arrange for the wrapper to be run as a zsh_directory_name hook:
630 autoload -Uz add-zsh-hook zsh_directory_name_generic zdn_mywrapper
632 add-zsh-hook -U zsh_directory_name zdn_mywrapper
633 Configuration
635 The wrapper function should define a local associative array zdn_top.
636 Alternatively, this can be set with a style called mapping. The con‐
637 text for the style is :zdn:wrapper-name where wrapper-name is the func‐
638 tion calling zsh_directory_name_generic; for example:
639 zstyle :zdn:zdn_mywrapper: mapping zdn_mywrapper_top
641 The keys in this associative array correspond to the first component of
643 the name. The values are matching directories. They may have an op‐
644 tional suffix with a slash followed by a colon and the name of a vari‐
645 able in the same format to give the next component. (The slash before
646 the colon is to disambiguate the case where a colon is needed in the
647 path for a drive. There is otherwise no syntax for escaping this, so
648 path components whose names start with a colon are not supported.) A
649 special component :default: specifies a variable in the form /:var (the
650 path section is ignored and so is usually empty) that will be used for
651 the next component if no variable is given for the path. Variables re‐
652 ferred to within zdn_top have the same format as zdn_top itself, but
653 contain relative paths.
654 For example,
656 local -A zdn_top=(
658 g ~/git
659 ga ~/alternate/git
660 gs /scratch/$USER/git/:second2
661 :default: /:second1
662 )
663 This specifies the behaviour of a directory referred to as ~[g:...] or
665 ~[ga:...] or ~[gs:...]. Later path components are optional; in that
666 case ~[g] expands to ~/git, and so on. gs expands to
667 /scratch/$USER/git and uses the associative array second2 to match the
668 second component; g and ga use the associative array second1 to match
669 the second component.
670 When expanding a name to a directory, if the first component is not g
672 or ga or gs, it is not an error; the function simply returns 1 so that
673 a later hook function can be tried. However, matching the first compo‐
674 nent commits the function, so if a later component does not match, an
675 error is printed (though this still does not stop later hooks from be‐
676 ing executed).
677 For components after the first, a relative path is expected, but note
679 that multiple levels may still appear. Here is an example of second1:
680 local -A second1=(
682 p myproject
683 s somproject
684 os otherproject/subproject/:third
685 )
686 The path as found from zdn_top is extended with the matching directory,
688 so ~[g:p] becomes ~/git/myproject. The slash between is added automat‐
689 ically (it's not possible to have a later component modify the name of
690 a directory already matched). Only os specifies a variable for a third
691 component, and there's no :default:, so it's an error to use a name
692 like ~[g:p:x] or ~[ga:s:y] because there's nowhere to look up the x or
693 y.
694 The associative arrays need to be visible within this function; the
696 generic function therefore uses internal variable names beginning _zdn_
697 in order to avoid clashes. Note that the variable reply needs to be
698 passed back to the shell, so should not be local in the calling func‐
699 tion.
700 The function does not test whether directories assembled by component
702 actually exist; this allows the system to work across automounted file
703 systems. The error from the command trying to use a non-existent di‐
704 rectory should be sufficient to indicate the problem.
705 Complete example
707 Here is a full fictitious but usable autoloadable definition of the ex‐
708 ample function defined by the code above. So ~[gs:p:s] expands to
709 /scratch/$USER/git/myscratchproject/top/srcdir (with $USER also ex‐
710 panded).
711 local -A zdn_top=(
713 g ~/git
714 ga ~/alternate/git
715 gs /scratch/$USER/git/:second2
716 :default: /:second1
717 )
718 local -A second1=(
720 p myproject
721 s somproject
722 os otherproject/subproject/:third
723 )
724 local -A second2=(
726 p myscratchproject
727 s somescratchproject
728 )
729 local -A third=(
731 s top/srcdir
732 d top/documentation
733 )
734 # autoload not needed if you did this at initialisation...
736 autoload -Uz zsh_directory_name_generic
737 zsh_directory_name_generic "$@
738 It is also possible to use global associative arrays, suitably named,
740 and set the style for the context of your wrapper function to refer to
741 this. Then your set up code would contain the following:
742 typeset -A zdn_mywrapper_top=(...)
744 # ... and so on for other associative arrays ...
745 zstyle ':zdn:zdn_mywrapper:' mapping zdn_mywrapper_top
746 autoload -Uz add-zsh-hook zsh_directory_name_generic zdn_mywrapper
747 add-zsh-hook -U zsh_directory_name zdn_mywrapper
748 and the function zdn_mywrapper would contain only the following:
750 zsh_directory_name_generic "$@"
752
754 In a lot of cases, it is nice to automatically retrieve information
755 from version control systems (VCSs), such as subversion, CVS or git, to
756 be able to provide it to the user; possibly in the user's prompt. So
757 that you can instantly tell which branch you are currently on, for ex‐
758 ample.
759 In order to do that, you may use the vcs_info function.
761 The following VCSs are supported, showing the abbreviated name by which
763 they are referred to within the system:
764 Bazaar (bzr)
765 https://bazaar.canonical.com/
766 Codeville (cdv)
767 http://freecode.com/projects/codeville/
768 Concurrent Versioning System (cvs)
769 https://www.nongnu.org/cvs/
770 Darcs (darcs)
771 http://darcs.net/
772 Fossil (fossil)
773 https://fossil-scm.org/
774 Git (git)
775 https://git-scm.com/
776 GNU arch (tla)
777 https://www.gnu.org/software/gnu-arch/
778 Mercurial (hg)
779 https://www.mercurial-scm.org/
780 Monotone (mtn)
781 https://monotone.ca/
782 Perforce (p4)
783 https://www.perforce.com/
784 Subversion (svn)
785 https://subversion.apache.org/
786 SVK (svk)
787 https://svk.bestpractical.com/
788 There is also support for the patch management system quilt
790 (https://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/quilt). See Quilt Support below
791 for details.
792 To load vcs_info:
794 autoload -Uz vcs_info
796 It can be used in any existing prompt, because it does not require any
798 specific $psvar entries to be available.
799 Quickstart
801 To get this feature working quickly (including colors), you can do the
802 following (assuming, you loaded vcs_info properly - see above):
803 zstyle ':vcs_info:*' actionformats \
805 '%F{5}(%f%s%F{5})%F{3}-%F{5}[%F{2}%b%F{3}|%F{1}%a%F{5}]%f '
806 zstyle ':vcs_info:*' formats \
807 '%F{5}(%f%s%F{5})%F{3}-%F{5}[%F{2}%b%F{5}]%f '
808 zstyle ':vcs_info:(sv[nk]|bzr):*' branchformat '%b%F{1}:%F{3}%r'
809 precmd () { vcs_info }
810 PS1='%F{5}[%F{2}%n%F{5}] %F{3}%3~ ${vcs_info_msg_0_}%f%# '
811 Obviously, the last two lines are there for demonstration. You need to
813 call vcs_info from your precmd function. Once that is done you need a
814 single quoted '${vcs_info_msg_0_}' in your prompt.
815 To be able to use '${vcs_info_msg_0_}' directly in your prompt like
817 this, you will need to have the PROMPT_SUBST option enabled.
818 Now call the vcs_info_printsys utility from the command line:
820 % vcs_info_printsys
822 ## list of supported version control backends:
823 ## disabled systems are prefixed by a hash sign (#)
824 bzr
825 cdv
826 cvs
827 darcs
828 fossil
829 git
830 hg
831 mtn
832 p4
833 svk
834 svn
835 tla
836 ## flavours (cannot be used in the enable or disable styles; they
837 ## are enabled and disabled with their master [git-svn -> git])
838 ## they *can* be used in contexts: ':vcs_info:git-svn:*'.
839 git-p4
840 git-svn
841 hg-git
842 hg-hgsubversion
843 hg-hgsvn
844 You may not want all of these because there is no point in running the
846 code to detect systems you do not use. So there is a way to disable
847 some backends altogether:
848 zstyle ':vcs_info:*' disable bzr cdv darcs mtn svk tla
850 You may also pick a few from that list and enable only those:
852 zstyle ':vcs_info:*' enable git cvs svn
854 If you rerun vcs_info_printsys after one of these commands, you will
856 see the backends listed in the disable style (or backends not in the
857 enable style - if you used that) marked as disabled by a hash sign.
858 That means the detection of these systems is skipped completely. No
859 wasted time there.
860 Configuration
862 The vcs_info feature can be configured via zstyle.
863 First, the context in which we are working:
865 :vcs_info:vcs-string:user-context:repo-root-name
866 vcs-string
868 is one of: git, git-svn, git-p4, hg, hg-git, hg-hgsubversion,
869 hg-hgsvn, darcs, bzr, cdv, mtn, svn, cvs, svk, tla, p4 or fos‐
870 sil. This is followed by `.quilt-quilt-mode' in Quilt mode (see
871 Quilt Support for details) and by `+hook-name' while hooks are
872 active (see Hooks in vcs_info for details).
873 Currently, hooks in quilt mode don't add the `.quilt-quilt-mode'
875 information. This may change in the future.
876 user-context
878 is a freely configurable string, assignable by the user as the
879 first argument to vcs_info (see its description below).
880 repo-root-name
882 is the name of a repository in which you want a style to match.
883 So, if you want a setting specific to /usr/src/zsh, with that
884 being a CVS checkout, you can set repo-root-name to zsh to make
885 it so.
886 There are three special values for vcs-string: The first is named
888 -init-, that is in effect as long as there was no decision what VCS
889 backend to use. The second is -preinit-; it is used before vcs_info is
890 run, when initializing the data exporting variables. The third special
891 value is formats and is used by the vcs_info_lastmsg for looking up its
892 styles.
893 The initial value of repo-root-name is -all- and it is replaced with
895 the actual name, as soon as it is known. Only use this part of the con‐
896 text for defining the formats, actionformats or branchformat styles, as
897 it is guaranteed that repo-root-name is set up correctly for these
898 only. For all other styles, just use '*' instead.
899 There are two pre-defined values for user-context:
901 default
902 the one used if none is specified
903 command
904 used by vcs_info_lastmsg to lookup its styles
905 You can of course use ':vcs_info:*' to match all VCSs in all user-con‐
907 texts at once.
908 This is a description of all styles that are looked up.
910 formats
912 A list of formats, used when actionformats is not used (which is
913 most of the time).
914 actionformats
916 A list of formats, used if there is a special action going on in
917 your current repository; like an interactive rebase or a merge
918 conflict.
919 branchformat
921 Some backends replace %b in the formats and actionformats styles
922 above, not only by a branch name but also by a revision number.
923 This style lets you modify how that string should look.
924 nvcsformats
926 These "formats" are set when we didn't detect a version control
927 system for the current directory or vcs_info was disabled. This
928 is useful if you want vcs_info to completely take over the gen‐
929 eration of your prompt. You would do something like
930 PS1='${vcs_info_msg_0_}' to accomplish that.
931 hgrevformat
933 hg uses both a hash and a revision number to reference a spe‐
934 cific changeset in a repository. With this style you can format
935 the revision string (see branchformat) to include either or
936 both. It's only useful when get-revision is true. Note, the full
937 40-character revision id is not available (except when using the
938 use-simple option) because executing hg more than once per
939 prompt is too slow; you may customize this behavior using hooks.
940 max-exports
942 Defines the maximum number of vcs_info_msg_*_ variables vcs_info
943 will set.
944 enable A list of backends you want to use. Checked in the -init- con‐
946 text. If this list contains an item called NONE no backend is
947 used at all and vcs_info will do nothing. If this list contains
948 ALL, vcs_info will use all known backends. Only with ALL in en‐
949 able will the disable style have any effect. ALL and NONE are
950 case insensitive.
951 disable
953 A list of VCSs you don't want vcs_info to test for repositories
954 (checked in the -init- context, too). Only used if enable con‐
955 tains ALL.
956 disable-patterns
958 A list of patterns that are checked against $PWD. If a pattern
959 matches, vcs_info will be disabled. This style is checked in the
960 :vcs_info:-init-:*:-all- context.
961 Say, ~/.zsh is a directory under version control, in which you
963 do not want vcs_info to be active, do:
964 zstyle ':vcs_info:*' disable-patterns "${(b)HOME}/.zsh(|/*)"
965 use-quilt
967 If enabled, the quilt support code is active in `addon' mode.
968 See Quilt Support for details.
969 quilt-standalone
971 If enabled, `standalone' mode detection is attempted if no VCS
972 is active in a given directory. See Quilt Support for details.
973 quilt-patch-dir
975 Overwrite the value of the $QUILT_PATCHES environment variable.
976 See Quilt Support for details.
977 quiltcommand
979 When quilt itself is called in quilt support, the value of this
980 style is used as the command name.
981 check-for-changes
983 If enabled, this style causes the %c and %u format escapes to
984 show when the working directory has uncommitted changes. The
985 strings displayed by these escapes can be controlled via the
986 stagedstr and unstagedstr styles. The only backends that cur‐
987 rently support this option are git, hg, and bzr (the latter two
988 only support unstaged).
989 For this style to be evaluated with the hg backend, the get-re‐
991 vision style needs to be set and the use-simple style needs to
992 be unset. The latter is the default; the former is not.
993 With the bzr backend, lightweight checkouts only honor this
995 style if the use-server style is set.
996 Note, the actions taken if this style is enabled are potentially
998 expensive (read: they may be slow, depending on how big the cur‐
999 rent repository is). Therefore, it is disabled by default.
1000 check-for-staged-changes
1002 This style is like check-for-changes, but it never checks the
1003 worktree files, only the metadata in the .${vcs} dir. There‐
1004 fore, this style initializes only the %c escape (with stagedstr)
1005 but not the %u escape. This style is faster than
1006 check-for-changes.
1007 In the git backend, this style checks for changes in the index.
1009 Other backends do not currently implement this style.
1010 This style is disabled by default.
1012 stagedstr
1014 This string will be used in the %c escape if there are staged
1015 changes in the repository.
1016 unstagedstr
1018 This string will be used in the %u escape if there are unstaged
1019 changes in the repository.
1020 command
1022 This style causes vcs_info to use the supplied string as the
1023 command to use as the VCS's binary. Note, that setting this in
1024 ':vcs_info:*' is not a good idea.
1025 If the value of this style is empty (which is the default), the
1027 used binary name is the name of the backend in use (e.g. svn is
1028 used in an svn repository).
1029 The repo-root-name part in the context is always the default
1031 -all- when this style is looked up.
1032 For example, this style can be used to use binaries from non-de‐
1034 fault installation directories. Assume, git is installed in
1035 /usr/bin but your sysadmin installed a newer version in /usr/lo‐
1036 cal/bin. Instead of changing the order of your $PATH parameter,
1037 you can do this:
1038 zstyle ':vcs_info:git:*:-all-' command /usr/local/bin/git
1039 use-server
1041 This is used by the Perforce backend (p4) to decide if it should
1042 contact the Perforce server to find out if a directory is man‐
1043 aged by Perforce. This is the only reliable way of doing this,
1044 but runs the risk of a delay if the server name cannot be found.
1045 If the server (more specifically, the host:port pair describing
1046 the server) cannot be contacted, its name is put into the asso‐
1047 ciative array vcs_info_p4_dead_servers and is not contacted
1048 again during the session until it is removed by hand. If you do
1049 not set this style, the p4 backend is only usable if you have
1050 set the environment variable P4CONFIG to a file name and have
1051 corresponding files in the root directories of each Perforce
1052 client. See comments in the function VCS_INFO_detect_p4 for
1053 more detail.
1054 The Bazaar backend (bzr) uses this to permit contacting the
1056 server about lightweight checkouts, see the check-for-changes
1057 style.
1058 use-simple
1060 If there are two different ways of gathering information, you
1061 can select the simpler one by setting this style to true; the
1062 default is to use the not-that-simple code, which is potentially
1063 a lot slower but might be more accurate in all possible cases.
1064 This style is used by the bzr, hg, and git backends. In the case
1065 of hg it will invoke the external hexdump program to parse the
1066 binary dirstate cache file; this method will not return the lo‐
1067 cal revision number.
1068 get-revision
1070 If set to true, vcs_info goes the extra mile to figure out the
1071 revision of a repository's work tree (currently for the git and
1072 hg backends, where this kind of information is not always vi‐
1073 tal). For git, the hash value of the currently checked out com‐
1074 mit is available via the %i expansion. With hg, the local revi‐
1075 sion number and the corresponding global hash are available via
1076 %i.
1077 get-mq If set to true, the hg backend will look for a Mercurial Queue
1079 (mq) patch directory. Information will be available via the `%m'
1080 replacement.
1081 get-bookmarks
1083 If set to true, the hg backend will try to get a list of current
1084 bookmarks. They will be available via the `%m' replacement.
1085 The default is to generate a comma-separated list of all book‐
1087 mark names that refer to the currently checked out revision. If
1088 a bookmark is active, its name is suffixed an asterisk and
1089 placed first in the list.
1090 use-prompt-escapes
1092 Determines if we assume that the assembled string from vcs_info
1093 includes prompt escapes. (Used by vcs_info_lastmsg.)
1094 debug Enable debugging output to track possible problems. Currently
1096 this style is only used by vcs_info's hooks system.
1097 hooks A list style that defines hook-function names. See Hooks in
1099 vcs_info below for details.
1100 patch-format
1102 nopatch-format
1103 This pair of styles format the patch information used by the %m
1104 expando in formats and actionformats for the git and hg back‐
1105 ends. The value is subject to certain %-expansions described
1106 below. The expanded value is made available in the global back‐
1107 end_misc array as ${backend_misc[patches]} (also if a
1108 set-patch-format hook is used).
1109 get-unapplied
1111 This boolean style controls whether a backend should attempt to
1112 gather a list of unapplied patches (for example with Mercurial
1113 Queue patches).
1114 Used by the quilt, hg, and git backends.
1116 The default values for these styles in all contexts are:
1118 formats
1120 " (%s)-[%b]%u%c-"
1121 actionformats
1122 " (%s)-[%b|%a]%u%c-"
1123 branchformat
1124 "%b:%r" (for bzr, svn, svk and hg)
1125 nvcsformats
1126 ""
1127 hgrevformat
1128 "%r:%h"
1129 max-exports
1130 2
1131 enable ALL
1132 disable
1133 (empty list)
1134 disable-patterns
1135 (empty list)
1136 check-for-changes
1137 false
1138 check-for-staged-changes
1139 false
1140 stagedstr
1141 (string: "S")
1142 unstagedstr
1143 (string: "U")
1144 command
1145 (empty string)
1146 use-server
1147 false
1148 use-simple
1149 false
1150 get-revision
1151 false
1152 get-mq true
1153 get-bookmarks
1154 false
1155 use-prompt-escapes
1156 true
1157 debug false
1158 hooks (empty list)
1159 use-quilt
1160 false
1161 quilt-standalone
1162 false
1163 quilt-patch-dir
1164 empty - use $QUILT_PATCHES
1165 quiltcommand
1166 quilt
1167 patch-format
1168 backend dependent
1169 nopatch-format
1170 backend dependent
1171 get-unapplied
1172 false
1173 In normal formats and actionformats the following replacements are
1175 done:
1176 %s The VCS in use (git, hg, svn, etc.).
1178 %b Information about the current branch.
1179 %a An identifier that describes the action. Only makes sense in ac‐
1180 tionformats.
1181 %i The current revision number or identifier. For hg the hgrevfor‐
1182 mat style may be used to customize the output.
1183 %c The string from the stagedstr style if there are staged changes
1184 in the repository.
1185 %u The string from the unstagedstr style if there are unstaged
1186 changes in the repository.
1187 %R The base directory of the repository.
1188 %r The repository name. If %R is /foo/bar/repoXY, %r is repoXY.
1189 %S A subdirectory within a repository. If $PWD is /foo/bar/re‐
1190 poXY/beer/tasty, %S is beer/tasty.
1191 %m A "misc" replacement. It is at the discretion of the backend to
1192 decide what this replacement expands to.
1193 The hg and git backends use this expando to display patch infor‐
1195 mation. hg sources patch information from the mq extensions;
1196 git from in-progress rebase and cherry-pick operations and from
1197 the stgit extension. The patch-format and nopatch-format styles
1198 control the generated string. The former is used when at least
1199 one patch from the patch queue has been applied, and the latter
1200 otherwise.
1201 The hg backend displays bookmark information in this expando (in
1203 addition to mq information). See the get-mq and get-bookmarks
1204 styles. Both of these styles may be enabled at the same time.
1205 If both are enabled, both resulting strings will be shown sepa‐
1206 rated by a semicolon (that cannot currently be customized).
1207 The quilt `standalone' backend sets this expando to the same
1209 value as the %Q expando.
1210 %Q Quilt series information. When quilt is used (either in `addon'
1212 mode or as a `standalone' backend), this expando is set to the
1213 quilt series' patch-format string. The set-patch-format hook
1214 and nopatch-format style are honoured.
1215 See Quilt Support below for details.
1217 In branchformat these replacements are done:
1219 %b The branch name. For hg, the branch name can include a topic
1221 name.
1222 %r The current revision number or the hgrevformat style for hg.
1223 In hgrevformat these replacements are done:
1225 %r The current local revision number.
1227 %h The current global revision identifier.
1228 In patch-format and nopatch-format these replacements are done:
1230 %p The name of the top-most applied patch; may be overridden by the
1232 applied-string hook.
1233 %u The number of unapplied patches; may be overridden by the unap‐
1234 plied-string hook.
1235 %n The number of applied patches.
1236 %c The number of unapplied patches.
1237 %a The number of all patches (%a = %n + %c).
1238 %g The names of active mq guards (hg backend).
1239 %G The number of active mq guards (hg backend).
1240 Not all VCS backends have to support all replacements. For nvcsformats
1242 no replacements are performed at all, it is just a string.
1243 Oddities
1245 If you want to use the %b (bold off) prompt expansion in formats, which
1246 expands %b itself, use %%b. That will cause the vcs_info expansion to
1247 replace %%b with %b, so that zsh's prompt expansion mechanism can han‐
1248 dle it. Similarly, to hand down %b from branchformat, use %%%%b. Sorry
1249 for this inconvenience, but it cannot be easily avoided. Luckily we do
1250 not clash with a lot of prompt expansions and this only needs to be
1251 done for those.
1252 When one of the gen-applied-string, gen-unapplied-string, and
1254 set-patch-format hooks is defined, applying %-escaping
1255 (`foo=${foo//'%'/%%}') to the interpolated values for use in the prompt
1256 is the responsibility of those hooks (jointly); when neither of those
1257 hooks is defined, vcs_info handles escaping by itself. We regret this
1258 coupling, but it was required for backwards compatibility.
1259 Quilt Support
1261 Quilt is not a version control system, therefore this is not imple‐
1262 mented as a backend. It can help keeping track of a series of patches.
1263 People use it to keep a set of changes they want to use on top of soft‐
1264 ware packages (which is tightly integrated into the package build
1265 process - the Debian project does this for a large number of packages).
1266 Quilt can also help individual developers keep track of their own
1267 patches on top of real version control systems.
1268 The vcs_info integration tries to support both ways of using quilt by
1270 having two slightly different modes of operation: `addon' mode and
1271 `standalone' mode).
1272 Quilt integration is off by default; to enable it, set the use-quilt
1274 style, and add %Q to your formats or actionformats style:
1275 zstyle ':vcs_info:*' use-quilt true
1276 Styles looked up from the Quilt support code include
1278 `.quilt-quilt-mode' in the vcs-string part of the context, where
1279 quilt-mode is either addon or standalone. Example:
1280 :vcs_info:git.quilt-addon:default:repo-root-name.
1281 For `addon' mode to become active vcs_info must have already detected a
1283 real version control system controlling the directory. If that is the
1284 case, a directory that holds quilt's patches needs to be found. That
1285 directory is configurable via the `QUILT_PATCHES' environment variable.
1286 If that variable exists its value is used, otherwise the value
1287 `patches' is assumed. The value from $QUILT_PATCHES can be overwritten
1288 using the `quilt-patch-dir' style. (Note: you can use vcs_info to keep
1289 the value of $QUILT_PATCHES correct all the time via the post-quilt
1290 hook).
1291 When the directory in question is found, quilt is assumed to be active.
1293 To gather more information, vcs_info looks for a directory called
1294 `.pc'; Quilt uses that directory to track its current state. If this
1295 directory does not exist we know that quilt has not done anything to
1296 the working directory (read: no patches have been applied yet).
1297 If patches are applied, vcs_info will try to find out which. If you
1299 want to know which patches of a series are not yet applied, you need to
1300 activate the get-unapplied style in the appropriate context.
1301 vcs_info allows for very detailed control over how the gathered infor‐
1303 mation is presented (see the Configuration and Hooks in vcs_info sec‐
1304 tions), all of which are documented below. Note there are a number of
1305 other patch tracking systems that work on top of a certain version con‐
1306 trol system (like stgit for git, or mq for hg); the configuration for
1307 systems like that are generally configured the same way as the quilt
1308 support.
1309 If the quilt support is working in `addon' mode, the produced string is
1311 available as a simple format replacement (%Q to be precise), which can
1312 be used in formats and actionformats; see below for details).
1313 If, on the other hand, the support code is working in `standalone'
1315 mode, vcs_info will pretend as if quilt were an actual version control
1316 system. That means that the version control system identifier (which
1317 otherwise would be something like `svn' or `cvs') will be set to
1318 `-quilt-'. This has implications on the used style context where this
1319 identifier is the second element. vcs_info will have filled in a proper
1320 value for the "repository's" root directory and the string containing
1321 the information about quilt's state will be available as the `misc' re‐
1322 placement (and %Q for compatibility with `addon' mode).
1323 What is left to discuss is how `standalone' mode is detected. The de‐
1325 tection itself is a series of searches for directories. You can have
1326 this detection enabled all the time in every directory that is not oth‐
1327 erwise under version control. If you know there is only a limited set
1328 of trees where you would like vcs_info to try and look for Quilt in
1329 `standalone' mode to minimise the amount of searching on every call to
1330 vcs_info, there are a number of ways to do that:
1331 Essentially, `standalone' mode detection is controlled by a style
1333 called `quilt-standalone'. It is a string style and its value can have
1334 different effects. The simplest values are: `always' to run detection
1335 every time vcs_info is run, and `never' to turn the detection off en‐
1336 tirely.
1337 If the value of quilt-standalone is something else, it is interpreted
1339 differently. If the value is the name of a scalar variable the value of
1340 that variable is checked and that value is used in the same `al‐
1341 ways'/`never' way as described above.
1342 If the value of quilt-standalone is an array, the elements of that ar‐
1344 ray are used as directory names under which you want the detection to
1345 be active.
1346 If quilt-standalone is an associative array, the keys are taken as di‐
1348 rectory names under which you want the detection to be active, but only
1349 if the corresponding value is the string `true'.
1350 Last, but not least, if the value of quilt-standalone is the name of a
1352 function, the function is called without arguments and the return value
1353 decides whether detection should be active. A `0' return value is true;
1354 a non-zero return value is interpreted as false.
1355 Note, if there is both a function and a variable by the name of
1357 quilt-standalone, the function will take precedence.
1358 Function Descriptions (Public API)
1360 vcs_info [user-context]
1361 The main function, that runs all backends and assembles all data
1362 into ${vcs_info_msg_*_}. This is the function you want to call
1363 from precmd if you want to include up-to-date information in
1364 your prompt (see Variable Description below). If an argument is
1365 given, that string will be used instead of default in the
1366 user-context field of the style context.
1367 vcs_info_hookadd
1369 Statically registers a number of functions to a given hook. The
1370 hook needs to be given as the first argument; what follows is a
1371 list of hook-function names to register to the hook. The `+vi-'
1372 prefix needs to be left out here. See Hooks in vcs_info below
1373 for details.
1374 vcs_info_hookdel
1376 Remove hook-functions from a given hook. The hook needs to be
1377 given as the first non-option argument; what follows is a list
1378 of hook-function names to un-register from the hook. If `-a' is
1379 used as the first argument, all occurrences of the functions are
1380 unregistered. Otherwise only the last occurrence is removed (if
1381 a function was registered to a hook more than once). The `+vi-'
1382 prefix needs to be left out here. See Hooks in vcs_info below
1383 for details.
1384 vcs_info_lastmsg
1386 Outputs the current values of ${vcs_info_msg_*_}. Takes into
1387 account the value of the use-prompt-escapes style in
1388 ':vcs_info:formats:command:-all-'. It also only prints max-ex‐
1389 ports values.
1390 vcs_info_printsys [user-context]
1392 Prints a list of all supported version control systems. Useful
1393 to find out possible contexts (and which of them are enabled) or
1394 values for the disable style.
1395 vcs_info_setsys
1397 Initializes vcs_info's internal list of available backends. With
1398 this function, you can add support for new VCSs without restart‐
1399 ing the shell.
1400 All functions named VCS_INFO_* are for internal use only.
1402 Variable Description
1404 ${vcs_info_msg_N_} (Note the trailing underscore)
1405 Where N is an integer, e.g., vcs_info_msg_0_. These variables
1406 are the storage for the informational message the last vcs_info
1407 call has assembled. These are strongly connected to the formats,
1408 actionformats and nvcsformats styles described above. Those
1409 styles are lists. The first member of that list gets expanded
1410 into ${vcs_info_msg_0_}, the second into ${vcs_info_msg_1_} and
1411 the Nth into ${vcs_info_msg_N-1_}. (See the max-exports style
1412 above.)
1413 All variables named VCS_INFO_* are for internal use only.
1415 Hooks in vcs_info
1417 Hooks are places in vcs_info where you can run your own code. That code
1418 can communicate with the code that called it and through that, change
1419 the system's behaviour.
1420 For configuration, hooks change the style context:
1422 :vcs_info:vcs-string+hook-name:user-context:repo-root-name
1423 To register functions to a hook, you need to list them in the hooks
1425 style in the appropriate context.
1426 Example:
1428 zstyle ':vcs_info:*+foo:*' hooks bar baz
1429 This registers functions to the hook `foo' for all backends. In order
1431 to avoid namespace problems, all registered function names are
1432 prepended by a `+vi-', so the actual functions called for the `foo'
1433 hook are `+vi-bar' and `+vi-baz'.
1434 If you would like to register a function to a hook regardless of the
1436 current context, you may use the vcs_info_hookadd function. To remove a
1437 function that was added like that, the vcs_info_hookdel function can be
1438 used.
1439 If something seems weird, you can enable the `debug' boolean style in
1441 the proper context and the hook-calling code will print what it tried
1442 to execute and whether the function in question existed.
1443 When you register more than one function to a hook, all functions are
1445 executed one after another until one function returns non-zero or until
1446 all functions have been called. Context-sensitive hook functions are
1447 executed before statically registered ones (the ones added by
1448 vcs_info_hookadd).
1449 You may pass data between functions via an associative array,
1451 user_data. For example:
1452 +vi-git-myfirsthook(){
1453 user_data[myval]=$myval
1454 }
1455 +vi-git-mysecondhook(){
1456 # do something with ${user_data[myval]}
1457 }
1458 There are a number of variables that are special in hook contexts:
1460 ret The return value that the hooks system will return to the
1462 caller. The default is an integer `zero'. If and how a changed
1463 ret value changes the execution of the caller depends on the
1464 specific hook. See the hook documentation below for details.
1465 hook_com
1467 An associated array which is used for bidirectional communica‐
1468 tion from the caller to hook functions. The used keys depend on
1469 the specific hook.
1470 context
1472 The active context of the hook. Functions that wish to change
1473 this variable should make it local scope first.
1474 vcs The current VCS after it was detected. The same values as in the
1476 enable/disable style are used. Available in all hooks except
1477 start-up.
1478 Finally, the full list of currently available hooks:
1480 start-up
1482 Called after starting vcs_info but before the VCS in this direc‐
1483 tory is determined. It can be used to deactivate vcs_info tempo‐
1484 rarily if necessary. When ret is set to 1, vcs_info aborts and
1485 does nothing; when set to 2, vcs_info sets up everything as if
1486 no version control were active and exits.
1487 pre-get-data
1489 Same as start-up but after the VCS was detected.
1490 gen-hg-bookmark-string
1492 Called in the Mercurial backend when a bookmark string is gener‐
1493 ated; the get-revision and get-bookmarks styles must be true.
1494 This hook gets the names of the Mercurial bookmarks that
1496 vcs_info collected from `hg'.
1497 If a bookmark is active, the key ${hook_com[hg-active-bookmark]}
1499 is set to its name. The key is otherwise unset.
1500 When setting ret to non-zero, the string in ${hook_com[hg-book‐
1502 mark-string]} will be used in the %m escape in formats and ac‐
1503 tionformats and will be available in the global backend_misc ar‐
1504 ray as ${backend_misc[bookmarks]}.
1505 gen-applied-string
1507 Called in the git (with stgit or during rebase or merge), and hg
1508 (with mq) backends and in quilt support when the applied-string
1509 is generated; the use-quilt zstyle must be true for quilt (the
1510 mq and stgit backends are active by default).
1511 The arguments to this hook describe applied patches in the oppo‐
1513 site order, which means that the first argument is the top-most
1514 patch and so forth.
1515 When the patches' log messages can be extracted, those are em‐
1517 bedded within each argument after a space, so each argument is
1518 of the form `patch-name first line of the log message', where
1519 patch-name contains no whitespace. The mq backend passes argu‐
1520 ments of the form `patch name', with possible embedded spaces,
1521 but without extracting the patch's log message.
1522 When setting ret to non-zero, the string in ${hook_com[ap‐
1524 plied-string]} will be available as %p in the patch-format and
1525 nopatch-format styles. This hook is, in concert with
1526 set-patch-format, responsible for %-escaping that value for use
1527 in the prompt. (See the Oddities section.)
1528 The quilt backend passes to this hook the inputs
1530 ${hook_com[quilt-patches-dir]} and, if it has been determined,
1531 ${hook_com[quilt-pc-dir]}.
1532 gen-unapplied-string
1534 Called in the git (with stgit or during rebase), and hg (with
1535 mq) backend and in quilt support when the unapplied-string is
1536 generated; the get-unapplied style must be true.
1537 This hook gets the names of all unapplied patches which vcs_info
1539 in order, which means that the first argument is the patch
1540 next-in-line to be applied and so forth.
1541 The format of each argument is as for gen-applied-string, above.
1543 When setting ret to non-zero, the string in ${hook_com[unap‐
1545 plied-string]} will be available as %u in the patch-format and
1546 nopatch-format styles. This hook is, in concert with
1547 set-patch-format, responsible for %-escaping that value for use
1548 in the prompt. (See the Oddities section.)
1549 The quilt backend passes to this hook the inputs
1551 ${hook_com[quilt-patches-dir]} and, if it has been determined,
1552 ${hook_com[quilt-pc-dir]}.
1553 gen-mqguards-string
1555 Called in the hg backend when guards-string is generated; the
1556 get-mq style must be true (default).
1557 This hook gets the names of any active mq guards.
1559 When setting ret to non-zero, the string in
1561 ${hook_com[guards-string]} will be used in the %g escape in the
1562 patch-format and nopatch-format styles.
1563 no-vcs This hooks is called when no version control system was de‐
1565 tected.
1566 The `hook_com' parameter is not used.
1568 post-backend
1570 Called as soon as the backend has finished collecting informa‐
1571 tion.
1572 The `hook_com' keys available are as for the set-message hook.
1574 post-quilt
1576 Called after the quilt support is done. The following informa‐
1577 tion is passed as arguments to the hook: 1. the quilt-support
1578 mode (`addon' or `standalone'); 2. the directory that contains
1579 the patch series; 3. the directory that holds quilt's status in‐
1580 formation (the `.pc' directory) or the string "-nopc-" if that
1581 directory wasn't found.
1582 The `hook_com' parameter is not used.
1584 set-branch-format
1586 Called before `branchformat' is set. The only argument to the
1587 hook is the format that is configured at this point.
1588 The `hook_com' keys considered are `branch' and `revision'.
1590 They are set to the values figured out so far by vcs_info and
1591 any change will be used directly when the actual replacement is
1592 done.
1593 If ret is set to non-zero, the string in ${hook_com[branch-re‐
1595 place]} will be used unchanged as the `%b' replacement in the
1596 variables set by vcs_info.
1597 set-hgrev-format
1599 Called before a `hgrevformat' is set. The only argument to the
1600 hook is the format that is configured at this point.
1601 The `hook_com' keys considered are `hash' and `localrev'. They
1603 are set to the values figured out so far by vcs_info and any
1604 change will be used directly when the actual replacement is
1605 done.
1606 If ret is set to non-zero, the string in ${hook_com[rev-re‐
1608 place]} will be used unchanged as the `%i' replacement in the
1609 variables set by vcs_info.
1610 pre-addon-quilt
1612 This hook is used when vcs_info's quilt functionality is active
1613 in "addon" mode (quilt used on top of a real version control
1614 system). It is activated right before any quilt specific action
1615 is taken.
1616 Setting the `ret' variable in this hook to a non-zero value
1618 avoids any quilt specific actions from being run at all.
1619 set-patch-format
1621 This hook is used to control some of the possible expansions in
1622 patch-format and nopatch-format styles with patch queue systems
1623 such as quilt, mqueue and the like.
1624 This hook is used in the git, hg and quilt backends.
1626 The hook allows the control of the %p (${hook_com[applied]}) and
1628 %u (${hook_com[unapplied]}) expansion in all backends that use
1629 the hook. With the mercurial backend, the %g
1630 (${hook_com[guards]}) expansion is controllable in addition to
1631 that.
1632 If ret is set to non-zero, the string in ${hook_com[patch-re‐
1634 place]} will be used unchanged instead of an expanded format
1635 from patch-format or nopatch-format.
1636 This hook is, in concert with the gen-applied-string or gen-un‐
1638 applied-string hooks if they are defined, responsible for %-es‐
1639 caping the final patch-format value for use in the prompt. (See
1640 the Oddities section.)
1641 The quilt backend passes to this hook the inputs
1643 ${hook_com[quilt-patches-dir]} and, if it has been determined,
1644 ${hook_com[quilt-pc-dir]}.
1645 set-message
1647 Called each time before a `vcs_info_msg_N_' message is set. It
1648 takes two arguments; the first being the `N' in the message
1649 variable name, the second is the currently configured formats or
1650 actionformats.
1651 There are a number of `hook_com' keys, that are used here: `ac‐
1653 tion', `branch', `base', `base-name', `subdir', `staged', `un‐
1654 staged', `revision', `misc', `vcs' and one `miscN' entry for
1655 each backend-specific data field (N starting at zero). They are
1656 set to the values figured out so far by vcs_info and any change
1657 will be used directly when the actual replacement is done.
1658 Since this hook is triggered multiple times (once for each con‐
1660 figured formats or actionformats), each of the `hook_com' keys
1661 mentioned above (except for the miscN entries) has an `_orig'
1662 counterpart, so even if you changed a value to your liking you
1663 can still get the original value in the next run. Changing the
1664 `_orig' values is probably not a good idea.
1665 If ret is set to non-zero, the string in ${hook_com[message]}
1667 will be used unchanged as the message by vcs_info.
1668 If all of this sounds rather confusing, take a look at the Examples
1670 section below and also in the Misc/vcs_info-examples file in the Zsh
1671 source. They contain some explanatory code.
1672 Examples
1674 Don't use vcs_info at all (even though it's in your prompt):
1675 zstyle ':vcs_info:*' enable NONE
1676 Disable the backends for bzr and svk:
1678 zstyle ':vcs_info:*' disable bzr svk
1679 Disable everything but bzr and svk:
1681 zstyle ':vcs_info:*' enable bzr svk
1682 Provide a special formats for git:
1684 zstyle ':vcs_info:git:*' formats ' GIT, BABY! [%b]'
1685 zstyle ':vcs_info:git:*' actionformats ' GIT ACTION! [%b|%a]'
1686 All %x expansion in all sorts of formats (formats, actionformats,
1688 branchformat, you name it) are done using the `zformat' builtin from
1689 the `zsh/zutil' module. That means you can do everything with these %x
1690 items what zformat supports. In particular, if you want something that
1691 is really long to have a fixed width, like a hash in a mercurial
1692 branchformat, you can do this: %12.12i. That'll shrink the 40 character
1693 hash to its 12 leading characters. The form is actually `%min.maxx'.
1694 More is possible. See the section `The zsh/zutil Module' in zshmod‐
1695 ules(1) for details.
1696 Use the quicker bzr backend
1698 zstyle ':vcs_info:bzr:*' use-simple true
1699 If you do use use-simple, please report if it does
1701 `the-right-thing[tm]'.
1702 Display the revision number in yellow for bzr and svn:
1704 zstyle ':vcs_info:(svn|bzr):*' \
1705 branchformat '%b%%F{yellow}:%r'
1706 The doubled percent sign is explained in the Oddities section.
1708 Alternatively, one can use the raw colour codes directly:
1710 zstyle ':vcs_info:(svn|bzr):*' \
1712 branchformat '%b%{'${fg[yellow]}'%}:%r'
1713 Normally when a variable is interpolated into a format string, the
1715 variable needs to be %-escaped. In this example we skipped that because
1716 we assume the value of ${fg[yellow]} doesn't contain any % signs.
1717 Make sure you enclose the color codes in %{...%} if you want to use the
1719 string provided by vcs_info in prompts.
1720 Here is how to print the VCS information as a command (not in a
1722 prompt):
1723 vcsi() { vcs_info interactive; vcs_info_lastmsg }
1724 This way, you can even define different formats for output via
1726 vcs_info_lastmsg in the ':vcs_info:*:interactive:*' namespace.
1727 Now as promised, some code that uses hooks: say, you'd like to replace
1729 the string `svn' by `subversion' in vcs_info's %s formats replacement.
1730 First, we will tell vcs_info to call a function when populating the
1732 message variables with the gathered information:
1733 zstyle ':vcs_info:*+set-message:*' hooks svn2subversion
1734 Nothing happens. Which is reasonable, since we didn't define the actual
1736 function yet. To see what the hooks subsystem is trying to do, enable
1737 the `debug' style:
1738 zstyle ':vcs_info:*+*:*' debug true
1739 That should give you an idea what is going on. Specifically, the func‐
1741 tion that we are looking for is `+vi-svn2subversion'. Note, the `+vi-'
1742 prefix. So, everything is in order, just as documented. When you are
1743 done checking out the debugging output, disable it again:
1744 zstyle ':vcs_info:*+*:*' debug false
1745 Now, let's define the function:
1747 function +vi-svn2subversion() {
1748 [[ ${hook_com[vcs_orig]} == svn ]] && hook_com[vcs]=subversion
1749 }
1750 Simple enough. And it could have even been simpler, if only we had reg‐
1752 istered our function in a less generic context. If we do it only in the
1753 `svn' backend's context, we don't need to test which the active backend
1754 is:
1755 zstyle ':vcs_info:svn+set-message:*' hooks svn2subversion
1756 function +vi-svn2subversion() {
1757 hook_com[vcs]=subversion
1758 }
1759 And finally a little more elaborate example, that uses a hook to create
1761 a customised bookmark string for the hg backend.
1762 Again, we start off by registering a function:
1764 zstyle ':vcs_info:hg+gen-hg-bookmark-string:*' hooks hgbookmarks
1765 And then we define the `+vi-hgbookmarks' function:
1767 function +vi-hgbookmarks() {
1768 # The default is to connect all bookmark names by
1769 # commas. This mixes things up a little.
1770 # Imagine, there's one type of bookmarks that is
1771 # special to you. Say, because it's *your* work.
1772 # Those bookmarks look always like this: "sh/*"
1773 # (because your initials are sh, for example).
1774 # This makes the bookmarks string use only those
1775 # bookmarks. If there's more than one, it
1776 # concatenates them using commas.
1777 # The bookmarks returned by `hg' are available in
1778 # the function's positional parameters.
1779 local s="${(Mj:,:)@:#sh/*}"
1780 # Now, the communication with the code that calls
1781 # the hook functions is done via the hook_com[]
1782 # hash. The key at which the `gen-hg-bookmark-string'
1783 # hook looks is `hg-bookmark-string'. So:
1784 hook_com[hg-bookmark-string]=$s
1785 # And to signal that we want to use the string we
1786 # just generated, set the special variable `ret' to
1787 # something other than the default zero:
1788 ret=1
1789 return 0
1790 }
1791 Some longer examples and code snippets which might be useful are avail‐
1793 able in the examples file located at Misc/vcs_info-examples in the Zsh
1794 source directory.
1795 This concludes our guided tour through zsh's vcs_info.
1797
1799 Installation
1800 You should make sure all the functions from the Functions/Prompts di‐
1801 rectory of the source distribution are available; they all begin with
1802 the string `prompt_' except for the special function `promptinit'. You
1803 also need the `colors' and `add-zsh-hook' functions from Func‐
1804 tions/Misc. All these functions may already be installed on your sys‐
1805 tem; if not, you will need to find them and copy them. The directory
1806 should appear as one of the elements of the fpath array (this should
1807 already be the case if they were installed), and at least the function
1808 promptinit should be autoloaded; it will autoload the rest. Finally,
1809 to initialize the use of the system you need to call the promptinit
1810 function. The following code in your .zshrc will arrange for this; as‐
1811 sume the functions are stored in the directory ~/myfns:
1812 fpath=(~/myfns $fpath)
1814 autoload -U promptinit
1815 promptinit
1816 Theme Selection
1818 Use the prompt command to select your preferred theme. This command
1819 may be added to your .zshrc following the call to promptinit in order
1820 to start zsh with a theme already selected.
1821 prompt [ -c | -l ]
1823 prompt [ -p | -h ] [ theme ... ]
1824 prompt [ -s ] theme [ arg ... ]
1825 Set or examine the prompt theme. With no options and a theme
1826 argument, the theme with that name is set as the current theme.
1827 The available themes are determined at run time; use the -l op‐
1828 tion to see a list. The special theme `random' selects at ran‐
1829 dom one of the available themes and sets your prompt to that.
1830 In some cases the theme may be modified by one or more argu‐
1832 ments, which should be given after the theme name. See the help
1833 for each theme for descriptions of these arguments.
1834 Options are:
1836 -c Show the currently selected theme and its parameters, if
1838 any.
1839 -l List all available prompt themes.
1840 -p Preview the theme named by theme, or all themes if no
1841 theme is given.
1842 -h Show help for the theme named by theme, or for the prompt
1843 function if no theme is given.
1844 -s Set theme as the current theme and save state.
1845 prompt_theme_setup
1847 Each available theme has a setup function which is called by the
1848 prompt function to install that theme. This function may define
1849 other functions as necessary to maintain the prompt, including
1850 functions used to preview the prompt or provide help for its
1851 use. You should not normally call a theme's setup function di‐
1852 rectly.
1853 Utility Themes
1855 prompt off
1856 The theme `off' sets all the prompt variables to minimal values
1857 with no special effects.
1858 prompt default
1860 The theme `default' sets all prompt variables to the same state
1861 as if an interactive zsh was started with no initialization
1862 files.
1863 prompt restore
1865 The special theme `restore' erases all theme settings and sets
1866 prompt variables to their state before the first time the
1867 `prompt' function was run, provided each theme has properly de‐
1868 fined its cleanup (see below).
1869 Note that you can undo `prompt off' and `prompt default' with
1871 `prompt restore', but a second restore does not undo the first.
1872 Writing Themes
1874 The first step for adding your own theme is to choose a name for it,
1875 and create a file `prompt_name_setup' in a directory in your fpath,
1876 such as ~/myfns in the example above. The file should at minimum con‐
1877 tain assignments for the prompt variables that your theme wishes to
1878 modify. By convention, themes use PS1, PS2, RPS1, etc., rather than
1879 the longer PROMPT and RPROMPT.
1880 The file is autoloaded as a function in the current shell context, so
1882 it may contain any necessary commands to customize your theme, includ‐
1883 ing defining additional functions. To make some complex tasks easier,
1884 your setup function may also do any of the following:
1885 Assign prompt_opts
1887 The array prompt_opts may be assigned any of "bang", "cr", "per‐
1888 cent", "sp", and/or "subst" as values. The corresponding se‐
1889 topts (promptbang, etc.) are turned on, all other prompt-related
1890 options are turned off. The prompt_opts array preserves setopts
1891 even beyond the scope of localoptions, should your function need
1892 that.
1893 Modify hooks
1895 Use of add-zsh-hook and add-zle-hook-widget is recommended (see
1896 the Manipulating Hook Functions section above). All hooks that
1897 follow the naming pattern prompt_theme_hook are automatically
1898 removed when the prompt theme changes or is disabled.
1899 Declare cleanup
1901 If your function makes any other changes that should be undone
1902 when the theme is disabled, your setup function may call
1903 prompt_cleanup command
1905 where command should be suitably quoted. If your theme is ever
1907 disabled or replaced by another, command is executed with eval.
1908 You may declare more than one such cleanup hook.
1909 Define preview
1911 Define or autoload a function prompt_name_preview to display a
1912 simulated version of your prompt. A simple default previewer is
1913 defined by promptinit for themes that do not define their own.
1914 This preview function is called by `prompt -p'.
1915 Provide help
1917 Define or autoload a function prompt_name_help to display docu‐
1918 mentation or help text for your theme. This help function is
1919 called by `prompt -h'.
1920
1922 Widgets
1923 These functions all implement user-defined ZLE widgets (see zshzle(1))
1924 which can be bound to keystrokes in interactive shells. To use them,
1925 your .zshrc should contain lines of the form
1926 autoload function
1928 zle -N function
1929 followed by an appropriate bindkey command to associate the function
1931 with a key sequence. Suggested bindings are described below.
1932 bash-style word functions
1934 If you are looking for functions to implement moving over and
1935 editing words in the manner of bash, where only alphanumeric
1936 characters are considered word characters, you can use the func‐
1937 tions described in the next section. The following is suffi‐
1938 cient:
1939 autoload -U select-word-style
1941 select-word-style bash
1942 forward-word-match, backward-word-match
1944 kill-word-match, backward-kill-word-match
1945 transpose-words-match, capitalize-word-match
1946 up-case-word-match, down-case-word-match
1947 delete-whole-word-match, select-word-match
1948 select-word-style, match-word-context, match-words-by-style
1949 The first eight `-match' functions are drop-in replacements for
1950 the builtin widgets without the suffix. By default they behave
1951 in a similar way. However, by the use of styles and the func‐
1952 tion select-word-style, the way words are matched can be al‐
1953 tered. select-word-match is intended to be used as a text object
1954 in vi mode but with custom word styles. For comparison, the wid‐
1955 gets described in zshzle(1) under Text Objects use fixed defini‐
1956 tions of words, compatible with the vim editor.
1957 The simplest way of configuring the functions is to use se‐
1959 lect-word-style, which can either be called as a normal function
1960 with the appropriate argument, or invoked as a user-defined wid‐
1961 get that will prompt for the first character of the word style
1962 to be used. The first time it is invoked, the first eight
1963 -match functions will automatically replace the builtin ver‐
1964 sions, so they do not need to be loaded explicitly.
1965 The word styles available are as follows. Only the first char‐
1967 acter is examined.
1968 bash Word characters are alphanumeric characters only.
1970 normal As in normal shell operation: word characters are al‐
1972 phanumeric characters plus any characters present in the
1973 string given by the parameter $WORDCHARS.
1974 shell Words are complete shell command arguments, possibly in‐
1976 cluding complete quoted strings, or any tokens special to
1977 the shell.
1978 whitespace
1980 Words are any set of characters delimited by whitespace.
1981 default
1983 Restore the default settings; this is usually the same as
1984 `normal'.
1985 All but `default' can be input as an upper case character, which
1987 has the same effect but with subword matching turned on. In
1988 this case, words with upper case characters are treated spe‐
1989 cially: each separate run of upper case characters, or an upper
1990 case character followed by any number of other characters, is
1991 considered a word. The style subword-range can supply an alter‐
1992 native character range to the default `[:upper:]'; the value of
1993 the style is treated as the contents of a `[...]' pattern (note
1994 that the outer brackets should not be supplied, only those sur‐
1995 rounding named ranges).
1996 More control can be obtained using the zstyle command, as de‐
1998 scribed in zshmodules(1). Each style is looked up in the con‐
1999 text :zle:widget where widget is the name of the user-defined
2000 widget, not the name of the function implementing it, so in the
2001 case of the definitions supplied by select-word-style the appro‐
2002 priate contexts are :zle:forward-word, and so on. The function
2003 select-word-style itself always defines styles for the context
2004 `:zle:*' which can be overridden by more specific (longer) pat‐
2005 terns as well as explicit contexts.
2006 The style word-style specifies the rules to use. This may have
2008 the following values.
2009 normal Use the standard shell rules, i.e. alphanumerics and
2011 $WORDCHARS, unless overridden by the styles word-chars or
2012 word-class.
2013 specified
2015 Similar to normal, but only the specified characters, and
2016 not also alphanumerics, are considered word characters.
2017 unspecified
2019 The negation of specified. The given characters are
2020 those which will not be considered part of a word.
2021 shell Words are obtained by using the syntactic rules for gen‐
2023 erating shell command arguments. In addition, special
2024 tokens which are never command arguments such as `()' are
2025 also treated as words.
2026 whitespace
2028 Words are whitespace-delimited strings of characters.
2029 The first three of those rules usually use $WORDCHARS, but the
2031 value in the parameter can be overridden by the style
2032 word-chars, which works in exactly the same way as $WORDCHARS.
2033 In addition, the style word-class uses character class syntax to
2034 group characters and takes precedence over word-chars if both
2035 are set. The word-class style does not include the surrounding
2036 brackets of the character class; for example, `-:[:alnum:]' is a
2037 valid word-class to include all alphanumerics plus the charac‐
2038 ters `-' and `:'. Be careful including `]', `^' and `-' as
2039 these are special inside character classes.
2040 word-style may also have `-subword' appended to its value to
2042 turn on subword matching, as described above.
2043 The style skip-chars is mostly useful for transpose-words and
2045 similar functions. If set, it gives a count of characters
2046 starting at the cursor position which will not be considered
2047 part of the word and are treated as space, regardless of what
2048 they actually are. For example, if
2049 zstyle ':zle:transpose-words' skip-chars 1
2051 has been set, and transpose-words-match is called with the cur‐
2053 sor on the X of fooXbar, where X can be any character, then the
2054 resulting expression is barXfoo.
2055 Finer grained control can be obtained by setting the style
2057 word-context to an array of pairs of entries. Each pair of en‐
2058 tries consists of a pattern and a subcontext. The shell argu‐
2059 ment the cursor is on is matched against each pattern in turn
2060 until one matches; if it does, the context is extended by a
2061 colon and the corresponding subcontext. Note that the test is
2062 made against the original word on the line, with no stripping of
2063 quotes. Special handling is done between words: the current
2064 context is examined and if it contains the string between the
2065 word is set to a single space; else if it is contains the string
2066 back, the word before the cursor is considered, else the word
2067 after cursor is considered. Some examples are given below.
2068 The style skip-whitespace-first is only used with the for‐
2070 ward-word widget. If it is set to true, then forward-word skips
2071 any non-word-characters, followed by any non-word-characters:
2072 this is similar to the behaviour of other word-orientated wid‐
2073 gets, and also that used by other editors, however it differs
2074 from the standard zsh behaviour. When using select-word-style
2075 the widget is set in the context :zle:* to true if the word
2076 style is bash and false otherwise. It may be overridden by set‐
2077 ting it in the more specific context :zle:forward-word*.
2078 It is possible to create widgets with specific behaviour by
2080 defining a new widget implemented by the appropriate generic
2081 function, then setting a style for the context of the specific
2082 widget. For example, the following defines a widget back‐
2083 ward-kill-space-word using backward-kill-word-match, the generic
2084 widget implementing backward-kill-word behaviour, and ensures
2085 that the new widget always implements space-delimited behaviour.
2086 zle -N backward-kill-space-word backward-kill-word-match
2088 zstyle :zle:backward-kill-space-word word-style space
2089 The widget backward-kill-space-word can now be bound to a key.
2091 Here are some further examples of use of the styles, actually
2093 taken from the simplified interface in select-word-style:
2094 zstyle ':zle:*' word-style standard
2096 zstyle ':zle:*' word-chars ''
2097 Implements bash-style word handling for all widgets, i.e. only
2099 alphanumerics are word characters; equivalent to setting the pa‐
2100 rameter WORDCHARS empty for the given context.
2101 style ':zle:*kill*' word-style space
2103 Uses space-delimited words for widgets with the word `kill' in
2105 the name. Neither of the styles word-chars nor word-class is
2106 used in this case.
2107 Here are some examples of use of the word-context style to ex‐
2109 tend the context.
2110 zstyle ':zle:*' word-context \
2112 "*/*" filename "[[:space:]]" whitespace
2113 zstyle ':zle:transpose-words:whitespace' word-style shell
2114 zstyle ':zle:transpose-words:filename' word-style normal
2115 zstyle ':zle:transpose-words:filename' word-chars ''
2116 This provides two different ways of using transpose-words de‐
2118 pending on whether the cursor is on whitespace between words or
2119 on a filename, here any word containing a /. On whitespace,
2120 complete arguments as defined by standard shell rules will be
2121 transposed. In a filename, only alphanumerics will be trans‐
2122 posed. Elsewhere, words will be transposed using the default
2123 style for :zle:transpose-words.
2124 The word matching and all the handling of zstyle settings is ac‐
2126 tually implemented by the function match-words-by-style. This
2127 can be used to create new user-defined widgets. The calling
2128 function should set the local parameter curcontext to :zle:wid‐
2129 get, create the local parameter matched_words and call
2130 match-words-by-style with no arguments. On return,
2131 matched_words will be set to an array with the elements: (1) the
2132 start of the line (2) the word before the cursor (3) any
2133 non-word characters between that word and the cursor (4) any
2134 non-word character at the cursor position plus any remaining
2135 non-word characters before the next word, including all charac‐
2136 ters specified by the skip-chars style, (5) the word at or fol‐
2137 lowing the cursor (6) any non-word characters following that
2138 word (7) the remainder of the line. Any of the elements may be
2139 an empty string; the calling function should test for this to
2140 decide whether it can perform its function.
2141 If the variable matched_words is defined by the caller to
2143 match-words-by-style as an associative array (local -A
2144 matched_words), then the seven values given above should be re‐
2145 trieved from it as elements named start, word-before-cursor,
2146 ws-before-cursor, ws-after-cursor, word-after-cursor, ws-af‐
2147 ter-word, and end. In addition the element is-word-start is 1
2148 if the cursor is on the start of a word or subword, or on white
2149 space before it (the cases can be distinguished by testing the
2150 ws-after-cursor element) and 0 otherwise. This form is recom‐
2151 mended for future compatibility.
2152 It is possible to pass options with arguments to
2154 match-words-by-style to override the use of styles. The options
2155 are:
2156 -w word-style
2157 -s skip-chars
2158 -c word-class
2159 -C word-chars
2160 -r subword-range
2161 For example, match-words-by-style -w shell -c 0 may be used to
2163 extract the command argument around the cursor.
2164 The word-context style is implemented by the function
2166 match-word-context. This should not usually need to be called
2167 directly.
2168 bracketed-paste-magic
2170 The bracketed-paste widget (see the subsection `Miscellaneous'
2171 in zshzle(1)) inserts pasted text literally into the editor buf‐
2172 fer rather than interpret it as keystrokes. This disables some
2173 common usages where the self-insert widget is replaced in order
2174 to accomplish some extra processing. An example is the contrib‐
2175 uted url-quote-magic widget described below.
2176 The bracketed-paste-magic widget is meant to replace brack‐
2178 eted-paste with a wrapper that re-enables these self-insert ac‐
2179 tions, and other actions as selected by zstyles. Therefore this
2180 widget is installed with
2181 autoload -Uz bracketed-paste-magic
2183 zle -N bracketed-paste bracketed-paste-magic
2184 Other than enabling some widget processing, brack‐
2186 eted-paste-magic attempts to replicate bracketed-paste as faith‐
2187 fully as possible.
2188 The following zstyles may be set to control processing of pasted
2190 text. All are looked up in the context `:brack‐
2191 eted-paste-magic'.
2192 active-widgets
2194 A list of patterns matching widget names that should be
2195 activated during the paste. All other key sequences are
2196 processed as self-insert-unmeta. The default is `self-*'
2197 so any user-defined widgets named with that prefix are
2198 active along with the builtin self-insert.
2199 If this style is not set (explicitly deleted) or set to
2201 an empty value, no widgets are active and the pasted text
2202 is inserted literally. If the value includes `unde‐
2203 fined-key', any unknown sequences are discarded from the
2204 pasted text.
2205 inactive-keys
2207 The inverse of active-widgets, a list of key sequences
2208 that always use self-insert-unmeta even when bound to an
2209 active widget. Note that this is a list of literal key
2210 sequences, not patterns.
2211 paste-init
2213 A list of function names, called in widget context (but
2214 not as widgets). The functions are called in order until
2215 one of them returns a non-zero status. The parameter
2216 `PASTED' contains the initial state of the pasted text.
2217 All other ZLE parameters such as `BUFFER' have their nor‐
2218 mal values and side-effects, and full history is avail‐
2219 able, so for example paste-init functions may move words
2220 from BUFFER into PASTED to make those words visible to
2221 the active-widgets.
2222 A non-zero return from a paste-init function does not
2224 prevent the paste itself from proceeding.
2225 Loading bracketed-paste-magic defines backward-ex‐
2227 tend-paste, a helper function for use in paste-init.
2228 zstyle :bracketed-paste-magic paste-init \
2230 backward-extend-paste
2231 When a paste would insert into the middle of a word or
2233 append text to a word already on the line, backward-ex‐
2234 tend-paste moves the prefix from LBUFFER into PASTED so
2235 that the active-widgets see the full word so far. This
2236 may be useful with url-quote-magic.
2237 paste-finish
2239 Another list of function names called in order until one
2240 returns non-zero. These functions are called after the
2241 pasted text has been processed by the active-widgets, but
2242 before it is inserted into `BUFFER'. ZLE parameters have
2243 their normal values and side-effects.
2244 A non-zero return from a paste-finish function does not
2246 prevent the paste itself from proceeding.
2247 Loading bracketed-paste-magic also defines quote-paste, a
2249 helper function for use in paste-finish.
2250 zstyle :bracketed-paste-magic paste-finish \
2252 quote-paste
2253 zstyle :bracketed-paste-magic:finish quote-style \
2254 qqq
2255 When the pasted text is inserted into BUFFER, it is
2257 quoted per the quote-style value. To forcibly turn off
2258 the built-in numeric prefix quoting of bracketed-paste,
2259 use:
2260 zstyle :bracketed-paste-magic:finish quote-style \
2262 none
2263 Important: During active-widgets processing of the paste (after
2265 paste-init and before paste-finish), BUFFER starts empty and
2266 history is restricted, so cursor motions, etc., may not pass
2267 outside of the pasted content. Text assigned to BUFFER by the
2268 active widgets is copied back into PASTED before paste-finish.
2269 copy-earlier-word
2271 This widget works like a combination of insert-last-word and
2272 copy-prev-shell-word. Repeated invocations of the widget re‐
2273 trieve earlier words on the relevant history line. With a nu‐
2274 meric argument N, insert the Nth word from the history line; N
2275 may be negative to count from the end of the line.
2276 If insert-last-word has been used to retrieve the last word on a
2278 previous history line, repeated invocations will replace that
2279 word with earlier words from the same line.
2280 Otherwise, the widget applies to words on the line currently be‐
2282 ing edited. The widget style can be set to the name of another
2283 widget that should be called to retrieve words. This widget
2284 must accept the same three arguments as insert-last-word.
2285 cycle-completion-positions
2287 After inserting an unambiguous string into the command line, the
2288 new function based completion system may know about multiple
2289 places in this string where characters are missing or differ
2290 from at least one of the possible matches. It will then place
2291 the cursor on the position it considers to be the most interest‐
2292 ing one, i.e. the one where one can disambiguate between as many
2293 matches as possible with as little typing as possible.
2294 This widget allows the cursor to be easily moved to the other
2296 interesting spots. It can be invoked repeatedly to cycle be‐
2297 tween all positions reported by the completion system.
2298 delete-whole-word-match
2300 This is another function which works like the -match functions
2301 described immediately above, i.e. using styles to decide the
2302 word boundaries. However, it is not a replacement for any ex‐
2303 isting function.
2304 The basic behaviour is to delete the word around the cursor.
2306 There is no numeric argument handling; only the single word
2307 around the cursor is considered. If the widget contains the
2308 string kill, the removed text will be placed in the cutbuffer
2309 for future yanking. This can be obtained by defining
2310 kill-whole-word-match as follows:
2311 zle -N kill-whole-word-match delete-whole-word-match
2313 and then binding the widget kill-whole-word-match.
2315 up-line-or-beginning-search, down-line-or-beginning-search
2317 These widgets are similar to the builtin functions
2318 up-line-or-search and down-line-or-search: if in a multiline
2319 buffer they move up or down within the buffer, otherwise they
2320 search for a history line matching the start of the current
2321 line. In this case, however, they search for a line which
2322 matches the current line up to the current cursor position, in
2323 the manner of history-beginning-search-backward and -forward,
2324 rather than the first word on the line.
2325 edit-command-line
2327 Edit the command line using your visual editor, as in ksh.
2328 bindkey -M vicmd v edit-command-line
2330 The editor to be used can also be specified using the editor
2332 style in the context of the widget. It is specified as an array
2333 of command and arguments:
2334 zstyle :zle:edit-command-line editor gvim -f
2336 expand-absolute-path
2338 Expand the file name under the cursor to an absolute path, re‐
2339 solving symbolic links. Where possible, the initial path seg‐
2340 ment is turned into a named directory or reference to a user's
2341 home directory.
2342 history-search-end
2344 This function implements the widgets history-begin‐
2345 ning-search-backward-end and history-beginning-search-for‐
2346 ward-end. These commands work by first calling the correspond‐
2347 ing builtin widget (see `History Control' in zshzle(1)) and then
2348 moving the cursor to the end of the line. The original cursor
2349 position is remembered and restored before calling the builtin
2350 widget a second time, so that the same search is repeated to
2351 look farther through the history.
2352 Although you autoload only one function, the commands to use it
2354 are slightly different because it implements two widgets.
2355 zle -N history-beginning-search-backward-end \
2357 history-search-end
2358 zle -N history-beginning-search-forward-end \
2359 history-search-end
2360 bindkey '\e^P' history-beginning-search-backward-end
2361 bindkey '\e^N' history-beginning-search-forward-end
2362 history-beginning-search-menu
2364 This function implements yet another form of history searching.
2365 The text before the cursor is used to select lines from the his‐
2366 tory, as for history-beginning-search-backward except that all
2367 matches are shown in a numbered menu. Typing the appropriate
2368 digits inserts the full history line. Note that leading zeroes
2369 must be typed (they are only shown when necessary for removing
2370 ambiguity). The entire history is searched; there is no dis‐
2371 tinction between forwards and backwards.
2372 With a numeric argument, the search is not anchored to the start
2374 of the line; the string typed by the use may appear anywhere in
2375 the line in the history.
2376 If the widget name contains `-end' the cursor is moved to the
2378 end of the line inserted. If the widget name contains `-space'
2379 any space in the text typed is treated as a wildcard and can
2380 match anything (hence a leading space is equivalent to giving a
2381 numeric argument). Both forms can be combined, for example:
2382 zle -N history-beginning-search-menu-space-end \
2384 history-beginning-search-menu
2385 history-pattern-search
2387 The function history-pattern-search implements widgets which
2388 prompt for a pattern with which to search the history backwards
2389 or forwards. The pattern is in the usual zsh format, however
2390 the first character may be ^ to anchor the search to the start
2391 of the line, and the last character may be $ to anchor the
2392 search to the end of the line. If the search was not anchored
2393 to the end of the line the cursor is positioned just after the
2394 pattern found.
2395 The commands to create bindable widgets are similar to those in
2397 the example immediately above:
2398 autoload -U history-pattern-search
2400 zle -N history-pattern-search-backward history-pattern-search
2401 zle -N history-pattern-search-forward history-pattern-search
2402 incarg Typing the keystrokes for this widget with the cursor placed on
2404 or to the left of an integer causes that integer to be incre‐
2405 mented by one. With a numeric argument, the number is incre‐
2406 mented by the amount of the argument (decremented if the numeric
2407 argument is negative). The shell parameter incarg may be set to
2408 change the default increment to something other than one.
2409 bindkey '^X+' incarg
2411 incremental-complete-word
2413 This allows incremental completion of a word. After starting
2414 this command, a list of completion choices can be shown after
2415 every character you type, which you can delete with ^H or DEL.
2416 Pressing return accepts the completion so far and returns you to
2417 normal editing (that is, the command line is not immediately ex‐
2418 ecuted). You can hit TAB to do normal completion, ^G to abort
2419 back to the state when you started, and ^D to list the matches.
2420 This works only with the new function based completion system.
2422 bindkey '^Xi' incremental-complete-word
2424 insert-composed-char
2426 This function allows you to compose characters that don't appear
2427 on the keyboard to be inserted into the command line. The com‐
2428 mand is followed by two keys corresponding to ASCII characters
2429 (there is no prompt). For accented characters, the two keys are
2430 a base character followed by a code for the accent, while for
2431 other special characters the two characters together form a mne‐
2432 monic for the character to be inserted. The two-character codes
2433 are a subset of those given by RFC 1345 (see for example
2434 http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc1345.html).
2435 The function may optionally be followed by up to two characters
2437 which replace one or both of the characters read from the key‐
2438 board; if both characters are supplied, no input is read. For
2439 example, insert-composed-char a: can be used within a widget to
2440 insert an a with umlaut into the command line. This has the ad‐
2441 vantages over use of a literal character that it is more porta‐
2442 ble.
2443 For best results zsh should have been built with support for
2445 multibyte characters (configured with --enable-multibyte); how‐
2446 ever, the function works for the limited range of characters
2447 available in single-byte character sets such as ISO-8859-1.
2448 The character is converted into the local representation and in‐
2450 serted into the command line at the cursor position. (The con‐
2451 version is done within the shell, using whatever facilities the
2452 C library provides.) With a numeric argument, the character and
2453 its code are previewed in the status line
2454 The function may be run outside zle in which case it prints the
2456 character (together with a newline) to standard output. Input
2457 is still read from keystrokes.
2458 See insert-unicode-char for an alternative way of inserting Uni‐
2460 code characters using their hexadecimal character number.
2461 The set of accented characters is reasonably complete up to Uni‐
2463 code character U+0180, the set of special characters less so.
2464 However, it is very sporadic from that point. Adding new char‐
2465 acters is easy, however; see the function define-composed-chars.
2466 Please send any additions to zsh-workers@zsh.org.
2467 The codes for the second character when used to accent the first
2469 are as follows. Note that not every character can take every
2470 accent.
2471 ! Grave.
2472 ' Acute.
2473 > Circumflex.
2474 ? Tilde. (This is not ~ as RFC 1345 does not assume that
2475 character is present on the keyboard.)
2476 - Macron. (A horizontal bar over the base character.)
2477 ( Breve. (A shallow dish shape over the base character.)
2478 . Dot above the base character, or in the case of i no dot,
2479 or in the case of L and l a centered dot.
2480 : Diaeresis (Umlaut).
2481 c Cedilla.
2482 _ Underline, however there are currently no underlined
2483 characters.
2484 / Stroke through the base character.
2485 " Double acute (only supported on a few letters).
2486 ; Ogonek. (A little forward facing hook at the bottom
2487 right of the character.)
2488 < Caron. (A little v over the letter.)
2489 0 Circle over the base character.
2490 2 Hook over the base character.
2491 9 Horn over the base character.
2492 The most common characters from the Arabic, Cyrillic, Greek and
2494 Hebrew alphabets are available; consult RFC 1345 for the appro‐
2495 priate sequences. In addition, a set of two letter codes not in
2496 RFC 1345 are available for the double-width characters corre‐
2497 sponding to ASCII characters from ! to ~ (0x21 to 0x7e) by pre‐
2498 ceding the character with ^, for example ^A for a double-width
2499 A.
2500 The following other two-character sequences are understood.
2502 ASCII characters
2504 These are already present on most keyboards:
2505 <( Left square bracket
2506 // Backslash (solidus)
2507 )> Right square bracket
2508 (! Left brace (curly bracket)
2509 !! Vertical bar (pipe symbol)
2510 !) Right brace (curly bracket)
2511 '? Tilde
2512 Special letters
2514 Characters found in various variants of the Latin alpha‐
2515 bet:
2516 ss Eszett (scharfes S)
2517 D-, d- Eth
2518 TH, th Thorn
2519 kk Kra
2520 'n 'n
2521 NG, ng Ng
2522 OI, oi Oi
2523 yr yr
2524 ED ezh
2525 Currency symbols
2527 Ct Cent
2528 Pd Pound sterling (also lira and others)
2529 Cu Currency
2530 Ye Yen
2531 Eu Euro (N.B. not in RFC 1345)
2532 Punctuation characters
2534 References to "right" quotes indicate the shape (like a 9
2535 rather than 6) rather than their grammatical use. (For
2536 example, a "right" low double quote is used to open quo‐
2537 tations in German.)
2538 !I Inverted exclamation mark
2539 BB Broken vertical bar
2540 SE Section
2541 Co Copyright
2542 -a Spanish feminine ordinal indicator
2543 << Left guillemet
2544 -- Soft hyphen
2545 Rg Registered trade mark
2546 PI Pilcrow (paragraph)
2547 -o Spanish masculine ordinal indicator
2548 >> Right guillemet
2549 ?I Inverted question mark
2550 -1 Hyphen
2551 -N En dash
2552 -M Em dash
2553 -3 Horizontal bar
2554 :3 Vertical ellipsis
2555 .3 Horizontal midline ellipsis
2556 !2 Double vertical line
2557 =2 Double low line
2558 '6 Left single quote
2559 '9 Right single quote
2560 .9 "Right" low quote
2561 9' Reversed "right" quote
2562 "6 Left double quote
2563 "9 Right double quote
2564 :9 "Right" low double quote
2565 9" Reversed "right" double quote
2566 /- Dagger
2567 /= Double dagger
2568 Mathematical symbols
2570 DG Degree
2571 -2, +-, -+
2572 - sign, +/- sign, -/+ sign
2573 2S Superscript 2
2574 3S Superscript 3
2575 1S Superscript 1
2576 My Micro
2577 .M Middle dot
2578 14 Quarter
2579 12 Half
2580 34 Three quarters
2581 *X Multiplication
2582 -: Division
2583 %0 Per mille
2584 FA, TE, /0
2585 For all, there exists, empty set
2586 dP, DE, NB
2587 Partial derivative, delta (increment), del (nabla)
2588 (-, -) Element of, contains
2589 *P, +Z Product, sum
2590 *-, Ob, Sb
2591 Asterisk, ring, bullet
2592 RT, 0(, 00
2593 Root sign, proportional to, infinity
2594 Other symbols
2596 cS, cH, cD, cC
2597 Card suits: spades, hearts, diamonds, clubs
2598 Md, M8, M2, Mb, Mx, MX
2599 Musical notation: crotchet (quarter note), quaver (eighth
2600 note), semiquavers (sixteenth notes), flag sign, natural
2601 sign, sharp sign
2602 Fm, Ml Female, male
2603 Accents on their own
2605 '> Circumflex (same as caret, ^)
2606 '! Grave (same as backtick, `)
2607 ', Cedilla
2608 ': Diaeresis (Umlaut)
2609 'm Macron
2610 '' Acute
2611 insert-files
2613 This function allows you type a file pattern, and see the re‐
2614 sults of the expansion at each step. When you hit return, all
2615 expansions are inserted into the command line.
2616 bindkey '^Xf' insert-files
2618 insert-unicode-char
2620 When first executed, the user inputs a set of hexadecimal dig‐
2621 its. This is terminated with another call to insert-uni‐
2622 code-char. The digits are then turned into the corresponding
2623 Unicode character. For example, if the widget is bound to ^XU,
2624 the character sequence `^XU 4 c ^XU' inserts L (Unicode U+004c).
2625 See insert-composed-char for a way of inserting characters using
2627 a two-character mnemonic.
2628 narrow-to-region [ -p pre ] [ -P post ]
2631 [ -S statepm | -R statepm | [ -l lbufvar ] [ -r rbuf‐
2632 var ] ]
2633 [ -n ] [ start end ]
2634 narrow-to-region-invisible
2635 Narrow the editable portion of the buffer to the region between
2636 the cursor and the mark, which may be in either order. The re‐
2637 gion may not be empty.
2638 narrow-to-region may be used as a widget or called as a function
2640 from a user-defined widget; by default, the text outside the ed‐
2641 itable area remains visible. A recursive-edit is performed and
2642 the original widening status is then restored. Various options
2643 and arguments are available when it is called as a function.
2644 The options -p pretext and -P posttext may be used to replace
2646 the text before and after the display for the duration of the
2647 function; either or both may be an empty string.
2648 If the option -n is also given, pretext or posttext will only be
2650 inserted if there is text before or after the region respec‐
2651 tively which will be made invisible.
2652 Two numeric arguments may be given which will be used instead of
2654 the cursor and mark positions.
2655 The option -S statepm is used to narrow according to the other
2657 options while saving the original state in the parameter with
2658 name statepm, while the option -R statepm is used to restore the
2659 state from the parameter; note in both cases the name of the pa‐
2660 rameter is required. In the second case, other options and ar‐
2661 guments are irrelevant. When this method is used, no recur‐
2662 sive-edit is performed; the calling widget should call this
2663 function with the option -S, perform its own editing on the com‐
2664 mand line or pass control to the user via `zle recursive-edit',
2665 then call this function with the option -R. The argument
2666 statepm must be a suitable name for an ordinary parameter, ex‐
2667 cept that parameters beginning with the prefix _ntr_ are re‐
2668 served for use within narrow-to-region. Typically the parameter
2669 will be local to the calling function.
2670 The options -l lbufvar and -r rbufvar may be used to specify pa‐
2672 rameters where the widget will store the resulting text from the
2673 operation. The parameter lbufvar will contain LBUFFER and rbuf‐
2674 var will contain RBUFFER. Neither of these two options may be
2675 used with -S or -R.
2676 narrow-to-region-invisible is a simple widget which calls nar‐
2678 row-to-region with arguments which replace any text outside the
2679 region with `...'. It does not take any arguments.
2680 The display is restored (and the widget returns) upon any zle
2682 command which would usually cause the line to be accepted or
2683 aborted. Hence an additional such command is required to accept
2684 or abort the current line.
2685 The return status of both widgets is zero if the line was ac‐
2687 cepted, else non-zero.
2688 Here is a trivial example of a widget using this feature.
2690 local state
2691 narrow-to-region -p $'Editing restricted region\n' \
2692 -P '' -S state
2693 zle recursive-edit
2694 narrow-to-region -R state
2695 predict-on
2697 This set of functions implements predictive typing using history
2698 search. After predict-on, typing characters causes the editor
2699 to look backward in the history for the first line beginning
2700 with what you have typed so far. After predict-off, editing re‐
2701 turns to normal for the line found. In fact, you often don't
2702 even need to use predict-off, because if the line doesn't match
2703 something in the history, adding a key performs standard comple‐
2704 tion, and then inserts itself if no completions were found.
2705 However, editing in the middle of a line is liable to confuse
2706 prediction; see the toggle style below.
2707 With the function based completion system (which is needed for
2709 this), you should be able to type TAB at almost any point to ad‐
2710 vance the cursor to the next ``interesting'' character position
2711 (usually the end of the current word, but sometimes somewhere in
2712 the middle of the word). And of course as soon as the entire
2713 line is what you want, you can accept with return, without need‐
2714 ing to move the cursor to the end first.
2715 The first time predict-on is used, it creates several additional
2717 widget functions:
2718 delete-backward-and-predict
2720 Replaces the backward-delete-char widget. You do not
2721 need to bind this yourself.
2722 insert-and-predict
2723 Implements predictive typing by replacing the self-insert
2724 widget. You do not need to bind this yourself.
2725 predict-off
2726 Turns off predictive typing.
2727 Although you autoload only the predict-on function, it is neces‐
2729 sary to create a keybinding for predict-off as well.
2730 zle -N predict-on
2732 zle -N predict-off
2733 bindkey '^X^Z' predict-on
2734 bindkey '^Z' predict-off
2735 read-from-minibuffer
2737 This is most useful when called as a function from inside a wid‐
2738 get, but will work correctly as a widget in its own right. It
2739 prompts for a value below the current command line; a value may
2740 be input using all of the standard zle operations (and not
2741 merely the restricted set available when executing, for example,
2742 execute-named-cmd). The value is then returned to the calling
2743 function in the parameter $REPLY and the editing buffer restored
2744 to its previous state. If the read was aborted by a keyboard
2745 break (typically ^G), the function returns status 1 and $REPLY
2746 is not set.
2747 If one argument is supplied to the function it is taken as a
2749 prompt, otherwise `? ' is used. If two arguments are supplied,
2750 they are the prompt and the initial value of $LBUFFER, and if a
2751 third argument is given it is the initial value of $RBUFFER.
2752 This provides a default value and starting cursor placement.
2753 Upon return the entire buffer is the value of $REPLY.
2754 One option is available: `-k num' specifies that num characters
2756 are to be read instead of a whole line. The line editor is not
2757 invoked recursively in this case, so depending on the terminal
2758 settings the input may not be visible, and only the input keys
2759 are placed in $REPLY, not the entire buffer. Note that unlike
2760 the read builtin num must be given; there is no default.
2761 The name is a slight misnomer, as in fact the shell's own
2763 minibuffer is not used. Hence it is still possible to call exe‐
2764 cuted-named-cmd and similar functions while reading a value.
2765 replace-argument, replace-argument-edit
2767 The function replace-argument can be used to replace a command
2768 line argument in the current command line or, if the current
2769 command line is empty, in the last command line executed (the
2770 new command line is not executed). Arguments are as delimited
2771 by standard shell syntax,
2772 If a numeric argument is given, that specifies the argument to
2774 be replaced. 0 means the command name, as in history expansion.
2775 A negative numeric argument counts backward from the last word.
2776 If no numeric argument is given, the current argument is re‐
2778 placed; this is the last argument if the previous history line
2779 is being used.
2780 The function prompts for a replacement argument.
2782 If the widget contains the string edit, for example is defined
2784 as
2785 zle -N replace-argument-edit replace-argument
2787 then the function presents the current value of the argument for
2789 editing, otherwise the editing buffer for the replacement is
2790 initially empty.
2791 replace-string, replace-pattern
2793 replace-string-again, replace-pattern-again
2794 The function replace-string implements three widgets. If de‐
2795 fined under the same name as the function, it prompts for two
2796 strings; the first (source) string will be replaced by the sec‐
2797 ond everywhere it occurs in the line editing buffer.
2798 If the widget name contains the word `pattern', for example by
2800 defining the widget using the command `zle -N replace-pattern
2801 replace-string', then the matching is performed using zsh pat‐
2802 terns. All zsh extended globbing patterns can be used in the
2803 source string; note that unlike filename generation the pattern
2804 does not need to match an entire word, nor do glob qualifiers
2805 have any effect. In addition, the replacement string can con‐
2806 tain parameter or command substitutions. Furthermore, a `&' in
2807 the replacement string will be replaced with the matched source
2808 string, and a backquoted digit `\N' will be replaced by the Nth
2809 parenthesised expression matched. The form `\{N}' may be used
2810 to protect the digit from following digits.
2811 If the widget instead contains the word `regex' (or `regexp'),
2813 then the matching is performed using regular expressions, re‐
2814 specting the setting of the option RE_MATCH_PCRE (see the de‐
2815 scription of the function regexp-replace below). The special
2816 replacement facilities described above for pattern matching are
2817 available.
2818 By default the previous source or replacement string will not be
2820 offered for editing. However, this feature can be activated by
2821 setting the style edit-previous in the context :zle:widget (for
2822 example, :zle:replace-string) to true. In addition, a positive
2823 numeric argument forces the previous values to be offered, a
2824 negative or zero argument forces them not to be.
2825 The function replace-string-again can be used to repeat the pre‐
2827 vious replacement; no prompting is done. As with re‐
2828 place-string, if the name of the widget contains the word `pat‐
2829 tern' or `regex', pattern or regular expression matching is per‐
2830 formed, else a literal string replacement. Note that the previ‐
2831 ous source and replacement text are the same whether pattern,
2832 regular expression or string matching is used.
2833 In addition, replace-string shows the previous replacement above
2835 the prompt, so long as there was one during the current session;
2836 if the source string is empty, that replacement will be repeated
2837 without the widget prompting for a replacement string.
2838 For example, starting from the line:
2840 print This line contains fan and fond
2842 and invoking replace-pattern with the source string `f(?)n' and
2844 the replacement string `c\1r' produces the not very useful line:
2845 print This line contains car and cord
2847 The range of the replacement string can be limited by using the
2849 narrow-to-region-invisible widget. One limitation of the cur‐
2850 rent version is that undo will cycle through changes to the re‐
2851 placement and source strings before undoing the replacement it‐
2852 self.
2853 send-invisible
2855 This is similar to read-from-minibuffer in that it may be called
2856 as a function from a widget or as a widget of its own, and in‐
2857 teractively reads input from the keyboard. However, the input
2858 being typed is concealed and a string of asterisks (`*') is
2859 shown instead. The value is saved in the parameter $INVISIBLE
2860 to which a reference is inserted into the editing buffer at the
2861 restored cursor position. If the read was aborted by a keyboard
2862 break (typically ^G) or another escape from editing such as
2863 push-line, $INVISIBLE is set to empty and the original buffer is
2864 restored unchanged.
2865 If one argument is supplied to the function it is taken as a
2867 prompt, otherwise `Non-echoed text: ' is used (as in emacs). If
2868 a second and third argument are supplied they are used to begin
2869 and end the reference to $INVISIBLE that is inserted into the
2870 buffer. The default is to open with ${, then INVISIBLE, and
2871 close with }, but many other effects are possible.
2872 smart-insert-last-word
2874 This function may replace the insert-last-word widget, like so:
2875 zle -N insert-last-word smart-insert-last-word
2877 With a numeric argument, or when passed command line arguments
2879 in a call from another widget, it behaves like insert-last-word,
2880 except that words in comments are ignored when INTERACTIVE_COM‐
2881 MENTS is set.
2882 Otherwise, the rightmost ``interesting'' word from the previous
2884 command is found and inserted. The default definition of ``in‐
2885 teresting'' is that the word contains at least one alphabetic
2886 character, slash, or backslash. This definition may be overrid‐
2887 den by use of the match style. The context used to look up the
2888 style is the widget name, so usually the context is :in‐
2889 sert-last-word. However, you can bind this function to differ‐
2890 ent widgets to use different patterns:
2891 zle -N insert-last-assignment smart-insert-last-word
2893 zstyle :insert-last-assignment match '[[:alpha:]][][[:alnum:]]#=*'
2894 bindkey '\e=' insert-last-assignment
2895 If no interesting word is found and the auto-previous style is
2897 set to a true value, the search continues upward through the
2898 history. When auto-previous is unset or false (the default),
2899 the widget must be invoked repeatedly in order to search earlier
2900 history lines.
2901 transpose-lines
2903 Only useful with a multi-line editing buffer; the lines here are
2904 lines within the current on-screen buffer, not history lines.
2905 The effect is similar to the function of the same name in Emacs.
2906 Transpose the current line with the previous line and move the
2908 cursor to the start of the next line. Repeating this (which can
2909 be done by providing a positive numeric argument) has the effect
2910 of moving the line above the cursor down by a number of lines.
2911 With a negative numeric argument, requires two lines above the
2913 cursor. These two lines are transposed and the cursor moved to
2914 the start of the previous line. Using a numeric argument less
2915 than -1 has the effect of moving the line above the cursor up by
2916 minus that number of lines.
2917 url-quote-magic
2919 This widget replaces the built-in self-insert to make it easier
2920 to type URLs as command line arguments. As you type, the input
2921 character is analyzed and, if it may need quoting, the current
2922 word is checked for a URI scheme. If one is found and the cur‐
2923 rent word is not already in quotes, a backslash is inserted be‐
2924 fore the input character.
2925 Styles to control quoting behavior:
2927 url-metas
2929 This style is looked up in the context
2930 `:url-quote-magic:scheme' (where scheme is that of the
2931 current URL, e.g. "ftp"). The value is a string listing
2932 the characters to be treated as globbing metacharacters
2933 when appearing in a URL using that scheme. The default
2934 is to quote all zsh extended globbing characters, exclud‐
2935 ing '<' and '>' but including braces (as in brace expan‐
2936 sion). See also url-seps.
2937 url-seps
2939 Like url-metas, but lists characters that should be con‐
2940 sidered command separators, redirections, history refer‐
2941 ences, etc. The default is to quote the standard set of
2942 shell separators, excluding those that overlap with the
2943 extended globbing characters, but including '<' and '>'
2944 and the first character of $histchars.
2945 url-globbers
2947 This style is looked up in the context
2948 `:url-quote-magic'. The values form a list of command
2949 names that are expected to do their own globbing on the
2950 URL string. This implies that they are aliased to use
2951 the `noglob' modifier. When the first word on the line
2952 matches one of the values and the URL refers to a local
2953 file (see url-local-schema), only the url-seps characters
2954 are quoted; the url-metas are left alone, allowing them
2955 to affect command-line parsing, completion, etc. The de‐
2956 fault values are a literal `noglob' plus (when the
2957 zsh/parameter module is available) any commands aliased
2958 to the helper function `urlglobber' or its alias
2959 `globurl'.
2960 url-local-schema
2962 This style is always looked up in the context `:urlglob‐
2963 ber', even though it is used by both url-quote-magic and
2964 urlglobber. The values form a list of URI schema that
2965 should be treated as referring to local files by their
2966 real local path names, as opposed to files which are
2967 specified relative to a web-server-defined document root.
2968 The defaults are "ftp" and "file".
2969 url-other-schema
2971 Like url-local-schema, but lists all other URI schema
2972 upon which urlglobber and url-quote-magic should act. If
2973 the URI on the command line does not have a scheme ap‐
2974 pearing either in this list or in url-local-schema, it is
2975 not magically quoted. The default values are "http",
2976 "https", and "ftp". When a scheme appears both here and
2977 in url-local-schema, it is quoted differently depending
2978 on whether the command name appears in url-globbers.
2979 Loading url-quote-magic also defines a helper function `urlglob‐
2981 ber' and aliases `globurl' to `noglob urlglobber'. This func‐
2982 tion takes a local URL apart, attempts to pattern-match the lo‐
2983 cal file portion of the URL path, and then puts the results back
2984 into URL format again.
2985 vi-pipe
2987 This function reads a movement command from the keyboard and
2988 then prompts for an external command. The part of the buffer
2989 covered by the movement is piped to the external command and
2990 then replaced by the command's output. If the movement command
2991 is bound to vi-pipe, the current line is used.
2992 The function serves as an example for reading a vi movement com‐
2994 mand from within a user-defined widget.
2995 which-command
2997 This function is a drop-in replacement for the builtin widget
2998 which-command. It has enhanced behaviour, in that it correctly
2999 detects whether or not the command word needs to be expanded as
3000 an alias; if so, it continues tracing the command word from the
3001 expanded alias until it reaches the command that will be exe‐
3002 cuted.
3003 The style whence is available in the context :zle:$WIDGET; this
3005 may be set to an array to give the command and options that will
3006 be used to investigate the command word found. The default is
3007 whence -c.
3008 zcalc-auto-insert
3010 This function is useful together with the zcalc function de‐
3011 scribed in the section `Mathematical Functions'. It should be
3012 bound to a key representing a binary operator such as `+', `-',
3013 `*' or `/'. When running in zcalc, if the key occurs at the
3014 start of the line or immediately following an open parenthesis,
3015 the text "ans " is inserted before the representation of the key
3016 itself. This allows easy use of the answer from the previous
3017 calculation in the current line. The text to be inserted before
3018 the symbol typed can be modified by setting the variable
3019 ZCALC_AUTO_INSERT_PREFIX.
3020 Hence, for example, typing `+12' followed by return adds 12 to
3022 the previous result.
3023 If zcalc is in RPN mode (-r option) the effect of this binding
3025 is automatically suppressed as operators alone on a line are
3026 meaningful.
3027 When not in zcalc, the key simply inserts the symbol itself.
3029 Utility Functions
3031 These functions are useful in constructing widgets. They should be
3032 loaded with `autoload -U function' and called as indicated from
3033 user-defined widgets.
3034 split-shell-arguments
3036 This function splits the line currently being edited into shell
3037 arguments and whitespace. The result is stored in the array re‐
3038 ply. The array contains all the parts of the line in order,
3039 starting with any whitespace before the first argument, and fin‐
3040 ishing with any whitespace after the last argument. Hence (so
3041 long as the option KSH_ARRAYS is not set) whitespace is given by
3042 odd indices in the array and arguments by even indices. Note
3043 that no stripping of quotes is done; joining together all the
3044 elements of reply in order is guaranteed to produce the original
3045 line.
3046 The parameter REPLY is set to the index of the word in reply
3048 which contains the character after the cursor, where the first
3049 element has index 1. The parameter REPLY2 is set to the index
3050 of the character under the cursor in that word, where the first
3051 character has index 1.
3052 Hence reply, REPLY and REPLY2 should all be made local to the
3054 enclosing function.
3055 See the function modify-current-argument, described below, for
3057 an example of how to call this function.
3058 modify-current-argument [ expr-using-$ARG | func ]
3060 This function provides a simple method of allowing user-defined
3061 widgets to modify the command line argument under the cursor (or
3062 immediately to the left of the cursor if the cursor is between
3063 arguments).
3064 The argument can be an expression which when evaluated operates
3066 on the shell parameter ARG, which will have been set to the com‐
3067 mand line argument under the cursor. The expression should be
3068 suitably quoted to prevent it being evaluated too early.
3069 Alternatively, if the argument does not contain the string ARG,
3071 it is assumed to be a shell function, to which the current com‐
3072 mand line argument is passed as the only argument. The function
3073 should set the variable REPLY to the new value for the command
3074 line argument. If the function returns non-zero status, so does
3075 the calling function.
3076 For example, a user-defined widget containing the following code
3078 converts the characters in the argument under the cursor into
3079 all upper case:
3080 modify-current-argument '${(U)ARG}'
3082 The following strips any quoting from the current word (whether
3084 backslashes or one of the styles of quotes), and replaces it
3085 with single quoting throughout:
3086 modify-current-argument '${(qq)${(Q)ARG}}'
3088 The following performs directory expansion on the command line
3090 argument and replaces it by the absolute path:
3091 expand-dir() {
3093 REPLY=${~1}
3094 REPLY=${REPLY:a}
3095 }
3096 modify-current-argument expand-dir
3097 In practice the function expand-dir would probably not be de‐
3099 fined within the widget where modify-current-argument is called.
3100 Styles
3102 The behavior of several of the above widgets can be controlled by the
3103 use of the zstyle mechanism. In particular, widgets that interact with
3104 the completion system pass along their context to any completions that
3105 they invoke.
3106 break-keys
3108 This style is used by the incremental-complete-word widget. Its
3109 value should be a pattern, and all keys matching this pattern
3110 will cause the widget to stop incremental completion without the
3111 key having any further effect. Like all styles used directly by
3112 incremental-complete-word, this style is looked up using the
3113 context `:incremental'.
3114 completer
3116 The incremental-complete-word and insert-and-predict widgets set
3117 up their top-level context name before calling completion. This
3118 allows one to define different sets of completer functions for
3119 normal completion and for these widgets. For example, to use
3120 completion, approximation and correction for normal completion,
3121 completion and correction for incremental completion and only
3122 completion for prediction one could use:
3123 zstyle ':completion:*' completer \
3125 _complete _correct _approximate
3126 zstyle ':completion:incremental:*' completer \
3127 _complete _correct
3128 zstyle ':completion:predict:*' completer \
3129 _complete
3130 It is a good idea to restrict the completers used in prediction,
3132 because they may be automatically invoked as you type. The
3133 _list and _menu completers should never be used with prediction.
3134 The _approximate, _correct, _expand, and _match completers may
3135 be used, but be aware that they may change characters anywhere
3136 in the word behind the cursor, so you need to watch carefully
3137 that the result is what you intended.
3138 cursor The insert-and-predict widget uses this style, in the context
3140 `:predict', to decide where to place the cursor after completion
3141 has been tried. Values are:
3142 complete
3144 The cursor is left where it was when completion finished,
3145 but only if it is after a character equal to the one just
3146 inserted by the user. If it is after another character,
3147 this value is the same as `key'.
3148 key The cursor is left after the nth occurrence of the char‐
3150 acter just inserted, where n is the number of times that
3151 character appeared in the word before completion was at‐
3152 tempted. In short, this has the effect of leaving the
3153 cursor after the character just typed even if the comple‐
3154 tion code found out that no other characters need to be
3155 inserted at that position.
3156 Any other value for this style unconditionally leaves the cursor
3158 at the position where the completion code left it.
3159 list When using the incremental-complete-word widget, this style says
3161 if the matches should be listed on every key press (if they fit
3162 on the screen). Use the context prefix `:completion:incremen‐
3163 tal'.
3164 The insert-and-predict widget uses this style to decide if the
3166 completion should be shown even if there is only one possible
3167 completion. This is done if the value of this style is the
3168 string always. In this case the context is `:predict' (not
3169 `:completion:predict').
3170 match This style is used by smart-insert-last-word to provide a pat‐
3172 tern (using full EXTENDED_GLOB syntax) that matches an interest‐
3173 ing word. The context is the name of the widget to which
3174 smart-insert-last-word is bound (see above). The default behav‐
3175 ior of smart-insert-last-word is equivalent to:
3176 zstyle :insert-last-word match '*[[:alpha:]/\\]*'
3178 However, you might want to include words that contain spaces:
3180 zstyle :insert-last-word match '*[[:alpha:][:space:]/\\]*'
3182 Or include numbers as long as the word is at least two charac‐
3184 ters long:
3185 zstyle :insert-last-word match '*([[:digit:]]?|[[:alpha:]/\\])*'
3187 The above example causes redirections like "2>" to be included.
3189 prompt The incremental-complete-word widget shows the value of this
3191 style in the status line during incremental completion. The
3192 string value may contain any of the following substrings in the
3193 manner of the PS1 and other prompt parameters:
3194 %c Replaced by the name of the completer function that gen‐
3196 erated the matches (without the leading underscore).
3197 %l When the list style is set, replaced by `...' if the list
3199 of matches is too long to fit on the screen and with an
3200 empty string otherwise. If the list style is `false' or
3201 not set, `%l' is always removed.
3202 %n Replaced by the number of matches generated.
3204 %s Replaced by `-no match-', `-no prefix-', or an empty
3206 string if there is no completion matching the word on the
3207 line, if the matches have no common prefix different from
3208 the word on the line, or if there is such a common pre‐
3209 fix, respectively.
3210 %u Replaced by the unambiguous part of all matches, if there
3212 is any, and if it is different from the word on the line.
3213 Like `break-keys', this uses the `:incremental' context.
3215 stop-keys
3217 This style is used by the incremental-complete-word widget. Its
3218 value is treated similarly to the one for the break-keys style
3219 (and uses the same context: `:incremental'). However, in this
3220 case all keys matching the pattern given as its value will stop
3221 incremental completion and will then execute their usual func‐
3222 tion.
3223 toggle This boolean style is used by predict-on and its related widgets
3225 in the context `:predict'. If set to one of the standard `true'
3226 values, predictive typing is automatically toggled off in situa‐
3227 tions where it is unlikely to be useful, such as when editing a
3228 multi-line buffer or after moving into the middle of a line and
3229 then deleting a character. The default is to leave prediction
3230 turned on until an explicit call to predict-off.
3231 verbose
3233 This boolean style is used by predict-on and its related widgets
3234 in the context `:predict'. If set to one of the standard `true'
3235 values, these widgets display a message below the prompt when
3236 the predictive state is toggled. This is most useful in combi‐
3237 nation with the toggle style. The default does not display
3238 these messages.
3239 widget This style is similar to the command style: For widget functions
3241 that use zle to call other widgets, this style can sometimes be
3242 used to override the widget which is called. The context for
3243 this style is the name of the calling widget (not the name of
3244 the calling function, because one function may be bound to mul‐
3245 tiple widget names).
3246 zstyle :copy-earlier-word widget smart-insert-last-word
3248 Check the documentation for the calling widget or function to
3250 determine whether the widget style is used.
3251
3253 Two functions are provided to enable zsh to provide exception handling
3254 in a form that should be familiar from other languages.
3255 throw exception
3257 The function throw throws the named exception. The name is an
3258 arbitrary string and is only used by the throw and catch func‐
3259 tions. An exception is for the most part treated the same as a
3260 shell error, i.e. an unhandled exception will cause the shell to
3261 abort all processing in a function or script and to return to
3262 the top level in an interactive shell.
3263 catch exception-pattern
3265 The function catch returns status zero if an exception was
3266 thrown and the pattern exception-pattern matches its name. Oth‐
3267 erwise it returns status 1. exception-pattern is a standard
3268 shell pattern, respecting the current setting of the EX‐
3269 TENDED_GLOB option. An alias catch is also defined to prevent
3270 the argument to the function from matching filenames, so pat‐
3271 terns may be used unquoted. Note that as exceptions are not
3272 fundamentally different from other shell errors it is possible
3273 to catch shell errors by using an empty string as the exception
3274 name. The shell variable CAUGHT is set by catch to the name of
3275 the exception caught. It is possible to rethrow an exception by
3276 calling the throw function again once an exception has been
3277 caught.
3278 The functions are designed to be used together with the always con‐
3280 struct described in zshmisc(1). This is important as only this con‐
3281 struct provides the required support for exceptions. A typical example
3282 is as follows.
3283 {
3285 # "try" block
3286 # ... nested code here calls "throw MyExcept"
3287 } always {
3288 # "always" block
3289 if catch MyExcept; then
3290 print "Caught exception MyExcept"
3291 elif catch ''; then
3292 print "Caught a shell error. Propagating..."
3293 throw ''
3294 fi
3295 # Other exceptions are not handled but may be caught further
3296 # up the call stack.
3297 }
3298 If all exceptions should be caught, the following idiom might be
3300 preferable.
3301 {
3303 # ... nested code here throws an exception
3304 } always {
3305 if catch *; then
3306 case $CAUGHT in
3307 (MyExcept)
3308 print "Caught my own exception"
3309 ;;
3310 (*)
3311 print "Caught some other exception"
3312 ;;
3313 esac
3314 fi
3315 }
3316 In common with exception handling in other languages, the exception may
3318 be thrown by code deeply nested inside the `try' block. However, note
3319 that it must be thrown inside the current shell, not in a subshell
3320 forked for a pipeline, parenthesised current-shell construct, or some
3321 form of command or process substitution.
3322 The system internally uses the shell variable EXCEPTION to record the
3324 name of the exception between throwing and catching. One drawback of
3325 this scheme is that if the exception is not handled the variable EXCEP‐
3326 TION remains set and may be incorrectly recognised as the name of an
3327 exception if a shell error subsequently occurs. Adding unset EXCEPTION
3328 at the start of the outermost layer of any code that uses exception
3329 handling will eliminate this problem.
3330
3332 Three functions are available to provide handling of files recognised
3333 by extension, for example to dispatch a file text.ps when executed as a
3334 command to an appropriate viewer.
3335 zsh-mime-setup [ -fv ] [ -l [ suffix ... ] ]
3337 zsh-mime-handler [ -l ] command argument ...
3338 These two functions use the files ~/.mime.types and
3339 /etc/mime.types, which associate types and extensions, as well
3340 as ~/.mailcap and /etc/mailcap files, which associate types and
3341 the programs that handle them. These are provided on many sys‐
3342 tems with the Multimedia Internet Mail Extensions.
3343 To enable the system, the function zsh-mime-setup should be au‐
3345 toloaded and run. This allows files with extensions to be
3346 treated as executable; such files be completed by the function
3347 completion system. The function zsh-mime-handler should not
3348 need to be called by the user.
3349 The system works by setting up suffix aliases with `alias -s'.
3351 Suffix aliases already installed by the user will not be over‐
3352 written.
3353 For suffixes defined in lower case, upper case variants will
3355 also automatically be handled (e.g. PDF is automatically handled
3356 if handling for the suffix pdf is defined), but not vice versa.
3357 Repeated calls to zsh-mime-setup do not override the existing
3359 mapping between suffixes and executable files unless the option
3360 -f is given. Note, however, that this does not override exist‐
3361 ing suffix aliases assigned to handlers other than zsh-mime-han‐
3362 dler.
3363 Calling zsh-mime-setup with the option -l lists the existing
3365 mappings without altering them. Suffixes to list (which may
3366 contain pattern characters that should be quoted from immediate
3367 interpretation on the command line) may be given as additional
3368 arguments, otherwise all suffixes are listed.
3369 Calling zsh-mime-setup with the option -v causes verbose output
3371 to be shown during the setup operation.
3372 The system respects the mailcap flags needsterminal and copi‐
3374 ousoutput; see mailcap(4) or mailcap(5) (the man page's name
3375 varies across platforms).
3376 The functions use the following styles, which are defined with
3378 the zstyle builtin command (see zshmodules(1)). They should be
3379 defined before zsh-mime-setup is run. The contexts used all
3380 start with :mime:, with additional components in some cases. It
3381 is recommended that a trailing * (suitably quoted) be appended
3382 to style patterns in case the system is extended in future.
3383 Some examples are given below.
3384 For files that have multiple suffixes, e.g. .pdf.gz, where the
3386 context includes the suffix it will be looked up starting with
3387 the longest possible suffix until a match for the style is
3388 found. For example, if .pdf.gz produces a match for the han‐
3389 dler, that will be used; otherwise the handler for .gz will be
3390 used. Note that, owing to the way suffix aliases work, it is
3391 always required that there be a handler for the shortest possi‐
3392 ble suffix, so in this example .pdf.gz can only be handled if
3393 .gz is also handled (though not necessarily in the same way).
3394 Alternatively, if no handling for .gz on its own is needed, sim‐
3395 ply adding the command
3396 alias -s gz=zsh-mime-handler
3398 to the initialisation code is sufficient; .gz will not be han‐
3400 dled on its own, but may be in combination with other suffixes.
3401 current-shell
3403 If this boolean style is true, the mailcap handler for
3404 the context in question is run using the eval builtin in‐
3405 stead of by starting a new sh process. This is more ef‐
3406 ficient, but may not work in the occasional cases where
3407 the mailcap handler uses strict POSIX syntax.
3408 disown If this boolean style is true, mailcap handlers started
3410 in the background will be disowned, i.e. not subject to
3411 job control within the parent shell. Such handlers
3412 nearly always produce their own windows, so the only
3413 likely harmful side effect of setting the style is that
3414 it becomes harder to kill jobs from within the shell.
3415 execute-as-is
3417 This style gives a list of patterns to be matched against
3418 files passed for execution with a handler program. If
3419 the file matches the pattern, the entire command line is
3420 executed in its current form, with no handler. This is
3421 useful for files which might have suffixes but nonethe‐
3422 less be executable in their own right. If the style is
3423 not set, the pattern *(*) *(/) is used; hence executable
3424 files are executed directly and not passed to a handler,
3425 and the option AUTO_CD may be used to change to directo‐
3426 ries that happen to have MIME suffixes.
3427 execute-never
3429 This style is useful in combination with execute-as-is.
3430 It is set to an array of patterns corresponding to full
3431 paths to files that should never be treated as exe‐
3432 cutable, even if the file passed to the MIME handler
3433 matches execute-as-is. This is useful for file systems
3434 that don't handle execute permission or that contain exe‐
3435 cutables from another operating system. For example, if
3436 /mnt/windows is a Windows mount, then
3437 zstyle ':mime:*' execute-never '/mnt/windows/*'
3439 will ensure that any files found in that area will be ex‐
3441 ecuted as MIME types even if they are executable. As
3442 this example shows, the complete file name is matched
3443 against the pattern, regardless of how the file was
3444 passed to the handler. The file is resolved to a full
3445 path using the :P modifier described in the subsection
3446 `Modifiers' in zshexpn(1); this means that symbolic links
3447 are resolved where possible, so that links into other
3448 file systems behave in the correct fashion.
3449 file-path
3451 Used if the style find-file-in-path is true for the same
3452 context. Set to an array of directories that are used
3453 for searching for the file to be handled; the default is
3454 the command path given by the special parameter path.
3455 The shell option PATH_DIRS is respected; if that is set,
3456 the appropriate path will be searched even if the name of
3457 the file to be handled as it appears on the command line
3458 contains a `/'. The full context is :mime:.suffix:, as
3459 described for the style handler.
3460 find-file-in-path
3462 If set, allows files whose names do not contain absolute
3463 paths to be searched for in the command path or the path
3464 specified by the file-path style. If the file is not
3465 found in the path, it is looked for locally (whether or
3466 not the current directory is in the path); if it is not
3467 found locally, the handler will abort unless the han‐
3468 dle-nonexistent style is set. Files found in the path
3469 are tested as described for the style execute-as-is. The
3470 full context is :mime:.suffix:, as described for the
3471 style handler.
3472 flags Defines flags to go with a handler; the context is as for
3474 the handler style, and the format is as for the flags in
3475 mailcap.
3476 handle-nonexistent
3478 By default, arguments that don't correspond to files are
3479 not passed to the MIME handler in order to prevent it
3480 from intercepting commands found in the path that happen
3481 to have suffixes. This style may be set to an array of
3482 extended glob patterns for arguments that will be passed
3483 to the handler even if they don't exist. If it is not
3484 explicitly set it defaults to [[:alpha:]]#:/* which al‐
3485 lows URLs to be passed to the MIME handler even though
3486 they don't exist in that format in the file system. The
3487 full context is :mime:.suffix:, as described for the
3488 style handler.
3489 handler
3491 Specifies a handler for a suffix; the suffix is given by
3492 the context as :mime:.suffix:, and the format of the han‐
3493 dler is exactly that in mailcap. Note in particular the
3494 `.' and trailing colon to distinguish this use of the
3495 context. This overrides any handler specified by the
3496 mailcap files. If the handler requires a terminal, the
3497 flags style should be set to include the word needstermi‐
3498 nal, or if the output is to be displayed through a pager
3499 (but not if the handler is itself a pager), it should in‐
3500 clude copiousoutput.
3501 mailcap
3503 A list of files in the format of ~/.mailcap and
3504 /etc/mailcap to be read during setup, replacing the de‐
3505 fault list which consists of those two files. The con‐
3506 text is :mime:. A + in the list will be replaced by the
3507 default files.
3508 mailcap-priorities
3510 This style is used to resolve multiple mailcap entries
3511 for the same MIME type. It consists of an array of the
3512 following elements, in descending order of priority;
3513 later entries will be used if earlier entries are unable
3514 to resolve the entries being compared. If none of the
3515 tests resolve the entries, the first entry encountered is
3516 retained.
3517 files The order of files (entries in the mailcap style)
3519 read. Earlier files are preferred. (Note this
3520 does not resolve entries in the same file.)
3521 priority
3523 The priority flag from the mailcap entry. The
3524 priority is an integer from 0 to 9 with the de‐
3525 fault value being 5.
3526 flags The test given by the mailcap-prio-flags option is
3528 used to resolve entries.
3529 place Later entries are preferred; as the entries are
3531 strictly ordered, this test always succeeds.
3532 Note that as this style is handled during initialisation,
3534 the context is always :mime:, with no discrimination by
3535 suffix.
3536 mailcap-prio-flags
3538 This style is used when the keyword flags is encountered
3539 in the list of tests specified by the mailcap-priorities
3540 style. It should be set to a list of patterns, each of
3541 which is tested against the flags specified in the mail‐
3542 cap entry (in other words, the sets of assignments found
3543 with some entries in the mailcap file). Earlier patterns
3544 in the list are preferred to later ones, and matched pat‐
3545 terns are preferred to unmatched ones.
3546 mime-types
3548 A list of files in the format of ~/.mime.types and
3549 /etc/mime.types to be read during setup, replacing the
3550 default list which consists of those two files. The con‐
3551 text is :mime:. A + in the list will be replaced by the
3552 default files.
3553 never-background
3555 If this boolean style is set, the handler for the given
3556 context is always run in the foreground, even if the
3557 flags provided in the mailcap entry suggest it need not
3558 be (for example, it doesn't require a terminal).
3559 pager If set, will be used instead of $PAGER or more to handle
3561 suffixes where the copiousoutput flag is set. The con‐
3562 text is as for handler, i.e. :mime:.suffix: for handling
3563 a file with the given suffix.
3564 Examples:
3566 zstyle ':mime:*' mailcap ~/.mailcap /usr/local/etc/mailcap
3568 zstyle ':mime:.txt:' handler less %s
3569 zstyle ':mime:.txt:' flags needsterminal
3570 When zsh-mime-setup is subsequently run, it will look for mail‐
3572 cap entries in the two files given. Files of suffix .txt will
3573 be handled by running `less file.txt'. The flag needsterminal
3574 is set to show that this program must run attached to a termi‐
3575 nal.
3576 As there are several steps to dispatching a command, the follow‐
3578 ing should be checked if attempting to execute a file by exten‐
3579 sion .ext does not have the expected effect.
3580 The command `alias -s ext' should show `ps=zsh-mime-handler'.
3582 If it shows something else, another suffix alias was already in‐
3583 stalled and was not overwritten. If it shows nothing, no han‐
3584 dler was installed: this is most likely because no handler was
3585 found in the .mime.types and mailcap combination for .ext files.
3586 In that case, appropriate handling should be added to
3587 ~/.mime.types and mailcap.
3588 If the extension is handled by zsh-mime-handler but the file is
3590 not opened correctly, either the handler defined for the type is
3591 incorrect, or the flags associated with it are in appropriate.
3592 Running zsh-mime-setup -l will show the handler and, if there
3593 are any, the flags. A %s in the handler is replaced by the file
3594 (suitably quoted if necessary). Check that the handler program
3595 listed lists and can be run in the way shown. Also check that
3596 the flags needsterminal or copiousoutput are set if the handler
3597 needs to be run under a terminal; the second flag is used if the
3598 output should be sent to a pager. An example of a suitable
3599 mailcap entry for such a program is:
3600 text/html; /usr/bin/lynx '%s'; needsterminal
3602 Running `zsh-mime-handler -l command line' prints the command
3604 line that would be executed, simplified to remove the effect of
3605 any flags, and quoted so that the output can be run as a com‐
3606 plete zsh command line. This is used by the completion system
3607 to decide how to complete after a file handled by
3608 zsh-mime-setup.
3609 pick-web-browser
3611 This function is separate from the two MIME functions described
3612 above and can be assigned directly to a suffix:
3613 autoload -U pick-web-browser
3615 alias -s html=pick-web-browser
3616 It is provided as an intelligent front end to dispatch a web
3618 browser. It may be run as either a function or a shell script.
3619 The status 255 is returned if no browser could be started.
3620 Various styles are available to customize the choice of
3622 browsers:
3623 browser-style
3625 The value of the style is an array giving preferences in
3626 decreasing order for the type of browser to use. The
3627 values of elements may be
3628 running
3630 Use a GUI browser that is already running when an
3631 X Window display is available. The browsers
3632 listed in the x-browsers style are tried in order
3633 until one is found; if it is, the file will be
3634 displayed in that browser, so the user may need to
3635 check whether it has appeared. If no running
3636 browser is found, one is not started. Browsers
3637 other than Firefox, Opera and Konqueror are as‐
3638 sumed to understand the Mozilla syntax for opening
3639 a URL remotely.
3640 x Start a new GUI browser when an X Window display
3642 is available. Search for the availability of one
3643 of the browsers listed in the x-browsers style and
3644 start the first one that is found. No check is
3645 made for an already running browser.
3646 tty Start a terminal-based browser. Search for the
3648 availability of one of the browsers listed in the
3649 tty-browsers style and start the first one that is
3650 found.
3651 If the style is not set the default running x tty is
3653 used.
3654 x-browsers
3656 An array in decreasing order of preference of browsers to
3657 use when running under the X Window System. The array
3658 consists of the command name under which to start the
3659 browser. They are looked up in the context :mime: (which
3660 may be extended in future, so appending `*' is recom‐
3661 mended). For example,
3662 zstyle ':mime:*' x-browsers opera konqueror firefox
3664 specifies that pick-web-browser should first look for a
3666 running instance of Opera, Konqueror or Firefox, in that
3667 order, and if it fails to find any should attempt to
3668 start Opera. The default is firefox mozilla netscape
3669 opera konqueror.
3670 tty-browsers
3672 An array similar to x-browsers, except that it gives
3673 browsers to use when no X Window display is available.
3674 The default is elinks links lynx.
3675 command
3677 If it is set this style is used to pick the command used
3678 to open a page for a browser. The context is
3679 :mime:browser:new:$browser: to start a new browser or
3680 :mime:browser:running:$browser: to open a URL in a
3681 browser already running on the current X display, where
3682 $browser is the value matched in the x-browsers or
3683 tty-browsers style. The escape sequence %b in the
3684 style's value will be replaced by the browser, while %u
3685 will be replaced by the URL. If the style is not set,
3686 the default for all new instances is equivalent to %b %u
3687 and the defaults for using running browsers are equiva‐
3688 lent to the values kfmclient openURL %u for Konqueror,
3689 firefox -new-tab %u for Firefox, opera -newpage %u for
3690 Opera, and %b -remote "openUrl(%u)" for all others.
3691
3693 zcalc [ -erf ] [ expression ... ]
3694 A reasonably powerful calculator based on zsh's arithmetic eval‐
3695 uation facility. The syntax is similar to that of formulae in
3696 most programming languages; see the section `Arithmetic Evalua‐
3697 tion' in zshmisc(1) for details.
3698 Non-programmers should note that, as in many other programming
3700 languages, expressions involving only integers (whether con‐
3701 stants without a `.', variables containing such constants as
3702 strings, or variables declared to be integers) are by default
3703 evaluated using integer arithmetic, which is not how an ordinary
3704 desk calculator operates. To force floating point operation,
3705 pass the option -f; see further notes below.
3706 If the file ~/.zcalcrc exists it will be sourced inside the
3708 function once it is set up and about to process the command
3709 line. This can be used, for example, to set shell options; emu‐
3710 late -L zsh and setopt extendedglob are in effect at this point.
3711 Any failure to source the file if it exists is treated as fatal.
3712 As with other initialisation files, the directory $ZDOTDIR is
3713 used instead of $HOME if it is set.
3714 The mathematical library zsh/mathfunc will be loaded if it is
3716 available; see the section `The zsh/mathfunc Module' in zshmod‐
3717 ules(1). The mathematical functions correspond to the raw sys‐
3718 tem libraries, so trigonometric functions are evaluated using
3719 radians, and so on.
3720 Each line typed is evaluated as an expression. The prompt shows
3722 a number, which corresponds to a positional parameter where the
3723 result of that calculation is stored. For example, the result
3724 of the calculation on the line preceded by `4> ' is available as
3725 $4. The last value calculated is available as ans. Full com‐
3726 mand line editing, including the history of previous calcula‐
3727 tions, is available; the history is saved in the file
3728 ~/.zcalc_history. To exit, enter a blank line or type `:q' on
3729 its own (`q' is allowed for historical compatibility).
3730 A line ending with a single backslash is treated in the same
3732 fashion as it is in command line editing: the backslash is re‐
3733 moved, the function prompts for more input (the prompt is pre‐
3734 ceded by `...' to indicate this), and the lines are combined
3735 into one to get the final result. In addition, if the input so
3736 far contains more open than close parentheses zcalc will prompt
3737 for more input.
3738 If arguments are given to zcalc on start up, they are used to
3740 prime the first few positional parameters. A visual indication
3741 of this is given when the calculator starts.
3742 The constants PI (3.14159...) and E (2.71828...) are provided.
3744 Parameter assignment is possible, but note that all parameters
3745 will be put into the global namespace unless the :local special
3746 command is used. The function creates local variables whose
3747 names start with _, so users should avoid doing so. The vari‐
3748 ables ans (the last answer) and stack (the stack in RPN mode)
3749 may be referred to directly; stack is an array but elements of
3750 it are numeric. Various other special variables are used lo‐
3751 cally with their standard meaning, for example compcontext,
3752 match, mbegin, mend, psvar.
3753 The output base can be initialised by passing the option
3755 `-#base', for example `zcalc -#16' (the `#' may have to be
3756 quoted, depending on the globbing options set).
3757 If the option `-e' is set, the function runs non-interactively:
3759 the arguments are treated as expressions to be evaluated as if
3760 entered interactively line by line.
3761 If the option `-f' is set, all numbers are treated as floating
3763 point, hence for example the expression `3/4' evaluates to 0.75
3764 rather than 0. Options must appear in separate words.
3765 If the option `-r' is set, RPN (Reverse Polish Notation) mode is
3767 entered. This has various additional properties:
3768 Stack Evaluated values are maintained in a stack; this is con‐
3769 tained in an array named stack with the most recent value
3770 in ${stack[1]}.
3771 Operators and functions
3773 If the line entered matches an operator (+, -, *, /, **,
3774 ^, | or &) or a function supplied by the zsh/mathfunc li‐
3775 brary, the bottom element or elements of the stack are
3776 popped to use as the argument or arguments. The higher
3777 elements of stack (least recent) are used as earlier ar‐
3778 guments. The result is then pushed into ${stack[1]}.
3779 Expressions
3781 Other expressions are evaluated normally, printed, and
3782 added to the stack as numeric values. The syntax within
3783 expressions on a single line is normal shell arithmetic
3784 (not RPN).
3785 Stack listing
3787 If an integer follows the option -r with no space, then
3788 on every evaluation that many elements of the stack,
3789 where available, are printed instead of just the most re‐
3790 cent result. Hence, for example, zcalc -r4 shows
3791 $stack[4] to $stack[1] each time results are printed.
3792 Duplication: =
3794 The pseudo-operator = causes the most recent element of
3795 the stack to be duplicated onto the stack.
3796 pop The pseudo-function pop causes the most recent element of
3798 the stack to be popped. A `>' on its own has the same
3799 effect.
3800 >ident The expression > followed (with no space) by a shell
3802 identifier causes the most recent element of the stack to
3803 be popped and assigned to the variable with that name.
3804 The variable is local to the zcalc function.
3805 <ident The expression < followed (with no space) by a shell
3807 identifier causes the value of the variable with that
3808 name to be pushed onto the stack. ident may be an inte‐
3809 ger, in which case the previous result with that number
3810 (as shown before the > in the standard zcalc prompt) is
3811 put on the stack.
3812 Exchange: xy
3814 The pseudo-function xy causes the most recent two ele‐
3815 ments of the stack to be exchanged. `<>' has the same
3816 effect.
3817 The prompt is configurable via the parameter ZCALCPROMPT, which
3819 undergoes standard prompt expansion. The index of the current
3820 entry is stored locally in the first element of the array psvar,
3821 which can be referred to in ZCALCPROMPT as `%1v'. The default
3822 prompt is `%1v> '.
3823 The variable ZCALC_ACTIVE is set within the function and can be
3825 tested by nested functions; it has the value rpn if RPN mode is
3826 active, else 1.
3827 A few special commands are available; these are introduced by a
3829 colon. For backward compatibility, the colon may be omitted for
3830 certain commands. Completion is available if compinit has been
3831 run.
3832 The output precision may be specified within zcalc by special
3834 commands familiar from many calculators.
3835 :norm The default output format. It corresponds to the printf
3836 %g specification. Typically this shows six decimal dig‐
3837 its.
3838 :sci digits
3840 Scientific notation, corresponding to the printf %g out‐
3841 put format with the precision given by digits. This pro‐
3842 duces either fixed point or exponential notation depend‐
3843 ing on the value output.
3844 :fix digits
3846 Fixed point notation, corresponding to the printf %f out‐
3847 put format with the precision given by digits.
3848 :eng digits
3850 Exponential notation, corresponding to the printf %E out‐
3851 put format with the precision given by digits.
3852 :raw Raw output: this is the default form of the output from
3854 a math evaluation. This may show more precision than the
3855 number actually possesses.
3856 Other special commands:
3858 :!line...
3859 Execute line... as a normal shell command line. Note
3860 that it is executed in the context of the function, i.e.
3861 with local variables. Space is optional after :!.
3862 :local arg ...
3864 Declare variables local to the function. Other variables
3865 may be used, too, but they will be taken from or put into
3866 the global scope.
3867 :function name [ body ]
3869 Define a mathematical function or (with no body) delete
3870 it. :function may be abbreviated to :func or simply :f.
3871 The name may contain the same characters as a shell func‐
3872 tion name. The function is defined using zmathfuncdef,
3873 see below.
3874 Note that zcalc takes care of all quoting. Hence for ex‐
3876 ample:
3877 :f cube $1 * $1 * $1
3879 defines a function to cube the sole argument. Functions
3881 so defined, or indeed any functions defined directly or
3882 indirectly using functions -M, are available to execute
3883 by typing only the name on the line in RPN mode; this
3884 pops the appropriate number of arguments off the stack to
3885 pass to the function, i.e. 1 in the case of the example
3886 cube function. If there are optional arguments only the
3887 mandatory arguments are supplied by this means.
3888 [#base]
3890 This is not a special command, rather part of normal
3891 arithmetic syntax; however, when this form appears on a
3892 line by itself the default output radix is set to base.
3893 Use, for example, `[#16]' to display hexadecimal output
3894 preceded by an indication of the base, or `[##16]' just
3895 to display the raw number in the given base. Bases them‐
3896 selves are always specified in decimal. `[#]' restores
3897 the normal output format. Note that setting an output
3898 base suppresses floating point output; use `[#]' to re‐
3899 turn to normal operation.
3900 $var Print out the value of var literally; does not affect the
3902 calculation. To use the value of var, omit the leading
3903 `$'.
3904 See the comments in the function for a few extra tips.
3906 min(arg, ...)
3908 max(arg, ...)
3909 sum(arg, ...)
3910 zmathfunc
3911 The function zmathfunc defines the three mathematical functions
3912 min, max, and sum. The functions min and max take one or more
3913 arguments. The function sum takes zero or more arguments. Ar‐
3914 guments can be of different types (ints and floats).
3915 Not to be confused with the zsh/mathfunc module, described in
3917 the section `The zsh/mathfunc Module' in zshmodules(1).
3918 zmathfuncdef [ mathfunc [ body ] ]
3920 A convenient front end to functions -M.
3921 With two arguments, define a mathematical function named math‐
3923 func which can be used in any form of arithmetic evaluation.
3924 body is a mathematical expression to implement the function. It
3925 may contain references to position parameters $1, $2, ... to
3926 refer to mandatory parameters and ${1:-defvalue} ... to refer
3927 to optional parameters. Note that the forms must be strictly
3928 adhered to for the function to calculate the correct number of
3929 arguments. The implementation is held in a shell function named
3930 zsh_math_func_mathfunc; usually the user will not need to refer
3931 to the shell function directly. Any existing function of the
3932 same name is silently replaced.
3933 With one argument, remove the mathematical function mathfunc as
3935 well as the shell function implementation.
3936 With no arguments, list all mathfunc functions in a form suit‐
3938 able for restoring the definition. The functions have not nec‐
3939 essarily been defined by zmathfuncdef.
3940
3942 The zsh/newuser module comes with a function to aid in configuring
3943 shell options for new users. If the module is installed, this function
3944 can also be run by hand. It is available even if the module's default
3945 behaviour, namely running the function for a new user logging in with‐
3946 out startup files, is inhibited.
3947 zsh-newuser-install [ -f ]
3949 The function presents the user with various options for cus‐
3950 tomizing their initialization scripts. Currently only ~/.zshrc
3951 is handled. $ZDOTDIR/.zshrc is used instead if the parameter
3952 ZDOTDIR is set; this provides a way for the user to configure a
3953 file without altering an existing .zshrc.
3954 By default the function exits immediately if it finds any of the
3956 files .zshenv, .zprofile, .zshrc, or .zlogin in the appropriate
3957 directory. The option -f is required in order to force the
3958 function to continue. Note this may happen even if .zshrc it‐
3959 self does not exist.
3960 As currently configured, the function will exit immediately if
3962 the user has root privileges; this behaviour cannot be overrid‐
3963 den.
3964 Once activated, the function's behaviour is supposed to be
3966 self-explanatory. Menus are present allowing the user to alter
3967 the value of options and parameters. Suggestions for improve‐
3968 ments are always welcome.
3969 When the script exits, the user is given the opportunity to save
3971 the new file or not; changes are not irreversible until this
3972 point. However, the script is careful to restrict changes to
3973 the file only to a group marked by the lines `# Lines configured
3974 by zsh-newuser-install' and `# End of lines configured by
3975 zsh-newuser-install'. In addition, the old version of .zshrc is
3976 saved to a file with the suffix .zni appended.
3977 If the function edits an existing .zshrc, it is up to the user
3979 to ensure that the changes made will take effect. For example,
3980 if control usually returns early from the existing .zshrc the
3981 lines will not be executed; or a later initialization file may
3982 override options or parameters, and so on. The function itself
3983 does not attempt to detect any such conflicts.
3984
3986 There are a large number of helpful functions in the Functions/Misc di‐
3987 rectory of the zsh distribution. Most are very simple and do not re‐
3988 quire documentation here, but a few are worthy of special mention.
3989 Descriptions
3991 colors This function initializes several associative arrays to map
3992 color names to (and from) the ANSI standard eight-color terminal
3993 codes. These are used by the prompt theme system (see above).
3994 You seldom should need to run colors more than once.
3995 The eight base colors are: black, red, green, yellow, blue, ma‐
3997 genta, cyan, and white. Each of these has codes for foreground
3998 and background. In addition there are seven intensity at‐
3999 tributes: bold, faint, standout, underline, blink, reverse, and
4000 conceal. Finally, there are seven codes used to negate at‐
4001 tributes: none (reset all attributes to the defaults), normal
4002 (neither bold nor faint), no-standout, no-underline, no-blink,
4003 no-reverse, and no-conceal.
4004 Some terminals do not support all combinations of colors and in‐
4006 tensities.
4007 The associative arrays are:
4009 color
4011 colour Map all the color names to their integer codes, and inte‐
4012 ger codes to the color names. The eight base names map
4013 to the foreground color codes, as do names prefixed with
4014 `fg-', such as `fg-red'. Names prefixed with `bg-', such
4015 as `bg-blue', refer to the background codes. The reverse
4016 mapping from code to color yields base name for fore‐
4017 ground codes and the bg- form for backgrounds.
4018 Although it is a misnomer to call them `colors', these
4020 arrays also map the other fourteen attributes from names
4021 to codes and codes to names.
4022 fg
4024 fg_bold
4025 fg_no_bold
4026 Map the eight basic color names to ANSI terminal escape
4027 sequences that set the corresponding foreground text
4028 properties. The fg sequences change the color without
4029 changing the eight intensity attributes.
4030 bg
4032 bg_bold
4033 bg_no_bold
4034 Map the eight basic color names to ANSI terminal escape
4035 sequences that set the corresponding background proper‐
4036 ties. The bg sequences change the color without changing
4037 the eight intensity attributes.
4038 In addition, the scalar parameters reset_color and bold_color
4040 are set to the ANSI terminal escapes that turn off all at‐
4041 tributes and turn on bold intensity, respectively.
4042 fned [ -x num ] name
4044 Same as zed -f. This function does not appear in the zsh dis‐
4045 tribution, but can be created by linking zed to the name fned in
4046 some directory in your fpath.
4047 histed [ [ name ] size ]
4049 Same as zed -h. This function does not appear in the zsh dis‐
4050 tribution, but can be created by linking zed to the name histed
4051 in some directory in your fpath.
4052 is-at-least needed [ present ]
4054 Perform a greater-than-or-equal-to comparison of two strings
4055 having the format of a zsh version number; that is, a string of
4056 numbers and text with segments separated by dots or dashes. If
4057 the present string is not provided, $ZSH_VERSION is used. Seg‐
4058 ments are paired left-to-right in the two strings with leading
4059 non-number parts ignored. If one string has fewer segments than
4060 the other, the missing segments are considered zero.
4061 This is useful in startup files to set options and other state
4063 that are not available in all versions of zsh.
4064 is-at-least 3.1.6-15 && setopt NO_GLOBAL_RCS
4066 is-at-least 3.1.0 && setopt HIST_REDUCE_BLANKS
4067 is-at-least 2.6-17 || print "You can't use is-at-least here."
4068 nslookup [ arg ... ]
4070 This wrapper function for the nslookup command requires the
4071 zsh/zpty module (see zshmodules(1)). It behaves exactly like
4072 the standard nslookup except that it provides customizable
4073 prompts (including a right-side prompt) and completion of
4074 nslookup commands, host names, etc. (if you use the func‐
4075 tion-based completion system). Completion styles may be set
4076 with the context prefix `:completion:nslookup'.
4077 See also the pager, prompt and rprompt styles below.
4079 regexp-replace var regexp replace
4081 Use regular expressions to perform a global search and replace
4082 operation on a variable. POSIX extended regular expressions
4083 (ERE) are used, unless the option RE_MATCH_PCRE has been set, in
4084 which case Perl-compatible regular expressions are used (this
4085 requires the shell to be linked against the pcre library).
4086 var is the name of the variable containing the string to be
4088 matched. The variable will be modified directly by the func‐
4089 tion. The variables MATCH, MBEGIN, MEND, match, mbegin, mend
4090 should be avoided as these are used by the regular expression
4091 code.
4092 regexp is the regular expression to match against the string.
4094 replace is the replacement text. This can contain parameter,
4096 command and arithmetic expressions which will be replaced: in
4097 particular, a reference to $MATCH will be replaced by the text
4098 matched by the pattern.
4099 The return status is 0 if at least one match was performed, else
4101 1.
4102 Note that if using POSIX EREs, the ^ or word boundary operators
4104 (where available) may not work properly.
4105 run-help cmd
4107 This function is designed to be invoked by the run-help ZLE wid‐
4108 get, in place of the default alias. See `Accessing On-Line
4109 Help' above for setup instructions.
4110 In the discussion which follows, if cmd is a file system path,
4112 it is first reduced to its rightmost component (the file name).
4113 Help is first sought by looking for a file named cmd in the di‐
4115 rectory named by the HELPDIR parameter. If no file is found, an
4116 assistant function, alias, or command named run-help-cmd is
4117 sought. If found, the assistant is executed with the rest of
4118 the current command line (everything after the command name cmd)
4119 as its arguments. When neither file nor assistant is found, the
4120 external command `man cmd' is run.
4121 An example assistant for the "ssh" command:
4123 run-help-ssh() {
4125 emulate -LR zsh
4126 local -a args
4127 # Delete the "-l username" option
4128 zparseopts -D -E -a args l:
4129 # Delete other options, leaving: host command
4130 args=(${@:#-*})
4131 if [[ ${#args} -lt 2 ]]; then
4132 man ssh
4133 else
4134 run-help $args[2]
4135 fi
4136 }
4137 Several of these assistants are provided in the Functions/Misc
4139 directory. These must be autoloaded, or placed as executable
4140 scripts in your search path, in order to be found and used by
4141 run-help.
4142 run-help-btrfs
4144 run-help-git
4145 run-help-ip
4146 run-help-openssl
4147 run-help-p4
4148 run-help-sudo
4149 run-help-svk
4150 run-help-svn
4151 Assistant functions for the btrfs, git, ip, openssl, p4,
4152 sudo, svk, and svn, commands.
4153 tetris Zsh was once accused of not being as complete as Emacs, because
4155 it lacked a Tetris game. This function was written to refute
4156 this vicious slander.
4157 This function must be used as a ZLE widget:
4159 autoload -U tetris
4161 zle -N tetris
4162 bindkey keys tetris
4163 To start a game, execute the widget by typing the keys. What‐
4165 ever command line you were editing disappears temporarily, and
4166 your keymap is also temporarily replaced by the Tetris control
4167 keys. The previous editor state is restored when you quit the
4168 game (by pressing `q') or when you lose.
4169 If you quit in the middle of a game, the next invocation of the
4171 tetris widget will continue where you left off. If you lost, it
4172 will start a new game.
4173 tetriscurses
4175 This is a port of the above to zcurses. The input handling is
4176 improved a bit so that moving a block sideways doesn't automati‐
4177 cally advance a timestep, and the graphics use unicode block
4178 graphics.
4179 This version does not save the game state between invocations,
4181 and is not invoked as a widget, but rather as:
4182 autoload -U tetriscurses
4184 tetriscurses
4185 zargs [ option ... -- ] [ input ... ] [ -- command [ arg ... ] ]
4187 This function has a similar purpose to GNU xargs. Instead of
4188 reading lines of arguments from the standard input, it takes
4189 them from the command line. This is useful because zsh, espe‐
4190 cially with recursive glob operators, often can construct a com‐
4191 mand line for a shell function that is longer than can be ac‐
4192 cepted by an external command.
4193 The option list represents options of the zargs command itself,
4195 which are the same as those of xargs. The input list is the
4196 collection of strings (often file names) that become the argu‐
4197 ments of the command, analogous to the standard input of xargs.
4198 Finally, the arg list consists of those arguments (usually op‐
4199 tions) that are passed to the command each time it runs. The
4200 arg list precedes the elements from the input list in each run.
4201 If no command is provided, then no arg list may be provided, and
4202 in that event the default command is `print' with arguments `-r
4203 --'.
4204 For example, to get a long ls listing of all non-hidden plain
4206 files in the current directory or its subdirectories:
4207 autoload -U zargs
4209 zargs -- **/*(.) -- ls -ld --
4210 The first and third occurrences of `--' are used to mark the end
4212 of options for zargs and ls respectively to guard against file‐
4213 names starting with `-', while the second is used to separate
4214 the list of files from the command to run (`ls -ld --').
4215 The first `--' would also be needed if there was a chance the
4217 list might be empty as in:
4218 zargs -r -- ./*.back(#qN) -- rm -f
4220 In the event that the string `--' is or may be an input, the -e
4222 option may be used to change the end-of-inputs marker. Note
4223 that this does not change the end-of-options marker. For exam‐
4224 ple, to use `..' as the marker:
4225 zargs -e.. -- **/*(.) .. ls -ld --
4227 This is a good choice in that example because no plain file can
4229 be named `..', but the best end-marker depends on the circum‐
4230 stances.
4231 The options -i, -I, -l, -L, and -n differ slightly from their
4233 usage in xargs. There are no input lines for zargs to count, so
4234 -l and -L count through the input list, and -n counts the number
4235 of arguments passed to each execution of command, including any
4236 arg list. Also, any time -i or -I is used, each input is pro‐
4237 cessed separately as if by `-L 1'.
4238 For details of the other zargs options, see the xargs(1) man
4240 page (but note the difference in function between zargs and
4241 xargs) or run zargs with the --help option.
4242 zed [ -f [ -x num ] ] name
4244 zed [ -h [ name ] size ]
4245 zed -b This function uses the ZLE editor to edit a file or function.
4246 Only one name argument is allowed. If the -f option is given,
4248 the name is taken to be that of a function; if the function is
4249 marked for autoloading, zed searches for it in the fpath and
4250 loads it. Note that functions edited this way are installed
4251 into the current shell, but not written back to the autoload
4252 file. In this case the -x option specifies that leading tabs
4253 indenting the function according to syntax should be converted
4254 into the given number of spaces; `-x 2' is consistent with the
4255 layout of functions distributed with the shell.
4256 Without -f, name is the path name of the file to edit, which
4258 need not exist; it is created on write, if necessary. With -h,
4259 the file is presumed to contain history events.
4260 When no file name is provided for -h the current shell history
4262 is edited in place. The history is renumbered when zed exits
4263 successfully.
4264 When editing history, multi-line events must have a trailing
4266 backslash on every line before the last.
4267 While editing, the function sets the main keymap to zed and the
4269 vi command keymap to zed-vicmd. These will be copied from the
4270 existing main and vicmd keymaps if they do not exist the first
4271 time zed is run. They can be used to provide special key bind‐
4272 ings used only in zed.
4273 If it creates the keymap, zed rebinds the return key to insert a
4275 line break and `^X^W' to accept the edit in the zed keymap, and
4276 binds `ZZ' to accept the edit in the zed-vicmd keymap.
4277 The bindings alone can be installed by running `zed -b'. This
4279 is suitable for putting into a startup file. Note that, if re‐
4280 run, this will overwrite the existing zed and zed-vicmd keymaps.
4281 Completion is available, and styles may be set with the context
4283 prefix `:completion:zed:'.
4284 A zle widget zed-set-file-name is available. This can be called
4286 by name from within zed using `\ex zed-set-file-name' or can be
4287 bound to a key in either of the zed or zed-vicmd keymaps after
4288 `zed -b' has been run. When the widget is called, it prompts
4289 for a new name for the file being edited. When zed exits the
4290 file will be written under that name and the original file will
4291 be left alone. The widget has no effect when invoked from `zed
4292 -f'. The completion context is changed to `:comple‐
4293 tion:zed-set-file-name:'. When editing the current history with
4294 `zed -h', the history is first updated and then the file is
4295 written, but the global setting of HISTFILE is not altered.
4296 While zed-set-file-name is running, zed uses the keymap zed-nor‐
4298 mal-keymap, which is linked from the main keymap in effect at
4299 the time zed initialised its bindings. (This is to make the re‐
4300 turn key operate normally.) The result is that if the main
4301 keymap has been changed, the widget won't notice. This is not a
4302 concern for most users.
4303 zcp [ -finqQvwW ] srcpat dest
4305 zln [ -finqQsvwW ] srcpat dest
4306 Same as zmv -C and zmv -L, respectively. These functions do not
4307 appear in the zsh distribution, but can be created by linking
4308 zmv to the names zcp and zln in some directory in your fpath.
4309 zkbd See `Keyboard Definition' above.
4311 zmv [ -finqQsvwW ] [ -C | -L | -M | -{p|P} program ] [ -o optstring ]
4314 srcpat dest
4315 Move (usually, rename) files matching the pattern srcpat to cor‐
4316 responding files having names of the form given by dest, where
4317 srcpat contains parentheses surrounding patterns which will be
4318 replaced in turn by $1, $2, ... in dest. For example,
4319 zmv '(*).lis' '$1.txt'
4321 renames `foo.lis' to `foo.txt', `my.old.stuff.lis' to
4323 `my.old.stuff.txt', and so on.
4324 The pattern is always treated as an EXTENDED_GLOB pattern. Any
4326 file whose name is not changed by the substitution is simply ig‐
4327 nored. Any error (a substitution resulted in an empty string,
4328 two substitutions gave the same result, the destination was an
4329 existing regular file and -f was not given) causes the entire
4330 function to abort without doing anything.
4331 In addition to pattern replacement, the variable $f can be re‐
4333 ferred to in the second (replacement) argument. This makes it
4334 possible to use variable substitution to alter the argument; see
4335 examples below.
4336 Options:
4338 -f Force overwriting of destination files. Not currently
4340 passed down to the mv/cp/ln command due to vagaries of
4341 implementations (but you can use -o-f to do that).
4342 -i Interactive: show each line to be executed and ask the
4343 user whether to execute it. `Y' or `y' will execute it,
4344 anything else will skip it. Note that you just need to
4345 type one character.
4346 -n No execution: print what would happen, but don't do it.
4347 -q Turn bare glob qualifiers off: now assumed by default, so
4348 this has no effect.
4349 -Q Force bare glob qualifiers on. Don't turn this on unless
4350 you are actually using glob qualifiers in a pattern.
4351 -s Symbolic, passed down to ln; only works with -L.
4352 -v Verbose: print each command as it's being executed.
4353 -w Pick out wildcard parts of the pattern, as described
4354 above, and implicitly add parentheses for referring to
4355 them.
4356 -W Just like -w, with the addition of turning wildcards in
4357 the replacement pattern into sequential ${1} .. ${N} ref‐
4358 erences.
4359 -C
4360 -L
4361 -M Force cp, ln or mv, respectively, regardless of the name
4362 of the function.
4363 -p program
4364 Call program instead of cp, ln or mv. Whatever it does,
4365 it should at least understand the form `program -- old‐
4366 name newname' where oldname and newname are filenames
4367 generated by zmv. program will be split into words, so
4368 might be e.g. the name of an archive tool plus a copy or
4369 rename subcommand.
4370 -P program
4371 As -p program, except that program does not accept a fol‐
4372 lowing -- to indicate the end of options. In this case
4373 filenames must already be in a sane form for the program
4374 in question.
4375 -o optstring
4376 The optstring is split into words and passed down verba‐
4377 tim to the cp, ln or mv command called to perform the
4378 work. It should probably begin with a `-'.
4379 Further examples:
4381 zmv -v '(* *)' '${1// /_}'
4383 For any file in the current directory with at least one space in
4385 the name, replace every space by an underscore and display the
4386 commands executed.
4387 zmv -v '* *' '${f// /_}'
4389 This does exactly the same by referring to the file name stored
4391 in $f.
4392 For more complete examples and other implementation details, see
4394 the zmv source file, usually located in one of the directories
4395 named in your fpath, or in Functions/Misc/zmv in the zsh distri‐
4396 bution.
4397 zrecompile
4399 See `Recompiling Functions' above.
4400 zstyle+ context style value [ + subcontext style value ... ]
4402 This makes defining styles a bit simpler by using a single `+'
4403 as a special token that allows you to append a context name to
4404 the previously used context name. Like this:
4405 zstyle+ ':foo:bar' style1 value1 \
4407 +':baz' style2 value2 \
4408 +':frob' style3 value3
4409 This defines style1 with value1 for the context :foo:bar as
4411 usual, but it also defines style2 with value2 for the context
4412 :foo:bar:baz and style3 with value3 for :foo:bar:frob. Any sub‐
4413 context may be the empty string to re-use the first context un‐
4414 changed.
4415 Styles
4417 insert-tab
4418 The zed function sets this style in context `:completion:zed:*'
4419 to turn off completion when TAB is typed at the beginning of a
4420 line. You may override this by setting your own value for this
4421 context and style.
4422 pager The nslookup function looks up this style in the context
4424 `:nslookup' to determine the program used to display output that
4425 does not fit on a single screen.
4426 prompt
4428 rprompt
4429 The nslookup function looks up this style in the context
4430 `:nslookup' to set the prompt and the right-side prompt, respec‐
4431 tively. The usual expansions for the PS1 and RPS1 parameters
4432 may be used (see EXPANSION OF PROMPT SEQUENCES in zshmisc(1)).
4433zsh 5.9 May 14, 2022 ZSHCONTRIB(1)