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zshcontrib(1) - phpMan
ZSHCONTRIB(1) General Commands Manual ZSHCONTRIB(1)
NAME
zshcontrib - user contributions to zsh
DESCRIPTION
The Zsh source distribution includes a number of items contributed by the user community.
These are not inherently a part of the shell, and some may not be available in every zsh
installation. The most significant of these are documented here. For documentation on
other contributed items such as shell functions, look for comments in the function source
files.
UTILITIES
Accessing On-Line Help
The key sequence ESC h is normally bound by ZLE to execute the run-help widget (see zsh‐
zle(1)). This invokes the run-help command with the command word from the current input
line as its argument. By default, run-help is an alias for the man command, so this often
fails when the command word is a shell builtin or a user-defined function. By redefining
the run-help alias, one can improve the on-line help provided by the shell.
The helpfiles utility, found in the Util directory of the distribution, is a Perl program
that can be used to process the zsh manual to produce a separate help file for each shell
builtin and for many other shell features as well. The autoloadable run-help function,
found in Functions/Misc, searches for these helpfiles and performs several other tests to
produce the most complete help possible for the command.
Help files are installed by default to a subdirectory of /usr/share/zsh or
/usr/local/share/zsh.
To create your own help files with helpfiles, choose or create a directory where the indi‐
vidual command help files will reside. For example, you might choose ~/zsh_help. If you
unpacked the zsh distribution in your home directory, you would use the commands:
mkdir ~/zsh_help
perl ~/zsh-5.0.7/Util/helpfiles ~/zsh_help
The HELPDIR parameter tells run-help where to look for the help files. When unset, it uses
the default installation path. To use your own set of help files, set this to the appro‐
priate path in one of your startup files:
HELPDIR=~/zsh_help
To use the run-help function, you need to add lines something like the following to your
.zshrc or equivalent startup file:
unalias run-help
autoload run-help
Note that in order for `autoload run-help' to work, the run-help file must be in one of
the directories named in your fpath array (see zshparam(1)). This should already be the
case if you have a standard zsh installation; if it is not, copy Functions/Misc/run-help
to an appropriate directory.
Recompiling Functions
If you frequently edit your zsh functions, or periodically update your zsh installation to
track the latest developments, you may find that function digests compiled with the zcom‐
pile builtin are frequently out of date with respect to the function source files. This
is not usually a problem, because zsh always looks for the newest file when loading a
function, but it may cause slower shell startup and function loading. Also, if a digest
file is explicitly used as an element of fpath, zsh won't check whether any of its source
files has changed.
The zrecompile autoloadable function, found in Functions/Misc, can be used to keep func‐
tion digests up to date.
zrecompile [ -qt ] [ name ... ]
zrecompile [ -qt ] -p args [ -- args ... ]
This tries to find *.zwc files and automatically re-compile them if at least one of
the original files is newer than the compiled file. This works only if the names
stored in the compiled files are full paths or are relative to the directory that
contains the .zwc file.
In the first form, each name is the name of a compiled file or a directory contain‐
ing *.zwc files that should be checked. If no arguments are given, the directories
and *.zwc files in fpath are used.
When -t is given, no compilation is performed, but a return status of zero (true)
is set if there are files that need to be re-compiled and non-zero (false) other‐
wise. The -q option quiets the chatty output that describes what zrecompile is
doing.
Without the -t option, the return status is zero if all files that needed re-compi‐
lation could be compiled and non-zero if compilation for at least one of the files
failed.
If the -p option is given, the args are interpreted as one or more sets of argu‐
ments for zcompile, separated by `--'. For example:
zrecompile -p \
-R ~/.zshrc -- \
-M ~/.zcompdump -- \
~/zsh/comp.zwc ~/zsh/Completion/*/_*
This compiles ~/.zshrc into ~/.zshrc.zwc if that doesn't exist or if it is older
than ~/.zshrc. The compiled file will be marked for reading instead of mapping. The
same is done for ~/.zcompdump and ~/.zcompdump.zwc, but this compiled file is
marked for mapping. The last line re-creates the file ~/zsh/comp.zwc if any of the
files matching the given pattern is newer than it.
Without the -p option, zrecompile does not create function digests that do not
already exist, nor does it add new functions to the digest.
The following shell loop is an example of a method for creating function digests for all
functions in your fpath, assuming that you have write permission to the directories:
for ((i=1; i <= $#fpath; ++i)); do
dir=$fpath[i]
zwc=${dir:t}.zwc
if [[ $dir == (.|..) || $dir == (.|..)/* ]]; then
continue
fi
files=($dir/*(N-.))
if [[ -w $dir:h && -n $files ]]; then
files=(${${(M)files%/*/*}#/})
if ( cd $dir:h &&
zrecompile -p -U -z $zwc $files ); then
fpath[i]=$fpath[i].zwc
fi
fi
done
The -U and -z options are appropriate for functions in the default zsh installation fpath;
you may need to use different options for your personal function directories.
Once the digests have been created and your fpath modified to refer to them, you can keep
them up to date by running zrecompile with no arguments.
Keyboard Definition
The large number of possible combinations of keyboards, workstations, terminals, emula‐
tors, and window systems makes it impossible for zsh to have built-in key bindings for
every situation. The zkbd utility, found in Functions/Misc, can help you quickly create
key bindings for your configuration.
Run zkbd either as an autoloaded function, or as a shell script:
zsh -f ~/zsh-5.0.7/Functions/Misc/zkbd
When you run zkbd, it first asks you to enter your terminal type; if the default it offers
is correct, just press return. It then asks you to press a number of different keys to
determine characteristics of your keyboard and terminal; zkbd warns you if it finds any‐
thing out of the ordinary, such as a Delete key that sends neither ^H nor ^?.
The keystrokes read by zkbd are recorded as a definition for an associative array named
key, written to a file in the subdirectory .zkbd within either your HOME or ZDOTDIR direc‐
tory. The name of the file is composed from the TERM, VENDOR and OSTYPE parameters,
joined by hyphens.
You may read this file into your .zshrc or another startup file with the `source' or `.'
commands, then reference the key parameter in bindkey commands, like this:
source ${ZDOTDIR:-$HOME}/.zkbd/$TERM-$VENDOR-$OSTYPE
[[ -n ${key[Left]} ]] && bindkey "${key[Left]}" backward-char
[[ -n ${key[Right]} ]] && bindkey "${key[Right]}" forward-char
# etc.
Note that in order for `autoload zkbd' to work, the zkdb file must be in one of the direc‐
tories named in your fpath array (see zshparam(1)). This should already be the case if
you have a standard zsh installation; if it is not, copy Functions/Misc/zkbd to an appro‐
priate directory.
Dumping Shell State
Occasionally you may encounter what appears to be a bug in the shell, particularly if you
are using a beta version of zsh or a development release. Usually it is sufficient to
send a description of the problem to one of the zsh mailing lists (see zsh(1)), but some‐
times one of the zsh developers will need to recreate your environment in order to track
the problem down.
The script named reporter, found in the Util directory of the distribution, is provided
for this purpose. (It is also possible to autoload reporter, but reporter is not
installed in fpath by default.) This script outputs a detailed dump of the shell state,
in the form of another script that can be read with `zsh -f' to recreate that state.
To use reporter, read the script into your shell with the `.' command and redirect the
output into a file:
. ~/zsh-5.0.7/Util/reporter > zsh.report
You should check the zsh.report file for any sensitive information such as passwords and
delete them by hand before sending the script to the developers. Also, as the output can
be voluminous, it's best to wait for the developers to ask for this information before
sending it.
You can also use reporter to dump only a subset of the shell state. This is sometimes
useful for creating startup files for the first time. Most of the output from reporter is
far more detailed than usually is necessary for a startup file, but the aliases, options,
and zstyles states may be useful because they include only changes from the defaults. The
bindings state may be useful if you have created any of your own keymaps, because reporter
arranges to dump the keymap creation commands as well as the bindings for every keymap.
As is usual with automated tools, if you create a startup file with reporter, you should
edit the results to remove unnecessary commands. Note that if you're using the new com‐
pletion system, you should not dump the functions state to your startup files with
reporter; use the compdump function instead (see zshcompsys(1)).
reporter [ state ... ]
Print to standard output the indicated subset of the current shell state. The
state arguments may be one or more of:
all Output everything listed below.
aliases
Output alias definitions.
bindings
Output ZLE key maps and bindings.
completion
Output old-style compctl commands. New completion is covered by functions
and zstyles.
functions
Output autoloads and function definitions.
limits Output limit commands.
options
Output setopt commands.
styles Same as zstyles.
variables
Output shell parameter assignments, plus export commands for any environment
variables.
zstyles
Output zstyle commands.
If the state is omitted, all is assumed.
With the exception of `all', every state can be abbreviated by any prefix, even a single
letter; thus a is the same as aliases, z is the same as zstyles, etc.
Manipulating Hook Functions
add-zsh-hook [-dD] hook function
Several functions are special to the shell, as described in the section SPECIAL
FUNCTIONS, see zshmisc(1), in that they are automatic called at a specific point
during shell execution. Each has an associated array consisting of names of func‐
tions to be called at the same point; these are so-called `hook functions'. The
shell function add-zsh-hook provides a simple way of adding or removing functions
from the array.
hook is one of chpwd, periodic, precmd, preexec, zshaddhistory, zshexit, or
zsh_directory_name, the special functions in question. Note that zsh_direc‐
tory_name is called in a different way from the other functions, but may still be
manipulated as a hook.
function is name of an ordinary shell function. If no options are given this will
be added to the array of functions to be executed in the given context.
If the option -d is given, the function is removed from the array of functions to
be executed.
If the option -D is given, the function is treated as a pattern and any matching
names of functions are removed from the array of functions to be executed.
The options -U, -z and -k are passed as arguments to autoload for function. For
functions contributed with zsh, the options -Uz are appropriate.
REMEMBERING RECENT DIRECTORIES
The function cdr allows you to change the working directory to a previous working direc‐
tory from a list maintained automatically. It is similar in concept to the directory
stack controlled by the pushd, popd and dirs builtins, but is more configurable, and as it
stores all entries in files it is maintained across sessions and (by default) between ter‐
minal emulators in the current session. (The pushd directory stack is not actually modi‐
fied or used by cdr unless you configure it to do so as described in the configuration
section below.)
Installation
The system works by means of a hook function that is called every time the directory
changes. To install the system, autoload the required functions and use the add-zsh-hook
function described above:
autoload -Uz chpwd_recent_dirs cdr add-zsh-hook
add-zsh-hook chpwd chpwd_recent_dirs
Now every time you change directly interactively, no matter which command you use, the
directory to which you change will be remembered in most-recent-first order.
Use
All direct user interaction is via the cdr function.
The argument to cdr is a number N corresponding to the Nth most recently changed-to direc‐
tory. 1 is the immediately preceding directory; the current directory is remembered but
is not offered as a destination. Note that if you have multiple windows open 1 may refer
to a directory changed to in another window; you can avoid this by having per-terminal
files for storing directory as described for the recent-dirs-file style below.
If you set the recent-dirs-default style described below cdr will behave the same as cd if
given a non-numeric argument, or more than one argument. The recent directory list is
updated just the same however you change directory.
If the argument is omitted, 1 is assumed. This is similar to pushd's behaviour of swap‐
ping the two most recent directories on the stack.
Completion for the argument to cdr is available if compinit has been run; menu selection
is recommended, using:
zstyle ':completion:*:*:cdr:*:*' menu selection
to allow you to cycle through recent directories; the order is preserved, so the first
choice is the most recent directory before the current one. The verbose style is also
recommended to ensure the directory is shown; this style is on by default so no action is
required unless you have changed it.
Options
The behaviour of cdr may be modified by the following options.
-l lists the numbers and the corresponding directories in abbreviated form (i.e. with
~ substitution reapplied), one per line. The directories here are not quoted (this
would only be an issue if a directory name contained a newline). This is used by
the completion system.
-r sets the variable reply to the current set of directories. Nothing is printed and
the directory is not changed.
-e allows you to edit the list of directories, one per line. The list can be edited
to any extent you like; no sanity checking is performed. Completion is available.
No quoting is necessary (except for newlines, where I have in any case no sympa‐
thy); directories are in unabbreviated from and contain an absolute path, i.e. they
start with /. Usually the first entry should be left as the current directory.
Configuration
Configuration is by means of the styles mechanism that should be familiar from completion;
if not, see the description of the zstyle command in see zshmodules(1). The context for
setting styles should be ':chpwd:*' in case the meaning of the context is extended in
future, for example:
zstyle ':chpwd:*' recent-dirs-max 0
sets the value of the recent-dirs-max style to 0. In practice the style name is specific
enough that a context of '*' should be fine.
An exception is recent-dirs-insert, which is used exclusively by the completion system and
so has the usual completion system context (':completion:*' if nothing more specific is
needed), though again '*' should be fine in practice.
recent-dirs-default
If true, and the command is expecting a recent directory index, and either there is
more than one argument or the argument is not an integer, then fall through to
"cd". This allows the lazy to use only one command for directory changing. Com‐
pletion recognises this, too; see recent-dirs-insert for how to control completion
when this option is in use.
recent-dirs-file
The file where the list of directories is saved. The default is ${ZDOT‐
DIR:-$HOME}/.chpwd-recent-dirs, i.e. this is in your home directory unless you have
set the variable ZDOTDIR to point somewhere else. Directory names are saved in
$'...' quoted form, so each line in the file can be supplied directly to the shell
as an argument.
The value of this style may be an array. In this case, the first file in the list
will always be used for saving directories while any other files are left
untouched. When reading the recent directory list, if there are fewer than the
maximum number of entries in the first file, the contents of later files in the
array will be appended with duplicates removed from the list shown. The contents
of the two files are not sorted together, i.e. all the entries in the first file
are shown first. The special value + can appear in the list to indicate the
default file should be read at that point. This allows effects like the following:
zstyle ':chpwd:*' recent-dirs-file \
~/.chpwd-recent-dirs-${TTY##*/} +
Recent directories are read from a file numbered according to the terminal. If
there are insufficient entries the list is supplemented from the default file.
It is possible to use zstyle -e to make the directory configurable at run time:
zstyle -e ':chpwd:*' recent-dirs-file pick-recent-dirs-file
pick-recent-dirs-file() {
if [[ $PWD = ~/text/writing(|/*) ]]; then
reply=(~/.chpwd-recent-dirs-writing)
else
reply=(+)
fi
}
In this example, if the current directory is ~/text/writing or a directory under
it, then use a special file for saving recent directories, else use the default.
recent-dirs-insert
Used by completion. If recent-dirs-default is true, then setting this to true
causes the actual directory, rather than its index, to be inserted on the command
line; this has the same effect as using the corresponding index, but makes the his‐
tory clearer and the line easier to edit. With this setting, if part of an argu‐
ment was already typed, normal directory completion rather than recent directory
completion is done; this is because recent directory completion is expected to be
done by cycling through entries menu fashion.
If the value of the style is always, then only recent directories will be com‐
pleted; in that case, use the cd command when you want to complete other directo‐
ries.
If the value is fallback, recent directories will be tried first, then normal
directory completion is performed if recent directory completion failed to find a
match.
Finally, if the value is both then both sets of completions are presented; the
usual tag mechanism can be used to distinguish results, with recent directories
tagged as recent-dirs. Note that the recent directories inserted are abbreviated
with directory names where appropriate.
recent-dirs-max
The maximum number of directories to save to the file. If this is zero or negative
there is no maximum. The default is 20. Note this includes the current directory,
which isn't offered, so the highest number of directories you will be offered is
one less than the maximum.
recent-dirs-prune
This style is an array determining what directories should (or should not) be added
to the recent list. Elements of the array can include:
parent Prune parents (more accurately, ancestors) from the recent list. If
present, changing directly down by any number of directories causes the cur‐
rent directory to be overwritten. For example, changing from ~pws to
~pws/some/other/dir causes ~pws not to be left on the recent directory
stack. This only applies to direct changes to descendant directories; ear‐
lier directories on the list are not pruned. For example, changing from
~pws/yet/another to ~pws/some/other/dir does not cause ~pws to be pruned.
pattern:pattern
Gives a zsh pattern for directories that should not be added to the recent
list (if not already there). This element can be repeated to add different
patterns. For example, 'pattern:/tmp(|/*)' stops /tmp or its descendants
from being added. The EXTENDED_GLOB option is always turned on for these
patterns.
recent-dirs-pushd
If set to true, cdr will use pushd instead of cd to change the directory, so the
directory is saved on the directory stack. As the directory stack is completely
separate from the list of files saved by the mechanism used in this file there is
no obvious reason to do this.
Use with dynamic directory naming
It is possible to refer to recent directories using the dynamic directory name syntax by
using the supplied function zsh_directory_name_cdr a hook:
autoload -Uz add-zsh-hook
add-zsh-hook -Uz zsh_directory_name zsh_directory_name_cdr
When this is done, ~[1] will refer to the most recent directory other than $PWD, and so
on. Completion after ~[... also works.
Details of directory handling
This section is for the curious or confused; most users will not need to know this infor‐
mation.
Recent directories are saved to a file immediately and hence are preserved across ses‐
sions. Note currently no file locking is applied: the list is updated immediately on
interactive commands and nowhere else (unlike history), and it is assumed you are only
going to change directory in one window at once. This is not safe on shared accounts, but
in any case the system has limited utility when someone else is changing to a different
set of directories behind your back.
To make this a little safer, only directory changes instituted from the command line,
either directly or indirectly through shell function calls (but not through subshells,
evals, traps, completion functions and the like) are saved. Shell functions should use cd
-q or pushd -q to avoid side effects if the change to the directory is to be invisible at
the command line. See the contents of the function chpwd_recent_dirs for more details.
GATHERING INFORMATION FROM VERSION CONTROL SYSTEMS
In a lot of cases, it is nice to automatically retrieve information from version control
systems (VCSs), such as subversion, CVS or git, to be able to provide it to the user; pos‐
sibly in the user's prompt. So that you can instantly tell which branch you are currently
on, for example.
In order to do that, you may use the vcs_info function.
The following VCSs are supported, showing the abbreviated name by which they are referred
to within the system:
Bazaar (bzr)
http://bazaar-vcs.org/
Codeville (cdv)
http://codeville.org/
Concurrent Versioning System (cvs)
http://www.nongnu.org/cvs/
Darcs (darcs)
http://darcs.net/
Fossil (fossil)
http://fossil-scm.org/
Git (git)
http://git-scm.com/
GNU arch (tla)
http://www.gnu.org/software/gnu-arch/
Mercurial (hg)
http://mercurial.selenic.com/
Monotone (mtn)
http://monotone.ca/
Perforce (p4)
http://www.perforce.com/
Subversion (svn)
http://subversion.tigris.org/
SVK (svk)
http://svk.bestpractical.com/
There is also support for the patch management system quilt (http://savan‐
nah.nongnu.org/projects/quilt). See Quilt Support below for details.
To load vcs_info:
autoload -Uz vcs_info
It can be used in any existing prompt, because it does not require any specific $psvar
entries to be available.
Quickstart
To get this feature working quickly (including colors), you can do the following (assum‐
ing, you loaded vcs_info properly - see above):
zstyle ':vcs_info:*' actionformats \
'%F{5}(%f%s%F{5})%F{3}-%F{5}[%F{2}%b%F{3}|%F{1}%a%F{5}]%f '
zstyle ':vcs_info:*' formats \
'%F{5}(%f%s%F{5})%F{3}-%F{5}[%F{2}%b%F{5}]%f '
zstyle ':vcs_info:(sv[nk]|bzr):*' branchformat '%b%F{1}:%F{3}%r'
precmd () { vcs_info }
PS1='%F{5}[%F{2}%n%F{5}] %F{3}%3~ ${vcs_info_msg_0_}%f%# '
Obviously, the last two lines are there for demonstration. You need to call vcs_info from
your precmd function. Once that is done you need a single quoted '${vcs_info_msg_0_}' in
your prompt.
To be able to use '${vcs_info_msg_0_}' directly in your prompt like this, you will need to
have the PROMPT_SUBST option enabled.
Now call the vcs_info_printsys utility from the command line:
% vcs_info_printsys
## list of supported version control backends:
## disabled systems are prefixed by a hash sign (#)
bzr
cdv
cvs
darcs
fossil
git
hg
mtn
p4
svk
svn
tla
## flavours (cannot be used in the enable or disable styles; they
## are enabled and disabled with their master [git-svn -> git])
## they *can* be used in contexts: ':vcs_info:git-svn:*'.
git-p4
git-svn
hg-git
hg-hgsubversion
hg-hgsvn
You may not want all of these because there is no point in running the code to detect sys‐
tems you do not use. So there is a way to disable some backends altogether:
zstyle ':vcs_info:*' disable bzr cdv darcs mtn svk tla
You may also pick a few from that list and enable only those:
zstyle ':vcs_info:*' enable git cvs svn
If you rerun vcs_info_printsys after one of these commands, you will see the backends
listed in the disable style (or backends not in the enable style - if you used that)
marked as disabled by a hash sign. That means the detection of these systems is skipped
completely. No wasted time there.
Configuration
The vcs_info feature can be configured via zstyle.
First, the context in which we are working:
:vcs_info:vcs-string:user-context:repo-root-name
vcs-string
is one of: git, git-svn, git-p4, hg, hg-git, hg-hgsubversion, hg-hgsvn, darcs, bzr,
cdv, mtn, svn, cvs, svk, tla, p4 or fossil. When hooks are active the hooks name is
added after a `+'. (See Hooks in vcs_info below.)
user-context
is a freely configurable string, assignable by the user as the first argument to
vcs_info (see its description below).
repo-root-name
is the name of a repository in which you want a style to match. So, if you want a
setting specific to /usr/src/zsh, with that being a CVS checkout, you can set
repo-root-name to zsh to make it so.
There are three special values for vcs-string: The first is named -init-, that is in
effect as long as there was no decision what VCS backend to use. The second is -preinit-;
it is used before vcs_info is run, when initializing the data exporting variables. The
third special value is formats and is used by the vcs_info_lastmsg for looking up its
styles.
The initial value of repo-root-name is -all- and it is replaced with the actual name, as
soon as it is known. Only use this part of the context for defining the formats, action‐
formats or branchformat styles, as it is guaranteed that repo-root-name is set up cor‐
rectly for these only. For all other styles, just use '*' instead.
There are two pre-defined values for user-context:
default
the one used if none is specified
command
used by vcs_info_lastmsg to lookup its styles
You can of course use ':vcs_info:*' to match all VCSs in all user-contexts at once.
This is a description of all styles that are looked up.
formats
A list of formats, used when actionformats is not used (which is most of the time).
actionformats
A list of formats, used if there is a special action going on in your current
repository; like an interactive rebase or a merge conflict.
branchformat
Some backends replace %b in the formats and actionformats styles above, not only by
a branch name but also by a revision number. This style lets you modify how that
string should look.
nvcsformats
These "formats" are exported when we didn't detect a version control system for the
current directory or vcs_info was disabled. This is useful if you want vcs_info to
completely take over the generation of your prompt. You would do something like
PS1='${vcs_info_msg_0_}' to accomplish that.
hgrevformat
hg uses both a hash and a revision number to reference a specific changeset in a
repository. With this style you can format the revision string (see branchformat)
to include either or both. It's only useful when get-revision is true. Note, the
full 40-character revision id is not available (except when using the use-simple
option) because executing hg more than once per prompt is too slow; you may custom‐
ize this behavior using hooks.
max-exports
Defines the maximum number of vcs_info_msg_*_ variables vcs_info will export.
enable A list of backends you want to use. Checked in the -init- context. If this list
contains an item called NONE no backend is used at all and vcs_info will do noth‐
ing. If this list contains ALL, vcs_info will use all known backends. Only with ALL
in enable will the disable style have any effect. ALL and NONE are case insensi‐
tive.
disable
A list of VCSs you don't want vcs_info to test for repositories (checked in the
-init- context, too). Only used if enable contains ALL.
disable-patterns
A list of patterns that are checked against $PWD. If a pattern matches, vcs_info
will be disabled. This style is checked in the :vcs_info:-init-:*:-all- context.
Say, ~/.zsh is a directory under version control, in which you do not want vcs_info
to be active, do:
zstyle ':vcs_info:*' disable-patterns "$HOME/.zsh(|/*)"
use-quilt
If enabled, the quilt support code is active in `addon' mode. See Quilt Support
for details.
quilt-standalone
If enabled, `standalone' mode detection is attempted if no VCS is active in a given
directory. See Quilt Support for details.
quilt-patch-dir
Overwrite the value of the $QUILT_PATCHES environment variable. See Quilt Support
for details.
quiltcommand
When quilt itself is called in quilt support the value of this style is used as the
command name.
check-for-changes
If enabled, this style causes the %c and %u format escapes to show when the working
directory has uncommitted changes. The strings displayed by these escapes can be
controlled via the stagedstr and unstagedstr styles. The only backends that cur‐
rently support this option are git, hg, and bzr (the latter two only support
unstaged).
For this style to be evaluated with the hg backend, the get-revision style needs to
be set and the use-simple style needs to be unset. The latter is the default; the
former is not.
With the bzr backend, lightweight checkouts only honor this style if the use-server
style is set.
Note, the actions taken if this style is enabled are potentially expensive (read:
they may be slow, depending on how big the current repository is). Therefore, it
is disabled by default.
check-for-staged-changes
This style is like check-for-changes, but it never checks the worktree files, only
the metadata in the .${vcs} dir. Therefore, this style initializes only the %c
escape (with stagedstr) but not the %u escape. This style is faster than
check-for-changes.
In the git backend, this style checks for changes in the index. Other backends do
not currently implement this style.
This style is disabled by default.
stagedstr
This string will be used in the %c escape if there are staged changes in the repos‐
itory.
unstagedstr
This string will be used in the %u escape if there are unstaged changes in the
repository.
command
This style causes vcs_info to use the supplied string as the command to use as the
VCS's binary. Note, that setting this in ':vcs_info:*' is not a good idea.
If the value of this style is empty (which is the default), the used binary name is
the name of the backend in use (e.g. svn is used in an svn repository).
The repo-root-name part in the context is always the default -all- when this style
is looked up.
For example, this style can be used to use binaries from non-default installation
directories. Assume, git is installed in /usr/bin but your sysadmin installed a
newer version in /usr/local/bin. Instead of changing the order of your $PATH param‐
eter, you can do this:
zstyle ':vcs_info:git:*:-all-' command /usr/local/bin/git
use-server
This is used by the Perforce backend (p4) to decide if it should contact the Per‐
force server to find out if a directory is managed by Perforce. This is the only
reliable way of doing this, but runs the risk of a delay if the server name cannot
be found. If the server (more specifically, the host:port pair describing the
server) cannot be contacted, its name is put into the associative array
vcs_info_p4_dead_servers and is not contacted again during the session until it is
removed by hand. If you do not set this style, the p4 backend is only usable if
you have set the environment variable P4CONFIG to a file name and have correspond‐
ing files in the root directories of each Perforce client. See comments in the
function VCS_INFO_detect_p4 for more detail.
The Bazaar backend (bzr) uses this to permit contacting the server about light‐
weight checkouts, see the check-for-changes style.
use-simple
If there are two different ways of gathering information, you can select the sim‐
pler one by setting this style to true; the default is to use the not-that-simple
code, which is potentially a lot slower but might be more accurate in all possible
cases. This style is used by the bzr and hg backends. In the case of hg it will
invoke the external hexdump program to parse the binary dirstate cache file; this
method will not return the local revision number.
get-revision
If set to true, vcs_info goes the extra mile to figure out the revision of a repos‐
itory's work tree (currently for the git and hg backends, where this kind of infor‐
mation is not always vital). For git, the hash value of the currently checked out
commit is available via the %i expansion. With hg, the local revision number and
the corresponding global hash are available via %i.
get-mq If set to true, the hg backend will look for a Mercurial Queue (mq) patch direc‐
tory. Information will be available via the `%m' replacement.
get-bookmarks
If set to true, the hg backend will try to get a list of current bookmarks. They
will be available via the `%m' replacement.
use-prompt-escapes
Determines if we assume that the assembled string from vcs_info includes prompt
escapes. (Used by vcs_info_lastmsg.)
debug Enable debugging output to track possible problems. Currently this style is only
used by vcs_info's hooks system.
hooks A list style that defines hook-function names. See Hooks in vcs_info below for
details.
The default values for these styles in all contexts are:
formats
" (%s)-[%b]%u%c-"
actionformats
" (%s)-[%b|%a]%u%c-"
branchformat
"%b:%r" (for bzr, svn, svk and hg)
nvcsformats
""
hgrevformat
"%r:%h"
max-exports
2
enable ALL
disable
(empty list)
disable-patterns
(empty list)
check-for-changes
false
check-for-staged-changes
false
stagedstr
(string: "S")
unstagedstr
(string: "U")
command
(empty string)
use-server
false
use-simple
false
get-revision
false
get-mq true
get-bookmarks
false
use-prompt-escapes
true
debug false
hooks (empty list)
use-quilt
false
quilt-standalone
false
quilt-patch-dir
empty - use $QUILT_PATCHES
quiltcommand
quilt
In normal formats and actionformats the following replacements are done:
%s The VCS in use (git, hg, svn, etc.).
%b Information about the current branch.
%a An identifier that describes the action. Only makes sense in actionformats.
%i The current revision number or identifier. For hg the hgrevformat style may be used
to customize the output.
%c The string from the stagedstr style if there are staged changes in the repository.
%u The string from the unstagedstr style if there are unstaged changes in the reposi‐
tory.
%R The base directory of the repository.
%r The repository name. If %R is /foo/bar/repoXY, %r is repoXY.
%S A subdirectory within a repository. If $PWD is /foo/bar/repoXY/beer/tasty, %S is
beer/tasty.
%m A "misc" replacement. It is at the discretion of the backend to decide what this
replacement expands to. It is currently used by the hg and git backends to display
patch information from the mq and stgit extensions.
In branchformat these replacements are done:
%b The branch name.
%r The current revision number or the hgrevformat style for hg.
In hgrevformat these replacements are done:
%r The current local revision number.
%h The current global revision identifier.
In patch-format and nopatch-format these replacements are done:
%p The name of the top-most applied patch (applied-string).
%u The number of unapplied patches (unapplied-string).
%n The number of applied patches.
%c The number of unapplied patches.
%a The number of all patches.
%g The names of active mq guards (hg backend).
%G The number of active mq guards (hg backend).
Not all VCS backends have to support all replacements. For nvcsformats no replacements are
performed at all, it is just a string.
Oddities
If you want to use the %b (bold off) prompt expansion in formats, which expands %b itself,
use %%b. That will cause the vcs_info expansion to replace %%b with %b, so that zsh's
prompt expansion mechanism can handle it. Similarly, to hand down %b from branchformat,
use %%%%b. Sorry for this inconvenience, but it cannot be easily avoided. Luckily we do
not clash with a lot of prompt expansions and this only needs to be done for those.
Quilt Support
Quilt is not a version control system, therefore this is not implemented as a backend. It
can help keeping track of a series of patches. People use it to keep a set of changes they
want to use on top of software packages (which is tightly integrated into the package
build process - the Debian project does this for a large number of packages). Quilt can
also help individual developers keep track of their own patches on top of real version
control systems.
The vcs_info integration tries to support both ways of using quilt by having two slightly
different modes of operation: `addon' mode and `standalone' mode).
For `addon' mode to become active vcs_info must have already detected a real version con‐
trol system controlling the directory. If that is the case, a directory that holds quilt's
patches needs to be found. That directory is configurable via the `QUILT_PATCHES' environ‐
ment variable. If that variable exists its value is used, otherwise the value `patches' is
assumed. The value from $QUILT_PATCHES can be overwritten using the `quilt-patches' style.
(Note: you can use vcs_info to keep the value of $QUILT_PATCHES correct all the time via
the post-quilt hook).
When the directory in question is found, quilt is assumed to be active. To gather more
information, vcs_info looks for a directory called `.pc'; Quilt uses that directory to
track its current state. If this directory does not exist we know that quilt has not done
anything to the working directory (read: no patches have been applied yet).
If patches are applied, vcs_info will try to find out which. If you want to know which
patches of a series are not yet applied, you need to activate the get-unapplied style in
the appropriate context.
vcs_info allows for very detailed control over how the gathered information is presented
(see the below sections, Styles and Hooks in vcs_info), all of which are documented below.
Note there are a number of other patch tracking systems that work on top of a certain ver‐
sion control system (like stgit for git, or mq for hg); the configuration for systems like
that are generally configured the same way as the quilt support.
If the quilt support is working in `addon' mode, the produced string is available as a
simple format replacement (%Q to be precise), which can be used in formats and actionfor‐
mats; see below for details).
If, on the other hand, the support code is working in `standalone' mode, vcs_info will
pretend as if quilt were an actual version control system. That means that the version
control system identifier (which otherwise would be something like `svn' or `cvs') will be
set to `-quilt-'. This has implications on the used style context where this identifier is
the second element. vcs_info will have filled in a proper value for the "repository's"
root directory and the string containing the information about quilt's state will be
available as the `misc' replacement (and %Q for compatibility with `addon' mode.
What is left to discuss is how `standalone' mode is detected. The detection itself is a
series of searches for directories. You can have this detection enabled all the time in
every directory that is not otherwise under version control. If you know there is only a
limited set of trees where you would like vcs_info to try and look for Quilt in `stand‐
alone' mode to minimise the amount of searching on every call to vcs_info, there are a
number of ways to do that:
Essentially, `standalone' mode detection is controlled by a style called `quilt-stand‐
alone'. It is a string style and its value can have different effects. The simplest values
are: `always' to run detection every time vcs_info is run, and `never' to turn the detec‐
tion off entirely.
If the value of quilt-standalone is something else, it is interpreted differently. If the
value is the name of a scalar variable the value of that variable is checked and that
value is used in the same `always'/`never' way as described above.
If the value of quilt-standalone is an array, the elements of that array are used as
directory names under which you want the detection to be active.
If quilt-standalone is an associative array, the keys are taken as directory names under
which you want the detection to be active, but only if the corresponding value is the
string `true'.
Last, but not least, if the value of quilt-standalone is the name of a function, the func‐
tion is called without arguments and the return value decides whether detection should be
active. A `0' return value is true; a non-zero return value is interpreted as false.
Note, if there is both a function and a variable by the name of quilt-standalone, the
function will take precedence.
Function Descriptions (Public API)
vcs_info [user-context]
The main function, that runs all backends and assembles all data into
${vcs_info_msg_*_}. This is the function you want to call from precmd if you want
to include up-to-date information in your prompt (see Variable description below).
If an argument is given, that string will be used instead of default in the
user-context field of the style context.
vcs_info_hookadd
Statically registers a number of functions to a given hook. The hook needs to be
given as the first argument; what follows is a list of hook-function names to reg‐
ister to the hook. The `+vi-' prefix needs to be left out here. See Hooks in
vcs_info below for details.
vcs_info_hookdel
Remove hook-functions from a given hook. The hook needs to be given as the first
non-option argument; what follows is a list of hook-function names to un-register
from the hook. If `-a' is used as the first argument, all occurrences of the func‐
tions are unregistered. Otherwise only the last occurrence is removed (if a func‐
tion was registered to a hook more than once) . The `+vi-' prefix needs to be left
out here. See Hooks in vcs_info below for details.
vcs_info_lastmsg
Outputs the last ${vcs_info_msg_*_} value. Takes into account the value of the
use-prompt-escapes style in ':vcs_info:formats:command:-all-'. It also only prints
max-exports values.
vcs_info_printsys [user-context]
Prints a list of all supported version control systems. Useful to find out possible
contexts (and which of them are enabled) or values for the disable style.
vcs_info_setsys
Initializes vcs_info's internal list of available backends. With this function, you
can add support for new VCSs without restarting the shell.
All functions named VCS_INFO_* are for internal use only.
Variable Description
${vcs_info_msg_N_} (Note the trailing underscore)
Where N is an integer, e.g., vcs_info_msg_0_. These variables are the storage for
the informational message the last vcs_info call has assembled. These are strongly
connected to the formats, actionformats and nvcsformats styles described above.
Those styles are lists. The first member of that list gets expanded into
${vcs_info_msg_0_}, the second into ${vcs_info_msg_1_} and the Nth into
${vcs_info_msg_N-1_}. These parameters are exported into the environment. (See the
max-exports style above.)
All variables named VCS_INFO_* are for internal use only.
Hooks in vcs_info
Hooks are places in vcs_info where you can run your own code. That code can communicate
with the code that called it and through that, change the system's behaviour.
For configuration, hooks change the style context:
:vcs_info:vcs-string+hook-name:user-context:repo-root-name
To register functions to a hook, you need to list them in the hooks style in the appropri‐
ate context.
Example:
zstyle ':vcs_info:*+foo:*' hooks bar baz
This registers functions to the hook `foo' for all backends. In order to avoid namespace
problems, all registered function names are prepended by a `+vi-', so the actual functions
called for the `foo' hook are `+vi-bar' and `+vi-baz'.
If you would like to register a function to a hook regardless of the current context, you
may use the vcs_info_hookadd function. To remove a function that was added like that, the
vcs_info_hookdel function can be used.
If something seems weird, you can enable the `debug' boolean style in the proper context
and the hook-calling code will print what it tried to execute and whether the function in
question existed.
When you register more than one function to a hook, all functions are executed one after
another until one function returns non-zero or until all functions have been called. Con‐
text-sensitive hook functions are executed before statically registered ones (the ones
added by vcs_info_hookadd).
You may pass data between functions via an associative array, user_data. For example:
+vi-git-myfirsthook(){
user_data[myval]=$myval
}
+vi-git-mysecondhook(){
# do something with ${user_data[myval]}
}
There are a number of variables that are special in hook contexts:
ret The return value that the hooks system will return to the caller. The default is an
integer `zero'. If and how a changed ret value changes the execution of the caller
depends on the specific hook. See the hook documentation below for details.
hook_com
An associated array which is used for bidirectional communication from the caller
to hook functions. The used keys depend on the specific hook.
context
The active context of the hook. Functions that wish to change this variable should
make it local scope first.
vcs The current VCS after it was detected. The same values as in the enable/disable
style are used. Available in all hooks except start-up.
Finally, the full list of currently available hooks:
start-up
Called after starting vcs_info but before the VCS in this directory is determined.
It can be used to deactivate vcs_info temporarily if necessary. When ret is set to
1, vcs_info aborts and does nothing; when set to 2, vcs_info sets up everything as
if no version control were active and exits.
pre-get-data
Same as start-up but after the VCS was detected.
gen-hg-bookmark-string
Called in the Mercurial backend when a bookmark string is generated; the get-revi‐
sion and get-bookmarks styles must be true.
This hook gets the names of the Mercurial bookmarks that vcs_info collected from
`hg'.
When setting ret to non-zero, the string in ${hook_com[hg-bookmark-string]} will be
used in the %m escape in formats and actionformats and will be available in the
global backend_misc array as ${backend_misc[bookmarks]}.
gen-applied-string
Called in the git (with stgit or during rebase), and hg (with mq) backends and in
quilt support when the applied-string is generated; the use-quilt zstyle must be
true for quilt (the mq and stgit backends are active by default).
This hook gets the names of all applied patches which vcs_info collected so far in
the opposite order, which means that the first argument is the top-most patch and
so forth.
When setting ret to non-zero, the string in ${hook_com[applied-string]} will be
used in the %m escape in formats and actionformats; it will be available in the
global backend_misc array as $backend_misc[patches]}; and it will be available as
%p in the patch-format and nopatch-format styles.
gen-unapplied-string
Called in the git (with stgit or during rebase), and hg (with mq) backend and in
quilt support when the unapplied-string is generated; the get-unapplied style must
be true.
This hook gets the names of all unapplied patches which vcs_info collected so far
in the opposite order, which mean that the first argument is the patch next-in-line
to be applied and so forth.
When setting ret to non-zero, the string in ${hook_com[unapplied-string]} will be
available as %u in the patch-format and nopatch-format styles.
gen-mqguards-string
Called in the hg backend when guards-string is generated; the get-mq style must be
true (default).
This hook gets the names of any active mq guards.
When setting ret to non-zero, the string in ${hook_com[guards-string]} will be used
in the %g escape in the patch-format and nopatch-format styles.
no-vcs This hooks is called when no version control system was detected.
The `hook_com' parameter is not used.
post-backend
Called as soon as the backend has finished collecting information.
The `hook_com' keys available are as for the set-message hook.
post-quilt
Called after the quilt support is done. The following information is passed as
arguments to the hook: 1. the quilt-support mode (`addon' or `standalone'); 2. the
directory that contains the patch series; 3. the directory that holds quilt's sta‐
tus information (the `.pc' directory) or the string "-nopc-" if that directory
wasn't found.
The `hook_com' parameter is not used.
set-branch-format
Called before `branchformat' is set. The only argument to the hook is the format
that is configured at this point.
The `hook_com' keys considered are `branch' and `revision'. They are set to the
values figured out so far by vcs_info and any change will be used directly when the
actual replacement is done.
If ret is set to non-zero, the string in ${hook_com[branch-replace]} will be used
unchanged as the `%b' replacement in the variables set by vcs_info.
set-hgrev-format
Called before a `hgrevformat' is set. The only argument to the hook is the format
that is configured at this point.
The `hook_com' keys considered are `hash' and `localrev'. They are set to the val‐
ues figured out so far by vcs_info and any change will be used directly when the
actual replacement is done.
If ret is set to non-zero, the string in ${hook_com[rev-replace]} will be used
unchanged as the `%i' replacement in the variables set by vcs_info.
set-message
Called each time before a `vcs_info_msg_N_' message is set. It takes two argu‐
ments; the first being the `N' in the message variable name, the second is the cur‐
rently configured formats or actionformats.
There are a number of `hook_com' keys, that are used here: `action', `branch',
`base', `base-name', `subdir', `staged', `unstaged', `revision', `misc', `vcs' and
one `miscN' entry for each backend-specific data field (N starting at zero). They
are set to the values figured out so far by vcs_info and any change will be used
directly when the actual replacement is done.
Since this hook is triggered multiple times (once for each configured formats or
actionformats), each of the `hook_com' keys mentioned above (except for the miscN
entries) has an `_orig' counterpart, so even if you changed a value to your liking
you can still get the original value in the next run. Changing the `_orig' values
is probably not a good idea.
If ret is set to non-zero, the string in ${hook_com[message]} will be used
unchanged as the message by vcs_info.
If all of this sounds rather confusing, take a look at the Examples section below and also
in the Misc/vcs_info-examples file in the Zsh source. They contain some explanatory code.
Examples
Don't use vcs_info at all (even though it's in your prompt):
zstyle ':vcs_info:*' enable NONE
Disable the backends for bzr and svk:
zstyle ':vcs_info:*' disable bzr svk
Disable everything but bzr and svk:
zstyle ':vcs_info:*' enable bzr svk
Provide a special formats for git:
zstyle ':vcs_info:git:*' formats ' GIT, BABY! [%b]'
zstyle ':vcs_info:git:*' actionformats ' GIT ACTION! [%b|%a]'
All %x expansion in all sorts of formats ("formats", "actionformats", branchformat, you
name it) are done using the `zformat' builtin from the `zsh/zutil' module. That means you
can do everything with these %x items what zformat supports. In particular, if you want
something that is really long to have a fixed width, like a hash in a mercurial branchfor‐
mat, you can do this: %12.12i. That'll shrink the 40 character hash to its 12 leading
characters. The form is actually `%min.maxx'. More is possible. See the section `The
zsh/zutil Module' in zshmodules(1) for details.
Use the quicker bzr backend
zstyle ':vcs_info:bzr:*' use-simple true
If you do use use-simple, please report if it does `the-right-thing[tm]'.
Display the revision number in yellow for bzr and svn:
zstyle ':vcs_info:(svn|bzr):*' branchformat '%b%{'${fg[yellow]}'%}:%r'
If you want colors, make sure you enclose the color codes in %{...%} if you want to use
the string provided by vcs_info in prompts.
Here is how to print the VCS information as a command (not in a prompt):
alias vcsi='vcs_info command; vcs_info_lastmsg'
This way, you can even define different formats for output via vcs_info_lastmsg in the
':vcs_info:*:command:*' namespace.
Now as promised, some code that uses hooks: say, you'd like to replace the string `svn' by
`subversion' in vcs_info's %s formats replacement.
First, we will tell vcs_info to call a function when populating the message variables with
the gathered information:
zstyle ':vcs_info:*+set-message:*' hooks svn2subversion
Nothing happens. Which is reasonable, since we didn't define the actual function yet. To
see what the hooks subsystem is trying to do, enable the `debug' style:
zstyle ':vcs_info:*+*:*' debug true
That should give you an idea what is going on. Specifically, the function that we are
looking for is `+vi-svn2subversion'. Note, the `+vi-' prefix. So, everything is in order,
just as documented. When you are done checking out the debugging output, disable it again:
zstyle ':vcs_info:*+*:*' debug false
Now, let's define the function:
function +vi-svn2subversion() {
[[ ${hook_com[vcs_orig]} == svn ]] && hook_com[vcs]=subversion
}
Simple enough. And it could have even been simpler, if only we had registered our function
in a less generic context. If we do it only in the `svn' backend's context, we don't need
to test which the active backend is:
zstyle ':vcs_info:svn+set-message:*' hooks svn2subversion
function +vi-svn2subversion() {
hook_com[vcs]=subversion
}
And finally a little more elaborate example, that uses a hook to create a customised book‐
mark string for the hg backend.
Again, we start off by registering a function:
zstyle ':vcs_info:hg+gen-hg-bookmark-string:*' hooks hgbookmarks
And then we define the `+vi-hgbookmarks function:
function +vi-hgbookmarks() {
# The default is to connect all bookmark names by
# commas. This mixes things up a little.
# Imagine, there's one type of bookmarks that is
# special to you. Say, because it's *your* work.
# Those bookmarks look always like this: "sh/*"
# (because your initials are sh, for example).
# This makes the bookmarks string use only those
# bookmarks. If there's more than one, it
# concatenates them using commas.
# The bookmarks returned by `hg' are available in
# the function's positional parameters.
local s="${(Mj:,:)@:#sh/*}"
# Now, the communication with the code that calls
# the hook functions is done via the hook_com[]
# hash. The key at which the `gen-hg-bookmark-string'
# hook looks is `hg-bookmark-string'. So:
hook_com[hg-bookmark-string]=$s
# And to signal that we want to use the string we
# just generated, set the special variable `ret' to
# something other than the default zero:
ret=1
return 0
}
Some longer examples and code snippets which might be useful are available in the examples
file located at Misc/vcs_info-examples in the Zsh source directory.
This concludes our guided tour through zsh's vcs_info.
PROMPT THEMES
Installation
You should make sure all the functions from the Functions/Prompts directory of the source
distribution are available; they all begin with the string `prompt_' except for the spe‐
cial function`promptinit'. You also need the `colors' function from Functions/Misc. All
of these functions may already have been installed on your system; if not, you will need
to find them and copy them. The directory should appear as one of the elements of the
fpath array (this should already be the case if they were installed), and at least the
function promptinit should be autoloaded; it will autoload the rest. Finally, to initial‐
ize the use of the system you need to call the promptinit function. The following code in
your .zshrc will arrange for this; assume the functions are stored in the directory
~/myfns:
fpath=(~/myfns $fpath)
autoload -U promptinit
promptinit
Theme Selection
Use the prompt command to select your preferred theme. This command may be added to your
.zshrc following the call to promptinit in order to start zsh with a theme already
selected.
prompt [ -c | -l ]
prompt [ -p | -h ] [ theme ... ]
prompt [ -s ] theme [ arg ... ]
Set or examine the prompt theme. With no options and a theme argument, the theme
with that name is set as the current theme. The available themes are determined at
run time; use the -l option to see a list. The special theme `random' selects at
random one of the available themes and sets your prompt to that.
In some cases the theme may be modified by one or more arguments, which should be
given after the theme name. See the help for each theme for descriptions of these
arguments.
Options are:
-c Show the currently selected theme and its parameters, if any.
-l List all available prompt themes.
-p Preview the theme named by theme, or all themes if no theme is given.
-h Show help for the theme named by theme, or for the prompt function if no
theme is given.
-s Set theme as the current theme and save state.
prompt_theme_setup
Each available theme has a setup function which is called by the prompt function to
install that theme. This function may define other functions as necessary to main‐
tain the prompt, including functions used to preview the prompt or provide help for
its use. You should not normally call a theme's setup function directly.
ZLE FUNCTIONS
Widgets
These functions all implement user-defined ZLE widgets (see zshzle(1)) which can be bound
to keystrokes in interactive shells. To use them, your .zshrc should contain lines of the
form
autoload function
zle -N function
followed by an appropriate bindkey command to associate the function with a key sequence.
Suggested bindings are described below.
bash-style word functions
If you are looking for functions to implement moving over and editing words in the
manner of bash, where only alphanumeric characters are considered word characters,
you can use the functions described in the next section. The following is suffi‐
cient:
autoload -U select-word-style
select-word-style bash
forward-word-match, backward-word-match
kill-word-match, backward-kill-word-match
transpose-words-match, capitalize-word-match
up-case-word-match, down-case-word-match
select-word-style, match-word-context, match-words-by-style
The eight `-match' functions are drop-in replacements for the builtin widgets with‐
out the suffix. By default they behave in a similar way. However, by the use of
styles and the function select-word-style, the way words are matched can be
altered.
The simplest way of configuring the functions is to use select-word-style, which
can either be called as a normal function with the appropriate argument, or invoked
as a user-defined widget that will prompt for the first character of the word style
to be used. The first time it is invoked, the eight -match functions will automat‐
ically replace the builtin versions, so they do not need to be loaded explicitly.
The word styles available are as follows. Only the first character is examined.
bash Word characters are alphanumeric characters only.
normal As in normal shell operation: word characters are alphanumeric characters
plus any characters present in the string given by the parameter $WORDCHARS.
shell Words are complete shell command arguments, possibly including complete
quoted strings, or any tokens special to the shell.
whitespace
Words are any set of characters delimited by whitespace.
default
Restore the default settings; this is usually the same as `normal'.
All but `default' can be input as an upper case character, which has the same
effect but with subword matching turned on. In this case, words with upper case
characters are treated specially: each separate run of upper case characters, or an
upper case character followed by any number of other characters, is considered a
word. The style subword-range can supply an alternative character range to the
default `[:upper:]'; the value of the style is treated as the contents of a `[...]'
pattern (note that the outer brackets should not be supplied, only those surround‐
ing named ranges).
More control can be obtained using the zstyle command, as described in zshmod‐
ules(1). Each style is looked up in the context :zle:widget where widget is the
name of the user-defined widget, not the name of the function implementing it, so
in the case of the definitions supplied by select-word-style the appropriate con‐
texts are :zle:forward-word, and so on. The function select-word-style itself
always defines styles for the context `:zle:*' which can be overridden by more spe‐
cific (longer) patterns as well as explicit contexts.
The style word-style specifies the rules to use. This may have the following val‐
ues.
normal Use the standard shell rules, i.e. alphanumerics and $WORDCHARS, unless
overridden by the styles word-chars or word-class.
specified
Similar to normal, but only the specified characters, and not also alphanu‐
merics, are considered word characters.
unspecified
The negation of specified. The given characters are those which will not be
considered part of a word.
shell Words are obtained by using the syntactic rules for generating shell command
arguments. In addition, special tokens which are never command arguments
such as `()' are also treated as words.
whitespace
Words are whitespace-delimited strings of characters.
The first three of those rules usually use $WORDCHARS, but the value in the parame‐
ter can be overridden by the style word-chars, which works in exactly the same way
as $WORDCHARS. In addition, the style word-class uses character class syntax to
group characters and takes precedence over word-chars if both are set. The
word-class style does not include the surrounding brackets of the character class;
for example, `-:[:alnum:]' is a valid word-class to include all alphanumerics plus
the characters `-' and `:'. Be careful including `]', `^' and `-' as these are
special inside character classes.
word-style may also have `-subword' appended to its value to turn on subword match‐
ing, as described above.
The style skip-chars is mostly useful for transpose-words and similar functions.
If set, it gives a count of characters starting at the cursor position which will
not be considered part of the word and are treated as space, regardless of what
they actually are. For example, if
zstyle ':zle:transpose-words' skip-chars 1
has been set, and transpose-words-match is called with the cursor on the X of
fooXbar, where X can be any character, then the resulting expression is barXfoo.
Finer grained control can be obtained by setting the style word-context to an array
of pairs of entries. Each pair of entries consists of a pattern and a subcontext.
The shell argument the cursor is on is matched against each pattern in turn until
one matches; if it does, the context is extended by a colon and the corresponding
subcontext. Note that the test is made against the original word on the line, with
no stripping of quotes. Special handling is done between words: the current con‐
text is examined and if it contains the string back, the word before the cursor is
considered, else the word after cursor is considered. Some examples are given
below.
The style skip-whitespace-first is only used with the forward-word widget. If it
is set to true, then forward-word skips any non-word-characters, followed by any
non-word-characters: this is similar to the behaviour of other word-orientated wid‐
gets, and also that used by other editors, however it differs from the standard zsh
behaviour. When using select-word-style the widget is set in the context :zle:* to
true if the word style is bash and false otherwise. It may be overridden by set‐
ting it in the more specific context :zle:forward-word*.
Here are some examples of use of the styles, actually taken from the simplified
interface in select-word-style:
zstyle ':zle:*' word-style standard
zstyle ':zle:*' word-chars ''
Implements bash-style word handling for all widgets, i.e. only alphanumerics are
word characters; equivalent to setting the parameter WORDCHARS empty for the given
context.
style ':zle:*kill*' word-style space
Uses space-delimited words for widgets with the word `kill' in the name. Neither
of the styles word-chars nor word-class is used in this case.
Here are some examples of use of the word-context style to extend the context.
zstyle ':zle:*' word-context "*/*" file "[[:space:]]" whitespace
zstyle ':zle:transpose-words:whitespace' word-style shell
zstyle ':zle:transpose-words:filename' word-style normal
zstyle ':zle:transpose-words:filename' word-chars ''
This provides two different ways of using transpose-words depending on whether the
cursor is on whitespace between words or on a filename, here any word containing a
/. On whitespace, complete arguments as defined by standard shell rules will be
transposed. In a filename, only alphanumerics will be transposed. Elsewhere,
words will be transposed using the default style for :zle:transpose-words.
The word matching and all the handling of zstyle settings is actually implemented
by the function match-words-by-style. This can be used to create new user-defined
widgets. The calling function should set the local parameter curcontext to
:zle:widget, create the local parameter matched_words and call match-words-by-style
with no arguments. On return, matched_words will be set to an array with the ele‐
ments: (1) the start of the line (2) the word before the cursor (3) any non-word
characters between that word and the cursor (4) any non-word character at the cur‐
sor position plus any remaining non-word characters before the next word, including
all characters specified by the skip-chars style, (5) the word at or following the
cursor (6) any non-word characters following that word (7) the remainder of the
line. Any of the elements may be an empty string; the calling function should test
for this to decide whether it can perform its function.
It is possible to pass options with arguments to match-words-by-style to override
the use of styles. The options are:
-w word-style
-s skip-chars
-c word-class
-C word-chars
-r subword-range
For example, match-words-by-style -w shell -c 0 may be used to extract the command
argument around the cursor.
The word-context style is implemented by the function match-word-context. This
should not usually need to be called directly.
copy-earlier-word
This widget works like a combination of insert-last-word and copy-prev-shell-word.
Repeated invocations of the widget retrieve earlier words on the relevant history
line. With a numeric argument N, insert the Nth word from the history line; N may
be negative to count from the end of the line.
If insert-last-word has been used to retrieve the last word on a previous history
line, repeated invocations will replace that word with earlier words from the same
line.
Otherwise, the widget applies to words on the line currently being edited. The
widget style can be set to the name of another widget that should be called to
retrieve words. This widget must accept the same three arguments as
insert-last-word.
cycle-completion-positions
After inserting an unambiguous string into the command line, the new function based
completion system may know about multiple places in this string where characters
are missing or differ from at least one of the possible matches. It will then
place the cursor on the position it considers to be the most interesting one, i.e.
the one where one can disambiguate between as many matches as possible with as lit‐
tle typing as possible.
This widget allows the cursor to be easily moved to the other interesting spots.
It can be invoked repeatedly to cycle between all positions reported by the comple‐
tion system.
delete-whole-word-match
This is another function which works like the -match functions described immedi‐
ately above, i.e. using styles to decide the word boundaries. However, it is not a
replacement for any existing function.
The basic behaviour is to delete the word around the cursor. There is no numeric
prefix handling; only the single word around the cursor is considered. If the wid‐
get contains the string kill, the removed text will be placed in the cutbuffer for
future yanking. This can be obtained by defining kill-whole-word-match as follows:
zle -N kill-whole-word-match delete-whole-word-match
and then binding the widget kill-whole-word-match.
up-line-or-beginning-search, down-line-or-beginning-search
These widgets are similar to the builtin functions up-line-or-search and
down-line-or-search: if in a multiline buffer they move up or down within the buf‐
fer, otherwise they search for a history line matching the start of the current
line. In this case, however, they search for a line which matches the current line
up to the current cursor position, in the manner of history-beginning-search-back‐
ward and -forward, rather than the first word on the line.
edit-command-line
Edit the command line using your visual editor, as in ksh.
bindkey -M vicmd v edit-command-line
expand-absolute-path
Expand the file name under the cursor to an absolute path, resolving symbolic
links. Where possible, the initial path segment is turned into a named directory
or reference to a user's home directory.
history-search-end
This function implements the widgets history-beginning-search-backward-end and his‐
tory-beginning-search-forward-end. These commands work by first calling the corre‐
sponding builtin widget (see `History Control' in zshzle(1)) and then moving the
cursor to the end of the line. The original cursor position is remembered and
restored before calling the builtin widget a second time, so that the same search
is repeated to look farther through the history.
Although you autoload only one function, the commands to use it are slightly dif‐
ferent because it implements two widgets.
zle -N history-beginning-search-backward-end \
history-search-end
zle -N history-beginning-search-forward-end \
history-search-end
bindkey '\e^P' history-beginning-search-backward-end
bindkey '\e^N' history-beginning-search-forward-end
history-beginning-search-menu
This function implements yet another form of history searching. The text before
the cursor is used to select lines from the history, as for history-begin‐
ning-search-backward except that all matches are shown in a numbered menu. Typing
the appropriate digits inserts the full history line. Note that leading zeroes
must be typed (they are only shown when necessary for removing ambiguity). The
entire history is searched; there is no distinction between forwards and backwards.
With a prefix argument, the search is not anchored to the start of the line; the
string typed by the use may appear anywhere in the line in the history.
If the widget name contains `-end' the cursor is moved to the end of the line
inserted. If the widget name contains `-space' any space in the text typed is
treated as a wildcard and can match anything (hence a leading space is equivalent
to giving a prefix argument). Both forms can be combined, for example:
zle -N history-beginning-search-menu-space-end \
history-beginning-search-menu
history-pattern-search
The function history-pattern-search implements widgets which prompt for a pattern
with which to search the history backwards or forwards. The pattern is in the
usual zsh format, however the first character may be ^ to anchor the search to the
start of the line, and the last character may be $ to anchor the search to the end
of the line. If the search was not anchored to the end of the line the cursor is
positioned just after the pattern found.
The commands to create bindable widgets are similar to those in the example immedi‐
ately above:
autoload -U history-pattern-search
zle -N history-pattern-search-backward history-pattern-search
zle -N history-pattern-search-forward history-pattern-search
incarg Typing the keystrokes for this widget with the cursor placed on or to the left of
an integer causes that integer to be incremented by one. With a numeric prefix
argument, the number is incremented by the amount of the argument (decremented if
the prefix argument is negative). The shell parameter incarg may be set to change
the default increment to something other than one.
bindkey '^X+' incarg
incremental-complete-word
This allows incremental completion of a word. After starting this command, a list
of completion choices can be shown after every character you type, which you can
delete with ^H or DEL. Pressing return accepts the completion so far and returns
you to normal editing (that is, the command line is not immediately executed). You
can hit TAB to do normal completion, ^G to abort back to the state when you
started, and ^D to list the matches.
This works only with the new function based completion system.
bindkey '^Xi' incremental-complete-word
insert-composed-char
This function allows you to compose characters that don't appear on the keyboard to
be inserted into the command line. The command is followed by two keys correspond‐
ing to ASCII characters (there is no prompt). For accented characters, the two
keys are a base character followed by a code for the accent, while for other spe‐
cial characters the two characters together form a mnemonic for the character to be
inserted. The two-character codes are a subset of those given by RFC 1345 (see for
example http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc1345.html).
The function may optionally be followed by up to two characters which replace one
or both of the characters read from the keyboard; if both characters are supplied,
no input is read. For example, insert-composed-char a: can be used within a widget
to insert an a with umlaut into the command line. This has the advantages over use
of a literal character that it is more portable.
For best results zsh should have been built with support for multibyte characters
(configured with --enable-multibyte); however, the function works for the limited
range of characters available in single-byte character sets such as ISO-8859-1.
The character is converted into the local representation and inserted into the com‐
mand line at the cursor position. (The conversion is done within the shell, using
whatever facilities the C library provides.) With a numeric argument, the charac‐
ter and its code are previewed in the status line
The function may be run outside zle in which case it prints the character (together
with a newline) to standard output. Input is still read from keystrokes.
See insert-unicode-char for an alternative way of inserting Unicode characters
using their hexadecimal character number.
The set of accented characters is reasonably complete up to Unicode character
U+0180, the set of special characters less so. However, it is very sporadic from
that point. Adding new characters is easy, however; see the function define-com‐
posed-chars. Please send any additions to zsh-workers AT zsh.org.
The codes for the second character when used to accent the first are as follows.
Note that not every character can take every accent.
! Grave.
' Acute.
> Circumflex.
? Tilde. (This is not ~ as RFC 1345 does not assume that character is present
on the keyboard.)
- Macron. (A horizontal bar over the base character.)
( Breve. (A shallow dish shape over the base character.)
. Dot above the base character, or in the case of i no dot, or in the case of
L and l a centered dot.
: Diaeresis (Umlaut).
c Cedilla.
_ Underline, however there are currently no underlined characters.
/ Stroke through the base character.
" Double acute (only supported on a few letters).
; Ogonek. (A little forward facing hook at the bottom right of the charac‐
ter.)
< Caron. (A little v over the letter.)
0 Circle over the base character.
2 Hook over the base character.
9 Horn over the base character.
The most common characters from the Arabic, Cyrillic, Greek and Hebrew alphabets
are available; consult RFC 1345 for the appropriate sequences. In addition, a set
of two letter codes not in RFC 1345 are available for the double-width characters
corresponding to ASCII characters from ! to ~ (0x21 to 0x7e) by preceding the
character with ^, for example ^A for a double-width A.
The following other two-character sequences are understood.
ASCII characters
These are already present on most keyboards:
<( Left square bracket
// Backslash (solidus)
)> Right square bracket
(! Left brace (curly bracket)
!! Vertical bar (pipe symbol)
!) Right brace (curly bracket)
'? Tilde
Special letters
Characters found in various variants of the Latin alphabet:
ss Eszett (scharfes S)
D-, d- Eth
TH, th Thorn
kk Kra
'n 'n
NG, ng Ng
OI, oi Oi
yr yr
ED ezh
Currency symbols
Ct Cent
Pd Pound sterling (also lira and others)
Cu Currency
Ye Yen
Eu Euro (N.B. not in RFC 1345)
Punctuation characters
References to "right" quotes indicate the shape (like a 9 rather than 6)
rather than their grammatical use. (For example, a "right" low double quote
is used to open quotations in German.)
!I Inverted exclamation mark
BB Broken vertical bar
SE Section
Co Copyright
-a Spanish feminine ordinal indicator
<< Left guillemet
-- Soft hyphen
Rg Registered trade mark
PI Pilcrow (paragraph)
-o Spanish masculine ordinal indicator
>> Right guillemet
?I Inverted question mark
-1 Hyphen
-N En dash
-M Em dash
-3 Horizontal bar
:3 Vertical ellipsis
.3 Horizontal midline ellipsis
!2 Double vertical line
=2 Double low line
'6 Left single quote
'9 Right single quote
.9 "Right" low quote
9' Reversed "right" quote
"6 Left double quote
"9 Right double quote
:9 "Right" low double quote
9" Reversed "right" double quote
/- Dagger
/= Double dagger
Mathematical symbols
DG Degree
-2, +-, -+
- sign, +/- sign, -/+ sign
2S Superscript 2
3S Superscript 3
1S Superscript 1
My Micro
.M Middle dot
14 Quarter
12 Half
34 Three quarters
*X Multiplication
-: Division
%0 Per mille
FA, TE, /0
For all, there exists, empty set
dP, DE, NB
Partial derivative, delta (increment), del (nabla)
(-, -) Element of, contains
*P, +Z Product, sum
*-, Ob, Sb
Asterisk, ring, bullet
RT, 0(, 00
Root sign, proportional to, infinity
Other symbols
cS, cH, cD, cC
Card suits: spades, hearts, diamonds, clubs
Md, M8, M2, Mb, Mx, MX
Musical notation: crotchet (quarter note), quaver (eighth note), semiquavers
(sixteenth notes), flag sign, natural sign, sharp sign
Fm, Ml Female, male
Accents on their own
'> Circumflex (same as caret, ^)
'! Grave (same as backtick, `)
', Cedilla
': Diaeresis (Umlaut)
'm Macron
'' Acute
insert-files
This function allows you type a file pattern, and see the results of the expansion
at each step. When you hit return, all expansions are inserted into the command
line.
bindkey '^Xf' insert-files
insert-unicode-char
When first executed, the user inputs a set of hexadecimal digits. This is termi‐
nated with another call to insert-unicode-char. The digits are then turned into
the corresponding Unicode character. For example, if the widget is bound to ^XU,
the character sequence `^XU 4 c ^XU' inserts L (Unicode U+004c).
See insert-composed-char for a way of inserting characters using a two-character
mnemonic.
narrow-to-region [ -p pre ] [ -P post ]
[ -S statepm | -R statepm ] [ -n ] [ start end ])
narrow-to-region-invisible
Narrow the editable portion of the buffer to the region between the cursor and the
mark, which may be in either order. The region may not be empty.
narrow-to-region may be used as a widget or called as a function from a
user-defined widget; by default, the text outside the editable area remains visi‐
ble. A recursive-edit is performed and the original widening status is then
restored. Various options and arguments are available when it is called as a func‐
tion.
The options -p pretext and -P posttext may be used to replace the text before and
after the display for the duration of the function; either or both may be an empty
string.
If the option -n is also given, pretext or posttext will only be inserted if there
is text before or after the region respectively which will be made invisible.
Two numeric arguments may be given which will be used instead of the cursor and
mark positions.
The option -S statepm is used to narrow according to the other options while saving
the original state in the parameter with name statepm, while the option -R statepm
is used to restore the state from the parameter; note in both cases the name of the
parameter is required. In the second case, other options and arguments are irrele‐
vant. When this method is used, no recursive-edit is performed; the calling widget
should call this function with the option -S, perform its own editing on the com‐
mand line or pass control to the user via `zle recursive-edit', then call this
function with the option -R. The argument statepm must be a suitable name for an
ordinary parameter, except that parameters beginning with the prefix _ntr_ are
reserved for use within narrow-to-region. Typically the parameter will be local to
the calling function.
narrow-to-region-invisible is a simple widget which calls narrow-to-region with
arguments which replace any text outside the region with `...'.
The display is restored (and the widget returns) upon any zle command which would
usually cause the line to be accepted or aborted. Hence an additional such command
is required to accept or abort the current line.
The return status of both widgets is zero if the line was accepted, else non-zero.
Here is a trivial example of a widget using this feature.
local state
narrow-to-region -p $'Editing restricted region\n' \
-P '' -S state
zle recursive-edit
narrow-to-region -R state
predict-on
This set of functions implements predictive typing using history search. After
predict-on, typing characters causes the editor to look backward in the history for
the first line beginning with what you have typed so far. After predict-off, edit‐
ing returns to normal for the line found. In fact, you often don't even need to
use predict-off, because if the line doesn't match something in the history, adding
a key performs standard completion, and then inserts itself if no completions were
found. However, editing in the middle of a line is liable to confuse prediction;
see the toggle style below.
With the function based completion system (which is needed for this), you should be
able to type TAB at almost any point to advance the cursor to the next ``interest‐
ing'' character position (usually the end of the current word, but sometimes some‐
where in the middle of the word). And of course as soon as the entire line is what
you want, you can accept with return, without needing to move the cursor to the end
first.
The first time predict-on is used, it creates several additional widget functions:
delete-backward-and-predict
Replaces the backward-delete-char widget. You do not need to bind this
yourself.
insert-and-predict
Implements predictive typing by replacing the self-insert widget. You do
not need to bind this yourself.
predict-off
Turns off predictive typing.
Although you autoload only the predict-on function, it is necessary to create a
keybinding for predict-off as well.
zle -N predict-on
zle -N predict-off
bindkey '^X^Z' predict-on
bindkey '^Z' predict-off
read-from-minibuffer
This is most useful when called as a function from inside a widget, but will work
correctly as a widget in its own right. It prompts for a value below the current
command line; a value may be input using all of the standard zle operations (and
not merely the restricted set available when executing, for example, exe‐
cute-named-cmd). The value is then returned to the calling function in the parame‐
ter $REPLY and the editing buffer restored to its previous state. If the read was
aborted by a keyboard break (typically ^G), the function returns status 1 and
$REPLY is not set.
If one argument is supplied to the function it is taken as a prompt, otherwise `? '
is used. If two arguments are supplied, they are the prompt and the initial value
of $LBUFFER, and if a third argument is given it is the initial value of $RBUFFER.
This provides a default value and starting cursor placement. Upon return the
entire buffer is the value of $REPLY.
One option is available: `-k num' specifies that num characters are to be read
instead of a whole line. The line editor is not invoked recursively in this case,
so depending on the terminal settings the input may not be visible, and only the
input keys are placed in $REPLY, not the entire buffer. Note that unlike the read
builtin num must be given; there is no default.
The name is a slight misnomer, as in fact the shell's own minibuffer is not used.
Hence it is still possible to call executed-named-cmd and similar functions while
reading a value.
replace-argument, replace-argument-edit
The function replace-argument can be used to replace a command line argument in the
current command line or, if the current command line is empty, in the last command
line executed (the new command line is not executed). Arguments are as delimited
by standard shell syntax,
If a numeric argument is given, that specifies the argument to be replaced. 0
means the command name, as in history expansion. A negative numeric argument
counts backward from the last word.
If no numeric argument is given, the current argument is replaced; this is the last
argument if the previous history line is being used.
The function prompts for a replacement argument.
If the widget contains the string edit, for example is defined as
zle -N replace-argument-edit replace-argument
then the function presents the current value of the argument for editing, otherwise
the editing buffer for the replacement is initially empty.
replace-string, replace-pattern
replace-string-again, replace-pattern-again
The function replace-string implements three widgets. If defined under the same
name as the function, it prompts for two strings; the first (source) string will be
replaced by the second everywhere it occurs in the line editing buffer.
If the widget name contains the word `pattern', for example by defining the widget
using the command `zle -N replace-pattern replace-string', then the matching is
performed using zsh patterns. All zsh extended globbing patterns can be used in
the source string; note that unlike filename generation the pattern does not need
to match an entire word, nor do glob qualifiers have any effect. In addition, the
replacement string can contain parameter or command substitutions. Furthermore, a
`&' in the replacement string will be replaced with the matched source string, and
a backquoted digit `\N' will be replaced by the Nth parenthesised expression
matched. The form `\{N}' may be used to protect the digit from following digits.
If the widget instead contains the word `regex' (or `regexp'), then the matching is
performed using regular expressions, respecting the setting of the option
RE_MATCH_PCRE (see the description of the function regexp-replace below). The spe‐
cial replacement facilities described above for pattern matching are available.
By default the previous source or replacement string will not be offered for edit‐
ing. However, this feature can be activated by setting the style edit-previous in
the context :zle:widget (for example, :zle:replace-string) to true. In addition, a
positive numeric argument forces the previous values to be offered, a negative or
zero argument forces them not to be.
The function replace-string-again can be used to repeat the previous replacement;
no prompting is done. As with replace-string, if the name of the widget contains
the word `pattern' or `regex', pattern or regular expression matching is performed,
else a literal string replacement. Note that the previous source and replacement
text are the same whether pattern, regular expression or string matching is used.
In addition, replace-string shows the previous replacement above the prompt, so
long as there was one during the current session; if the source string is empty,
that replacement will be repeated without the widget prompting for a replacement
string.
For example, starting from the line:
print This line contains fan and fond
and invoking replace-pattern with the source string `f(?)n' and the replacement
string `c\1r' produces the not very useful line:
print This line contains car and cord
The range of the replacement string can be limited by using the nar‐
row-to-region-invisible widget. One limitation of the current version is that undo
will cycle through changes to the replacement and source strings before undoing the
replacement itself.
send-invisible
This is similar to read-from-minibuffer in that it may be called as a function from
a widget or as a widget of its own, and interactively reads input from the key‐
board. However, the input being typed is concealed and a string of asterisks (`*')
is shown instead. The value is saved in the parameter $INVISIBLE to which a refer‐
ence is inserted into the editing buffer at the restored cursor position. If the
read was aborted by a keyboard break (typically ^G) or another escape from editing
such as push-line, $INVISIBLE is set to empty and the original buffer is restored
unchanged.
If one argument is supplied to the function it is taken as a prompt, otherwise
`Non-echoed text: ' is used (as in emacs). If a second and third argument are sup‐
plied they are used to begin and end the reference to $INVISIBLE that is inserted
into the buffer. The default is to open with ${, then INVISIBLE, and close with },
but many other effects are possible.
smart-insert-last-word
This function may replace the insert-last-word widget, like so:
zle -N insert-last-word smart-insert-last-word
With a numeric prefix, or when passed command line arguments in a call from another
widget, it behaves like insert-last-word, except that words in comments are ignored
when INTERACTIVE_COMMENTS is set.
Otherwise, the rightmost ``interesting'' word from the previous command is found
and inserted. The default definition of ``interesting'' is that the word contains
at least one alphabetic character, slash, or backslash. This definition may be
overridden by use of the match style. The context used to look up the style is the
widget name, so usually the context is :insert-last-word. However, you can bind
this function to different widgets to use different patterns:
zle -N insert-last-assignment smart-insert-last-word
zstyle :insert-last-assignment match '[[:alpha:]][][[:alnum:]]#=*'
bindkey '\e=' insert-last-assignment
If no interesting word is found and the auto-previous style is set to a true value,
the search continues upward through the history. When auto-previous is unset or
false (the default), the widget must be invoked repeatedly in order to search ear‐
lier history lines.
transpose-lines
Only useful with a multi-line editing buffer; the lines here are lines within the
current on-screen buffer, not history lines. The effect is similar to the function
of the same name in Emacs.
Transpose the current line with the previous line and move the cursor to the start
of the next line. Repeating this (which can be done by providing a positive
numeric prefix argument) has the effect of moving the line above the cursor down by
a number of lines.
With a negative numeric prefix argument, requires two lines above the cursor.
These two lines are transposed and the cursor moved to the start of the previous
line. Using a numeric prefix less than -1 has the effect of moving the line above
the cursor up by minus that number of lines.
which-command
This function is a drop-in replacement for the builtin widget which-command. It
has enhanced behaviour, in that it correctly detects whether or not the command
word needs to be expanded as an alias; if so, it continues tracing the command word
from the expanded alias until it reaches the command that will be executed.
The style whence is available in the context :zle:$WIDGET; this may be set to an
array to give the command and options that will be used to investigate the command
word found. The default is whence -c.
zcalc-auto-insert
This function is useful together with the zcalc function described in the section
Mathematical Functions. It should be bound to a key representing a binary operator
such as `+', `-', `*' or `/'. When running in zcalc, if the key occurs at the
start of the line or immediately following an open parenthesis, the text "ans " is
inserted before the representation of the key itself. This allows easy use of the
answer from the previous calculation in the current line. The text to be inserted
before the symbol typed can be modified by setting the variable
ZCALC_AUTO_INSERT_PREFIX.
Hence, for example, typing `+12' followed by return adds 12 to the previous result.
When not in zcalc, the key simply inserts the symbol itself.
Utility Functions
These functions are useful in constructing widgets. They should be loaded with `autoload
-U function' and called as indicated from user-defined widgets.
split-shell-arguments
This function splits the line currently being edited into shell arguments and
whitespace. The result is stored in the array reply. The array contains all the
parts of the line in order, starting with any whitespace before the first argument,
and finishing with any whitespace after the last argument. Hence (so long as the
option KSH_ARRAYS is not set) whitespace is given by odd indices in the array and
arguments by even indices. Note that no stripping of quotes is done; joining
together all the elements of reply in order is guaranteed to produce the original
line.
The parameter REPLY is set to the index of the word in reply which contains the
character after the cursor, where the first element has index 1. The parameter
REPLY2 is set to the index of the character under the cursor in that word, where
the first character has index 1.
Hence reply, REPLY and REPLY2 should all be made local to the enclosing function.
See the function modify-current-argument, described below, for an example of how to
call this function.
modify-current-argument [ expr-using-$ARG | func ]
This function provides a simple method of allowing user-defined widgets to modify
the command line argument under the cursor (or immediately to the left of the cur‐
sor if the cursor is between arguments).
The argument can be an expression which when evaluated operates on the shell param‐
eter ARG, which will have been set to the command line argument under the cursor.
The expression should be suitably quoted to prevent it being evaluated too early.
Alternatively, if the argument does not contain the string ARG, it is assumed to be
a shell function, to which the current command line argument is passed as the only
argument. The function should set the variable REPLY to the new value for the com‐
mand line argument. If the function returns non-zero status, so does the calling
function.
For example, a user-defined widget containing the following code converts the char‐
acters in the argument under the cursor into all upper case:
modify-current-argument '${(U)ARG}'
The following strips any quoting from the current word (whether backslashes or one
of the styles of quotes), and replaces it with single quoting throughout:
modify-current-argument '${(qq)${(Q)ARG}}'
The following performs directory expansion on the command line argument and
replaces it by the absolute path:
expand-dir() {
REPLY=${~1}
REPLY=${REPLY:a}
}
modify-current-argument expand-dir
In practice the function expand-dir would probably not be defined within the widget
where modify-current-argument is called.
Styles
The behavior of several of the above widgets can be controlled by the use of the zstyle
mechanism. In particular, widgets that interact with the completion system pass along
their context to any completions that they invoke.
break-keys
This style is used by the incremental-complete-word widget. Its value should be a
pattern, and all keys matching this pattern will cause the widget to stop incremen‐
tal completion without the key having any further effect. Like all styles used
directly by incremental-complete-word, this style is looked up using the context
`:incremental'.
completer
The incremental-complete-word and insert-and-predict widgets set up their top-level
context name before calling completion. This allows one to define different sets
of completer functions for normal completion and for these widgets. For example,
to use completion, approximation and correction for normal completion, completion
and correction for incremental completion and only completion for prediction one
could use:
zstyle ':completion:*' completer \
_complete _correct _approximate
zstyle ':completion:incremental:*' completer \
_complete _correct
zstyle ':completion:predict:*' completer \
_complete
It is a good idea to restrict the completers used in prediction, because they may
be automatically invoked as you type. The _list and _menu completers should never
be used with prediction. The _approximate, _correct, _expand, and _match com‐
pleters may be used, but be aware that they may change characters anywhere in the
word behind the cursor, so you need to watch carefully that the result is what you
intended.
cursor The insert-and-predict widget uses this style, in the context `:predict', to decide
where to place the cursor after completion has been tried. Values are:
complete
The cursor is left where it was when completion finished, but only if it is
after a character equal to the one just inserted by the user. If it is
after another character, this value is the same as `key'.
key The cursor is left after the nth occurrence of the character just inserted,
where n is the number of times that character appeared in the word before
completion was attempted. In short, this has the effect of leaving the cur‐
sor after the character just typed even if the completion code found out
that no other characters need to be inserted at that position.
Any other value for this style unconditionally leaves the cursor at the position
where the completion code left it.
list When using the incremental-complete-word widget, this style says if the matches
should be listed on every key press (if they fit on the screen). Use the context
prefix `:completion:incremental'.
The insert-and-predict widget uses this style to decide if the completion should be
shown even if there is only one possible completion. This is done if the value of
this style is the string always. In this case the context is `:predict' (not
`:completion:predict').
match This style is used by smart-insert-last-word to provide a pattern (using full
EXTENDED_GLOB syntax) that matches an interesting word. The context is the name of
the widget to which smart-insert-last-word is bound (see above). The default
behavior of smart-insert-last-word is equivalent to:
zstyle :insert-last-word match '*[[:alpha:]/\\]*'
However, you might want to include words that contain spaces:
zstyle :insert-last-word match '*[[:alpha:][:space:]/\\]*'
Or include numbers as long as the word is at least two characters long:
zstyle :insert-last-word match '*([[:digit:]]?|[[:alpha:]/\\])*'
The above example causes redirections like "2>" to be included.
prompt The incremental-complete-word widget shows the value of this style in the status
line during incremental completion. The string value may contain any of the fol‐
lowing substrings in the manner of the PS1 and other prompt parameters:
%c Replaced by the name of the completer function that generated the matches
(without the leading underscore).
%l When the list style is set, replaced by `...' if the list of matches is too
long to fit on the screen and with an empty string otherwise. If the list
style is `false' or not set, `%l' is always removed.
%n Replaced by the number of matches generated.
%s Replaced by `-no match-', `-no prefix-', or an empty string if there is no
completion matching the word on the line, if the matches have no common pre‐
fix different from the word on the line, or if there is such a common pre‐
fix, respectively.
%u Replaced by the unambiguous part of all matches, if there is any, and if it
is different from the word on the line.
Like `break-keys', this uses the `:incremental' context.
stop-keys
This style is used by the incremental-complete-word widget. Its value is treated
similarly to the one for the break-keys style (and uses the same context: `:incre‐
mental'). However, in this case all keys matching the pattern given as its value
will stop incremental completion and will then execute their usual function.
toggle This boolean style is used by predict-on and its related widgets in the context
`:predict'. If set to one of the standard `true' values, predictive typing is
automatically toggled off in situations where it is unlikely to be useful, such as
when editing a multi-line buffer or after moving into the middle of a line and then
deleting a character. The default is to leave prediction turned on until an
explicit call to predict-off.
verbose
This boolean style is used by predict-on and its related widgets in the context
`:predict'. If set to one of the standard `true' values, these widgets display a
message below the prompt when the predictive state is toggled. This is most useful
in combination with the toggle style. The default does not display these messages.
widget This style is similar to the command style: For widget functions that use zle to
call other widgets, this style can sometimes be used to override the widget which
is called. The context for this style is the name of the calling widget (not the
name of the calling function, because one function may be bound to multiple widget
names).
zstyle :copy-earlier-word widget smart-insert-last-word
Check the documentation for the calling widget or function to determine whether the
widget style is used.
EXCEPTION HANDLING
Two functions are provided to enable zsh to provide exception handling in a form that
should be familiar from other languages.
throw exception
The function throw throws the named exception. The name is an arbitrary string and
is only used by the throw and catch functions. An exception is for the most part
treated the same as a shell error, i.e. an unhandled exception will cause the shell
to abort all processing in a function or script and to return to the top level in
an interactive shell.
catch exception-pattern
The function catch returns status zero if an exception was thrown and the pattern
exception-pattern matches its name. Otherwise it returns status 1. exception-pat‐
tern is a standard shell pattern, respecting the current setting of the
EXTENDED_GLOB option. An alias catch is also defined to prevent the argument to
the function from matching filenames, so patterns may be used unquoted. Note that
as exceptions are not fundamentally different from other shell errors it is possi‐
ble to catch shell errors by using an empty string as the exception name. The
shell variable CAUGHT is set by catch to the name of the exception caught. It is
possible to rethrow an exception by calling the throw function again once an excep‐
tion has been caught.
The functions are designed to be used together with the always construct described in zsh‐
misc(1). This is important as only this construct provides the required support for
exceptions. A typical example is as follows.
{
# "try" block
# ... nested code here calls "throw MyExcept"
} always {
# "always" block
if catch MyExcept; then
print "Caught exception MyExcept"
elif catch ''; then
print "Caught a shell error. Propagating..."
throw ''
fi
# Other exceptions are not handled but may be caught further
# up the call stack.
}
If all exceptions should be caught, the following idiom might be preferable.
{
# ... nested code here throws an exception
} always {
if catch *; then
case $CAUGHT in
(MyExcept)
print "Caught my own exception"
;;
(*)
print "Caught some other exception"
;;
esac
fi
}
In common with exception handling in other languages, the exception may be thrown by code
deeply nested inside the `try' block. However, note that it must be thrown inside the
current shell, not in a subshell forked for a pipeline, parenthesised current-shell con‐
struct, or some form of command or process substitution.
The system internally uses the shell variable EXCEPTION to record the name of the excep‐
tion between throwing and catching. One drawback of this scheme is that if the exception
is not handled the variable EXCEPTION remains set and may be incorrectly recognised as the
name of an exception if a shell error subsequently occurs. Adding unset EXCEPTION at the
start of the outermost layer of any code that uses exception handling will eliminate this
problem.
MIME FUNCTIONS
Three functions are available to provide handling of files recognised by extension, for
example to dispatch a file text.ps when executed as a command to an appropriate viewer.
zsh-mime-setup [ -fv ] [ -l [ suffix ... ] ]
zsh-mime-handler [-l] command arguments ...
These two functions use the files ~/.mime.types and /etc/mime.types, which asso‐
ciate types and extensions, as well as ~/.mailcap and /etc/mailcap files, which as‐
sociate types and the programs that handle them. These are provided on many sys‐
tems with the Multimedia Internet Mail Extensions.
To enable the system, the function zsh-mime-setup should be autoloaded and run.
This allows files with extensions to be treated as executable; such files be com‐
pleted by the function completion system. The function zsh-mime-handler should not
need to be called by the user.
The system works by setting up suffix aliases with `alias -s'. Suffix aliases
already installed by the user will not be overwritten.
For suffixes defined in lower case, upper case variants will also automatically be
handled (e.g. PDF is automatically handled if handling for the suffix pdf is
defined), but not vice versa.
Repeated calls to zsh-mime-setup do not override the existing mapping between suf‐
fixes and executable files unless the option -f is given. Note, however, that this
does not override existing suffix aliases assigned to handlers other than
zsh-mime-handler.
Calling zsh-mime-setup with the option -l lists the existing mappings without
altering them. Suffixes to list (which may contain pattern characters that should
be quoted from immediate interpretation on the command line) may be given as addi‐
tional arguments, otherwise all suffixes are listed.
Calling zsh-mime-setup with the option -v causes verbose output to be shown during
the setup operation.
The system respects the mailcap flags needsterminal and copiousoutput, see mail‐
cap(4).
The functions use the following styles, which are defined with the zstyle builtin
command (see zshmodules(1)). They should be defined before zsh-mime-setup is run.
The contexts used all start with :mime:, with additional components in some cases.
It is recommended that a trailing * (suitably quoted) be appended to style patterns
in case the system is extended in future. Some examples are given below.
For files that have multiple suffixes, e.g. .pdf.gz, where the context includes the
suffix it will be looked up starting with the longest possible suffix until a match
for the style is found. For example, if .pdf.gz produces a match for the handler,
that will be used; otherwise the handler for .gz will be used. Note that, owing to
the way suffix aliases work, it is always required that there be a handler for the
shortest possible suffix, so in this example .pdf.gz can only be handled if .gz is
also handled (though not necessarily in the same way). Alternatively, if no han‐
dling for .gz on its own is needed, simply adding the command
alias -s gz=zsh-mime-handler
to the initialisation code is sufficient; .gz will not be handled on its own, but
may be in combination with other suffixes.
current-shell
If this boolean style is true, the mailcap handler for the context in ques‐
tion is run using the eval builtin instead of by starting a new sh process.
This is more efficient, but may not work in the occasional cases where the
mailcap handler uses strict POSIX syntax.
disown If this boolean style is true, mailcap handlers started in the background
will be disowned, i.e. not subject to job control within the parent shell.
Such handlers nearly always produce their own windows, so the only likely
harmful side effect of setting the style is that it becomes harder to kill
jobs from within the shell.
execute-as-is
This style gives a list of patterns to be matched against files passed for
execution with a handler program. If the file matches the pattern, the
entire command line is executed in its current form, with no handler. This
is useful for files which might have suffixes but nonetheless be executable
in their own right. If the style is not set, the pattern *(*) *(/) is used;
hence executable files are executed directly and not passed to a handler,
and the option AUTO_CD may be used to change to directories that happen to
have MIME suffixes.
execute-never
This style is useful in combination with execute-as-is. It is set to an
array of patterns corresponding to full paths to files that should never be
treated as executable, even if the file passed to the MIME handler matches
execute-as-is. This is useful for file systems that don't handle execute
permission or that contain executables from another operating system. For
example, if /mnt/windows is a Windows mount, then
zstyle ':mime:*' execute-never '/mnt/windows/*'
will ensure that any files found in that area will be executed as MIME types
even if they are executable. As this example shows, the complete file name
is matched against the pattern, regardless of how the file was passed to the
handler. The file is resolved to a full path using the :A modifier
described in the subsection Modifiers in zshexpn(1); this means that sym‐
bolic links are resolved where possible, so that links into other file sys‐
tems behave in the correct fashion.
file-path
Used if the style find-file-in-path is true for the same context. Set to an
array of directories that are used for searching for the file to be handled;
the default is the command path given by the special parameter path. The
shell option PATH_DIRS is respected; if that is set, the appropriate path
will be searched even if the name of the file to be handled as it appears on
the command line contains a `/'. The full context is :mime:.suffix:, as
described for the style handler.
find-file-in-path
If set, allows files whose names do not contain absolute paths to be
searched for in the command path or the path specified by the file-path
style. If the file is not found in the path, it is looked for locally
(whether or not the current directory is in the path); if it is not found
locally, the handler will abort unless the handle-nonexistent style is set.
Files found in the path are tested as described for the style execute-as-is.
The full context is :mime:.suffix:, as described for the style handler.
flags Defines flags to go with a handler; the context is as for the handler style,
and the format is as for the flags in mailcap.
handle-nonexistent
By default, arguments that don't correspond to files are not passed to the
MIME handler in order to prevent it from intercepting commands found in the
path that happen to have suffixes. This style may be set to an array of
extended glob patterns for arguments that will be passed to the handler even
if they don't exist. If it is not explicitly set it defaults to
[[:alpha:]]#:/* which allows URLs to be passed to the MIME handler even
though they don't exist in that format in the file system. The full context
is :mime:.suffix:, as described for the style handler.
handler
Specifies a handler for a suffix; the suffix is given by the context as
:mime:.suffix:, and the format of the handler is exactly that in mailcap.
Note in particular the `.' and trailing colon to distinguish this use of the
context. This overrides any handler specified by the mailcap files. If the
handler requires a terminal, the flags style should be set to include the
word needsterminal, or if the output is to be displayed through a pager (but
not if the handler is itself a pager), it should include copiousoutput.
mailcap
A list of files in the format of ~/.mailcap and /etc/mailcap to be read dur‐
ing setup, replacing the default list which consists of those two files.
The context is :mime:. A + in the list will be replaced by the default
files.
mailcap-priorities
This style is used to resolve multiple mailcap entries for the same MIME
type. It consists of an array of the following elements, in descending
order of priority; later entries will be used if earlier entries are unable
to resolve the entries being compared. If none of the tests resolve the
entries, the first entry encountered is retained.
files The order of files (entries in the mailcap style) read. Earlier
files are preferred. (Note this does not resolve entries in the same
file.)
priority
The priority flag from the mailcap entry. The priority is an integer
from 0 to 9 with the default value being 5.
flags The test given by the mailcap-prio-flags option is used to resolve
entries.
place Later entries are preferred; as the entries are strictly ordered,
this test always succeeds.
Note that as this style is handled during initialisation, the context is
always :mime:, with no discrimination by suffix.
mailcap-prio-flags
This style is used when the keyword flags is encountered in the list of
tests specified by the mailcap-priorities style. It should be set to a list
of patterns, each of which is tested against the flags specified in the
mailcap entry (in other words, the sets of assignments found with some
entries in the mailcap file). Earlier patterns in the list are preferred to
later ones, and matched patterns are preferred to unmatched ones.
mime-types
A list of files in the format of ~/.mime.types and /etc/mime.types to be
read during setup, replacing the default list which consists of those two
files. The context is :mime:. A + in the list will be replaced by the
default files.
never-background
If this boolean style is set, the handler for the given context is always
run in the foreground, even if the flags provided in the mailcap entry sug‐
gest it need not be (for example, it doesn't require a terminal).
pager If set, will be used instead of $PAGER or more to handle suffixes where the
copiousoutput flag is set. The context is as for handler, i.e. :mime:.suf‐
fix: for handling a file with the given suffix.
Examples:
zstyle ':mime:*' mailcap ~/.mailcap /usr/local/etc/mailcap
zstyle ':mime:.txt:' handler less %s
zstyle ':mime:.txt:' flags needsterminal
When zsh-mime-setup is subsequently run, it will look for mailcap entries in the
two files given. Files of suffix .txt will be handled by running `less file.txt'.
The flag needsterminal is set to show that this program must run attached to a ter‐
minal.
As there are several steps to dispatching a command, the following should be
checked if attempting to execute a file by extension .ext does not have the
expected effect.
The command `alias -s ext' should show `ps=zsh-mime-handler'. If it shows some‐
thing else, another suffix alias was already installed and was not overwritten. If
it shows nothing, no handler was installed: this is most likely because no handler
was found in the .mime.types and mailcap combination for .ext files. In that case,
appropriate handling should be added to ~/.mime.types and mailcap.
If the extension is handled by zsh-mime-handler but the file is not opened cor‐
rectly, either the handler defined for the type is incorrect, or the flags associ‐
ated with it are in appropriate. Running zsh-mime-setup -l will show the handler
and, if there are any, the flags. A %s in the handler is replaced by the file
(suitably quoted if necessary). Check that the handler program listed lists and
can be run in the way shown. Also check that the flags needsterminal or copi‐
ousoutput are set if the handler needs to be run under a terminal; the second flag
is used if the output should be sent to a pager. An example of a suitable mailcap
entry for such a program is:
text/html; /usr/bin/lynx '%s'; needsterminal
Running `zsh-mime-handler -l command line' prints the command line that would be
executed, simplified to remove the effect of any flags, and quoted so that the out‐
put can be run as a complete zsh command line. This is used by the completion sys‐
tem to decide how to complete after a file handled by zsh-mime-setup.
pick-web-browser
This function is separate from the two MIME functions described above and can be
assigned directly to a suffix:
autoload -U pick-web-browser
alias -s html=pick-web-browser
It is provided as an intelligent front end to dispatch a web browser. It may be
run as either a function or a shell script. The status 255 is returned if no
browser could be started.
Various styles are available to customize the choice of browsers:
browser-style
The value of the style is an array giving preferences in decreasing order
for the type of browser to use. The values of elements may be
running
Use a GUI browser that is already running when an X Window display is
available. The browsers listed in the x-browsers style are tried in
order until one is found; if it is, the file will be displayed in
that browser, so the user may need to check whether it has appeared.
If no running browser is found, one is not started. Browsers other
than Firefox, Opera and Konqueror are assumed to understand the
Mozilla syntax for opening a URL remotely.
x Start a new GUI browser when an X Window display is available.
Search for the availability of one of the browsers listed in the
x-browsers style and start the first one that is found. No check is
made for an already running browser.
tty Start a terminal-based browser. Search for the availability of one
of the browsers listed in the tty-browsers style and start the first
one that is found.
If the style is not set the default running x tty is used.
x-browsers
An array in decreasing order of preference of browsers to use when running
under the X Window System. The array consists of the command name under
which to start the browser. They are looked up in the context :mime: (which
may be extended in future, so appending `*' is recommended). For example,
zstyle ':mime:*' x-browsers opera konqueror firefox
specifies that pick-web-browser should first look for a running instance of
Opera, Konqueror or Firefox, in that order, and if it fails to find any
should attempt to start Opera. The default is firefox mozilla netscape
opera konqueror.
tty-browsers
An array similar to x-browsers, except that it gives browsers to use when no
X Window display is available. The default is elinks links lynx.
command
If it is set this style is used to pick the command used to open a page for
a browser. The context is :mime:browser:new:$browser: to start a new
browser or :mime:browser:running:$browser: to open a URL in a browser
already running on the current X display, where $browser is the value
matched in the x-browsers or tty-browsers style. The escape sequence %b in
the style's value will be replaced by the browser, while %u will be replaced
by the URL. If the style is not set, the default for all new instances is
equivalent to %b %u and the defaults for using running browsers are equiva‐
lent to the values kfmclient openURL %u for Konqueror, firefox -new-tab %u
for Firefox, opera -newpage %u for Opera, and %b -remote "openUrl(%u)" for
all others.
MATHEMATICAL FUNCTIONS
zcalc [ -ef ] [ expression ... ]
A reasonably powerful calculator based on zsh's arithmetic evaluation facility.
The syntax is similar to that of formulae in most programming languages; see the
section `Arithmetic Evaluation' in zshmisc(1) for details. The mathematical
library zsh/mathfunc will be loaded if it is available; see the section `The
zsh/mathfunc Module' in zshmodules(1). The mathematical functions correspond to
the raw system libraries, so trigonometric functions are evaluated using radians,
and so on.
Each line typed is evaluated as an expression. The prompt shows a number, which
corresponds to a positional parameter where the result of that calculation is
stored. For example, the result of the calculation on the line preceded by `4> '
is available as $4. The last value calculated is available as ans. Full command
line editing, including the history of previous calculations, is available; the
history is saved in the file ~/.zcalc_history. To exit, enter a blank line or type
`:q' on its own (`q' is allowed for historical compatibility).
A line ending with a single backslash is treated in the same fashion as it is in
command line editing: the backslash is removed, the function prompts for more
input (the prompt is preceded by `...' to indicate this), and the lines are com‐
bined into one to get the final result. In addition, if the input so far contains
more open than close parentheses zcalc will prompt for more input.
If arguments are given to zcalc on start up, they are used to prime the first few
positional parameters. A visual indication of this is given when the calculator
starts.
The constants PI (3.14159...) and E (2.71828...) are provided. Parameter assign‐
ment is possible, but note that all parameters will be put into the global names‐
pace.
The output base can be initialised by passing the option `-#base', for example
`zcalc -#16' (the `#' may have to be quoted, depending on the globbing options
set).
If the option `-e' is set, the function runs non-interactively: the arguments are
treated as expressions to be evaluated as if entered interactively line by line.
If the option `-f' is set, all numbers are treated as floating point, hence for
example the expression `3/4' evaluates to 0.75 rather than 0. Options must appear
in separate words.
The prompt is configurable via the parameter ZCALCPROMPT, which undergoes standard
prompt expansion. The index of the current entry is stored locally in the first
element of the array psvar, which can be referred to in ZCALCPROMPT as `%1v'. The
default prompt is `%1v> '.
A few special commands are available; these are introduced by a colon. For back‐
ward compatibility, the colon may be omitted for certain commands. Completion is
available if compinit has been run.
The output precision may be specified within zcalc by special commands familiar
from many calculators.
:norm The default output format. It corresponds to the printf %g specification.
Typically this shows six decimal digits.
:sci digits
Scientific notation, corresponding to the printf %g output format with the
precision given by digits. This produces either fixed point or exponential
notation depending on the value output.
:fix digits
Fixed point notation, corresponding to the printf %f output format with the
precision given by digits.
:eng digits
Exponential notation, corresponding to the printf %E output format with the
precision given by digits.
:raw Raw output: this is the default form of the output from a math evaluation.
This may show more precision than the number actually possesses.
Other special commands:
:!line...
Execute line... as a normal shell command line. Note that it is executed in
the context of the function, i.e. with local variables. Space is optional
after :!.
:local arg ...
Declare variables local to the function. Note that certain variables are
used by the function for its own purposes. Other variables may be used,
too, but they will be taken from or put into the global scope.
:function name [ body ]
Define a mathematical function or (with no body) delete it. :function may
be abbreviated to :func or simply :f. The name may contain the same charac‐
ters as a shell function name. The function is defined using zmathfuncdef,
see below.
Note that zcalc takes care of all quoting. Hence for example:
:f cube $1 * $1 * $1
defines a function to cube the sole argument.
[#base]
This is not a special command, rather part of normal arithmetic syntax; how‐
ever, when this form appears on a line by itself the default output radix is
set to base. Use, for example, `[#16]' to display hexadecimal output pre‐
ceded by an indication of the base, or `[##16]' just to display the raw num‐
ber in the given base. Bases themselves are always specified in decimal.
`[#]' restores the normal output format. Note that setting an output base
suppresses floating point output; use `[#]' to return to normal operation.
See the comments in the function for a few extra tips.
zmathfuncdef [ mathfunc [ body ] ]
A convenient front end to functions -M.
With two arguments, define a mathematical function named mathfunc which can be used
in any form of arithmetic evaluation. body is a mathematical expression to imple‐
ment the function. It may contain references to position parameters $1, $2, ...
to refer to mandatory parameters and ${1:-defvalue} ... to refer to optional
parameters. Note that the forms must be strictly adhered to for the function to
calculate the correct number of arguments. The implementation is held in a shell
function named zsh_math_func_mathfunc; usually the user will not need to refer to
the shell function directly. Any existing function of the same name is silently
replaced.
With one argument, remove the mathematical function mathfunc as well as the shell
function implementation.
With no arguments, list all mathfunc functions in a form suitable for restoring the
definition. The functions have not necessarily been defined by zmathfuncdef.
USER CONFIGURATION FUNCTIONS
The zsh/newuser module comes with a function to aid in configuring shell options for new
users. If the module is installed, this function can also be run by hand. It is avail‐
able even if the module's default behaviour, namely running the function for a new user
logging in without startup files, is inhibited.
zsh-newuser-install [ -f ]
The function presents the user with various options for customizing their initial‐
ization scripts. Currently only ~/.zshrc is handled. $ZDOTDIR/.zshrc is used
instead if the parameter ZDOTDIR is set; this provides a way for the user to con‐
figure a file without altering an existing .zshrc.
By default the function exits immediately if it finds any of the files .zshenv,
.zprofile, .zshrc, or .zlogin in the appropriate directory. The option -f is
required in order to force the function to continue. Note this may happen even if
.zshrc itself does not exist.
As currently configured, the function will exit immediately if the user has root
privileges; this behaviour cannot be overridden.
Once activated, the function's behaviour is supposed to be self-explanatory. Menus
are present allowing the user to alter the value of options and parameters. Sug‐
gestions for improvements are always welcome.
When the script exits, the user is given the opportunity to save the new file or
not; changes are not irreversible until this point. However, the script is careful
to restrict changes to the file only to a group marked by the lines `# Lines con‐
figured by zsh-newuser-install' and `# End of lines configured by
zsh-newuser-install'. In addition, the old version of .zshrc is saved to a file
with the suffix .zni appended.
If the function edits an existing .zshrc, it is up to the user to ensure that the
changes made will take effect. For example, if control usually returns early from
the existing .zshrc the lines will not be executed; or a later initialization file
may override options or parameters, and so on. The function itself does not
attempt to detect any such conflicts.
OTHER FUNCTIONS
There are a large number of helpful functions in the Functions/Misc directory of the zsh
distribution. Most are very simple and do not require documentation here, but a few are
worthy of special mention.
Descriptions
colors This function initializes several associative arrays to map color names to (and
from) the ANSI standard eight-color terminal codes. These are used by the prompt
theme system (see above). You seldom should need to run colors more than once.
The eight base colors are: black, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, and
white. Each of these has codes for foreground and background. In addition there
are seven intensity attributes: bold, faint, standout, underline, blink, reverse,
and conceal. Finally, there are seven codes used to negate attributes: none (reset
all attributes to the defaults), normal (neither bold nor faint), no-standout,
no-underline, no-blink, no-reverse, and no-conceal.
Some terminals do not support all combinations of colors and intensities.
The associative arrays are:
color
colour Map all the color names to their integer codes, and integer codes to the
color names. The eight base names map to the foreground color codes, as do
names prefixed with `fg-', such as `fg-red'. Names prefixed with `bg-',
such as `bg-blue', refer to the background codes. The reverse mapping from
code to color yields base name for foreground codes and the bg- form for
backgrounds.
Although it is a misnomer to call them `colors', these arrays also map the
other fourteen attributes from names to codes and codes to names.
fg
fg_bold
fg_no_bold
Map the eight basic color names to ANSI terminal escape sequences that set
the corresponding foreground text properties. The fg sequences change the
color without changing the eight intensity attributes.
bg
bg_bold
bg_no_bold
Map the eight basic color names to ANSI terminal escape sequences that set
the corresponding background properties. The bg sequences change the color
without changing the eight intensity attributes.
In addition, the scalar parameters reset_color and bold_color are set to the ANSI
terminal escapes that turn off all attributes and turn on bold intensity, respec‐
tively.
fned name
Same as zed -f. This function does not appear in the zsh distribution, but can be
created by linking zed to the name fned in some directory in your fpath.
is-at-least needed [ present ]
Perform a greater-than-or-equal-to comparison of two strings having the format of a
zsh version number; that is, a string of numbers and text with segments separated
by dots or dashes. If the present string is not provided, $ZSH_VERSION is used.
Segments are paired left-to-right in the two strings with leading non-number parts
ignored. If one string has fewer segments than the other, the missing segments are
considered zero.
This is useful in startup files to set options and other state that are not avail‐
able in all versions of zsh.
is-at-least 3.1.6-15 && setopt NO_GLOBAL_RCS
is-at-least 3.1.0 && setopt HIST_REDUCE_BLANKS
is-at-least 2.6-17 || print "You can't use is-at-least here."
nslookup [ arg ... ]
This wrapper function for the nslookup command requires the zsh/zpty module (see
zshmodules(1)). It behaves exactly like the standard nslookup except that it pro‐
vides customizable prompts (including a right-side prompt) and completion of
nslookup commands, host names, etc. (if you use the function-based completion sys‐
tem). Completion styles may be set with the context prefix `:completion:nslookup'.
See also the pager, prompt and rprompt styles below.
regexp-replace var regexp replace
Use regular expressions to perform a global search and replace operation on a vari‐
able. If the option RE_MATCH_PCRE is not set, POSIX extended regular expressions
are used, else Perl-compatible regular expressions (this requires the shell to be
linked against the pcre library).
var is the name of the variable containing the string to be matched. The variable
will be modified directly by the function. The variables MATCH, MBEGIN, MEND,
match, mbegin, mend should be avoided as these are used by the regular expression
code.
regexp is the regular expression to match against the string.
replace is the replacement text. This can contain parameter, command and arith‐
metic expressions which will be replaced: in particular, a reference to $MATCH
will be replaced by the text matched by the pattern.
The return status is 0 if at least one match was performed, else 1.
run-help cmd
This function is designed to be invoked by the run-help ZLE widget, in place of the
default alias. See `Accessing On-Line Help' above for setup instructions.
In the discussion which follows, if cmd is a file system path, it is first reduced
to its rightmost component (the file name).
Help is first sought by looking for a file named cmd in the directory named by the
HELPDIR parameter. If no file is found, an assistant function, alias, or command
named run-help-cmd is sought. If found, the assistant is executed with the rest of
the current command line (everything after the command name cmd) as its arguments.
When neither file nor assistant is found, the external command `man cmd' is run.
An example assistant for the "ssh" command:
run-help-ssh() {
emulate -LR zsh
local -a args
# Delete the "-l username" option
zparseopts -D -E -a args l:
# Delete other options, leaving: host command
args=(${@:#-*})
if [[ ${#args} -lt 2 ]]; then
man ssh
else
run-help $args[2]
fi
}
Several of these assistants are provided in the Functions/Misc directory. These
must be autoloaded, or placed as executable scripts in your search path, in order
to be found and used by run-help.
run-help-git
run-help-svk
run-help-svn
Assistant functions for the git, svk, and svn commands.
tetris Zsh was once accused of not being as complete as Emacs, because it lacked a Tetris
game. This function was written to refute this vicious slander.
This function must be used as a ZLE widget:
autoload -U tetris
zle -N tetris
bindkey keys tetris
To start a game, execute the widget by typing the keys. Whatever command line you
were editing disappears temporarily, and your keymap is also temporarily replaced
by the Tetris control keys. The previous editor state is restored when you quit
the game (by pressing `q') or when you lose.
If you quit in the middle of a game, the next invocation of the tetris widget will
continue where you left off. If you lost, it will start a new game.
zargs [ option ... -- ] [ input ... ] [ -- command [ arg ... ] ]
This function has a similar purpose to GNU xargs. Instead of reading lines of
arguments from the standard input, it takes them from the command line. This is
useful because zsh, especially with recursive glob operators, often can construct a
command line for a shell function that is longer than can be accepted by an exter‐
nal command.
The option list represents options of the zargs command itself, which are the same
as those of xargs. The input list is the collection of strings (often file names)
that become the arguments of the command, analogous to the standard input of xargs.
Finally, the arg list consists of those arguments (usually options) that are passed
to the command each time it runs. The arg list precedes the elements from the
input list in each run. If no command is provided, then no arg list may be pro‐
vided, and in that event the default command is `print' with arguments `-r --'.
For example, to get a long ls listing of all plain files in the current directory
or its subdirectories:
autoload -U zargs
zargs -- **/*(.) -- ls -l
Note that `--' is used both to mark the end of the option list and to mark the end
of the input list, so it must appear twice whenever the input list may be empty.
If there is guaranteed to be at least one input and the first input does not begin
with a `-', then the first `--' may be omitted.
In the event that the string `--' is or may be an input, the -e option may be used
to change the end-of-inputs marker. Note that this does not change the
end-of-options marker. For example, to use `..' as the marker:
zargs -e.. -- **/*(.) .. ls -l
This is a good choice in that example because no plain file can be named `..', but
the best end-marker depends on the circumstances.
The options -i, -I, -l, -L, and -n differ slightly from their usage in xargs.
There are no input lines for zargs to count, so -l and -L count through the input
list, and -n counts the number of arguments passed to each execution of command,
including any arg list. Also, any time -i or -I is used, each input is processed
separately as if by `-L 1'.
For details of the other zargs options, see xargs(1) (but note the difference in
function between zargs and xargs) or run zargs with the --help option.
zed [ -f ] name
zed -b This function uses the ZLE editor to edit a file or function.
Only one name argument is allowed. If the -f option is given, the name is taken to
be that of a function; if the function is marked for autoloading, zed searches for
it in the fpath and loads it. Note that functions edited this way are installed
into the current shell, but not written back to the autoload file.
Without -f, name is the path name of the file to edit, which need not exist; it is
created on write, if necessary.
While editing, the function sets the main keymap to zed and the vi command keymap
to zed-vicmd. These will be copied from the existing main and vicmd keymaps if
they do not exist the first time zed is run. They can be used to provide special
key bindings used only in zed.
If it creates the keymap, zed rebinds the return key to insert a line break and
`^X^W' to accept the edit in the zed keymap, and binds `ZZ' to accept the edit in
the zed-vicmd keymap.
The bindings alone can be installed by running `zed -b'. This is suitable for
putting into a startup file. Note that, if rerun, this will overwrite the existing
zed and zed-vicmd keymaps.
Completion is available, and styles may be set with the context prefix `:comple‐
tion:zed'.
A zle widget zed-set-file-name is available. This can be called by name from
within zed using `\ex zed-set-file-name' (note, however, that because of zed's
rebindings you will have to type ^j at the end instead of the return key), or can
be bound to a key in either of the zed or zed-vicmd keymaps after `zed -b' has been
run. When the widget is called, it prompts for a new name for the file being
edited. When zed exits the file will be written under that name and the original
file will be left alone. The widget has no effect with `zed -f'.
While zed-set-file-name is running, zed uses the keymap zed-normal-keymap, which is
linked from the main keymap in effect at the time zed initialised its bindings.
(This is to make the return key operate normally.) The result is that if the main
keymap has been changed, the widget won't notice. This is not a concern for most
users.
zcp [ -finqQvwW ] srcpat dest
zln [ -finqQsvwW ] srcpat dest
Same as zmv -C and zmv -L, respectively. These functions do not appear in the zsh
distribution, but can be created by linking zmv to the names zcp and zln in some
directory in your fpath.
zkbd See `Keyboard Definition' above.
zmv [ -finqQsvwW ] [ -C | -L | -M | -[pP] program ] [ -o optstring ] srcpat dest
Move (usually, rename) files matching the pattern srcpat to corresponding files
having names of the form given by dest, where srcpat contains parentheses surround‐
ing patterns which will be replaced in turn by $1, $2, ... in dest. For example,
zmv '(*).lis' '$1.txt'
renames `foo.lis' to `foo.txt', `my.old.stuff.lis' to `my.old.stuff.txt', and so
on.
The pattern is always treated as an EXTENDED_GLOB pattern. Any file whose name is
not changed by the substitution is simply ignored. Any error (a substitution
resulted in an empty string, two substitutions gave the same result, the destina‐
tion was an existing regular file and -f was not given) causes the entire function
to abort without doing anything.
Options:
-f Force overwriting of destination files. Not currently passed down to the
mv/cp/ln command due to vagaries of implementations (but you can use -o-f to
do that).
-i Interactive: show each line to be executed and ask the user whether to exe‐
cute it. `Y' or `y' will execute it, anything else will skip it. Note that
you just need to type one character.
-n No execution: print what would happen, but don't do it.
-q Turn bare glob qualifiers off: now assumed by default, so this has no
effect.
-Q Force bare glob qualifiers on. Don't turn this on unless you are actually
using glob qualifiers in a pattern.
-s Symbolic, passed down to ln; only works with -L.
-v Verbose: print each command as it's being executed.
-w Pick out wildcard parts of the pattern, as described above, and implicitly
add parentheses for referring to them.
-W Just like -w, with the addition of turning wildcards in the replacement pat‐
tern into sequential ${1} .. ${N} references.
-C
-L
-M Force cp, ln or mv, respectively, regardless of the name of the function.
-p program
Call program instead of cp, ln or mv. Whatever it does, it should at least
understand the form `program -- oldname newname' where oldname and newname
are filenames generated by zmv. program will be split into words, so might
be e.g. the name of an archive tool plus a copy or rename subcommand.
-P program
As -p program, except that program does not accept a following -- to indi‐
cate the end of options. In this case filenames must already be in a sane
form for the program in question.
-o optstring
The optstring is split into words and passed down verbatim to the cp, ln or
mv command called to perform the work. It should probably begin with a `-'.
Further examples:
zmv -v '(* *)' '${1// /_}'
For any file in the current directory with at least one space in the name, replace
every space by an underscore and display the commands executed.
For more complete examples and other implementation details, see the zmv source
file, usually located in one of the directories named in your fpath, or in Func‐
tions/Misc/zmv in the zsh distribution.
zrecompile
See `Recompiling Functions' above.
zstyle+ context style value [ + subcontext style value ... ]
This makes defining styles a bit simpler by using a single `+' as a special token
that allows you to append a context name to the previously used context name. Like
this:
zstyle+ ':foo:bar' style1 value1 \
+':baz' style2 value2 \
+':frob' style3 value3
This defines `style1' with `value1' for the context :foo:bar as usual, but it also
defines `style2' with `value2' for the context :foo:bar:baz and `style3' with
`value3' for :foo:bar:frob. Any subcontext may be the empty string to re-use the
first context unchanged.
Styles
insert-tab
The zed function sets this style in context `:completion:zed:*' to turn off comple‐
tion when TAB is typed at the beginning of a line. You may override this by set‐
ting your own value for this context and style.
pager The nslookup function looks up this style in the context `:nslookup' to determine
the program used to display output that does not fit on a single screen.
prompt
rprompt
The nslookup function looks up this style in the context `:nslookup' to set the
prompt and the right-side prompt, respectively. The usual expansions for the PS1
and RPS1 parameters may be used (see EXPANSION OF PROMPT SEQUENCES in zshmisc(1)).
zsh 5.0.7 October 7, 2014 ZSHCONTRIB(1)
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