5 ms·

I think the move of Kali Linux from bash to zsh is sane. I sometimes have to use the default shell of Linux distribution, especially on servers, and my main pai

I think the move of Kali Linux from bash to zsh is sane. I sometimes have to use the default shell of Linux distribution, especially on servers, and my main pain points with bash are: - The history is editable by default. If I move to a previous history line and change it, the old line disappears. Hitting Ctrl-c will remove it from the history. - If I use simultaneous shells (screen, tmux, or several ssh connections), the history saved will be the one of the last shell to quit. The bash config `histappend` should be the default, IMO. - Most of the time, I search the history by the beginning of the command I just typed, which zsh maps to alt-p and which bash does not map by default. I rarely use the ctrl-r search. - No way to pause a command and view the man. With zsh, `git clone<alt-h>` will display `man git-clone`, then return to the incomplete command line. - No way to set a command aside. E.g. if I realise while typing that I'm not in the right directory, `git clone<alt-q>cd src<return>`.

Neil44 6y ago
Pause command - I usually hit home, insert a # then enter then man then get the command back and continue. Or tmux it. Didn't realise zsh had that shortcut.
- rytis 6y ago
  Instead of home+#+enter try alt-#
- smichel17 6y ago
  I usually append \, hit enter, then ctrl-c. Run the new command, then up arrow, backspace, enter. You can get closer to the zsh workflow with ctrl-z instead, but that doesn't work if the new command is cd.
saagarjha 6y ago
> No way to pause a command and view the man. ^A, ^K, m, a, n, space, ^Y, enter. Upon exit, ^Y. > No way to set a command aside. ^A, ^K. Grab it again with ^Y. (Yes, these are all readline shortcuts. If you think they’re a bit long, bind them to something shorter in your inputrc.)
- dima55 6y ago
  Do you actually use zsh? C-o and M-q and M-a and M-h and all the others are really nice, and as far as I know bash has nothing similar (correct me if I'm wrong). You don't NEED any of these niceties but they're very nice.
  - p4bl0 6y ago
    The comment you are responding to talks about Bash.
    - dima55 6y ago
      It talks about bash workarounds for zsh features.
codetrotter 6y ago
> E.g. if I realise while typing that I'm not in the right directory, `git clone<alt-q>cd src<return>`. With bash I’d just Ctrl+a and type “cd src ;” and then press ctrl+e and continue typing what I was typing. I got so used to doing it that way, that even after switching to zsh I still do it this way. The disadvantage of my way of doing it is if you typo the path. But I tab complete pretty much always, so in practice I don’t have the problem of typoing directory names without noticing. I probably should learn those zsh ways of doing things. Will try to remember to do it the zsh way next time I need to do something like the things you mentioned.
- mkl 6y ago
  If you use && instead of ; then you won't have the typo problem.
  - codetrotter 6y ago
    True, but that means typing another character and I am lazy :p
mkl 6y ago
> - The history is editable by default. If I move to a previous history line and change it, the old line disappears. Press M-r to revert back to the original command. > - No way to set a command aside. E.g. if I realise while typing that I'm not in the right directory, `git clone<alt-q>cd src<return>`. Press M-# to comment out the current command and go to a new prompt, then up to get the commented command back, and M-3 M-# to uncomment it and run it (any number works, but 3 is the same key as #).
- inetknght 6y ago
  Oh look! Magic! I think if bash had some interactive help with this magic when it appears then it would be a lot more helpful and a lot less magical.
  - zests 6y ago
    I don't think bash really fits the type of program to have interactive tutorials. If you are serious about your command-line-fu its worth giving the manual a good read. bind -P | grep '\\e' https://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/ https://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/ My favorite by far is '\e.' or 'M-.' which inserts the last arg from your previous command. Discovering this led me down the bash rabbit-hole of finding new commands, creating my own and really enjoying the bash shell. Did you know you can execute arbitrary code as one of these commands? I had one that ran 'docker ps' so I could list my containers in the middle of typing a command.
mapolone 6y ago
Not to mention: - Oh-my-zsh has a lot of plugins for auto-completion - FZF (fuzzy finder), for command history is a big hit (supports bash too)
- ti_ranger 6y ago
  > - Oh-my-zsh has a lot of plugins for auto-completion As does bash-completion, which is available in many (but not all :-/) Linux distros and via Homebrew on MacOS and [pre-dates](https://github.com/scop/bash-completion/tree/09b07d57a7031d904223b31c3a240adab0533546 https://github.com/scop/bash-completion/tree/09b07d57a7031d9...) [oh-my-zsh](https://github.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/tree/5da20b9dddb1f7a9110675ded5df59c4c3ed1b83 https://github.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/tree/5da20b9dddb1f7a91106...) by about 6 years. But, zsh users and oh-my-zsh fan-boys seem to be entirely ignorant of bash-completion.
  - sbarre 6y ago
    I never understand comments like these. Why do you have to twist this to be about "ignorant fan boys"? Not enough drama in the world already?
    - ti_ranger 6y ago
      Sorry, but I've read too many posts that say "bash sucks, it doesn't do <thing that bash has done for years before zsh did it> like zsh does".
      - sbarre 6y ago
        And there's a constructive way to respond to those posts, if you must absolutely respond. Yours ain't it.
        dbtc 6y ago
        Ironic response.
rootbear 6y ago
This may be an old fashioned way to do it, but I set aside a command by using ^A (or Home) and the entering : and space: $ : Command that has an error I can then cd to the right directory, or fix whatever other problem I had, then use up-arrow to get back to the command, remove the : and space and run it. The : (no op) command is fairly obscure and some of the other suggestions here are probably better.
- barbs 6y ago
  I do the same but with a # to comment it out
tug0fwar 6y ago
At the end of the day, whatever shell best suits you basically boils down to usage, habits and how much willing you are to tweak it.

Neil44 6y ago

Pause command - I usually hit home, insert a # then enter then man then get the command back and continue. Or tmux it. Didn't realise zsh had that shortcut.

rytis 6y ago
Instead of home+#+enter try alt-#
smichel17 6y ago
I usually append \, hit enter, then ctrl-c. Run the new command, then up arrow, backspace, enter. You can get closer to the zsh workflow with ctrl-z instead, but that doesn't work if the new command is cd.

saagarjha 6y ago

> No way to pause a command and view the man. ^A, ^K, m, a, n, space, ^Y, enter. Upon exit, ^Y. > No way to set a command aside. ^A, ^K. Grab it again with ^Y. (Yes, these are all readline shortcuts. If you think they’re a bit long, bind them to something shorter in your inputrc.)

dima55 6y ago
Do you actually use zsh? C-o and M-q and M-a and M-h and all the others are really nice, and as far as I know bash has nothing similar (correct me if I'm wrong). You don't NEED any of these niceties but they're very nice.
- p4bl0 6y ago
  The comment you are responding to talks about Bash.
  - dima55 6y ago
    It talks about bash workarounds for zsh features.

codetrotter 6y ago

> E.g. if I realise while typing that I'm not in the right directory, `git clone<alt-q>cd src<return>`. With bash I’d just Ctrl+a and type “cd src ;” and then press ctrl+e and continue typing what I was typing. I got so used to doing it that way, that even after switching to zsh I still do it this way. The disadvantage of my way of doing it is if you typo the path. But I tab complete pretty much always, so in practice I don’t have the problem of typoing directory names without noticing. I probably should learn those zsh ways of doing things. Will try to remember to do it the zsh way next time I need to do something like the things you mentioned.

mkl 6y ago
If you use && instead of ; then you won't have the typo problem.
- codetrotter 6y ago
  True, but that means typing another character and I am lazy :p

mkl 6y ago

> - The history is editable by default. If I move to a previous history line and change it, the old line disappears. Press M-r to revert back to the original command. > - No way to set a command aside. E.g. if I realise while typing that I'm not in the right directory, `git clone<alt-q>cd src<return>`. Press M-# to comment out the current command and go to a new prompt, then up to get the commented command back, and M-3 M-# to uncomment it and run it (any number works, but 3 is the same key as #).

inetknght 6y ago
Oh look! Magic! I think if bash had some interactive help with this magic when it appears then it would be a lot more helpful and a lot less magical.
- zests 6y ago
  I don't think bash really fits the type of program to have interactive tutorials. If you are serious about your command-line-fu its worth giving the manual a good read. bind -P | grep '\\e' https://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/ https://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/ My favorite by far is '\e.' or 'M-.' which inserts the last arg from your previous command. Discovering this led me down the bash rabbit-hole of finding new commands, creating my own and really enjoying the bash shell. Did you know you can execute arbitrary code as one of these commands? I had one that ran 'docker ps' so I could list my containers in the middle of typing a command.

mapolone 6y ago

Not to mention: - Oh-my-zsh has a lot of plugins for auto-completion - FZF (fuzzy finder), for command history is a big hit (supports bash too)

ti_ranger 6y ago
> - Oh-my-zsh has a lot of plugins for auto-completion As does bash-completion, which is available in many (but not all :-/) Linux distros and via Homebrew on MacOS and [pre-dates](https://github.com/scop/bash-completion/tree/09b07d57a7031d904223b31c3a240adab0533546 https://github.com/scop/bash-completion/tree/09b07d57a7031d9...) [oh-my-zsh](https://github.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/tree/5da20b9dddb1f7a9110675ded5df59c4c3ed1b83 https://github.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/tree/5da20b9dddb1f7a91106...) by about 6 years. But, zsh users and oh-my-zsh fan-boys seem to be entirely ignorant of bash-completion.
- sbarre 6y ago
  I never understand comments like these. Why do you have to twist this to be about "ignorant fan boys"? Not enough drama in the world already?
  - ti_ranger 6y ago
    Sorry, but I've read too many posts that say "bash sucks, it doesn't do <thing that bash has done for years before zsh did it> like zsh does".
    - sbarre 6y ago
      And there's a constructive way to respond to those posts, if you must absolutely respond. Yours ain't it.
      - dbtc 6y ago
        Ironic response.

rootbear 6y ago

This may be an old fashioned way to do it, but I set aside a command by using ^A (or Home) and the entering : and space: $ : Command that has an error I can then cd to the right directory, or fix whatever other problem I had, then use up-arrow to get back to the command, remove the : and space and run it. The : (no op) command is fairly obscure and some of the other suggestions here are probably better.

barbs 6y ago
I do the same but with a # to comment it out

tug0fwar 6y ago

At the end of the day, whatever shell best suits you basically boils down to usage, habits and how much willing you are to tweak it.