The Z shell (also known as zsh) is a Unix shell that is built on top of bash(the default shell for macOS) with additional features. It's recommended to usezsh over bash. It's also highly recommended to install a framework withzsh as it makes dealing with configuration, plugins and themes a lot nicer.
We've also included an env.sh file where we store our aliases, exports, pathchanges etc. We put this in a separate file to not pollute our mainconfiguration file too much. This file is found in the bottom of this page.
Install zsh using Homebrew:
I don't have powerline fonts as I'm using Nerd Fonts instead, and I don't have iTerm2, just oh-my-zsh (Mac). I've also seen this mentioned a little on the official. See full list on howtogeek.com.
Now you should install a framework, we recommend to use Oh My Zshor Prezto. Note that you shouldpick one of them, not use both.
Oh-My-Bash is an open source, community-driven framework for managing your BASH configuration. It comes bundled with a ton of helpful functions, helpers, plugins, themes, and a few things that make you shout. If you're not using Homebrew, this is what I just did on MAC OS X Lion (10.7.5): Get the latest version of the ZSH sourcecode. Untar the download into its own directory then install:./configure && make && make test && sudo make install This installs the the zsh binary at /usr/local/bin/zsh. You can now use the shell by loading up a new terminal and executing the binary directly, but you'll.
The configuration file for zsh is called .zshrc and lives in your homefolder (~/.zshrc).
Oh My Zsh
Oh My Zsh is an open source,community-driven framework for managing your zsh configuration. It comeswith a bunch of features out of the box and improves your terminal experience.
Install Oh My Zsh:
The installation script should set zsh to your default shell, but if itdoesn't you can do it manually:
Configuration
The out-of-the-box configuration is usable but you probably want to customiseit to suit your needs. The Official Wikicontains a lot of useful information if you want to deep dive into what youcan do with Oh My Zsh, but we'll cover the basics here.
To apply the changes you make you need to either start new shell instanceor run:
Plugins
Add plugins to your shell by adding the name of the plugin to the pluginarray in your .zshrc.
You'll find a list of all plugins on the Oh My Zsh Wiki.Note that adding plugins can cause your shell startup time to increase.
Themes
Changing theme is as simple as changing a string in your configuration file.The default theme is robbyrussell. Just change that value to change theme,and don't forget to apply your changes.
You'll find a list of themes with screenshots on theOh My Zsh Wiki.
Prezto
Prezto is a configuration frameworkfor zsh; it enriches the command line interface environment with sanedefaults, aliases, functions, auto completion, and prompt themes.
Oh My Zsh For Macs
Install Prezto:
Oh My Zsh For Mac Commands
Next create your ~/.zshrc by running:
For more information on customisation visit the GitHub repository forPrezto.
Modules
Add modules to Prezto by editing ~/.zpreztorc and adding the modules asstrings to the list:
And don't forget to apply your changes by starting a new shell instance.
Themes
To list all available themes run:
Then open up your config file (~/.zpreztorc) and change to the theme you want:
env.sh
To include env.sh, open ~/.zshrc and add the following:
This file comes with some pre-defined settings, they are all optional.Please review them before you use them as your configuration. These are justexamples to show you what you can customise in your shell.
July 16, 2017
In a previous post, I have explained how I have setup oh-my-zsh with the git plugin.I am also using homebrew to manage the packages installed on my Mac.After upgrading Git recently, I have noticed the Git completion was not as powerful anymore.
To explain how the Zsh completion is cool and supposed to be, here is an example of a correct completion:
The completion displays all the parameters for a Git command with a short documentation.
After updating Git with the brew update command here is what it looked like:
Yep, all the integrated documentation was gone :(I was preparing for a Git training at Ippon and I was disappointed not to be able to show this very useful feature to my colleagues new to Git.
It turned that the culprit is homebrew installing a completion for Git which overrides the Zsh completion.You can verify this with:
The solution is to reinstall git with homebrew and specify not to install the bash completion.
And voilà!