6 ms·

I know this has been asked thousands times before, but I want to know with this latest release, should I switch from Bash to Zsh now? What features do Zsh offer

by riobard 14y ago

I know this has been asked thousands times before, but I want to know with this latest release, should I switch from Bash to Zsh now? What features do Zsh offer which are not in Bash? Currently I'm thinking about the Fish-style syntax highlighting. Fish is really nice, but it's not very compatible with the rest of the shell environment. So I'm back on Bash, but really miss the syntax highlighting. I need some good reasons to switch again...

braindead_in 14y ago
I switched solely for the reason Zsh has command substring search. It's a huge timesaver for some who spends more than 50% of time on the terminal.
- qznc 14y ago
  Ctrl-R in bash?
  - ComputerGuru 14y ago
    No, substring searches. Ctrl+R in bash (by default, at least) will not search from the middle of a command. For instance, if the previous command was "hello", searching for "ello" will not bring it up. Whereas with zsh, it will.
    - haberman 14y ago
      The default bash on OS X (3.2.48(1)-release) just did when I tried it.
      - lloeki 14y ago
        Ctrl+R definitely works that way with bash, but I think he may be referencing tab completion: > ell<TAB> Completing external command git-shell xdmshell xkbbell Completing shell function _ispell
- rcfox 14y ago
  I wish there were ido-style searching, where typing "slstr" would match "some long string". (Provided, of course, there were no other strings that were a closer match.)
tome 14y ago
I switched to zsh a couple of years ago, and I wish I'd never even started with bash! It's one of the few app changes I've made where I unequivocally regret not having made it sooner (the other notable one is sawfish -> xmonad -- make of that what you will!)
- hesselink 14y ago
  But the OP asked why, not if, he should switch.
greyfade 14y ago
Completion in Zsh alone made it worthwhile for me. The completion scripts for Zsh are worlds more powerful and complete than anything I've found for Bash. And, there's even a script that offers Fish-like syntax coloring for Zsh: https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-syntax-highlighting/ https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-syntax-highlighting/ But not having used Fish yet myself, I can't really offer any reasons to use Zsh over Fish.
- Produce 14y ago
  >I can't really offer any reasons to use Zsh over Fish. Bash script compatibility, bigger userbase and therefore more third party customizations.
  - paul-woolcock 14y ago
    Definitely this. I switched to Fish for a while and was very happy, but the lack of Bash compatibility got a very old after a while. You never think about how much out there assumes you have a sh/bash-compatible shell running, and watching ordinary tasks fail hard because of an incompatible shell gets very, very frustrating.
- jamie_ca 14y ago
  I've been using fish exclusively for about 2 years, and the only thing I really missed was smart tab-completing multiple directories, like cd l/a/t/b<tab> completing to Library/Application\ Support/TextMate/Bundles even if there's another top-level directory starting with L. Fish's consistent syntax for conditionals/loops is what brought me over in the first place, I always needed to work to remember what goes where in zsh/bash. For one-off tasks the reduction in mental overhead was a _huge_ win. That said, I recently did switch back to zsh for a functional command-not-found handler - fish's only includes the name of the binary rather than the whole command, so I couldn't productively use it as a retry wrapper.
syncopate 14y ago
My favorite feature is that zsh offers vi mode when editing your commandline, just press ESC.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
- a3_nm 14y ago
  Bash also supports set -o vi.
  - ch0wn 14y ago
    This is usually the first command I type after I ssh onto something.
    - shurane 14y ago
      But zsh can tell you if you're in insert or normal mode. And it has RPROMPT!
Afal 14y ago
The problem I have with zsh is that I don't really notice any benefits from it after switching from bash or whatever. I guess my problem is that I'm still using it like bash, which probably isn't a bad thing but I'm probably missing out on the other features it has. Thing is there's no real feature I've noticed that made me think "Wow! How did I live without this?". Yeah I see some nice things but they feel like party tricks rather than game changing features. I dunno, maybe I'm not seeing the big picture here. Is there anything out there that'll show what amazing things that zsh can do? Like is there anything out there that could make me stop using it like bash?
- gsa 14y ago
  My favourite feature is shared command line history among all open shells. It was my "how I lived without that" feature, and one which I use a lot. Of course, it's only useful if you use the shell for extended periods. The glob features are certainly quite useful too, for example, if there's a file nested deep inside some directory I can just enter vim **/filename and zsh will expand it for me.
  - ithkuil 14y ago
    should be there in bash 4
  - zurn 14y ago
    works in bash too, enable it with shopt -s globstar.
- chasingtheflow 14y ago
  You may want to look at https://github.com/robbyrussell/oh-my-zsh https://github.com/robbyrussell/oh-my-zsh
  - Afal 14y ago
    Erm.. ok? If you don't mind me asking, why would I want to look at that? I can't really tell what it can do for me other than "make zsh more awesome". How? How does it make it more awesome?
srathbun 14y ago
I switched because of the massive control over the prompt. I've currently got a three line prompt that includes info about my current repository: (git)[45afc8f02fef U master [origin/master ] ] It lists type (git/hg) [checkout (U)pdated branch [remote branch] ]. It'll tell you how many branches different the remote is, what you are up to (staged), and colors. That, better tab completion, and syntax highlighting of the command line are my killer features. I'm running a fork of the oh-my-zsh project, so you can see the features by grabbing a copy: https://github.com/srathbun/oh-my-zsh https://github.com/srathbun/oh-my-zsh
tammer 14y ago
I know it seems like a big jump, but once you've gotten the swing of things you'll wonder why you ever bothered worrying. Don't worry about learning all the benefits at once. Make your shell look exactly like what you've got now and figure out the new features as you go along. There'll always be something new to make you smile.
zapman449 14y ago
People have mentioned syntax-highlighting, which is cool, and I'll be checking it out shortly. But MY favorite feature of zsh is ZLE: the Zsh Line Editor. The fact that I hit up-arrow, and see the for|while|if statements as I typed them, rather than mashed together into a horrible, semi-colon infected, one-liner (like bash) is awesome.
- thebillywayne 14y ago
  If I understand your problem with bash correctly, it can be remedied using `shopt -s cmdhist` and `shopt -s lithist`. I commonly write long for loops in the shell and hitting the up arrow to bring it back up, should I want to edit it, etc., then it appears with all the newlines just as I typed it. http://www.delorie.com/gnu/docs/bash/bashref_108.html http://www.delorie.com/gnu/docs/bash/bashref_108.html

by riobard 14y ago

braindead_in 14y ago

I switched solely for the reason Zsh has command substring search. It's a huge timesaver for some who spends more than 50% of time on the terminal.

qznc 14y ago
Ctrl-R in bash?
- ComputerGuru 14y ago
  No, substring searches. Ctrl+R in bash (by default, at least) will not search from the middle of a command. For instance, if the previous command was "hello", searching for "ello" will not bring it up. Whereas with zsh, it will.
  - haberman 14y ago
    The default bash on OS X (3.2.48(1)-release) just did when I tried it.
    - lloeki 14y ago
      Ctrl+R definitely works that way with bash, but I think he may be referencing tab completion: > ell<TAB> Completing external command git-shell xdmshell xkbbell Completing shell function _ispell
rcfox 14y ago
I wish there were ido-style searching, where typing "slstr" would match "some long string". (Provided, of course, there were no other strings that were a closer match.)

tome 14y ago

I switched to zsh a couple of years ago, and I wish I'd never even started with bash! It's one of the few app changes I've made where I unequivocally regret not having made it sooner (the other notable one is sawfish -> xmonad -- make of that what you will!)

hesselink 14y ago
But the OP asked why, not if, he should switch.

greyfade 14y ago

Completion in Zsh alone made it worthwhile for me. The completion scripts for Zsh are worlds more powerful and complete than anything I've found for Bash. And, there's even a script that offers Fish-like syntax coloring for Zsh: https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-syntax-highlighting/ https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-syntax-highlighting/ But not having used Fish yet myself, I can't really offer any reasons to use Zsh over Fish.

Produce 14y ago
>I can't really offer any reasons to use Zsh over Fish. Bash script compatibility, bigger userbase and therefore more third party customizations.
- paul-woolcock 14y ago
  Definitely this. I switched to Fish for a while and was very happy, but the lack of Bash compatibility got a very old after a while. You never think about how much out there assumes you have a sh/bash-compatible shell running, and watching ordinary tasks fail hard because of an incompatible shell gets very, very frustrating.
jamie_ca 14y ago
I've been using fish exclusively for about 2 years, and the only thing I really missed was smart tab-completing multiple directories, like cd l/a/t/b<tab> completing to Library/Application\ Support/TextMate/Bundles even if there's another top-level directory starting with L. Fish's consistent syntax for conditionals/loops is what brought me over in the first place, I always needed to work to remember what goes where in zsh/bash. For one-off tasks the reduction in mental overhead was a _huge_ win. That said, I recently did switch back to zsh for a functional command-not-found handler - fish's only includes the name of the binary rather than the whole command, so I couldn't productively use it as a retry wrapper.

syncopate 14y ago

My favorite feature is that zsh offers vi mode when editing your commandline, just press ESC.

deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
a3_nm 14y ago
Bash also supports set -o vi.
- ch0wn 14y ago
  This is usually the first command I type after I ssh onto something.
  - shurane 14y ago
    But zsh can tell you if you're in insert or normal mode. And it has RPROMPT!

Afal 14y ago

The problem I have with zsh is that I don't really notice any benefits from it after switching from bash or whatever. I guess my problem is that I'm still using it like bash, which probably isn't a bad thing but I'm probably missing out on the other features it has. Thing is there's no real feature I've noticed that made me think "Wow! How did I live without this?". Yeah I see some nice things but they feel like party tricks rather than game changing features. I dunno, maybe I'm not seeing the big picture here. Is there anything out there that'll show what amazing things that zsh can do? Like is there anything out there that could make me stop using it like bash?

gsa 14y ago
My favourite feature is shared command line history among all open shells. It was my "how I lived without that" feature, and one which I use a lot. Of course, it's only useful if you use the shell for extended periods. The glob features are certainly quite useful too, for example, if there's a file nested deep inside some directory I can just enter vim **/filename and zsh will expand it for me.
- ithkuil 14y ago
  should be there in bash 4
- zurn 14y ago
  works in bash too, enable it with shopt -s globstar.
chasingtheflow 14y ago
You may want to look at https://github.com/robbyrussell/oh-my-zsh https://github.com/robbyrussell/oh-my-zsh
- Afal 14y ago
  Erm.. ok? If you don't mind me asking, why would I want to look at that? I can't really tell what it can do for me other than "make zsh more awesome". How? How does it make it more awesome?

srathbun 14y ago

I switched because of the massive control over the prompt. I've currently got a three line prompt that includes info about my current repository: (git)[45afc8f02fef U master [origin/master ] ] It lists type (git/hg) [checkout (U)pdated branch [remote branch] ]. It'll tell you how many branches different the remote is, what you are up to (staged), and colors. That, better tab completion, and syntax highlighting of the command line are my killer features. I'm running a fork of the oh-my-zsh project, so you can see the features by grabbing a copy: https://github.com/srathbun/oh-my-zsh https://github.com/srathbun/oh-my-zsh

tammer 14y ago

I know it seems like a big jump, but once you've gotten the swing of things you'll wonder why you ever bothered worrying. Don't worry about learning all the benefits at once. Make your shell look exactly like what you've got now and figure out the new features as you go along. There'll always be something new to make you smile.

zapman449 14y ago

People have mentioned syntax-highlighting, which is cool, and I'll be checking it out shortly. But MY favorite feature of zsh is ZLE: the Zsh Line Editor. The fact that I hit up-arrow, and see the for|while|if statements as I typed them, rather than mashed together into a horrible, semi-colon infected, one-liner (like bash) is awesome.

thebillywayne 14y ago
If I understand your problem with bash correctly, it can be remedied using `shopt -s cmdhist` and `shopt -s lithist`. I commonly write long for loops in the shell and hitting the up arrow to bring it back up, should I want to edit it, etc., then it appears with all the newlines just as I typed it. http://www.delorie.com/gnu/docs/bash/bashref_108.html http://www.delorie.com/gnu/docs/bash/bashref_108.html