zsh basics

What it is

zshThe shell WolOS uses in every terminal unless you choose another: it suggests from your history and completes names with Tab. is the shellThe program inside a terminal that reads what you type and runs it. WolOS uses zsh unless you choose another. that reads what you type in a WolOS terminal. What a terminal is taught the parts of a command line; this page teaches what zsh adds on top so that typing commands is quick and forgiving: it remembers what you typed, finishes names, suggests whole commands, colours mistakes before you press Return, and lets you join small commands into bigger ones.

Why WolOS does it this way

zsh runs the same commands as the shells of most servers and tutorials, so what you read elsewhere works here. WolOS sets it up for you: the history is large and shared between your terminal windows, Tab completion ignores capitals, the prompt shows where you are and whether the last command worked, and none of it needs a configuration file of your own. Your own settings go in one file that WolOS never touches, so an update never undoes them.

How

The prompt tells you three things

~/Documents/Recipes main ❯

The folder you are in (long paths are shortened to the last three folders), the branch name when the folder is a project kept in git, and the arrow. The arrow is in the accent colour when the last command worked and red when it failed.

History: every command you typed

• Up arrow brings back the command before; press it again to go further back. If you typed the start of a command first, Up shows only earlier commands that start the same way: type cd and press Up to step through your earlier cd commands.
• History is shared: a command typed in one terminal window is in the history of the others too.
• The same command twice in a row is kept once. The last 50,000 commands are kept.
• A command that starts with a space is not kept at all. Use that for a line with a password in it.

Tab: finish names, list choices

Press Tab after the first letters of a command, a file or a folder. With one match, zsh fills it in. With several, the first Tab lists them and the second walks through the list with highlighted entries; Return picks one and Escape keeps what you typed. Shift+Tab walks back.

Tab is forgiving: capitals do not matter (doc finds Documents), and you can give the start of each part of a name (D/R finds Documents/Recipes). Tab also completes the options of many commands: type ls -- and press Tab.

Suggestions in grey

While you type, zsh shows in grey the rest of a command you typed before. Press Right arrow or End to take it, or just keep typing to ignore it.

Colours before you press Return

As you type, the command turns green when zsh knows it and red when it does not, so lss is red before you run it. A file or folder that exists is underlined.

Moving around a line

Go to a folder by its name

Type just the name of a folder and press Return: zsh goes there, as if you had typed cd in front. Documents takes you to Documents, .. one folder up.

Short forms WolOS adds

Wildcards: many files at once

* stands for any letters, ? for exactly one. zsh replaces the pattern with every matching name before the command runs.

Joining commands

Quotes for names with spaces

A space separates arguments, so a name with a space needs quotes: cd "Holiday photos" or cd 'Holiday photos'. Tab adds the right marks for you. Single quotes keep everything as typed; inside double quotes $HOME and friends are replaced by their value.

Your own settings

Your settings go in the file .zshrc in your home folder (a hidden file). WolOS's own settings are read first and yours afterwards, so a line of yours wins. Updates never touch your file. Open it with a text editor, add for example

alias photos='cd ~/Pictures'

save it, and open a new terminal: typing photos now takes you to your pictures.

More in the Console module

System Settings > Modules > Console adds tools many people like: a richer prompt in the colours of your theme, a searchable history on Ctrl+R, a file picker on Ctrl+T, z to jump to folders you visit often, and a colourful ls. Each one turns itself on once it is installed.

Another shell for new terminal windows

System Settings > General > Shell in the terminal chooses the shell new terminal windows open in: bash, fish, nu or PowerShell, when installed. Your account itself keeps zsh, because the desktop and other programs expect it. See PowerShell basics.

A worked example

Alice has 40 photos named IMG_…jpg in Downloads and wants them in a new folder. She types cd Dow, Tab, Return (zsh completes Downloads/). ls *.jpg | wc -l prints 40. mkdir ~/Pictures/Garden makes the new folder, and mv *.jpg ~/Pictures/Garden moves them all. ls ~/Pictures/Garden | wc -l prints 40 again. Pressing Up three times brings back the ls line in case she needs it once more.

If something goes wrong