ZSH

Section: User Commands (1)
Updated: June 26, 1996
Index Return to Main Contents
 

NAME

zsh - the Z shell  

SYNOPSIS

Because zsh contains many features, the zsh manual has been split into a number of sections:


   zsh          Zsh overview (this section)
   zshbuiltins  Zsh built-in functions
   zshcompctl   Zsh completion control
   zshexpn      Zsh command and parameter expansion
   zshparam     Zsh parameters
   zshzle       Zsh command line editing
   zshoptions   Zsh options
   zshmisc      Currently everything else
   zshall       Meta-man page containing all of the above  

DESCRIPTION

Zsh is a UNIX command interpreter (shell) usable as an interactive login shell and as a shell script command processor. Of the standard shells, zsh most closely resembles ksh but includes many enhancements. Zsh has comand line editing, builtin spelling correction, programmable command completion, shell functions (with autoloading), a history mechanism, and a host of other features.  

INVOCATION OPTIONS

If the -s flag is not present and an argument is given, the first argument is taken to be the pathname of a script to execute. The remaining arguments are assigned to the positional parameters. The following flags are interpreted by the shell when invoked:
-c string Read commands from string.
-i
Force shell to be interactive.
-s
Read command from the standard input.

 

STARTUP/SHUTDOWN FILES

Commands are first read from /etc/zshenv. If the RCS option is unset within /etc/zshenv, all other initialization files are skipped. Otherwise, commands are read from $ZDOTDIR/.zshenv. (If ZDOTDIR is unset, HOME is used instead). If the first character of argument zero passed to the shell is -, or if the -l flag is present, then the shell is assumed to be a login shell, and commands are read from /etc/zprofile and then $ZDOTDIR/.zprofile. Then, if the shell is interactive, commands are read from /etc/zshrc and then $ZDOTDIR/.zshrc. Finally, if the shell is a login shell, /etc/zlogin and $ZDOTDIR/.zlogin are read.

 

FILES

$ZDOTDIR/.zshenv
$ZDOTDIR/.zprofile
$ZDOTDIR/.zshrc
$ZDOTDIR/.zlogin
$ZDOTDIR/.zlogout
${TMPPREFIX}* (default is /tmp/zsh*)
/etc/zshenv
/etc/zprofile
/etc/zshrc
/etc/zlogin
/etc/zlogout

 

AUTHOR

Zsh was originally written by Paul Falstad <pjf@cts.com>. Zsh is now maintained by the members of the zsh workers mailing list zsh-workers@math.gatech.edu. The development is currently coordinated by Zoltan Hidvegi <hzoli@cs.elte.hu>.

 

SEE ALSO

sh(1), csh(1), tcsh(1), rc(1), bash(1), ksh(1), zshbuiltins(1), zshcompctl(1), zshexpn(1), zshparam(1), zshzle(1), zshoptions(1), zshmisc(1).

IEEE Standard for information Technology - Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX) - Part 2: Shell and Utilities, IEEE Inc, 1993, ISBN 1-55937-255-9.


 

Index

NAME
SYNOPSIS
DESCRIPTION
INVOCATION OPTIONS
STARTUP/SHUTDOWN FILES
FILES
AUTHOR
SEE ALSO

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