zshall
(1)
Name
zshall - man page
Synopsis
Please see following description for synopsis
Description
User Commands ZSHALL(1)
NAME
zshall - the Z shell meta-man page
OVERVIEW
Because zsh contains many features, the zsh manual has been
split into a number of sections. This manual page includes
all the separate manual pages in the following order:
zshroadmap Informal introduction to the manual
zshmisc Anything not fitting into the other sections
zshexpn Zsh command and parameter expansion
zshparam Zsh parameters
zshoptions Zsh options
zshbuiltins Zsh built-in functions
zshzle Zsh command line editing
zshcompwid Zsh completion widgets
zshcompsys Zsh completion system
zshcompctl Zsh completion control
zshmodules Zsh loadable modules
zshcalsys Zsh built-in calendar functions
zshtcpsys Zsh built-in TCP functions
zshzftpsys Zsh built-in FTP client
zshcontrib Additional zsh functions and utilities
DESCRIPTION
Zsh is a UNIX command interpreter (shell) usable as an
interactive login shell and as a shell script command pro-
cessor. Of the standard shells, zsh most closely resembles
ksh but includes many enhancements. Zsh has command line
editing, builtin spelling correction, programmable command
completion, shell functions (with autoloading), a history
mechanism, and a host of other features.
AUTHOR
Zsh was originally written by Paul Falstad <pf@zsh.org>.
Zsh is now maintained by the members of the zsh-workers
mailing list <zsh-workers@zsh.org>. The development is cur-
rently coordinated by Peter Stephenson <pws@zsh.org>. The
coordinator can be contacted at <coordinator@zsh.org>, but
matters relating to the code should generally go to the
mailing list.
AVAILABILITY
Zsh is available from the following anonymous FTP sites.
These mirror sites are kept frequently up to date. The
sites marked with (H) may be mirroring ftp.cs.elte.hu
instead of the primary site.
Primary site
ftp://ftp.zsh.org/pub/
http://www.zsh.org/pub/
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Australia
ftp://ftp.zsh.org/pub/
http://www.zsh.org/pub/
http://mirror.dejanseo.com.au/pub/zsh/
Hungary
ftp://ftp.cs.elte.hu/pub/zsh/
http://www.cs.elte.hu/pub/zsh/
The up-to-date source code is available via anonymous
CVS and Git from Sourceforge. See http://source-
forge.net/projects/zsh/ for details. A summary of
instructions for the CVS and Git archives can be found
at http://zsh.sourceforget.net/.
MAILING LISTS
Zsh has 3 mailing lists:
<zsh-announce@zsh.org>
Announcements about releases, major changes in the
shell and the monthly posting of the Zsh FAQ. (moder-
ated)
<zsh-users@zsh.org>
User discussions.
<zsh-workers@zsh.org>
Hacking, development, bug reports and patches.
To subscribe or unsubscribe, send mail to the associated
administrative address for the mailing list.
<zsh-announce-subscribe@zsh.org>
<zsh-users-subscribe@zsh.org>
<zsh-workers-subscribe@zsh.org>
<zsh-announce-unsubscribe@zsh.org>
<zsh-users-unsubscribe@zsh.org>
<zsh-workers-unsubscribe@zsh.org>
YOU ONLY NEED TO JOIN ONE OF THE MAILING LISTS AS THEY ARE
NESTED. All submissions to zsh-announce are automatically
forwarded to zsh-users. All submissions to zsh-users are
automatically forwarded to zsh-workers.
If you have problems subscribing/unsubscribing to any of the
mailing lists, send mail to <listmaster@zsh.org>. The mail-
ing lists are maintained by Karsten Thygesen
<karthy@kom.auc.dk>.
The mailing lists are archived; the archives can be accessed
via the administrative addresses listed above. There is
also a hypertext archive, maintained by Geoff Wing
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<gcw@zsh.org>, available at http://www.zsh.org/mla/.
THE ZSH FAQ
Zsh has a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), main-
tained by Peter Stephenson <pws@zsh.org>. It is regularly
posted to the newsgroup comp.unix.shell and the zsh-announce
mailing list. The latest version can be found at any of the
Zsh FTP sites, or at http://www.zsh.org/FAQ/. The contact
address for FAQ-related matters is <faqmaster@zsh.org>.
THE ZSH WEB PAGE
Zsh has a web page which is located at http://www.zsh.org/.
This is maintained by Karsten Thygesen <karthy@zsh.org>, of
SunSITE Denmark. The contact address for web-related mat-
ters is <webmaster@zsh.org>.
THE ZSH USERGUIDE
A userguide is currently in preparation. It is intended to
complement the manual, with explanations and hints on issues
where the manual can be cabbalistic, hierographic, or down-
right mystifying (for example, the word `hierographic' does
not exist). It can be viewed in its current state at
http://zsh.sourceforge.net/Guide/. At the time of writing,
chapters dealing with startup files and their contents and
the new completion system were essentially complete.
THE ZSH WIKI
A `wiki' website for zsh has been created at http://www.zsh-
wiki.org/. This is a site which can be added to and modi-
fied directly by users without any special permission. You
can add your own zsh tips and configurations.
INVOCATION
The following flags are interpreted by the shell when
invoked to determine where the shell will read commands
from:
-c Take the first argument as a command to execute, rather
than reading commands from a script or standard input.
If any further arguments are given, the first one is
assigned to $0, rather than being used as a positional
parameter.
-i Force shell to be interactive. It is still possible to
specify a script to execute.
-s Force shell to read commands from the standard input.
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.
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If there are any remaining arguments after option process-
ing, and neither of the options -c or -s was supplied, the
first argument is taken as the file name of a script con-
taining shell commands to be executed. If the option
PATH_SCRIPT is set, and the file name does not contain a
directory path (i.e. there is no `/' in the name), first the
current directory and then the command path given by the
variable PATH are searched for the script. If the option is
not set or the file name contains a `/' it is used directly.
After the first one or two arguments have been appropriated
as described above, the remaining arguments are assigned to
the positional parameters.
For further options, which are common to invocation and the
set builtin, see zshoptions(1).
Options may be specified by name using the -o option. -o
acts like a single-letter option, but takes a following
string as the option name. For example,
zsh -x -o shwordsplit scr
runs the script scr, setting the XTRACE option by the corre-
sponding letter `-x' and the SH_WORD_SPLIT option by name.
Options may be turned off by name by using +o instead of -o.
-o can be stacked up with preceding single-letter options,
so for example `-xo shwordsplit' or `-xoshwordsplit' is
equivalent to `-x -o shwordsplit'.
Options may also be specified by name in GNU long option
style, `--option-name'. When this is done, `-' characters
in the option name are permitted: they are translated into
`_', and thus ignored. So, for example, `zsh
--sh-word-split' invokes zsh with the SH_WORD_SPLIT option
turned on. Like other option syntaxes, options can be
turned off by replacing the initial `-' with a `+'; thus
`+-sh-word-split' is equivalent to `--no-sh-word-split'.
Unlike other option syntaxes, GNU-style long options cannot
be stacked with any other options, so for example
`-x-shwordsplit' is an error, rather than being treated like
`-x --shwordsplit'.
The special GNU-style option `--version' is handled; it
sends to standard output the shell's version information,
then exits successfully. `--help' is also handled; it sends
to standard output a list of options that can be used when
invoking the shell, then exits successfully.
Option processing may be finished, allowing following argu-
ments that start with `-' or `+' to be treated as normal
arguments, in two ways. Firstly, a lone `-' (or `+') as an
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argument by itself ends option processing. Secondly, a spe-
cial option `--' (or `+-'), which may be specified on its
own (which is the standard POSIX usage) or may be stacked
with preceding options (so `-x-' is equivalent to `-x --').
Options are not permitted to be stacked after `--' (so
`-x-f' is an error), but note the GNU-style option form dis-
cussed above, where `--shwordsplit' is permitted and does
not end option processing.
Except when the sh/ksh emulation single-letter options are
in effect, the option `-b' (or `+b') ends option processing.
`-b' is like `--', except that further single-letter options
can be stacked after the `-b' and will take effect as nor-
mal.
COMPATIBILITY
Zsh tries to emulate sh or ksh when it is invoked as sh or
ksh respectively; more precisely, it looks at the first let-
ter of the name by which it was invoked, excluding any ini-
tial `r' (assumed to stand for `restricted'), and if that is
`s' or `k' it will emulate sh or ksh. Furthermore, if
invoked as su (which happens on certain systems when the
shell is executed by the su command), the shell will try to
find an alternative name from the SHELL environment variable
and perform emulation based on that.
In sh and ksh compatibility modes the following parameters
are not special and not initialized by the shell: ARGC,
argv, cdpath, fignore, fpath, HISTCHARS, mailpath, MANPATH,
manpath, path, prompt, PROMPT, PROMPT2, PROMPT3, PROMPT4,
psvar, status, watch.
The usual zsh startup/shutdown scripts are not executed.
Login shells source /etc/profile followed by $HOME/.profile.
If the ENV environment variable is set on invocation, $ENV
is sourced after the profile scripts. The value of ENV is
subjected to parameter expansion, command substitution, and
arithmetic expansion before being interpreted as a pathname.
Note that the PRIVILEGED option also affects the execution
of startup files.
The following options are set if the shell is invoked as sh
or ksh: NO_BAD_PATTERN, NO_BANG_HIST, NO_BG_NICE, NO_EQUALS,
NO_FUNCTION_ARGZERO, GLOB_SUBST, NO_GLOBAL_EXPORT, NO_HUP,
INTERACTIVE_COMMENTS, KSH_ARRAYS, NO_MULTIOS, NO_NOMATCH,
NO_NOTIFY, POSIX_BUILTINS, NO_PROMPT_PERCENT,
RM_STAR_SILENT, SH_FILE_EXPANSION, SH_GLOB, SH_OPTION_LET-
TERS, SH_WORD_SPLIT. Additionally the BSD_ECHO and
IGNORE_BRACES options are set if zsh is invoked as sh.
Also, the KSH_OPTION_PRINT, LOCAL_OPTIONS, PROMPT_BANG,
PROMPT_SUBST and SINGLE_LINE_ZLE options are set if zsh is
invoked as ksh.
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RESTRICTED SHELL
When the basename of the command used to invoke zsh starts
with the letter `r' or the `-r' command line option is sup-
plied at invocation, the shell becomes restricted. Emula-
tion mode is determined after stripping the letter `r' from
the invocation name. The following are disabled in
restricted mode:
o changing directories with the cd builtin
o changing or unsetting the PATH, path, MODULE_PATH, mod-
ule_path, SHELL, HISTFILE, HISTSIZE, GID, EGID, UID,
EUID, USERNAME, LD_LIBRARY_PATH, LD_AOUT_LIBRARY_PATH,
LD_PRELOAD and LD_AOUT_PRELOAD parameters
o specifying command names containing /
o specifying command pathnames using hash
o redirecting output to files
o using the exec builtin command to replace the shell
with another command
o using jobs -Z to overwrite the shell process' argument
and environment space
o using the ARGV0 parameter to override argv[0] for
external commands
o turning off restricted mode with set +r or unsetopt
RESTRICTED
These restrictions are enforced after processing the startup
files. The startup files should set up PATH to point to a
directory of commands which can be safely invoked in the
restricted environment. They may also add further restric-
tions by disabling selected builtins.
Restricted mode can also be activated any time by setting
the RESTRICTED option. This immediately enables all the
restrictions described above even if the shell still has not
processed all startup files.
STARTUP/SHUTDOWN FILES
Commands are first read from /etc/zshenv; this cannot be
overridden. Subsequent behaviour is modified by the RCS and
GLOBAL_RCS options; the former affects all startup files,
while the second only affects global startup files (those
shown here with an path starting with a /). If one of the
options is unset at any point, any subsequent startup
file(s) of the corresponding type will not be read. It is
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also possible for a file in $ZDOTDIR to re-enable
GLOBAL_RCS. Both RCS and GLOBAL_RCS are set by default.
Commands are then read from $ZDOTDIR/.zshenv. If the shell
is a login shell, 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.
When a login shell exits, the files $ZDOTDIR/.zlogout and
then /etc/zlogout are read. This happens with either an
explicit exit via the exit or logout commands, or an
implicit exit by reading end-of-file from the terminal.
However, if the shell terminates due to exec'ing another
process, the logout files are not read. These are also
affected by the RCS and GLOBAL_RCS options. Note also that
the RCS option affects the saving of history files, i.e. if
RCS is unset when the shell exits, no history file will be
saved.
If ZDOTDIR is unset, HOME is used instead. Files listed
above as being in /etc may be in another directory, depend-
ing on the installation.
As /etc/zshenv is run for all instances of zsh, it is impor-
tant that it be kept as small as possible. In particular,
it is a good idea to put code that does not need to be run
for every single shell behind a test of the form `if [[ -o
rcs ]]; then ...' so that it will not be executed when zsh
is invoked with the `-f' option.
Any of these files may be pre-compiled with the zcompile
builtin command (see zshbuiltins(1)). If a compiled file
exists (named for the original file plus the .zwc extension)
and it is newer than the original file, the compiled file
will be used instead.
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NAME
zshroadmap - informal introduction to the zsh manual
The Zsh Manual, like the shell itself, is large and often
complicated. This section of the manual provides some
pointers to areas of the shell that are likely to be of par-
ticular interest to new users, and indicates where in the
rest of the manual the documentation is to be found.
WHEN THE SHELL STARTS
When it starts, the shell reads commands from various files.
These can be created or edited to customize the shell. See
the section Startup/Shutdown Files in zsh(1).
If no personal initialization files exist for the current
user, a function is run to help you change some of the most
common settings. It won't appear if your administrator has
disabled the zsh/newuser module. The function is designed
to be self-explanatory. You can run it by hand with
`autoload -Uz zsh-newuser-install; zsh-newuser-install -f'.
See also the section User Configuration Functions in zshcon-
trib(1).
INTERACTIVE USE
Interaction with the shell uses the builtin Zsh Line Editor,
ZLE. This is described in detail in zshzle(1).
The first decision a user must make is whether to use the
Emacs or Vi editing mode as the keys for editing are sub-
stantially different. Emacs editing mode is probably more
natural for beginners and can be selected explicitly with
the command bindkey -e.
A history mechanism for retrieving previously typed lines
(most simply with the Up or Down arrow keys) is available;
note that, unlike other shells, zsh will not save these
lines when the shell exits unless you set appropriate vari-
ables, and the number of history lines retained by default
is quite small (30 lines). See the description of the shell
variables (referred to in the documentation as parameters)
HISTFILE, HISTSIZE and SAVEHIST in zshparam(1).
The shell now supports the UTF-8 character set (and also
others if supported by the operating system). This is
(mostly) handled transparently by the shell, but the degree
of support in terminal emulators is variable. There is some
discussion of this in the shell FAQ, http://zsh.dot-
src.org/FAQ/ . Note in particular that for combining char-
acters to be handled the option COMBINING_CHARS needs to be
set. Because the shell is now more sensitive to the defini-
tion of the character set, note that if you are upgrading
from an older version of the shell you should ensure that
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the appropriate variable, either LANG (to affect all aspects
of the shell's operation) or LC_CTYPE (to affect only the
handling of character sets) is set to an appropriate value.
This is true even if you are using a single-byte character
set including extensions of ASCII such as ISO-8859-1 or
ISO-8859-15. See the description of LC_CTYPE in zsh-
param(1).
Completion
Completion is a feature present in many shells. It allows
the user to type only a part (usually the prefix) of a word
and have the shell fill in the rest. The completion system
in zsh is programmable. For example, the shell can be set
to complete email addresses in arguments to the mail command
from your ~/.abook/addressbook; usernames, hostnames, and
even remote paths in arguments to scp, and so on. Anything
that can be written in or glued together with zsh can be the
source of what the line editor offers as possible comple-
tions.
Zsh has two completion systems, an old, so called compctl
completion (named after the builtin command that serves as
its complete and only user interface), and a new one,
referred to as compsys, organized as library of builtin and
user-defined functions. The two systems differ in their
interface for specifying the completion behavior. The new
system is more customizable and is supplied with completions
for many commonly used commands; it is therefore to be pre-
ferred.
The completion system must be enabled explicitly when the
shell starts. For more information see zshcompsys(1).
Extending the line editor
Apart from completion, the line editor is highly extensible
by means of shell functions. Some useful functions are pro-
vided with the shell; they provide facilities such as:
insert-composed-char
composing characters not found on the keyboard
match-words-by-style
configuring what the line editor considers a word when
moving or deleting by word
history-beginning-search-backward-end, etc.
alternative ways of searching the shell history
replace-string, replace-pattern
functions for replacing strings or patterns globally in
the command line
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edit-command-line
edit the command line with an external editor.
See the section `ZLE Functions' in zshcontrib(1) for
descriptions of these.
OPTIONS
The shell has a large number of options for changing its be-
haviour. These cover all aspects of the shell; browsing the
full documentation is the only good way to become acquainted
with the many possibilities. See zshoptions(1).
PATTERN MATCHING
The shell has a rich set of patterns which are available for
file matching (described in the documentation as `filename
generation' and also known for historical reasons as `glob-
bing') and for use when programming. These are described in
the section `Filename Generation' in zshexpn(1).
Of particular interest are the following patterns that are
not commonly supported by other systems of pattern matching:
** for matching over multiple directories
~, ^ the ability to exclude patterns from matching when the
EXTENDED_GLOB option is set
(...)
glob qualifiers, included in parentheses at the end of
the pattern, which select files by type (such as direc-
tories) or attribute (such as size).
GENERAL COMMENTS ON SYNTAX
Although the syntax of zsh is in ways similar to the Korn
shell, and therefore more remotely to the original UNIX
shell, the Bourne shell, its default behaviour does not
entirely correspond to those shells. General shell syntax
is introduced in the section `Shell Grammar' in zshmisc(1).
One commonly encountered difference is that variables sub-
stituted onto the command line are not split into words.
See the description of the shell option SH_WORD_SPLIT in the
section `Parameter Expansion' in zshexpn(1). In zsh, you
can either explicitly request the splitting (e.g. ${=foo})
or use an array when you want a variable to expand to more
than one word. See the section `Array Parameters' in zsh-
param(1).
PROGRAMMING
The most convenient way of adding enhancements to the shell
is typically by writing a shell function and arranging for
it to be autoloaded. Functions are described in the section
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`Functions' in zshmisc(1). Users changing from the C shell
and its relatives should notice that aliases are less used
in zsh as they don't perform argument substitution, only
simple text replacement.
A few general functions, other than those for the line edi-
tor described above, are provided with the shell and are
described in zshcontrib(1). Features include:
promptinit
a prompt theme system for changing prompts easily, see
the section `Prompt Themes'
zsh-mime-setup
a MIME-handling system which dispatches commands
according to the suffix of a file as done by graphical
file managers
zcalc
a calculator
zargs
a version of xargs that makes the find command redun-
dant
zmv a command for renaming files by means of shell pat-
terns.
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following
attributes:
+---------------+------------------+
|ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
+---------------+------------------+
|Availability | shell/zsh |
+---------------+------------------+
|Stability | Volatile |
+---------------+------------------+
NOTES
This software was built from source available at
https://java.net/projects/solaris-userland. The original
community source was downloaded from http://down-
loads.source-
forge.net/project/zsh/zsh/5.0.5/zsh-5.0.5.tar.bz2
Further information about this software can be found on the
open source community website at http://www.zsh.org/.
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NAME
zshmisc - everything and then some
SIMPLE COMMANDS & PIPELINES
A simple command is a sequence of optional parameter assign-
ments followed by blank-separated words, with optional redi-
rections interspersed. The first word is the command to be
executed, and the remaining words, if any, are arguments to
the command. If a command name is given, the parameter
assignments modify the environment of the command when it is
executed. The value of a simple command is its exit status,
or 128 plus the signal number if terminated by a signal.
For example,
echo foo
is a simple command with arguments.
A pipeline is either a simple command, or a sequence of two
or more simple commands where each command is separated from
the next by `|' or `|&'. Where commands are separated by
`|', the standard output of the first command is connected
to the standard input of the next. `|&' is shorthand for
`2>&1 |', which connects both the standard output and the
standard error of the command to the standard input of the
next. The value of a pipeline is the value of the last com-
mand, unless the pipeline is preceded by `!' in which case
the value is the logical inverse of the value of the last
command. For example,
echo foo | sed 's/foo/bar/'
is a pipeline, where the output (`foo' plus a newline) of
the first command will be passed to the input of the second.
If a pipeline is preceded by `coproc', it is executed as a
coprocess; a two-way pipe is established between it and the
parent shell. The shell can read from or write to the
coprocess by means of the `>&p' and `<&p' redirection opera-
tors or with `print -p' and `read -p'. A pipeline cannot be
preceded by both `coproc' and `!'. If job control is
active, the coprocess can be treated in other than input and
output as an ordinary background job.
A sublist is either a single pipeline, or a sequence of two
or more pipelines separated by `&&' or `||'. If two pipe-
lines are separated by `&&', the second pipeline is executed
only if the first succeeds (returns a zero status). If two
pipelines are separated by `||', the second is executed only
if the first fails (returns a nonzero status). Both opera-
tors have equal precedence and are left associative. The
value of the sublist is the value of the last pipeline
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executed. For example,
dmesg | grep panic && print yes
is a sublist consisting of two pipelines, the second just a
simple command which will be executed if and only if the
grep command returns a zero status. If it does not, the
value of the sublist is that return status, else it is the
status returned by the print (almost certainly zero).
A list is a sequence of zero or more sublists, in which each
sublist is terminated by `;', `&', `&|', `&!', or a newline.
This terminator may optionally be omitted from the last sub-
list in the list when the list appears as a complex command
inside `(...)' or `{...}'. When a sublist is terminated by
`;' or newline, the shell waits for it to finish before exe-
cuting the next sublist. If a sublist is terminated by a
`&', `&|', or `&!', the shell executes the last pipeline in
it in the background, and does not wait for it to finish
(note the difference from other shells which execute the
whole sublist in the background). A backgrounded pipeline
returns a status of zero.
More generally, a list can be seen as a set of any shell
commands whatsoever, including the complex commands below;
this is implied wherever the word `list' appears in later
descriptions. For example, the commands in a shell function
form a special sort of list.
PRECOMMAND MODIFIERS
A simple command may be preceded by a precommand modifier,
which will alter how the command is interpreted. These mod-
ifiers are shell builtin commands with the exception of
nocorrect which is a reserved word.
- The command is executed with a `-' prepended to its
argv[0] string.
builtin
The command word is taken to be the name of a builtin
command, rather than a shell function or external com-
mand.
command [ -pvV ]
The command word is taken to be the name of an external
command, rather than a shell function or builtin. If
the POSIX_BUILTINS option is set, builtins will also be
executed but certain special properties of them are
suppressed. The -p flag causes a default path to be
searched instead of that in $path. With the -v flag,
command is similar to whence and with -V, it is equiva-
lent to whence -v.
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exec [ -cl ] [ -a argv0 ]
The following command together with any arguments is
run in place of the current process, rather than as a
sub-process. The shell does not fork and is replaced.
The shell does not invoke TRAPEXIT, nor does it source
zlogout files. The options are provided for compati-
bility with other shells.
The -c option clears the environment.
The -l option is equivalent to the - precommand modi-
fier, to treat the replacement command as a login
shell; the command is executed with a - prepended to
its argv[0] string. This flag has no effect if used
together with the -a option.
The -a option is used to specify explicitly the argv[0]
string (the name of the command as seen by the process
itself) to be used by the replacement command and is
directly equivalent to setting a value for the ARGV0
environment variable.
nocorrect
Spelling correction is not done on any of the words.
This must appear before any other precommand modifier,
as it is interpreted immediately, before any parsing is
done. It has no effect in non-interactive shells.
noglob
Filename generation (globbing) is not performed on any
of the words.
COMPLEX COMMANDS
A complex command in zsh is one of the following:
if list then list [ elif list then list ] ... [ else list ]
fi
The if list is executed, and if it returns a zero exit
status, the then list is executed. Otherwise, the elif
list is executed and if its status is zero, the then
list is executed. If each elif list returns nonzero
status, the else list is executed.
for name ... [ in word ... ] term do list done
where term is at least one newline or ;. Expand the
list of words, and set the parameter name to each of
them in turn, executing list each time. If the in word
is omitted, use the positional parameters instead of
the words.
More than one parameter name can appear before the list
of words. If N names are given, then on each execution
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of the loop the next N words are assigned to the corre-
sponding parameters. If there are more names than
remaining words, the remaining parameters are each set
to the empty string. Execution of the loop ends when
there is no remaining word to assign to the first name.
It is only possible for in to appear as the first name
in the list, else it will be treated as marking the end
of the list.
for (( [expr1] ; [expr2] ; [expr3] )) do list done
The arithmetic expression expr1 is evaluated first (see
the section `Arithmetic Evaluation'). The arithmetic
expression expr2 is repeatedly evaluated until it eval-
uates to zero and when non-zero, list is executed and
the arithmetic expression expr3 evaluated. If any
expression is omitted, then it behaves as if it evalu-
ated to 1.
while list do list done
Execute the do list as long as the while list returns a
zero exit status.
until list do list done
Execute the do list as long as until list returns a
nonzero exit status.
repeat word do list done
word is expanded and treated as an arithmetic expres-
sion, which must evaluate to a number n. list is then
executed n times.
The repeat syntax is disabled by default when the shell
starts in a mode emulating another shell. It can be
enabled with the command `enable -r repeat'
... esac
case word in [ [(] pattern [ | pattern ] ... ) list
(;;|;&|;|) ]
Execute the list associated with the first pattern that
matches word, if any. The form of the patterns is the
same as that used for filename generation. See the
section `Filename Generation'.
If the list that is executed is terminated with ;&
rather than ;;, the following list is also executed.
The rule for the terminator of the following list ;;,
;& or ;| is applied unless the esac is reached.
If the list that is executed is terminated with ;| the
shell continues to scan the patterns looking for the
next match, executing the corresponding list, and
applying the rule for the corresponding terminator ;;,
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;& or ;|. Note that word is not re-expanded; all
applicable patterns are tested with the same word.
select name [ in word ... term ] do list done
where term is one or more newline or ; to terminate the
words. Print the set of words, each preceded by a num-
ber. If the in word is omitted, use the positional
parameters. The PROMPT3 prompt is printed and a line
is read from the line editor if the shell is interac-
tive and that is active, or else standard input. If
this line consists of the number of one of the listed
words, then the parameter name is set to the word cor-
responding to this number. If this line is empty, the
selection list is printed again. Otherwise, the value
of the parameter name is set to null. The contents of
the line read from standard input is saved in the
parameter REPLY. list is executed for each selection
until a break or end-of-file is encountered.
( list )
Execute list in a subshell. Traps set by the trap
builtin are reset to their default values while execut-
ing list.
{ list }
Execute list.
{ try-list } always { always-list }
First execute try-list. Regardless of errors, or
break, continue, or return commands encountered within
try-list, execute always-list. Execution then contin-
ues from the result of the execution of try-list; in
other words, any error, or break, continue, or return
command is treated in the normal way, as if always-list
were not present. The two chunks of code are referred
to as the `try block' and the `always block'.
Optional newlines or semicolons may appear after the
always; note, however, that they may not appear between
the preceding closing brace and the always.
An `error' in this context is a condition such as a
syntax error which causes the shell to abort execution
of the current function, script, or list. Syntax
errors encountered while the shell is parsing the code
do not cause the always-list to be executed. For exam-
ple, an erroneously constructed if block in try-list
would cause the shell to abort during parsing, so that
always-list would not be executed, while an erroneous
substitution such as ${*foo*} would cause a run-time
error, after which always-list would be executed.
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An error condition can be tested and reset with the
special integer variable TRY_BLOCK_ERROR. Outside an
always-list the value is irrelevant, but it is ini-
tialised to -1. Inside always-list, the value is 1 if
an error occurred in the try-list, else 0. If
TRY_BLOCK_ERROR is set to 0 during the always-list, the
error condition caused by the try-list is reset, and
shell execution continues normally after the end of
always-list. Altering the value during the try-list is
not useful (unless this forms part of an enclosing
always block).
Regardless of TRY_BLOCK_ERROR, after the end of
always-list the normal shell status $? is the value
returned from always-list. This will be non-zero if
there was an error, even if TRY_BLOCK_ERROR was set to
zero.
The following executes the given code, ignoring any
errors it causes. This is an alternative to the usual
convention of protecting code by executing it in a sub-
shell.
{
# code which may cause an error
} always {
# This code is executed regardless of the error.
(( TRY_BLOCK_ERROR = 0 ))
}
# The error condition has been reset.
An exit command (or a return command executed at the
outermost function level of a script) encountered in
try-list does not cause the execution of always-list.
Instead, the shell exits immediately after any EXIT
trap has been executed.
function word ... [ () ] [ term ] { list }
word ... () [ term ] { list }
word ... () [ term ] command
where term is one or more newline or ;. Define a func-
tion which is referenced by any one of word. Normally,
only one word is provided; multiple words are usually
only useful for setting traps. The body of the func-
tion is the list between the { and }. See the section
`Functions'.
If the option SH_GLOB is set for compatibility with
other shells, then whitespace may appear between
between the left and right parentheses when there is a
single word; otherwise, the parentheses will be
treated as forming a globbing pattern in that case.
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time [ pipeline ]
The pipeline is executed, and timing statistics are
reported on the standard error in the form specified by
the TIMEFMT parameter. If pipeline is omitted, print
statistics about the shell process and its children.
[[ exp ]]
Evaluates the conditional expression exp and return a
zero exit status if it is true. See the section `Con-
ditional Expressions' for a description of exp.
ALTERNATE FORMS FOR COMPLEX COMMANDS
Many of zsh's complex commands have alternate forms. These
are non-standard and are likely not to be obvious even to
seasoned shell programmers; they should not be used anywhere
that portability of shell code is a concern.
The short versions below only work if sublist is of the form
`{ list }' or if the SHORT_LOOPS option is set. For the if,
while and until commands, in both these cases the test part
of the loop must also be suitably delimited, such as by `[[
... ]]' or `(( ... ))', else the end of the test will not be
recognized. For the for, repeat, case and select commands
no such special form for the arguments is necessary, but the
other condition (the special form of sublist or use of the
SHORT_LOOPS option) still applies.
if list { list } [ elif list { list } ] ... [ else { list }
]
An alternate form of if. The rules mean that
if [[ -o ignorebraces ]] {
print yes
}
works, but
if true { # Does not work!
print yes
}
does not, since the test is not suitably delimited.
if list sublist
A short form of the alternate `if'. The same limita-
tions on the form of list apply as for the previous
form.
for name ... ( word ... ) sublist
A short form of for.
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for name ... [ in word ... ] term sublist
where term is at least one newline or ;. Another short
form of for.
for (( [expr1] ; [expr2] ; [expr3] )) sublist
A short form of the arithmetic for command.
foreach name ... ( word ... ) list end
Another form of for.
while list { list }
An alternative form of while. Note the limitations on
the form of list mentioned above.
until list { list }
An alternative form of until. Note the limitations on
the form of list mentioned above.
repeat word sublist
This is a short form of repeat.
... }
case word { [ [(] pattern [ | pattern ] ... ) list
(;;|;&|;|) ]
An alternative form of case.
select name [ in word term ] sublist
where term is at least one newline or ;. A short form
of select.
RESERVED WORDS
The following words are recognized as reserved words when
used as the first word of a command unless quoted or dis-
abled using disable -r:
do done esac then elif else fi for case if while function
repeat time until select coproc nocorrect foreach end ! [[ {
}
Additionally, `}' is recognized in any position if neither
the IGNORE_BRACES option nor the IGNORE_CLOSE_BRACES option
is set.
ERRORS
Certain errors are treated as fatal by the shell: in an
interactive shell, they cause control to return to the com-
mand line, and in a non-interactive shell they cause the
shell to be aborted. In older versions of zsh, a non-inter-
active shell running a script would not abort completely,
but would resume execution at the next command to be read
from the script, skipping the remainder of any functions or
shell constructs such as loops or conditions; this somewhat
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illogical behaviour can be recovered by setting the option
CONTINUE_ON_ERROR.
Fatal errors found in non-interactive shells include:
Failure to parse shell options passed when invoking the
shell
Failure to change options with the set builtin
Parse errors of all sorts, including failures to parse
mathematical expressions
Failures to set or modify variable behaviour with typeset,
local, declare, export, integer, float
Execution of incorrectly positioned loop control structures
(continue, break)
Attempts to use regular expression with no regular expres-
sion
module available
Disallowed operations when the RESTRICTED options is set
Failure to create a pipe needed for a pipeline
Failure to create a multio
Failure to autoload a module needed for a declared shell
feature
Errors creating command or process substitutions
Syntax errors in glob qualifiers
File generation errors where not caught by the option
BAD_PATTERN
All bad patterns used for matching within case statements
File generation failures where not caused by NO_MATCH or
All file generation errors where the pattern was used to
create a
multio
Memory errors where detected by the shell
Invalid subscripts to shell variables
Attempts to assign read-only variables
type
Logical errors with variables such as assignment to the
wrong
Use of invalid variable names
Errors in variable substitution syntax
Failure to convert characters in $'...' expressions
similar options
If the POSIX_BUILTINS option is set, more errors associated
with shell builtin commands are treated as fatal, as speci-
fied by the POSIX standard.
COMMENTS
In non-interactive shells, or in interactive shells with the
INTERACTIVE_COMMENTS option set, a word beginning with the
third character of the histchars parameter (`#' by default)
causes that word and all the following characters up to a
newline to be ignored.
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ALIASING
Every token in the shell input is checked to see if there is
an alias defined for it. If so, it is replaced by the text
of the alias if it is in command position (if it could be
the first word of a simple command), or if the alias is
global. If the text ends with a space, the next word in the
shell input is treated as though it were in command position
for purposes of alias expansion. An alias is defined using
the alias builtin; global aliases may be defined using the
-g option to that builtin.
Alias expansion is done on the shell input before any other
expansion except history expansion. Therefore, if an alias
is defined for the word foo, alias expansion may be avoided
by quoting part of the word, e.g. \foo. Any form of quoting
works, although there is nothing to prevent an alias being
defined for the quoted form such as \foo as well. For use
with completion, which would remove an initial backslash
followed by a character that isn't special, it may be more
convenient to quote the word by starting with a single
quote, i.e. 'foo; completion will automatically add the
trailing single quote.
There is a commonly encountered problem with aliases illus-
trated by the following code:
alias echobar='echo bar'; echobar
This prints a message that the command echobar could not be
found. This happens because aliases are expanded when the
code is read in; the entire line is read in one go, so that
when echobar is executed it is too late to expand the newly
defined alias. This is often a problem in shell scripts,
functions, and code executed with `source' or `.'. Conse-
quently, use of functions rather than aliases is recommended
in non-interactive code.
Note also the unhelpful interaction of aliases and function
definitions:
alias func='noglob func'
func() {
echo Do something with $*
}
Because aliases are expanded in function definitions, this
causes the following command to be executed:
noglob func() {
echo Do something with $*
}
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which defines noglob as well as func as functions with the
body given. To avoid this, either quote the name func or
use the alternative function definition form `function
func'. Ensuring the alias is defined after the function
works but is problematic if the code fragment might be
re-executed.
QUOTING
A character may be quoted (that is, made to stand for
itself) by preceding it with a `\'. `\' followed by a new-
line is ignored.
A string enclosed between `$'' and `'' is processed the same
way as the string arguments of the print builtin, and the
resulting string is considered to be entirely quoted. A
literal `'' character can be included in the string by using
the `\'' escape.
All characters enclosed between a pair of single quotes ('')
that is not preceded by a `$' are quoted. A single quote
cannot appear within single quotes unless the option
RC_QUOTES is set, in which case a pair of single quotes are
turned into a single quote. For example,
print ''''
outputs nothing apart from a newline if RC_QUOTES is not
set, but one single quote if it is set.
Inside double quotes (""), parameter and command substitu-
tion occur, and `\' quotes the characters `\', ``', `"', and
`$'.
REDIRECTION
If a command is followed by & and job control is not active,
then the default standard input for the command is the empty
file /dev/null. Otherwise, the environment for the execu-
tion of a command contains the file descriptors of the
invoking shell as modified by input/output specifications.
The following may appear anywhere in a simple command or may
precede or follow a complex command. Expansion occurs
before word or digit is used except as noted below. If the
result of substitution on word produces more than one file-
name, redirection occurs for each separate filename in turn.
< word
Open file word for reading as standard input.
<> word
Open file word for reading and writing as standard
input. If the file does not exist then it is created.
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> word
Open file word for writing as standard output. If the
file does not exist then it is created. If the file
exists, and the CLOBBER option is unset, this causes an
error; otherwise, it is truncated to zero length.
>| word
>! word
Same as >, except that the file is truncated to zero
length if it exists, even if CLOBBER is unset.
>> word
Open file word for writing in append mode as standard
output. If the file does not exist, and the CLOBBER
option is unset, this causes an error; otherwise, the
file is created.
>>| word
>>! word
Same as >>, except that the file is created if it does
not exist, even if CLOBBER is unset.
<<[-] word
The shell input is read up to a line that is the same
as word, or to an end-of-file. No parameter expansion,
command substitution or filename generation is per-
formed on word. The resulting document, called a
here-document, becomes the standard input.
If any character of word is quoted with single or dou-
ble quotes or a `\', no interpretation is placed upon
the characters of the document. Otherwise, parameter
and command substitution occurs, `\' followed by a new-
line is removed, and `\' must be used to quote the
characters `\', `$', ``' and the first character of
word.
Note that word itself does not undergo shell expansion.
Backquotes in word do not have their usual effect;
instead they behave similarly to double quotes, except
that the backquotes themselves are passed through
unchanged. (This information is given for completeness
and it is not recommended that backquotes be used.)
Quotes in the form $'...' have their standard effect of
expanding backslashed references to special characters.
If <<- is used, then all leading tabs are stripped from
word and from the document.
<<< word
Perform shell expansion on word and pass the result to
standard input. This is known as a here-string.
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Compare the use of word in here-documents above, where
word does not undergo shell expansion.
<& number
>& number
The standard input/output is duplicated from file
descriptor number (see dup2(2)).
<& -
>& - Close the standard input/output.
<& p
>& p The input/output from/to the coprocess is moved to the
standard input/output.
>& word
&> word
(Except where `>& word' matches one of the above syn-
taxes; `&>' can always be used to avoid this ambigu-
ity.) Redirects both standard output and standard
error (file descriptor 2) in the manner of `> word'.
Note that this does not have the same effect as `> word
2>&1' in the presence of multios (see the section
below).
>&| word
>&! word
&>| word
&>! word
Redirects both standard output and standard error (file
descriptor 2) in the manner of `>| word'.
>>& word
&>> word
Redirects both standard output and standard error (file
descriptor 2) in the manner of `>> word'.
>>&| word
>>&! word
&>>| word
&>>! word
Redirects both standard output and standard error (file
descriptor 2) in the manner of `>>| word'.
If one of the above is preceded by a digit, then the file
descriptor referred to is that specified by the digit
instead of the default 0 or 1. The order in which redirec-
tions are specified is significant. The shell evaluates
each redirection in terms of the (file descriptor, file)
association at the time of evaluation. For example:
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... 1>fname 2>&1
first associates file descriptor 1 with file fname. It then
associates file descriptor 2 with the file associated with
file descriptor 1 (that is, fname). If the order of redi-
rections were reversed, file descriptor 2 would be associ-
ated with the terminal (assuming file descriptor 1 had been)
and then file descriptor 1 would be associated with file
fname.
The `|&' command separator described in Simple Commands &
Pipelines in zshmisc(1) is a shorthand for `2>&1 |'.
The various forms of process substitution, `<(list)', and
`=(list())' for input and `>(list)' for output, are often
used together with redirection. For example, if word in an
output redirection is of the form `>(list)' then the output
is piped to the command represented by list. See Process
Substitution in zshexpn(1).
OPENING FILE DESCRIPTORS USING PARAMETERS
When the shell is parsing arguments to a command, and the
shell option IGNORE_BRACES is not set, a different form of
redirection is allowed: instead of a digit before the opera-
tor there is a valid shell identifier enclosed in braces.
The shell will open a new file descriptor that is guaranteed
to be at least 10 and set the parameter named by the identi-
fier to the file descriptor opened. No whitespace is
allowed between the closing brace and the redirection char-
acter. For example:
... {myfd}>&1
This opens a new file descriptor that is a duplicate of file
descriptor 1 and sets the parameter myfd to the number of
the file descriptor, which will be at least 10. The new
file descriptor can be written to using the syntax >&$myfd.
The syntax {varid}>&-, for example {myfd}>&-, may be used to
close a file descriptor opened in this fashion. Note that
the parameter given by varid must previously be set to a
file descriptor in this case.
It is an error to open or close a file descriptor in this
fashion when the parameter is readonly. However, it is not
an error to read or write a file descriptor using <&$param
or >&$param if param is readonly.
If the option CLOBBER is unset, it is an error to open a
file descriptor using a parameter that is already set to an
open file descriptor previously allocated by this mechanism.
Unsetting the parameter before using it for allocating a
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file descriptor avoids the error.
Note that this mechanism merely allocates or closes a file
descriptor; it does not perform any redirections from or to
it. It is usually convenient to allocate a file descriptor
prior to use as an argument to exec. The syntax does not in
any case work when used around complex commands such as
parenthesised subshells or loops, where the opening brace is
interpreted as part of a command list to be executed in the
current shell.
The following shows a typical sequence of allocation, use,
and closing of a file descriptor:
integer myfd
exec {myfd}>~/logs/mylogfile.txt
print This is a log message. >&$myfd
exec {myfd}>&-
Note that the expansion of the variable in the expression
>&$myfd occurs at the point the redirection is opened. This
is after the expansion of command arguments and after any
redirections to the left on the command line have been pro-
cessed.
MULTIOS
If the user tries to open a file descriptor for writing more
than once, the shell opens the file descriptor as a pipe to
a process that copies its input to all the specified out-
puts, similar to tee, provided the MULTIOS option is set, as
it is by default. Thus:
date >foo >bar
writes the date to two files, named `foo' and `bar'. Note
that a pipe is an implicit redirection; thus
date >foo | cat
writes the date to the file `foo', and also pipes it to cat.
If the MULTIOS option is set, the word after a redirection
operator is also subjected to filename generation (glob-
bing). Thus
: > *
will truncate all files in the current directory, assuming
there's at least one. (Without the MULTIOS option, it would
create an empty file called `*'.) Similarly, you can do
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echo exit 0 >> *.sh
If the user tries to open a file descriptor for reading more
than once, the shell opens the file descriptor as a pipe to
a process that copies all the specified inputs to its output
in the order specified, similar to cat, provided the MULTIOS
option is set. Thus
sort <foo <fubar
or even
sort <f{oo,ubar}
is equivalent to `cat foo fubar | sort'.
Expansion of the redirection argument occurs at the point
the redirection is opened, at the point described above for
the expansion of the variable in >&$myfd.
Note that a pipe is an implicit redirection; thus
cat bar | sort <foo
is equivalent to `cat bar foo | sort' (note the order of the
inputs).
If the MULTIOS option is unset, each redirection replaces
the previous redirection for that file descriptor. However,
all files redirected to are actually opened, so
echo foo > bar > baz
when MULTIOS is unset will truncate bar, and write `foo'
into baz.
There is a problem when an output multio is attached to an
external program. A simple example shows this:
cat file >file1 >file2
cat file1 file2
Here, it is possible that the second `cat' will not display
the full contents of file1 and file2 (i.e. the original con-
tents of file repeated twice).
The reason for this is that the multios are spawned after
the cat process is forked from the parent shell, so the par-
ent shell does not wait for the multios to finish writing
data. This means the command as shown can exit before file1
and file2 are completely written. As a workaround, it is
possible to run the cat process as part of a job in the
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current shell:
{ cat file } >file >file2
Here, the {...} job will pause to wait for both files to be
written.
REDIRECTIONS WITH NO COMMAND
When a simple command consists of one or more redirection
operators and zero or more parameter assignments, but no
command name, zsh can behave in several ways.
If the parameter NULLCMD is not set or the option CSH_NULL-
CMD is set, an error is caused. This is the csh behavior
and CSH_NULLCMD is set by default when emulating csh.
If the option SH_NULLCMD is set, the builtin `:' is inserted
as a command with the given redirections. This is the
default when emulating sh or ksh.
Otherwise, if the parameter NULLCMD is set, its value will
be used as a command with the given redirections. If both
NULLCMD and READNULLCMD are set, then the value of the lat-
ter will be used instead of that of the former when the re-
direction is an input. The default for NULLCMD is `cat' and
for READNULLCMD is `more'. Thus
< file
shows the contents of file on standard output, with paging
if that is a terminal. NULLCMD and READNULLCMD may refer to
shell functions.
COMMAND EXECUTION
If a command name contains no slashes, the shell attempts to
locate it. If there exists a shell function by that name,
the function is invoked as described in the section `Func-
tions'. If there exists a shell builtin by that name, the
builtin is invoked.
Otherwise, the shell searches each element of $path for a
directory containing an executable file by that name. If
the search is unsuccessful, the shell prints an error mes-
sage and returns a nonzero exit status.
If execution fails because the file is not in executable
format, and the file is not a directory, it is assumed to be
a shell script. /bin/sh is spawned to execute it. If the
program is a file beginning with `#!', the remainder of the
first line specifies an interpreter for the program. The
shell will execute the specified interpreter on operating
systems that do not handle this executable format in the
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kernel.
If no external command is found but a function com-
mand_not_found_handler exists the shell executes this func-
tion with all command line arguments. The function should
return status zero if it successfully handled the command,
or non-zero status if it failed. In the latter case the
standard handling is applied: `command not found' is printed
to standard error and the shell exits with status 127. Note
that the handler is executed in a subshell forked to execute
an external command, hence changes to directories, shell
parameters, etc. have no effect on the main shell.
FUNCTIONS
Shell functions are defined with the function reserved word
or the special syntax `funcname ()'. Shell functions are
read in and stored internally. Alias names are resolved
when the function is read. Functions are executed like com-
mands with the arguments passed as positional parameters.
(See the section `Command Execution'.)
Functions execute in the same process as the caller and
share all files and present working directory with the
caller. A trap on EXIT set inside a function is executed
after the function completes in the environment of the
caller.
The return builtin is used to return from function calls.
Function identifiers can be listed with the functions
builtin. Functions can be undefined with the unfunction
builtin.
AUTOLOADING FUNCTIONS
A function can be marked as undefined using the autoload
builtin (or `functions -u' or `typeset -fu'). Such a func-
tion has no body. When the function is first executed, the
shell searches for its definition using the elements of the
fpath variable. Thus to define functions for autoloading, a
typical sequence is:
fpath=(~/myfuncs $fpath)
autoload myfunc1 myfunc2 ...
The usual alias expansion during reading will be suppressed
if the autoload builtin or its equivalent is given the
option -U. This is recommended for the use of functions sup-
plied with the zsh distribution. Note that for functions
precompiled with the zcompile builtin command the flag -U
must be provided when the .zwc file is created, as the cor-
responding information is compiled into the latter.
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For each element in fpath, the shell looks for three possi-
ble files, the newest of which is used to load the defini-
tion for the function:
element.zwc
A file created with the zcompile builtin command, which
is expected to contain the definitions for all func-
tions in the directory named element. The file is
treated in the same manner as a directory containing
files for functions and is searched for the definition
of the function. If the definition is not found, the
search for a definition proceeds with the other two
possibilities described below.
If element already includes a .zwc extension (i.e. the
extension was explicitly given by the user), element is
searched for the definition of the function without
comparing its age to that of other files; in fact,
there does not need to be any directory named element
without the suffix. Thus including an element such as
`/usr/local/funcs.zwc' in fpath will speed up the
search for functions, with the disadvantage that func-
tions included must be explicitly recompiled by hand
before the shell notices any changes.
element/function.zwc
A file created with zcompile, which is expected to con-
tain the definition for function. It may include other
function definitions as well, but those are neither
loaded nor executed; a file found in this way is
searched only for the definition of function.
element/function
A file of zsh command text, taken to be the definition
for function.
In summary, the order of searching is, first, in the parents
of directories in fpath for the newer of either a compiled
directory or a directory in fpath; second, if more than one
of these contains a definition for the function that is
sought, the leftmost in the fpath is chosen; and third,
within a directory, the newer of either a compiled function
or an ordinary function definition is used.
If the KSH_AUTOLOAD option is set, or the file contains only
a simple definition of the function, the file's contents
will be executed. This will normally define the function in
question, but may also perform initialization, which is exe-
cuted in the context of the function execution, and may
therefore define local parameters. It is an error if the
function is not defined by loading the file.
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Otherwise, the function body (with no surrounding `func-
name() {...}') is taken to be the complete contents of the
file. This form allows the file to be used directly as an
executable shell script. If processing of the file results
in the function being re-defined, the function itself is not
re-executed. To force the shell to perform initialization
and then call the function defined, the file should contain
initialization code (which will be executed then discarded)
in addition to a complete function definition (which will be
retained for subsequent calls to the function), and a call
to the shell function, including any arguments, at the end.
For example, suppose the autoload file func contains
func() { print This is func; }
print func is initialized
then `func; func' with KSH_AUTOLOAD set will produce both
messages on the first call, but only the message `This is
func' on the second and subsequent calls. Without
KSH_AUTOLOAD set, it will produce the initialization message
on the first call, and the other message on the second and
subsequent calls.
It is also possible to create a function that is not marked
as autoloaded, but which loads its own definition by search-
ing fpath, by using `autoload -X' within a shell function.
For example, the following are equivalent:
myfunc() {
autoload -X
}
myfunc args...
and
unfunction myfunc # if myfunc was defined
autoload myfunc
myfunc args...
In fact, the functions command outputs `builtin autoload -X'
as the body of an autoloaded function. This is done so that
eval "$(functions)"
produces a reasonable result. A true autoloaded function
can be identified by the presence of the comment `# unde-
fined' in the body, because all comments are discarded from
defined functions.
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To load the definition of an autoloaded function myfunc
without executing myfunc, use:
autoload +X myfunc
ANONYMOUS FUNCTIONS
If no name is given for a function, it is `anonymous' and is
handled specially. Either form of function definition may
be used: a `()' with no preceding name, or a `function' with
an immediately following open brace. The function is exe-
cuted immediately at the point of definition and is not
stored for future use. The function name is set to
`(anon)'.
Arguments to the function may be specified as words follow-
ing the closing brace defining the function, hence if there
are none no arguments (other than $0) are set. This is a
difference from the way other functions are parsed: normal
function definitions may be followed by certain keywords
such as `else' or `fi', which will be treated as arguments
to anonymous functions, so that a newline or semicolon is
needed to force keyword interpretation.
Note also that the argument list of any enclosing script or
function is hidden (as would be the case for any other func-
tion called at this point).
Redirections may be applied to the anonymous function in the
same manner as to a current-shell structure enclosed in
braces. The main use of anonymous functions is to provide a
scope for local variables. This is particularly convenient
in start-up files as these do not provide their own local
variable scope.
For example,
variable=outside
function {
local variable=inside
print "I am $variable with arguments $*"
} this and that
print "I am $variable"
outputs the following:
I am inside with arguments this and that
I am outside
Note that function definitions with arguments that expand to
nothing, for example `name=; function $name { ... }', are
not treated as anonymous functions. Instead, they are
treated as normal function definitions where the definition
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is silently discarded.
SPECIAL FUNCTIONS
Certain functions, if defined, have special meaning to the
shell.
Hook Functions
For the functions below, it is possible to define an array
that has the same name as the function with `_functions'
appended. Any element in such an array is taken as the name
of a function to execute; it is executed in the same context
and with the same arguments as the basic function. For
example, if $chpwd_functions is an array containing the val-
ues `mychpwd', `chpwd_save_dirstack', then the shell
attempts to execute the functions `chpwd', `mychpwd' and
`chpwd_save_dirstack', in that order. Any function that
does not exist is silently ignored. A function found by
this mechanism is referred to elsewhere as a `hook func-
tion'. An error in any function causes subsequent functions
not to be run. Note further that an error in a precmd hook
causes an immediately following periodic function not to run
(though it may run at the next opportunity).
chpwd
Executed whenever the current working directory is
changed.
periodic
If the parameter PERIOD is set, this function is exe-
cuted every $PERIOD seconds, just before a prompt.
Note that if multiple functions are defined using the
array periodic_functions only one period is applied to
the complete set of functions, and the scheduled time
is not reset if the list of functions is altered.
Hence the set of functions is always called together.
precmd
Executed before each prompt. Note that precommand
functions are not re-executed simply because the com-
mand line is redrawn, as happens, for example, when a
notification about an exiting job is displayed.
preexec
Executed just after a command has been read and is
about to be executed. If the history mechanism is
active (and the line was not discarded from the history
buffer), the string that the user typed is passed as
the first argument, otherwise it is an empty string.
The actual command that will be executed (including
expanded aliases) is passed in two different forms: the
second argument is a single-line, size-limited version
of the command (with things like function bodies
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elided); the third argument contains the full text that
is being executed.
zshaddhistory
Executed when a history line has been read interac-
tively, but before it is executed. The sole argument
is the complete history line (so that any terminating
newline will still be present).
If any of the hook functions returns status 1 (or any
non-zero value other than 2, though this is not guaran-
teed for future versions of the shell) the history line
will not be saved, although it lingers in the history
until the next line is executed, allowing you to reuse
or edit it immediately.
If any of the hook functions returns status 2 the his-
tory line will be saved on the internal history list,
but not written to the history file. In case of a con-
flict, the first non-zero status value is taken.
A hook function may call `fc -p ...' to switch the his-
tory context so that the history is saved in a differ-
ent file from the that in the global HISTFILE parame-
ter. This is handled specially: the history context is
automatically restored after the processing of the his-
tory line is finished.
The following example function works with one of the
options INC_APPEND_HISTORY or SHARE_HISTORY set, in
order that the line is written out immediately after
the history entry is added. It first adds the history
line to the normal history with the newline stripped,
which is usually the correct behaviour. Then it
switches the history context so that the line will be
written to a history file in the current directory.
zshaddhistory() {
print -sr -- ${1%%$'\n'}
fc -p .zsh_local_history
}
zshexit
Executed at the point where the main shell is about to
exit normally. This is not called by exiting sub-
shells, nor when the exec precommand modifier is used
before an external command. Also, unlike TRAPEXIT, it
is not called when functions exit.
Trap Functions
The functions below are treated specially but do not have
corresponding hook arrays.
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TRAPNAL
If defined and non-null, this function will be executed
whenever the shell catches a signal SIGNAL, where NAL
is a signal name as specified for the kill builtin.
The signal number will be passed as the first parameter
to the function.
If a function of this form is defined and null, the
shell and processes spawned by it will ignore SIGNAL.
The return status from the function is handled spe-
cially. If it is zero, the signal is assumed to have
been handled, and execution continues normally. Other-
wise, the shell will behave as interrupted except that
the return status of the trap is retained.
Programs terminated by uncaught signals typically
return the status 128 plus the signal number. Hence
the following causes the handler for SIGINT to print a
message, then mimic the usual effect of the signal.
TRAPINT() {
print "Caught SIGINT, aborting."
return $(( 128 + $1 ))
}
The functions TRAPZERR, TRAPDEBUG and TRAPEXIT are
never executed inside other traps.
TRAPDEBUG
If the option DEBUG_BEFORE_CMD is set (as it is by
default), executed before each command; otherwise exe-
cuted after each command. See the description of the
trap builtin in zshbuiltins(1) for details of addi-
tional features provided in debug traps.
TRAPEXIT
Executed when the shell exits, or when the current
function exits if defined inside a function. The value
of $? at the start of execution is the exit status of
the shell or the return status of the function exiting.
TRAPZERR
Executed whenever a command has a non-zero exit status.
However, the function is not executed if the command
occurred in a sublist followed by `&&' or `||'; only
the final command in a sublist of this type causes the
trap to be executed. The function TRAPERR acts the
same as TRAPZERR on systems where there is no SIGERR
(this is the usual case).
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The functions beginning `TRAP' may alternatively be defined
with the trap builtin: this may be preferable for some
uses. Setting a trap with one form removes any trap of the
other form for the same signal; removing a trap in either
form removes all traps for the same signal. The forms
TRAPNAL() {
# code
}
('function traps') and
trap '
# code
' NAL
('list traps') are equivalent in most ways, the exceptions
being the following:
o Function traps have all the properties of normal func-
tions, appearing in the list of functions and being
called with their own function context rather than the
context where the trap was triggered.
o The return status from function traps is special,
whereas a return from a list trap causes the surround-
ing context to return with the given status.
o Function traps are not reset within subshells, in
accordance with zsh behaviour; list traps are reset, in
accordance with POSIX behaviour.
JOBS
If the MONITOR option is set, an interactive shell asso-
ciates a job with each pipeline. It keeps a table of cur-
rent jobs, printed by the jobs command, and assigns them
small integer numbers. When a job is started asynchronously
with `&', the shell prints a line to standard error which
looks like:
[1] 1234
indicating that the job which was started asynchronously was
job number 1 and had one (top-level) process, whose process
ID was 1234.
If a job is started with `&|' or `&!', then that job is
immediately disowned. After startup, it does not have a
place in the job table, and is not subject to the job con-
trol features described here.
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If you are running a job and wish to do something else you
may hit the key ^Z (control-Z) which sends a TSTP signal to
the current job: this key may be redefined by the susp
option of the external stty command. The shell will then
normally indicate that the job has been `suspended', and
print another prompt. You can then manipulate the state of
this job, putting it in the background with the bg command,
or run some other commands and then eventually bring the job
back into the foreground with the foreground command fg. A
^Z takes effect immediately and is like an interrupt in that
pending output and unread input are discarded when it is
typed.
A job being run in the background will suspend if it tries
to read from the terminal.
Note that if the job running in the foreground is a shell
function, then suspending it will have the effect of causing
the shell to fork. This is necessary to separate the func-
tion's state from that of the parent shell performing the
job control, so that the latter can return to the command
line prompt. As a result, even if fg is used to continue
the job the function will no longer be part of the parent
shell, and any variables set by the function will not be
visible in the parent shell. Thus the behaviour is differ-
ent from the case where the function was never suspended.
Zsh is different from many other shells in this regard.
The same behaviour is found when the shell is executing code
as the right hand side of a pipeline or any complex shell
construct such as if, for, etc., in order that the entire
block of code can be managed as a single job. Background
jobs are normally allowed to produce output, but this can be
disabled by giving the command `stty tostop'. If you set
this tty option, then background jobs will suspend when they
try to produce output like they do when they try to read
input.
When a command is suspended and continued later with the fg
or wait builtins, zsh restores tty modes that were in effect
when it was suspended. This (intentionally) does not apply
if the command is continued via `kill -CONT', nor when it is
continued with bg.
There are several ways to refer to jobs in the shell. A job
can be referred to by the process ID of any process of the
job or by one of the following:
%number
The job with the given number.
%string
Any job whose command line begins with string.
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%?string
Any job whose command line contains string.
%% Current job.
%+ Equivalent to `%%'.
%- Previous job.
The shell learns immediately whenever a process changes
state. It normally informs you whenever a job becomes
blocked so that no further progress is possible. If the
NOTIFY option is not set, it waits until just before it
prints a prompt before it informs you. All such notifica-
tions are sent directly to the terminal, not to the standard
output or standard error.
When the monitor mode is on, each background job that com-
pletes triggers any trap set for CHLD.
When you try to leave the shell while jobs are running or
suspended, you will be warned that `You have suspended (run-
ning) jobs'. You may use the jobs command to see what they
are. If you do this or immediately try to exit again, the
shell will not warn you a second time; the suspended jobs
will be terminated, and the running jobs will be sent a
SIGHUP signal, if the HUP option is set.
To avoid having the shell terminate the running jobs, either
use the nohup command (see nohup(1)) or the disown builtin.
SIGNALS
The INT and QUIT signals for an invoked command are ignored
if the command is followed by `&' and the MONITOR option is
not active. The shell itself always ignores the QUIT sig-
nal. Otherwise, signals have the values inherited by the
shell from its parent (but see the TRAPNAL special functions
in the section `Functions').
Certain jobs are run asynchronously by the shell other than
those explicitly put into the background; even in cases
where the shell would usually wait for such jobs, an
explicit exit command or exit due to the option ERR_EXIT
will cause the shell to exit without waiting. Examples of
such asynchronous jobs are process substitution, see the
section PROCESS SUBSTITUTION in the zshexpn(1) manual page,
and the handler processes for multios, see the section MUL-
TIOS in the zshmisc(1) manual page.
ARITHMETIC EVALUATION
The shell can perform integer and floating point arithmetic,
either using the builtin let, or via a substitution of the
form $((...)). For integers, the shell is usually compiled
to use 8-byte precision where this is available, otherwise
precision is 4 bytes. This can be tested, for example, by
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giving the command `print - $(( 12345678901 ))'; if the num-
ber appears unchanged, the precision is at least 8 bytes.
Floating point arithmetic always uses the `double' type with
whatever corresponding precision is provided by the compiler
and the library.
The let builtin command takes arithmetic expressions as
arguments; each is evaluated separately. Since many of the
arithmetic operators, as well as spaces, require quoting, an
alternative form is provided: for any command which begins
with a `((', all the characters until a matching `))' are
treated as a quoted expression and arithmetic expansion per-
formed as for an argument of let. More precisely, `((...))'
is equivalent to `let "..."'. The return status is 0 if the
arithmetic value of the expression is non-zero, 1 if it is
zero, and 2 if an error occurred.
For example, the following statement
(( val = 2 + 1 ))
is equivalent to
let "val = 2 + 1"
both assigning the value 3 to the shell variable val and
returning a zero status.
Integers can be in bases other than 10. A leading `0x' or
`0X' denotes hexadecimal. Integers may also be of the form
`base#n', where base is a decimal number between two and
thirty-six representing the arithmetic base and n is a num-
ber in that base (for example, `16#ff' is 255 in hexadeci-
mal). The base# may also be omitted, in which case base 10
is used. For backwards compatibility the form `[base]n' is
also accepted.
An integer expression or a base given in the form `base#n'
may contain underscores (`_') after the leading digit for
visual guidance; these are ignored in computation. Examples
are 1_000_000 or 0xffff_ffff which are equivalent to 1000000
and 0xffffffff respectively.
It is also possible to specify a base to be used for output
in the form `[#base]', for example `[#16]'. This is used
when outputting arithmetical substitutions or when assigning
to scalar parameters, but an explicitly defined integer or
floating point parameter will not be affected. If an inte-
ger variable is implicitly defined by an arithmetic expres-
sion, any base specified in this way will be set as the
variable's output arithmetic base as if the option `-i base'
to the typeset builtin had been used. The expression has no
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precedence and if it occurs more than once in a mathematical
expression, the last encountered is used. For clarity it is
recommended that it appear at the beginning of an expres-
sion. As an example:
typeset -i 16 y
print $(( [#8] x = 32, y = 32 ))
print $x $y
outputs first `8#40', the rightmost value in the given out-
put base, and then `8#40 16#20', because y has been explic-
itly declared to have output base 16, while x (assuming it
does not already exist) is implicitly typed by the arith-
metic evaluation, where it acquires the output base 8.
If the C_BASES option is set, hexadecimal numbers in the
standard C format, for example 0xFF instead of the usual
`16#FF'. If the option OCTAL_ZEROES is also set (it is not
by default), octal numbers will be treated similarly and
hence appear as `077' instead of `8#77'. This option has no
effect on the output of bases other than hexadecimal and
octal, and these formats are always understood on input.
When an output base is specified using the `[#base]' syntax,
an appropriate base prefix will be output if necessary, so
that the value output is valid syntax for input. If the #
is doubled, for example `[##16]', then no base prefix is
output.
Floating point constants are recognized by the presence of a
decimal point or an exponent. The decimal point may be the
first character of the constant, but the exponent character
e or E may not, as it will be taken for a parameter name.
All numeric parts (before and after the decimal point and in
the exponent) may contain underscores after the leading
digit for visual guidance; these are ignored in computation.
An arithmetic expression uses nearly the same syntax and
associativity of expressions as in C.
In the native mode of operation, the following operators are
supported (listed in decreasing order of precedence):
+ - ! ~ ++ --
unary plus/minus, logical NOT, complement,
{pre,post}{in,de}crement
<< >>
bitwise shift left, right
& bitwise AND
^ bitwise XOR
| bitwise OR
** exponentiation
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* / %
multiplication, division, modulus (remainder)
+ - addition, subtraction
< > <= >=
comparison
== !=
equality and inequality
&& logical AND
|| ^^
logical OR, XOR
? : ternary operator
= += -= *= /= %= &= ^= |= <<= >>= &&= ||= ^^= **=
assignment
, comma operator
The operators `&&', `||', `&&=', and `||=' are short-cir-
cuiting, and only one of the latter two expressions in a
ternary operator is evaluated. Note the precedence of the
bitwise AND, OR, and XOR operators.
With the option C_PRECEDENCES the precedences (but no other
properties) of the operators are altered to be the same as
those in most other languages that support the relevant
operators:
+ - ! ~ ++ --
unary plus/minus, logical NOT, complement,
{pre,post}{in,de}crement
** exponentiation
* / %
multiplication, division, modulus (remainder)
+ - addition, subtraction
<< >>
bitwise shift left, right
< > <= >=
comparison
== !=
equality and inequality
& bitwise AND
^ bitwise XOR
| bitwise OR
&& logical AND
^^ logical XOR
|| logical OR
? : ternary operator
= += -= *= /= %= &= ^= |= <<= >>= &&= ||= ^^= **=
assignment
, comma operator
Note the precedence of exponentiation in both cases is below
that of unary operators, hence `-3**2' evaluates as `9', not
-9. Use parentheses where necessary: `-(3**2)'. This is
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for compatibility with other shells.
Mathematical functions can be called with the syntax
`func(args)', where the function decides if the args is used
as a string or a comma-separated list of arithmetic expres-
sions. The shell currently defines no mathematical functions
by default, but the module zsh/mathfunc may be loaded with
the zmodload builtin to provide standard floating point
mathematical functions.
An expression of the form `##x' where x is any character
sequence such as `a', `^A', or `\M-\C-x' gives the value of
this character and an expression of the form `#foo' gives
the value of the first character of the contents of the
parameter foo. Character values are according to the char-
acter set used in the current locale; for multibyte charac-
ter handling the option MULTIBYTE must be set. Note that
this form is different from `$#foo', a standard parameter
substitution which gives the length of the parameter foo.
`#\' is accepted instead of `##', but its use is deprecated.
Named parameters and subscripted arrays can be referenced by
name within an arithmetic expression without using the
parameter expansion syntax. For example,
((val2 = val1 * 2))
assigns twice the value of $val1 to the parameter named
val2.
An internal integer representation of a named parameter can
be specified with the integer builtin. Arithmetic evalua-
tion is performed on the value of each assignment to a named
parameter declared integer in this manner. Assigning a
floating point number to an integer results in rounding down
to the next integer.
Likewise, floating point numbers can be declared with the
float builtin; there are two types, differing only in their
output format, as described for the typeset builtin. The
output format can be bypassed by using arithmetic substitu-
tion instead of the parameter substitution, i.e. `${float}'
uses the defined format, but `$((float))' uses a generic
floating point format.
Promotion of integer to floating point values is performed
where necessary. In addition, if any operator which
requires an integer (`~', `&', `|', `^', `%', `<<', `>>' and
their equivalents with assignment) is given a floating point
argument, it will be silently rounded down to the next inte-
ger.
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Scalar variables can hold integer or floating point values
at different times; there is no memory of the numeric type
in this case.
If a variable is first assigned in a numeric context without
previously being declared, it will be implicitly typed as
integer or float and retain that type either until the type
is explicitly changed or until the end of the scope. This
can have unforeseen consequences. For example, in the loop
for (( f = 0; f < 1; f += 0.1 )); do
# use $f
done
if f has not already been declared, the first assignment
will cause it to be created as an integer, and consequently
the operation `f += 0.1' will always cause the result to be
truncated to zero, so that the loop will fail. A simple fix
would be to turn the initialization into `f = 0.0'. It is
therefore best to declare numeric variables with explicit
types.
CONDITIONAL EXPRESSIONS
A conditional expression is used with the [[ compound com-
mand to test attributes of files and to compare strings.
Each expression can be constructed from one or more of the
following unary or binary expressions:
-a file
true if file exists.
-b file
true if file exists and is a block special file.
-c file
true if file exists and is a character special file.
-d file
true if file exists and is a directory.
-e file
true if file exists.
-f file
true if file exists and is a regular file.
-g file
true if file exists and has its setgid bit set.
-h file
true if file exists and is a symbolic link.
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-k file
true if file exists and has its sticky bit set.
-n string
true if length of string is non-zero.
-o option
true if option named option is on. option may be a
single character, in which case it is a single letter
option name. (See the section `Specifying Options'.)
-p file
true if file exists and is a FIFO special file (named
pipe).
-r file
true if file exists and is readable by current process.
-s file
true if file exists and has size greater than zero.
-t fd
true if file descriptor number fd is open and associ-
ated with a terminal device. (note: fd is not
optional)
-u file
true if file exists and has its setuid bit set.
-w file
true if file exists and is writable by current process.
-x file
true if file exists and is executable by current
process. If file exists and is a directory, then the
current process has permission to search in the direc-
tory.
-z string
true if length of string is zero.
-L file
true if file exists and is a symbolic link.
-O file
true if file exists and is owned by the effective user
ID of this process.
-G file
true if file exists and its group matches the effective
group ID of this process.
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User Commands ZSHMISC(1)
-S file
true if file exists and is a socket.
-N file
true if file exists and its access time is not newer
than its modification time.
file1 -nt file2
true if file1 exists and is newer than file2.
file1 -ot file2
true if file1 exists and is older than file2.
file1 -ef file2
true if file1 and file2 exist and refer to the same
file.
string = pattern
string == pattern
true if string matches pattern. The `==' form is the
preferred one. The `=' form is for backward compati-
bility and should be considered obsolete.
string != pattern
true if string does not match pattern.
string =~ regexp
true if string matches the regular expression regexp.
If the option RE_MATCH_PCRE is set regexp is tested as
a PCRE regular expression using the zsh/pcre module,
else it is tested as a POSIX extended regular expres-
sion using the zsh/regex module. Upon successful
match, some variables will be updated; no variables are
changed if the matching fails.
If the option BASH_REMATCH is not set the scalar param-
eter MATCH is set to the substring that matched the
pattern and the integer parameters MBEGIN and MEND to
the index of the start and end, respectively, of the
match in string, such that if string is contained in
variable var the expression `${var[$MBEGIN,$MEND]}' is
identical to `$MATCH'. The setting of the option
KSH_ARRAYS is respected. Likewise, the array match is
set to the substrings that matched parenthesised subex-
pressions and the arrays mbegin and mend to the indices
of the start and end positions, respectively, of the
substrings within string. The arrays are not set if
there were no parenthesised subexpresssions. For exam-
ple, if the string `a short string' is matched against
the regular expression `s(...)t', then (assuming the
option KSH_ARRAYS is not set) MATCH, MBEGIN and MEND
are `short', 3 and 7, respectively, while match, mbegin
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User Commands ZSHMISC(1)
and mend are single entry arrays containing the strings
`hor', `4' and `6, respectively.
If the option BASH_REMATCH is set the array
BASH_REMATCH is set to the substring that matched the
pattern followed by the substrings that matched paren-
thesised subexpressions within the pattern.
string1 < string2
true if string1 comes before string2 based on ASCII
value of their characters.
string1 > string2
true if string1 comes after string2 based on ASCII
value of their characters.
exp1 -eq exp2
true if exp1 is numerically equal to exp2. Note that
for purely numeric comparisons use of the ((...))
builtin described in the section `ARITHMETIC EVALUA-
TION' is more convenient than conditional expressions.
exp1 -ne exp2
true if exp1 is numerically not equal to exp2.
exp1 -lt exp2
true if exp1 is numerically less than exp2.
exp1 -gt exp2
true if exp1 is numerically greater than exp2.
exp1 -le exp2
true if exp1 is numerically less than or equal to exp2.
exp1 -ge exp2
true if exp1 is numerically greater than or equal to
exp2.
( exp )
true if exp is true.
! exp
true if exp is false.
exp1 && exp2
true if exp1 and exp2 are both true.
exp1 || exp2
true if either exp1 or exp2 is true.
Normal shell expansion is performed on the file, string and
pattern arguments, but the result of each expansion is
zsh 5.0.5 Last change: January 5, 2014 35
User Commands ZSHMISC(1)
constrained to be a single word, similar to the effect of
double quotes. Filename generation is not performed on any
form of argument to conditions. However, pattern metachar-
acters are active for the pattern arguments; the patterns
are the same as those used for filename generation, see zsh-
expn(1), but there is no special behaviour of `/' nor ini-
tial dots, and no glob qualifiers are allowed.
In each of the above expressions, if file is of the form
`/dev/fd/n', where n is an integer, then the test applied to
the open file whose descriptor number is n, even if the
underlying system does not support the /dev/fd directory.
In the forms which do numeric comparison, the expressions
exp undergo arithmetic expansion as if they were enclosed in
$((...)).
For example, the following:
[[ ( -f foo || -f bar ) && $report = y* ]] && print File exists.
tests if either file foo or file bar exists, and if so, if
the value of the parameter report begins with `y'; if the
complete condition is true, the message `File exists.' is
printed.
EXPANSION OF PROMPT SEQUENCES
Prompt sequences undergo a special form of expansion. This
type of expansion is also available using the -P option to
the print builtin.
If the PROMPT_SUBST option is set, the prompt string is
first subjected to parameter expansion, command substitution
and arithmetic expansion. See zshexpn(1).
Certain escape sequences may be recognised in the prompt
string.
If the PROMPT_BANG option is set, a `!' in the prompt is
replaced by the current history event number. A literal `!'
may then be represented as `!!'.
If the PROMPT_PERCENT option is set, certain escape
sequences that start with `%' are expanded. Many escapes
are followed by a single character, although some of these
take an optional integer argument that should appear between
the `%' and the next character of the sequence. More com-
plicated escape sequences are available to provide condi-
tional expansion.
SIMPLE PROMPT ESCAPES
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User Commands ZSHMISC(1)
Special characters
%% A `%'.
%) A `)'.
Login information
%l The line (tty) the user is logged in on, without
`/dev/' prefix. If the name starts with `/dev/tty',
that prefix is stripped.
%M The full machine hostname.
%m The hostname up to the first `.'. An integer may fol-
low the `%' to specify how many components of the host-
name are desired. With a negative integer, trailing
components of the hostname are shown.
%n $USERNAME.
%y The line (tty) the user is logged in on, without
`/dev/' prefix. This does not treat `/dev/tty' names
specially.
Shell state
%# A `#' if the shell is running with privileges, a `%' if
not. Equivalent to `%(!.#.%%)'. The definition of
`privileged', for these purposes, is that either the
effective user ID is zero, or, if POSIX.1e capabilities
are supported, that at least one capability is raised
in either the Effective or Inheritable capability vec-
tors.
%? The return status of the last command executed just
before the prompt.
%_ The status of the parser, i.e. the shell constructs
(like `if' and `for') that have been started on the
command line. If given an integer number that many
strings will be printed; zero or negative or no integer
means print as many as there are. This is most useful
in prompts PS2 for continuation lines and PS4 for
debugging with the XTRACE option; in the latter case it
will also work non-interactively.
%d
/ Current working directory. If an integer follows the
`%', it specifies a number of trailing components of
the current working directory to show; zero means the
whole path. A negative integer specifies leading com-
ponents, i.e. %-1d specifies the first component.
%~ As %d and %/, but if the current working directory
zsh 5.0.5 Last change: January 5, 2014 37
User Commands ZSHMISC(1)
starts with $HOME, that part is replaced by a `~'. Fur-
thermore, if it has a named directory as its prefix,
that part is replaced by a `~' followed by the name of
the directory, but only if the result is shorter than
the full path; see Dynamic and Static named directories
in zshexpn(1).
%h
%! Current history event number.
%i The line number currently being executed in the script,
sourced file, or shell function given by %N. This is
most useful for debugging as part of $PS4.
%I The line number currently being executed in the file
%x. This is similar to %i, but the line number is
always a line number in the file where the code was
defined, even if the code is a shell function.
%j The number of jobs.
%L The current value of $SHLVL.
%N The name of the script, sourced file, or shell function
that zsh is currently executing, whichever was started
most recently. If there is none, this is equivalent to
the parameter $0. An integer may follow the `%' to
specify a number of trailing path components to show;
zero means the full path. A negative integer specifies
leading components.
%x The name of the file containing the source code cur-
rently being executed. This behaves as %N except that
function and eval command names are not shown, instead
the file where they were defined.
%c
%.
%C Trailing component of the current working directory.
An integer may follow the `%' to get more than one com-
ponent. Unless `%C' is used, tilde contraction is per-
formed first. These are deprecated as %c and %C are
equivalent to %1~ and %1/, respectively, while explicit
positive integers have the same effect as for the lat-
ter two sequences.
Date and time
%D The date in yy-mm-dd format.
%T Current time of day, in 24-hour format.
%t
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User Commands ZSHMISC(1)
%@ Current time of day, in 12-hour, am/pm format.
%* Current time of day in 24-hour format, with seconds.
%w The date in day-dd format.
%W The date in mm/dd/yy format.
%D{string}
string is formatted using the strftime function. See
strftime(3) for more details. Various zsh extensions
provide numbers with no leading zero or space if the
number is a single digit:
%f a day of the month
%K the hour of the day on the 24-hour clock
%L the hour of the day on the 12-hour clock
The GNU extension that a `-' between the % and the for-
mat character causes a leading zero or space to be
stripped is handled directly by the shell for the for-
mat characters d, f, H, k, l, m, M, S and y; any other
format characters are provided to strftime() with any
leading `-', present, so the handling is system depen-
dent. Further GNU extensions are not supported at
present.
Visual effects
%B (%b)
Start (stop) boldface mode.
%E Clear to end of line.
%U (%u)
Start (stop) underline mode.
%S (%s)
Start (stop) standout mode.
%F (%f)
Start (stop) using a different foreground colour, if
supported by the terminal. The colour may be specified
two ways: either as a numeric argument, as normal, or
by a sequence in braces following the %F, for example
%F{red}. In the latter case the values allowed are as
described for the fg zle_highlight attribute; see Char-
acter Highlighting in zshzle(1). This means that
numeric colours are allowed in the second format also.
%K (%k)
Start (stop) using a different bacKground colour. The
syntax is identical to that for %F and %f.
zsh 5.0.5 Last change: January 5, 2014 39
User Commands ZSHMISC(1)
%{...%}
Include a string as a literal escape sequence. The
string within the braces should not change the cursor
position. Brace pairs can nest.
A positive numeric argument between the % and the { is
treated as described for %G below.
%G Within a %{...%} sequence, include a `glitch': that is,
assume that a single character width will be output.
This is useful when outputting characters that other-
wise cannot be correctly handled by the shell, such as
the alternate character set on some terminals. The
characters in question can be included within a %{...%}
sequence together with the appropriate number of %G
sequences to indicate the correct width. An integer
between the `%' and `G' indicates a character width
other than one. Hence %{seq%2G%} outputs seq and
assumes it takes up the width of two standard charac-
ters.
Multiple uses of %G accumulate in the obvious fashion;
the position of the %G is unimportant. Negative inte-
gers are not handled.
Note that when prompt truncation is in use it is advis-
able to divide up output into single characters within
each %{...%} group so that the correct truncation point
can be found.
CONDITIONAL SUBSTRINGS IN PROMPTS
%v The value of the first element of the psvar array
parameter. Following the `%' with an integer gives
that element of the array. Negative integers count
from the end of the array.
%(x.true-text.false-text)
Specifies a ternary expression. The character follow-
ing the x is arbitrary; the same character is used to
separate the text for the `true' result from that for
the `false' result. This separator may not appear in
the true-text, except as part of a %-escape sequence.
A `)' may appear in the false-text as `%)'. true-text
and false-text may both contain arbitrarily-nested
escape sequences, including further ternary expres-
sions.
The left parenthesis may be preceded or followed by a
positive integer n, which defaults to zero. A negative
integer will be multiplied by -1. The test character x
may be any of the following:
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User Commands ZSHMISC(1)
! True if the shell is running with privileges.
# True if the effective uid of the current process
is n.
? True if the exit status of the last command was n.
_ True if at least n shell constructs were started.
C
/ True if the current absolute path has at least n
elements relative to the root directory, hence /
is counted as 0 elements.
c
.
~ True if the current path, with prefix replacement,
has at least n elements relative to the root
directory, hence / is counted as 0 elements.
D True if the month is equal to n (January = 0).
d True if the day of the month is equal to n.
g True if the effective gid of the current process
is n.
j True if the number of jobs is at least n.
L True if the SHLVL parameter is at least n.
l True if at least n characters have already been
printed on the current line.
S True if the SECONDS parameter is at least n.
T True if the time in hours is equal to n.
t True if the time in minutes is equal to n.
v True if the array psvar has at least n elements.
V True if element n of the array psvar is set and
non-empty.
w True if the day of the week is equal to n (Sunday
= 0).
%<string<
%>string>
%[xstring]
Specifies truncation behaviour for the remainder of the
prompt string. The third, deprecated, form is equiva-
lent to `%xstringx', i.e. x may be `<' or `>'. The
numeric argument, which in the third form may appear
immediately after the `[', specifies the maximum per-
mitted length of the various strings that can be dis-
played in the prompt. The string will be displayed in
place of the truncated portion of any string; note this
does not undergo prompt expansion.
The forms with `<' truncate at the left of the string,
and the forms with `>' truncate at the right of the
string. For example, if the current directory is
`/home/pike', the prompt `%8<..<%/' will expand to
`..e/pike'. In this string, the terminating character
(`<', `>' or `]'), or in fact any character, may be
quoted by a preceding `\'; note when using print -P,
however, that this must be doubled as the string is
zsh 5.0.5 Last change: January 5, 2014 41
User Commands ZSHMISC(1)
also subject to standard print processing, in addition
to any backslashes removed by a double quoted string:
the worst case is therefore `print -P "%<\\\\<<..."'.
If the string is longer than the specified truncation
length, it will appear in full, completely replacing
the truncated string.
The part of the prompt string to be truncated runs to
the end of the string, or to the end of the next
enclosing group of the `%(' construct, or to the next
truncation encountered at the same grouping level (i.e.
truncations inside a `%(' are separate), which ever
comes first. In particular, a truncation with argument
zero (e.g. `%<<') marks the end of the range of the
string to be truncated while turning off truncation
from there on. For example, the prompt '%10<...<%~%<<%#
' will print a truncated representation of the current
directory, followed by a `%' or `#', followed by a
space. Without the `%<<', those two characters would
be included in the string to be truncated.
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following
attributes:
+---------------+------------------+
|ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
+---------------+------------------+
|Availability | shell/zsh |
+---------------+------------------+
|Stability | Volatile |
+---------------+------------------+
NOTES
This software was built from source available at
https://java.net/projects/solaris-userland. The original
community source was downloaded from http://down-
loads.source-
forge.net/project/zsh/zsh/5.0.5/zsh-5.0.5.tar.bz2
Further information about this software can be found on the
open source community website at http://www.zsh.org/.
zsh 5.0.5 Last change: January 5, 2014 42
User Commands ZSHEXPN(1)
NAME
zshexpn - zsh expansion and substitution
DESCRIPTION
The following types of expansions are performed in the indi-
cated order in five steps:
History Expansion
This is performed only in interactive shells.
Alias Expansion
Aliases are expanded immediately before the command
line is parsed as explained under Aliasing in zsh-
misc(1).
Process Substitution
Parameter Expansion
Command Substitution
Arithmetic Expansion
Brace Expansion
These five are performed in one step in left-to-right
fashion. After these expansions, all unquoted occur-
rences of the characters `\', `'' and `"' are removed.
Filename Expansion
If the SH_FILE_EXPANSION option is set, the order of
expansion is modified for compatibility with sh and
ksh. In that case filename expansion is performed
immediately after alias expansion, preceding the set of
five expansions mentioned above.
Filename Generation
This expansion, commonly referred to as globbing, is
always done last.
The following sections explain the types of expansion in
detail.
HISTORY EXPANSION
History expansion allows you to use words from previous com-
mand lines in the command line you are typing. This simpli-
fies spelling corrections and the repetition of complicated
commands or arguments.
Immediately before execution, each command is saved in the
history list, the size of which is controlled by the HIST-
SIZE parameter. The one most recent command is always
retained in any case. Each saved command in the history
list is called a history event and is assigned a number,
beginning with 1 (one) when the shell starts up. The his-
tory number that you may see in your prompt (see EXPANSION
OF PROMPT SEQUENCES in zshmisc(1)) is the number that is to
zsh 5.0.5 Last change: January 5, 2014 1
User Commands ZSHEXPN(1)
be assigned to the next command.
Overview
A history expansion begins with the first character of the
histchars parameter, which is `!' by default, and may occur
anywhere on the command line; history expansions do not
nest. The `!' can be escaped with `\' or can be enclosed
between a pair of single quotes ('') to suppress its special
meaning. Double quotes will not work for this. Following
this history character is an optional event designator (see
the section `Event Designators') and then an optional word
designator (the section `Word Designators'); if neither of
these designators is present, no history expansion occurs.
Input lines containing history expansions are echoed after
being expanded, but before any other expansions take place
and before the command is executed. It is this expanded
form that is recorded as the history event for later refer-
ences.
By default, a history reference with no event designator
refers to the same event as any preceding history reference
on that command line; if it is the only history reference in
a command, it refers to the previous command. However, if
the option CSH_JUNKIE_HISTORY is set, then every history
reference with no event specification always refers to the
previous command.
For example, `!' is the event designator for the previous
command, so `!!:1' always refers to the first word of the
previous command, and `!!$' always refers to the last word
of the previous command. With CSH_JUNKIE_HISTORY set, then
`!:1' and `!$' function in the same manner as `!!:1' and
`!!$', respectively. Conversely, if CSH_JUNKIE_HISTORY is
unset, then `!:1' and `!$' refer to the first and last
words, respectively, of the same event referenced by the
nearest other history reference preceding them on the cur-
rent command line, or to the previous command if there is no
preceding reference.
The character sequence `^foo^bar' (where `^' is actually the
second character of the histchars parameter) repeats the
last command, replacing the string foo with bar. More pre-
cisely, the sequence `^foo^bar^' is synonymous with
`!!:s^foo^bar^', hence other modifiers (see the section
`Modifiers') may follow the final `^'. In particular,
`^foo^bar^:G' performs a global substitution.
If the shell encounters the character sequence `!"' in the
input, the history mechanism is temporarily disabled until
the current list (see zshmisc(1)) is fully parsed. The `!"'
is removed from the input, and any subsequent `!' characters
zsh 5.0.5 Last change: January 5, 2014 2
User Commands ZSHEXPN(1)
have no special significance.
A less convenient but more comprehensible form of command
history support is provided by the fc builtin.
Event Designators
An event designator is a reference to a command-line entry
in the history list. In the list below, remember that the
initial `!' in each item may be changed to another character
by setting the histchars parameter.
! Start a history expansion, except when followed by a
blank, newline, `=' or `('. If followed immediately by
a word designator (see the section `Word Designators'),
this forms a history reference with no event designator
(see the section `Overview').
!! Refer to the previous command. By itself, this expan-
sion repeats the previous command.
!n Refer to command-line n.
!-n Refer to the current command-line minus n.
!str Refer to the most recent command starting with str.
!?str[?]
Refer to the most recent command containing str. The
trailing `?' is necessary if this reference is to be
followed by a modifier or followed by any text that is
not to be considered part of str.
!# Refer to the current command line typed in so far. The
line is treated as if it were complete up to and
including the word before the one with the `!#' refer-
ence.
!{...}
Insulate a history reference from adjacent characters
(if necessary).
Word Designators
A word designator indicates which word or words of a given
command line are to be included in a history reference. A
`:' usually separates the event specification from the word
designator. It may be omitted only if the word designator
begins with a `^', `$', `*', `-' or `%'. Word designators
include:
0 The first input word (command).
n The nth argument.
^ The first argument. That is, 1.
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User Commands ZSHEXPN(1)
$ The last argument.
% The word matched by (the most recent) ?str search.
x-y A range of words; x defaults to 0.
* All the arguments, or a null value if there are none.
x* Abbreviates `x-$'.
x- Like `x*' but omitting word $.
Note that a `%' word designator works only when used in one
of `!%', `!:%' or `!?str?:%', and only when used after a !?
expansion (possibly in an earlier command). Anything else
results in an error, although the error may not be the most
obvious one.
Modifiers
After the optional word designator, you can add a sequence
of one or more of the following modifiers, each preceded by
a `:'. These modifiers also work on the result of filename
generation and parameter expansion, except where noted.
a Turn a file name into an absolute path: prepends the
current directory, if necessary, and resolves any use
of `..' and `.' in the path. Note that the transforma-
tion takes place even if the file or any intervening
directories do not exist.
A As `a', but also resolve use of symbolic links where
possible. Note that resolution of `..' occurs before
resolution of symbolic links. This call is equivalent
to a unless your system has the realpath system call
(modern systems do).
c Resolve a command name into an absolute path by search-
ing the command path given by the PATH variable. This
does not work for commands containing directory parts.
Note also that this does not usually work as a glob
qualifier unless a file of the same name is found in
the current directory.
e Remove all but the part of the filename extension fol-
lowing the `.'; see the definition of the filename
extension in the description of the r modifier below.
Note that according to that definition the result will
be empty if the string ends with a `.'.
h Remove a trailing pathname component, leaving the head.
This works like `dirname'.
l Convert the words to all lowercase.
p Print the new command but do not execute it. Only
works with history expansion.
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User Commands ZSHEXPN(1)
q Quote the substituted words, escaping further substitu-
tions. Works with history expansion and parameter
expansion, though for parameters it is only useful if
the resulting text is to be re-evaluated such as by
eval.
Q Remove one level of quotes from the substituted words.
r Remove a filename extension leaving the root name.
Strings with no filename extension are not altered. A
filename extension is a `.' followed by any number of
characters (including zero) that are neither `.' nor
`/' and that continue to the end of the string. For
example, the extension of `foo.orig.c' is `.c', and
`dir.c/foo' has no extension.
s/l/r[/]
Substitute r for l as described below. The substitu-
tion is done only for the first string that matches l.
For arrays and for filename generation, this applies to
each word of the expanded text. See below for further
notes on substitutions.
The forms `gs/l/r' and `s/l/r/:G' perform global sub-
stitution, i.e. substitute every occurrence of r for l.
Note that the g or :G must appear in exactly the posi-
tion shown.
See further notes on this form of substitution below.
& Repeat the previous s substitution. Like s, may be
preceded immediately by a g. In parameter expansion
the & must appear inside braces, and in filename gener-
ation it must be quoted with a backslash.
t Remove all leading pathname components, leaving the
tail. This works like `basename'.
u Convert the words to all uppercase.
x Like q, but break into words at whitespace. Does not
work with parameter expansion.
The s/l/r/ substitution works as follows. By default the
left-hand side of substitutions are not patterns, but char-
acter strings. Any character can be used as the delimiter
in place of `/'. A backslash quotes the delimiter charac-
ter. The character `&', in the right-hand-side r, is
replaced by the text from the left-hand-side l. The `&' can
be quoted with a backslash. A null l uses the previous
string either from the previous l or from the contextual
scan string s from `!?s'. You can omit the rightmost
zsh 5.0.5 Last change: January 5, 2014 5
User Commands ZSHEXPN(1)
delimiter if a newline immediately follows r; the rightmost
`?' in a context scan can similarly be omitted. Note the
same record of the last l and r is maintained across all
forms of expansion.
Note that if a `&' is used within glob qualifers an extra
backslash is needed as a & is a special character in this
case.
If the option HIST_SUBST_PATTERN is set, l is treated as a
pattern of the usual form described in the section FILENAME
GENERATION below. This can be used in all the places where
modifiers are available; note, however, that in globbing
qualifiers parameter substitution has already taken place,
so parameters in the replacement string should be quoted to
ensure they are replaced at the correct time. Note also
that complicated patterns used in globbing qualifiers may
need the extended glob qualifier notation (#q:s/.../.../) in
order for the shell to recognize the expression as a glob
qualifier. Further, note that bad patterns in the substitu-
tion are not subject to the NO_BAD_PATTERN option so will
cause an error.
When HIST_SUBST_PATTERN is set, l may start with a # to
indicate that the pattern must match at the start of the
string to be substituted, and a % may appear at the start or
after an # to indicate that the pattern must match at the
end of the string to be substituted. The % or # may be
quoted with two backslashes.
For example, the following piece of filename generation code
with the EXTENDED_GLOB option:
print *.c(#q:s/#%(#b)s(*).c/'S${match[1]}.C'/)
takes the expansion of *.c and applies the glob qualifiers
in the (#q...) expression, which consists of a substitution
modifier anchored to the start and end of each word (#%).
This turns on backreferences ((#b)), so that the parenthe-
sised subexpression is available in the replacement string
as ${match[1]}. The replacement string is quoted so that
the parameter is not substituted before the start of file-
name generation.
The following f, F, w and W modifiers work only with parame-
ter expansion and filename generation. They are listed here
to provide a single point of reference for all modifiers.
f Repeats the immediately (without a colon) following
modifier until the resulting word doesn't change any
more.
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F:expr:
Like f, but repeats only n times if the expression expr
evaluates to n. Any character can be used instead of
the `:'; if `(', `[', or `{' is used as the opening
delimiter, the closing delimiter should be ')', `]', or
`}', respectively.
w Makes the immediately following modifier work on each
word in the string.
W:sep:
Like w but words are considered to be the parts of the
string that are separated by sep. Any character can be
used instead of the `:'; opening parentheses are han-
dled specially, see above.
PROCESS SUBSTITUTION
Each part of a command argument that takes the form
`<(list)', `>(list)' or `=(list)' is subject to process sub-
stitution. The expression may be preceded or followed by
other strings except that, to prevent clashes with commonly
occurring strings and patterns, the last form must occur at
the start of a command argument, and the forms are only
expanded when first parsing command or assignment arguments.
Process substitutions may be used following redirection
operators; in this case, the substitution must appear with
no trailing string.
In the case of the < or > forms, the shell runs the commands
in list as a subprocess of the job executing the shell com-
mand line. If the system supports the /dev/fd mechanism,
the command argument is the name of the device file corre-
sponding to a file descriptor; otherwise, if the system sup-
ports named pipes (FIFOs), the command argument will be a
named pipe. If the form with > is selected then writing on
this special file will provide input for list. If < is
used, then the file passed as an argument will be connected
to the output of the list process. For example,
paste <(cut -f1 file1) <(cut -f3 file2) |
tee >(process1) >(process2) >/dev/null
cuts fields 1 and 3 from the files file1 and file2 respec-
tively, pastes the results together, and sends it to the
processes process1 and process2.
If =(...) is used instead of <(...), then the file passed as
an argument will be the name of a temporary file containing
the output of the list process. This may be used instead of
the < form for a program that expects to lseek (see
lseek(2)) on the input file.
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There is an optimisation for substitutions of the form
=(<<<arg), where arg is a single-word argument to the
here-string redirection <<<. This form produces a file name
containing the value of arg after any substitutions have
been performed. This is handled entirely within the current
shell. This is effectively the reverse of the special form
$(<arg) which treats arg as a file name and replaces it with
the file's contents.
The = form is useful as both the /dev/fd and the named pipe
implementation of <(...) have drawbacks. In the former
case, some programmes may automatically close the file
descriptor in question before examining the file on the com-
mand line, particularly if this is necessary for security
reasons such as when the programme is running setuid. In
the second case, if the programme does not actually open the
file, the subshell attempting to read from or write to the
pipe will (in a typical implementation, different operating
systems may have different behaviour) block for ever and
have to be killed explicitly. In both cases, the shell
actually supplies the information using a pipe, so that pro-
grammes that expect to lseek (see lseek(2)) on the file will
not work.
Also note that the previous example can be more compactly
and efficiently written (provided the MULTIOS option is set)
as:
paste <(cut -f1 file1) <(cut -f3 file2) \
> >(process1) > >(process2)
The shell uses pipes instead of FIFOs to implement the lat-
ter two process substitutions in the above example.
There is an additional problem with >(process); when this is
attached to an external command, the parent shell does not
wait for process to finish and hence an immediately follow-
ing command cannot rely on the results being complete. The
problem and solution are the same as described in the sec-
tion MULTIOS in zshmisc(1). Hence in a simplified version
of the example above:
paste <(cut -f1 file1) <(cut -f3 file2) > >(process)
(note that no MULTIOS are involved), process will be run
asynchronously as far as the parent shell is concerned. The
workaround is:
{ paste <(cut -f1 file1) <(cut -f3 file2) } > >(process)
The extra processes here are spawned from the parent shell
which will wait for their completion.
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Another problem arises any time a job with a substitution
that requires a temporary file is disowned by the shell,
including the case where `&!' or `&|' appears at the end of
a command containing a subsitution. In that case the tempo-
rary file will not be cleaned up as the shell no longer has
any memory of the job. A workaround is to use a subshell,
for example,
(mycmd =(myoutput)) &!
as the forked subshell will wait for the command to finish
then remove the temporary file.
A general workaround to ensure a process substitution
endures for an appropriate length of time is to pass it as a
parameter to an anonymous shell function (a piece of shell
code that is run immediately with function scope). For
example, this code:
() {
print File $1:
cat $1
} =(print This be the verse)
outputs something resembling the following
File /tmp/zsh6nU0kS:
This be the verse
The temporary file created by the process substitution will
be deleted when the function exits.
PARAMETER EXPANSION
The character `$' is used to introduce parameter expansions.
See zshparam(1) for a description of parameters, including
arrays, associative arrays, and subscript notation to access
individual array elements.
Note in particular the fact that words of unquoted parame-
ters are not automatically split on whitespace unless the
option SH_WORD_SPLIT is set; see references to this option
below for more details. This is an important difference
from other shells.
In the expansions discussed below that require a pattern,
the form of the pattern is the same as that used for file-
name generation; see the section `Filename Generation'.
Note that these patterns, along with the replacement text of
any substitutions, are themselves subject to parameter
expansion, command substitution, and arithmetic expansion.
In addition to the following operations, the colon modifiers
described in the section `Modifiers' in the section `History
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Expansion' can be applied: for example, ${i:s/foo/bar/}
performs string substitution on the expansion of parameter
$i.
${name}
The value, if any, of the parameter name is substi-
tuted. The braces are required if the expansion is to
be followed by a letter, digit, or underscore that is
not to be interpreted as part of name. In addition,
more complicated forms of substitution usually require
the braces to be present; exceptions, which only apply
if the option KSH_ARRAYS is not set, are a single sub-
script or any colon modifiers appearing after the name,
or any of the characters `^', `=', `~', `#' or `+'
appearing before the name, all of which work with or
without braces.
If name is an array parameter, and the KSH_ARRAYS
option is not set, then the value of each element of
name is substituted, one element per word. Otherwise,
the expansion results in one word only; with
KSH_ARRAYS, this is the first element of an array. No
field splitting is done on the result unless the
SH_WORD_SPLIT option is set. See also the flags = and
s:string:.
${+name}
If name is the name of a set parameter `1' is substi-
tuted, otherwise `0' is substituted.
${name-word}
${name:-word}
If name is set, or in the second form is non-null, then
substitute its value; otherwise substitute word. In
the second form name may be omitted, in which case word
is always substituted.
${name+word}
${name:+word}
If name is set, or in the second form is non-null, then
substitute word; otherwise substitute nothing.
${name=word}
${name:=word}
${name::=word}
In the first form, if name is unset then set it to
word; in the second form, if name is unset or null then
set it to word; and in the third form, unconditionally
set name to word. In all forms, the value of the
parameter is then substituted.
${name?word}
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${name:?word}
In the first form, if name is set, or in the second
form if name is both set and non-null, then substitute
its value; otherwise, print word and exit from the
shell. Interactive shells instead return to the
prompt. If word is omitted, then a standard message is
printed.
In any of the above expressions that test a variable and
substitute an alternate word, note that you can use standard
shell quoting in the word value to selectively override the
splitting done by the SH_WORD_SPLIT option and the = flag,
but not splitting by the s:string: flag.
In the following expressions, when name is an array and the
substitution is not quoted, or if the `(@)' flag or the
name[@] syntax is used, matching and replacement is per-
formed on each array element separately.
${name#pattern}
${name##pattern}
If the pattern matches the beginning of the value of
name, then substitute the value of name with the
matched portion deleted; otherwise, just substitute the
value of name. In the first form, the smallest match-
ing pattern is preferred; in the second form, the
largest matching pattern is preferred.
${name%pattern}
${name%%pattern}
If the pattern matches the end of the value of name,
then substitute the value of name with the matched por-
tion deleted; otherwise, just substitute the value of
name. In the first form, the smallest matching pattern
is preferred; in the second form, the largest matching
pattern is preferred.
${name:#pattern}
If the pattern matches the value of name, then substi-
tute the empty string; otherwise, just substitute the
value of name. If name is an array the matching array
elements are removed (use the `(M)' flag to remove the
non-matched elements).
${name:|arrayname}
If arrayname is the name (N.B., not contents) of an
array variable, then any elements contained in array-
name are removed from the substitution of name. If the
substitution is scalar, either because name is a scalar
variable or the expression is quoted, the elements of
arrayname are instead tested against the entire expres-
sion.
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${name:*arrayname}
Similar to the preceding subsitution, but in the oppo-
site sense, so that entries present in both the origi-
nal substitution and as elements of arrayname are
retained and others removed.
${name:offset}
${name:offset:length}
This syntax gives effects similar to parameter sub-
scripting in the form $name[start,end], but is compati-
ble with other shells; note that both offset and length
are interpreted differently from the components of a
subscript.
If offset is non-negative, then if the variable name is
a scalar substitute the contents starting offset char-
acters from the first character of the string, and if
name is an array substitute elements starting offset
elements from the first element. If length is given,
substitute that many characters or elements, otherwise
the entire rest of the scalar or array.
A positive offset is always treated as the offset of a
character or element in name from the first character
or element of the array (this is different from native
zsh subscript notation). Hence 0 refers to the first
character or element regardless of the setting of the
option KSH_ARRAYS.
A negative offset counts backwards from the end of the
scalar or array, so that -1 corresponds to the last
character or element, and so on.
When positive, length counts from the offset position
toward the end of the scalar or array. When negative,
length counts back from the end. If this results in a
position smaller than offset, a diagnostic is printed
and nothing is substituted.
The option MULTIBYTE is obeyed, i.e. the offset and
length count multibyte characters where appropriate.
offset and length undergo the same set of shell substi-
tutions as for scalar assignment; in addition, they are
then subject to arithmetic evaluation. Hence, for
example
print ${foo:3}
print ${foo: 1 + 2}
print ${foo:$(( 1 + 2))}
print ${foo:$(echo 1 + 2)}
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all have the same effect, extracting the string start-
ing at the fourth character of $foo if the substution
would otherwise return a scalar, or the array starting
at the fourth element if $foo would return an array.
Note that with the option KSH_ARRAYS $foo always
returns a scalar (regardless of the use of the offset
syntax) and a form such as $foo[*]:3 is required to
extract elements of an array named foo.
If offset is negative, the - may not appear immediately
after the : as this indicates the ${name:-word} form of
substitution. Instead, a space may be inserted before
the -. Furthermore, neither offset nor length may
begin with an alphabetic character or & as these are
used to indicate history-style modifiers. To substi-
tute a value from a variable, the recommended approach
is to precede it with a $ as this signifies the inten-
tion (parameter substitution can easily be rendered
unreadable); however, as arithmetic substitution is
performed, the expression ${var: offs} does work,
retrieving the offset from $offs.
For further compatibility with other shells there is a
special case for array offset 0. This usually accesses
to the first element of the array. However, if the
substitution refers the positional parameter array,
e.g. $@ or $*, then offset 0 instead refers to $0, off-
set 1 refers to $1, and so on. In other words, the
positional parameter array is effectively extended by
prepending $0. Hence ${*:0:1} substitutes $0 and
${*:1:1} substitutes $1.
${name/pattern/repl}
${name//pattern/repl}
Replace the longest possible match of pattern in the
expansion of parameter name by string repl. The first
form replaces just the first occurrence, the second
form all occurrences. Both pattern and repl are sub-
ject to double-quoted substitution, so that expressions
like ${name/$opat/$npat} will work, but note the usual
rule that pattern characters in $opat are not treated
specially unless either the option GLOB_SUBST is set,
or $opat is instead substituted as ${~opat}.
The pattern may begin with a `#', in which case the
pattern must match at the start of the string, or `%',
in which case it must match at the end of the string,
or `#%' in which case the pattern must match the entire
string. The repl may be an empty string, in which case
the final `/' may also be omitted. To quote the final
`/' in other cases it should be preceded by a single
backslash; this is not necessary if the `/' occurs
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inside a substituted parameter. Note also that the
`#', `%' and `#% are not active if they occur inside a
substituted parameter, even at the start.
The first `/' may be preceded by a `:', in which case
the match will only succeed if it matches the entire
word. Note also the effect of the I and S parameter
expansion flags below; however, the flags M, R, B, E
and N are not useful.
For example,
foo="twinkle twinkle little star" sub="t*e" rep="spy"
print ${foo//${~sub}/$rep}
print ${(S)foo//${~sub}/$rep}
Here, the `~' ensures that the text of $sub is treated
as a pattern rather than a plain string. In the first
case, the longest match for t*e is substituted and the
result is `spy star', while in the second case, the
shortest matches are taken and the result is `spy spy
lispy star'.
${#spec}
If spec is one of the above substitutions, substitute
the length in characters of the result instead of the
result itself. If spec is an array expression, substi-
tute the number of elements of the result. This has
the side-effect that joining is skipped even in quoted
forms, which may affect other sub-expressions in spec.
Note that `^', `=', and `~', below, must appear to the
left of `#' when these forms are combined.
${^spec}
Turn on the RC_EXPAND_PARAM option for the evaluation
of spec; if the `^' is doubled, turn it off. When this
option is set, array expansions of the form
foo${xx}bar, where the parameter xx is set to (a b c),
are substituted with `fooabar foobbar foocbar' instead
of the default `fooa b cbar'. Note that an empty array
will therefore cause all arguments to be removed.
Internally, each such expansion is converted into the
equivalent list for brace expansion. E.g., ${^var}
becomes {$var[1],$var[2],...}, and is processed as
described in the section `Brace Expansion' below. If
word splitting is also in effect the $var[N] may them-
selves be split into different list elements.
${=spec}
Perform word splitting using the rules for
SH_WORD_SPLIT during the evaluation of spec, but
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regardless of whether the parameter appears in double
quotes; if the `=' is doubled, turn it off. This
forces parameter expansions to be split into separate
words before substitution, using IFS as a delimiter.
This is done by default in most other shells.
Note that splitting is applied to word in the assign-
ment forms of spec before the assignment to name is
performed. This affects the result of array assign-
ments with the A flag.
${~spec}
Turn on the GLOB_SUBST option for the evaluation of
spec; if the `~' is doubled, turn it off. When this
option is set, the string resulting from the expansion
will be interpreted as a pattern anywhere that is pos-
sible, such as in filename expansion and filename gen-
eration and pattern-matching contexts like the right
hand side of the `=' and `!=' operators in conditions.
In nested substitutions, note that the effect of the ~
applies to the result of the current level of substitu-
tion. A surrounding pattern operation on the result
may cancel it. Hence, for example, if the parameter
foo is set to *, ${~foo//\*/*.c} is substituted by the
pattern *.c, which may be expanded by filename genera-
tion, but ${${~foo}//\*/*.c} substitutes to the string
*.c, which will not be further expanded.
If a ${...} type parameter expression or a $(...) type com-
mand substitution is used in place of name above, it is
expanded first and the result is used as if it were the
value of name. Thus it is possible to perform nested opera-
tions: ${${foo#head}%tail} substitutes the value of $foo
with both `head' and `tail' deleted. The form with $(...)
is often useful in combination with the flags described
next; see the examples below. Each name or nested ${...} in
a parameter expansion may also be followed by a subscript
expression as described in Array Parameters in zshparam(1).
Note that double quotes may appear around nested expres-
sions, in which case only the part inside is treated as
quoted; for example, ${(f)"$(foo)"} quotes the result of
$(foo), but the flag `(f)' (see below) is applied using the
rules for unquoted expansions. Note further that quotes are
themselves nested in this context; for example, in
"${(@f)"$(foo)"}", there are two sets of quotes, one sur-
rounding the whole expression, the other (redundant) sur-
rounding the $(foo) as before.
Parameter Expansion Flags
If the opening brace is directly followed by an opening
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parenthesis, the string up to the matching closing parenthe-
sis will be taken as a list of flags. In cases where
repeating a flag is meaningful, the repetitions need not be
consecutive; for example, `(q%q%q)' means the same thing as
the more readable `(%%qqq)'. The following flags are sup-
ported:
# Evaluate the resulting words as numeric expressions and
output the characters corresponding to the resulting
integer. Note that this form is entirely distinct from
use of the # without parentheses.
If the MULTIBYTE option is set and the number is
greater than 127 (i.e. not an ASCII character) it is
treated as a Unicode character.
% Expand all % escapes in the resulting words in the same
way as in prompts (see EXPANSION OF PROMPT SEQUENCES in
zshmisc(1)). If this flag is given twice, full prompt
expansion is done on the resulting words, depending on
the setting of the PROMPT_PERCENT, PROMPT_SUBST and
PROMPT_BANG options.
@ In double quotes, array elements are put into separate
words. E.g., `"${(@)foo}"' is equivalent to
`"${foo[@]}"' and `"${(@)foo[1,2]}"' is the same as
`"$foo[1]" "$foo[2]"'. This is distinct from field
splitting by the f, s or z flags, which still applies
within each array element.
A Create an array parameter with `${...=...}',
`${...:=...}' or `${...::=...}'. If this flag is
repeated (as in `AA'), create an associative array
parameter. Assignment is made before sorting or pad-
ding; if field splitting is active, the word part is
split before assignment. The name part may be a sub-
scripted range for ordinary arrays; the word part must
be converted to an array, for example by using
`${(AA)=name=...}' to activate field splitting, when
creating an associative array.
a Sort in array index order; when combined with `O' sort
in reverse array index order. Note that `a' is there-
fore equivalent to the default but `Oa' is useful for
obtaining an array's elements in reverse order.
c With ${#name}, count the total number of characters in
an array, as if the elements were concatenated with
spaces between them. This is not a true join of the
array, so other expressions used with this flag may
have an effect on the elements of the array before it
is counted.
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C Capitalize the resulting words. `Words' in this case
refers to sequences of alphanumeric characters sepa-
rated by non-alphanumerics, not to words that result
from field splitting.
D Assume the string or array elements contain directories
and attempt to substitute the leading part of these by
names. The remainder of the path (the whole of it if
the leading part was not subsituted) is then quoted so
that the whole string can be used as a shell argument.
This is the reverse of `~' substitution: see the sec-
tion FILENAME EXPANSION below.
e Perform parameter expansion, command substitution and
arithmetic expansion on the result. Such expansions can
be nested but too deep recursion may have unpredictable
effects.
f Split the result of the expansion at newlines. This is
a shorthand for `ps:\n:'.
F Join the words of arrays together using newline as a
separator. This is a shorthand for `pj:\n:'.
g:opts:
Process escape sequences like the echo builtin when no
options are given (g::). With the o option, octal
escapes don't take a leading zero. With the c option,
sequences like `^X' are also processed. With the e
option, processes `\M-t' and similar sequences like the
print builtin. With both of the o and e options,
behaves like the print builtin except that in none of
these modes is `\c' interpreted.
i Sort case-insensitively. May be combined with `n' or
`O'.
k If name refers to an associative array, substitute the
keys (element names) rather than the values of the ele-
ments. Used with subscripts (including ordinary
arrays), force indices or keys to be substituted even
if the subscript form refers to values. However, this
flag may not be combined with subscript ranges.
L Convert all letters in the result to lower case.
n Sort decimal integers numerically; if the first differ-
ing characters of two test strings are not digits,
sorting is lexical. Integers with more initial zeroes
are sorted before those with fewer or none. Hence the
array `foo1 foo02 foo2 foo3 foo20 foo23' is sorted into
the order shown. May be combined with `i' or `O'.
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o Sort the resulting words in ascending order; if this
appears on its own the sorting is lexical and case-sen-
sitive (unless the locale renders it case-insensitive).
Sorting in ascending order is the default for other
forms of sorting, so this is ignored if combined with
`a', `i' or `n'.
O Sort the resulting words in descending order; `O' with-
out `a', `i' or `n' sorts in reverse lexical order.
May be combined with `a', `i' or `n' to reverse the
order of sorting.
P This forces the value of the parameter name to be
interpreted as a further parameter name, whose value
will be used where appropriate. Note that flags set
with one of the typeset family of commands (in particu-
lar case transformations) are not applied to the value
of name used in this fashion.
If used with a nested parameter or command substitu-
tion, the result of that will be taken as a parameter
name in the same way. For example, if you have
`foo=bar' and `bar=baz', the strings ${(P)foo},
${(P)${foo}}, and ${(P)$(echo bar)} will be expanded to
`baz'.
q Quote characters that are special to the shell in the
resulting words with backslashes; unprintable or
invalid characters are quoted using the $'\NNN' form,
with separate quotes for each octet.
If this flag is given twice, the resulting words are
quoted in single quotes and if it is given three times,
the words are quoted in double quotes; in these forms
no special handling of unprintable or invalid charac-
ters is attempted. If the flag is given four times,
the words are quoted in single quotes preceded by a $.
Note that in all three of these forms quoting is done
unconditionally, even if this does not change the way
the resulting string would be interpreted by the shell.
If a q- is given (only a single q may appear), a mini-
mal form of single quoting is used that only quotes the
string if needed to protect special characters. Typi-
cally this form gives the most readable output.
Q Remove one level of quotes from the resulting words.
t Use a string describing the type of the parameter where
the value of the parameter would usually appear. This
string consists of keywords separated by hyphens (`-').
The first keyword in the string describes the main
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type, it can be one of `scalar', `array', `integer',
`float' or `association'. The other keywords describe
the type in more detail:
local
for local parameters
left for left justified parameters
right_blanks
for right justified parameters with leading blanks
right_zeros
for right justified parameters with leading zeros
lower
for parameters whose value is converted to all
lower case when it is expanded
upper
for parameters whose value is converted to all
upper case when it is expanded
readonly
for readonly parameters
tag for tagged parameters
export
for exported parameters
unique
for arrays which keep only the first occurrence of
duplicated values
hide for parameters with the `hide' flag
special
for special parameters defined by the shell
u Expand only the first occurrence of each unique word.
U Convert all letters in the result to upper case.
v Used with k, substitute (as two consecutive words) both
the key and the value of each associative array ele-
ment. Used with subscripts, force values to be substi-
tuted even if the subscript form refers to indices or
keys.
V Make any special characters in the resulting words vis-
ible.
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w With ${#name}, count words in arrays or strings; the s
flag may be used to set a word delimiter.
W Similar to w with the difference that empty words
between repeated delimiters are also counted.
X With this flag, parsing errors occurring with the Q, e
and # flags or the pattern matching forms such as
`${name#pattern}' are reported. Without the flag,
errors are silently ignored.
z Split the result of the expansion into words using
shell parsing to find the words, i.e. taking into
account any quoting in the value. Comments are not
treated specially but as ordinary strings, similar to
interactive shells with the INTERACTIVE_COMMENTS option
unset (however, see the Z flag below for related
options)
Note that this is done very late, even later than the
`(s)' flag. So to access single words in the result use
nested expansions as in `${${(z)foo}[2]}'. Likewise, to
remove the quotes in the resulting words use
`${(Q)${(z)foo}}'.
0 Split the result of the expansion on null bytes. This
is a shorthand for `ps:\0:'.
The following flags (except p) are followed by one or more
arguments as shown. Any character, or the matching pairs
`(...)', `{...}', `[...]', or `<...>', may be used in place
of a colon as delimiters, but note that when a flag takes
more than one argument, a matched pair of delimiters must
surround each argument.
p Recognize the same escape sequences as the print
builtin in string arguments to any of the flags
described below that follow this argument.
~ Force string arguments to any of the flags below that
follow within the parentheses to be treated as pat-
terns. Compare with a ~ outside parentheses, which
forces the entire substituted string to be treated as a
pattern. Hence, for example,
[[ "?" = ${(~j.|.)array} ]]
with the EXTENDED_GLOB option set succeeds if and only if
$array contains the string `?' as an element. The argument
may be repeated to toggle the behaviour; its effect only
lasts to the end of the parenthesised group.
j:string:
Join the words of arrays together using string as a
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separator. Note that this occurs before field split-
ting by the s:string: flag or the SH_WORD_SPLIT option.
l:expr::string1::string2:
Pad the resulting words on the left. Each word will be
truncated if required and placed in a field expr char-
acters wide.
The arguments :string1: and :string2: are optional;
neither, the first, or both may be given. Note that
the same pairs of delimiters must be used for each of
the three arguments. The space to the left will be
filled with string1 (concatenated as often as needed)
or spaces if string1 is not given. If both string1 and
string2 are given, string2 is inserted once directly to
the left of each word, truncated if necessary, before
string1 is used to produce any remaining padding.
If the MULTIBYTE option is in effect, the flag m may
also be given, in which case widths will be used for
the calculation of padding; otherwise individual multi-
byte characters are treated as occupying one unit of
width.
If the MULTIBYTE option is not in effect, each byte in
the string is treated as occupying one unit of width.
Control characters are always assumed to be one unit
wide; this allows the mechanism to be used for generat-
ing repetitions of control characters.
m Only useful together with one of the flags l or r or
with the # length operator when the MULTIBYTE option is
in effect. Use the character width reported by the
system in calculating how much of the string it occu-
pies or the overall length of the string. Most print-
able characters have a width of one unit, however cer-
tain Asian character sets and certain special effects
use wider characters; combining characters have zero
width. Non-printable characters are arbitrarily
counted as zero width; how they would actually be dis-
played will vary.
If the m is repeated, the character either counts zero
(if it has zero width), else one. For printable char-
acter strings this has the effect of counting the num-
ber of glyphs (visibly separate characters), except for
the case where combining characters themselves have
non-zero width (true in certain alphabets).
r:expr::string1::string2:
As l, but pad the words on the right and insert string2
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immediately to the right of the string to be padded.
Left and right padding may be used together. In this
case the strategy is to apply left padding to the first
half width of each of the resulting words, and right
padding to the second half. If the string to be padded
has odd width the extra padding is applied on the left.
s:string:
Force field splitting at the separator string. Note
that a string of two or more characters means that all
of them must match in sequence; this differs from the
treatment of two or more characters in the IFS parame-
ter. See also the = flag and the SH_WORD_SPLIT option.
An empty string may also be given in which case every
character will be a separate element.
For historical reasons, the usual behaviour that empty
array elements are retained inside double quotes is
disabled for arrays generated by splitting; hence the
following:
line="one::three"
print -l "${(s.:.)line}"
produces two lines of output for one and three and
elides the empty field. To override this behaviour,
supply the "(@)" flag as well, i.e. "${(@s.:.)line}".
Z:opts:
As z but takes a combination of option letters between
a following pair of delimiter characters. With no
options the effect is identical to z. (Z+c+) causes
comments to be parsed as a string and retained; any
field in the resulting array beginning with an unquoted
comment character is a comment. (Z+C+) causes comments
to be parsed and removed. The rule for comments is
standard: anything between a word starting with the
third character of $HISTCHARS, default #, up to the
next newline is a comment. (Z+n+) causes unquoted new-
lines to be treated as ordinary whitespace, else they
are treated as if they are shell code delimiters and
converted to semicolons. Options are combined within
the same set of delimiters, e.g. (Z+Cn+).
_:flags:
The underscore (_) flag is reserved for future use. As
of this revision of zsh, there are no valid flags; any-
thing following an underscore, other than an empty pair
of delimiters, is treated as an error, and the flag
itself has no effect.
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The following flags are meaningful with the ${...#...} or
${...%...} forms. The S and I flags may also be used with
the ${.../...} forms.
S Search substrings as well as beginnings or ends; with #
start from the beginning and with % start from the end
of the string. With substitution via ${.../...} or
${...//...}, specifies non-greedy matching, i.e. that
the shortest instead of the longest match should be
replaced.
I:expr:
Search the exprth match (where expr evaluates to a num-
ber). This only applies when searching for substrings,
either with the S flag, or with ${.../...} (only the
exprth match is substituted) or ${...//...} (all
matches from the exprth on are substituted). The
default is to take the first match.
The exprth match is counted such that there is either
one or zero matches from each starting position in the
string, although for global substitution matches over-
lapping previous replacements are ignored. With the
${...%...} and ${...%%...} forms, the starting position
for the match moves backwards from the end as the index
increases, while with the other forms it moves forward
from the start.
Hence with the string
which switch is the right switch for Ipswich?
substitutions of the form ${(SI:N:)string#w*ch} as N
increases from 1 will match and remove `which',
`witch', `witch' and `wich'; the form using `##' will
match and remove `which switch is the right switch for
Ipswich', `witch is the right switch for Ipswich',
`witch for Ipswich' and `wich'. The form using `%' will
remove the same matches as for `#', but in reverse
order, and the form using `%%' will remove the same
matches as for `##' in reverse order.
B Include the index of the beginning of the match in the
result.
E Include the index of the end of the match in the
result.
M Include the matched portion in the result.
N Include the length of the match in the result.
R Include the unmatched portion in the result (the Rest).
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Rules
Here is a summary of the rules for substitution; this
assumes that braces are present around the substitution,
i.e. ${...}. Some particular examples are given below.
Note that the Zsh Development Group accepts no responsibil-
ity for any brain damage which may occur during the reading
of the following rules.
1. Nested substitution
If multiple nested ${...} forms are present, substitu-
tion is performed from the inside outwards. At each
level, the substitution takes account of whether the
current value is a scalar or an array, whether the
whole substitution is in double quotes, and what flags
are supplied to the current level of substitution, just
as if the nested substitution were the outermost. The
flags are not propagated up to enclosing substitutions;
the nested substitution will return either a scalar or
an array as determined by the flags, possibly adjusted
for quoting. All the following steps take place where
applicable at all levels of substitution. Note that,
unless the `(P)' flag is present, the flags and any
subscripts apply directly to the value of the nested
substitution; for example, the expansion ${${foo}}
behaves exactly the same as ${foo}.
At each nested level of substitution, the substituted
words undergo all forms of single-word substitution
(i.e. not filename generation), including command sub-
stitution, arithmetic expansion and filename expansion
(i.e. leading ~ and =). Thus, for example,
${${:-=cat}:h} expands to the directory where the cat
program resides. (Explanation: the internal substitu-
tion has no parameter but a default value =cat, which
is expanded by filename expansion to a full path; the
outer substitution then applies the modifier :h and
takes the directory part of the path.)
2. Internal parameter flags
Any parameter flags set by one of the typeset family of
commands, in particular the L, R, Z, u and l flags for
padding and capitalization, are applied directly to the
parameter value. Note these flags are options to the
command, e.g. `typeset -Z'; they are not the same as
the flags used within parameter substitutions.
3. Parameter subscripting
If the value is a raw parameter reference with a sub-
script, such as ${var[3]}, the effect of subscripting
is applied directly to the parameter. Subscripts are
evaluated left to right; subsequent subscripts apply to
the scalar or array value yielded by the previous
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subscript. Thus if var is an array, ${var[1][2]} is
the second character of the first word, but
${var[2,4][2]} is the entire third word (the second
word of the range of words two through four of the
original array). Any number of subscripts may appear.
Flags such as (k) and (v) which alter the result of
subscripting are applied.
4. Parameter name replacement
The effect of any (P) flag, which treats the value so
far as a parameter name and replaces it with the corre-
sponding value, is applied.
5. Double-quoted joining
If the value after this process is an array, and the
substitution appears in double quotes, and neither an
(@) flag nor a # length operator is present at the cur-
rent level, then words of the value are joined with the
first character of the parameter $IFS, by default a
space, between each word (single word arrays are not
modified). If the (j) flag is present, that is used
for joining instead of $IFS.
6. Nested subscripting
Any remaining subscripts (i.e. of a nested substitu-
tion) are evaluated at this point, based on whether the
value is an array or a scalar. As with 3., multiple
subscripts can appear. Note that ${foo[2,4][2]} is
thus equivalent to ${${foo[2,4]}[2]} and also to
"${${(@)foo[2,4]}[2]}" (the nested substitution returns
an array in both cases), but not to "${${foo[2,4]}[2]}"
(the nested substitution returns a scalar because of
the quotes).
7. Modifiers
Any modifiers, as specified by a trailing `#', `%', `/'
(possibly doubled) or by a set of modifiers of the form
:... (see the section `Modifiers' in the section `His-
tory Expansion'), are applied to the words of the value
at this level.
8. Character evaluation
Any (#) flag is applied, evaluating the result so far
numerically as a character.
9. Length
Any initial # modifier, i.e. in the form ${#var}, is
used to evaluate the length of the expression so far.
10. Forced joining
If the `(j)' flag is present, or no `(j)' flag is
present but the string is to be split as given by rule
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11., and joining did not take place at step 5., any
words in the value are joined together using the given
string or the first character of $IFS if none. Note
that the `(F)' flag implicitly supplies a string for
joining in this manner.
11. Simple word splitting
If one of the `(s)' or `(f)' flags are present, or the
`=' specifier was present (e.g. ${=var}), the word is
split on occurrences of the specified string, or (for =
with neither of the two flags present) any of the char-
acters in $IFS.
If no `(s)', `(f)' or `=' was given, but the word is
not quoted and the option SH_WORD_SPLIT is set, the
word is split on occurrences of any of the characters
in $IFS. Note this step, too, takes place at all lev-
els of a nested substitution.
12. Case modification
Any case modification from one of the flags (L), (U) or
(C) is applied.
13. Escape sequence replacement
First any replacements from the (g) flag are performed,
then any prompt-style formatting from the (%) family of
flags is applied.
14. Quote application
Any quoting or unquoting using (q) and (Q) and related
flags is applied.
15. Directory naming
Any directory name substitution using (D) flag is
applied.
16. Visibility enhancement
Any modifications to make characters visible using the
(V) flag are applied.
17. Lexical word splitting
If the '(z)' flag or one of the forms of the '(Z)' flag
is present, the word is split as if it were a shell
command line, so that quotation marks and other
metacharacters are used to decide what constitutes a
word. Note this form of splitting is entirely distinct
from that described by rule 11.: it does not use $IFS,
and does not cause forced joining.
18. Uniqueness
If the result is an array and the `(u)' flag was
present, duplicate elements are removed from the array.
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19. Ordering
If the result is still an array and one of the `(o)' or
`(O)' flags was present, the array is reordered.
20. Re-evaluation
Any `(e)' flag is applied to the value, forcing it to
be re-examined for new parameter substitutions, but
also for command and arithmetic substitutions.
21. Padding
Any padding of the value by the `(l.fill.)' or
`(r.fill.)' flags is applied.
22. Semantic joining
In contexts where expansion semantics requires a single
word to result, all words are rejoined with the first
character of IFS between. So in `${(P)${(f)lines}}'
the value of ${lines} is split at newlines, but then
must be joined again before the P flag can be applied.
If a single word is not required, this rule is skipped.
23. Empty argument removal
If the substitution does not appear in double quotes,
any resulting zero-length argument, whether from a
scalar or an element of an array, is elided from the
list of arguments inserted into the command line.
Strictly speaking, the removal happens later as the
same happens with other forms of substitution; the
point to note here is simply that it occurs after any
of the above parameter operations.
Examples
The flag f is useful to split a double-quoted substitution
line by line. For example, ${(f)"$(<file)"} substitutes the
contents of file divided so that each line is an element of
the resulting array. Compare this with the effect of
$(<file) alone, which divides the file up by words, or the
same inside double quotes, which makes the entire content of
the file a single string.
The following illustrates the rules for nested parameter
expansions. Suppose that $foo contains the array (bar baz):
"${(@)${foo}[1]}"
This produces the result b. First, the inner substitu-
tion "${foo}", which has no array (@) flag, produces a
single word result "bar baz". The outer substitution
"${(@)...[1]}" detects that this is a scalar, so that
(despite the `(@)' flag) the subscript picks the first
character.
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"${${(@)foo}[1]}"
This produces the result `bar'. In this case, the
inner substitution "${(@)foo}" produces the array `(bar
baz)'. The outer substitution "${...[1]}" detects that
this is an array and picks the first word. This is
similar to the simple case "${foo[1]}".
As an example of the rules for word splitting and joining,
suppose $foo contains the array `(ax1 bx1)'. Then
${(s/x/)foo}
produces the words `a', `1 b' and `1'.
${(j/x/s/x/)foo}
produces `a', `1', `b' and `1'.
${(s/x/)foo%%1*}
produces `a' and ` b' (note the extra space). As sub-
stitution occurs before either joining or splitting,
the operation first generates the modified array (ax
bx), which is joined to give "ax bx", and then split to
give `a', ` b' and `'. The final empty string will
then be elided, as it is not in double quotes.
COMMAND SUBSTITUTION
A command enclosed in parentheses preceded by a dollar sign,
like `$(...)', or quoted with grave accents, like ``...`',
is replaced with its standard output, with any trailing new-
lines deleted. If the substitution is not enclosed in dou-
ble quotes, the output is broken into words using the IFS
parameter. The substitution `$(cat foo)' may be replaced by
the equivalent but faster `$(<foo)'. In either case, if the
option GLOB_SUBST is set, the output is eligible for file-
name generation.
ARITHMETIC EXPANSION
A string of the form `$[exp]' or `$((exp))' is substituted
with the value of the arithmetic expression exp. exp is
subjected to parameter expansion, command substitution and
arithmetic expansion before it is evaluated. See the sec-
tion `Arithmetic Evaluation'.
BRACE EXPANSION
A string of the form `foo{xx,yy,zz}bar' is expanded to the
individual words `fooxxbar', `fooyybar' and `foozzbar'.
Left-to-right order is preserved. This construct may be
nested. Commas may be quoted in order to include them lit-
erally in a word.
An expression of the form `{n1..n2}', where n1 and n2 are
integers, is expanded to every number between n1 and n2
inclusive. If either number begins with a zero, all the
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resulting numbers will be padded with leading zeroes to that
minimum width, but for negative numbers the - character is
also included in the width. If the numbers are in decreas-
ing order the resulting sequence will also be in decreasing
order.
An expression of the form `{n1..n2..n3}', where n1, n2, and
n3 are integers, is expanded as above, but only every n3th
number starting from n1 is output. If n3 is negative the
numbers are output in reverse order, this is slightly dif-
ferent from simply swapping n1 and n2 in the case that the
step n3 doesn't evenly divide the range. Zero padding can
be specified in any of the three numbers, specifying it in
the third can be useful to pad for example `{-99..100..01}'
which is not possible to specify by putting a 0 on either of
the first two numbers (i.e. pad to two characters).
If a brace expression matches none of the above forms, it is
left unchanged, unless the option BRACE_CCL (an abbreviation
for `brace character class') is set. In that case, it is
expanded to a list of the individual characters between the
braces sorted into the order of the characters in the ASCII
character set (multibyte characters are not currently han-
dled). The syntax is similar to a [...] expression in file-
name generation: `-' is treated specially to denote a range
of characters, but `^' or `!' as the first character is
treated normally. For example, `{abcdef0-9}' expands to 16
words 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 a b c d e f.
Note that brace expansion is not part of filename generation
(globbing); an expression such as */{foo,bar} is split into
two separate words */foo and */bar before filename genera-
tion takes place. In particular, note that this is liable
to produce a `no match' error if either of the two expres-
sions does not match; this is to be contrasted with
*/(foo|bar), which is treated as a single pattern but other-
wise has similar effects.
To combine brace expansion with array expansion, see the
${^spec} form described in the section Parameter Expansion
above.
FILENAME EXPANSION
Each word is checked to see if it begins with an unquoted
`~'. If it does, then the word up to a `/', or the end of
the word if there is no `/', is checked to see if it can be
substituted in one of the ways described here. If so, then
the `~' and the checked portion are replaced with the appro-
priate substitute value.
A `~' by itself is replaced by the value of $HOME. A `~'
followed by a `+' or a `-' is replaced by current or
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previous working directory, respectively.
A `~' followed by a number is replaced by the directory at
that position in the directory stack. `~0' is equivalent to
`~+', and `~1' is the top of the stack. `~+' followed by a
number is replaced by the directory at that position in the
directory stack. `~+0' is equivalent to `~+', and `~+1' is
the top of the stack. `~-' followed by a number is replaced
by the directory that many positions from the bottom of the
stack. `~-0' is the bottom of the stack. The PUSHD_MINUS
option exchanges the effects of `~+' and `~-' where they are
followed by a number.
Dynamic named directories
If the function zsh_directory_name exists, or the shell
variable zsh_directory_name_functions exists and contains an
array of function names, then the functions are used to
implement dynamic directory naming. The functions are tried
in order until one returns status zero, so it is important
that functions test whether they can handle the case in
question and return an appropriate status.
A `~' followed by a string namstr in unquoted square brack-
ets is treated specially as a dynamic directory name. Note
that the first unquoted closing square bracket always termi-
nates namstr. The shell function is passed two arguments:
the string n (for name) and namstr. It should either set
the array reply to a single element which is the directory
corresponding to the name and return status zero (executing
an assignment as the last statement is usually sufficient),
or it should return status non-zero. In the former case the
element of reply is used as the directory; in the latter
case the substitution is deemed to have failed. If all
functions fail and the option NOMATCH is set, an error
results.
The functions defined as above are also used to see if a
directory can be turned into a name, for example when print-
ing the directory stack or when expanding %~ in prompts. In
this case each function is passed two arguments: the string
d (for directory) and the candidate for dynamic naming. The
function should either return non-zero status, if the direc-
tory cannot be named by the function, or it should set the
array reply to consist of two elements: the first is the
dynamic name for the directory (as would appear within
`~[...]'), and the second is the prefix length of the direc-
tory to be replaced. For example, if the trial directory is
/home/myname/src/zsh and the dynamic name for
/home/myname/src (which has 16 characters) is s, then the
function sets
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reply=(s 16)
The directory name so returned is compared with possible
static names for parts of the directory path, as described
below; it is used if the prefix length matched (16 in the
example) is longer than that matched by any static name.
It is not a requirement that a function implements both n
and d calls; for example, it might be appropriate for cer-
tain dynamic forms of expansion not to be contracted to
names. In that case any call with the first argument d
should cause a non-zero status to be returned.
The completion system calls `zsh_directory_name c' followed
by equivalent calls to elements of the array zsh_direc-
tory_name_functions, if it exists, in order to complete
dynamic names for directories. The code for this should be
as for any other completion function as described in zsh-
compsys(1).
As a working example, here is a function that expands any
dynamic names beginning with the string p: to directories
below /home/pws/perforce. In this simple case a static name
for the directory would be just as effective.
zsh_directory_name() {
emulate -L zsh
setopt extendedglob
local -a match mbegin mend
if [[ $1 = d ]]; then
# turn the directory into a name
if [[ $2 = (#b)(/home/pws/perforce/)([^/]##)* ]]; then
typeset -ga reply
reply=(p:$match[2] $(( ${#match[1]} + ${#match[2]} )) )
else
return 1
fi
elif [[ $1 = n ]]; then
# turn the name into a directory
[[ $2 != (#b)p:(?*) ]] && return 1
typeset -ga reply
reply=(/home/pws/perforce/$match[1])
elif [[ $1 = c ]]; then
# complete names
local expl
local -a dirs
dirs=(/home/pws/perforce/*(/:t))
dirs=(p:${^dirs})
_wanted dynamic-dirs expl 'dynamic directory' compadd -S\] -a dirs
return
else
return 1
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fi
return 0
}
Static named directories
A `~' followed by anything not already covered consisting of
any number of alphanumeric characters or underscore (`_'),
hyphen (`-'), or dot (`.') is looked up as a named direc-
tory, and replaced by the value of that named directory if
found. Named directories are typically home directories for
users on the system. They may also be defined if the text
after the `~' is the name of a string shell parameter whose
value begins with a `/'. Note that trailing slashes will be
removed from the path to the directory (though the original
parameter is not modified).
It is also possible to define directory names using the -d
option to the hash builtin.
When the shell prints a path (e.g. when expanding %~ in
prompts or when printing the directory stack), the path is
checked to see if it has a named directory as its prefix.
If so, then the prefix portion is replaced with a `~' fol-
lowed by the name of the directory. The shorter of the two
ways of referring to the directory is used, i.e. either the
directory name or the full path; the name is used if they
are the same length. The parameters $PWD and $OLDPWD are
never abbreviated in this fashion.
`=' expansion
If a word begins with an unquoted `=' and the EQUALS option
is set, the remainder of the word is taken as the name of a
command. If a command exists by that name, the word is
replaced by the full pathname of the command.
Notes
Filename expansion is performed on the right hand side of a
parameter assignment, including those appearing after com-
mands of the typeset family. In this case, the right hand
side will be treated as a colon-separated list in the manner
of the PATH parameter, so that a `~' or an `=' following a
`:' is eligible for expansion. All such behaviour can be
disabled by quoting the `~', the `=', or the whole expres-
sion (but not simply the colon); the EQUALS option is also
respected.
If the option MAGIC_EQUAL_SUBST is set, any unquoted shell
argument in the form `identifier=expression' becomes eligi-
ble for file expansion as described in the previous para-
graph. Quoting the first `=' also inhibits this.
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FILENAME GENERATION
If a word contains an unquoted instance of one of the char-
acters `*', `(', `|', `<', `[', or `?', it is regarded as a
pattern for filename generation, unless the GLOB option is
unset. If the EXTENDED_GLOB option is set, the `^' and `#'
characters also denote a pattern; otherwise they are not
treated specially by the shell.
The word is replaced with a list of sorted filenames that
match the pattern. If no matching pattern is found, the
shell gives an error message, unless the NULL_GLOB option is
set, in which case the word is deleted; or unless the
NOMATCH option is unset, in which case the word is left
unchanged.
In filename generation, the character `/' must be matched
explicitly; also, a `.' must be matched explicitly at the
beginning of a pattern or after a `/', unless the GLOB_DOTS
option is set. No filename generation pattern matches the
files `.' or `..'. In other instances of pattern matching,
the `/' and `.' are not treated specially.
Glob Operators
* Matches any string, including the null string.
? Matches any character.
[...]
Matches any of the enclosed characters. Ranges of
characters can be specified by separating two charac-
ters by a `-'. A `-' or `]' may be matched by includ-
ing it as the first character in the list. There are
also several named classes of characters, in the form
`[:name:]' with the following meanings. The first set
use the macros provided by the operating system to test
for the given character combinations, including any
modifications due to local language settings, see
ctype(3):
[:alnum:]
The character is alphanumeric
[:alpha:]
The character is alphabetic
[:ascii:]
The character is 7-bit, i.e. is a single-byte
character without the top bit set.
[:blank:]
The character is either space or tab
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[:cntrl:]
The character is a control character
[:digit:]
The character is a decimal digit
[:graph:]
The character is a printable character other than
whitespace
[:lower:]
The character is a lowercase letter
[:print:]
The character is printable
[:punct:]
The character is printable but neither alphanu-
meric nor whitespace
[:space:]
The character is whitespace
[:upper:]
The character is an uppercase letter
[:xdigit:]
The character is a hexadecimal digit
Another set of named classes is handled internally by
the shell and is not sensitive to the locale:
[:IDENT:]
The character is allowed to form part of a shell
identifier, such as a parameter name
[:IFS:]
The character is used as an input field separator,
i.e. is contained in the IFS parameter
[:IFSSPACE:]
The character is an IFS white space character; see
the documentation for IFS in the zshparam(1) man-
ual page.
[:WORD:]
The character is treated as part of a word; this
test is sensitive to the value of the WORDCHARS
parameter
Note that the square brackets are additional to those
enclosing the whole set of characters, so to test for a
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single alphanumeric character you need `[[:alnum:]]'.
Named character sets can be used alongside other types,
e.g. `[[:alpha:]0-9]'.
[^...]
[!...]
Like [...], except that it matches any character which
is not in the given set.
<[x]-[y]>
Matches any number in the range x to y, inclusive.
Either of the numbers may be omitted to make the range
open-ended; hence `<->' matches any number. To match
individual digits, the [...] form is more efficient.
Be careful when using other wildcards adjacent to pat-
terns of this form; for example, <0-9>* will actually
match any number whatsoever at the start of the string,
since the `<0-9>' will match the first digit, and the
`*' will match any others. This is a trap for the
unwary, but is in fact an inevitable consequence of the
rule that the longest possible match always succeeds.
Expressions such as `<0-9>[^[:digit:]]*' can be used
instead.
(...)
Matches the enclosed pattern. This is used for group-
ing. If the KSH_GLOB option is set, then a `@', `*',
`+', `?' or `!' immediately preceding the `(' is
treated specially, as detailed below. The option
SH_GLOB prevents bare parentheses from being used in
this way, though the KSH_GLOB option is still avail-
able.
Note that grouping cannot extend over multiple directo-
ries: it is an error to have a `/' within a group (this
only applies for patterns used in filename generation).
There is one exception: a group of the form (pat/)#
appearing as a complete path segment can match a
sequence of directories. For example, foo/(a*/)#bar
matches foo/bar, foo/any/bar, foo/any/anyother/bar, and
so on.
x|y Matches either x or y. This operator has lower prece-
dence than any other. The `|' character must be within
parentheses, to avoid interpretation as a pipeline.
^x (Requires EXTENDED_GLOB to be set.) Matches anything
except the pattern x. This has a higher precedence
than `/', so `^foo/bar' will search directories in `.'
except `./foo' for a file named `bar'.
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x~y (Requires EXTENDED_GLOB to be set.) Match anything
that matches the pattern x but does not match y. This
has lower precedence than any operator except `|', so
`*/*~foo/bar' will search for all files in all directo-
ries in `.' and then exclude `foo/bar' if there was
such a match. Multiple patterns can be excluded by
`foo~bar~baz'. In the exclusion pattern (y), `/' and
`.' are not treated specially the way they usually are
in globbing.
x# (Requires EXTENDED_GLOB to be set.) Matches zero or
more occurrences of the pattern x. This operator has
high precedence; `12#' is equivalent to `1(2#)', rather
than `(12)#'. It is an error for an unquoted `#' to
follow something which cannot be repeated; this
includes an empty string, a pattern already followed by
`##', or parentheses when part of a KSH_GLOB pattern
(for example, `!(foo)#' is invalid and must be replaced
by `*(!(foo))').
x## (Requires EXTENDED_GLOB to be set.) Matches one or
more occurrences of the pattern x. This operator has
high precedence; `12##' is equivalent to `1(2##)',
rather than `(12)##'. No more than two active `#'
characters may appear together. (Note the potential
clash with glob qualifiers in the form `1(2##)' which
should therefore be avoided.)
ksh-like Glob Operators
If the KSH_GLOB option is set, the effects of parentheses
can be modified by a preceding `@', `*', `+', `?' or `!'.
This character need not be unquoted to have special effects,
but the `(' must be.
@(...)
Match the pattern in the parentheses. (Like `(...)'.)
*(...)
Match any number of occurrences. (Like `(...)#',
except that recursive directory searching is not sup-
ported.)
+(...)
Match at least one occurrence. (Like `(...)##', except
that recursive directory searching is not supported..)
?(...)
Match zero or one occurrence. (Like `(|...)'.)
!(...)
Match anything but the expression in parentheses.
(Like `(^(...))'.)
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Precedence
The precedence of the operators given above is (highest)
`^', `/', `~', `|' (lowest); the remaining operators are
simply treated from left to right as part of a string, with
`#' and `##' applying to the shortest possible preceding
unit (i.e. a character, `?', `[...]', `<...>', or a paren-
thesised expression). As mentioned above, a `/' used as a
directory separator may not appear inside parentheses, while
a `|' must do so; in patterns used in other contexts than
filename generation (for example, in case statements and
tests within `[[...]]'), a `/' is not special; and `/' is
also not special after a `~' appearing outside parentheses
in a filename pattern.
Globbing Flags
There are various flags which affect any text to their right
up to the end of the enclosing group or to the end of the
pattern; they require the EXTENDED_GLOB option. All take the
form (#X) where X may have one of the following forms:
i Case insensitive: upper or lower case characters in
the pattern match upper or lower case characters.
l Lower case characters in the pattern match upper or
lower case characters; upper case characters in the
pattern still only match upper case characters.
I Case sensitive: locally negates the effect of i or l
from that point on.
b Activate backreferences for parenthesised groups in the
pattern; this does not work in filename generation.
When a pattern with a set of active parentheses is
matched, the strings matched by the groups are stored
in the array $match, the indices of the beginning of
the matched parentheses in the array $mbegin, and the
indices of the end in the array $mend, with the first
element of each array corresponding to the first paren-
thesised group, and so on. These arrays are not other-
wise special to the shell. The indices use the same
convention as does parameter substitution, so that ele-
ments of $mend and $mbegin may be used in subscripts;
the KSH_ARRAYS option is respected. Sets of globbing
flags are not considered parenthesised groups; only the
first nine active parentheses can be referenced.
For example,
foo="a string with a message"
if [[ $foo = (a|an)' '(#b)(*)' '* ]]; then
print ${foo[$mbegin[1],$mend[1]]}
fi
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prints `string with a'. Note that the first parenthe-
sis is before the (#b) and does not create a backrefer-
ence.
Backreferences work with all forms of pattern matching
other than filename generation, but note that when per-
forming matches on an entire array, such as
${array#pattern}, or a global substitution, such as
${param//pat/repl}, only the data for the last match
remains available. In the case of global replacements
this may still be useful. See the example for the m
flag below.
The numbering of backreferences strictly follows the
order of the opening parentheses from left to right in
the pattern string, although sets of parentheses may be
nested. There are special rules for parentheses fol-
lowed by `#' or `##'. Only the last match of the
parenthesis is remembered: for example, in `[[ abab =
(#b)([ab])# ]]', only the final `b' is stored in
match[1]. Thus extra parentheses may be necessary to
match the complete segment: for example, use
`X((ab|cd)#)Y' to match a whole string of either `ab'
or `cd' between `X' and `Y', using the value of
$match[1] rather than $match[2].
If the match fails none of the parameters is altered,
so in some cases it may be necessary to initialise them
beforehand. If some of the backreferences fail to
match -- which happens if they are in an alternate
branch which fails to match, or if they are followed by
# and matched zero times -- then the matched string is
set to the empty string, and the start and end indices
are set to -1.
Pattern matching with backreferences is slightly slower
than without.
B Deactivate backreferences, negating the effect of the b
flag from that point on.
cN,M The flag (#cN,M) can be used anywhere that the # or ##
operators can be used except in the expressions `(*/)#'
and `(*/)##' in filename generation, where `/' has spe-
cial meaning; it cannot be combined with other globbing
flags and a bad pattern error occurs if it is mis-
placed. It is equivalent to the form {N,M} in regular
expressions. The previous character or group is
required to match between N and M times, inclusive.
The form (#cN) requires exactly N matches; (#c,M) is
equivalent to specifying N as 0; (#cN,) specifies that
there is no maximum limit on the number of matches.
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m Set references to the match data for the entire string
matched; this is similar to backreferencing and does
not work in filename generation. The flag must be in
effect at the end of the pattern, i.e. not local to a
group. The parameters $MATCH, $MBEGIN and $MEND will
be set to the string matched and to the indices of the
beginning and end of the string, respectively. This is
most useful in parameter substitutions, as otherwise
the string matched is obvious.
For example,
arr=(veldt jynx grimps waqf zho buck)
print ${arr//(#m)[aeiou]/${(U)MATCH}}
forces all the matches (i.e. all vowels) into upper-
case, printing `vEldt jynx grImps wAqf zhO bUck'.
Unlike backreferences, there is no speed penalty for
using match references, other than the extra substitu-
tions required for the replacement strings in cases
such as the example shown.
M Deactivate the m flag, hence no references to match
data will be created.
anum Approximate matching: num errors are allowed in the
string matched by the pattern. The rules for this are
described in the next subsection.
s, e Unlike the other flags, these have only a local effect,
and each must appear on its own: `(#s)' and `(#e)' are
the only valid forms. The `(#s)' flag succeeds only at
the start of the test string, and the `(#e)' flag suc-
ceeds only at the end of the test string; they corre-
spond to `^' and `$' in standard regular expressions.
They are useful for matching path segments in patterns
other than those in filename generation (where path
segments are in any case treated separately). For
example, `*((#s)|/)test((#e)|/)*' matches a path seg-
ment `test' in any of the following strings: test,
test/at/start, at/end/test, in/test/middle.
Another use is in parameter substitution; for example
`${array/(#s)A*Z(#e)}' will remove only elements of an
array which match the complete pattern `A*Z'. There
are other ways of performing many operations of this
type, however the combination of the substitution oper-
ations `/' and `//' with the `(#s)' and `(#e)' flags
provides a single simple and memorable method.
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Note that assertions of the form `(^(#s))' also work,
i.e. match anywhere except at the start of the string,
although this actually means `anything except a
zero-length portion at the start of the string'; you
need to use `(""~(#s))' to match a zero-length portion
of the string not at the start.
q A `q' and everything up to the closing parenthesis of
the globbing flags are ignored by the pattern matching
code. This is intended to support the use of glob
qualifiers, see below. The result is that the pattern
`(#b)(*).c(#q.)' can be used both for globbing and for
matching against a string. In the former case, the
`(#q.)' will be treated as a glob qualifier and the
`(#b)' will not be useful, while in the latter case the
`(#b)' is useful for backreferences and the `(#q.)'
will be ignored. Note that colon modifiers in the glob
qualifiers are also not applied in ordinary pattern
matching.
u Respect the current locale in determining the presence
of multibyte characters in a pattern, provided the
shell was compiled with MULTIBYTE_SUPPORT. This over-
rides the MULTIBYTE option; the default behaviour is
taken from the option. Compare U. (Mnemonic: typi-
cally multibyte characters are from Unicode in the
UTF-8 encoding, although any extension of ASCII sup-
ported by the system library may be used.)
U All characters are considered to be a single byte long.
The opposite of u. This overrides the MULTIBYTE
option.
For example, the test string fooxx can be matched by the
pattern (#i)FOOXX, but not by (#l)FOOXX, (#i)FOO(#I)XX or
((#i)FOOX)X. The string (#ia2)readme specifies case-insen-
sitive matching of readme with up to two errors.
When using the ksh syntax for grouping both KSH_GLOB and
EXTENDED_GLOB must be set and the left parenthesis should be
preceded by @. Note also that the flags do not affect let-
ters inside [...] groups, in other words (#i)[a-z] still
matches only lowercase letters. Finally, note that when
examining whole paths case-insensitively every directory
must be searched for all files which match, so that a pat-
tern of the form (#i)/foo/bar/... is potentially slow.
Approximate Matching
When matching approximately, the shell keeps a count of the
errors found, which cannot exceed the number specified in
the (#anum) flags. Four types of error are recognised:
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1. Different characters, as in fooxbar and fooybar.
2. Transposition of characters, as in banana and abnana.
3. A character missing in the target string, as with the
pattern road and target string rod.
4. An extra character appearing in the target string, as
with stove and strove.
Thus, the pattern (#a3)abcd matches dcba, with the errors
occurring by using the first rule twice and the second once,
grouping the string as [d][cb][a] and [a][bc][d].
Non-literal parts of the pattern must match exactly, includ-
ing characters in character ranges: hence (#a1)??? matches
strings of length four, by applying rule 4 to an empty part
of the pattern, but not strings of length two, since all the
? must match. Other characters which must match exactly are
initial dots in filenames (unless the GLOB_DOTS option is
set), and all slashes in filenames, so that a/bc is two
errors from ab/c (the slash cannot be transposed with
another character). Similarly, errors are counted sepa-
rately for non-contiguous strings in the pattern, so that
(ab|cd)ef is two errors from aebf.
When using exclusion via the ~ operator, approximate match-
ing is treated entirely separately for the excluded part and
must be activated separately. Thus, (#a1)README~READ_ME
matches READ.ME but not READ_ME, as the trailing READ_ME is
matched without approximation. However,
(#a1)README~(#a1)READ_ME does not match any pattern of the
form READ?ME as all such forms are now excluded.
Apart from exclusions, there is only one overall error
count; however, the maximum errors allowed may be altered
locally, and this can be delimited by grouping. For exam-
ple, (#a1)cat((#a0)dog)fox allows one error in total, which
may not occur in the dog section, and the pattern
(#a1)cat(#a0)dog(#a1)fox is equivalent. Note that the point
at which an error is first found is the crucial one for
establishing whether to use approximation; for example,
(#a1)abc(#a0)xyz will not match abcdxyz, because the error
occurs at the `x', where approximation is turned off.
Entire path segments may be matched approximately, so that
`(#a1)/foo/d/is/available/at/the/bar' allows one error in
any path segment. This is much less efficient than without
the (#a1), however, since every directory in the path must
be scanned for a possible approximate match. It is best to
place the (#a1) after any path segments which are known to
be correct.
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Recursive Globbing
A pathname component of the form `(foo/)#' matches a path
consisting of zero or more directories matching the pattern
foo.
As a shorthand, `**/' is equivalent to `(*/)#'; note that
this therefore matches files in the current directory as
well as subdirectories. Thus:
ls (*/)#bar
or
ls **/bar
does a recursive directory search for files named `bar'
(potentially including the file `bar' in the current direc-
tory). This form does not follow symbolic links; the alter-
native form `***/' does, but is otherwise identical. Nei-
ther of these can be combined with other forms of globbing
within the same path segment; in that case, the `*' opera-
tors revert to their usual effect.
Glob Qualifiers
Patterns used for filename generation may end in a list of
qualifiers enclosed in parentheses. The qualifiers specify
which filenames that otherwise match the given pattern will
be inserted in the argument list.
If the option BARE_GLOB_QUAL is set, then a trailing set of
parentheses containing no `|' or `(' characters (or `~' if
it is special) is taken as a set of glob qualifiers. A glob
subexpression that would normally be taken as glob quali-
fiers, for example `(^x)', can be forced to be treated as
part of the glob pattern by doubling the parentheses, in
this case producing `((^x))'.
If the option EXTENDED_GLOB is set, a different syntax for
glob qualifiers is available, namely `(#qx)' where x is any
of the same glob qualifiers used in the other format. The
qualifiers must still appear at the end of the pattern.
However, with this syntax multiple glob qualifiers may be
chained together. They are treated as a logical AND of the
individual sets of flags. Also, as the syntax is unambigu-
ous, the expression will be treated as glob qualifiers just
as long any parentheses contained within it are balanced;
appearance of `|', `(' or `~' does not negate the effect.
Note that qualifiers will be recognised in this form even if
a bare glob qualifier exists at the end of the pattern, for
example `*(#q*)(.)' will recognise executable regular files
if both options are set; however, mixed syntax should proba-
bly be avoided for the sake of clarity.
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A qualifier may be any one of the following:
/ directories
F `full' (i.e. non-empty) directories. Note that the
opposite sense (^F) expands to empty directories and
all non-directories. Use (/^F) for empty directories.
. plain files
@ symbolic links
= sockets
p named pipes (FIFOs)
* executable plain files (0100)
% device files (character or block special)
%b block special files
%c character special files
r owner-readable files (0400)
w owner-writable files (0200)
x owner-executable files (0100)
A group-readable files (0040)
I group-writable files (0020)
E group-executable files (0010)
R world-readable files (0004)
W world-writable files (0002)
X world-executable files (0001)
s setuid files (04000)
S setgid files (02000)
t files with the sticky bit (01000)
fspec
files with access rights matching spec. This spec may
be a octal number optionally preceded by a `=', a `+',
or a `-'. If none of these characters is given, the
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behavior is the same as for `='. The octal number
describes the mode bits to be expected, if combined
with a `=', the value given must match the file-modes
exactly, with a `+', at least the bits in the given
number must be set in the file-modes, and with a `-',
the bits in the number must not be set. Giving a `?'
instead of a octal digit anywhere in the number ensures
that the corresponding bits in the file-modes are not
checked, this is only useful in combination with `='.
If the qualifier `f' is followed by any other character
anything up to the next matching character (`[', `{',
and `<' match `]', `}', and `>' respectively, any other
character matches itself) is taken as a list of
comma-separated sub-specs. Each sub-spec may be either
an octal number as described above or a list of any of
the characters `u', `g', `o', and `a', followed by a
`=', a `+', or a `-', followed by a list of any of the
characters `r', `w', `x', `s', and `t', or an octal
digit. The first list of characters specify which
access rights are to be checked. If a `u' is given,
those for the owner of the file are used, if a `g' is
given, those of the group are checked, a `o' means to
test those of other users, and the `a' says to test all
three groups. The `=', `+', and `-' again says how the
modes are to be checked and have the same meaning as
described for the first form above. The second list of
characters finally says which access rights are to be
expected: `r' for read access, `w' for write access,
`x' for the right to execute the file (or to search a
directory), `s' for the setuid and setgid bits, and `t'
for the sticky bit.
Thus, `*(f70?)' gives the files for which the owner has
read, write, and execute permission, and for which
other group members have no rights, independent of the
permissions for other users. The pattern `*(f-100)'
gives all files for which the owner does not have exe-
cute permission, and `*(f:gu+w,o-rx:)' gives the files
for which the owner and the other members of the group
have at least write permission, and for which other
users don't have read or execute permission.
estring
+cmd The string will be executed as shell code. The file-
name will be included in the list if and only if the
code returns a zero status (usually the status of the
last command).
In the first form, the first character after the `e'
will be used as a separator and anything up to the next
matching separator will be taken as the string; `[',
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`{', and `<' match `]', `}', and `>', respectively,
while any other character matches itself. Note that
expansions must be quoted in the string to prevent them
from being expanded before globbing is done. string is
then executed as shell code. The string globqual is
appended to the array zsh_eval_context the duration of
execution.
During the execution of string the filename currently
being tested is available in the parameter REPLY; the
parameter may be altered to a string to be inserted
into the list instead of the original filename. In
addition, the parameter reply may be set to an array or
a string, which overrides the value of REPLY. If set
to an array, the latter is inserted into the command
line word by word.
For example, suppose a directory contains a single file
`lonely'. Then the expression
`*(e:'reply=(${REPLY}{1,2})':)' will cause the words
`lonely1' and `lonely2' to be inserted into the command
line. Note the quoting of string.
The form +cmd has the same effect, but no delimiters
appear around cmd. Instead, cmd is taken as the long-
est sequence of characters following the + that are
alphanumeric or underscore. Typically cmd will be the
name of a shell function that contains the appropriate
test. For example,
nt() { [[ $REPLY -nt $NTREF ]] }
NTREF=reffile
ls -l *(+nt)
lists all files in the directory that have been modi-
fied more recently than reffile.
ddev files on the device dev
l[-|+]ct
files having a link count less than ct (-), greater
than ct (+), or equal to ct
U files owned by the effective user ID
G files owned by the effective group ID
uid files owned by user ID id if that is a number. Other-
wise, id specifies a user name: the character after the
`u' will be taken as a separator and the string between
it and the next matching separator will be taken as a
user name. The starting separators `[', `{', and `<'
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match the final separators `]', `}', and `>', respec-
tively; any other character matches itself. The
selected files are those owned by this user. For exam-
ple, `u:foo:' or `u[foo]' selects files owned by user
`foo'.
gid like uid but with group IDs or names
a[Mwhms][-|+]n
files accessed exactly n days ago. Files accessed
within the last n days are selected using a negative
value for n (-n). Files accessed more than n days ago
are selected by a positive n value (+n). Optional unit
specifiers `M', `w', `h', `m' or `s' (e.g. `ah5') cause
the check to be performed with months (of 30 days),
weeks, hours, minutes or seconds instead of days,
respectively. An explicit `d' for days is also
allowed.
Any fractional part of the difference between the
access time and the current part in the appropriate
units is ignored in the comparison. For instance,
`echo *(ah-5)' would echo files accessed within the
last five hours, while `echo *(ah+5)' would echo files
accessed at least six hours ago, as times strictly
between five and six hours are treated as five hours.
m[Mwhms][-|+]n
like the file access qualifier, except that it uses the
file modification time.
c[Mwhms][-|+]n
like the file access qualifier, except that it uses the
file inode change time.
L[+|-]n
files less than n bytes (-), more than n bytes (+), or
exactly n bytes in length.
If this flag is directly followed by a `k' (`K'), `m'
(`M'), or `p' (`P') (e.g. `Lk-50') the check is per-
formed with kilobytes, megabytes, or blocks (of 512
bytes) instead. In this case a file is regarded as
"exactly" the size if the file size rounded up to the
next unit is equal to the test size. Hence `*(Lm1)'
matches files from 1 byte up to 1 Megabyte inclusive.
Note also that the set of files "less than" the test
size only includes files that would not match the
equality test; hence `*(Lm-1)' only matches files of
zero size.
^ negates all qualifiers following it
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- toggles between making the qualifiers work on symbolic
links (the default) and the files they point to
M sets the MARK_DIRS option for the current pattern
T appends a trailing qualifier mark to the filenames,
analogous to the LIST_TYPES option, for the current
pattern (overrides M)
N sets the NULL_GLOB option for the current pattern
D sets the GLOB_DOTS option for the current pattern
n sets the NUMERIC_GLOB_SORT option for the current pat-
tern
oc specifies how the names of the files should be sorted.
If c is n they are sorted by name (the default); if it
is L they are sorted depending on the size (length) of
the files; if l they are sorted by the number of links;
if a, m, or c they are sorted by the time of the last
access, modification, or inode change respectively; if
d, files in subdirectories appear before those in the
current directory at each level of the search -- this
is best combined with other criteria, for example
`odon' to sort on names for files within the same
directory; if N, no sorting is performed. Note that a,
m, and c compare the age against the current time,
hence the first name in the list is the youngest file.
Also note that the modifiers ^ and - are used, so
`*(^-oL)' gives a list of all files sorted by file size
in descending order, following any symbolic links.
Unless oN is used, multiple order specifiers may occur
to resolve ties.
oe and o+ are special cases; they are each followed by
shell code, delimited as for the e glob qualifier and
the + glob qualifier respectively (see above). The
code is executed for each matched file with the parame-
ter REPLY set to the name of the file on entry and
globsort appended to zsh_eval_context. The code should
modify the parameter REPLY in some fashion. On return,
the value of the parameter is used instead of the file
name as the string on which to sort. Unlike other sort
operators, oe and o+ may be repeated, but note that the
maximum number of sort operators of any kind that may
appear in any glob expression is 12.
Oc like `o', but sorts in descending order; i.e. `*(^oc)'
is the same as `*(Oc)' and `*(^Oc)' is the same as
`*(oc)'; `Od' puts files in the current directory
before those in subdirectories at each level of the
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search.
[beg[,end]]
specifies which of the matched filenames should be
included in the returned list. The syntax is the same
as for array subscripts. beg and the optional end may
be mathematical expressions. As in parameter subscript-
ing they may be negative to make them count from the
last match backward. E.g.: `*(-OL[1,3])' gives a list
of the names of the three largest files.
Pstring
The string will be prepended to each glob match as a
separate word. string is delimited in the same way as
arguments to the e glob qualifier described above. The
qualifier can be repeated; the words are prepended sep-
arately so that the resulting command line contains the
words in the same order they were given in the list of
glob qualifiers.
A typical use for this is to prepend an option before
all occurrences of a file name; for example, the pat-
tern `*(P:-f:)' produces the command line arguments `-f
file1 -f file2 ...'
More than one of these lists can be combined, separated by
commas. The whole list matches if at least one of the sub-
lists matches (they are `or'ed, the qualifiers in the sub-
lists are `and'ed). Some qualifiers, however, affect all
matches generated, independent of the sublist in which they
are given. These are the qualifiers `M', `T', `N', `D',
`n', `o', `O' and the subscripts given in brackets
(`[...]').
If a `:' appears in a qualifier list, the remainder of the
expression in parenthesis is interpreted as a modifier (see
the section `Modifiers' in the section `History Expansion').
Each modifier must be introduced by a separate `:'. Note
also that the result after modification does not have to be
an existing file. The name of any existing file can be fol-
lowed by a modifier of the form `(:..)' even if no actual
filename generation is performed, although note that the
presence of the parentheses causes the entire expression to
be subjected to any global pattern matching options such as
NULL_GLOB. Thus:
ls *(-/)
lists all directories and symbolic links that point to
directories, and
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ls *(%W)
lists all world-writable device files in the current direc-
tory, and
ls *(W,X)
lists all files in the current directory that are
world-writable or world-executable, and
echo /tmp/foo*(u0^@:t)
outputs the basename of all root-owned files beginning with
the string `foo' in /tmp, ignoring symlinks, and
ls *.*~(lex|parse).[ch](^D^l1)
lists all files having a link count of one whose names con-
tain a dot (but not those starting with a dot, since
GLOB_DOTS is explicitly switched off) except for lex.c,
lex.h, parse.c and parse.h.
print b*.pro(#q:s/pro/shmo/)(#q.:s/builtin/shmiltin/)
demonstrates how colon modifiers and other qualifiers may be
chained together. The ordinary qualifier `.' is applied
first, then the colon modifiers in order from left to right.
So if EXTENDED_GLOB is set and the base pattern matches the
regular file builtin.pro, the shell will print
`shmiltin.shmo'.
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following
attributes:
+---------------+------------------+
|ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
+---------------+------------------+
|Availability | shell/zsh |
+---------------+------------------+
|Stability | Volatile |
+---------------+------------------+
NOTES
This software was built from source available at
https://java.net/projects/solaris-userland. The original
community source was downloaded from http://down-
loads.source-
forge.net/project/zsh/zsh/5.0.5/zsh-5.0.5.tar.bz2
Further information about this software can be found on the
zsh 5.0.5 Last change: January 5, 2014 49
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open source community website at http://www.zsh.org/.
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User Commands ZSHPARAM(1)
NAME
zshparam - zsh parameters
DESCRIPTION
A parameter has a name, a value, and a number of attributes.
A name may be any sequence of alphanumeric characters and
underscores, or the single characters `*', `@', `#', `?',
`-', `$', or `!'. The value may be a scalar (a string), an
integer, an array (indexed numerically), or an associative
array (an unordered set of name-value pairs, indexed by
name). To declare the type of a parameter, or to assign a
scalar or integer value to a parameter, use the typeset
builtin.
The value of a scalar or integer parameter may also be
assigned by writing:
name=value
If the integer attribute, -i, is set for name, the value is
subject to arithmetic evaluation. Furthermore, by replacing
`=' with `+=', a parameter can be added or appended to. See
the section `Array Parameters' for additional forms of
assignment.
To refer to the value of a parameter, write `$name' or
`${name}'. See Parameter Expansion in zshexpn(1) for com-
plete details.
In the parameter lists that follow, the mark `<S>' indicates
that the parameter is special. Special parameters cannot
have their type changed or their readonly attribute turned
off, and if a special parameter is unset, then later recre-
ated, the special properties will be retained. `<Z>' indi-
cates that the parameter does not exist when the shell ini-
tializes in sh or ksh emulation mode.
ARRAY PARAMETERS
To assign an array value, write one of:
set -A name value ...
name=(value ...)
If no parameter name exists, an ordinary array parameter is
created. If the parameter name exists and is a scalar, it
is replaced by a new array. Ordinary array parameters may
also be explicitly declared with:
typeset -a name
Associative arrays must be declared before assignment, by
using:
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typeset -A name
When name refers to an associative array, the list in an
assignment is interpreted as alternating keys and values:
set -A name key value ...
name=(key value ...)
Every key must have a value in this case. Note that this
assigns to the entire array, deleting any elements that do
not appear in the list.
To create an empty array (including associative arrays), use
one of:
set -A name
name=()
Array Subscripts
Individual elements of an array may be selected using a sub-
script. A subscript of the form `[exp]' selects the single
element exp, where exp is an arithmetic expression which
will be subject to arithmetic expansion as if it were sur-
rounded by `$((...))'. The elements are numbered beginning
with 1, unless the KSH_ARRAYS option is set in which case
they are numbered from zero.
Subscripts may be used inside braces used to delimit a
parameter name, thus `${foo[2]}' is equivalent to `$foo[2]'.
If the KSH_ARRAYS option is set, the braced form is the only
one that works, as bracketed expressions otherwise are not
treated as subscripts.
If the KSH_ARRAYS option is not set, then by default
accesses to an array element with a subscript that evaluates
to zero return an empty string, while an attempt to write
such an element is treated as an error. For backward com-
patibility the KSH_ZERO_SUBSCRIPT option can be set to cause
subscript values 0 and 1 to be equivalent; see the descrip-
tion of the option in zshoptions(1).
The same subscripting syntax is used for associative arrays,
except that no arithmetic expansion is applied to exp. How-
ever, the parsing rules for arithmetic expressions still
apply, which affects the way that certain special characters
must be protected from interpretation. See Subscript Pars-
ing below for details.
A subscript of the form `[*]' or `[@]' evaluates to all ele-
ments of an array; there is no difference between the two
except when they appear within double quotes. `"$foo[*]"'
evaluates to `"$foo[1] $foo[2] ..."', whereas `"$foo[@]"'
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evaluates to `"$foo[1]" "$foo[2]" ...'. For associative
arrays, `[*]' or `[@]' evaluate to all the values, in no
particular order. Note that this does not substitute the
keys; see the documentation for the `k' flag under Parameter
Expansion Flags in zshexpn(1) for complete details. When an
array parameter is referenced as `$name' (with no subscript)
it evaluates to `$name[*]', unless the KSH_ARRAYS option is
set in which case it evaluates to `${name[0]}' (for an asso-
ciative array, this means the value of the key `0', which
may not exist even if there are values for other keys).
A subscript of the form `[exp1,exp2]' selects all elements
in the range exp1 to exp2, inclusive. (Associative arrays
are unordered, and so do not support ranges.) If one of the
subscripts evaluates to a negative number, say -n, then the
nth element from the end of the array is used. Thus
`$foo[-3]' is the third element from the end of the array
foo, and `$foo[1,-1]' is the same as `$foo[*]'.
Subscripting may also be performed on non-array values, in
which case the subscripts specify a substring to be
extracted. For example, if FOO is set to `foobar', then
`echo $FOO[2,5]' prints `ooba'.
Array Element Assignment
A subscript may be used on the left side of an assignment
like so:
name[exp]=value
In this form of assignment the element or range specified by
exp is replaced by the expression on the right side. An
array (but not an associative array) may be created by
assignment to a range or element. Arrays do not nest, so
assigning a parenthesized list of values to an element or
range changes the number of elements in the array, shifting
the other elements to accommodate the new values. (This is
not supported for associative arrays.)
This syntax also works as an argument to the typeset com-
mand:
typeset "name[exp]"=value
The value may not be a parenthesized list in this case; only
single-element assignments may be made with typeset. Note
that quotes are necessary in this case to prevent the brack-
ets from being interpreted as filename generation operators.
The noglob precommand modifier could be used instead.
To delete an element of an ordinary array, assign `()' to
that element. To delete an element of an associative array,
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use the unset command:
unset "name[exp]"
Subscript Flags
If the opening bracket, or the comma in a range, in any sub-
script expression is directly followed by an opening paren-
thesis, the string up to the matching closing one is consid-
ered to be a list of flags, as in `name[(flags)exp]'.
The flags s, n and b take an argument; the delimiter is
shown below as `:', but any character, or the matching pairs
`(...)', `{...}', `[...]', or `<...>', may be used, but note
that `<...>' can only be used if the subscript is inside a
double quoted expression or a parameter substitution
enclosed in braces as otherwise the expression is inter-
preted as a redirection.
The flags currently understood are:
w If the parameter subscripted is a scalar then this flag
makes subscripting work on words instead of characters.
The default word separator is whitespace. This flag
may not be used with the i or I flag.
s:string:
This gives the string that separates words (for use
with the w flag). The delimiter character : is arbi-
trary; see above.
p Recognize the same escape sequences as the print
builtin in the string argument of a subsequent `s'
flag.
f If the parameter subscripted is a scalar then this flag
makes subscripting work on lines instead of characters,
i.e. with elements separated by newlines. This is a
shorthand for `pws:\n:'.
r Reverse subscripting: if this flag is given, the exp is
taken as a pattern and the result is the first matching
array element, substring or word (if the parameter is
an array, if it is a scalar, or if it is a scalar and
the `w' flag is given, respectively). The subscript
used is the number of the matching element, so that
pairs of subscripts such as `$foo[(r)??,3]' and
`$foo[(r)??,(r)f*]' are possible if the parameter is
not an associative array. If the parameter is an asso-
ciative array, only the value part of each pair is com-
pared to the pattern, and the result is that value.
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If a search through an ordinary array failed, the
search sets the subscript to one past the end of the
array, and hence ${array[(r)pattern]} will substitute
the empty string. Thus the success of a search can be
tested by using the (i) flag, for example (assuming the
option KSH_ARRAYS is not in effect):
[[ ${array[(i)pattern]} -le ${#array} ]]
If KSH_ARRAYS is in effect, the -le should be replaced
by -lt.
R Like `r', but gives the last match. For associative
arrays, gives all possible matches. May be used for
assigning to ordinary array elements, but not for
assigning to associative arrays. On failure, for nor-
mal arrays this has the effect of returning the element
corresponding to subscript 0; this is empty unless one
of the options KSH_ARRAYS or KSH_ZERO_SUBSCRIPT is in
effect.
Note that in subscripts with both `r' and `R' pattern
characters are active even if they were substituted for
a parameter (regardless of the setting of GLOB_SUBST
which controls this feature in normal pattern match-
ing). The flag `e' can be added to inhibit pattern
matching. As this flag does not inhibit other forms of
substitution, care is still required; using a parameter
to hold the key has the desired effect:
key2='original key'
print ${array[(Re)$key2]}
i Like `r', but gives the index of the match instead;
this may not be combined with a second argument. On
the left side of an assignment, behaves like `r'. For
associative arrays, the key part of each pair is com-
pared to the pattern, and the first matching key found
is the result. On failure substitutes the length of
the array plus one, as discussed under the description
of `r', or the empty string for an associative array.
I Like `i', but gives the index of the last match, or all
possible matching keys in an associative array. On
failure substitutes 0, or the empty string for an asso-
ciative array. This flag is best when testing for val-
ues or keys that do not exist.
k If used in a subscript on an associative array, this
flag causes the keys to be interpreted as patterns, and
returns the value for the first key found where exp is
matched by the key. Note this could be any such key as
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no ordering of associative arrays is defined. This
flag does not work on the left side of an assignment to
an associative array element. If used on another type
of parameter, this behaves like `r'.
K On an associative array this is like `k' but returns
all values where exp is matched by the keys. On other
types of parameters this has the same effect as `R'.
n:expr:
If combined with `r', `R', `i' or `I', makes them give
the nth or nth last match (if expr evaluates to n).
This flag is ignored when the array is associative.
The delimiter character : is arbitrary; see above.
b:expr:
If combined with `r', `R', `i' or `I', makes them begin
at the nth or nth last element, word, or character (if
expr evaluates to n). This flag is ignored when the
array is associative. The delimiter character : is
arbitrary; see above.
e This flag causes any pattern matching that would be
performed on the subscript to use plain string matching
instead. Hence `${array[(re)*]}' matches only the
array element whose value is *. Note that other forms
of substitution such as parameter substitution are not
inhibited.
This flag can also be used to force * or @ to be inter-
preted as a single key rather than as a reference to
all values. It may be used for either purpose on the
left side of an assignment.
See Parameter Expansion Flags (zshexpn(1)) for additional
ways to manipulate the results of array subscripting.
Subscript Parsing
This discussion applies mainly to associative array key
strings and to patterns used for reverse subscripting (the
`r', `R', `i', etc. flags), but it may also affect parameter
substitutions that appear as part of an arithmetic expres-
sion in an ordinary subscript.
It is possible to avoid the use of subscripts in assignments
to associative array elements by using the syntax:
aa+=('key with "*strange*" characters' 'value string')
This adds a new key/value pair if the key is not already
present, and replaces the value for the existing key if it
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is.
The basic rule to remember when writing a subscript expres-
sion is that all text between the opening `[' and the clos-
ing `]' is interpreted as if it were in double quotes (see
zshmisc(1)). However, unlike double quotes which normally
cannot nest, subscript expressions may appear inside dou-
ble-quoted strings or inside other subscript expressions (or
both!), so the rules have two important differences.
The first difference is that brackets (`[' and `]') must
appear as balanced pairs in a subscript expression unless
they are preceded by a backslash (`\'). Therefore, within a
subscript expression (and unlike true double-quoting) the
sequence `\[' becomes `[', and similarly `\]' becomes `]'.
This applies even in cases where a backslash is not normally
required; for example, the pattern `[^[]' (to match any
character other than an open bracket) should be written
`[^\[]' in a reverse-subscript pattern. However, note that
`\[^\[\]' and even `\[^[]' mean the same thing, because
backslashes are always stripped when they appear before
brackets!
The same rule applies to parentheses (`(' and `)') and
braces (`{' and `}'): they must appear either in balanced
pairs or preceded by a backslash, and backslashes that pro-
tect parentheses or braces are removed during parsing. This
is because parameter expansions may be surrounded by bal-
anced braces, and subscript flags are introduced by balanced
parentheses.
The second difference is that a double-quote (`"') may
appear as part of a subscript expression without being pre-
ceded by a backslash, and therefore that the two characters
`\"' remain as two characters in the subscript (in true dou-
ble-quoting, `\"' becomes `"'). However, because of the
standard shell quoting rules, any double-quotes that appear
must occur in balanced pairs unless preceded by a backslash.
This makes it more difficult to write a subscript expression
that contains an odd number of double-quote characters, but
the reason for this difference is so that when a subscript
expression appears inside true double-quotes, one can still
write `\"' (rather than `\\\"') for `"'.
To use an odd number of double quotes as a key in an assign-
ment, use the typeset builtin and an enclosing pair of dou-
ble quotes; to refer to the value of that key, again use
double quotes:
typeset -A aa
typeset "aa[one\"two\"three\"quotes]"=QQQ
print "$aa[one\"two\"three\"quotes]"
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It is important to note that the quoting rules do not change
when a parameter expansion with a subscript is nested inside
another subscript expression. That is, it is not necessary
to use additional backslashes within the inner subscript
expression; they are removed only once, from the innermost
subscript outwards. Parameters are also expanded from the
innermost subscript first, as each expansion is encountered
left to right in the outer expression.
A further complication arises from a way in which subscript
parsing is not different from double quote parsing. As in
true double-quoting, the sequences `\*', and `\@' remain as
two characters when they appear in a subscript expression.
To use a literal `*' or `@' as an associative array key, the
`e' flag must be used:
typeset -A aa
aa[(e)*]=star
print $aa[(e)*]
A last detail must be considered when reverse subscripting
is performed. Parameters appearing in the subscript expres-
sion are first expanded and then the complete expression is
interpreted as a pattern. This has two effects: first,
parameters behave as if GLOB_SUBST were on (and it cannot be
turned off); second, backslashes are interpreted twice, once
when parsing the array subscript and again when parsing the
pattern. In a reverse subscript, it's necessary to use four
backslashes to cause a single backslash to match literally
in the pattern. For complex patterns, it is often easiest
to assign the desired pattern to a parameter and then refer
to that parameter in the subscript, because then the back-
slashes, brackets, parentheses, etc., are seen only when the
complete expression is converted to a pattern. To match the
value of a parameter literally in a reverse subscript,
rather than as a pattern, use `${(q)name}' (see zshexpn(1))
to quote the expanded value.
Note that the `k' and `K' flags are reverse subscripting for
an ordinary array, but are not reverse subscripting for an
associative array! (For an associative array, the keys in
the array itself are interpreted as patterns by those flags;
the subscript is a plain string in that case.)
One final note, not directly related to subscripting: the
numeric names of positional parameters (described below) are
parsed specially, so for example `$2foo' is equivalent to
`${2}foo'. Therefore, to use subscript syntax to extract a
substring from a positional parameter, the expansion must be
surrounded by braces; for example, `${2[3,5]}' evaluates to
the third through fifth characters of the second positional
parameter, but `$2[3,5]' is the entire second parameter
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concatenated with the filename generation pattern `[3,5]'.
POSITIONAL PARAMETERS
The positional parameters provide access to the command-line
arguments of a shell function, shell script, or the shell
itself; see the section `Invocation', and also the section
`Functions'. The parameter n, where n is a number, is the
nth positional parameter. The parameter `$0' is a special
case, see the section `Parameters Set By The Shell'.
The parameters *, @ and argv are arrays containing all the
positional parameters; thus `$argv[n]', etc., is equivalent
to simply `$n'. Note that the options KSH_ARRAYS or
KSH_ZERO_SUBSCRIPT apply to these arrays as well, so with
either of those options set, `${argv[0]}' is equivalent to
`$1' and so on.
Positional parameters may be changed after the shell or
function starts by using the set builtin, by assigning to
the argv array, or by direct assignment of the form
`n=value' where n is the number of the positional parameter
to be changed. This also creates (with empty values) any of
the positions from 1 to n that do not already have values.
Note that, because the positional parameters form an array,
an array assignment of the form `n=(value ...)' is allowed,
and has the effect of shifting all the values at positions
greater than n by as many positions as necessary to accommo-
date the new values.
LOCAL PARAMETERS
Shell function executions delimit scopes for shell parame-
ters. (Parameters are dynamically scoped.) The typeset
builtin, and its alternative forms declare, integer, local
and readonly (but not export), can be used to declare a
parameter as being local to the innermost scope.
When a parameter is read or assigned to, the innermost
existing parameter of that name is used. (That is, the
local parameter hides any less-local parameter.) However,
assigning to a non-existent parameter, or declaring a new
parameter with export, causes it to be created in the outer-
most scope.
Local parameters disappear when their scope ends. unset can
be used to delete a parameter while it is still in scope;
any outer parameter of the same name remains hidden.
Special parameters may also be made local; they retain their
special attributes unless either the existing or the
newly-created parameter has the -h (hide) attribute. This
may have unexpected effects: there is no default value, so
if there is no assignment at the point the variable is made
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local, it will be set to an empty value (or zero in the case
of integers). The following:
typeset PATH=/new/directory:$PATH
is valid for temporarily allowing the shell or programmes
called from it to find the programs in /new/directory inside
a function.
Note that the restriction in older versions of zsh that
local parameters were never exported has been removed.
PARAMETERS SET BY THE SHELL
The following parameters are automatically set by the shell:
! <S>
The process ID of the last command started in the back-
ground with &, or put into the background with the bg
builtin.
# <S>
The number of positional parameters in decimal. Note
that some confusion may occur with the syntax $#param
which substitutes the length of param. Use ${#} to
resolve ambiguities. In particular, the sequence
`$#-...' in an arithmetic expression is interpreted as
the length of the parameter -, q.v.
ARGC <S> <Z>
Same as #.
$ <S>
The process ID of this shell. Note that this indicates
the original shell started by invoking zsh; all pro-
cesses forked from the shells without executing a new
program, such as subshells started by (...), substitute
the same value.
- <S>
Flags supplied to the shell on invocation or by the set
or setopt commands.
* <S>
An array containing the positional parameters.
argv <S> <Z>
Same as *. Assigning to argv changes the local posi-
tional parameters, but argv is not itself a local
parameter. Deleting argv with unset in any function
deletes it everywhere, although only the innermost
positional parameter array is deleted (so * and @ in
other scopes are not affected).
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@ <S>
Same as argv[@], even when argv is not set.
? <S>
The exit status returned by the last command.
0 <S>
The name used to invoke the current shell. If the
FUNCTION_ARGZERO option is set, this is set temporarily
within a shell function to the name of the function,
and within a sourced script to the name of the script.
status <S> <Z>
Same as ?.
pipestatus <S> <Z>
An array containing the exit statuses returned by all
commands in the last pipeline.
_ <S>
The last argument of the previous command. Also, this
parameter is set in the environment of every command
executed to the full pathname of the command.
CPUTYPE
The machine type (microprocessor class or machine
model), as determined at run time.
EGID <S>
The effective group ID of the shell process. If you
have sufficient privileges, you may change the effec-
tive group ID of the shell process by assigning to this
parameter. Also (assuming sufficient privileges), you
may start a single command with a different effective
group ID by `(EGID=gid; command)'
EUID <S>
The effective user ID of the shell process. If you
have sufficient privileges, you may change the effec-
tive user ID of the shell process by assigning to this
parameter. Also (assuming sufficient privileges), you
may start a single command with a different effective
user ID by `(EUID=uid; command)'
ERRNO <S>
The value of errno (see errno(3)) as set by the most
recently failed system call. This value is system
dependent and is intended for debugging purposes. It
is also useful with the zsh/system module which allows
the number to be turned into a name or message.
GID <S>
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The real group ID of the shell process. If you have
sufficient privileges, you may change the group ID of
the shell process by assigning to this parameter. Also
(assuming sufficient privileges), you may start a sin-
gle command under a different group ID by `(GID=gid;
command)'
HISTCMD
The current history line number in an interactive
shell, in other words the line number for the command
that caused $HISTCMD to be read.
HOST The current hostname.
LINENO <S>
The line number of the current line within the current
script, sourced file, or shell function being executed,
whichever was started most recently. Note that in the
case of shell functions the line number refers to the
function as it appeared in the original definition, not
necessarily as displayed by the functions builtin.
LOGNAME
If the corresponding variable is not set in the envi-
ronment of the shell, it is initialized to the login
name corresponding to the current login session. This
parameter is exported by default but this can be dis-
abled using the typeset builtin.
MACHTYPE
The machine type (microprocessor class or machine
model), as determined at compile time.
OLDPWD
The previous working directory. This is set when the
shell initializes and whenever the directory changes.
OPTARG <S>
The value of the last option argument processed by the
getopts command.
OPTIND <S>
The index of the last option argument processed by the
getopts command.
OSTYPE
The operating system, as determined at compile time.
PPID <S>
The process ID of the parent of the shell. As for $$,
the value indicates the parent of the original shell
and does not change in subshells.
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PWD The present working directory. This is set when the
shell initializes and whenever the directory changes.
RANDOM <S>
A pseudo-random integer from 0 to 32767, newly gener-
ated each time this parameter is referenced. The ran-
dom number generator can be seeded by assigning a
numeric value to RANDOM.
The values of RANDOM form an intentionally-repeatable
pseudo-random sequence; subshells that reference RANDOM
will result in identical pseudo-random values unless
the value of RANDOM is referenced or seeded in the par-
ent shell in between subshell invocations.
SECONDS <S>
The number of seconds since shell invocation. If this
parameter is assigned a value, then the value returned
upon reference will be the value that was assigned plus
the number of seconds since the assignment.
Unlike other special parameters, the type of the SEC-
ONDS parameter can be changed using the typeset com-
mand. Only integer and one of the floating point types
are allowed. For example, `typeset -F SECONDS' causes
the value to be reported as a floating point number.
The value is available to microsecond accuracy,
although the shell may show more or fewer digits
depending on the use of typeset. See the documentation
for the builtin typeset in zshbuiltins(1) for more
details.
SHLVL <S>
Incremented by one each time a new shell is started.
signals
An array containing the names of the signals.
TRY_BLOCK_ERROR <S>
In an always block, indicates whether the preceding
list of code caused an error. The value is 1 to indi-
cate an error, 0 otherwise. It may be reset, clearing
the error condition. See Complex Commands in zsh-
misc(1)
TTY The name of the tty associated with the shell, if any.
TTYIDLE <S>
The idle time of the tty associated with the shell in
seconds or -1 if there is no such tty.
UID <S>
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The real user ID of the shell process. If you have
sufficient privileges, you may change the user ID of
the shell by assigning to this parameter. Also (assum-
ing sufficient privileges), you may start a single com-
mand under a different user ID by `(UID=uid; command)'
USERNAME <S>
The username corresponding to the real user ID of the
shell process. If you have sufficient privileges, you
may change the username (and also the user ID and group
ID) of the shell by assigning to this parameter. Also
(assuming sufficient privileges), you may start a sin-
gle command under a different username (and user ID and
group ID) by `(USERNAME=username; command)'
VENDOR
The vendor, as determined at compile time.
zsh_eval_context <S> <Z> (ZSH_EVAL_CONTEXT <S>)
An array (colon-separated list) indicating the context
of shell code that is being run. Each time a piece of
shell code that is stored within the shell is executed
a string is temporarily appended to the array to indi-
cate the type of operation that is being performed.
Read in order the array gives an indication of the
stack of operations being performed with the most imme-
diate context last.
Note that the variable does not give information on
syntactic context such as pipelines or subshells. Use
$ZSH_SUBSHELL to detect subshells.
The context is one of the following:
cmdarg
Code specified by the -c option to the command
line that invoked the shell.
cmdsubst
Command substitution using the `...` or $(...)
construct.
equalsubst
File substitution using the =(...) construct.
eval Code executed by the eval builtin.
evalautofunc
Code executed with the KSH_AUTOLOAD mechanism in
order to define an autoloaded function.
fc Code from the shell history executed by the -e
option to the fc builtin.
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file Lines of code being read directly from a file, for
example by the source builtin.
filecode
Lines of code being read from a .zwc file instead
of directly from the source file.
globqual
Code executed by the e or + glob qualifier.
globsort
Code executed to order files by the o glob quali-
fier.
insubst
File substitution using the <(...) construct.
loadautofunc
Code read directly from a file to define an
autoloaded function.
outsubst
File substitution using the >(...) construct.
sched
Code executed by the sched builtin.
shfunc
A shell function.
stty Code passed to stty by the STTY environment vari-
able. Normally this is passed directly to the
system's stty command, so this value is unlikely
to be seen in practice.
style
Code executed as part of a style retrieved by the
zstyle builtin from the zsh/zutil module.
toplevel
The highest execution level of a script or inter-
active shell.
trap Code executed as a trap defined by the trap
builtin. Traps defined as functions have the con-
text shfunc. As traps are asynchronous they may
have a different hierarchy from other code.
zpty Code executed by the zpty builtin from the
zsh/zpty module.
zregexparse-guard
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Code executed as a guard by the zregexparse com-
mand from the zsh/zutil module.
zregexparse-action
Code executed as an action by the zregexparse com-
mand from the zsh/zutil module.
ZSH_NAME
Expands to the basename of the command used to invoke
this instance of zsh.
ZSH_PATCHLEVEL
The revision string for the version number of the
ChangeLog file in the zsh distribution. This is most
useful in order to keep track of versions of the shell
during development between releases; hence most users
should not use it and should instead rely on $ZSH_VER-
SION.
zsh_scheduled_events
See the section `The zsh/sched Module' in zshmod-
ules(1).
ZSH_SUBSHELL
Readonly integer. Initially zero, incremented each
time the shell forks to create a subshell for executing
code. Hence `(print $ZSH_SUBSHELL)' and `print $(print
$ZSH_SUBSHELL)' output 1, while `( (print $ZSH_SUB-
SHELL) )' outputs 2.
ZSH_VERSION
The version number of the release of zsh.
PARAMETERS USED BY THE SHELL
The following parameters are used by the shell.
In cases where there are two parameters with an upper- and
lowercase form of the same name, such as path and PATH, the
lowercase form is an array and the uppercase form is a
scalar with the elements of the array joined together by
colons. These are similar to tied parameters created via
`typeset -T'. The normal use for the colon-separated form
is for exporting to the environment, while the array form is
easier to manipulate within the shell. Note that unsetting
either of the pair will unset the other; they retain their
special properties when recreated, and recreating one of the
pair will recreate the other.
ARGV0
If exported, its value is used as the argv[0] of exter-
nal commands. Usually used in constructs like
`ARGV0=emacs nethack'.
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BAUD The rate in bits per second at which data reaches the
terminal. The line editor will use this value in order
to compensate for a slow terminal by delaying updates
to the display until necessary. If the parameter is
unset or the value is zero the compensation mechanism
is turned off. The parameter is not set by default.
This parameter may be profitably set in some circum-
stances, e.g. for slow modems dialing into a communi-
cations server, or on a slow wide area network. It
should be set to the baud rate of the slowest part of
the link for best performance.
cdpath <S> <Z> (CDPATH <S>)
An array (colon-separated list) of directories specify-
ing the search path for the cd command.
COLUMNS <S>
The number of columns for this terminal session. Used
for printing select lists and for the line editor.
CORRECT_IGNORE
If set, is treated as a pattern during spelling correc-
tion. Any potential correction that matches the pat-
tern is ignored. For example, if the value is `_*'
then completion functions (which, by convention, have
names beginning with `_') will never be offered as
spelling corrections. The pattern does not apply to
the correction of file names, as applied by the COR-
RECT_ALL option (so with the example just given files
beginning with `_' in the current directory would still
be completed).
DIRSTACKSIZE
The maximum size of the directory stack, by default
there is no limit. If the stack gets larger than this,
it will be truncated automatically. This is useful
with the AUTO_PUSHD option.
ENV If the ENV environment variable is set when zsh is
invoked as sh or ksh, $ENV is sourced after the profile
scripts. The value of ENV is subjected to parameter
expansion, command substitution, and arithmetic expan-
sion before being interpreted as a pathname. Note that
ENV is not used unless zsh is emulating sh or ksh.
FCEDIT
The default editor for the fc builtin. If FCEDIT is
not set, the parameter EDITOR is used; if that is not
set either, a builtin default, usually vi, is used.
fignore <S> <Z> (FIGNORE <S>)
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An array (colon separated list) containing the suffixes
of files to be ignored during filename completion.
However, if completion only generates files with suf-
fixes in this list, then these files are completed any-
way.
fpath <S> <Z> (FPATH <S>)
An array (colon separated list) of directories specify-
ing the search path for function definitions. This
path is searched when a function with the -u attribute
is referenced. If an executable file is found, then it
is read and executed in the current environment.
histchars <S>
Three characters used by the shell's history and lexi-
cal analysis mechanism. The first character signals
the start of a history expansion (default `!'). The
second character signals the start of a quick history
substitution (default `^'). The third character is the
comment character (default `#').
The characters must be in the ASCII character set; any
attempt to set histchars to characters with a
locale-dependent meaning will be rejected with an error
message.
HISTCHARS <S> <Z>
Same as histchars. (Deprecated.)
HISTFILE
The file to save the history in when an interactive
shell exits. If unset, the history is not saved.
HISTORY_IGNORE
If set, is treated as a pattern at the time history
files are written. Any potential history entry that
matches the pattern is skipped. For example, if the
value is `fc *' then commands that invoke the interac-
tive history editor are never written to the history
file (compare the HIST_NO_STORE option or the zshad-
dhistory hook, either of which would prevent such com-
mands from being added to the interactive history at
all).
HISTSIZE <S>
The maximum number of events stored in the internal
history list. If you use the HIST_EXPIRE_DUPS_FIRST
option, setting this value larger than the SAVEHIST
size will give you the difference as a cushion for sav-
ing duplicated history events.
HOME <S>
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The default argument for the cd command. This is not
set automatically by the shell in sh, ksh or csh emula-
tion, but it is typically present in the environment
anyway, and if it becomes set it has its usual special
behaviour.
IFS <S>
Internal field separators (by default space, tab, new-
line and NUL), that are used to separate words which
result from command or parameter expansion and words
read by the read builtin. Any characters from the set
space, tab and newline that appear in the IFS are
called IFS white space. One or more IFS white space
characters or one non-IFS white space character
together with any adjacent IFS white space character
delimit a field. If an IFS white space character
appears twice consecutively in the IFS, this character
is treated as if it were not an IFS white space charac-
ter.
If the parameter is unset, the default is used. Note
this has a different effect from setting the parameter
to an empty string.
KEYBOARD_HACK
This variable defines a character to be removed from
the end of the command line before interpreting it
(interactive shells only). It is intended to fix the
problem with keys placed annoyingly close to return and
replaces the SUNKEYBOARDHACK option which did this for
backquotes only. Should the chosen character be one of
singlequote, doublequote or backquote, there must also
be an odd number of them on the command line for the
last one to be removed.
For backward compabitility, if the SUNKEYBOARDHACK
option is explicitly set, the value of KEYBOARD_HACK
reverts to backquote. If the option is explicitly
unset, this variable is set to empty.
KEYTIMEOUT
The time the shell waits, in hundredths of seconds, for
another key to be pressed when reading bound
multi-character sequences.
LANG <S>
This variable determines the locale category for any
category not specifically selected via a variable
starting with `LC_'.
LC_ALL <S>
This variable overrides the value of the `LANG'
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variable and the value of any of the other variables
starting with `LC_'.
LC_COLLATE <S>
This variable determines the locale category for char-
acter collation information within ranges in glob
brackets and for sorting.
LC_CTYPE <S>
This variable determines the locale category for char-
acter handling functions. If the MULTIBYTE option is
in effect this variable or LANG should contain a value
that reflects the character set in use, even if it is a
single-byte character set, unless only the 7-bit subset
(ASCII) is used. For example, if the character set is
ISO-8859-1, a suitable value might be en_US.iso88591
(certain Linux distributions) or en_US.ISO8859-1
(MacOS).
LC_MESSAGES <S>
This variable determines the language in which messages
should be written. Note that zsh does not use message
catalogs.
LC_NUMERIC <S>
This variable affects the decimal point character and
thousands separator character for the formatted
input/output functions and string conversion functions.
Note that zsh ignores this setting when parsing float-
ing point mathematical expressions.
LC_TIME <S>
This variable determines the locale category for date
and time formatting in prompt escape sequences.
LINES <S>
The number of lines for this terminal session. Used
for printing select lists and for the line editor.
LISTMAX
In the line editor, the number of matches to list with-
out asking first. If the value is negative, the list
will be shown if it spans at most as many lines as
given by the absolute value. If set to zero, the shell
asks only if the top of the listing would scroll off
the screen.
LOGCHECK
The interval in seconds between checks for login/logout
activity using the watch parameter.
MAIL If this parameter is set and mailpath is not set, the
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shell looks for mail in the specified file.
MAILCHECK
The interval in seconds between checks for new mail.
mailpath <S> <Z> (MAILPATH <S>)
An array (colon-separated list) of filenames to check
for new mail. Each filename can be followed by a `?'
and a message that will be printed. The message will
undergo parameter expansion, command substitution and
arithmetic expansion with the variable $_ defined as
the name of the file that has changed. The default
message is `You have new mail'. If an element is a
directory instead of a file the shell will recursively
check every file in every subdirectory of the element.
manpath <S> <Z> (MANPATH <S> <Z>)
An array (colon-separated list) whose value is not used
by the shell. The manpath array can be useful, how-
ever, since setting it also sets MANPATH, and vice
versa.
match
mbegin
mend Arrays set by the shell when the b globbing flag is
used in pattern matches. See the subsection Globbing
flags in the documentation for Filename Generation in
zshexpn(1).
MATCH
MBEGIN
MEND Set by the shell when the m globbing flag is used in
pattern matches. See the subsection Globbing flags in
the documentation for Filename Generation in zsh-
expn(1).
module_path <S> <Z> (MODULE_PATH <S>)
An array (colon-separated list) of directories that
zmodload searches for dynamically loadable modules.
This is initialized to a standard pathname, usually
`/usr/local/lib/zsh/$ZSH_VERSION'. (The
`/usr/local/lib' part varies from installation to
installation.) For security reasons, any value set in
the environment when the shell is started will be
ignored.
These parameters only exist if the installation sup-
ports dynamic module loading.
NULLCMD <S>
The command name to assume if a redirection is speci-
fied with no command. Defaults to cat. For sh/ksh
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User Commands ZSHPARAM(1)
behavior, change this to :. For csh-like behavior,
unset this parameter; the shell will print an error
message if null commands are entered.
path <S> <Z> (PATH <S>)
An array (colon-separated list) of directories to
search for commands. When this parameter is set, each
directory is scanned and all files found are put in a
hash table.
POSTEDIT <S>
This string is output whenever the line editor exits.
It usually contains termcap strings to reset the termi-
nal.
PROMPT <S> <Z>
PROMPT2 <S> <Z>
PROMPT3 <S> <Z>
PROMPT4 <S> <Z>
Same as PS1, PS2, PS3 and PS4, respectively.
prompt <S> <Z>
Same as PS1.
PROMPT_EOL_MARK
When the PROMPT_CR and PROMPT_SP options are set, the
PROMPT_EOL_MARK parameter can be used to customize how
the end of partial lines are shown. This parameter
undergoes prompt expansion, with the PROMPT_PERCENT
option set. If not set, the default behavior is equiv-
alent to the value `%B%S%#%s%b'.
PS1 <S>
The primary prompt string, printed before a command is
read. It undergoes a special form of expansion before
being displayed; see EXPANSION OF PROMPT SEQUENCES in
zshmisc(1). The default is `%m%# '.
PS2 <S>
The secondary prompt, printed when the shell needs more
information to complete a command. It is expanded in
the same way as PS1. The default is `%_> ', which dis-
plays any shell constructs or quotation marks which are
currently being processed.
PS3 <S>
Selection prompt used within a select loop. It is
expanded in the same way as PS1. The default is `?# '.
PS4 <S>
The execution trace prompt. Default is `+%N:%i> ',
which displays the name of the current shell structure
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User Commands ZSHPARAM(1)
and the line number within it. In sh or ksh emulation,
the default is `+ '.
psvar <S> <Z> (PSVAR <S>)
An array (colon-separated list) whose elements can be
used in PROMPT strings. Setting psvar also sets PSVAR,
and vice versa.
READNULLCMD <S>
The command name to assume if a single input redirect-
ion is specified with no command. Defaults to more.
REPORTTIME
If nonnegative, commands whose combined user and system
execution times (measured in seconds) are greater than
this value have timing statistics printed for them.
Output is suppressed for commands executed within the
line editor, including completion; commands explicitly
marked with the time keyword still cause the summary to
be printed in this case.
REPLY
This parameter is reserved by convention to pass string
values between shell scripts and shell builtins in sit-
uations where a function call or redirection are impos-
sible or undesirable. The read builtin and the select
complex command may set REPLY, and filename generation
both sets and examines its value when evaluating cer-
tain expressions. Some modules also employ REPLY for
similar purposes.
reply
As REPLY, but for array values rather than strings.
RPROMPT <S>
RPS1 <S>
This prompt is displayed on the right-hand side of the
screen when the primary prompt is being displayed on
the left. This does not work if the SINGLE_LINE_ZLE
option is set. It is expanded in the same way as PS1.
RPROMPT2 <S>
RPS2 <S>
This prompt is displayed on the right-hand side of the
screen when the secondary prompt is being displayed on
the left. This does not work if the SINGLE_LINE_ZLE
option is set. It is expanded in the same way as PS2.
SAVEHIST
The maximum number of history events to save in the
history file.
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SPROMPT <S>
The prompt used for spelling correction. The sequence
`%R' expands to the string which presumably needs
spelling correction, and `%r' expands to the proposed
correction. All other prompt escapes are also allowed.
STTY If this parameter is set in a command's environment,
the shell runs the stty command with the value of this
parameter as arguments in order to set up the terminal
before executing the command. The modes apply only to
the command, and are reset when it finishes or is sus-
pended. If the command is suspended and continued later
with the fg or wait builtins it will see the modes
specified by STTY, as if it were not suspended. This
(intentionally) does not apply if the command is con-
tinued via `kill -CONT'. STTY is ignored if the com-
mand is run in the background, or if it is in the envi-
ronment of the shell but not explicitly assigned to in
the input line. This avoids running stty at every
external command by accidentally exporting it. Also
note that STTY should not be used for window size spec-
ifications; these will not be local to the command.
TERM <S>
The type of terminal in use. This is used when looking
up termcap sequences. An assignment to TERM causes zsh
to re-initialize the terminal, even if the value does
not change (e.g., `TERM=$TERM'). It is necessary to
make such an assignment upon any change to the terminal
definition database or terminal type in order for the
new settings to take effect.
TERMINFO <S>
A reference to a compiled description of the terminal,
used by the `terminfo' library when the system has it;
see terminfo(5). If set, this causes the shell to
reinitialise the terminal, making the workaround
`TERM=$TERM' unnecessary.
TIMEFMT
The format of process time reports with the time key-
word. The default is `%J %U user %S system %P cpu %*E
total'. Recognizes the following escape sequences,
although not all may be available on all systems, and
some that are available may not be useful:
%% A `%'.
%U CPU seconds spent in user mode.
%S CPU seconds spent in kernel mode.
%E Elapsed time in seconds.
%P The CPU percentage, computed as (100*%U+%S)/%E.
%W Number of times the process was swapped.
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User Commands ZSHPARAM(1)
%X The average amount in (shared) text space used in
kilobytes.
%D The average amount in (unshared) data/stack space
used in kilobytes.
%K The total space used (%X+%D) in kilobytes.
%M The maximum memory the process had in use at any
time in megabytes.
%F The number of major page faults (page needed to be
brought from disk).
%R The number of minor page faults.
%I The number of input operations.
%O The number of output operations.
%r The number of socket messages received.
%s The number of socket messages sent.
%k The number of signals received.
%w Number of voluntary context switches (waits).
%c Number of involuntary context switches.
%J The name of this job.
A star may be inserted between the percent sign and
flags printing time. This cause the time to be printed
in `hh:mm:ss.ttt' format (hours and minutes are only
printed if they are not zero).
TMOUT
If this parameter is nonzero, the shell will receive an
ALRM signal if a command is not entered within the
specified number of seconds after issuing a prompt. If
there is a trap on SIGALRM, it will be executed and a
new alarm is scheduled using the value of the TMOUT
parameter after executing the trap. If no trap is set,
and the idle time of the terminal is not less than the
value of the TMOUT parameter, zsh terminates. Other-
wise a new alarm is scheduled to TMOUT seconds after
the last keypress.
TMPPREFIX
A pathname prefix which the shell will use for all tem-
porary files. Note that this should include an initial
part for the file name as well as any directory names.
The default is `/tmp/zsh'.
watch <S> <Z> (WATCH <S>)
An array (colon-separated list) of login/logout events
to report. If it contains the single word `all', then
all login/logout events are reported. If it contains
the single word `notme', then all events are reported
as with `all' except $USERNAME. An entry in this list
may consist of a username, an `@' followed by a remote
hostname, and a `%' followed by a line (tty). Any or
all of these components may be present in an entry; if
a login/logout event matches all of them, it is
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User Commands ZSHPARAM(1)
reported.
WATCHFMT
The format of login/logout reports if the watch parame-
ter is set. Default is `%n has %a %l from %m'. Recog-
nizes the following escape sequences:
%n The name of the user that logged in/out.
%a The observed action, i.e. "logged on" or "logged
off".
%l The line (tty) the user is logged in on.
%M The full hostname of the remote host.
%m The hostname up to the first `.'. If only the IP
address is available or the utmp field contains
the name of an X-windows display, the whole name
is printed.
NOTE: The `%m' and `%M' escapes will work only if
there is a host name field in the utmp on your
machine. Otherwise they are treated as ordinary
strings.
%S (%s)
Start (stop) standout mode.
%U (%u)
Start (stop) underline mode.
%B (%b)
Start (stop) boldface mode.
%t
%@ The time, in 12-hour, am/pm format.
%T The time, in 24-hour format.
%w The date in `day-dd' format.
%W The date in `mm/dd/yy' format.
%D The date in `yy-mm-dd' format.
%(x:true-text:false-text)
Specifies a ternary expression. The character
following the x is arbitrary; the same character
is used to separate the text for the "true" result
from that for the "false" result. Both the sepa-
rator and the right parenthesis may be escaped
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with a backslash. Ternary expressions may be
nested.
The test character x may be any one of `l', `n',
`m' or `M', which indicate a `true' result if the
corresponding escape sequence would return a
non-empty value; or it may be `a', which indicates
a `true' result if the watched user has logged in,
or `false' if he has logged out. Other characters
evaluate to neither true nor false; the entire
expression is omitted in this case.
If the result is `true', then the true-text is
formatted according to the rules above and
printed, and the false-text is skipped. If
`false', the true-text is skipped and the
false-text is formatted and printed. Either or
both of the branches may be empty, but both sepa-
rators must be present in any case.
WORDCHARS <S>
A list of non-alphanumeric characters considered part of a
word by the line editor.
ZBEEP
If set, this gives a string of characters, which can use all
the same codes as the bindkey command as described in the
zsh/zle module entry in zshmodules(1), that will be output
to the terminal instead of beeping. This may have a visible
instead of an audible effect; for example, the string
`\e[?5h\e[?5l' on a vt100 or xterm will have the effect of
flashing reverse video on and off (if you usually use
reverse video, you should use the string `\e[?5l\e[?5h'
instead). This takes precedence over the NOBEEP option.
ZDOTDIR
The directory to search for shell startup files (.zshrc,
etc), if not $HOME.
ZLE_LINE_ABORTED
This parameter is set by the line editor when an error
occurs. It contains the line that was being edited at the
point of the error. `print -zr -- $ZLE_LINE_ABORTED' can be
used to recover the line. Only the most recent line of this
kind is remembered.
ZLE_REMOVE_SUFFIX_CHARS
ZLE_SPACE_SUFFIX_CHARS
These parameters are used by the line editor. In certain
circumstances suffixes (typically space or slash) added by
the completion system will be removed automatically, either
because the next editing command was not an insertable
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User Commands ZSHPARAM(1)
character, or because the character was marked as requiring
the suffix to be removed.
These variables can contain the sets of characters that will
cause the suffix to be removed. If ZLE_REMOVE_SUFFIX_CHARS
is set, those characters will cause the suffix to be
removed; if ZLE_SPACE_SUFFIX_CHARS is set, those characters
will cause the suffix to be removed and replaced by a space.
If ZLE_REMOVE_SUFFIX_CHARS is not set, the default behaviour
is equivalent to:
ZLE_REMOVE_SUFFIX_CHARS=$' \t\n;&|'
If ZLE_REMOVE_SUFFIX_CHARS is set but is empty, no charac-
ters have this behaviour. ZLE_SPACE_SUFFIX_CHARS takes
precedence, so that the following:
ZLE_SPACE_SUFFIX_CHARS=$'&|'
causes the characters `&' and `|' to remove the suffix but
to replace it with a space.
To illustrate the difference, suppose that the option
AUTO_REMOVE_SLASH is in effect and the directory DIR has
just been completed, with an appended /, following which the
user types `&'. The default result is `DIR&'. With
ZLE_REMOVE_SUFFIX_CHARS set but without including `&' the
result is `DIR/&'. With ZLE_SPACE_SUFFIX_CHARS set to
include `&' the result is `DIR &'.
Note that certain completions may provide their own suffix
removal or replacement behaviour which overrides the values
described here. See the completion system documentation in
zshcompsys(1).
ZLE_RPROMPT_INDENT <S>
If set, used to give the indentation between the right hand
side of the right prompt in the line editor as given by RPS1
or RPROMPT and the right hand side of the screen. If not
set, the value 1 is used.
Typically this will be used to set the value to 0 so that
the prompt appears flush with the right hand side of the
screen. This is not the default as many terminals do not
handle this correctly, in particular when the prompt appears
at the extreme bottom right of the screen. Recent virtual
terminals are more likely to handle this case correctly.
Some experimentation is necessary.
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ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following
attributes:
+---------------+------------------+
|ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
+---------------+------------------+
|Availability | shell/zsh |
+---------------+------------------+
|Stability | Volatile |
+---------------+------------------+
NOTES
This software was built from source available at
https://java.net/projects/solaris-userland. The original
community source was downloaded from http://down-
loads.source-
forge.net/project/zsh/zsh/5.0.5/zsh-5.0.5.tar.bz2
Further information about this software can be found on the
open source community website at http://www.zsh.org/.
zsh 5.0.5 Last change: January 5, 2014 29
User Commands ZSHOPTIONS(1)
NAME
zshoptions - zsh options
SPECIFYING OPTIONS
Options are primarily referred to by name. These names are
case insensitive and underscores are ignored. For example,
`allexport' is equivalent to `A__lleXP_ort'.
The sense of an option name may be inverted by preceding it
with `no', so `setopt No_Beep' is equivalent to `unsetopt
beep'. This inversion can only be done once, so `nonobeep'
is not a synonym for `beep'. Similarly, `tify' is not a
synonym for `nonotify' (the inversion of `notify').
Some options also have one or more single letter names.
There are two sets of single letter options: one used by
default, and another used to emulate sh/ksh (used when the
SH_OPTION_LETTERS option is set). The single letter options
can be used on the shell command line, or with the set,
setopt and unsetopt builtins, as normal Unix options pre-
ceded by `-'.
The sense of the single letter options may be inverted by
using `+' instead of `-'. Some of the single letter option
names refer to an option being off, in which case the inver-
sion of that name refers to the option being on. For exam-
ple, `+n' is the short name of `exec', and `-n' is the short
name of its inversion, `noexec'.
In strings of single letter options supplied to the shell at
startup, trailing whitespace will be ignored; for example
the string `-f ' will be treated just as `-f', but the
string `-f i' is an error. This is because many systems
which implement the `#!' mechanism for calling scripts do
not strip trailing whitespace.
DESCRIPTION OF OPTIONS
In the following list, options set by default in all emula-
tions are marked <D>; those set by default only in csh, ksh,
sh, or zsh emulations are marked <C>, <K>, <S>, <Z> as
appropriate. When listing options (by `setopt', `unsetopt',
`set -o' or `set +o'), those turned on by default appear in
the list prefixed with `no'. Hence (unless KSH_OPTION_PRINT
is set), `setopt' shows all options whose settings are
changed from the default.
Changing Directories
AUTO_CD (-J)
If a command is issued that can't be executed as a nor-
mal command, and the command is the name of a direc-
tory, perform the cd command to that directory.
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AUTO_PUSHD (-N)
Make cd push the old directory onto the directory
stack.
CDABLE_VARS (-T)
If the argument to a cd command (or an implied cd with
the AUTO_CD option set) is not a directory, and does
not begin with a slash, try to expand the expression as
if it were preceded by a `~' (see the section `Filename
Expansion').
CHASE_DOTS
When changing to a directory containing a path segment
`..' which would otherwise be treated as canceling the
previous segment in the path (in other words, `foo/..'
would be removed from the path, or if `..' is the first
part of the path, the last part of the current working
directory would be removed), instead resolve the path
to the physical directory. This option is overridden
by CHASE_LINKS.
For example, suppose /foo/bar is a link to the direc-
tory /alt/rod. Without this option set, `cd
/foo/bar/..' changes to /foo; with it set, it changes
to /alt. The same applies if the current directory is
/foo/bar and `cd ..' is used. Note that all other sym-
bolic links in the path will also be resolved.
CHASE_LINKS (-w)
Resolve symbolic links to their true values when chang-
ing directory. This also has the effect of CHASE_DOTS,
i.e. a `..' path segment will be treated as referring
to the physical parent, even if the preceding path seg-
ment is a symbolic link.
POSIX_CD
Modifies the behaviour of cd, chdir and pushd commands
to make them more compatible with the POSIX standard.
The behaviour with the option unset is described in the
documentation for the cd builtin in zshbuiltins(1). If
the option is set, the shell does not test for directo-
ries beneath the local directory (`.') until after all
directories in cdpath have been tested.
Also, if the option is set, the conditions under which
the shell prints the new directory after changing to it
are modified. It is no longer restricted to interac-
tive shells (although printing of the directory stack
with pushd is still limited to interactive shells); and
any use of a component of CDPATH, including a `.' but
excluding an empty component that is otherwise treated
as `.', causes the directory to be printed.
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PUSHD_IGNORE_DUPS
Don't push multiple copies of the same directory onto
the directory stack.
PUSHD_MINUS
Exchanges the meanings of `+' and `-' when used with a
number to specify a directory in the stack.
PUSHD_SILENT (-E)
Do not print the directory stack after pushd or popd.
PUSHD_TO_HOME (-D)
Have pushd with no arguments act like `pushd $HOME'.
Completion
ALWAYS_LAST_PROMPT <D>
If unset, key functions that list completions try to
return to the last prompt if given a numeric argument.
If set these functions try to return to the last prompt
if given no numeric argument.
ALWAYS_TO_END
If a completion is performed with the cursor within a
word, and a full completion is inserted, the cursor is
moved to the end of the word. That is, the cursor is
moved to the end of the word if either a single match
is inserted or menu completion is performed.
AUTO_LIST (-9) <D>
Automatically list choices on an ambiguous completion.
AUTO_MENU <D>
Automatically use menu completion after the second con-
secutive request for completion, for example by press-
ing the tab key repeatedly. This option is overridden
by MENU_COMPLETE.
AUTO_NAME_DIRS
Any parameter that is set to the absolute name of a
directory immediately becomes a name for that direc-
tory, that will be used by the `%~' and related prompt
sequences, and will be available when completion is
performed on a word starting with `~'. (Otherwise, the
parameter must be used in the form `~param' first.)
AUTO_PARAM_KEYS <D>
If a parameter name was completed and a following char-
acter (normally a space) automatically inserted, and
the next character typed is one of those that have to
come directly after the name (like `}', `:', etc.), the
automatically added character is deleted, so that the
character typed comes immediately after the parameter
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name. Completion in a brace expansion is affected sim-
ilarly: the added character is a `,', which will be
removed if `}' is typed next.
AUTO_PARAM_SLASH <D>
If a parameter is completed whose content is the name
of a directory, then add a trailing slash instead of a
space.
AUTO_REMOVE_SLASH <D>
When the last character resulting from a completion is
a slash and the next character typed is a word delim-
iter, a slash, or a character that ends a command (such
as a semicolon or an ampersand), remove the slash.
BASH_AUTO_LIST
On an ambiguous completion, automatically list choices
when the completion function is called twice in succes-
sion. This takes precedence over AUTO_LIST. The set-
ting of LIST_AMBIGUOUS is respected. If AUTO_MENU is
set, the menu behaviour will then start with the third
press. Note that this will not work with MENU_COM-
PLETE, since repeated completion calls immediately
cycle through the list in that case.
COMPLETE_ALIASES
Prevents aliases on the command line from being inter-
nally substituted before completion is attempted. The
effect is to make the alias a distinct command for com-
pletion purposes.
COMPLETE_IN_WORD
If unset, the cursor is set to the end of the word if
completion is started. Otherwise it stays there and
completion is done from both ends.
GLOB_COMPLETE
When the current word has a glob pattern, do not insert
all the words resulting from the expansion but generate
matches as for completion and cycle through them like
MENU_COMPLETE. The matches are generated as if a `*'
was added to the end of the word, or inserted at the
cursor when COMPLETE_IN_WORD is set. This actually
uses pattern matching, not globbing, so it works not
only for files but for any completion, such as options,
user names, etc.
Note that when the pattern matcher is used, matching
control (for example, case-insensitive or anchored
matching) cannot be used. This limitation only applies
when the current word contains a pattern; simply turn-
ing on the GLOB_COMPLETE option does not have this
zsh 5.0.5 Last change: January 5, 2014 4
User Commands ZSHOPTIONS(1)
effect.
HASH_LIST_ALL <D>
Whenever a command completion or spelling correction is
attempted, make sure the entire command path is hashed
first. This makes the first completion slower but
avoids false reports of spelling errors.
LIST_AMBIGUOUS <D>
This option works when AUTO_LIST or BASH_AUTO_LIST is
also set. If there is an unambiguous prefix to insert
on the command line, that is done without a completion
list being displayed; in other words, auto-listing be-
haviour only takes place when nothing would be
inserted. In the case of BASH_AUTO_LIST, this means
that the list will be delayed to the third call of the
function.
LIST_BEEP <D>
Beep on an ambiguous completion. More accurately, this
forces the completion widgets to return status 1 on an
ambiguous completion, which causes the shell to beep if
the option BEEP is also set; this may be modified if
completion is called from a user-defined widget.
LIST_PACKED
Try to make the completion list smaller (occupying less
lines) by printing the matches in columns with differ-
ent widths.
LIST_ROWS_FIRST
Lay out the matches in completion lists sorted horizon-
tally, that is, the second match is to the right of the
first one, not under it as usual.
LIST_TYPES (-X) <D>
When listing files that are possible completions, show
the type of each file with a trailing identifying mark.
MENU_COMPLETE (-Y)
On an ambiguous completion, instead of listing possi-
bilities or beeping, insert the first match immedi-
ately. Then when completion is requested again, remove
the first match and insert the second match, etc. When
there are no more matches, go back to the first one
again. reverse-menu-complete may be used to loop
through the list in the other direction. This option
overrides AUTO_MENU.
REC_EXACT (-S)
In completion, recognize exact matches even if they are
ambiguous.
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User Commands ZSHOPTIONS(1)
Expansion and Globbing
BAD_PATTERN (+2) <C> <Z>
If a pattern for filename generation is badly formed,
print an error message. (If this option is unset, the
pattern will be left unchanged.)
BARE_GLOB_QUAL <Z>
In a glob pattern, treat a trailing set of parentheses
as a qualifier list, if it contains no `|', `(' or (if
special) `~' characters. See the section `Filename
Generation'.
BRACE_CCL
Expand expressions in braces which would not otherwise
undergo brace expansion to a lexically ordered list of
all the characters. See the section `Brace Expansion'.
CASE_GLOB <D>
Make globbing (filename generation) sensitive to case.
Note that other uses of patterns are always sensitive
to case. If the option is unset, the presence of any
character which is special to filename generation will
cause case-insensitive matching. For example, cvs(/)
can match the directory CVS owing to the presence of
the globbing flag (unless the option BARE_GLOB_QUAL is
unset).
CASE_MATCH <D>
Make regular expressions using the zsh/regex module
(including matches with =~) sensitive to case.
CSH_NULL_GLOB <C>
If a pattern for filename generation has no matches,
delete the pattern from the argument list; do not
report an error unless all the patterns in a command
have no matches. Overrides NOMATCH.
EQUALS <Z>
Perform = filename expansion. (See the section `File-
name Expansion'.)
EXTENDED_GLOB
Treat the `#', `~' and `^' characters as part of pat-
terns for filename generation, etc. (An initial
unquoted `~' always produces named directory expan-
sion.)
FORCE_FLOAT
Constants in arithmetic evaluation will be treated as
floating point even without the use of a decimal point.
Integers in any base will be converted.
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User Commands ZSHOPTIONS(1)
GLOB (+F, ksh: +f) <D>
Perform filename generation (globbing). (See the sec-
tion `Filename Generation'.)
GLOB_ASSIGN <C>
If this option is set, filename generation (globbing)
is performed on the right hand side of scalar parameter
assignments of the form `name=pattern (e.g. `foo=*').
If the result has more than one word the parameter will
become an array with those words as arguments. This
option is provided for backwards compatibility only:
globbing is always performed on the right hand side of
array assignments of the form `name=(value)' (e.g.
`foo=(*)') and this form is recommended for clarity;
with this option set, it is not possible to predict
whether the result will be an array or a scalar.
GLOB_DOTS (-4)
Do not require a leading `.' in a filename to be
matched explicitly.
GLOB_SUBST <C> <K> <S>
Treat any characters resulting from parameter expansion
as being eligible for file expansion and filename gen-
eration, and any characters resulting from command sub-
stitution as being eligible for filename generation.
Braces (and commas in between) do not become eligible
for expansion.
HIST_SUBST_PATTERN
Substitutions using the :s and :& history modifiers are
performed with pattern matching instead of string
matching. This occurs wherever history modifiers are
valid, including glob qualifiers and parameters. See
the section Modifiers in zshexpn(1).
IGNORE_BRACES (-I) <S>
Do not perform brace expansion. For historical reasons
this also includes the effect of the
IGNORE_CLOSE_BRACES option.
IGNORE_CLOSE_BRACES
When neither this option nor IGNORE_BRACES is set, a
sole close brace character `}' is syntactically signif-
icant at any point on a command line. This has the
effect that no semicolon or newline is necessary before
the brace terminating a function or current shell con-
struct. When either option is set, a closing brace is
syntactically significant only in command position.
Unlike IGNORE_BRACES, this option does not disable
brace expansion.
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User Commands ZSHOPTIONS(1)
For example, with both options unset a function may be
defined in the following fashion:
args() { echo $# }
while if either option is set, this does not work and
something equivalent to the following is required:
args() { echo $#; }
KSH_GLOB <K>
In pattern matching, the interpretation of parentheses
is affected by a preceding `@', `*', `+', `?' or `!'.
See the section `Filename Generation'.
MAGIC_EQUAL_SUBST
All unquoted arguments of the form `anything=expres-
sion' appearing after the command name have filename
expansion (that is, where expression has a leading `~'
or `=') performed on expression as if it were a parame-
ter assignment. The argument is not otherwise treated
specially; it is passed to the command as a single
argument, and not used as an actual parameter assign-
ment. For example, in echo foo=~/bar:~/rod, both
occurrences of ~ would be replaced. Note that this
happens anyway with typeset and similar statements.
This option respects the setting of the KSH_TYPESET
option. In other words, if both options are in effect,
arguments looking like assignments will not undergo
word splitting.
MARK_DIRS (-8, ksh: -X)
Append a trailing `/' to all directory names resulting
from filename generation (globbing).
MULTIBYTE <C> <K> <Z>
Respect multibyte characters when found in strings.
When this option is set, strings are examined using the
system library to determine how many bytes form a char-
acter, depending on the current locale. This affects
the way characters are counted in pattern matching,
parameter values and various delimiters.
The option is on by default if the shell was compiled
with MULTIBYTE_SUPPORT except in sh emulation; other-
wise it is off by default and has no effect if turned
on. The mode is off in sh emulation for compatibility
but for interactive use may need to be turned on if the
terminal interprets multibyte characters.
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User Commands ZSHOPTIONS(1)
If the option is off a single byte is always treated as
a single character. This setting is designed purely
for examining strings known to contain raw bytes or
other values that may not be characters in the current
locale. It is not necessary to unset the option merely
because the character set for the current locale does
not contain multibyte characters.
The option does not affect the shell's editor, which
always uses the locale to determine multibyte charac-
ters. This is because the character set displayed by
the terminal emulator is independent of shell settings.
NOMATCH (+3) <C> <Z>
If a pattern for filename generation has no matches,
print an error, instead of leaving it unchanged in the
argument list. This also applies to file expansion of
an initial `~' or `='.
NULL_GLOB (-G)
If a pattern for filename generation has no matches,
delete the pattern from the argument list instead of
reporting an error. Overrides NOMATCH.
NUMERIC_GLOB_SORT
If numeric filenames are matched by a filename genera-
tion pattern, sort the filenames numerically rather
than lexicographically.
RC_EXPAND_PARAM (-P)
Array expansions of the form `foo${xx}bar', where the
parameter xx is set to (a b c), are substituted with
`fooabar foobbar foocbar' instead of the default `fooa
b cbar'. Note that an empty array will therefore cause
all arguments to be removed.
REMATCH_PCRE <Z>
If set, regular expression matching with the =~ opera-
tor will use Perl-Compatible Regular Expressions from
the PCRE library, if available. If not set, regular
expressions will use the extended regexp syntax pro-
vided by the system libraries.
SH_GLOB <K> <S>
Disables the special meaning of `(', `|', `)' and '<'
for globbing the result of parameter and command sub-
stitutions, and in some other places where the shell
accepts patterns. If SH_GLOB is set but KSH_GLOB is
not, the shell allows the interpretation of subshell
expressions enclosed in parentheses in some cases where
there is no space before the opening parenthesis, e.g.
!(true) is interpreted as if there were a space after
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User Commands ZSHOPTIONS(1)
the !. This option is set by default if zsh is invoked
as sh or ksh.
UNSET (+u, ksh: +u) <K> <S> <Z>
Treat unset parameters as if they were empty when sub-
stituting. Otherwise they are treated as an error.
WARN_CREATE_GLOBAL
Print a warning message when a global parameter is cre-
ated in a function by an assignment. This often indi-
cates that a parameter has not been declared local when
it should have been. Parameters explicitly declared
global from within a function using typeset -g do not
cause a warning. Note that there is no warning when a
local parameter is assigned to in a nested function,
which may also indicate an error.
History
APPEND_HISTORY <D>
If this is set, zsh sessions will append their history
list to the history file, rather than replace it. Thus,
multiple parallel zsh sessions will all have the new
entries from their history lists added to the history
file, in the order that they exit. The file will still
be periodically re-written to trim it when the number
of lines grows 20% beyond the value specified by $SAVE-
HIST (see also the HIST_SAVE_BY_COPY option).
BANG_HIST (+K) <C> <Z>
Perform textual history expansion, csh-style, treating
the character `!' specially.
EXTENDED_HISTORY <C>
Save each command's beginning timestamp (in seconds
since the epoch) and the duration (in seconds) to the
history file. The format of this prefixed data is:
`: <beginning time>:<elapsed seconds>;<command>'.
HIST_ALLOW_CLOBBER
Add `|' to output redirections in the history. This
allows history references to clobber files even when
CLOBBER is unset.
HIST_BEEP <D>
Beep when an attempt is made to access a history entry
which isn't there.
HIST_EXPIRE_DUPS_FIRST
If the internal history needs to be trimmed to add the
current command line, setting this option will cause
the oldest history event that has a duplicate to be
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User Commands ZSHOPTIONS(1)
lost before losing a unique event from the list. You
should be sure to set the value of HISTSIZE to a larger
number than SAVEHIST in order to give you some room for
the duplicated events, otherwise this option will
behave just like HIST_IGNORE_ALL_DUPS once the history
fills up with unique events.
HIST_FCNTL_LOCK
When writing out the history file, by default zsh uses
ad-hoc file locking to avoid known problems with lock-
ing on some operating systems. With this option lock-
ing is done by means of the system's fcntl call, where
this method is available. On recent operating systems
this may provide better performance, in particular
avoiding history corruption when files are stored on
NFS.
HIST_FIND_NO_DUPS
When searching for history entries in the line editor,
do not display duplicates of a line previously found,
even if the duplicates are not contiguous.
HIST_IGNORE_ALL_DUPS
If a new command line being added to the history list
duplicates an older one, the older command is removed
from the list (even if it is not the previous event).
HIST_IGNORE_DUPS (-h)
Do not enter command lines into the history list if
they are duplicates of the previous event.
HIST_IGNORE_SPACE (-g)
Remove command lines from the history list when the
first character on the line is a space, or when one of
the expanded aliases contains a leading space. Only
normal aliases (not global or suffix aliases) have this
behaviour. Note that the command lingers in the inter-
nal history until the next command is entered before it
vanishes, allowing you to briefly reuse or edit the
line. If you want to make it vanish right away without
entering another command, type a space and press
return.
HIST_LEX_WORDS
By default, shell history that is read in from files is
split into words on all white space. This means that
arguments with quoted whitespace are not correctly han-
dled, with the consequence that references to words in
history lines that have been read from a file may be
inaccurate. When this option is set, words read in
from a history file are divided up in a similar fashion
to normal shell command line handling. Although this
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User Commands ZSHOPTIONS(1)
produces more accurately delimited words, if the size
of the history file is large this can be slow. Trial
and error is necessary to decide.
HIST_NO_FUNCTIONS
Remove function definitions from the history list.
Note that the function lingers in the internal history
until the next command is entered before it vanishes,
allowing you to briefly reuse or edit the definition.
HIST_NO_STORE
Remove the history (fc -l) command from the history
list when invoked. Note that the command lingers in
the internal history until the next command is entered
before it vanishes, allowing you to briefly reuse or
edit the line.
HIST_REDUCE_BLANKS
Remove superfluous blanks from each command line being
added to the history list.
HIST_SAVE_BY_COPY <D>
When the history file is re-written, we normally write
out a copy of the file named $HISTFILE.new and then
rename it over the old one. However, if this option is
unset, we instead truncate the old history file and
write out the new version in-place. If one of the his-
tory-appending options is enabled, this option only has
an effect when the enlarged history file needs to be
re-written to trim it down to size. Disable this only
if you have special needs, as doing so makes it possi-
ble to lose history entries if zsh gets interrupted
during the save.
When writing out a copy of the history file, zsh pre-
serves the old file's permissions and group informa-
tion, but will refuse to write out a new file if it
would change the history file's owner.
HIST_SAVE_NO_DUPS
When writing out the history file, older commands that
duplicate newer ones are omitted.
HIST_VERIFY
Whenever the user enters a line with history expansion,
don't execute the line directly; instead, perform his-
tory expansion and reload the line into the editing
buffer.
INC_APPEND_HISTORY
This options works like APPEND_HISTORY except that new
history lines are added to the $HISTFILE incrementally
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(as soon as they are entered), rather than waiting
until the shell exits. The file will still be periodi-
cally re-written to trim it when the number of lines
grows 20% beyond the value specified by $SAVEHIST (see
also the HIST_SAVE_BY_COPY option).
SHARE_HISTORY <K>
This option both imports new commands from the history
file, and also causes your typed commands to be
appended to the history file (the latter is like speci-
fying INC_APPEND_HISTORY). The history lines are also
output with timestamps ala EXTENDED_HISTORY (which
makes it easier to find the spot where we left off
reading the file after it gets re-written).
By default, history movement commands visit the
imported lines as well as the local lines, but you can
toggle this on and off with the set-local-history zle
binding. It is also possible to create a zle widget
that will make some commands ignore imported commands,
and some include them.
If you find that you want more control over when com-
mands get imported, you may wish to turn SHARE_HISTORY
off, INC_APPEND_HISTORY on, and then manually import
commands whenever you need them using `fc -RI'.
Initialisation
ALL_EXPORT (-a, ksh: -a)
All parameters subsequently defined are automatically
exported.
GLOBAL_EXPORT (<Z>)
If this option is set, passing the -x flag to the
builtins declare, float, integer, readonly and typeset
(but not local) will also set the -g flag; hence
parameters exported to the environment will not be made
local to the enclosing function, unless they were
already or the flag +g is given explicitly. If the
option is unset, exported parameters will be made local
in just the same way as any other parameter.
This option is set by default for backward compatibil-
ity; it is not recommended that its behaviour be relied
upon. Note that the builtin export always sets both
the -x and -g flags, and hence its effect extends
beyond the scope of the enclosing function; this is the
most portable way to achieve this behaviour.
GLOBAL_RCS (-d) <D>
If this option is unset, the startup files
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/etc/zprofile, /etc/zshrc, /etc/zlogin and /etc/zlogout
will not be run. It can be disabled and re-enabled at
any time, including inside local startup files (.zshrc,
etc.).
RCS (+f) <D>
After /etc/zshenv is sourced on startup, source the
.zshenv, /etc/zprofile, .zprofile, /etc/zshrc, .zshrc,
/etc/zlogin, .zlogin, and .zlogout files, as described
in the section `Files'. If this option is unset, the
/etc/zshenv file is still sourced, but any of the oth-
ers will not be; it can be set at any time to prevent
the remaining startup files after the currently execut-
ing one from being sourced.
Input/Output
ALIASES <D>
Expand aliases.
CLOBBER (+C, ksh: +C) <D>
Allows `>' redirection to truncate existing files, and
`>>' to create files. Otherwise `>!' or `>|' must be
used to truncate a file, and `>>!' or `>>|' to create a
file.
CORRECT (-0)
Try to correct the spelling of commands. Note that,
when the HASH_LIST_ALL option is not set or when some
directories in the path are not readable, this may
falsely report spelling errors the first time some com-
mands are used.
The shell variable CORRECT_IGNORE may be set to a pat-
tern to match words that will never be offered as cor-
rections.
CORRECT_ALL (-O)
Try to correct the spelling of all arguments in a line.
DVORAK
Use the Dvorak keyboard instead of the standard qwerty
keyboard as a basis for examining spelling mistakes for
the CORRECT and CORRECT_ALL options and the spell-word
editor command.
FLOW_CONTROL <D>
If this option is unset, output flow control via
start/stop characters (usually assigned to ^S/^Q) is
disabled in the shell's editor.
IGNORE_EOF (-7)
Do not exit on end-of-file. Require the use of exit or
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logout instead. However, ten consecutive EOFs will
cause the shell to exit anyway, to avoid the shell
hanging if its tty goes away.
Also, if this option is set and the Zsh Line Editor is
used, widgets implemented by shell functions can be
bound to EOF (normally Control-D) without printing the
normal warning message. This works only for normal
widgets, not for completion widgets.
INTERACTIVE_COMMENTS (-k) <K> <S>
Allow comments even in interactive shells.
HASH_CMDS <D>
Note the location of each command the first time it is
executed. Subsequent invocations of the same command
will use the saved location, avoiding a path search.
If this option is unset, no path hashing is done at
all. However, when CORRECT is set, commands whose
names do not appear in the functions or aliases hash
tables are hashed in order to avoid reporting them as
spelling errors.
HASH_DIRS <D>
Whenever a command name is hashed, hash the directory
containing it, as well as all directories that occur
earlier in the path. Has no effect if neither
HASH_CMDS nor CORRECT is set.
HASH_EXECUTABLES_ONLY
When hashing commands because of HASH_COMMANDS, check
that the file to be hashed is actually an executable.
This option is unset by default as if the path contains
a large number of commands, or consists of many remote
files, the additional tests can take a long time.
Trial and error is needed to show if this option is
beneficial.
MAIL_WARNING (-U)
Print a warning message if a mail file has been
accessed since the shell last checked.
PATH_DIRS (-Q)
Perform a path search even on command names with
slashes in them. Thus if `/usr/local/bin' is in the
user's path, and he or she types `X11/xinit', the com-
mand `/usr/local/bin/X11/xinit' will be executed
(assuming it exists). Commands explicitly beginning
with `/', `./' or `../' are not subject to the path
search. This also applies to the `.' builtin.
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Note that subdirectories of the current directory are
always searched for executables specified in this form.
This takes place before any search indicated by this
option, and regardless of whether `.' or the current
directory appear in the command search path.
PATH_SCRIPT <K> <S>
If this option is not set, a script passed as the first
non-option argument to the shell must contain the name
of the file to open. If this option is set, and the
script does not specify a directory path, the script is
looked for first in the current directory, then in the
command path. See the section INVOCATION in zsh(1).
PRINT_EIGHT_BIT
Print eight bit characters literally in completion
lists, etc. This option is not necessary if your sys-
tem correctly returns the printability of eight bit
characters (see ctype(3)).
PRINT_EXIT_VALUE (-1)
Print the exit value of programs with non-zero exit
status. This is only available at the command line in
interactive shells.
RC_QUOTES
Allow the character sequence `''' to signify a single
quote within singly quoted strings. Note this does not
apply in quoted strings using the format $'...', where
a backslashed single quote can be used.
RM_STAR_SILENT (-H) <K> <S>
Do not query the user before executing `rm *' or `rm
path/*'.
RM_STAR_WAIT
If querying the user before executing `rm *' or `rm
path/*', first wait ten seconds and ignore anything
typed in that time. This avoids the problem of reflex-
ively answering `yes' to the query when one didn't
really mean it. The wait and query can always be
avoided by expanding the `*' in ZLE (with tab).
SHORT_LOOPS <C> <Z>
Allow the short forms of for, repeat, select, if, and
function constructs.
SUN_KEYBOARD_HACK (-L)
If a line ends with a backquote, and there are an odd
number of backquotes on the line, ignore the trailing
backquote. This is useful on some keyboards where the
return key is too small, and the backquote key lies
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annoyingly close to it. As an alternative the variable
KEYBOARD_HACK lets you choose the character to be
removed.
Job Control
AUTO_CONTINUE
With this option set, stopped jobs that are removed
from the job table with the disown builtin command are
automatically sent a CONT signal to make them running.
AUTO_RESUME (-W)
Treat single word simple commands without redirection
as candidates for resumption of an existing job.
BG_NICE (-6) <C> <Z>
Run all background jobs at a lower priority. This
option is set by default.
CHECK_JOBS <Z>
Report the status of background and suspended jobs
before exiting a shell with job control; a second
attempt to exit the shell will succeed. NO_CHECK_JOBS
is best used only in combination with NO_HUP, else such
jobs will be killed automatically.
The check is omitted if the commands run from the pre-
vious command line included a `jobs' command, since it
is assumed the user is aware that there are background
or suspended jobs. A `jobs' command run from one of
the hook functions defined in the section SPECIAL FUNC-
TIONS in zshmisc(1) is not counted for this purpose.
HUP <Z>
Send the HUP signal to running jobs when the shell
exits.
LONG_LIST_JOBS (-R)
List jobs in the long format by default.
MONITOR (-m, ksh: -m)
Allow job control. Set by default in interactive
shells.
NOTIFY (-5, ksh: -b) <Z>
Report the status of background jobs immediately,
rather than waiting until just before printing a
prompt.
POSIX_JOBS <K> <S>
This option makes job control more compliant with the
POSIX standard.
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When the option is not set, the MONITOR option is unset
on entry to subshells, so that job control is no longer
active. When the option is set, the MONITOR option and
job control remain active in the subshell, but note
that the subshell has no access to jobs in the parent
shell.
When the option is not set, jobs put in the background
or foreground with bg or fg are displayed with the same
information that would be reported by jobs. When the
option is set, only the text is printed. The output
from jobs itself is not affected by the option.
When the option is not set, job information from the
parent shell is saved for output within a subshell (for
example, within a pipeline). When the option is set,
the output of jobs is empty until a job is started
within the subshell.
When the option is set, it becomes possible to use the
wait builtin to wait for the last job started in the
background (as given by $!) even if that job has
already exited. This works even if the option is
turned on temporarily around the use of the wait
builtin.
Prompting
PROMPT_BANG <K>
If set, `!' is treated specially in prompt expansion.
See EXPANSION OF PROMPT SEQUENCES in zshmisc(1).
PROMPT_CR (+V) <D>
Print a carriage return just before printing a prompt
in the line editor. This is on by default as
multi-line editing is only possible if the editor knows
where the start of the line appears.
PROMPT_SP <D>
Attempt to preserve a partial line (i.e. a line that
did not end with a newline) that would otherwise be
covered up by the command prompt due to the PROMPT_CR
option. This works by outputting some cursor-control
characters, including a series of spaces, that should
make the terminal wrap to the next line when a partial
line is present (note that this is only successful if
your terminal has automatic margins, which is typical).
When a partial line is preserved, by default you will
see an inverse+bold character at the end of the partial
line: a "%" for a normal user or a "#" for root. If
set, the shell parameter PROMPT_EOL_MARK can be used to
customize how the end of partial lines are shown.
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NOTE: if the PROMPT_CR option is not set, enabling this
option will have no effect. This option is on by
default.
PROMPT_PERCENT <C> <Z>
If set, `%' is treated specially in prompt expansion.
See EXPANSION OF PROMPT SEQUENCES in zshmisc(1).
PROMPT_SUBST <K> <S>
If set, parameter expansion, command substitution and
arithmetic expansion are performed in prompts. Substi-
tutions within prompts do not affect the command sta-
tus.
TRANSIENT_RPROMPT
Remove any right prompt from display when accepting a
command line. This may be useful with terminals with
other cut/paste methods.
Scripts and Functions
C_BASES
Output hexadecimal numbers in the standard C format,
for example `0xFF' instead of the usual `16#FF'. If
the option OCTAL_ZEROES is also set (it is not by
default), octal numbers will be treated similarly and
hence appear as `077' instead of `8#77'. This option
has no effect on the choice of the output base, nor on
the output of bases other than hexadecimal and octal.
Note that these formats will be understood on input
irrespective of the setting of C_BASES.
C_PRECEDENCES
This alters the precedence of arithmetic operators to
be more like C and other programming languages; the
section ARITHMETIC EVALUATION in zshmisc(1) has an
explicit list.
DEBUG_BEFORE_CMD
Run the DEBUG trap before each command; otherwise it is
run after each command. Setting this option mimics the
behaviour of ksh 93; with the option unset the behav-
iour is that of ksh 88.
ERR_EXIT (-e, ksh: -e)
If a command has a non-zero exit status, execute the
ZERR trap, if set, and exit. This is disabled while
running initialization scripts.
The behaviour is also disabled inside DEBUG traps. In
this case the option is handled specially: it is unset
on entry to the trap. If the option DEBUG_BEFORE_CMD
is set, as it is by default, and the option ERR_EXIT is
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User Commands ZSHOPTIONS(1)
found to have been set on exit, then the command for
which the DEBUG trap is being executed is skipped. The
option is restored after the trap exits.
Exiting due to ERR_EXIT has certain interactions with
asynchronous jobs noted in the section JOBS in in zsh-
misc(1).
ERR_RETURN
If a command has a non-zero exit status, return immedi-
ately from the enclosing function. The logic is iden-
tical to that for ERR_EXIT, except that an implicit
return statement is executed instead of an exit. This
will trigger an exit at the outermost level of a
non-interactive script.
EVAL_LINENO <Z>
If set, line numbers of expressions evaluated using the
builtin eval are tracked separately of the enclosing
environment. This applies both to the parameter LINENO
and the line number output by the prompt escape %i. If
the option is set, the prompt escape %N will output the
string `(eval)' instead of the script or function name
as an indication. (The two prompt escapes are typi-
cally used in the parameter PS4 to be output when the
option XTRACE is set.) If EVAL_LINENO is unset, the
line number of the surrounding script or function is
retained during the evaluation.
EXEC (+n, ksh: +n) <D>
Do execute commands. Without this option, commands are
read and checked for syntax errors, but not executed.
This option cannot be turned off in an interactive
shell, except when `-n' is supplied to the shell at
startup.
FUNCTION_ARGZERO <C> <Z>
When executing a shell function or sourcing a script,
set $0 temporarily to the name of the function/script.
LOCAL_OPTIONS <K>
If this option is set at the point of return from a
shell function, most options (including this one) which
were in force upon entry to the function are restored;
options that are not restored are PRIVILEGED and
RESTRICTED. Otherwise, only this option and the XTRACE
and PRINT_EXIT_VALUE options are restored. Hence if
this is explicitly unset by a shell function the other
options in force at the point of return will remain so.
A shell function can also guarantee itself a known
shell configuration with a formulation like `emulate -L
zsh'; the -L activates LOCAL_OPTIONS.
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LOCAL_PATTERNS
If this option is set at the point of return from a
shell function, the state of pattern disables, as set
with the builtin command `disable -p', is restored to
what it was when the function was entered. The behav-
iour of this option is similar to the effect of
LOCAL_OPTIONS on options; hence `emulate -L sh' (or
indeed any other emulation with the -L option) acti-
vates LOCAL_PATTERNS.
LOCAL_TRAPS <K>
If this option is set when a signal trap is set inside
a function, then the previous status of the trap for
that signal will be restored when the function exits.
Note that this option must be set prior to altering the
trap behaviour in a function; unlike LOCAL_OPTIONS, the
value on exit from the function is irrelevant. How-
ever, it does not need to be set before any global trap
for that to be correctly restored by a function. For
example,
unsetopt localtraps
trap - INT
fn() { setopt localtraps; trap '' INT; sleep 3; }
will restore normal handling of SIGINT after the func-
tion exits.
MULTI_FUNC_DEF <Z>
Allow definitions of multiple functions at once in the
form `fn1 fn2...()'; if the option is not set, this
causes a parse error. Definition of multiple functions
with the function keyword is always allowed. Multiple
function definitions are not often used and can cause
obscure errors.
MULTIOS <Z>
Perform implicit tees or cats when multiple redirec-
tions are attempted (see the section `Redirection').
OCTAL_ZEROES <S>
Interpret any integer constant beginning with a 0 as
octal, per IEEE Std 1003.2-1992 (ISO 9945-2:1993).
This is not enabled by default as it causes problems
with parsing of, for example, date and time strings
with leading zeroes.
Sequences of digits indicating a numeric base such as
the `08' component in `08#77' are always interpreted as
decimal, regardless of leading zeroes.
PIPE_FAIL
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By default, when a pipeline exits the exit status
recorded by the shell and returned by the shell vari-
able $? reflects that of the rightmost element of a
pipeline. If this option is set, the exit status
instead reflects the status of the rightmost element of
the pipeline that was non-zero, or zero if all elements
exited with zero status.
SOURCE_TRACE
If set, zsh will print an informational message
announcing the name of each file it loads. The format
of the output is similar to that for the XTRACE option,
with the message <sourcetrace>. A file may be loaded
by the shell itself when it starts up and shuts down
(Startup/Shutdown Files) or by the use of the `source'
and `dot' builtin commands.
TYPESET_SILENT
If this is unset, executing any of the `typeset' family
of commands with no options and a list of parameters
that have no values to be assigned but already exist
will display the value of the parameter. If the option
is set, they will only be shown when parameters are
selected with the `-m' option. The option `-p' is
available whether or not the option is set.
VERBOSE (-v, ksh: -v)
Print shell input lines as they are read.
XTRACE (-x, ksh: -x)
Print commands and their arguments as they are exe-
cuted. The output is proceded by the value of $PS4,
formatted as described in the section EXPANSION OF
PROMPT SEQUENCES in zshmisc(1).
Shell Emulation
BASH_REMATCH
When set, matches performed with the =~ operator will
set the BASH_REMATCH array variable, instead of the
default MATCH and match variables. The first element
of the BASH_REMATCH array will contain the entire
matched text and subsequent elements will contain
extracted substrings. This option makes more sense
when KSH_ARRAYS is also set, so that the entire matched
portion is stored at index 0 and the first substring is
at index 1. Without this option, the MATCH variable
contains the entire matched text and the match array
variable contains substrings.
BSD_ECHO <S>
Make the echo builtin compatible with the BSD echo(1)
command. This disables backslashed escape sequences in
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User Commands ZSHOPTIONS(1)
echo strings unless the -e option is specified.
CONTINUE_ON_ERROR
If a fatal error is encountered (see the section ERRORS
in zshmisc(1)), and the code is running in a script,
the shell will resume execution at the next statement
in the script at the top level, in other words outside
all functions or shell constructs such as loops and
conditions. This mimics the behaviour of interactive
shells, where the shell returns to the line editor to
read a new command; it was the normal behaviour in ver-
sions of zsh before 5.0.1.
CSH_JUNKIE_HISTORY <C>
A history reference without an event specifier will
always refer to the previous command. Without this
option, such a history reference refers to the same
event as the previous history reference, defaulting to
the previous command.
CSH_JUNKIE_LOOPS <C>
Allow loop bodies to take the form `list; end' instead
of `do list; done'.
CSH_JUNKIE_QUOTES <C>
Changes the rules for single- and double-quoted text to
match that of csh. These require that embedded new-
lines be preceded by a backslash; unescaped newlines
will cause an error message. In double-quoted strings,
it is made impossible to escape `$', ``' or `"' (and
`\' itself no longer needs escaping). Command substi-
tutions are only expanded once, and cannot be nested.
CSH_NULLCMD <C>
Do not use the values of NULLCMD and READNULLCMD when
running redirections with no command. This make such
redirections fail (see the section `Redirection').
KSH_ARRAYS <K> <S>
Emulate ksh array handling as closely as possible. If
this option is set, array elements are numbered from
zero, an array parameter without subscript refers to
the first element instead of the whole array, and
braces are required to delimit a subscript
(`${path[2]}' rather than just `$path[2]').
KSH_AUTOLOAD <K> <S>
Emulate ksh function autoloading. This means that when
a function is autoloaded, the corresponding file is
merely executed, and must define the function itself.
(By default, the function is defined to the contents of
the file. However, the most common ksh-style case - of
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User Commands ZSHOPTIONS(1)
the file containing only a simple definition of the
function - is always handled in the ksh-compatible man-
ner.)
KSH_OPTION_PRINT <K>
Alters the way options settings are printed: instead of
separate lists of set and unset options, all options
are shown, marked `on' if they are in the non-default
state, `off' otherwise.
KSH_TYPESET <K>
Alters the way arguments to the typeset family of com-
mands, including declare, export, float, integer, local
and readonly, are processed. Without this option, zsh
will perform normal word splitting after command and
parameter expansion in arguments of an assignment; with
it, word splitting does not take place in those cases.
KSH_ZERO_SUBSCRIPT
Treat use of a subscript of value zero in array or
string expressions as a reference to the first element,
i.e. the element that usually has the subscript 1.
Ignored if KSH_ARRAYS is also set.
If neither this option nor KSH_ARRAYS is set, accesses
to an element of an array or string with subscript zero
return an empty element or string, while attempts to
set element zero of an array or string are treated as
an error. However, attempts to set an otherwise valid
subscript range that includes zero will succeed. For
example, if KSH_ZERO_SUBSCRIPT is not set,
array[0]=(element)
is an error, while
array[0,1]=(element)
is not and will replace the first element of the array.
This option is for compatibility with older versions of
the shell and is not recommended in new code.
POSIX_ALIASES <K> <S>
When this option is set, reserved words are not candi-
dates for alias expansion: it is still possible to
declare any of them as an alias, but the alias will
never be expanded. Reserved words are described in the
section RESERVED WORDS in zshmisc(1).
Alias expansion takes place while text is being read;
hence when this option is set it does not take effect
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User Commands ZSHOPTIONS(1)
until the end of any function or other piece of shell
code parsed as one unit. Note this may cause differ-
ences from other shells even when the option is in
effect. For example, when running a command with `zsh
-c', or even `zsh -o posixaliases -c', the entire com-
mand argument is parsed as one unit, so aliases defined
within the argument are not available even in later
lines. If in doubt, avoid use of aliases in non-inter-
active code.
POSIX_BUILTINS <K> <S>
When this option is set the command builtin can be used
to execute shell builtin commands. Parameter assign-
ments specified before shell functions and special
builtins are kept after the command completes unless
the special builtin is prefixed with the command
builtin. Special builtins are ., :, break, continue,
declare, eval, exit, export, integer, local, readonly,
return, set, shift, source, times, trap and unset.
In addition, various error conditions associated with
the above builtins or exec cause a non-interactive
shell to exit and an interactive shell to return to its
top-level processing.
POSIX_IDENTIFIERS <K> <S>
When this option is set, only the ASCII characters a to
z, A to Z, 0 to 9 and _ may be used in identifiers
(names of shell parameters and modules).
When the option is unset and multibyte character sup-
port is enabled (i.e. it is compiled in and the option
MULTIBYTE is set), then additionally any alphanumeric
characters in the local character set may be used in
identifiers. Note that scripts and functions written
with this feature are not portable, and also that both
options must be set before the script or function is
parsed; setting them during execution is not sufficient
as the syntax variable=value has already been parsed as
a command rather than an assignment.
If multibyte character support is not compiled into the
shell this option is ignored; all octets with the top
bit set may be used in identifiers. This is non-stan-
dard but is the traditional zsh behaviour.
POSIX_STRINGS <K> <S>
This option affects processing of quoted strings. Cur-
rently it only affects the behaviour of null charac-
ters, i.e. character 0 in the portable character set
corresponding to US ASCII.
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User Commands ZSHOPTIONS(1)
When this option is not set, null characters embedded
within strings of the form $'...' are treated as ordi-
nary characters. The entire string is maintained within
the shell and output to files where necessary, although
owing to restrictions of the library interface the
string is truncated at the null character in file
names, environment variables, or in arguments to exter-
nal programs.
When this option is set, the $'...' expression is trun-
cated at the null character. Note that remaining parts
of the same string beyond the termination of the quotes
are not trunctated.
For example, the command line argument a$'b\0c'd is
treated with the option off as the characters a, b,
null, c, d, and with the option on as the characters a,
b, d.
POSIX_TRAPS <K> <S>
When the is option is set, the usual zsh behaviour of
executing traps for EXIT on exit from shell functions
is suppressed. In that case, manipulating EXIT traps
always alters the global trap for exiting the shell;
the LOCAL_TRAPS option is ignored for the EXIT trap.
SH_FILE_EXPANSION <K> <S>
Perform filename expansion (e.g., ~ expansion) before
parameter expansion, command substitution, arithmetic
expansion and brace expansion. If this option is
unset, it is performed after brace expansion, so things
like `~$USERNAME' and `~{pfalstad,rc}' will work.
SH_NULLCMD <K> <S>
Do not use the values of NULLCMD and READNULLCMD when
doing redirections, use `:' instead (see the section
`Redirection').
SH_OPTION_LETTERS <K> <S>
If this option is set the shell tries to interpret sin-
gle letter options (which are used with set and setopt)
like ksh does. This also affects the value of the -
special parameter.
SH_WORD_SPLIT (-y) <K> <S>
Causes field splitting to be performed on unquoted
parameter expansions. Note that this option has noth-
ing to do with word splitting. (See the section
`Parameter Expansion'.)
TRAPS_ASYNC
While waiting for a program to exit, handle signals and
zsh 5.0.5 Last change: January 5, 2014 26
User Commands ZSHOPTIONS(1)
run traps immediately. Otherwise the trap is run after
a child process has exited. Note this does not affect
the point at which traps are run for any case other
than when the shell is waiting for a child process.
Shell State
INTERACTIVE (-i, ksh: -i)
This is an interactive shell. This option is set upon
initialisation if the standard input is a tty and com-
mands are being read from standard input. (See the
discussion of SHIN_STDIN.) This heuristic may be over-
ridden by specifying a state for this option on the
command line. The value of this option can only be
changed via flags supplied at invocation of the shell.
It cannot be changed once zsh is running.
LOGIN (-l, ksh: -l)
This is a login shell. If this option is not explic-
itly set, the shell becomes a login shell if the first
character of the argv[0] passed to the shell is a `-'.
PRIVILEGED (-p, ksh: -p)
Turn on privileged mode. This is enabled automatically
on startup if the effective user (group) ID is not
equal to the real user (group) ID. Turning this option
off causes the effective user and group IDs to be set
to the real user and group IDs. This option disables
sourcing user startup files. If zsh is invoked as `sh'
or `ksh' with this option set, /etc/suid_profile is
sourced (after /etc/profile on interactive shells).
Sourcing ~/.profile is disabled and the contents of the
ENV variable is ignored. This option cannot be changed
using the -m option of setopt and unsetopt, and chang-
ing it inside a function always changes it globally
regardless of the LOCAL_OPTIONS option.
RESTRICTED (-r)
Enables restricted mode. This option cannot be changed
using unsetopt, and setting it inside a function always
changes it globally regardless of the LOCAL_OPTIONS
option. See the section `Restricted Shell'.
SHIN_STDIN (-s, ksh: -s)
Commands are being read from the standard input. Com-
mands are read from standard input if no command is
specified with -c and no file of commands is specified.
If SHIN_STDIN is set explicitly on the command line,
any argument that would otherwise have been taken as a
file to run will instead be treated as a normal posi-
tional parameter. Note that setting or unsetting this
option on the command line does not necessarily affect
the state the option will have while the shell is
zsh 5.0.5 Last change: January 5, 2014 27
User Commands ZSHOPTIONS(1)
running - that is purely an indicator of whether on not
commands are actually being read from standard input.
The value of this option can only be changed via flags
supplied at invocation of the shell. It cannot be
changed once zsh is running.
SINGLE_COMMAND (-t, ksh: -t)
If the shell is reading from standard input, it exits
after a single command has been executed. This also
makes the shell non-interactive, unless the INTERACTIVE
option is explicitly set on the command line. The
value of this option can only be changed via flags sup-
plied at invocation of the shell. It cannot be changed
once zsh is running.
Zle
BEEP (+B) <D>
Beep on error in ZLE.
COMBINING_CHARS
Assume that the terminal displays combining characters
correctly. Specifically, if a base alphanumeric char-
acter is followed by one or more zero-width punctuation
characters, assume that the zero-width characters will
be displayed as modifications to the base character
within the same width. Not all terminals handle this.
If this option is not set, zero-width characters are
displayed separately with special mark-up.
If this option is set, the pattern test [[:WORD:]]
matches a zero-width punctuation character on the
assumption that it will be used as part of a word in
combination with a word character. Otherwise the base
shell does not handle combining characters specially.
EMACS
If ZLE is loaded, turning on this option has the equiv-
alent effect of `bindkey -e'. In addition, the VI
option is unset. Turning it off has no effect. The
option setting is not guaranteed to reflect the current
keymap. This option is provided for compatibility;
bindkey is the recommended interface.
OVERSTRIKE
Start up the line editor in overstrike mode.
SINGLE_LINE_ZLE (-M) <K>
Use single-line command line editing instead of
multi-line.
Note that although this is on by default in ksh emula-
tion it only provides superficial compatibility with
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User Commands ZSHOPTIONS(1)
the ksh line editor and reduces the effectiveness of
the zsh line editor. As it has no effect on shell syn-
tax, many users may wish to disable this option when
using ksh emulation interactively.
VI If ZLE is loaded, turning on this option has the equiv-
alent effect of `bindkey -v'. In addition, the EMACS
option is unset. Turning it off has no effect. The
option setting is not guaranteed to reflect the current
keymap. This option is provided for compatibility;
bindkey is the recommended interface.
ZLE (-Z)
Use the zsh line editor. Set by default in interactive
shells connected to a terminal.
OPTION ALIASES
Some options have alternative names. These aliases are
never used for output, but can be used just like normal
option names when specifying options to the shell.
BRACE_EXPAND
NO_IGNORE_BRACES (ksh and bash compatibility)
DOT_GLOB
GLOB_DOTS (bash compatibility)
HASH_ALL
HASH_CMDS (bash compatibility)
HIST_APPEND
APPEND_HISTORY (bash compatibility)
HIST_EXPAND
BANG_HIST (bash compatibility)
LOG NO_HIST_NO_FUNCTIONS (ksh compatibility)
MAIL_WARN
MAIL_WARNING (bash compatibility)
ONE_CMD
SINGLE_COMMAND (bash compatibility)
PHYSICAL
CHASE_LINKS (ksh and bash compatibility)
PROMPT_VARS
PROMPT_SUBST (bash compatibility)
STDIN
SHIN_STDIN (ksh compatibility)
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TRACK_ALL
HASH_CMDS (ksh compatibility)
SINGLE LETTER OPTIONS
Default set
-0 CORRECT
-1 PRINT_EXIT_VALUE
-2 NO_BAD_PATTERN
-3 NO_NOMATCH
-4 GLOB_DOTS
-5 NOTIFY
-6 BG_NICE
-7 IGNORE_EOF
-8 MARK_DIRS
-9 AUTO_LIST
-B NO_BEEP
-C NO_CLOBBER
-D PUSHD_TO_HOME
-E PUSHD_SILENT
-F NO_GLOB
-G NULL_GLOB
-H RM_STAR_SILENT
-I IGNORE_BRACES
-J AUTO_CD
-K NO_BANG_HIST
-L SUN_KEYBOARD_HACK
-M SINGLE_LINE_ZLE
-N AUTO_PUSHD
-O CORRECT_ALL
-P RC_EXPAND_PARAM
-Q PATH_DIRS
-R LONG_LIST_JOBS
-S REC_EXACT
-T CDABLE_VARS
-U MAIL_WARNING
-V NO_PROMPT_CR
-W AUTO_RESUME
-X LIST_TYPES
-Y MENU_COMPLETE
-Z ZLE
-a ALL_EXPORT
-e ERR_EXIT
-f NO_RCS
-g HIST_IGNORE_SPACE
-h HIST_IGNORE_DUPS
-i INTERACTIVE
-k INTERACTIVE_COMMENTS
-l LOGIN
-m MONITOR
-n NO_EXEC
-p PRIVILEGED
-r RESTRICTED
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-s SHIN_STDIN
-t SINGLE_COMMAND
-u NO_UNSET
-v VERBOSE
-w CHASE_LINKS
-x XTRACE
-y SH_WORD_SPLIT
sh/ksh emulation set
-C NO_CLOBBER
-T TRAPS_ASYNC
-X MARK_DIRS
-a ALL_EXPORT
-b NOTIFY
-e ERR_EXIT
-f NO_GLOB
-i INTERACTIVE
-l LOGIN
-m MONITOR
-n NO_EXEC
-p PRIVILEGED
-r RESTRICTED
-s SHIN_STDIN
-t SINGLE_COMMAND
-u NO_UNSET
-v VERBOSE
-x XTRACE
Also note
-A Used by set for setting arrays
-b Used on the command line to specify end of option pro-
cessing
-c Used on the command line to specify a single command
-m Used by setopt for pattern-matching option setting
-o Used in all places to allow use of long option names
-s Used by set to sort positional parameters
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following
attributes:
+---------------+------------------+
|ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
+---------------+------------------+
|Availability | shell/zsh |
+---------------+------------------+
|Stability | Volatile |
+---------------+------------------+
NOTES
This software was built from source available at
zsh 5.0.5 Last change: January 5, 2014 31
User Commands ZSHOPTIONS(1)
https://java.net/projects/solaris-userland. The original
community source was downloaded from http://down-
loads.source-
forge.net/project/zsh/zsh/5.0.5/zsh-5.0.5.tar.bz2
Further information about this software can be found on the
open source community website at http://www.zsh.org/.
zsh 5.0.5 Last change: January 5, 2014 32
User Commands ZSHBUILTINS(1)
NAME
zshbuiltins - zsh built-in commands
SHELL BUILTIN COMMANDS
Some shell builtin commands take options as described in
individual entries; these are often referred to in the list
below as `flags' to avoid confusion with shell options,
which may also have an effect on the behaviour of builtin
commands. In this introductory section, `option' always has
the meaning of an option to a command that should be famil-
iar to most command line users.
Typically, options are single letters preceded by a hyphen
(-). Options that take an argument accept it either immedi-
ately following the option letter or after white space, for
example `print -C3 *' or `print -C 3 *' are equivalent.
Arguments to options are not the same as arguments to the
command; the documentation indicates which is which.
Options that do not take an argument may be combined in a
single word, for example `print -ca *' and `print -c -a *'
are equivalent.
Some shell builtin commands also take options that begin
with `+' instead of `-'. The list below makes clear which
commands these are.
Options (together with their individual arguments, if any)
must appear in a group before any non-option arguments; once
the first non-option argument has been found, option pro-
cessing is terminated.
All builtin commands other than precommand modifiers, even
those that have no options, can be given the argument `--'
to terminate option processing. This indicates that the
following words are non-option arguments, but is otherwise
ignored. This is useful in cases where arguments to the
command may begin with `-'. For historical reasons, most
builtin commands also recognize a single `-' in a separate
word for this purpose; note that this is less standard and
use of `-- is recommended.
- simple command
See the section `Precommand Modifiers'.
. file [ arg ... ]
Read commands from file and execute them in the current
shell environment.
If file does not contain a slash, or if PATH_DIRS is
set, the shell looks in the components of $path to find
the directory containing file. Files in the current
directory are not read unless `.' appears somewhere in
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$path. If a file named `file.zwc' is found, is newer
than file, and is the compiled form (created with the
zcompile builtin) of file, then commands are read from
that file instead of file.
If any arguments arg are given, they become the posi-
tional parameters; the old positional parameters are
restored when the file is done executing. If file was
not found the return status is 127; if file was found
but contained a syntax error the return status is 126;
else the return status is the exit status of the last
command executed.
: [ arg ... ]
This command does nothing, although normal argument
expansions is performed which may have effects on shell
parameters. A zero exit status is returned.
alias [ {+|-}gmrsL ] [ name[=value] ... ]
For each name with a corresponding value, define an
alias with that value. A trailing space in value
causes the next word to be checked for alias expansion.
If the -g flag is present, define a global alias;
global aliases are expanded even if they do not occur
in command position.
If the -s flag is present, define a suffix alias: if
the command word on a command line is in the form
`text.name', where text is any non-empty string, it is
replaced by the text `value text.name'. Note that name
is treated as a literal string, not a pattern. A
trailing space in value is not special in this case.
For example,
alias -s ps=gv
will cause the command `*.ps' to be expanded to `gv
*.ps'. As alias expansion is carried out earlier than
globbing, the `*.ps' will then be expanded. Suffix
aliases constitute a different name space from other
aliases (so in the above example it is still possible
to create an alias for the command ps) and the two sets
are never listed together.
For each name with no value, print the value of name,
if any. With no arguments, print all currently defined
aliases other than suffix aliases. If the -m flag is
given the arguments are taken as patterns (they should
be quoted to preserve them from being interpreted as
glob patterns), and the aliases matching these patterns
are printed. When printing aliases and one of the -g,
-r or -s flags is present, restrict the printing to
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User Commands ZSHBUILTINS(1)
global, regular or suffix aliases, respectively; a reg-
ular alias is one which is neither a global nor a suf-
fix alias. Using `+' instead of `-', or ending the
option list with a single `+', prevents the values of
the aliases from being printed.
If the -L flag is present, then print each alias in a
manner suitable for putting in a startup script. The
exit status is nonzero if a name (with no value) is
given for which no alias has been defined.
For more on aliases, include common problems, see the
section ALIASING in zshmisc(1).
autoload [ {+|-}UXkmtz ] [ -w ] [ name ... ]
Equivalent to functions -u, with the exception of -X/+X
and -w.
The flag -X may be used only inside a shell function,
and may not be followed by a name. It causes the call-
ing function to be marked for autoloading and then
immediately loaded and executed, with the current array
of positional parameters as arguments. This replaces
the previous definition of the function. If no func-
tion definition is found, an error is printed and the
function remains undefined and marked for autoloading.
The flag +X attempts to load each name as an autoloaded
function, but does not execute it. The exit status is
zero (success) if the function was not previously
defined and a definition for it was found. This does
not replace any existing definition of the function.
The exit status is nonzero (failure) if the function
was already defined or when no definition was found.
In the latter case the function remains undefined and
marked for autoloading. If ksh-style autoloading is
enabled, the function created will contain the contents
of the file plus a call to the function itself appended
to it, thus giving normal ksh autoloading behaviour on
the first call to the function. If the -m flag is also
given each name is treated as a pattern and all func-
tions already marked for autoload that match the pat-
tern are loaded.
With the -w flag, the names are taken as names of files
compiled with the zcompile builtin, and all functions
defined in them are marked for autoloading.
The flags -z and -k mark the function to be autoloaded
using the zsh or ksh style, as if the option
KSH_AUTOLOAD were unset or were set, respectively. The
flags override the setting of the option at the time
zsh 5.0.5 Last change: January 5, 2014 3
User Commands ZSHBUILTINS(1)
the function is loaded.
Note that the autoload command makes no attempt to
ensure the shell options set during the loading or exe-
cution of the file have any particular value. For
this, the emulate command can be used:
emulate zsh -c 'autoload -Uz func'
arranges that when func is loaded the shell is in
native zsh emulation, and this emulation is also
applied when func is run.
bg [ job ... ]
job ... &
Put each specified job in the background, or the cur-
rent job if none is specified.
bindkey
See the section `Zle Builtins' in zshzle(1).
break [ n ]
Exit from an enclosing for, while, until, select or
repeat loop. If n is specified, then break n levels
instead of just one.
builtin name [ args ... ]
Executes the builtin name, with the given args.
bye Same as exit.
cap See the section `The zsh/cap Module' in zshmodules(1).
cd [ -qsLP ] [ arg ]
cd [ -qsLP ] old new
cd [ -qsLP ] {+|-}n
Change the current directory. In the first form,
change the current directory to arg, or to the value of
$HOME if arg is not specified. If arg is `-', change
to the previous directory.
Otherwise, if arg begins with a slash, attempt to
change to the directory given by arg.
If arg does not begin with a slash, the behaviour
depends on whether the current directory `.' occurs in
the list of directories contained in the shell parame-
ter cdpath. If it does not, first attempt to change to
the directory arg under the current directory, and if
that fails but cdpath is set and contains at least one
element attempt to change to the directory arg under
each component of cdpath in turn until successful. If
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User Commands ZSHBUILTINS(1)
`.' occurs in cdpath, then cdpath is searched strictly
in order so that `.' is only tried at the appropriate
point.
The order of testing cdpath is modified if the option
POSIX_CD is set, as described in the documentation for
the option.
If no directory is found, the option CDABLE_VARS is
set, and a parameter named arg exists whose value
begins with a slash, treat its value as the directory.
In that case, the parameter is added to the named
directory hash table.
The second form of cd substitutes the string new for
the string old in the name of the current directory,
and tries to change to this new directory.
The third form of cd extracts an entry from the direc-
tory stack, and changes to that directory. An argument
of the form `+n' identifies a stack entry by counting
from the left of the list shown by the dirs command,
starting with zero. An argument of the form `-n'
counts from the right. If the PUSHD_MINUS option is
set, the meanings of `+' and `-' in this context are
swapped.
If the -q (quiet) option is specified, the hook func-
tion chpwd and the functions in the array chpwd_func-
tions are not called. This is useful for calls to cd
that do not change the environment seen by an interac-
tive user.
If the -s option is specified, cd refuses to change the
current directory if the given pathname contains sym-
links. If the -P option is given or the CHASE_LINKS
option is set, symbolic links are resolved to their
true values. If the -L option is given symbolic links
are retained in the directory (and not resolved)
regardless of the state of the CHASE_LINKS option.
chdir
Same as cd.
clone
See the section `The zsh/clone Module' in zshmod-
ules(1).
command [ -pvV ] simple command
The simple command argument is taken as an external
command instead of a function or builtin and is exe-
cuted. If the POSIX_BUILTINS option is set, builtins
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User Commands ZSHBUILTINS(1)
will also be executed but certain special properties of
them are suppressed. The -p flag causes a default path
to be searched instead of that in $path. With the -v
flag, command is similar to whence and with -V, it is
equivalent to whence -v.
See also the section `Precommand Modifiers'.
comparguments
See the section `The zsh/computil Module' in zshmod-
ules(1).
compcall
See the section `The zsh/compctl Module' in zshmod-
ules(1).
compctl
See the section `The zsh/compctl Module' in zshmod-
ules(1).
compdescribe
See the section `The zsh/computil Module' in zshmod-
ules(1).
compfiles
See the section `The zsh/computil Module' in zshmod-
ules(1).
compgroups
See the section `The zsh/computil Module' in zshmod-
ules(1).
compquote
See the section `The zsh/computil Module' in zshmod-
ules(1).
comptags
See the section `The zsh/computil Module' in zshmod-
ules(1).
comptry
See the section `The zsh/computil Module' in zshmod-
ules(1).
compvalues
See the section `The zsh/computil Module' in zshmod-
ules(1).
continue [ n ]
Resume the next iteration of the enclosing for, while,
until, select or repeat loop. If n is specified, break
out of n-1 loops and resume at the nth enclosing loop.
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User Commands ZSHBUILTINS(1)
declare
Same as typeset.
dirs [ -c ] [ arg ... ]
dirs [ -lpv ]
With no arguments, print the contents of the directory
stack. Directories are added to this stack with the
pushd command, and removed with the cd or popd com-
mands. If arguments are specified, load them onto the
directory stack, replacing anything that was there, and
push the current directory onto the stack.
-c clear the directory stack.
-l print directory names in full instead of using of
using ~ expressions (see Dynamic and Static named
directories in zshexpn(1)).
-p print directory entries one per line.
-v number the directories in the stack when printing.
disable [ -afmprs ] name ...
Temporarily disable the named hash table elements or
patterns. The default is to disable builtin commands.
This allows you to use an external command with the
same name as a builtin command. The -a option causes
disable to act on regular or global aliases. The -s
option causes disable to act on suffix aliases. The -f
option causes disable to act on shell functions. The
-r options causes disable to act on reserved words.
Without arguments all disabled hash table elements from
the corresponding hash table are printed. With the -m
flag the arguments are taken as patterns (which should
be quoted to prevent them from undergoing filename
expansion), and all hash table elements from the corre-
sponding hash table matching these patterns are dis-
abled. Disabled objects can be enabled with the enable
command.
With the option -p, name ... refer to elements of the
shell's pattern syntax as described in the section
`Filename Generation'. Certain elements can be dis-
abled separately, as given below.
Note that patterns not allowed by the current settings
for the options EXTENDED_GLOB, KSH_GLOB and SH_GLOB are
never enabled, regardless of the setting here. For
example, if EXTENDED_GLOB is not active, the pattern ^
is ineffective even if `disable -p "^"' has not been
issued. The list below indicates any option settings
that restrict the use of the pattern. It should be
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User Commands ZSHBUILTINS(1)
noted that setting SH_GLOB has a wider effect then
merely disabling patterns as certain expressions, in
particular those involving parentheses, are parsed dif-
ferently.
The following patterns may be disabled; all the strings
need quoting on the command line to prevent them from
being interpreted immediately as patterns and the pat-
terns are shown below in single quotes as a reminder.
'?' The pattern character ? wherever it occurs,
including when preceding a parenthesis with
KSH_GLOB.
'*' The pattern character * wherever it occurs,
including recursive globbing and when preceding a
parenthesis with KSH_GLOB.
'[' Character classes.
'<' (NO_SH_GLOB)
Numeric ranges.
'|' (NO_SH_GLOB)
Alternation in grouped patterns, case statements,
or KSH_GLOB parenthesised expressions.
'(' (NO_SH_GLOB)
Grouping using single parentheses. Disabling this
does not disable the use of parentheses for
KSH_GLOB where they are introduced by a special
character, nor for glob qualifiers (use `setopt
NO_BARE_GLOB_QUAL' to disable glob qualifiers that
use parentheses only).
'~' (EXTENDED_GLOB)
Exclusion in the form A~B.
'^' (EXTENDED_GLOB)
Exclusion in the form A^B.
'#' (EXTENDED_GLOB)
The pattern character # wherever it occurs, both
for repetition of a previous pattern and for indi-
cating globbing flags.
'?(' (KSH_GLOB)
The grouping form ?(...). Note this is also dis-
abled if '?' is disabled.
'*(' (KSH_GLOB)
The grouping form *(...). Note this is also dis-
abled if '*' is disabled.
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User Commands ZSHBUILTINS(1)
'+(' (KSH_GLOB)
The grouping form +(...).
'!(' (KSH_GLOB)
The grouping form !(...).
'@(' (KSH_GLOB)
The grouping form @(...).
disown [ job ... ]
job ... &|
job ... &!
Remove the specified jobs from the job table; the shell
will no longer report their status, and will not com-
plain if you try to exit an interactive shell with them
running or stopped. If no job is specified, disown the
current job.
If the jobs are currently stopped and the AUTO_CONTINUE
option is not set, a warning is printed containing
information about how to make them running after they
have been disowned. If one of the latter two forms is
used, the jobs will automatically be made running,
independent of the setting of the AUTO_CONTINUE option.
echo [ -neE ] [ arg ... ]
Write each arg on the standard output, with a space
separating each one. If the -n flag is not present,
print a newline at the end. echo recognizes the fol-
lowing escape sequences:
\a bell character
\b backspace
\c suppress final newline
\e escape
\f form feed
\n linefeed (newline)
\r carriage return
\t horizontal tab
\v vertical tab
\\ backslash
\0NNN
character code in octal
\xNN character code in hexadecimal
\uNNNN
unicode character code in hexadecimal
\UNNNNNNNN
unicode character code in hexadecimal
The -E flag, or the BSD_ECHO option, can be used to
disable these escape sequences. In the latter case, -e
flag can be used to enable them.
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User Commands ZSHBUILTINS(1)
echotc
See the section `The zsh/termcap Module' in zshmod-
ules(1).
echoti
See the section `The zsh/terminfo Module' in zshmod-
ules(1).
emulate [ -LR ] [ {zsh|sh|ksh|csh} [ flags ... ] ]
Without any argument print current emulation mode.
With single argument set up zsh options to emulate the
specified shell as much as possible. csh will never be
fully emulated. If the argument is not one of the
shells listed above, zsh will be used as a default;
more precisely, the tests performed on the argument are
the same as those used to determine the emulation at
startup based on the shell name, see the section COM-
PATIBILITY in zsh(1) . In addition to setting shell
options, the command also restores the pristine state
of pattern enables, as if all patterns had been enabled
using enable -p.
If the emulate command occurs inside a function that
has been marked for execution tracing with functions -t
then the xtrace option will be turned on regardless of
emulation mode or other options. Note that code exe-
cuted inside the function by the ., source, or eval
commands is not considered to be running directly from
the function, hence does not provoke this behaviour.
If the -R switch is given, all settable options are
reset to their default value corresponding to the spec-
ified emulation mode, except for certain options
describing the interactive environment; otherwise, only
those options likely to cause portability problems in
scripts and functions are altered. If the -L switch is
given, the options LOCAL_OPTIONS, LOCAL_PATTERNS and
LOCAL_TRAPS will be set as well, causing the effects of
the emulate command and any setopt, disable -p or
enable -p, and trap commands to be local to the immedi-
ately surrounding shell function, if any; normally
these options are turned off in all emulation modes
except ksh. The -L switch is mutually exclusive with
the use of -c in flags.
The flags may be any of the invocation-time flags
described in the section INVOCATION in zsh(1), except
that `-o EMACS' and `-o VI' may not be used. Flags
such as `+r'/`+o RESTRICTED' may be prohibited in some
circumstances.
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If -c arg appears in flags, arg is evaluated while the
requested emulation is temporarily in effect. In this
case the emulation mode and all options are restored to
their previous values before emulate returns. The -R
switch may precede the name of the shell to emulate;
note this has a meaning distinct from including -R in
flags.
Use of -c enables `sticky' emulation mode for functions
defined within the evaluated expression: the emulation
mode is associated thereafter with the function so that
whenever the function is executed the emulation
(respecting the -R switch, if present) and all options
are set (and pattern disables cleared) before entry to
the function, and the state is restored after exit. If
the function is called when the sticky emulation is
already in effect, either within an `emulate shell -c'
expression or within another function with the same
sticky emulation, entry and exit from the function do
not cause options to be altered (except due to standard
processing such as the LOCAL_OPTIONS option). This
also applies to functions marked for autoload within
the sticky emulation; the appropriate set of options
will be applied at the point the function is loaded as
well as when it is run.
For example:
emulate sh -c 'fni() { setopt cshnullglob; }
fno() { fni; }'
fno
The two functions fni and fno are defined with sticky
sh emulation. fno is then executed, causing options
associated with emulations to be set to their values in
sh. fni then calls fno; because fno is also marked for
sticky sh emulation, no option changes take place on
entry to or exit from it. Hence the option cshnull-
glob, turned off by sh emulation, will be turned on
within fni and remain on on return to fno. On exit
from fno, the emulation mode and all options will be
restored to the state they were in before entry to the
temporary emulation.
The documentation above is typically sufficient for the
intended purpose of executing code designed for other
shells in a suitable environment. More detailed rules
follow.
1. The sticky emulation environment provided by `emu-
late shell -c' is identical to that provided by
entry to a function marked for sticky emulation as
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a consequence of being defined in such an environ-
ment. Hence, for example, the sticky emulation is
inherited by subfunctions defined within functions
with sticky emulation.
2. No change of options takes place on entry to or
exit from functions that are not marked for sticky
emulation, other than those that would normally
take place, even if those functions are called
within sticky emulation.
3. No special handling is provided for functions
marked for autoload nor for functions present in
wordcode created by the zcompile command.
4. The presence or absence of the -R switch to emu-
late corresponds to different sticky emulation
modes, so for example `emulate sh -c', `emulate -R
sh -c' and `emulate csh -c' are treated as three
distinct sticky emulations.
5. Difference in shell options supplied in addition
to the basic emulation also mean the sticky emula-
tions are different, so for example `emulate zsh
-c' and `emulate zsh -o cbases -c' are treated as
distinct sticky emulations.
enable [ -afmprs ] name ...
Enable the named hash table elements, presumably dis-
abled earlier with disable. The default is to enable
builtin commands. The -a option causes enable to act
on regular or global aliases. The -s option causes
enable to act on suffix aliases. The -f option causes
enable to act on shell functions. The -r option causes
enable to act on reserved words. Without arguments all
enabled hash table elements from the corresponding hash
table are printed. With the -m flag the arguments are
taken as patterns (should be quoted) and all hash table
elements from the corresponding hash table matching
these patterns are enabled. Enabled objects can be
disabled with the disable builtin command.
enable -p reenables patterns disabled with disable -p.
Note that it does not override globbing options; for
example, `enable -p "~"' does not cause the pattern
character ~ to be active unless the EXTENDED_GLOB
option is also set. To enable all possible patterns
(so that they may be invidually disabled with disable
-p), use `setopt EXTENDED_GLOB KSH_GLOB NO_SH_GLOB'.
eval [ arg ... ]
Read the arguments as input to the shell and execute
the resulting command(s) in the current shell process.
The return status is the same as if the commands had
been executed directly by the shell; if there are no
args or they contain no commands (i.e. are an empty
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string or whitespace) the return status is zero.
exec [ -cl ] [ -a argv0 ] simple command
Replace the current shell with an external command
rather than forking. With -c clear the environment;
with -l prepend - to the argv[0] string of the command
executed (to simulate a login shell); with -a argv0 set
the argv[0] string of the command executed. See the
section `Precommand Modifiers'.
exit [ n ]
Exit the shell with the exit status specified by n; if
none is specified, use the exit status from the last
command executed. An EOF condition will also cause the
shell to exit, unless the IGNORE_EOF option is set.
See notes at the end of the section JOBS in in zsh-
misc(1) for some possibly unexpected interactions of
the exit command with jobs.
export [ name[=value] ... ]
The specified names are marked for automatic export to
the environment of subsequently executed commands.
Equivalent to typeset -gx. If a parameter specified
does not already exist, it is created in the global
scope.
false [ arg ... ]
Do nothing and return an exit status of 1.
fc [ -e ename ] [ -m match ] [ old=new ... ] [ first [ last
] ]
fc -l [ -nrdfEiD ] [ -t timefmt ] [ -m match ]
[ old=new ... ] [ first [ last ] ]
fc -p [ -a ] [ filename [ histsize [ savehistsize ] ] ]
fc -P
fc -ARWI [ filename ]
Select a range of commands from first to last from the
history list. The arguments first and last may be
specified as a number or as a string. A negative num-
ber is used as an offset to the current history event
number. A string specifies the most recent event
beginning with the given string. All substitutions
old=new, if any, are then performed on the commands.
If the -l flag is given, the resulting commands are
listed on standard output. If the -m flag is also
given the first argument is taken as a pattern (should
be quoted) and only the history events matching this
pattern will be shown. Otherwise the editor program
ename is invoked on a file containing these history
events. If ename is not given, the value of the
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parameter FCEDIT is used; if that is not set the value
of the parameter EDITOR is used; if that is not set a
builtin default, usually `vi' is used. If ename is
`-', no editor is invoked. When editing is complete,
the edited command is executed.
If first is not specified, it will be set to -1 (the
most recent event), or to -16 if the -l flag is given.
If last is not specified, it will be set to first, or
to -1 if the -l flag is given.
The flag -r reverses the order of the commands and the
flag -n suppresses command numbers when listing.
Also when listing,
-d prints timestamps for each command
-f prints full time-date stamps in the US `MM/DD/YY
hh:mm' format
-E prints full time-date stamps in the European
`dd.mm.yyyy hh:mm' format
-i prints full time-date stamps in ISO8601
`yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm' format
-t fmt
prints time and date stamps in the given format;
fmt is formatted with the strftime function with
the zsh extensions described for the %D{string}
prompt format in the section EXPANSION OF PROMPT
SEQUENCES in zshmisc(1). The resulting formatted
string must be no more than 256 characters or will
not be printed.
-D prints elapsed times; may be combined with one of
the options above.
`fc -p' pushes the current history list onto a stack
and switches to a new history list. If the -a option
is also specified, this history list will be automati-
cally popped when the current function scope is exited,
which is a much better solution than creating a trap
function to call `fc -P' manually. If no arguments are
specified, the history list is left empty, $HISTFILE is
unset, and $HISTSIZE & $SAVEHIST are set to their
default values. If one argument is given, $HISTFILE is
set to that filename, $HISTSIZE & $SAVEHIST are left
unchanged, and the history file is read in (if it
exists) to initialize the new list. If a second argu-
ment is specified, $HISTSIZE & $SAVEHIST are instead
set to the single specified numeric value. Finally, if
a third argument is specified, $SAVEHIST is set to a
separate value from $HISTSIZE. You are free to change
these environment values for the new history list how-
ever you desire in order to manipulate the new history
list.
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`fc -P' pops the history list back to an older list
saved by `fc -p'. The current list is saved to its
$HISTFILE before it is destroyed (assuming that $HIST-
FILE and $SAVEHIST are set appropriately, of course).
The values of $HISTFILE, $HISTSIZE, and $SAVEHIST are
restored to the values they had when `fc -p' was
called. Note that this restoration can conflict with
making these variables "local", so your best bet is to
avoid local declarations for these variables in func-
tions that use `fc -p'. The one other guaranteed-safe
combination is declaring these variables to be local at
the top of your function and using the automatic option
(-a) with `fc -p'. Finally, note that it is legal to
manually pop a push marked for automatic popping if you
need to do so before the function exits.
`fc -R' reads the history from the given file, `fc -W'
writes the history out to the given file, and `fc -A'
appends the history out to the given file. If no file-
name is specified, the $HISTFILE is assumed. If the -I
option is added to -R, only those events that are not
already contained within the internal history list are
added. If the -I option is added to -A or -W, only
those events that are new since last incremental
append/write to the history file are appended/written.
In any case, the created file will have no more than
$SAVEHIST entries.
fg [ job ... ]
job ...
Bring each specified job in turn to the foreground. If
no job is specified, resume the current job.
float [ {+|-}EFHghlprtux ] [ -LRZ [ n ]] [ name[=value] ...
]
Equivalent to typeset -E, except that options irrele-
vant to floating point numbers are not permitted.
functions [ {+|-}UXkmtTuz ] [ name ... ]
functions -M mathfn [ min [ max [ shellfn ] ] ]
functions -M [ -m pattern ... ]
functions +M [ -m ] mathfn
Equivalent to typeset -f, with the exception of the -M
option. Use of the -M option may not be combined with
any of the options handled by typeset -f.
functions -M mathfn defines mathfn as the name of a
mathematical function recognised in all forms of arith-
metical expressions; see the section `Arithmetic Evalu-
ation' in zshmisc(1). By default mathfn may take any
number of comma-separated arguments. If min is given,
it must have exactly min args; if min and max are both
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given, it must have at least min and at most max args.
max may be -1 to indicate that there is no upper limit.
By default the function is implemented by a shell func-
tion of the same name; if shellfn is specified it gives
the name of the corresponding shell function while
mathfn remains the name used in arithmetical expres-
sions. The name of the function in $0 is mathfn (not
shellfn as would usually be the case), provided the
option FUNCTION_ARGZERO is in effect. The positional
parameters in the shell function correspond to the
arguments of the mathematical function call. The
result of the last arithmetical expression evaluated
inside the shell function (even if it is a form that
normally only returns a status) gives the result of the
mathematical function.
functions -M with no arguments lists all such
user-defined functions in the same form as a defini-
tion. With the additional option -m and a list of
arguments, all functions whose mathfn matches one of
the pattern arguments are listed.
function +M removes the list of mathematical functions;
with the additional option -m the arguments are treated
as patterns and all functions whose mathfn matches the
pattern are removed. Note that the shell function
implementing the behaviour is not removed (regardless
of whether its name coincides with mathfn).
For example, the following prints the cube of 3:
zmath_cube() { (( $1 * $1 * $1 )) }
functions -M cube 1 1 zmath_cube
print $(( cube(3) ))
getcap
See the section `The zsh/cap Module' in zshmodules(1).
getln [ -AclneE ] name ...
Read the top value from the buffer stack and put it in
the shell parameter name. Equivalent to read -zr.
getopts optstring name [ arg ... ]
Checks the args for legal options. If the args are
omitted, use the positional parameters. A valid option
argument begins with a `+' or a `-'. An argument not
beginning with a `+' or a `-', or the argument `--',
ends the options. Note that a single `-' is not con-
sidered a valid option argument. optstring contains
the letters that getopts recognizes. If a letter is
followed by a `:', that option requires an argument.
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The options can be separated from the argument by
blanks.
Each time it is invoked, getopts places the option let-
ter it finds in the shell parameter name, prepended
with a `+' when arg begins with a `+'. The index of
the next arg is stored in OPTIND. The option argument,
if any, is stored in OPTARG.
The first option to be examined may be changed by
explicitly assigning to OPTIND. OPTIND has an initial
value of 1, and is normally reset to 1 upon exit from a
shell function. OPTARG is not reset and retains its
value from the most recent call to getopts. If either
of OPTIND or OPTARG is explicitly unset, it remains
unset, and the index or option argument is not stored.
The option itself is still stored in name in this case.
A leading `:' in optstring causes getopts to store the
letter of any invalid option in OPTARG, and to set name
to `?' for an unknown option and to `:' when a required
argument is missing. Otherwise, getopts sets name to
`?' and prints an error message when an option is
invalid. The exit status is nonzero when there are no
more options.
hash [ -Ldfmrv ] [ name[=value] ] ...
hash can be used to directly modify the contents of the
command hash table, and the named directory hash table.
Normally one would modify these tables by modifying
one's PATH (for the command hash table) or by creating
appropriate shell parameters (for the named directory
hash table). The choice of hash table to work on is
determined by the -d option; without the option the
command hash table is used, and with the option the
named directory hash table is used.
Given no arguments, and neither the -r or -f options,
the selected hash table will be listed in full.
The -r option causes the selected hash table to be emp-
tied. It will be subsequently rebuilt in the normal
fashion. The -f option causes the selected hash table
to be fully rebuilt immediately. For the command hash
table this hashes all the absolute directories in the
PATH, and for the named directory hash table this adds
all users' home directories. These two options cannot
be used with any arguments.
The -m option causes the arguments to be taken as pat-
terns (which should be quoted) and the elements of the
hash table matching those patterns are printed. This
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is the only way to display a limited selection of hash
table elements.
For each name with a corresponding value, put `name' in
the selected hash table, associating it with the path-
name `value'. In the command hash table, this means
that whenever `name' is used as a command argument, the
shell will try to execute the file given by `value'.
In the named directory hash table, this means that
`value' may be referred to as `~name'.
For each name with no corresponding value, attempt to
add name to the hash table, checking what the appropri-
ate value is in the normal manner for that hash table.
If an appropriate value can't be found, then the hash
table will be unchanged.
The -v option causes hash table entries to be listed as
they are added by explicit specification. If has no
effect if used with -f.
If the -L flag is present, then each hash table entry
is printed in the form of a call to hash.
history
Same as fc -l.
integer [ {+|-}Hghilprtux ] [ -LRZ [ n ]] [ name[=value] ...
]
Equivalent to typeset -i, except that options irrele-
vant to integers are not permitted.
jobs [ -dlprs ] [ job ... ]
jobs -Z string
Lists information about each given job, or all jobs if
job is omitted. The -l flag lists process IDs, and the
-p flag lists process groups. If the -r flag is speci-
fied only running jobs will be listed and if the -s
flag is given only stopped jobs are shown. If the -d
flag is given, the directory from which the job was
started (which may not be the current directory of the
job) will also be shown.
The -Z option replaces the shell's argument and envi-
ronment space with the given string, truncated if nec-
essary to fit. This will normally be visible in ps
(ps(1)) listings. This feature is typically used by
daemons, to indicate their state.
kill [ -s signal_name | -n signal_number | -sig ] job ...
kill -l [ sig ... ]
Sends either SIGTERM or the specified signal to the
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given jobs or processes. Signals are given by number
or by names, with or without the `SIG' prefix. If the
signal being sent is not `KILL' or `CONT', then the job
will be sent a `CONT' signal if it is stopped. The
argument job can be the process ID of a job not in the
job list. In the second form, kill -l, if sig is not
specified the signal names are listed. Otherwise, for
each sig that is a name, the corresponding signal num-
ber is listed. For each sig that is a signal number or
a number representing the exit status of a process
which was terminated or stopped by a signal the name of
the signal is printed.
On some systems, alternative signal names are allowed
for a few signals. Typical examples are SIGCHLD and
SIGCLD or SIGPOLL and SIGIO, assuming they correspond
to the same signal number. kill -l will only list the
preferred form, however kill -l alt will show if the
alternative form corresponds to a signal number. For
example, under Linux kill -l IO and kill -l POLL both
output 29, hence kill -IO and kill -POLL have the same
effect.
Many systems will allow process IDs to be negative to
kill a process group or zero to kill the current
process group.
let arg ...
Evaluate each arg as an arithmetic expression. See the
section `Arithmetic Evaluation' in zshmisc(1) for a
description of arithmetic expressions. The exit status
is 0 if the value of the last expression is nonzero, 1
if it is zero, and 2 if an error occurred.
limit [ -hs ] [ resource [ limit ] ] ...
Set or display resource limits. Unless the -s flag is
given, the limit applies only the children of the
shell. If -s is given without other arguments, the
resource limits of the current shell is set to the pre-
viously set resource limits of the children.
If limit is not specified, print the current limit
placed on resource, otherwise set the limit to the
specified value. If the -h flag is given, use hard
limits instead of soft limits. If no resource is
given, print all limits.
When looping over multiple resources, the shell will
abort immediately if it detects a badly formed argu-
ment. However, if it fails to set a limit for some
other reason it will continue trying to set the remain-
ing limits.
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resource can be one of:
addressspace
Maximum amount of address space used.
aiomemorylocked
Maximum amount of memory locked in RAM for AIO
operations.
aiooperations
Maximum number of AIO operations.
cachedthreads
Maximum number of cached threads.
coredumpsize
Maximum size of a core dump.
cputime
Maximum CPU seconds per process.
datasize
Maximum data size (including stack) for each
process.
descriptors
Maximum value for a file descriptor.
filesize
Largest single file allowed.
kqueues
Maximum number of kqueues allocated.
maxproc
Maximum number of processes.
maxpthreads
Maximum number of threads per process.
memorylocked
Maximum amount of memory locked in RAM.
memoryuse
Maximum resident set size.
msgqueue
Maximum number of bytes in POSIX message queues.
posixlocks
Maximum number of POSIX locks per user.
pseudoterminals
Maximum number of pseudo-terminals.
resident
Maximum resident set size.
sigpending
Maximum number of pending signals.
sockbufsize
Maximum size of all socket buffers.
stacksize
Maximum stack size for each process.
swapsize
Maximum amount of swap used.
vmemorysize
Maximum amount of virtual memory.
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Which of these resource limits are available depends on
the system. resource can be abbreviated to any unam-
biguous prefix. It can also be an integer, which cor-
responds to the integer defined for the resource by the
operating system.
If argument corresponds to a number which is out of the
range of the resources configured into the shell, the
shell will try to read or write the limit anyway, and
will report an error if this fails. As the shell does
not store such resources internally, an attempt to set
the limit will fail unless the -s option is present.
limit is a number, with an optional scaling factor, as
follows:
nh hours
nk kilobytes (default)
nm megabytes or minutes
[mm:]ss
minutes and seconds
The limit command is not made available by default when
the shell starts in a mode emulating another shell. It
can be made available with the command `zmodload -F
zsh/rlimits b:limit'.
local [ {+|-}AEFHUahlprtux ] [ -LRZi [ n ]] [ name[=value]
] ...
Same as typeset, except that the options -g, and -f are
not permitted. In this case the -x option does not
force the use of -g, i.e. exported variables will be
local to functions.
log List all users currently logged in who are affected by
the current setting of the watch parameter.
logout [ n ]
Same as exit, except that it only works in a login
shell.
noglob simple command
See the section `Precommand Modifiers'.
popd [ [-q] {+|-}n ]
Remove an entry from the directory stack, and perform a
cd to the new top directory. With no argument, the
current top entry is removed. An argument of the form
`+n' identifies a stack entry by counting from the left
of the list shown by the dirs command, starting with
zero. An argument of the form -n counts from the
right. If the PUSHD_MINUS option is set, the meanings
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User Commands ZSHBUILTINS(1)
of `+' and `-' in this context are swapped.
If the -q (quiet) option is specified, the hook func-
tion chpwd and the functions in the array $chpwd_func-
tions are not called, and the new directory stack is
not printed. This is useful for calls to popd that do
not change the environment seen by an interactive user.
print [ -abcDilmnNoOpPrsSz ] [ -u n ] [ -f format ] [ -C
cols ]
[ -R [ -en ]] [ arg ... ]
With the `-f' option the arguments are printed as
described by printf. With no flags or with the flag
`-', the arguments are printed on the standard output
as described by echo, with the following differences:
the escape sequence `\M-x' metafies the character x
(sets the highest bit), `\C-x' produces a control char-
acter (`\C-@' and `\C-?' give the characters NUL and
delete), and `\E' is a synonym for `\e'. Finally, if
not in an escape sequence, `\' escapes the following
character and is not printed.
-a Print arguments with the column incrementing
first. Only useful with the -c and -C options.
-b Recognize all the escape sequences defined for the
bindkey command, see zshzle(1).
-c Print the arguments in columns. Unless -a is also
given, arguments are printed with the row incre-
menting first.
-C cols
Print the arguments in cols columns. Unless -a is
also given, arguments are printed with the row
incrementing first.
-D Treat the arguments as paths, replacing directory
prefixes with ~ expressions corresponding to
directory names, as appropriate.
-i If given together with -o or -O, sorting is per-
formed case-independently.
-l Print the arguments separated by newlines instead
of spaces.
-m Take the first argument as a pattern (should be
quoted), and remove it from the argument list
together with subsequent arguments that do not
match this pattern.
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-n Do not add a newline to the output.
-N Print the arguments separated and terminated by
nulls.
-o Print the arguments sorted in ascending order.
-O Print the arguments sorted in descending order.
-p Print the arguments to the input of the coprocess.
-P Perform prompt expansion (see EXPANSION OF PROMPT
SEQUENCES in zshmisc(1)).
-r Ignore the escape conventions of echo.
-R Emulate the BSD echo command, which does not
process escape sequences unless the -e flag is
given. The -n flag suppresses the trailing new-
line. Only the -e and -n flags are recognized
after -R; all other arguments and options are
printed.
-s Place the results in the history list instead of
on the standard output. Each argument to the
print command is treated as a single word in the
history, regardless of its content.
-S Place the results in the history list instead of
on the standard output. In this case only a sin-
gle argument is allowed; it will be split into
words as if it were a full shell command line.
The effect is similar to reading the line from a
history file with the HIST_LEX_WORDS option
active.
-u n Print the arguments to file descriptor n.
-z Push the arguments onto the editing buffer stack,
separated by spaces.
If any of `-m', `-o' or `-O' are used in combination
with `-f' and there are no arguments (after the removal
process in the case of `-m') then nothing is printed.
printf format [ arg ... ]
Print the arguments according to the format specifica-
tion. Formatting rules are the same as used in C. The
same escape sequences as for echo are recognised in the
format. All C conversion specifications ending in one
of csdiouxXeEfgGn are handled. In addition to this,
`%b' can be used instead of `%s' to cause escape
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sequences in the argument to be recognised and `%q' can
be used to quote the argument in such a way that allows
it to be reused as shell input. With the numeric format
specifiers, if the corresponding argument starts with a
quote character, the numeric value of the following
character is used as the number to print otherwise the
argument is evaluated as an arithmetic expression. See
the section `Arithmetic Evaluation' in zshmisc(1) for a
description of arithmetic expressions. With `%n', the
corresponding argument is taken as an identifier which
is created as an integer parameter.
Normally, conversion specifications are applied to each
argument in order but they can explicitly specify the
nth argument is to be used by replacing `%' by `%n$'
and `*' by `*n$'. It is recommended that you do not
mix references of this explicit style with the normal
style and the handling of such mixed styles may be sub-
ject to future change.
If arguments remain unused after formatting, the format
string is reused until all arguments have been con-
sumed. With the print builtin, this can be suppressed
by using the -r option. If more arguments are required
by the format than have been specified, the behaviour
is as if zero or an empty string had been specified as
the argument.
pushd [ -qsLP ] [ arg ]
pushd [ -qsLP ] old new
pushd [ -qsLP ] {+|-}n
Change the current directory, and push the old current
directory onto the directory stack. In the first form,
change the current directory to arg. If arg is not
specified, change to the second directory on the stack
(that is, exchange the top two entries), or change to
$HOME if the PUSHD_TO_HOME option is set or if there is
only one entry on the stack. Otherwise, arg is inter-
preted as it would be by cd. The meaning of old and
new in the second form is also the same as for cd.
The third form of pushd changes directory by rotating
the directory list. An argument of the form `+n' iden-
tifies a stack entry by counting from the left of the
list shown by the dirs command, starting with zero. An
argument of the form `-n' counts from the right. If
the PUSHD_MINUS option is set, the meanings of `+' and
`-' in this context are swapped.
If the -q (quiet) option is specified, the hook func-
tion chpwd and the functions in the array $chpwd_func-
tions are not called, and the new directory stack is
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not printed. This is useful for calls to pushd that do
not change the environment seen by an interactive user.
If the option -q is not specified and the shell option
PUSHD_SILENT is not set, the directory stack will be
printed after a pushd is performed.
The options -s, -L and -P have the same meanings as for
the cd builtin.
pushln [ arg ... ]
Equivalent to print -nz.
pwd [ -rLP ]
Print the absolute pathname of the current working
directory. If the -r or the -P flag is specified, or
the CHASE_LINKS option is set and the -L flag is not
given, the printed path will not contain symbolic
links.
r Same as fc -e -.
read [ -rszpqAclneE ] [ -t [ num ] ] [ -k [ num ] ] [ -d
delim ]
[ -u n ] [ name[?prompt] ] [ name ... ]
Read one line and break it into fields using the char-
acters in $IFS as separators, except as noted below.
The first field is assigned to the first name, the sec-
ond field to the second name, etc., with leftover
fields assigned to the last name. If name is omitted
then REPLY is used for scalars and reply for arrays.
-r Raw mode: a `\' at the end of a line does not sig-
nify line continuation and backslashes in the line
don't quote the following character and are not
removed.
-s Don't echo back characters if reading from the
terminal. Currently does not work with the -q
option.
-q Read only one character from the terminal and set
name to `y' if this character was `y' or `Y' and
to `n' otherwise. With this flag set the return
status is zero only if the character was `y' or
`Y'. This option may be used with a timeout; if
the read times out, or encounters end of file,
status 2 is returned. Input is read from the ter-
minal unless one of -u or -p is present. This
option may also be used within zle widgets.
-k [ num ]
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Read only one (or num) characters. All are
assigned to the first name, without word split-
ting. This flag is ignored when -q is present.
Input is read from the terminal unless one of -u
or -p is present. This option may also be used
within zle widgets.
Note that despite the mnemonic `key' this option
does read full characters, which may consist of
multiple bytes if the option MULTIBYTE is set.
-z Read one entry from the editor buffer stack and
assign it to the first name, without word split-
ting. Text is pushed onto the stack with `print
-z' or with push-line from the line editor (see
zshzle(1)). This flag is ignored when the -k or
-q flags are present.
-e
-E The input read is printed (echoed) to the standard
output. If the -e flag is used, no input is
assigned to the parameters.
-A The first name is taken as the name of an array
and all words are assigned to it.
-c
-l These flags are allowed only if called inside a
function used for completion (specified with the
-K flag to compctl). If the -c flag is given, the
words of the current command are read. If the -l
flag is given, the whole line is assigned as a
scalar. If both flags are present, -l is used and
-c is ignored.
-n Together with -c, the number of the word the cur-
sor is on is read. With -l, the index of the
character the cursor is on is read. Note that the
command name is word number 1, not word 0, and
that when the cursor is at the end of the line,
its character index is the length of the line plus
one.
-u n Input is read from file descriptor n.
-p Input is read from the coprocess.
-d delim
Input is terminated by the first character of
delim instead of by newline.
-t [ num ]
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Test if input is available before attempting to
read. If num is present, it must begin with a
digit and will be evaluated to give a number of
seconds, which may be a floating point number; in
this case the read times out if input is not
available within this time. If num is not
present, it is taken to be zero, so that read
returns immediately if no input is available. If
no input is available, return status 1 and do not
set any variables.
This option is not available when reading from the
editor buffer with -z, when called from within
completion with -c or -l, with -q which clears the
input queue before reading, or within zle where
other mechanisms should be used to test for input.
Note that read does not attempt to alter the input
processing mode. The default mode is canonical
input, in which an entire line is read at a time,
so usually `read -t' will not read anything until
an entire line has been typed. However, when
reading from the terminal with -k input is pro-
cessed one key at a time; in this case, only
availability of the first character is tested, so
that e.g. `read -t -k 2' can still block on the
second character. Use two instances of `read -t
-k' if this is not what is wanted.
If the first argument contains a `?', the remainder of
this word is used as a prompt on standard error when
the shell is interactive.
The value (exit status) of read is 1 when an
end-of-file is encountered, or when -c or -l is present
and the command is not called from a compctl function,
or as described for -q. Otherwise the value is 0.
The behavior of some combinations of the -k, -p, -q, -u
and -z flags is undefined. Presently -q cancels all
the others, -p cancels -u, -k cancels -z, and otherwise
-z cancels both -p and -u.
The -c or -l flags cancel any and all of -kpquz.
readonly
Same as typeset -r.
rehash
Same as hash -r.
return [ n ]
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Causes a shell function or `.' script to return to the
invoking script with the return status specified by n.
If n is omitted, the return status is that of the last
command executed.
If return was executed from a trap in a TRAPNAL func-
tion, the effect is different for zero and non-zero
return status. With zero status (or after an implicit
return at the end of the trap), the shell will return
to whatever it was previously processing; with a
non-zero status, the shell will behave as interrupted
except that the return status of the trap is retained.
Note that the numeric value of the signal which caused
the trap is passed as the first argument, so the state-
ment `return $((128+$1))' will return the same status
as if the signal had not been trapped.
sched
See the section `The zsh/sched Module' in zshmod-
ules(1).
] ] [ arg ... ]
set [ {+|-}options | {+|-}o [ option_name ] ] ... [ {+|-}A [
name
Set the options for the shell and/or set the positional
parameters, or declare and set an array. If the -s
option is given, it causes the specified arguments to
be sorted before assigning them to the positional
parameters (or to the array name if -A is used). With
+s sort arguments in descending order. For the meaning
of the other flags, see zshoptions(1). Flags may be
specified by name using the -o option. If no option
name is supplied with -o, the current option states are
printed: see the description of setopt below for more
information on the format. With +o they are printed in
a form that can be used as input to the shell.
If the -A flag is specified, name is set to an array
containing the given args; if no name is specified, all
arrays are printed together with their values.
If +A is used and name is an array, the given arguments
will replace the initial elements of that array; if no
name is specified, all arrays are printed without their
values.
The behaviour of arguments after -A name or +A name
depends on whether the option KSH_ARRAYS is set. If it
is not set, all arguments following name are treated as
values for the array, regardless of their form. If the
option is set, normal option processing continues at
that point; only regular arguments are treated as
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values for the array. This means that
set -A array -x -- foo
sets array to `-x -- foo' if KSH_ARRAYS is not set, but
sets the array to foo and turns on the option `-x' if
it is set.
If the -A flag is not present, but there are arguments
beyond the options, the positional parameters are set.
If the option list (if any) is terminated by `--', and
there are no further arguments, the positional parame-
ters will be unset.
If no arguments and no `--' are given, then the names
and values of all parameters are printed on the stan-
dard output. If the only argument is `+', the names of
all parameters are printed.
For historical reasons, `set -' is treated as `set +xv'
and `set - args' as `set +xv -- args' when in any other
emulation mode than zsh's native mode.
setcap
See the section `The zsh/cap Module' in zshmodules(1).
setopt [ {+|-}options | {+|-}o option_name ] [ name ... ]
Set the options for the shell. All options specified
either with flags or by name are set.
If no arguments are supplied, the names of all options
currently set are printed. The form is chosen so as to
minimize the differences from the default options for
the current emulation (the default emulation being
native zsh, shown as <Z> in zshoptions(1)). Options
that are on by default for the emulation are shown with
the prefix no only if they are off, while other options
are shown without the prefix no and only if they are
on. In addition to options changed from the default
state by the user, any options activated automatically
by the shell (for example, SHIN_STDIN or INTERACTIVE)
will be shown in the list. The format is further modi-
fied by the option KSH_OPTION_PRINT, however the ratio-
nale for choosing options with or without the no prefix
remains the same in this case.
If the -m flag is given the arguments are taken as pat-
terns (which should be quoted to protect them from
filename expansion), and all options with names match-
ing these patterns are set.
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Note that a bad option name does not cause execution of
subsequent shell code to be aborted; this is behaviour
is different from that of `set -o'. This is because
set is regarded as a special builtin by the POSIX stan-
dard, but setopt is not.
shift [ n ] [ name ... ]
The positional parameters ${n+1} ... are renamed to $1
..., where n is an arithmetic expression that defaults
to 1. If any names are given then the arrays with
these names are shifted instead of the positional
parameters.
source file [ arg ... ]
Same as `.', except that the current directory is
always searched and is always searched first, before
directories in $path.
stat See the section `The zsh/stat Module' in zshmodules(1).
suspend [ -f ]
Suspend the execution of the shell (send it a SIGTSTP)
until it receives a SIGCONT. Unless the -f option is
given, this will refuse to suspend a login shell.
test [ arg ... ]
[ [ arg ... ] ]
Like the system version of test. Added for compatibil-
ity; use conditional expressions instead (see the sec-
tion `Conditional Expressions'). The main differences
between the conditional expression syntax and the test
and [ builtins are: these commands are not handled
syntactically, so for example an empty variable expan-
sion may cause an argument to be omitted; syntax errors
cause status 2 to be returned instead of a shell error;
and arithmetic operators expect integer arguments
rather than arithmetic expressions.
The command attempts to implement POSIX and its exten-
sions where these are specified. Unfortunately there
are intrinsic ambiguities in the syntax; in particular
there is no distinction between test operators and
strings that resemble them. The standard attempts to
resolve these for small numbers of arguments (up to
four); for five or more arguments compatibility cannot
be relied on. Users are urged wherever possible to use
the `[[' test syntax which does not have these ambigui-
ties.
times
Print the accumulated user and system times for the
shell and for processes run from the shell.
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trap [ arg ] [ sig ... ]
arg is a series of commands (usually quoted to protect
it from immediate evaluation by the shell) to be read
and executed when the shell receives any of the signals
specified by one or more sig args. Each sig can be
given as a number, or as the name of a signal either
with or without the string SIG in front (e.g. 1, HUP,
and SIGHUP are all the same signal).
If arg is `-', then the specified signals are reset to
their defaults, or, if no sig args are present, all
traps are reset.
If arg is an empty string, then the specified signals
are ignored by the shell (and by the commands it
invokes).
If arg is omitted but one or more sig args are provided
(i.e. the first argument is a valid signal number or
name), the effect is the same as if arg had been speci-
fied as `-'.
The trap command with no arguments prints a list of
commands associated with each signal.
If sig is ZERR then arg will be executed after each
command with a nonzero exit status. ERR is an alias
for ZERR on systems that have no SIGERR signal (this is
the usual case).
If sig is DEBUG then arg will be executed before each
command if the option DEBUG_BEFORE_CMD is set (as it is
by default), else after each command. Here, a `com-
mand' is what is described as a `sublist' in the shell
grammar, see the section SIMPLE COMMANDS & PIPELINES in
zshmisc(1). If DEBUG_BEFORE_CMD is set various addi-
tional features are available. First, it is possible
to skip the next command by setting the option
ERR_EXIT; see the description of the ERR_EXIT option in
zshoptions(1). Also, the shell parameter ZSH_DEBUG_CMD
is set to the string corresponding to the command to be
executed following the trap. Note that this string is
reconstructed from the internal format and may not be
formatted the same way as the original text. The
parameter is unset after the trap is executed.
If sig is 0 or EXIT and the trap statement is executed
inside the body of a function, then the command arg is
executed after the function completes. The value of $?
at the start of execution is the exit status of the
shell or the return status of the function exiting. If
sig is 0 or EXIT and the trap statement is not executed
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inside the body of a function, then the command arg is
executed when the shell terminates; the trap runs
before any zshexit hook functions.
ZERR, DEBUG, and EXIT traps are not executed inside
other traps. ZERR and DEBUG traps are kept within sub-
shells, while other traps are reset.
Note that traps defined with the trap builtin are
slightly different from those defined as `TRAPNAL () {
... }', as the latter have their own function environ-
ment (line numbers, local variables, etc.) while the
former use the environment of the command in which they
were called. For example,
trap 'print $LINENO' DEBUG
will print the line number of a command executed after
it has run, while
TRAPDEBUG() { print $LINENO; }
will always print the number zero.
Alternative signal names are allowed as described under
kill above. Defining a trap under either name causes
any trap under an alternative name to be removed. How-
ever, it is recommended that for consistency users
stick exclusively to one name or another.
true [ arg ... ]
Do nothing and return an exit status of 0.
ttyctl -fu
The -f option freezes the tty, and -u unfreezes it.
When the tty is frozen, no changes made to the tty set-
tings by external programs will be honored by the
shell, except for changes in the size of the screen;
the shell will simply reset the settings to their pre-
vious values as soon as each command exits or is sus-
pended. Thus, stty and similar programs have no effect
when the tty is frozen. Without options it reports
whether the terminal is frozen or not.
type [ -wfpams ] name ...
Equivalent to whence -v.
... ]
typeset [ {+|-}AEFHUafghklprtuxmz ] [ -LRZi [ n ]] [
name[=value]
]
typeset -T [ {+|-}Urux ] [ -LRZ [ n ]] SCALAR[=value] array
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[ sep
Set or display attributes and values for shell parame-
ters.
A parameter is created for each name that does not
already refer to one. When inside a function, a new
parameter is created for every name (even those that
already exist), and is unset again when the function
completes. See `Local Parameters' in zshparam(1). The
same rules apply to special shell parameters, which
retain their special attributes when made local.
For each name=value assignment, the parameter name is
set to value. Note that arrays currently cannot be
assigned in typeset expressions, only scalars and inte-
gers. Unless the option KSH_TYPESET is set, normal
expansion rules apply to assignment arguments, so value
may be split into separate words; if the option is set,
assignments which can be recognised when expansion is
performed are treated as single words. For example the
command typeset vbl=$(echo one two) is treated as hav-
ing one argument if KSH_TYPESET is set, but otherwise
is treated as having the two arguments vbl=one and two.
If the shell option TYPESET_SILENT is not set, for each
remaining name that refers to a parameter that is set,
the name and value of the parameter are printed in the
form of an assignment. Nothing is printed for
newly-created parameters, or when any attribute flags
listed below are given along with the name. Using `+'
instead of minus to introduce an attribute turns it
off.
If the -p option is given, parameters and values are
printed in the form of a typeset command and an assign-
ment (which will be printed separately for arrays and
associative arrays), regardless of other flags and
options. Note that the -h flag on parameters is
respected; no value will be shown for these parameters.
If the -T option is given, two or three arguments must
be present (an exception is that zero arguments are
allowed to show the list of parameters created in this
fashion). The first two are the name of a scalar and
an array parameter (in that order) that will be tied
together in the manner of $PATH and $path. The
optional third argument is a single-character separator
which will be used to join the elements of the array to
form the scalar; if absent, a colon is used, as with
$PATH. Only the first character of the separator is
significant; any remaining characters are ignored.
Only the scalar parameter may be assigned an initial
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value. Both the scalar and the array may otherwise be
manipulated as normal. If one is unset, the other will
automatically be unset too. There is no way of untying
the variables without unsetting them, or converting the
type of one of them with another typeset command; +T
does not work, assigning an array to SCALAR is an
error, and assigning a scalar to array sets it to be a
single-element array. Note that both `typeset -xT ...'
and `export -T ...' work, but only the scalar will be
marked for export. Setting the value using the scalar
version causes a split on all separators (which cannot
be quoted). It is possible to use the same two tied
variables with a different separator character in which
case the variables remain joined as before but the sep-
arator is changed. This flag has a different meaning
when used with -f; see below.
The -g (global) flag is treated specially: it means
that any resulting parameter will not be restricted to
local scope. Note that this does not necessarily mean
that the parameter will be global, as the flag will
apply to any existing parameter (even if unset) from an
enclosing function. This flag does not affect the
parameter after creation, hence it has no effect when
listing existing parameters, nor does the flag +g have
any effect except in combination with -m (see below).
If no name is present, the names and values of all
parameters are printed. In this case the attribute
flags restrict the display to only those parameters
that have the specified attributes, and using `+'
rather than `-' to introduce the flag suppresses print-
ing of the values of parameters when there is no param-
eter name. Also, if the last option is the word `+',
then names are printed but values are not.
If the -m flag is given the name arguments are taken as
patterns (which should be quoted). With no attribute
flags, all parameters (or functions with the -f flag)
with matching names are printed (the shell option TYPE-
SET_SILENT is not used in this case). Note that -m is
ignored if no patterns are given. If the +g flag is
combined with -m, a new local parameter is created for
every matching parameter that is not already local.
Otherwise -m applies all other flags or assignments to
the existing parameters. Except when assignments are
made with name=value, using +m forces the matching
parameters to be printed, even inside a function.
If no attribute flags are given and either no -m flag
is present or the +m form was used, each parameter name
printed is preceded by a list of the attributes of that
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parameter (array, association, exported, integer, read-
only). If +m is used with attribute flags, and all
those flags are introduced with +, the matching parame-
ter names are printed but their values are not.
Attribute flags that transform the final value (-L, -R,
-Z, -l, u) are only applied to the expanded value at
the point of a parameter expansion expression using
`$'. They are not applied when a parameter is
retrieved internally by the shell for any purpose.
The following attribute flags may be specified:
-A The names refer to associative array parameters;
see `Array Parameters' in zshparam(1).
-L Left justify and remove leading blanks from value.
If n is nonzero, it defines the width of the
field. If n is zero, the width is determined by
the width of the value of the first assignment.
In the case of numeric parameters, the length of
the complete value assigned to the parameter is
used to determine the width, not the value that
would be output.
The width is the count of characters, which may be
multibyte characters if the MULTIBYTE option is in
effect. Note that the screen width of the charac-
ter is not taken into account; if this is
required, use padding with parameter expansion
flags ${(ml...)...} as described in `Parameter
Expansion Flags' in zshexpn(1).
When the parameter is expanded, it is filled on
the right with blanks or truncated if necessary to
fit the field. Note truncation can lead to unex-
pected results with numeric parameters. Leading
zeros are removed if the -Z flag is also set.
-R Similar to -L, except that right justification is
used; when the parameter is expanded, the field is
left filled with blanks or truncated from the end.
May not be combined with the -Z flag.
-U For arrays (but not for associative arrays), keep
only the first occurrence of each duplicated
value. This may also be set for colon-separated
special parameters like PATH or FIGNORE, etc.
This flag has a different meaning when used with
-f; see below.
-Z Specially handled if set along with the -L flag.
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Otherwise, similar to -R, except that leading
zeros are used for padding instead of blanks if
the first non-blank character is a digit. Numeric
parameters are specially handled: they are always
eligible for padding with zeroes, and the zeroes
are inserted at an appropriate place in the out-
put.
-a The names refer to array parameters. An array
parameter may be created this way, but it may not
be assigned to in the typeset statement. When
displaying, both normal and associative arrays are
shown.
-f The names refer to functions rather than parame-
ters. No assignments can be made, and the only
other valid flags are -t, -T, -k, -u, -U and -z.
The flag -t turns on execution tracing for this
function; the flag -T does the same, but turns off
tracing on any function called from the present
one, unless that function also has the -t or -T
flag. The -u and -U flags cause the function to
be marked for autoloading; -U also causes alias
expansion to be suppressed when the function is
loaded. The fpath parameter will be searched to
find the function definition when the function is
first referenced; see the section `Functions'. The
-k and -z flags make the function be loaded using
ksh-style or zsh-style autoloading respectively.
If neither is given, the setting of the
KSH_AUTOLOAD option determines how the function is
loaded.
-h Hide: only useful for special parameters (those
marked `<S>' in the table in zshparam(1)), and for
local parameters with the same name as a special
parameter, though harmless for others. A special
parameter with this attribute will not retain its
special effect when made local. Thus after `type-
set -h PATH', a function containing `typeset PATH'
will create an ordinary local parameter without
the usual behaviour of PATH. Alternatively, the
local parameter may itself be given this
attribute; hence inside a function `typeset -h
PATH' creates an ordinary local parameter and the
special PATH parameter is not altered in any way.
It is also possible to create a local parameter
using `typeset +h special', where the local copy
of special will retain its special properties
regardless of having the -h attribute. Global
special parameters loaded from shell modules (cur-
rently those in zsh/mapfile and zsh/parameter) are
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automatically given the -h attribute to avoid name
clashes.
-H Hide value: specifies that typeset will not dis-
play the value of the parameter when listing
parameters; the display for such parameters is
always as if the `+' flag had been given. Use of
the parameter is in other respects normal, and the
option does not apply if the parameter is speci-
fied by name, or by pattern with the -m option.
This is on by default for the parameters in the
zsh/parameter and zsh/mapfile modules. Note, how-
ever, that unlike the -h flag this is also useful
for non-special parameters.
-i Use an internal integer representation. If n is
nonzero it defines the output arithmetic base,
otherwise it is determined by the first assign-
ment. Bases from 2 to 36 inclusive are allowed.
-E Use an internal double-precision floating point
representation. On output the variable will be
converted to scientific notation. If n is nonzero
it defines the number of significant figures to
display; the default is ten.
-F Use an internal double-precision floating point
representation. On output the variable will be
converted to fixed-point decimal notation. If n
is nonzero it defines the number of digits to dis-
play after the decimal point; the default is ten.
-l Convert the result to lower case whenever the
parameter is expanded. The value is not converted
when assigned.
-r The given names are marked readonly. Note that if
name is a special parameter, the readonly
attribute can be turned on, but cannot then be
turned off.
-t Tags the named parameters. Tags have no special
meaning to the shell. This flag has a different
meaning when used with -f; see above.
-u Convert the result to upper case whenever the
parameter is expanded. The value is not converted
when assigned. This flag has a different meaning
when used with -f; see above.
-x Mark for automatic export to the environment of
subsequently executed commands. If the option
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GLOBAL_EXPORT is set, this implies the option -g,
unless +g is also explicitly given; in other words
the parameter is not made local to the enclosing
function. This is for compatibility with previous
versions of zsh.
ulimit [ [ -SHacdfiklmnpqsTtvwx | -N resource [ limit ] ...
]
Set or display resource limits of the shell and the
processes started by the shell. The value of limit can
be a number in the unit specified below or one of the
values `unlimited', which removes the limit on the
resource, or `hard', which uses the current value of
the hard limit on the resource.
By default, only soft limits are manipulated. If the -H
flag is given use hard limits instead of soft limits.
If the -S flag is given together with the -H flag set
both hard and soft limits.
If no options are used, the file size limit (-f) is
assumed.
If limit is omitted the current value of the specified
resources are printed. When more than one resource
value is printed, the limit name and unit is printed
before each value.
When looping over multiple resources, the shell will
abort immediately if it detects a badly formed argu-
ment. However, if it fails to set a limit for some
other reason it will continue trying to set the remain-
ing limits.
Not all the following resources are supported on all
systems. Running ulimit -a will show which are sup-
ported.
-a Lists all of the current resource limits.
-b Socket buffer size in bytes (N.B. not kilobytes)
-c 512-byte blocks on the size of core dumps.
-d Kilobytes on the size of the data segment.
-f 512-byte blocks on the size of files written.
-i The number of pending signals.
-k The number of kqueues allocated.
-l Kilobytes on the size of locked-in memory.
-m Kilobytes on the size of physical memory.
-n open file descriptors.
-p The number of pseudo-terminals.
-q Bytes in POSIX message queues.
-s Kilobytes on the size of the stack.
-T The number of simultaneous threads available to
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the user.
-t CPU seconds to be used.
-u The number of processes available to the user.
-v Kilobytes on the size of virtual memory. On some
systems this refers to the limit called `address
space'.
-w Kilobytes on the size of swapped out memory.
-x The number of locks on files.
A resource may also be specified by integer in the form
`-N resource', where resource corresponds to the inte-
ger defined for the resource by the operating system.
This may be used to set the limits for resources known
to the shell which do not correspond to option letters.
Such limits will be shown by number in the output of
`ulimit -a'.
The number may alternatively be out of the range of
limits compiled into the shell. The shell will try to
read or write the limit anyway, and will report an
error if this fails.
umask [ -S ] [ mask ]
The umask is set to mask. mask can be either an octal
number or a symbolic value as described in chmod(1).
If mask is omitted, the current value is printed. The
-S option causes the mask to be printed as a symbolic
value. Otherwise, the mask is printed as an octal num-
ber. Note that in the symbolic form the permissions
you specify are those which are to be allowed (not
denied) to the users specified.
unalias
Same as unhash -a.
unfunction
Same as unhash -f.
unhash [ -adfms ] name ...
Remove the element named name from an internal hash ta-
ble. The default is remove elements from the command
hash table. The -a option causes unhash to remove reg-
ular or global aliases; note when removing a global
aliases that the argument must be quoted to prevent it
from being expanded before being passed to the command.
The -s option causes unhash to remove suffix aliases.
The -f option causes unhash to remove shell functions.
The -d options causes unhash to remove named directo-
ries. If the -m flag is given the arguments are taken
as patterns (should be quoted) and all elements of the
corresponding hash table with matching names will be
removed.
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unlimit [ -hs ] resource ...
The resource limit for each resource is set to the hard
limit. If the -h flag is given and the shell has
appropriate privileges, the hard resource limit for
each resource is removed. The resources of the shell
process are only changed if the -s flag is given.
The unlimit command is not made available by default
when the shell starts in a mode emulating another
shell. It can be made available with the command
`zmodload -F zsh/rlimits b:unlimit'.
unset [ -fmv ] name ...
Each named parameter is unset. Local parameters remain
local even if unset; they appear unset within scope,
but the previous value will still reappear when the
scope ends.
Individual elements of associative array parameters may
be unset by using subscript syntax on name, which
should be quoted (or the entire command prefixed with
noglob) to protect the subscript from filename genera-
tion.
If the -m flag is specified the arguments are taken as
patterns (should be quoted) and all parameters with
matching names are unset. Note that this cannot be
used when unsetting associative array elements, as the
subscript will be treated as part of the pattern.
The -v flag specifies that name refers to parameters.
This is the default behaviour.
unset -f is equivalent to unfunction.
unsetopt [ {+|-}options | {+|-}o option_name ] [ name ... ]
Unset the options for the shell. All options specified
either with flags or by name are unset. If no argu-
ments are supplied, the names of all options currently
unset are printed. If the -m flag is given the argu-
ments are taken as patterns (which should be quoted to
preserve them from being interpreted as glob patterns),
and all options with names matching these patterns are
unset.
vared
See the section `Zle Builtins' in zshzle(1).
wait [ job ... ]
Wait for the specified jobs or processes. If job is
not given then all currently active child processes are
waited for. Each job can be either a job specification
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or the process ID of a job in the job table. The exit
status from this command is that of the job waited for.
whence [ -vcwfpams ] name ...
For each name, indicate how it would be interpreted if
used as a command name.
-v Produce a more verbose report.
-c Print the results in a csh-like format. This
takes precedence over -v.
-w For each name, print `name: word' where word is
one of alias, builtin, command, function, hashed,
reserved or none, according as name corresponds to
an alias, a built-in command, an external command,
a shell function, a command defined with the hash
builtin, a reserved word, or is not recognised.
This takes precedence over -v and -c.
-f Causes the contents of a shell function to be dis-
played, which would otherwise not happen unless
the -c flag were used.
-p Do a path search for name even if it is an alias,
reserved word, shell function or builtin.
-a Do a search for all occurrences of name throughout
the command path. Normally only the first occur-
rence is printed.
-m The arguments are taken as patterns (should be
quoted), and the information is displayed for each
command matching one of these patterns.
-s If a pathname contains symlinks, print the sym-
link-free pathname as well.
where [ -wpms ] name ...
Equivalent to whence -ca.
which [ -wpams ] name ...
Equivalent to whence -c.
zcompile [ -U ] [ -z | -k ] [ -R | -M ] file [ name ... ]
zcompile -ca [ -m ] [ -R | -M ] file [ name ... ]
zcompile -t file [ name ... ]
This builtin command can be used to compile functions
or scripts, storing the compiled form in a file, and to
examine files containing the compiled form. This
allows faster autoloading of functions and execution of
scripts by avoiding parsing of the text when the files
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are read.
The first form (without the -c, -a or -t options) cre-
ates a compiled file. If only the file argument is
given, the output file has the name `file.zwc' and will
be placed in the same directory as the file. The shell
will load the compiled file instead of the normal func-
tion file when the function is autoloaded; see the sec-
tion `Autoloading Functions' in zshmisc(1) for a
description of how autoloaded functions are searched.
The extension .zwc stands for `zsh word code'.
If there is at least one name argument, all the named
files are compiled into the output file given as the
first argument. If file does not end in .zwc, this
extension is automatically appended. Files containing
multiple compiled functions are called `digest' files,
and are intended to be used as elements of the
FPATH/fpath special array.
The second form, with the -c or -a options, writes the
compiled definitions for all the named functions into
file. For -c, the names must be functions currently
defined in the shell, not those marked for autoloading.
Undefined functions that are marked for autoloading may
be written by using the -a option, in which case the
fpath is searched and the contents of the definition
files for those functions, if found, are compiled into
file. If both -c and -a are given, names of both
defined functions and functions marked for autoloading
may be given. In either case, the functions in files
written with the -c or -a option will be autoloaded as
if the KSH_AUTOLOAD option were unset.
The reason for handling loaded and not-yet-loaded func-
tions with different options is that some definition
files for autoloading define multiple functions,
including the function with the same name as the file,
and, at the end, call that function. In such cases the
output of `zcompile -c' does not include the additional
functions defined in the file, and any other initial-
ization code in the file is lost. Using `zcompile -a'
captures all this extra information.
If the -m option is combined with -c or -a, the names
are used as patterns and all functions whose names
match one of these patterns will be written. If no name
is given, the definitions of all functions currently
defined or marked as autoloaded will be written.
The third form, with the -t option, examines an exist-
ing compiled file. Without further arguments, the
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names of the original files compiled into it are
listed. The first line of output shows the version of
the shell which compiled the file and how the file will
be used (i.e. by reading it directly or by mapping it
into memory). With arguments, nothing is output and
the return status is set to zero if definitions for all
names were found in the compiled file, and non-zero if
the definition for at least one name was not found.
Other options:
-U Aliases are not expanded when compiling the named
files.
-R When the compiled file is read, its contents are
copied into the shell's memory, rather than mem-
ory-mapped (see -M). This happens automatically
on systems that do not support memory mapping.
When compiling scripts instead of autoloadable
functions, it is often desirable to use this
option; otherwise the whole file, including the
code to define functions which have already been
defined, will remain mapped, consequently wasting
memory.
-M The compiled file is mapped into the shell's mem-
ory when read. This is done in such a way that
multiple instances of the shell running on the
same host will share this mapped file. If neither
-R nor -M is given, the zcompile builtin decides
what to do based on the size of the compiled file.
-k
-z These options are used when the compiled file con-
tains functions which are to be autoloaded. If -z
is given, the function will be autoloaded as if
the KSH_AUTOLOAD option is not set, even if it is
set at the time the compiled file is read, while
if the -k is given, the function will be loaded as
if KSH_AUTOLOAD is set. These options also take
precedence over any -k or -z options specified to
the autoload builtin. If neither of these options
is given, the function will be loaded as deter-
mined by the setting of the KSH_AUTOLOAD option at
the time the compiled file is read.
These options may also appear as many times as
necessary between the listed names to specify the
loading style of all following functions, up to
the next -k or -z.
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The created file always contains two versions of
the compiled format, one for big-endian machines
and one for small-endian machines. The upshot of
this is that the compiled file is machine indepen-
dent and if it is read or mapped, only one half of
the file is actually used (and mapped).
zformat
See the section `The zsh/zutil Module' in zshmod-
ules(1).
zftp See the section `The zsh/zftp Module' in zshmodules(1).
zle See the section `Zle Builtins' in zshzle(1).
zmodload [ -dL ] [ ... ]
zmodload -F [ -lLme -P param ] module [+-]feature...
zmodload -e [ -A ] [ ... ]
zmodload [ -a [ -bcpf [ -I ] ] ] [ -iL ] ...
zmodload -u [ -abcdpf [ -I ] ] [ -iL ] ...
zmodload -A [ -L ] [ modalias[=module] ... ]
zmodload -R modalias ...
Performs operations relating to zsh's loadable modules.
Loading of modules while the shell is running (`dynami-
cal loading') is not available on all operating sys-
tems, or on all installations on a particular operating
system, although the zmodload command itself is always
available and can be used to manipulate modules built
into versions of the shell executable without dynamical
loading.
Without arguments the names of all currently loaded
binary modules are printed. The -L option causes this
list to be in the form of a series of zmodload com-
mands. Forms with arguments are:
zmodload [ -i ] name ...
zmodload -u [ -i ] name ...
In the simplest case, zmodload loads a binary mod-
ule. The module must be in a file with a name
consisting of the specified name followed by a
standard suffix, usually `.so' (`.sl' on HPUX).
If the module to be loaded is already loaded the
duplicate module is ignored. If zmodload detects
an inconsistency, such as an invalid module name
or circular dependency list, the current code
block is aborted. Hence `zmodload module
2>/dev/null' is sufficient to test whether a mod-
ule is available. If it is available, the module
is loaded if necessary, while if it is not avail-
able, non-zero status is silently returned. The
option -i is accepted for compatibility but has no
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effect.
The named module is searched for in the same way a
command is, using $module_path instead of $path.
However, the path search is performed even when
the module name contains a `/', which it usually
does. There is no way to prevent the path search.
If the module supports features (see below), zmod-
load tries to enable all features when loading a
module. If the module was successfully loaded but
not all features could be enabled, zmodload
returns status 2.
With -u, zmodload unloads modules. The same name
must be given that was given when the module was
loaded, but it is not necessary for the module to
exist in the file system. The -i option sup-
presses the error if the module is already
unloaded (or was never loaded).
Each module has a boot and a cleanup function.
The module will not be loaded if its boot function
fails. Similarly a module can only be unloaded if
its cleanup function runs successfully.
zmodload -F [ -almLe -P param ] module [+-]feature...
zmodload -F allows more selective control over the
features provided by modules. With no options
apart from -F, the module named module is loaded,
if it was not already loaded, and the list of fea-
tures is set to the required state. If no fea-
tures are specified, the module is loaded, if it
was not already loaded, but the state of features
is unchanged. Each feature may be preceded by a +
to turn the feature on, or - to turn it off; the +
is assumed if neither character is present. Any
feature not explicitly mentioned is left in its
current state; if the module was not previously
loaded this means any such features will remain
disabled. The return status is zero if all fea-
tures were set, 1 if the module failed to load,
and 2 if some features could not be set (for exam-
ple, a parameter couldn't be added because there
was a different parameter of the same name) but
the module was loaded.
The standard features are builtins, conditions,
parameters and math functions; these are indicated
by the prefix `b:', `c:' (`C:' for an infix condi-
tion), `p:' and `f:', respectively, followed by
the name that the corresponding feature would have
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in the shell. For example, `b:strftime' indicates
a builtin named strftime and p:EPOCHSECONDS indi-
cates a parameter named EPOCHSECONDS. The module
may provide other (`abstract') features of its own
as indicated by its documentation; these have no
prefix.
With -l or -L, features provided by the module are
listed. With -l alone, a list of features
together with their states is shown, one feature
per line. With -L alone, a zmodload -F command
that would cause enabled features of the module to
be turned on is shown. With -lL, a zmodload -F
command that would cause all the features to be
set to their current state is shown. If one of
these combinations is given the option -P param
then the parameter param is set to an array of
features, either features together with their
state or (if -L alone is given) enabled features.
With the option -L the module name may be omitted;
then a list of all enabled features for all mod-
ules providing features is printed in the form of
zmodload -F commands. If -l is also given, the
state of both enabled and disabled features is
output in that form.
A set of features may be provided together with -l
or -L and a module name; in that case only the
state of those features is considered. Each fea-
ture may be preceded by + or - but the character
has no effect. If no set of features is provided,
all features are considered.
With -e, the command first tests that the module
is loaded; if it is not, status 1 is returned. If
the module is loaded, the list of features given
as an argument is examined. Any feature given
with no prefix is simply tested to see if the mod-
ule provides it; any feature given with a prefix +
or - is tested to see if is provided and in the
given state. If the tests on all features in the
list succeed, status 0 is returned, else status 1.
With -m, each entry in the given list of features
is taken as a pattern to be matched against the
list of features provided by the module. An ini-
tial + or - must be given explicitly. This may
not be combined with the -a option as autoloads
must be specified explicitly.
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With -a, the given list of features is marked for
autoload from the specified module, which may not
yet be loaded. An optional + may appear before
the feature name. If the feature is prefixed with
-, any existing autoload is removed. The options
-l and -L may be used to list autoloads.
Autoloading is specific to individual features;
when the module is loaded only the requested fea-
ture is enabled. Autoload requests are preserved
if the module is subsequently unloaded until an
explicit `zmodload -Fa module -feature' is issued.
It is not an error to request an autoload for a
feature of a module that is already loaded.
When the module is loaded each autoload is checked
against the features actually provided by the mod-
ule; if the feature is not provided the autoload
request is deleted. A warning message is output;
if the module is being loaded to provide a differ-
ent feature, and that autoload is successful,
there is no effect on the status of the current
command. If the module is already loaded at the
time when zmodload -Fa is run, an error message is
printed and status 1 returned.
zmodload -Fa can be used with the -l, -L, -e and
-P options for listing and testing the existence
of autoloadable features. In this case -l is
ignored if -L is specified. zmodload -FaL with no
module name lists autoloads for all modules.
Note that only standard features as described
above can be autoloaded; other features require
the module to be loaded before enabling.
zmodload -d [ -L ] [ name ]
zmodload -d name dep ...
zmodload -ud name [ dep ... ]
The -d option can be used to specify module depen-
dencies. The modules named in the second and sub-
sequent arguments will be loaded before the module
named in the first argument.
With -d and one argument, all dependencies for
that module are listed. With -d and no arguments,
all module dependencies are listed. This listing
is by default in a Makefile-like format. The -L
option changes this format to a list of zmodload
-d commands.
If -d and -u are both used, dependencies are
removed. If only one argument is given, all
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dependencies for that module are removed.
zmodload -ab [ -L ]
zmodload -ab [ -i ] name [ builtin ... ]
zmodload -ub [ -i ] builtin ...
The -ab option defines autoloaded builtins. It
defines the specified builtins. When any of those
builtins is called, the module specified in the
first argument is loaded and all its features are
enabled (for selective control of features use
`zmodload -F -a' as described above). If only the
name is given, one builtin is defined, with the
same name as the module. -i suppresses the error
if the builtin is already defined or autoloaded,
but not if another builtin of the same name is
already defined.
With -ab and no arguments, all autoloaded builtins
are listed, with the module name (if different)
shown in parentheses after the builtin name. The
-L option changes this format to a list of zmod-
load -a commands.
If -b is used together with the -u option, it
removes builtins previously defined with -ab.
This is only possible if the builtin is not yet
loaded. -i suppresses the error if the builtin is
already removed (or never existed).
Autoload requests are retained if the module is
subsequently unloaded until an explicit `zmodload
-ub builtin' is issued.
zmodload -ac [ -IL ]
zmodload -ac [ -iI ] name [ cond ... ]
zmodload -uc [ -iI ] cond ...
The -ac option is used to define autoloaded condi-
tion codes. The cond strings give the names of the
conditions defined by the module. The optional -I
option is used to define infix condition names.
Without this option prefix condition names are
defined.
If given no condition names, all defined names are
listed (as a series of zmodload commands if the -L
option is given).
The -uc option removes definitions for autoloaded
conditions.
zmodload -ap [ -L ]
zmodload -ap [ -i ] name [ parameter ... ]
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zmodload -up [ -i ] parameter ...
The -p option is like the -b and -c options, but
makes zmodload work on autoloaded parameters
instead.
zmodload -af [ -L ]
zmodload -af [ -i ] name [ function ... ]
zmodload -uf [ -i ] function ...
The -f option is like the -b, -p, and -c options,
but makes zmodload work on autoloaded math func-
tions instead.
zmodload -a [ -L ]
zmodload -a [ -i ] name [ builtin ... ]
zmodload -ua [ -i ] builtin ...
Equivalent to -ab and -ub.
zmodload -e [ -A ] [ string ... ]
The -e option without arguments lists all loaded
modules; if the -A option is also given, module
aliases corresponding to loaded modules are also
shown. If arguments are provided, nothing is
printed; the return status is set to zero if all
strings given as arguments are names of loaded
modules and to one if at least on string is not
the name of a loaded module. This can be used to
test for the availability of things implemented by
modules. In this case, any aliases are automati-
cally resolved and the -A flag is not used.
zmodload -A [ -L ] [ modalias[=module] ... ]
For each argument, if both modalias and module are
given, define modalias to be an alias for the mod-
ule module. If the module modalias is ever subse-
quently requested, either via a call to zmodload
or implicitly, the shell will attempt to load mod-
ule instead. If module is not given, show the
definition of modalias. If no arguments are
given, list all defined module aliases. When
listing, if the -L flag was also given, list the
definition as a zmodload command to recreate the
alias.
The existence of aliases for modules is completely
independent of whether the name resolved is actu-
ally loaded as a module: while the alias exists,
loading and unloading the module under any alias
has exactly the same effect as using the resolved
name, and does not affect the connection between
the alias and the resolved name which can be
removed either by zmodload -R or by redefining the
alias. Chains of aliases (i.e. where the first
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resolved name is itself an alias) are valid so
long as these are not circular. As the aliases
take the same format as module names, they may
include path separators: in this case, there is
no requirement for any part of the path named to
exist as the alias will be resolved first. For
example, `any/old/alias' is always a valid alias.
Dependencies added to aliased modules are actually
added to the resolved module; these remain if the
alias is removed. It is valid to create an alias
whose name is one of the standard shell modules
and which resolves to a different module. How-
ever, if a module has dependencies, it will not be
possible to use the module name as an alias as the
module will already be marked as a loadable module
in its own right.
Apart from the above, aliases can be used in the
zmodload command anywhere module names are
required. However, aliases will not be shown in
lists of loaded modules with a bare `zmodload'.
zmodload -R modalias ...
For each modalias argument that was previously
defined as a module alias via zmodload -A, delete
the alias. If any was not defined, an error is
caused and the remainder of the line is ignored.
Note that zsh makes no distinction between modules that
were linked into the shell and modules that are loaded
dynamically. In both cases this builtin command has to
be used to make available the builtins and other things
defined by modules (unless the module is autoloaded on
these definitions). This is true even for systems that
don't support dynamic loading of modules.
zparseopts
See the section `The zsh/zutil Module' in zshmod-
ules(1).
zprof
See the section `The zsh/zprof Module' in zshmod-
ules(1).
zpty See the section `The zsh/zpty Module' in zshmodules(1).
zregexparse
See the section `The zsh/zutil Module' in zshmod-
ules(1).
zsocket
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See the section `The zsh/net/socket Module' in zshmod-
ules(1).
zstyle
See the section `The zsh/zutil Module' in zshmod-
ules(1).
ztcp See the section `The zsh/net/tcp Module' in zshmod-
ules(1).
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following
attributes:
+---------------+------------------+
|ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
+---------------+------------------+
|Availability | shell/zsh |
+---------------+------------------+
|Stability | Volatile |
+---------------+------------------+
NOTES
This software was built from source available at
https://java.net/projects/solaris-userland. The original
community source was downloaded from http://down-
loads.source-
forge.net/project/zsh/zsh/5.0.5/zsh-5.0.5.tar.bz2
Further information about this software can be found on the
open source community website at http://www.zsh.org/.
zsh 5.0.5 Last change: January 5, 2014 51
User Commands ZSHZLE(1)
NAME
zshzle - zsh command line editor
DESCRIPTION
If the ZLE option is set (which it is by default in interac-
tive shells) and the shell input is attached to the termi-
nal, the user is able to edit command lines.
There are two display modes. The first, multiline mode, is
the default. It only works if the TERM parameter is set to
a valid terminal type that can move the cursor up. The sec-
ond, single line mode, is used if TERM is invalid or inca-
pable of moving the cursor up, or if the SINGLE_LINE_ZLE
option is set. This mode is similar to ksh, and uses no
termcap sequences. If TERM is "emacs", the ZLE option will
be unset by default.
The parameters BAUD, COLUMNS, and LINES are also used by the
line editor. See Parameters Used By The Shell in zsh-
param(1).
The parameter zle_highlight is also used by the line editor;
see Character Highlighting below. Highlighting of special
characters and the region between the cursor and the mark
(as set with set-mark-command in Emacs mode) is enabled by
default; consult this reference for more information. Iras-
cible conservatives will wish to know that all highlighting
may be disabled by the following setting:
zle_highlight=(none)
KEYMAPS
A keymap in ZLE contains a set of bindings between key
sequences and ZLE commands. The empty key sequence cannot
be bound.
There can be any number of keymaps at any time, and each
keymap has one or more names. If all of a keymap's names
are deleted, it disappears. bindkey can be used to manipu-
late keymap names.
Initially, there are six keymaps:
emacs
EMACS emulation
viins
vi emulation - insert mode
vicmd
vi emulation - command mode
isearch
incremental search mode
command
zsh 5.0.5 Last change: January 5, 2014 1
User Commands ZSHZLE(1)
read a command name
.safe
fallback keymap
The `.safe' keymap is special. It can never be altered, and
the name can never be removed. However, it can be linked to
other names, which can be removed. In the future other spe-
cial keymaps may be added; users should avoid using names
beginning with `.' for their own keymaps.
In addition to these names, either `emacs' or `viins' is
also linked to the name `main'. If one of the VISUAL or
EDITOR environment variables contain the string `vi' when
the shell starts up then it will be `viins', otherwise it
will be `emacs'. bindkey's -e and -v options provide a con-
venient way to override this default choice.
When the editor starts up, it will select the `main' keymap.
If that keymap doesn't exist, it will use `.safe' instead.
In the `.safe' keymap, each single key is bound to
self-insert, except for ^J (line feed) and ^M (return) which
are bound to accept-line. This is deliberately not pleasant
to use; if you are using it, it means you deleted the main
keymap, and you should put it back.
Reading Commands
When ZLE is reading a command from the terminal, it may read
a sequence that is bound to some command and is also a pre-
fix of a longer bound string. In this case ZLE will wait a
certain time to see if more characters are typed, and if not
(or they don't match any longer string) it will execute the
binding. This timeout is defined by the KEYTIMEOUT parame-
ter; its default is 0.4 sec. There is no timeout if the
prefix string is not itself bound to a command.
The key timeout is also applied when ZLE is reading the
bytes from a multibyte character string when it is in the
appropriate mode. (This requires that the shell was com-
piled with multibyte mode enabled; typically also the locale
has characters with the UTF-8 encoding, although any multi-
byte encoding known to the operating system is supported.)
If the second or a subsequent byte is not read within the
timeout period, the shell acts as if ? were typed and resets
the input state.
As well as ZLE commands, key sequences can be bound to other
strings, by using `bindkey -s'. When such a sequence is
read, the replacement string is pushed back as input, and
the command reading process starts again using these fake
keystrokes. This input can itself invoke further replace-
ment strings, but in order to detect loops the process will
zsh 5.0.5 Last change: January 5, 2014 2
User Commands ZSHZLE(1)
be stopped if there are twenty such replacements without a
real command being read.
A key sequence typed by the user can be turned into a com-
mand name for use in user-defined widgets with the read-com-
mand widget, described below.
ZLE BUILTINS
The ZLE module contains three related builtin commands. The
bindkey command manipulates keymaps and key bindings; the
vared command invokes ZLE on the value of a shell parameter;
and the zle command manipulates editing widgets and allows
command line access to ZLE commands from within shell func-
tions.
bindkey [ options ] -l [ -L ] [ keymap ... ]
bindkey [ options ] -d
bindkey [ options ] -D keymap ...
bindkey [ options ] -A old-keymap new-keymap
bindkey [ options ] -N new-keymap [ old-keymap ]
bindkey [ options ] -m
bindkey [ options ] -r in-string ...
bindkey [ options ] -s in-string out-string ...
bindkey [ options ] in-string command ...
bindkey [ options ] [ in-string ]
bindkey's options can be divided into three categories:
keymap selection for the current command, operation
selection, and others. The keymap selection options
are:
-e Selects keymap `emacs' for any operations by the
current command, and also links `emacs' to `main'
so that it is selected by default the next time
the editor starts.
-v Selects keymap `viins' for any operations by the
current command, and also links `viins' to `main'
so that it is selected by default the next time
the editor starts.
-a Selects keymap `vicmd' for any operations by the
current command.
-M keymap
The keymap specifies a keymap name that is
selected for any operations by the current com-
mand.
If a keymap selection is required and none of the
options above are used, the `main' keymap is used.
Some operations do not permit a keymap to be selected,
namely:
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User Commands ZSHZLE(1)
-l List all existing keymap names; if any arguments
are given, list just those keymaps.
If the -L option is also used, list in the form of
bindkey commands to create or link the keymaps.
`bindkey -lL main' shows which keymap is linked to
`main', if any, and hence if the standard emacs or
vi emulation is in effect. This option does not
show the .safe keymap because it cannot be created
in that fashion; however, neither is `bindkey -lL
.safe' reported as an error, it simply outputs
nothing.
-d Delete all existing keymaps and reset to the
default state.
-D keymap ...
Delete the named keymaps.
-A old-keymap new-keymap
Make the new-keymap name an alias for old-keymap,
so that both names refer to the same keymap. The
names have equal standing; if either is deleted,
the other remains. If there is already a keymap
with the new-keymap name, it is deleted.
-N new-keymap [ old-keymap ]
Create a new keymap, named new-keymap. If a
keymap already has that name, it is deleted. If
an old-keymap name is given, the new keymap is
initialized to be a duplicate of it, otherwise the
new keymap will be empty.
To use a newly created keymap, it should be linked to
main. Hence the sequence of commands to create and use
a new keymap `mymap' initialized from the emacs keymap
(which remains unchanged) is:
bindkey -N mymap emacs
bindkey -A mymap main
Note that while `bindkey -A newmap main' will work when
newmap is emacs or viins, it will not work for vicmd,
as switching from vi insert to command mode becomes
impossible.
The following operations act on the `main' keymap if no
keymap selection option was given:
-m Add the built-in set of meta-key bindings to the
selected keymap. Only keys that are unbound or
bound to self-insert are affected.
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User Commands ZSHZLE(1)
-r in-string ...
Unbind the specified in-strings in the selected
keymap. This is exactly equivalent to binding the
strings to undefined-key.
When -R is also used, interpret the in-strings as
ranges.
When -p is also used, the in-strings specify pre-
fixes. Any binding that has the given in-string
as a prefix, not including the binding for the
in-string itself, if any, will be removed. For
example,
bindkey -rpM viins '^['
will remove all bindings in the vi-insert keymap
beginning with an escape character (probably cur-
sor keys), but leave the binding for the escape
character itself (probably vi-cmd-mode). This is
incompatible with the option -R.
-s in-string out-string ...
Bind each in-string to each out-string. When
in-string is typed, out-string will be pushed back
and treated as input to the line editor. When -R
is also used, interpret the in-strings as ranges.
in-string command ...
Bind each in-string to each command. When -R is
used, interpret the in-strings as ranges.
[ in-string ]
List key bindings. If an in-string is specified,
the binding of that string in the selected keymap
is displayed. Otherwise, all key bindings in the
selected keymap are displayed. (As a special
case, if the -e or -v option is used alone, the
keymap is not displayed - the implicit linking of
keymaps is the only thing that happens.)
When the option -p is used, the in-string must be
present. The listing shows all bindings which
have the given key sequence as a prefix, not
including any bindings for the key sequence
itself.
When the -L option is used, the list is in the
form of bindkey commands to create the key bind-
ings.
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User Commands ZSHZLE(1)
When the -R option is used as noted above, a valid range
consists of two characters, with an optional `-' between
them. All characters between the two specified, inclusive,
are bound as specified.
For either in-string or out-string, the following escape
sequences are recognised:
\a bell character
\b backspace
\e, \E
escape
\f form feed
\n linefeed (newline)
\r carriage return
\t horizontal tab
\v vertical tab
\NNN character code in octal
\xNN character code in hexadecimal
\M[-]X
character with meta bit set
\C[-]X
control character
^X control character
In all other cases, `\' escapes the following character.
Delete is written as `^?'. Note that `\M^?' and `^\M?' are
not the same, and that (unlike emacs), the bindings `\M-X'
and `\eX' are entirely distinct, although they are initial-
ized to the same bindings by `bindkey -m'.
vared [ -Aache ] [ -p prompt ] [ -r rprompt ]
[ -M main-keymap ] [ -m vicmd-keymap ]
[ -i init-widget ] [ -f finish-widget ]
[ -t tty ] name
The value of the parameter name is loaded into the edit
buffer, and the line editor is invoked. When the editor
exits, name is set to the string value returned by the edi-
tor. When the -c flag is given, the parameter is created if
it doesn't already exist. The -a flag may be given with -c
to create an array parameter, or the -A flag to create an
associative array. If the type of an existing parameter
does not match the type to be created, the parameter is
unset and recreated.
If an array or array slice is being edited, separator char-
acters as defined in $IFS will be shown quoted with a back-
slash, as will backslashes themselves. Conversely, when the
edited text is split into an array, a backslash quotes an
immediately following separator character or backslash; no
other special handling of backslashes, or any handling of
quotes, is performed.
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User Commands ZSHZLE(1)
Individual elements of existing array or associative array
parameters may be edited by using subscript syntax on name.
New elements are created automatically, even without -c.
If the -p flag is given, the following string will be taken
as the prompt to display at the left. If the -r flag is
given, the following string gives the prompt to display at
the right. If the -h flag is specified, the history can be
accessed from ZLE. If the -e flag is given, typing ^D (Con-
trol-D) on an empty line causes vared to exit immediately
with a non-zero return value.
The -M option gives a keymap to link to the main keymap dur-
ing editing, and the -m option gives a keymap to link to the
vicmd keymap during editing. For vi-style editing, this
allows a pair of keymaps to override viins and vicmd. For
emacs-style editing, only -M is normally needed but the -m
option may still be used. On exit, the previous keymaps
will be restored.
Vared calls the usual `zle-line-init' and `zle-line-finish'
hooks before and after it takes control. Using the -i and -f
options, it is possible to replace these with other custom
widgets.
If `-t tty' is given, tty is the name of a terminal device
to be used instead of the default /dev/tty. If tty does not
refer to a terminal an error is reported.
zle
zle -l [ -L | -a ] [ string ... ]
zle -D widget ...
zle -A old-widget new-widget
zle -N widget [ function ]
zle -C widget completion-widget function
zle -R [ -c ] [ display-string ] [ string ... ]
zle -M string
zle -U string
zle -K keymap
zle -F [ -L | -w ] [ fd [ handler ] ]
zle -I
zle -T [ tc function | -r tc | -L ]
zle widget [ -n num ] [ -Nw ] [ -K keymap ] args ...
The zle builtin performs a number of different actions con-
cerning ZLE.
With no options and no arguments, only the return status
will be set. It is zero if ZLE is currently active and wid-
gets could be invoked using this builtin command and
non-zero otherwise. Note that even if non-zero status is
returned, zle may still be active as part of the completion
system; this does not allow direct calls to ZLE widgets.
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User Commands ZSHZLE(1)
Otherwise, which operation it performs depends on its
options:
-l [ -L | -a ]
List all existing user-defined widgets. If the -L
option is used, list in the form of zle commands to
create the widgets.
When combined with the -a option, all widget names are
listed, including the builtin ones. In this case the -L
option is ignored.
If at least one string is given, and -a is present or
-L is not used, nothing will be printed. The return
status will be zero if all strings are names of exist-
ing widgets and non-zero if at least one string is not
a name of a defined widget. If -a is also present, all
widget names are used for the comparison including
builtin widgets, else only user-defined widgets are
used.
If at least one string is present and the -L option is
used, user-defined widgets matching any string are
listed in the form of zle commands to create the wid-
gets.
-D widget ...
Delete the named widgets.
-A old-widget new-widget
Make the new-widget name an alias for old-widget, so
that both names refer to the same widget. The names
have equal standing; if either is deleted, the other
remains. If there is already a widget with the
new-widget name, it is deleted.
-N widget [ function ]
Create a user-defined widget. If there is already a
widget with the specified name, it is overwritten.
When the new widget is invoked from within the editor,
the specified shell function is called. If no function
name is specified, it defaults to the same name as the
widget. For further information, see the section Wid-
gets in zshzle(1).
-C widget completion-widget function
Create a user-defined completion widget named widget.
The completion widget will behave like the built-in
completion-widget whose name is given as comple-
tion-widget. To generate the completions, the shell
function function will be called. For further informa-
tion, see zshcompwid(1).
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User Commands ZSHZLE(1)
-R [ -c ] [ display-string ] [ string ... ]
Redisplay the command line; this is to be called from
within a user-defined widget to allow changes to become
visible. If a display-string is given and not empty,
this is shown in the status line (immediately below the
line being edited).
If the optional strings are given they are listed below
the prompt in the same way as completion lists are
printed. If no strings are given but the -c option is
used such a list is cleared.
Note that this option is only useful for widgets that
do not exit immediately after using it because the
strings displayed will be erased immediately after
return from the widget.
This command can safely be called outside user defined
widgets; if zle is active, the display will be
refreshed, while if zle is not active, the command has
no effect. In this case there will usually be no other
arguments.
The status is zero if zle was active, else one.
-M string
As with the -R option, the string will be displayed
below the command line; unlike the -R option, the
string will not be put into the status line but will
instead be printed normally below the prompt. This
means that the string will still be displayed after the
widget returns (until it is overwritten by subsequent
commands).
-U string
This pushes the characters in the string onto the input
stack of ZLE. After the widget currently executed fin-
ishes ZLE will behave as if the characters in the
string were typed by the user.
As ZLE uses a stack, if this option is used repeatedly
the last string pushed onto the stack will be processed
first. However, the characters in each string will be
processed in the order in which they appear in the
string.
-K keymap
Selects the keymap named keymap. An error message will
be displayed if there is no such keymap.
This keymap selection affects the interpretation of
following keystrokes within this invocation of ZLE.
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User Commands ZSHZLE(1)
Any following invocation (e.g., the next command line)
will start as usual with the `main' keymap selected.
-F [ -L | -w ] [ fd [ handler ] ]
Only available if your system supports one of the
`poll' or `select' system calls; most modern systems
do.
Installs handler (the name of a shell function) to han-
dle input from file descriptor fd. When zle is
attempting to read data, it will examine both the ter-
minal and the list of handled fd's. If data becomes
available on a handled fd, zle will call handler with
the fd which is ready for reading as the only argument.
If the handler produces output to the terminal, it
should call `zle -I' before doing so (see below). The
handler should not attempt to read from the terminal.
Note that zle makes no attempt to check whether this fd
is actually readable when installing the handler. The
user must make their own arrangements for handling the
file descriptor when zle is not active.
If the option -w is also given, the handler is instead
a line editor widget, typically a shell function made
into a widget using zle -N. In that case handler can
use all the facilities of zle to update the current
editing line. Note, however, that as handling fd takes
place at a low level changes to the display will not
automatically appear; the widget should call zle -R to
force redisplay.
Any number of handlers for any number of readable file
descriptors may be installed. Installing a handler for
an fd which is already handled causes the existing han-
dler to be replaced.
If no handler is given, but an fd is present, any han-
dler for that fd is removed. If there is none, an
error message is printed and status 1 is returned.
If no arguments are given, or the -L option is sup-
plied, a list of handlers is printed in a form which
can be stored for later execution.
An fd (but not a handler) may optionally be given with
the -L option; in this case, the function will list the
handler if any, else silently return status 1.
Note that this feature should be used with care.
Activity on one of the fd's which is not properly han-
dled can cause the terminal to become unusable.
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User Commands ZSHZLE(1)
Here is a simple example of using this feature. A con-
nection to a remote TCP port is created using the ztcp
command; see the description of the zsh/net/tcp module
in zshmodules(1). Then a handler is installed which
simply prints out any data which arrives on this con-
nection. Note that `select' will indicate that the
file descriptor needs handling if the remote side has
closed the connection; we handle that by testing for a
failed read.
if ztcp pwspc 2811; then
tcpfd=$REPLY
handler() {
zle -I
local line
if ! read -r line <&$1; then
# select marks this fd if we reach EOF,
# so handle this specially.
print "[Read on fd $1 failed, removing.]" >&2
zle -F $1
return 1
fi
print -r - $line
}
zle -F $tcpfd handler
fi
-I Unusually, this option is most useful outside ordinary
widget functions, though it may be used within if nor-
mal output to the terminal is required. It invalidates
the current zle display in preparation for output; typ-
ically this will be from a trap function. It has no
effect if zle is not active. When a trap exits, the
shell checks to see if the display needs restoring,
hence the following will print output in such a way as
not to disturb the line being edited:
TRAPUSR1() {
# Invalidate zle display
[[ -o zle ]] && zle -I
# Show output
print Hello
}
In general, the trap function may need to test whether
zle is active before using this method (as shown in the
example), since the zsh/zle module may not even be
loaded; if it is not, the command can be skipped.
It is possible to call `zle -I' several times before
control is returned to the editor; the display will
only be invalidated the first time to minimise disrup-
tion.
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User Commands ZSHZLE(1)
Note that there are normally better ways of manipulat-
ing the display from within zle widgets; see, for exam-
ple, `zle -R' above.
The returned status is zero if zle was invalidated,
even though this may have been by a previous call to
`zle -I' or by a system notification. To test if a zle
widget may be called at this point, execute zle with no
arguments and examine the return status.
-T This is used to add, list or remove internal transfor-
mations on the processing performed by the line editor.
It is typically used only for debugging or testing and
is therefore of little interest to the general user.
`zle -T transformation func' specifies that the given
transformation (see below) is effected by shell func-
tion func.
`zle -Tr transformation' removes the given transforma-
tion if it was present (it is not an error if none
was).
`zle -TL' can be used to list all transformations cur-
rently in operation.
Currently the only transformation is tc. This is used
instead of outputting termcap codes to the terminal.
When the transformation is in operation the shell func-
tion is passed the termcap code that would be output as
its first argument; if the operation required a numeric
argument, that is passed as a second argument. The
function should set the shell variable REPLY to the
transformed termcap code. Typically this is used to
produce some simply formatted version of the code and
optional argument for debugging or testing. Note that
this transformation is not applied to other non-print-
ing characters such as carriage returns and newlines.
widget [ -n num ] [ -Nw ] [ -K keymap ] args ...
Invoke the specified widget. This can only be done
when ZLE is active; normally this will be within a
user-defined widget.
With the options -n and -N, the current numerical argu-
ment will be saved and then restored after the call to
widget; `-n num' sets the numerical argument temporar-
ily to num, while `-N' sets it to the default, i.e. as
if there were none.
With the option -K, keymap will be used as the current
keymap during the execution of the widget. The
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previous keymap will be restored when the widget exits.
Normally, calling a widget in this way does not set the
special parameter WIDGET and related parameters, so
that the environment appears as if the top-level widget
called by the user were still active. With the option
-w, WIDGET and related parameters are set to reflect
the widget being executed by the zle call.
Any further arguments will be passed to the widget;
note that as standard argument handling is performed,
any general argument list should be preceded by --. If
it is a shell function, these are passed down as posi-
tional parameters; for builtin widgets it is up to the
widget in question what it does with them. Currently
arguments are only handled by the incremental-search
commands, the history-search-forward and -backward and
the corresponding functions prefixed by vi-, and by
universal-argument. No error is flagged if the command
does not use the arguments, or only uses some of them.
The return status reflects the success or failure of
the operation carried out by the widget, or if it is a
user-defined widget the return status of the shell
function.
A non-zero return status causes the shell to beep when
the widget exits, unless the BEEP options was unset or
the widget was called via the zle command. Thus if a
user defined widget requires an immediate beep, it
should call the beep widget directly.
WIDGETS
All actions in the editor are performed by `widgets'. A
widget's job is simply to perform some small action. The
ZLE commands that key sequences in keymaps are bound to are
in fact widgets. Widgets can be user-defined or built in.
The standard widgets built into ZLE are listed in Standard
Widgets below. Other built-in widgets can be defined by
other modules (see zshmodules(1)). Each built-in widget has
two names: its normal canonical name, and the same name pre-
ceded by a `.'. The `.' name is special: it can't be
rebound to a different widget. This makes the widget avail-
able even when its usual name has been redefined.
User-defined widgets are defined using `zle -N', and imple-
mented as shell functions. When the widget is executed, the
corresponding shell function is executed, and can perform
editing (or other) actions. It is recommended that
user-defined widgets should not have names starting with
`.'.
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USER-DEFINED WIDGETS
User-defined widgets, being implemented as shell functions,
can execute any normal shell command. They can also run
other widgets (whether built-in or user-defined) using the
zle builtin command. The standard input of the function is
closed to prevent external commands from unintentionally
blocking ZLE by reading from the terminal, but read -k or
read -q can be used to read characters. Finally, they can
examine and edit the ZLE buffer being edited by reading and
setting the special parameters described below.
These special parameters are always available in widget
functions, but are not in any way special outside ZLE. If
they have some normal value outside ZLE, that value is tem-
porarily inaccessible, but will return when the widget func-
tion exits. These special parameters in fact have local
scope, like parameters created in a function using local.
Inside completion widgets and traps called while ZLE is
active, these parameters are available read-only.
BUFFER (scalar)
The entire contents of the edit buffer. If it is writ-
ten to, the cursor remains at the same offset, unless
that would put it outside the buffer.
BUFFERLINES (integer)
The number of screen lines needed for the edit buffer
currently displayed on screen (i.e. without any changes
to the preceding parameters done after the last redis-
play); read-only.
CONTEXT (scalar)
The context in which zle was called to read a line;
read-only. One of the values:
start
The start of a command line (at prompt PS1).
cont A continuation to a command line (at prompt PS2).
select
In a select loop.
vared
Editing a variable in vared.
CURSOR (integer)
The offset of the cursor, within the edit buffer. This is
in the range 0 to $#BUFFER, and is by definition equal to
$#LBUFFER. Attempts to move the cursor outside the buffer
will result in the cursor being moved to the appropriate end
of the buffer.
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CUTBUFFER (scalar)
The last item cut using one of the `kill-' commands; the
string which the next yank would insert in the line. Later
entries in the kill ring are in the array killring. Note
that the command `zle copy-region-as-kill string' can be
used to set the text of the cut buffer from a shell function
and cycle the kill ring in the same way as interactively
killing text.
HISTNO (integer)
The current history number. Setting this has the same
effect as moving up or down in the history to the corre-
sponding history line. An attempt to set it is ignored if
the line is not stored in the history. Note this is not the
same as the parameter HISTCMD, which always gives the number
of the history line being added to the main shell's history.
HISTNO refers to the line being retrieved within zle.
KEYMAP (scalar)
The name of the currently selected keymap; read-only.
KEYS (scalar)
The keys typed to invoke this widget, as a literal string;
read-only.
killring (array)
The array of previously killed items, with the most recently
killed first. This gives the items that would be retrieved
by a yank-pop in the same order. Note, however, that the
most recently killed item is in $CUTBUFFER; $killring shows
the array of previous entries.
The default size for the kill ring is eight, however the
length may be changed by normal array operations. Any empty
string in the kill ring is ignored by the yank-pop command,
hence the size of the array effectively sets the maximum
length of the kill ring, while the number of non-zero
strings gives the current length, both as seen by the user
at the command line.
LASTABORTEDSEARCH (scalar)
The last search string used by an interactive search that
was aborted by the user (status 3 returned by the search
widget).
LASTSEARCH (scalar)
The last search string used by an interactive search;
read-only. This is set even if the search failed (status 0,
1 or 2 returned by the search widget), but not if it was
aborted by the user.
LASTWIDGET (scalar)
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The name of the last widget that was executed; read-only.
LBUFFER (scalar)
The part of the buffer that lies to the left of the cursor
position. If it is assigned to, only that part of the
buffer is replaced, and the cursor remains between the new
$LBUFFER and the old $RBUFFER.
MARK (integer)
Like CURSOR, but for the mark.
NUMERIC (integer)
The numeric argument. If no numeric argument was given, this
parameter is unset. When this is set inside a widget func-
tion, builtin widgets called with the zle builtin command
will use the value assigned. If it is unset inside a widget
function, builtin widgets called behave as if no numeric
argument was given.
PENDING (integer)
The number of bytes pending for input, i.e. the number of
bytes which have already been typed and can immediately be
read. On systems where the shell is not able to get this
information, this parameter will always have a value of
zero. Read-only.
PREBUFFER (scalar)
In a multi-line input at the secondary prompt, this
read-only parameter contains the contents of the lines
before the one the cursor is currently in.
PREDISPLAY (scalar)
Text to be displayed before the start of the editable text
buffer. This does not have to be a complete line; to dis-
play a complete line, a newline must be appended explicitly.
The text is reset on each new invocation (but not recursive
invocation) of zle.
POSTDISPLAY (scalar)
Text to be displayed after the end of the editable text
buffer. This does not have to be a complete line; to dis-
play a complete line, a newline must be prepended explic-
itly. The text is reset on each new invocation (but not
recursive invocation) of zle.
RBUFFER (scalar)
The part of the buffer that lies to the right of the cursor
position. If it is assigned to, only that part of the
buffer is replaced, and the cursor remains between the old
$LBUFFER and the new $RBUFFER.
REGION_ACTIVE (integer)
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Indicates if the region is currently active. It can be
assigned 0 or 1 to deactivate and activate the region
respectively; see Character Highlighting below.
region_highlight (array)
Each element of this array may be set to a string that
describes highlighting for an arbitrary region of the com-
mand line that will take effect the next time the command
line is redisplayed. Highlighting of the non-editable parts
of the command line in PREDISPLAY and POSTDISPLAY are possi-
ble, but note that the P flag is needed for character index-
ing to include PREDISPLAY.
Each string consists of the following parts:
Optionally, a `P' to signify that the start and end offset
that
follow include any string set by the PREDISPLAY special
parameter; this is needed if the predisplay string
itself is to be highlighted. Whitespace may follow the
`P'.
A start offset in the same units as CURSOR, terminated by
whitespace.
An end offset in the same units as CURSOR, terminated by
whitespace.
A highlight specification in the same format as
used for contexts in the parameter zle_highlight, see
Character Highlighting below; for example, standout or
fg=red,bold.
For example,
region_highlight=("P0 20 bold")
specifies that the first twenty characters of the text
including any predisplay string should be highlighted in
bold.
Note that the effect of region_highlight is not saved and
disappears as soon as the line is accepted.
UNDO_CHANGE_NO (integer)
A number representing the state of the undo history. The
only use of this is passing as an argument to the undo wid-
get in order to undo back to the recorded point. Read-only.
WIDGET (scalar)
The name of the widget currently being executed; read-only.
WIDGETFUNC (scalar)
The name of the shell function that implements a widget
defined with either zle -N or zle -C. In the former case,
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this is the second argument to the zle -N command that
defined the widget, or the first argument if there was no
second argument. In the latter case this is the third argu-
ment to the zle -C command that defined the widget.
Read-only.
WIDGETSTYLE (scalar)
Describes the implementation behind the completion widget
currently being executed; the second argument that followed
zle -C when the widget was defined. This is the name of a
builtin completion widget. For widgets defined with zle -N
this is set to the empty string. Read-only.
ZLE_STATE (scalar)
Contains a set of space-separated words that describe the
current zle state.
Currently, the states shown are the insert mode as set by
the overwrite-mode or vi-replace widgets and whether history
commands will visit imported entries as controlled by the
set-local-history widget. The string contains `insert' if
characters to be inserted on the command line move existing
characters to the right or `overwrite' if characters to be
inserted overwrite existing characters. It contains `local-
history' if only local history commands will be visited or
`globalhistory' if imported history commands will also be
visited.
The substrings are sorted in alphabetical order so that if
you want to test for two specific substrings in a
future-proof way, you can do match by doing:
if [[ $ZLE_STATE == *insert*globalhistory* ]]; then ...; fi
Special Widgets
There are a few user-defined widgets which are special to
the shell. If they do not exist, no special action is
taken. The environment provided is identical to that for
any other editing widget.
zle-isearch-exit
Executed at the end of incremental search at the point
where the isearch prompt is removed from the display.
See zle-isearch-update for an example.
zle-isearch-update
Executed within incremental search when the display is
about to be redrawn. Additional output below the
incremental search prompt can be generated by using
`zle -M' within the widget. For example,
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User Commands ZSHZLE(1)
zle-isearch-update() { zle -M "Line $HISTNO"; }
zle -N zle-isearch-update
Note the line output by `zle -M' is not deleted on exit
from incremental search. This can be done from a
zle-isearch-exit widget:
zle-isearch-exit() { zle -M ""; }
zle -N zle-isearch-exit
zle-line-init
Executed every time the line editor is started to read
a new line of input. The following example puts the
line editor into vi command mode when it starts up.
zle-line-init() { zle -K vicmd; }
zle -N zle-line-init
(The command inside the function sets the keymap
directly; it is equivalent to zle vi-cmd-mode.)
zle-line-finish
This is similar to zle-line-init but is executed every
time the line editor has finished reading a line of
input.
zle-history-line-set
Executed when the history line changes.
zle-keymap-select
Executed every time the keymap changes, i.e. the spe-
cial parameter KEYMAP is set to a different value,
while the line editor is active. Initialising the
keymap when the line editor starts does not cause the
widget to be called.
The value $KEYMAP within the function reflects the new
keymap. The old keymap is passed as the sole argument.
This can be used for detecting switches between the vi
command (vicmd) and insert (usually main) keymaps.
STANDARD WIDGETS
The following is a list of all the standard widgets, and
their default bindings in emacs mode, vi command mode and vi
insert mode (the `emacs', `vicmd' and `viins' keymaps,
respectively).
Note that cursor keys are bound to movement keys in all
three keymaps; the shell assumes that the cursor keys send
the key sequences reported by the terminal-handling library
(termcap or terminfo). The key sequences shown in the list
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are those based on the VT100, common on many modern termi-
nals, but in fact these are not necessarily bound. In the
case of the viins keymap, the initial escape character of
the sequences serves also to return to the vicmd keymap:
whether this happens is determined by the KEYTIMEOUT parame-
ter, see zshparam(1).
Movement
vi-backward-blank-word (unbound) (B) (unbound)
Move backward one word, where a word is defined as a
series of non-blank characters.
backward-char (^B ESC-[D) (unbound) (unbound)
Move backward one character.
vi-backward-char (unbound) (^H h ^?) (ESC-[D)
Move backward one character, without changing lines.
backward-word (ESC-B ESC-b) (unbound) (unbound)
Move to the beginning of the previous word.
emacs-backward-word
Move to the beginning of the previous word.
vi-backward-word (unbound) (b) (unbound)
Move to the beginning of the previous word, vi-style.
beginning-of-line (^A) (unbound) (unbound)
Move to the beginning of the line. If already at the
beginning of the line, move to the beginning of the
previous line, if any.
vi-beginning-of-line
Move to the beginning of the line, without changing
lines.
end-of-line (^E) (unbound) (unbound)
Move to the end of the line. If already at the end of
the line, move to the end of the next line, if any.
vi-end-of-line (unbound) ($) (unbound)
Move to the end of the line. If an argument is given
to this command, the cursor will be moved to the end of
the line (argument - 1) lines down.
vi-forward-blank-word (unbound) (W) (unbound)
Move forward one word, where a word is defined as a
series of non-blank characters.
vi-forward-blank-word-end (unbound) (E) (unbound)
Move to the end of the current word, or, if at the end
of the current word, to the end of the next word, where
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a word is defined as a series of non-blank characters.
forward-char (^F ESC-[C) (unbound) (unbound)
Move forward one character.
vi-forward-char (unbound) (space l) (ESC-[C)
Move forward one character.
vi-find-next-char (^X^F) (f) (unbound)
Read a character from the keyboard, and move to the
next occurrence of it in the line.
vi-find-next-char-skip (unbound) (t) (unbound)
Read a character from the keyboard, and move to the
position just before the next occurrence of it in the
line.
vi-find-prev-char (unbound) (F) (unbound)
Read a character from the keyboard, and move to the
previous occurrence of it in the line.
vi-find-prev-char-skip (unbound) (T) (unbound)
Read a character from the keyboard, and move to the
position just after the previous occurrence of it in
the line.
vi-first-non-blank (unbound) (^) (unbound)
Move to the first non-blank character in the line.
vi-forward-word (unbound) (w) (unbound)
Move forward one word, vi-style.
forward-word (ESC-F ESC-f) (unbound) (unbound)
Move to the beginning of the next word. The editor's
idea of a word is specified with the WORDCHARS parame-
ter.
emacs-forward-word
Move to the end of the next word.
vi-forward-word-end (unbound) (e) (unbound)
Move to the end of the next word.
vi-goto-column (ESC-|) (|) (unbound)
Move to the column specified by the numeric argument.
vi-goto-mark (unbound) (`) (unbound)
Move to the specified mark.
vi-goto-mark-line (unbound) (') (unbound)
Move to beginning of the line containing the specified
mark.
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vi-repeat-find (unbound) (;) (unbound)
Repeat the last vi-find command.
vi-rev-repeat-find (unbound) (,) (unbound)
Repeat the last vi-find command in the opposite direc-
tion.
History Control
beginning-of-buffer-or-history (ESC-<) (unbound) (unbound)
Move to the beginning of the buffer, or if already
there, move to the first event in the history list.
beginning-of-line-hist
Move to the beginning of the line. If already at the
beginning of the buffer, move to the previous history
line.
beginning-of-history
Move to the first event in the history list.
down-line-or-history (^N ESC-[B) (j) (ESC-[B)
Move down a line in the buffer, or if already at the
bottom line, move to the next event in the history
list.
vi-down-line-or-history (unbound) (+) (unbound)
Move down a line in the buffer, or if already at the
bottom line, move to the next event in the history
list. Then move to the first non-blank character on
the line.
down-line-or-search
Move down a line in the buffer, or if already at the
bottom line, search forward in the history for a line
beginning with the first word in the buffer.
If called from a function by the zle command with argu-
ments, the first argument is taken as the string for
which to search, rather than the first word in the
buffer.
down-history (unbound) (^N) (unbound)
Move to the next event in the history list.
history-beginning-search-backward
Search backward in the history for a line beginning
with the current line up to the cursor. This leaves
the cursor in its original position.
end-of-buffer-or-history (ESC->) (unbound) (unbound)
Move to the end of the buffer, or if already there,
move to the last event in the history list.
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end-of-line-hist
Move to the end of the line. If already at the end of
the buffer, move to the next history line.
end-of-history
Move to the last event in the history list.
vi-fetch-history (unbound) (G) (unbound)
Fetch the history line specified by the numeric argu-
ment. This defaults to the current history line (i.e.
the one that isn't history yet).
history-incremental-search-backward (^R ^Xr) (unbound)
(unbound)
Search backward incrementally for a specified string.
The search is case-insensitive if the search string
does not have uppercase letters and no numeric argument
was given. The string may begin with `^' to anchor the
search to the beginning of the line. When called from
a user-defined function returns the following statuses:
0, if the search succeeded; 1, if the search failed; 2,
if the search term was a bad pattern; 3, if the search
was aborted by the send-break command.
A restricted set of editing functions is available in
the mini-buffer. Keys are looked up in the special
isearch keymap, and if not found there in the main
keymap (note that by default the isearch keymap is
empty). An interrupt signal, as defined by the stty
setting, will stop the search and go back to the origi-
nal line. An undefined key will have the same effect.
Note that the following always perform the same task
within incremental searches and cannot be replaced by
user defined widgets, nor can the set of functions be
extended. The supported functions are:
accept-and-hold
accept-and-infer-next-history
accept-line
accept-line-and-down-history
Perform the usual function after exiting incremen-
tal search. The command line displayed is exe-
cuted.
backward-delete-char
vi-backward-delete-char
Back up one place in the search history. If the
search has been repeated this does not immediately
erase a character in the minibuffer.
accept-search
Exit incremental search, retaining the command
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User Commands ZSHZLE(1)
line but performing no further action. Note that
this function is not bound by default and has no
effect outside incremental search.
backward-delete-word
backward-kill-word
vi-backward-kill-word
Back up one character in the minibuffer; if multi-
ple searches have been performed since the charac-
ter was inserted the search history is rewound to
the point just before the character was entered.
Hence this has the effect of repeating back-
ward-delete-char.
clear-screen
Clear the screen, remaining in incremental search
mode.
history-incremental-search-backward
Find the next occurrence of the contents of the
mini-buffer.
history-incremental-search-forward
Invert the sense of the search.
magic-space
Inserts a non-magical space.
quoted-insert
vi-quoted-insert
Quote the character to insert into the minibuffer.
redisplay
Redisplay the command line, remaining in incremen-
tal search mode.
vi-cmd-mode
Toggle between the `main' and `vicmd' keymaps; the
`main' keymap (insert mode) will be selected ini-
tially.
vi-repeat-search
vi-rev-repeat-search
Repeat the search. The direction of the search is
indicated in the mini-buffer.
Any character that is not bound to one of the above
functions, or self-insert or self-insert-unmeta, will
cause the mode to be exited. The character is then
looked up and executed in the keymap in effect at that
point.
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When called from a widget function by the zle command,
the incremental search commands can take a string argu-
ment. This will be treated as a string of keys, as for
arguments to the bindkey command, and used as initial
input for the command. Any characters in the string
which are unused by the incremental search will be
silently ignored. For example,
zle history-incremental-search-backward forceps
will search backwards for forceps, leaving the
minibuffer containing the string `forceps'.
history-incremental-search-forward (^S ^Xs) (unbound)
(unbound)
Search forward incrementally for a specified string.
The search is case-insensitive if the search string
does not have uppercase letters and no numeric argument
was given. The string may begin with `^' to anchor the
search to the beginning of the line. The functions
available in the mini-buffer are the same as for his-
tory-incremental-search-backward.
history-incremental-pattern-search-backward
history-incremental-pattern-search-forward
These widgets behave similarly to the corresponding
widgets with no -pattern, but the search string typed
by the user is treated as a pattern, respecting the
current settings of the various options affecting pat-
tern matching. See FILENAME GENERATION in zshexpn(1)
for a description of patterns. If no numeric argument
was given lowercase letters in the search string may
match uppercase letters in the history. The string may
begin with `^' to anchor the search to the beginning of
the line.
The prompt changes to indicate an invalid pattern; this
may simply indicate the pattern is not yet complete.
Note that only non-overlapping matches are reported, so
an expression with wildcards may return fewer matches
on a line than are visible by inspection.
history-search-backward (ESC-P ESC-p) (unbound) (unbound)
Search backward in the history for a line beginning
with the first word in the buffer.
If called from a function by the zle command with argu-
ments, the first argument is taken as the string for
which to search, rather than the first word in the
buffer.
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vi-history-search-backward (unbound) (/) (unbound)
Search backward in the history for a specified string.
The string may begin with `^' to anchor the search to
the beginning of the line.
A restricted set of editing functions is available in
the mini-buffer. An interrupt signal, as defined by
the stty setting, will stop the search. The functions
available in the mini-buffer are: accept-line, back-
ward-delete-char, vi-backward-delete-char, back-
ward-kill-word, vi-backward-kill-word, clear-screen,
redisplay, quoted-insert and vi-quoted-insert.
vi-cmd-mode is treated the same as accept-line, and
magic-space is treated as a space. Any other character
that is not bound to self-insert or self-insert-unmeta
will beep and be ignored. If the function is called
from vi command mode, the bindings of the current
insert mode will be used.
If called from a function by the zle command with argu-
ments, the first argument is taken as the string for
which to search, rather than the first word in the
buffer.
history-search-forward (ESC-N ESC-n) (unbound) (unbound)
Search forward in the history for a line beginning with
the first word in the buffer.
If called from a function by the zle command with argu-
ments, the first argument is taken as the string for
which to search, rather than the first word in the
buffer.
vi-history-search-forward (unbound) (?) (unbound)
Search forward in the history for a specified string.
The string may begin with `^' to anchor the search to
the beginning of the line. The functions available in
the mini-buffer are the same as for vi-his-
tory-search-backward. Argument handling is also the
same as for that command.
infer-next-history (^X^N) (unbound) (unbound)
Search in the history list for a line matching the cur-
rent one and fetch the event following it.
insert-last-word (ESC-_ ESC-.) (unbound) (unbound)
Insert the last word from the previous history event at
the cursor position. If a positive numeric argument is
given, insert that word from the end of the previous
history event. If the argument is zero or negative
insert that word from the left (zero inserts the
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User Commands ZSHZLE(1)
previous command word). Repeating this command
replaces the word just inserted with the last word from
the history event prior to the one just used; numeric
arguments can be used in the same way to pick a word
from that event.
When called from a shell function invoked from a
user-defined widget, the command can take one to three
arguments. The first argument specifies a history off-
set which applies to successive calls to this widget:
if it is -1, the default behaviour is used, while if it
is 1, successive calls will move forwards through the
history. The value 0 can be used to indicate that the
history line examined by the previous execution of the
command will be reexamined. Note that negative numbers
should be preceded by a `--' argument to avoid confus-
ing them with options.
If two arguments are given, the second specifies the
word on the command line in normal array index notation
(as a more natural alternative to the prefix argument).
Hence 1 is the first word, and -1 (the default) is the
last word.
If a third argument is given, its value is ignored, but
it is used to signify that the history offset is rela-
tive to the current history line, rather than the one
remembered after the previous invocations of
insert-last-word.
For example, the default behaviour of the command cor-
responds to
zle insert-last-word -- -1 -1
while the command
zle insert-last-word -- -1 1 -
always copies the first word of the line in the history
immediately before the line being edited. This has the
side effect that later invocations of the widget will
be relative to that line.
vi-repeat-search (unbound) (n) (unbound)
Repeat the last vi history search.
vi-rev-repeat-search (unbound) (N) (unbound)
Repeat the last vi history search, but in reverse.
up-line-or-history (^P ESC-[A) (k) (ESC-[A)
Move up a line in the buffer, or if already at the top
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line, move to the previous event in the history list.
vi-up-line-or-history (unbound) (-) (unbound)
Move up a line in the buffer, or if already at the top
line, move to the previous event in the history list.
Then move to the first non-blank character on the line.
up-line-or-search
Move up a line in the buffer, or if already at the top
line, search backward in the history for a line begin-
ning with the first word in the buffer.
If called from a function by the zle command with argu-
ments, the first argument is taken as the string for
which to search, rather than the first word in the
buffer.
up-history (unbound) (^P) (unbound)
Move to the previous event in the history list.
history-beginning-search-forward
Search forward in the history for a line beginning with
the current line up to the cursor. This leaves the
cursor in its original position.
set-local-history
By default, history movement commands visit the
imported lines as well as the local lines. This widget
lets you toggle this on and off, or set it with the
numeric argument. Zero for both local and imported
lines and nonzero for only local lines.
Modifying Text
vi-add-eol (unbound) (A) (unbound)
Move to the end of the line and enter insert mode.
vi-add-next (unbound) (a) (unbound)
Enter insert mode after the current cursor position,
without changing lines.
backward-delete-char (^H ^?) (unbound) (unbound)
Delete the character behind the cursor.
vi-backward-delete-char (unbound) (X) (^H)
Delete the character behind the cursor, without chang-
ing lines. If in insert mode, this won't delete past
the point where insert mode was last entered.
backward-delete-word
Delete the word behind the cursor.
backward-kill-line
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Kill from the beginning of the line to the cursor posi-
tion.
backward-kill-word (^W ESC-^H ESC-^?) (unbound) (unbound)
Kill the word behind the cursor.
vi-backward-kill-word (unbound) (unbound) (^W)
Kill the word behind the cursor, without going past the
point where insert mode was last entered.
capitalize-word (ESC-C ESC-c) (unbound) (unbound)
Capitalize the current word and move past it.
vi-change (unbound) (c) (unbound)
Read a movement command from the keyboard, and kill
from the cursor position to the endpoint of the move-
ment. Then enter insert mode. If the command is
vi-change, change the current line.
vi-change-eol (unbound) (C) (unbound)
Kill to the end of the line and enter insert mode.
vi-change-whole-line (unbound) (S) (unbound)
Kill the current line and enter insert mode.
copy-region-as-kill (ESC-W ESC-w) (unbound) (unbound)
Copy the area from the cursor to the mark to the kill
buffer.
If called from a ZLE widget function in the form `zle
copy-region-as-kill string' then string will be taken
as the text to copy to the kill buffer. The cursor,
the mark and the text on the command line are not used
in this case.
copy-prev-word (ESC-^_) (unbound) (unbound)
Duplicate the word to the left of the cursor.
copy-prev-shell-word
Like copy-prev-word, but the word is found by using
shell parsing, whereas copy-prev-word looks for blanks.
This makes a difference when the word is quoted and
contains spaces.
vi-delete (unbound) (d) (unbound)
Read a movement command from the keyboard, and kill
from the cursor position to the endpoint of the move-
ment. If the command is vi-delete, kill the current
line.
delete-char
Delete the character under the cursor.
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User Commands ZSHZLE(1)
vi-delete-char (unbound) (x) (unbound)
Delete the character under the cursor, without going
past the end of the line.
delete-word
Delete the current word.
down-case-word (ESC-L ESC-l) (unbound) (unbound)
Convert the current word to all lowercase and move past
it.
kill-word (ESC-D ESC-d) (unbound) (unbound)
Kill the current word.
gosmacs-transpose-chars
Exchange the two characters behind the cursor.
vi-indent (unbound) (>) (unbound)
Indent a number of lines.
vi-insert (unbound) (i) (unbound)
Enter insert mode.
vi-insert-bol (unbound) (I) (unbound)
Move to the first non-blank character on the line and
enter insert mode.
vi-join (^X^J) (J) (unbound)
Join the current line with the next one.
kill-line (^K) (unbound) (unbound)
Kill from the cursor to the end of the line. If
already on the end of the line, kill the newline char-
acter.
vi-kill-line (unbound) (unbound) (^U)
Kill from the cursor back to wherever insert mode was
last entered.
vi-kill-eol (unbound) (D) (unbound)
Kill from the cursor to the end of the line.
kill-region
Kill from the cursor to the mark.
kill-buffer (^X^K) (unbound) (unbound)
Kill the entire buffer.
kill-whole-line (^U) (unbound) (unbound)
Kill the current line.
vi-match-bracket (^X^B) (%) (unbound)
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User Commands ZSHZLE(1)
Move to the bracket character (one of {}, () or [])
that matches the one under the cursor. If the cursor
is not on a bracket character, move forward without
going past the end of the line to find one, and then go
to the matching bracket.
vi-open-line-above (unbound) (O) (unbound)
Open a line above the cursor and enter insert mode.
vi-open-line-below (unbound) (o) (unbound)
Open a line below the cursor and enter insert mode.
vi-oper-swap-case
Read a movement command from the keyboard, and swap the
case of all characters from the cursor position to the
endpoint of the movement. If the movement command is
vi-oper-swap-case, swap the case of all characters on
the current line.
overwrite-mode (^X^O) (unbound) (unbound)
Toggle between overwrite mode and insert mode.
vi-put-before (unbound) (P) (unbound)
Insert the contents of the kill buffer before the cur-
sor. If the kill buffer contains a sequence of lines
(as opposed to characters), paste it above the current
line.
vi-put-after (unbound) (p) (unbound)
Insert the contents of the kill buffer after the cur-
sor. If the kill buffer contains a sequence of lines
(as opposed to characters), paste it below the current
line.
quoted-insert (^V) (unbound) (unbound)
Insert the next character typed into the buffer liter-
ally. An interrupt character will not be inserted.
vi-quoted-insert (unbound) (unbound) (^Q ^V)
Display a `^' at the cursor position, and insert the
next character typed into the buffer literally. An
interrupt character will not be inserted.
quote-line (ESC-') (unbound) (unbound)
Quote the current line; that is, put a `'' character at
the beginning and the end, and convert all `'' charac-
ters to `'\'''.
quote-region (ESC-") (unbound) (unbound)
Quote the region from the cursor to the mark.
vi-replace (unbound) (R) (unbound)
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User Commands ZSHZLE(1)
Enter overwrite mode.
vi-repeat-change (unbound) (.) (unbound)
Repeat the last vi mode text modification. If a count
was used with the modification, it is remembered. If a
count is given to this command, it overrides the remem-
bered count, and is remembered for future uses of this
command. The cut buffer specification is similarly
remembered.
vi-replace-chars (unbound) (r) (unbound)
Replace the character under the cursor with a character
read from the keyboard.
ters and some control characters)
self-insert (printable characters) (unbound) (printable
charac-
Insert a character into the buffer at the cursor posi-
tion.
self-insert-unmeta (ESC-^I ESC-^J ESC-^M) (unbound)
(unbound)
Insert a character into the buffer after stripping the
meta bit and converting ^M to ^J.
vi-substitute (unbound) (s) (unbound)
Substitute the next character(s).
vi-swap-case (unbound) (~) (unbound)
Swap the case of the character under the cursor and
move past it.
transpose-chars (^T) (unbound) (unbound)
Exchange the two characters to the left of the cursor
if at end of line, else exchange the character under
the cursor with the character to the left.
transpose-words (ESC-T ESC-t) (unbound) (unbound)
Exchange the current word with the one before it.
vi-unindent (unbound) (<) (unbound)
Unindent a number of lines.
up-case-word (ESC-U ESC-u) (unbound) (unbound)
Convert the current word to all caps and move past it.
yank (^Y) (unbound) (unbound)
Insert the contents of the kill buffer at the cursor
position.
yank-pop (ESC-y) (unbound) (unbound)
Remove the text just yanked, rotate the kill-ring (the
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User Commands ZSHZLE(1)
history of previously killed text) and yank the new
top. Only works following yank or yank-pop.
vi-yank (unbound) (y) (unbound)
Read a movement command from the keyboard, and copy the
region from the cursor position to the endpoint of the
movement into the kill buffer. If the command is
vi-yank, copy the current line.
vi-yank-whole-line (unbound) (Y) (unbound)
Copy the current line into the kill buffer.
vi-yank-eol
Copy the region from the cursor position to the end of
the line into the kill buffer. Arguably, this is what
Y should do in vi, but it isn't what it actually does.
Arguments
digit-argument (ESC-0..ESC-9) (1-9) (unbound)
Start a new numeric argument, or add to the current
one. See also vi-digit-or-beginning-of-line. This
only works if bound to a key sequence ending in a deci-
mal digit.
Inside a widget function, a call to this function
treats the last key of the key sequence which called
the widget as the digit.
neg-argument (ESC--) (unbound) (unbound)
Changes the sign of the following argument.
universal-argument
Multiply the argument of the next command by 4. Alter-
natively, if this command is followed by an integer
(positive or negative), use that as the argument for
the next command. Thus digits cannot be repeated using
this command. For example, if this command occurs
twice, followed immediately by forward-char, move for-
ward sixteen spaces; if instead it is followed by -2,
then forward-char, move backward two spaces.
Inside a widget function, if passed an argument, i.e.
`zle universal-argument num', the numerical argument
will be set to num; this is equivalent to
`NUMERIC=num'.
argument-base
Use the existing numeric argument as a numeric base,
which must be in the range 2 to 36 inclusive. Subse-
quent use of digit-argument and universal-argument will
input a new prefix in the given base. The usual hexa-
decimal convention is used: the letter a or A
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User Commands ZSHZLE(1)
corresponds to 10, and so on. Arguments in bases
requiring digits from 10 upwards are more conveniently
input with universal-argument, since ESC-a etc. are not
usually bound to digit-argument.
The function can be used with a command argument inside
a user-defined widget. The following code sets the
base to 16 and lets the user input a hexadecimal argu-
ment until a key out of the digit range is typed:
zle argument-base 16
zle universal-argument
Completion
accept-and-menu-complete
In a menu completion, insert the current completion
into the buffer, and advance to the next possible com-
pletion.
complete-word
Attempt completion on the current word.
delete-char-or-list (^D) (unbound) (unbound)
Delete the character under the cursor. If the cursor
is at the end of the line, list possible completions
for the current word.
expand-cmd-path
Expand the current command to its full pathname.
expand-or-complete (TAB) (unbound) (TAB)
Attempt shell expansion on the current word. If that
fails, attempt completion.
expand-or-complete-prefix
Attempt shell expansion on the current word up to cur-
sor.
expand-history (ESC-space ESC-!) (unbound) (unbound)
Perform history expansion on the edit buffer.
expand-word (^X*) (unbound) (unbound)
Attempt shell expansion on the current word.
list-choices (ESC-^D) (^D =) (^D)
List possible completions for the current word.
list-expand (^Xg ^XG) (^G) (^G)
List the expansion of the current word.
magic-space
Perform history expansion and insert a space into the
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User Commands ZSHZLE(1)
buffer. This is intended to be bound to space.
menu-complete
Like complete-word, except that menu completion is
used. See the MENU_COMPLETE option.
menu-expand-or-complete
Like expand-or-complete, except that menu completion is
used.
reverse-menu-complete
Perform menu completion, like menu-complete, except
that if a menu completion is already in progress, move
to the previous completion rather than the next.
end-of-list
When a previous completion displayed a list below the
prompt, this widget can be used to move the prompt
below the list.
Miscellaneous
accept-and-hold (ESC-A ESC-a) (unbound) (unbound)
Push the contents of the buffer on the buffer stack and
execute it.
accept-and-infer-next-history
Execute the contents of the buffer. Then search the
history list for a line matching the current one and
push the event following onto the buffer stack.
accept-line (^J ^M) (^J ^M) (^J ^M)
Finish editing the buffer. Normally this causes the
buffer to be executed as a shell command.
accept-line-and-down-history (^O) (unbound) (unbound)
Execute the current line, and push the next history
event on the buffer stack.
auto-suffix-remove
If the previous action added a suffix (space, slash,
etc.) to the word on the command line, remove it. Oth-
erwise do nothing. Removing the suffix ends any active
menu completion or menu selection.
This widget is intended to be called from user-defined
widgets to enforce a desired suffix-removal behavior.
auto-suffix-retain
If the previous action added a suffix (space, slash,
etc.) to the word on the command line, force it to be
preserved. Otherwise do nothing. Retaining the suffix
ends any active menu completion or menu selection.
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User Commands ZSHZLE(1)
This widget is intended to be called from user-defined
widgets to enforce a desired suffix-preservation behav-
ior.
beep Beep, unless the BEEP option is unset.
vi-cmd-mode (^X^V) (unbound) (^[)
Enter command mode; that is, select the `vicmd' keymap.
Yes, this is bound by default in emacs mode.
vi-caps-lock-panic
Hang until any lowercase key is pressed. This is for
vi users without the mental capacity to keep track of
their caps lock key (like the author).
clear-screen (^L ESC-^L) (^L) (^L)
Clear the screen and redraw the prompt.
describe-key-briefly
Reads a key sequence, then prints the function bound to
that sequence.
exchange-point-and-mark (^X^X) (unbound) (unbound)
Exchange the cursor position (point) with the position
of the mark. Unless a negative prefix argument is
given, the region between point and mark is activated
so that it can be highlighted. If a zero prefix argu-
ment is given, the region is activated but point and
mark are not swapped.
execute-named-cmd (ESC-x) (:) (unbound)
Read the name of an editor command and execute it. A
restricted set of editing functions is available in the
mini-buffer. Keys are looked up in the special command
keymap, and if not found there in the main keymap. An
interrupt signal, as defined by the stty setting, will
abort the function. Note that the following always
perform the same task within the executed-named-cmd
environment and cannot be replaced by user defined wid-
gets, nor can the set of functions be extended. The
allowed functions are: backward-delete-char, vi-back-
ward-delete-char, clear-screen, redisplay,
quoted-insert, vi-quoted-insert, backward-kill-word,
vi-backward-kill-word, kill-whole-line, vi-kill-line,
backward-kill-line, list-choices, delete-char-or-list,
complete-word, accept-line, expand-or-complete and
expand-or-complete-prefix.
kill-region kills the last word, and vi-cmd-mode is
treated the same as accept-line. The space and tab
characters, if not bound to one of these functions,
will complete the name and then list the possibilities
zsh 5.0.5 Last change: January 5, 2014 36
User Commands ZSHZLE(1)
if the AUTO_LIST option is set. Any other character
that is not bound to self-insert or self-insert-unmeta
will beep and be ignored. The bindings of the current
insert mode will be used.
Currently this command may not be redefined or called
by name.
execute-last-named-cmd (ESC-z) (unbound) (unbound)
Redo the last function executed with execute-named-cmd.
Currently this command may not be redefined or called
by name.
get-line (ESC-G ESC-g) (unbound) (unbound)
Pop the top line off the buffer stack and insert it at
the cursor position.
pound-insert (unbound) (#) (unbound)
If there is no # character at the beginning of the
buffer, add one to the beginning of each line. If
there is one, remove a # from each line that has one.
In either case, accept the current line. The INTERAC-
TIVE_COMMENTS option must be set for this to have any
usefulness.
vi-pound-insert
If there is no # character at the beginning of the cur-
rent line, add one. If there is one, remove it. The
INTERACTIVE_COMMENTS option must be set for this to
have any usefulness.
push-input
Push the entire current multiline construct onto the
buffer stack and return to the top-level (PS1) prompt.
If the current parser construct is only a single line,
this is exactly like push-line. Next time the editor
starts up or is popped with get-line, the construct
will be popped off the top of the buffer stack and
loaded into the editing buffer.
push-line (^Q ESC-Q ESC-q) (unbound) (unbound)
Push the current buffer onto the buffer stack and clear
the buffer. Next time the editor starts up, the buffer
will be popped off the top of the buffer stack and
loaded into the editing buffer.
push-line-or-edit
At the top-level (PS1) prompt, equivalent to push-line.
At a secondary (PS2) prompt, move the entire current
multiline construct into the editor buffer. The latter
is equivalent to push-input followed by get-line.
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User Commands ZSHZLE(1)
read-command
Only useful from a user-defined widget. A keystroke is
read just as in normal operation, but instead of the
command being executed the name of the command that
would be executed is stored in the shell parameter
REPLY. This can be used as the argument of a future
zle command. If the key sequence is not bound, status
1 is returned; typically, however, REPLY is set to
undefined-key to indicate a useless key sequence.
recursive-edit
Only useful from a user-defined widget. At this point
in the function, the editor regains control until one
of the standard widgets which would normally cause zle
to exit (typically an accept-line caused by hitting the
return key) is executed. Instead, control returns to
the user-defined widget. The status returned is
non-zero if the return was caused by an error, but the
function still continues executing and hence may tidy
up. This makes it safe for the user-defined widget to
alter the command line or key bindings temporarily.
The following widget, caps-lock, serves as an example.
self-insert-ucase() {
LBUFFER+=${(U)KEYS[-1]}
}
integer stat
zle -N self-insert self-insert-ucase
zle -A caps-lock save-caps-lock
zle -A accept-line caps-lock
zle recursive-edit
stat=$?
zle -A .self-insert self-insert
zle -A save-caps-lock caps-lock
zle -D save-caps-lock
(( stat )) && zle send-break
return $stat
This causes typed letters to be inserted capitalised
until either accept-line (i.e. typically the return
key) is typed or the caps-lock widget is invoked again;
the later is handled by saving the old definition of
caps-lock as save-caps-lock and then rebinding it to
invoke accept-line. Note that an error from the recur-
sive edit is detected as a non-zero return status and
propagated by using the send-break widget.
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User Commands ZSHZLE(1)
redisplay (unbound) (^R) (^R)
Redisplays the edit buffer.
reset-prompt (unbound) (unbound) (unbound)
Force the prompts on both the left and right of the
screen to be re-expanded, then redisplay the edit
buffer. This reflects changes both to the prompt vari-
ables themselves and changes in the expansion of the
values (for example, changes in time or directory, or
changes to the value of variables referred to by the
prompt).
Otherwise, the prompt is only expanded each time zle
starts, and when the display as been interrupted by
output from another part of the shell (such as a job
notification) which causes the command line to be
reprinted.
send-break (^G ESC-^G) (unbound) (unbound)
Abort the current editor function, e.g. exe-
cute-named-command, or the editor itself, e.g. if you
are in vared. Otherwise abort the parsing of the cur-
rent line; in this case the aborted line is available
in the shell variable ZLE_LINE_ABORTED.
run-help (ESC-H ESC-h) (unbound) (unbound)
Push the buffer onto the buffer stack, and execute the
command `run-help cmd', where cmd is the current com-
mand. run-help is normally aliased to man.
vi-set-buffer (unbound) (") (unbound)
Specify a buffer to be used in the following command.
There are 35 buffers that can be specified: the 26
`named' buffers "a to "z and the nine `queued' buffers
"1 to "9. The named buffers can also be specified as
"A to "Z.
When a buffer is specified for a cut command, the text
being cut replaces the previous contents of the speci-
fied buffer. If a named buffer is specified using a
capital, the newly cut text is appended to the buffer
instead of overwriting it.
If no buffer is specified for a cut command, "1 is
used, and the contents of "1 to "8 are each shifted
along one buffer; the contents of "9 is lost.
vi-set-mark (unbound) (m) (unbound)
Set the specified mark at the cursor position.
set-mark-command (^@) (unbound) (unbound)
Set the mark at the cursor position. If called with a
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User Commands ZSHZLE(1)
negative prefix argument, do not set the mark but deac-
tivate the region so that it is no longer highlighted
(it is still usable for other purposes). Otherwise the
region is marked as active.
spell-word (ESC-$ ESC-S ESC-s) (unbound) (unbound)
Attempt spelling correction on the current word.
undefined-key
This command is executed when a key sequence that is
not bound to any command is typed. By default it
beeps.
undo (^_ ^Xu ^X^U) (unbound) (unbound)
Incrementally undo the last text modification. When
called from a user-defined widget, takes an optional
argument indicating a previous state of the undo his-
tory as returned by the UNDO_CHANGE_NO variable; modi-
fications are undone until that state is reached.
redo Incrementally redo undone text modifications.
vi-undo-change (unbound) (u) (unbound)
Undo the last text modification. If repeated, redo the
modification.
what-cursor-position (^X=) (unbound) (unbound)
Print the character under the cursor, its code as an
octal, decimal and hexadecimal number, the current cur-
sor position within the buffer and the column of the
cursor in the current line.
where-is
Read the name of an editor command and print the list-
ing of key sequences that invoke the specified command.
A restricted set of editing functions is available in
the mini-buffer. Keys are looked up in the special
command keymap, and if not found there in the main
keymap.
which-command (ESC-?) (unbound) (unbound)
Push the buffer onto the buffer stack, and execute the
command `which-command cmd'. where cmd is the current
command. which-command is normally aliased to whence.
vi-digit-or-beginning-of-line (unbound) (0) (unbound)
If the last command executed was a digit as part of an
argument, continue the argument. Otherwise, execute
vi-beginning-of-line.
CHARACTER HIGHLIGHTING
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User Commands ZSHZLE(1)
The line editor has the ability to highlight characters or
regions of the line that have a particular significance.
This is controlled by the array parameter zle_highlight, if
it has been set by the user.
If the parameter contains the single entry none all high-
lighting is turned off. Note the parameter is still
expected to be an array.
Otherwise each entry of the array should consist of a word
indicating a context for highlighting, then a colon, then a
comma-separated list of the types of highlighting to apply
in that context.
The contexts available for highlighting are the following:
default
Any text within the command line not affected by any
other highlighting. Text outside the editable area of
the command line is not affected.
isearch
When one of the incremental history search widgets is
active, the area of the command line matched by the
search string or pattern.
region
The region between the cursor (point) and the mark as
set with set-mark-command. The region is only high-
lighted if it is active, which is the case if
set-mark-command or exchange-point-and-mark has been
called and the line has not been subsequently modified.
The region can be deactivated by calling set-mark-com-
mand with a negative prefix argument, or reactivated by
calling exchange-point-and-mark with a zero prefix
argument. Note that whether or not the region is
active has no effect on its use within widgets, it sim-
ply determines whether it is highlighted.
special
Individual characters that have no direct printable
representation but are shown in a special manner by the
line editor. These characters are described below.
suffix
This context is used in completion for characters that
are marked as suffixes that will be removed if the com-
pletion ends at that point, the most obvious example
being a slash (/) after a directory name. Note that
suffix removal is configurable; the circumstances under
which the suffix will be removed may differ for differ-
ent completions.
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User Commands ZSHZLE(1)
zle_highlight may contain additional fields for controlling
how terminal sequences to change colours are output. Each
of the following is followed by a colon and a string in the
same form as for key bindings. This will not be necessary
for the vast majority of terminals as the defaults shown in
parentheses are widely used.
fg_start_code (\e[3)
The start of the escape sequence for the foreground
colour. This is followed by an ASCII digit represent-
ing the colour.
fg_default_code (9)
The number to use instead of the colour to reset the
default foreground colour.
fg_end_code (m)
The end of the escape sequence for the foreground
colour.
bg_start_code (\e[4)
The start of the escape sequence for the background
colour. This is followed by an ASCII digit represent-
ing the colour.
bg_default_code (9)
The number to use instead of the colour to reset the
default background colour.
bg_end_code (m)
The end of the escape sequence for the background
colour.
The available types of highlighting are the following. Note
that not all types of highlighting are available on all ter-
minals:
none No highlighting is applied to the given context. It is
not useful for this to appear with other types of high-
lighting; it is used to override a default.
fg=colour
The foreground colour should be set to colour, a deci-
mal integer or the name of one of the eight most
widely-supported colours.
Not all terminals support this and, of those that do,
not all provide facilities to test the support, hence
the user should decide based on the terminal type.
Most terminals support the colours black, red, green,
yellow, blue, magenta, cyan and white, which can be set
by name. In addition. default may be used to set the
zsh 5.0.5 Last change: January 5, 2014 42
User Commands ZSHZLE(1)
terminal's default foreground colour. Abbreviations
are allowed; b or bl selects black. Some terminals may
generate additional colours if the bold attribute is
also present.
On recent terminals and on systems with an up-to-date
terminal database the number of colours supported may
be tested by the command `echotc Co'; if this succeeds,
it indicates a limit on the number of colours which
will be enforced by the line editor. The number of
colours is in any case limited to 256 (i.e. the range 0
to 255).
Colour is also known as color.
bg=colour
The background colour should be set to colour. This
works similarly to the foreground colour, except the
background is not usually affected by the bold
attribute.
bold The characters in the given context are shown in a bold
font. Not all terminals distinguish bold fonts.
standout
The characters in the given context are shown in the
terminal's standout mode. The actual effect is spe-
cific to the terminal; on many terminals it is inverse
video. On some such terminals, where the cursor does
not blink it appears with standout mode negated, making
it less than clear where the cursor actually is. On
such terminals one of the other effects may be prefer-
able for highlighting the region and matched search
string.
underline
The characters in the given context are shown under-
lined. Some terminals show the foreground in a differ-
ent colour instead; in this case whitespace will not be
highlighted.
The characters described above as `special' are as follows.
The formatting described here is used irrespective of
whether the characters are highlighted:
ASCII control characters
Control characters in the ASCII range are shown as `^'
followed by the base character.
Unprintable multibyte characters
This item applies to control characters not in the
ASCII range, plus other characters as follows. If the
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User Commands ZSHZLE(1)
MULTIBYTE option is in effect, multibyte characters not
in the ASCII character set that are reported as having
zero width are treated as combining characters when the
option COMBINING_CHARS is on. If the option is off, or
if a character appears where a combining character is
not valid, the character is treated as unprintable.
Unprintable multibyte characters are shown as a hexa-
decimal number between angle brackets. The number is
the code point of the character in the wide character
set; this may or may not be Unicode, depending on the
operating system.
Invalid multibyte characters
If the MULTIBYTE option is in effect, any sequence of
one or more bytes that does not form a valid character
in the current character set is treated as a series of
bytes each shown as a special character. This case can
be distinguished from other unprintable characters as
the bytes are represented as two hexadecimal digits
between angle brackets, as distinct from the four or
eight digits that are used for unprintable characters
that are nonetheless valid in the current character
set.
Not all systems support this: for it to work, the sys-
tem's representation of wide characters must be code
values from the Universal Character Set, as defined by
IS0 10646 (also known as Unicode).
Wrapped double-width characters
When a double-width character appears in the final col-
umn of a line, it is instead shown on the next line.
The empty space left in the original position is high-
lighted as a special character.
If zle_highlight is not set or no value applies to a partic-
ular context, the defaults applied are equivalent to
zle_highlight=(region:standout special:standout
suffix:bold isearch:underline)
i.e. both the region and special characters are shown in
standout mode.
Within widgets, arbitrary regions may be highlighted by set-
ting the special array parameter region_highlight; see
above.
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following
attributes:
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+---------------+------------------+
|ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
+---------------+------------------+
|Availability | shell/zsh |
+---------------+------------------+
|Stability | Volatile |
+---------------+------------------+
NOTES
This software was built from source available at
https://java.net/projects/solaris-userland. The original
community source was downloaded from http://down-
loads.source-
forge.net/project/zsh/zsh/5.0.5/zsh-5.0.5.tar.bz2
Further information about this software can be found on the
open source community website at http://www.zsh.org/.
zsh 5.0.5 Last change: January 5, 2014 45
User Commands ZSHCOMPWID(1)
NAME
zshcompwid - zsh completion widgets
DESCRIPTION
The shell's programmable completion mechanism can be manipu-
lated in two ways; here the low-level features supporting
the newer, function-based mechanism are defined. A complete
set of shell functions based on these features is described
in zshcompsys(1), and users with no interest in adding to
that system (or, potentially, writing their own -- see dic-
tionary entry for `hubris') should skip the current section.
The older system based on the compctl builtin command is
described in zshcompctl(1).
Completion widgets are defined by the -C option to the zle
builtin command provided by the zsh/zle module (see zsh-
zle(1)). For example,
zle -C complete expand-or-complete completer
defines a widget named `complete'. The second argument is
the name of any of the builtin widgets that handle comple-
tions: complete-word, expand-or-complete, expand-or-com-
plete-prefix, menu-complete, menu-expand-or-complete,
reverse-menu-complete, list-choices, or delete-char-or-list.
Note that this will still work even if the widget in ques-
tion has been re-bound.
When this newly defined widget is bound to a key using the
bindkey builtin command defined in the zsh/zle module (see
zshzle(1)), typing that key will call the shell function
`completer'. This function is responsible for generating the
possible matches using the builtins described below. As
with other ZLE widgets, the function is called with its
standard input closed.
Once the function returns, the completion code takes over
control again and treats the matches in the same manner as
the specified builtin widget, in this case expand-or-com-
plete.
COMPLETION SPECIAL PARAMETERS
The parameters ZLE_REMOVE_SUFFIX_CHARS and ZLE_SPACE_SUF-
FIX_CHARS are used by the completion mechanism, but are not
special. See Parameters Used By The Shell in zshparam(1).
Inside completion widgets, and any functions called from
them, some parameters have special meaning; outside these
functions they are not special to the shell in any way.
These parameters are used to pass information between the
completion code and the completion widget. Some of the
builtin commands and the condition codes use or change the
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current values of these parameters. Any existing values
will be hidden during execution of completion widgets;
except for compstate, the parameters are reset on each func-
tion exit (including nested function calls from within the
completion widget) to the values they had when the function
was entered.
CURRENT
This is the number of the current word, i.e. the word
the cursor is currently on in the words array. Note
that this value is only correct if the ksharrays option
is not set.
IPREFIX
Initially this will be set to the empty string. This
parameter functions like PREFIX; it contains a string
which precedes the one in PREFIX and is not considered
part of the list of matches. Typically, a string is
transferred from the beginning of PREFIX to the end of
IPREFIX, for example:
IPREFIX=${PREFIX%%\=*}=
PREFIX=${PREFIX#*=}
causes the part of the prefix up to and including the
first equal sign not to be treated as part of a matched
string. This can be done automatically by the compset
builtin, see below.
ISUFFIX
As IPREFIX, but for a suffix that should not be consid-
ered part of the matches; note that the ISUFFIX string
follows the SUFFIX string.
PREFIX
Initially this will be set to the part of the current
word from the beginning of the word up to the position
of the cursor; it may be altered to give a common pre-
fix for all matches.
QIPREFIX
This parameter is read-only and contains the quoted
string up to the word being completed. E.g. when com-
pleting `"foo', this parameter contains the double
quote. If the -q option of compset is used (see below),
and the original string was `"foo bar' with the cursor
on the `bar', this parameter contains `"foo '.
QISUFFIX
Like QIPREFIX, but containing the suffix.
SUFFIX
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Initially this will be set to the part of the current
word from the cursor position to the end; it may be
altered to give a common suffix for all matches. It is
most useful when the option COMPLETE_IN_WORD is set, as
otherwise the whole word on the command line is treated
as a prefix.
compstate
This is an associative array with various keys and val-
ues that the completion code uses to exchange informa-
tion with the completion widget. The keys are:
all_quotes
The -q option of the compset builtin command (see
below) allows a quoted string to be broken into
separate words; if the cursor is on one of those
words, that word will be completed, possibly
invoking `compset -q' recursively. With this key
it is possible to test the types of quoted strings
which are currently broken into parts in this
fashion. Its value contains one character for
each quoting level. The characters are a single
quote or a double quote for strings quoted with
these characters, a dollars sign for strings
quoted with $'...' and a backslash for strings not
starting with a quote character. The first char-
acter in the value always corresponds to the
innermost quoting level.
context
This will be set by the completion code to the
overall context in which completion is attempted.
Possible values are:
array_value
when completing inside the value of an array
parameter assignment; in this case the words
array contains the words inside the parenthe-
ses.
brace_parameter
when completing the name of a parameter in a
parameter expansion beginning with ${. This
context will also be set when completing
parameter flags following ${(; the full com-
mand line argument is presented and the han-
dler must test the value to be completed to
ascertain that this is the case.
assign_parameter
when completing the name of a parameter in a
parameter assignment.
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command
when completing for a normal command (either
in command position or for an argument of the
command).
condition
when completing inside a `[[...]]' condi-
tional expression; in this case the words
array contains only the words inside the con-
ditional expression.
math when completing in a mathematical environment
such as a `((...))' construct.
parameter
when completing the name of a parameter in a
parameter expansion beginning with $ but not
${.
redirect
when completing after a redirection operator.
subscript
when completing inside a parameter subscript.
value
when completing the value of a parameter
assignment.
exact
Controls the behaviour when the REC_EXACT option
is set. It will be set to accept if an exact
match would be accepted, and will be unset other-
wise.
If it was set when at least one match equal to the
string on the line was generated, the match is
accepted.
exact_string
The string of an exact match if one was found,
otherwise unset.
ignored
The number of words that were ignored because they
matched one of the patterns given with the -F
option to the compadd builtin command.
insert
This controls the manner in which a match is
inserted into the command line. On entry to the
widget function, if it is unset the command line
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is not to be changed; if set to unambiguous, any
prefix common to all matches is to be inserted; if
set to automenu-unambiguous, the common prefix is
to be inserted and the next invocation of the com-
pletion code may start menu completion (due to the
AUTO_MENU option being set); if set to menu or
automenu menu completion will be started for the
matches currently generated (in the latter case
this will happen because the AUTO_MENU is set).
The value may also contain the string `tab' when
the completion code would normally not really do
completion, but only insert the TAB character.
On exit it may be set to any of the values above
(where setting it to the empty string is the same
as unsetting it), or to a number, in which case
the match whose number is given will be inserted
into the command line. Negative numbers count
backward from the last match (with `-1' selecting
the last match) and out-of-range values are
wrapped around, so that a value of zero selects
the last match and a value one more than the maxi-
mum selects the first. Unless the value of this
key ends in a space, the match is inserted as in a
menu completion, i.e. without automatically
appending a space.
Both menu and automenu may also specify the number
of the match to insert, given after a colon. For
example, `menu:2' says to start menu completion,
beginning with the second match.
Note that a value containing the substring `tab'
makes the matches generated be ignored and only
the TAB be inserted.
Finally, it may also be set to all, which makes
all matches generated be inserted into the line.
insert_positions
When the completion system inserts an unambiguous
string into the line, there may be multiple places
where characters are missing or where the charac-
ter inserted differs from at least one match. The
value of this key contains a colon separated list
of all these positions, as indexes into the com-
mand line.
last_prompt
If this is set to a non-empty string for every
match added, the completion code will move the
cursor back to the previous prompt after the list
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of completions has been displayed. Initially this
is set or unset according to the
ALWAYS_LAST_PROMPT option.
list This controls whether or how the list of matches
will be displayed. If it is unset or empty they
will never be listed; if its value begins with
list, they will always be listed; if it begins
with autolist or ambiguous, they will be listed
when the AUTO_LIST or LIST_AMBIGUOUS options
respectively would normally cause them to be.
If the substring force appears in the value, this
makes the list be shown even if there is only one
match. Normally, the list would be shown only if
there are at least two matches.
The value contains the substring packed if the
LIST_PACKED option is set. If this substring is
given for all matches added to a group, this group
will show the LIST_PACKED behavior. The same is
done for the LIST_ROWS_FIRST option with the sub-
string rows.
Finally, if the value contains the string explana-
tions, only the explanation strings, if any, will
be listed and if it contains messages, only the
messages (added with the -x option of compadd)
will be listed. If it contains both explanations
and messages both kinds of explanation strings
will be listed. It will be set appropriately on
entry to a completion widget and may be changed
there.
list_lines
This gives the number of lines that are needed to
display the full list of completions. Note that
to calculate the total number of lines to display
you need to add the number of lines needed for the
command line to this value, this is available as
the value of the BUFFERLINES special parameter.
list_max
Initially this is set to the value of the LISTMAX
parameter. It may be set to any other value; when
the widget exits this value will be used in the
same way as the value of LISTMAX.
nmatches
The number of matches generated and accepted by
the completion code so far.
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old_insert
On entry to the widget this will be set to the
number of the match of an old list of completions
that is currently inserted into the command line.
If no match has been inserted, this is unset.
As with old_list, the value of this key will only
be used if it is the string keep. If it was set to
this value by the widget and there was an old
match inserted into the command line, this match
will be kept and if the value of the insert key
specifies that another match should be inserted,
this will be inserted after the old one.
old_list
This is set to yes if there is still a valid list
of completions from a previous completion at the
time the widget is invoked. This will usually be
the case if and only if the previous editing oper-
ation was a completion widget or one of the
builtin completion functions. If there is a valid
list and it is also currently shown on the screen,
the value of this key is shown.
After the widget has exited the value of this key
is only used if it was set to keep. In this case
the completion code will continue to use this old
list. If the widget generated new matches, they
will not be used.
parameter
The name of the parameter when completing in a
subscript or in the value of a parameter assign-
ment.
pattern_insert
Normally this is set to menu, which specifies that
menu completion will be used whenever a set of
matches was generated using pattern matching. If
it is set to any other non-empty string by the
user and menu completion is not selected by other
option settings, the code will instead insert any
common prefix for the generated matches as with
normal completion.
pattern_match
Locally controls the behaviour given by the
GLOB_COMPLETE option. Initially it is set to `*'
if and only if the option is set. The completion
widget may set it to this value, to an empty
string (which has the same effect as unsetting
it), or to any other non-empty string. If it is
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non-empty, unquoted metacharacters on the command
line will be treated as patterns; if it is `*',
then additionally a wildcard `*' is assumed at the
cursor position; if it is empty or unset,
metacharacters will be treated literally.
Note that the matcher specifications given to the
compadd builtin command are not used if this is
set to a non-empty string.
quote
When completing inside quotes, this contains the
quotation character (i.e. either a single quote, a
double quote, or a backtick). Otherwise it is
unset.
quoting
When completing inside single quotes, this is set
to the string single; inside double quotes, the
string double; inside backticks, the string back-
tick. Otherwise it is unset.
redirect
The redirection operator when completing in a re-
direction position, i.e. one of <, >, etc.
restore
This is set to auto before a function is entered,
which forces the special parameters mentioned
above (words, CURRENT, PREFIX, IPREFIX, SUFFIX,
and ISUFFIX) to be restored to their previous val-
ues when the function exits. If a function
unsets it or sets it to any other string, they
will not be restored.
to_end
Specifies the occasions on which the cursor is
moved to the end of a string when a match is
inserted. On entry to a widget function, it may
be single if this will happen when a single unam-
biguous match was inserted or match if it will
happen any time a match is inserted (for example,
by menu completion; this is likely to be the
effect of the ALWAYS_TO_END option).
On exit, it may be set to single as above. It may
also be set to always, or to the empty string or
unset; in those cases the cursor will be moved to
the end of the string always or never respec-
tively. Any other string is treated as match.
unambiguous
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This key is read-only and will always be set to
the common (unambiguous) prefix the completion
code has generated for all matches added so far.
unambiguous_cursor
This gives the position the cursor would be placed
at if the common prefix in the unambiguous key
were inserted, relative to the value of that key.
The cursor would be placed before the character
whose index is given by this key.
unambiguous_positions
This contains all positions where characters in
the unambiguous string are missing or where the
character inserted differs from at least one of
the matches. The positions are given as indexes
into the string given by the value of the unam-
biguous key.
vared
If completion is called while editing a line using
the vared builtin, the value of this key is set to
the name of the parameter given as an argument to
vared. This key is only set while a vared command
is active.
words
This array contains the words present on the command
line currently being edited.
COMPLETION BUILTIN COMMANDS
compadd [ -akqQfenUld12C ] [ -F array ]
[ -P prefix ] [ -S suffix ]
[ -p hidden-prefix ] [ -s hidden-suffix ]
[ -i ignored-prefix ] [ -I ignored-suffix ]
[ -W file-prefix ] [ -d array ]
[ -J name ] [ -V name ] [ -X explanation ] [ -x message ]
[ -r remove-chars ] [ -R remove-func ]
[ -D array ] [ -O array ] [ -A array ]
[ -E number ]
[ -M match-spec ] [ -- ] [ words ... ]
This builtin command can be used to add matches
directly and control all the information the completion
code stores with each possible match. The return status
is zero if at least one match was added and non-zero if
no matches were added.
The completion code breaks the string to complete into
seven fields in the order:
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<ipre><apre><hpre><word><hsuf><asuf><isuf>
The first field is an ignored prefix taken from the
command line, the contents of the IPREFIX parameter
plus the string given with the -i option. With the -U
option, only the string from the -i option is used. The
field <apre> is an optional prefix string given with
the -P option. The <hpre> field is a string that is
considered part of the match but that should not be
shown when listing completions, given with the -p
option; for example, functions that do filename genera-
tion might specify a common path prefix this way.
<word> is the part of the match that should appear in
the list of completions, i.e. one of the words given at
the end of the compadd command line. The suffixes
<hsuf>, <asuf> and <isuf> correspond to the prefixes
<hpre>, <apre> and <ipre> and are given by the options
-s, -S and -I, respectively.
The supported flags are:
-P prefix
This gives a string to be inserted before the
given words. The string given is not considered
as part of the match and any shell metacharacters
in it will not be quoted when the string is
inserted.
-S suffix
Like -P, but gives a string to be inserted after
the match.
-p hidden-prefix
This gives a string that should be inserted into
the command line before the match but that should
not appear in the list of matches. Unless the -U
option is given, this string must be matched as
part of the string on the command line.
-s hidden-suffix
Like `-p', but gives a string to insert after the
match.
-i ignored-prefix
This gives a string to insert into the command
line just before any string given with the `-P'
option. Without `-P' the string is inserted
before the string given with `-p' or directly
before the match.
-I ignored-suffix
Like -i, but gives an ignored suffix.
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-a With this flag the words are taken as names of
arrays and the possible matches are their values.
If only some elements of the arrays are needed,
the words may also contain subscripts, as in
`foo[2,-1]'.
-k With this flag the words are taken as names of
associative arrays and the possible matches are
their keys. As for -a, the words may also contain
subscripts, as in `foo[(R)*bar*]'.
-d array
This adds per-match display strings. The array
should contain one element per word given. The
completion code will then display the first ele-
ment instead of the first word, and so on. The
array may be given as the name of an array parame-
ter or directly as a space-separated list of words
in parentheses.
If there are fewer display strings than words, the
leftover words will be displayed unchanged and if
there are more display strings than words, the
leftover display strings will be silently ignored.
-l This option only has an effect if used together
with the -d option. If it is given, the display
strings are listed one per line, not arrayed in
columns.
-o This option only has an effect if used together
with the -d option. If it is given, the order of
the output is determined by the match strings;
otherwise it is determined by the display strings
(i.e. the strings given by the -d option).
-J name
Gives the name of the group of matches the words
should be stored in.
-V name
Like -J but naming an unsorted group. These are in
a different name space than groups created with
the -J flag.
-1 If given together with the -V option, makes only
consecutive duplicates in the group be removed. If
combined with the -J option, this has no visible
effect. Note that groups with and without this
flag are in different name spaces.
-2 If given together with the -J or -V option, makes
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all duplicates be kept. Again, groups with and
without this flag are in different name spaces.
-X explanation
The explanation string will be printed with the
list of matches, above the group currently
selected.
-x message
Like -X, but the message will be printed even if
there are no matches in the group.
-q The suffix given with -S will be automatically
removed if the next character typed is a blank or
does not insert anything, or if the suffix con-
sists of only one character and the next character
typed is the same character.
-r remove-chars
This is a more versatile form of the -q option.
The suffix given with -S or the slash automati-
cally added after completing directories will be
automatically removed if the next character typed
inserts one of the characters given in the
remove-chars. This string is parsed as a charac-
ters class and understands the backslash sequences
used by the print command. For example, `-r
"a-z\t"' removes the suffix if the next character
typed inserts a lower case character or a TAB, and
`-r "^0-9"' removes the suffix if the next charac-
ter typed inserts anything but a digit. One extra
backslash sequence is understood in this string:
`\-' stands for all characters that insert noth-
ing. Thus `-S "=" -q' is the same as `-S "=" -r "=
\t\n\-"'.
This option may also be used without the -S
option; then any automatically added space will be
removed when one of the characters in the list is
typed.
-R remove-func
This is another form of the -r option. When a suf-
fix has been inserted and the completion accepted,
the function remove-func will be called after the
next character typed. It is passed the length of
the suffix as an argument and can use the special
parameters available in ordinary (non-completion)
zle widgets (see zshzle(1)) to analyse and modify
the command line.
-f If this flag is given, all of the matches built
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from words are marked as being the names of files.
They are not required to be actual filenames, but
if they are, and the option LIST_TYPES is set, the
characters describing the types of the files in
the completion lists will be shown. This also
forces a slash to be added when the name of a
directory is completed.
-e This flag can be used to tell the completion code
that the matches added are parameter names for a
parameter expansion. This will make the
AUTO_PARAM_SLASH and AUTO_PARAM_KEYS options be
used for the matches.
-W file-prefix
This string is a pathname that will be prepended
to each of the matches formed by the given words
together with any prefix specified by the -p
option to form a complete filename for testing.
Hence it is only useful if combined with the -f
flag, as the tests will not otherwise be per-
formed.
-F array
Specifies an array containing patterns. Words
matching one of these patterns are ignored, i.e.
not considered to be possible matches.
The array may be the name of an array parameter or
a list of literal patterns enclosed in parentheses
and quoted, as in `-F "(*?.o *?.h)"'. If the name
of an array is given, the elements of the array
are taken as the patterns.
-Q This flag instructs the completion code not to
quote any metacharacters in the words when insert-
ing them into the command line.
-M match-spec
This gives local match specifications as described
below in the section `Completion Matching Con-
trol'. This option may be given more than once.
In this case all match-specs given are concate-
nated with spaces between them to form the speci-
fication string to use. Note that they will only
be used if the -U option is not given.
-n Specifies that the words added are to be used as
possible matches, but are not to appear in the
completion listing.
-U If this flag is given, all words given will be
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accepted and no matching will be done by the com-
pletion code. Normally this is used in functions
that do the matching themselves.
-O array
If this option is given, the words are not added
to the set of possible completions. Instead,
matching is done as usual and all of the words
given as arguments that match the string on the
command line will be stored in the array parameter
whose name is given as array.
-A array
As the -O option, except that instead of those of
the words which match being stored in array, the
strings generated internally by the completion
code are stored. For example, with a matching
specification of `-M "L:|no="', the string `nof'
on the command line and the string `foo' as one of
the words, this option stores the string `nofoo'
in the array, whereas the -O option stores the
`foo' originally given.
-D array
As with -O, the words are not added to the set of
possible completions. Instead, the completion
code tests whether each word in turn matches what
is on the line. If the nth word does not match,
the nth element of the array is removed. Elements
for which the corresponding word is matched are
retained.
-C This option adds a special match which expands to
all other matches when inserted into the line,
even those that are added after this option is
used. Together with the -d option it is possible
to specify a string that should be displayed in
the list for this special match. If no string is
given, it will be shown as a string containing the
strings that would be inserted for the other
matches, truncated to the width of the screen.
-E This option adds number empty matches after the
words have been added. An empty match takes up
space in completion listings but will never be
inserted in the line and can't be selected with
menu completion or menu selection. This makes
empty matches only useful to format completion
lists and to make explanatory string be shown in
completion lists (since empty matches can be given
display strings with the -d option). And because
all but one empty string would otherwise be
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removed, this option implies the -V and -2 options
(even if an explicit -J option is given).
-
-- This flag ends the list of flags and options. All
arguments after it will be taken as the words to
use as matches even if they begin with hyphens.
Except for the -M flag, if any of these flags is given
more than once, the first one (and its argument) will
be used.
compset -p number
compset -P [ number ] pattern
compset -s number
compset -S [ number ] pattern
compset -n begin [ end ]
compset -N beg-pat [ end-pat ]
compset -q
This command simplifies modification of the special
parameters, while its return status allows tests on
them to be carried out.
The options are:
-p number
If the contents of the PREFIX parameter is longer
than number characters, the first number charac-
ters are removed from it and appended to the con-
tents of the IPREFIX parameter.
-P [ number ] pattern
If the value of the PREFIX parameter begins with
anything that matches the pattern, the matched
portion is removed from PREFIX and appended to
IPREFIX.
Without the optional number, the longest match is
taken, but if number is given, anything up to the
numberth match is moved. If the number is nega-
tive, the numberth longest match is moved. For
example, if PREFIX contains the string `a=b=c',
then compset -P '*\=' will move the string `a=b='
into the IPREFIX parameter, but compset -P 1 '*\='
will move only the string `a='.
-s number
As -p, but transfer the last number characters
from the value of SUFFIX to the front of the value
of ISUFFIX.
-S [ number ] pattern
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As -P, but match the last portion of SUFFIX and
transfer the matched portion to the front of the
value of ISUFFIX.
-n begin [ end ]
If the current word position as specified by the
parameter CURRENT is greater than or equal to
begin, anything up to the beginth word is removed
from the words array and the value of the parame-
ter CURRENT is decremented by begin.
If the optional end is given, the modification is
done only if the current word position is also
less than or equal to end. In this case, the words
from position end onwards are also removed from
the words array.
Both begin and end may be negative to count back-
wards from the last element of the words array.
-N beg-pat [ end-pat ]
If one of the elements of the words array before
the one at the index given by the value of the
parameter CURRENT matches the pattern beg-pat, all
elements up to and including the matching one are
removed from the words array and the value of CUR-
RENT is changed to point to the same word in the
changed array.
If the optional pattern end-pat is also given, and
there is an element in the words array matching
this pattern, the parameters are modified only if
the index of this word is higher than the one
given by the CURRENT parameter (so that the match-
ing word has to be after the cursor). In this
case, the words starting with the one matching
end-pat are also removed from the words array. If
words contains no word matching end-pat, the test-
ing and modification is performed as if it were
not given.
-q The word currently being completed is split on
spaces into separate words, respecting the usual
shell quoting conventions. The resulting words
are stored in the words array, and CURRENT, PRE-
FIX, SUFFIX, QIPREFIX, and QISUFFIX are modified
to reflect the word part that is completed.
In all the above cases the return status is zero if the
test succeeded and the parameters were modified and
non-zero otherwise. This allows one to use this builtin
in tests such as:
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if compset -P '*\='; then ...
This forces anything up to and including the last equal
sign to be ignored by the completion code.
compcall [ -TD ]
This allows the use of completions defined with the
compctl builtin from within completion widgets. The
list of matches will be generated as if one of the
non-widget completion functions (complete-word, etc.)
had been called, except that only compctls given for
specific commands are used. To force the code to try
completions defined with the -T option of compctl
and/or the default completion (whether defined by com-
pctl -D or the builtin default) in the appropriate
places, the -T and/or -D flags can be passed to comp-
call.
The return status can be used to test if a matching
compctl definition was found. It is non-zero if a com-
pctl was found and zero otherwise.
Note that this builtin is defined by the zsh/compctl
module.
COMPLETION CONDITION CODES
The following additional condition codes for use within the
[[ ... ]] construct are available in completion widgets.
These work on the special parameters. All of these tests
can also be performed by the compset builtin, but in the
case of the condition codes the contents of the special
parameters are not modified.
-prefix [ number ] pattern
true if the test for the -P option of compset would
succeed.
-suffix [ number ] pattern
true if the test for the -S option of compset would
succeed.
-after beg-pat
true if the test of the -N option with only the beg-pat
given would succeed.
-between beg-pat end-pat
true if the test for the -N option with both patterns
would succeed.
COMPLETION MATCHING CONTROL
It is possible by use of the -M option of the compadd
builtin command to specify how the characters in the string
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to be completed (referred to here as the command line) map
onto the characters in the list of matches produced by the
completion code (referred to here as the trial completions).
Note that this is not used if the command line contains a
glob pattern and the GLOB_COMPLETE option is set or the pat-
tern_match of the compstate special association is set to a
non-empty string.
The match-spec given as the argument to the -M option (see
`Completion Builtin Commands' above) consists of one or more
matching descriptions separated by whitespace. Each
description consists of a letter followed by a colon and
then the patterns describing which character sequences on
the line match which character sequences in the trial com-
pletion. Any sequence of characters not handled in this
fashion must match exactly, as usual.
The forms of match-spec understood are as follows. In each
case, the form with an upper case initial character retains
the string already typed on the command line as the final
result of completion, while with a lower case initial char-
acter the string on the command line is changed into the
corresponding part of the trial completion.
m:lpat=tpat
M:lpat=tpat
Here, lpat is a pattern that matches on the command
line, corresponding to tpat which matches in the trial
completion.
l:lanchor|lpat=tpat
L:lanchor|lpat=tpat
l:lanchor||ranchor=tpat
L:lanchor||ranchor=tpat
b:lpat=tpat
B:lpat=tpat
These letters are for patterns that are anchored by
another pattern on the left side. Matching for lpat and
tpat is as for m and M, but the pattern lpat matched on
the command line must be preceded by the pattern lan-
chor. The lanchor can be blank to anchor the match to
the start of the command line string; otherwise the
anchor can occur anywhere, but must match in both the
command line and trial completion strings.
If no lpat is given but a ranchor is, this matches the
gap between substrings matched by lanchor and ranchor.
Unlike lanchor, the ranchor only needs to match the
trial completion string.
The b and B forms are similar to l and L with an empty
anchor, but need to match only the beginning of the
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trial completion or the word on the command line,
respectively.
r:lpat|ranchor=tpat
R:lpat|ranchor=tpat
r:lanchor||ranchor=tpat
R:lanchor||ranchor=tpat
e:lpat=tpat
E:lpat=tpat
As l, L, b and B, with the difference that the command
line and trial completion patterns are anchored on the
right side. Here an empty ranchor and the e and E
forms force the match to the end of the trial comple-
tion or command line string.
Each lpat, tpat or anchor is either an empty string or con-
sists of a sequence of literal characters (which may be
quoted with a backslash), question marks, character classes,
and correspondence classes; ordinary shell patterns are not
used. Literal characters match only themselves, question
marks match any character, and character classes are formed
as for globbing and match any character in the given set.
Correspondence classes are defined like character classes,
but with two differences: they are delimited by a pair of
braces, and negated classes are not allowed, so the charac-
ters ! and ^ have no special meaning directly after the
opening brace. They indicate that a range of characters on
the line match a range of characters in the trial comple-
tion, but (unlike ordinary character classes) paired accord-
ing to the corresponding position in the sequence. For
example, to make any ASCII lower case letter on the line
match the corresponding upper case letter in the trial com-
pletion, you can use `m:{a-z}={A-Z}' (however, see below for
the recommended form for this). More than one pair of
classes can occur, in which case the first class before the
= corresponds to the first after it, and so on. If one side
has more such classes than the other side, the superfluous
classes behave like normal character classes. In anchor
patterns correspondence classes also behave like normal
character classes.
The standard `[:name:]' forms described for standard shell
patterns, see the section FILENAME GENERATION in zshexpn(1),
may appear in correspondence classes as well as normal char-
acter classes. The only special behaviour in correspondence
classes is if the form on the left and the form on the right
are each one of [:upper:], [:lower:]. In these cases the
character in the word and the character on the line must be
the same up to a difference in case. Hence to make any
lower case character on the line match the corresponding
upper case character in the trial completion you can use
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`m:{[:lower:]}={[:upper:]}'. Although the matching system
does not yet handle multibyte characters, this is likely to
be a future extension, at which point this syntax will han-
dle arbitrary alphabets; hence this form, rather than the
use of explicit ranges, is the recommended form. In other
cases `[:name:]' forms are allowed. If the two forms on the
left and right are the same, the characters must match
exactly. In remaining cases, the corresponding tests are
applied to both characters, but they are not otherwise con-
strained; any matching character in one set goes with any
matching character in the other set: this is equivalent to
the behaviour of ordinary character classes.
The pattern tpat may also be one or two stars, `*' or `**'.
This means that the pattern on the command line can match
any number of characters in the trial completion. In this
case the pattern must be anchored (on either side); in the
case of a single star, the anchor then determines how much
of the trial completion is to be included -- only the char-
acters up to the next appearance of the anchor will be
matched. With two stars, substrings matched by the anchor
can be matched, too.
Examples:
The keys of the options association defined by the parameter
module are the option names in all-lower-case form, without
underscores, and without the optional no at the beginning
even though the builtins setopt and unsetopt understand
option names with upper case letters, underscores, and the
optional no. The following alters the matching rules so
that the prefix no and any underscore are ignored when try-
ing to match the trial completions generated and upper case
letters on the line match the corresponding lower case let-
ters in the words:
compadd -M 'L:|[nN][oO]= M:_= M:{[:upper:]}={[:lower:]}' - \
${(k)options}
The first part says that the pattern `[nN][oO]' at the
beginning (the empty anchor before the pipe symbol) of the
string on the line matches the empty string in the list of
words generated by completion, so it will be ignored if
present. The second part does the same for an underscore
anywhere in the command line string, and the third part uses
correspondence classes so that any upper case letter on the
line matches the corresponding lower case letter in the
word. The use of the upper case forms of the specification
characters (L and M) guarantees that what has already been
typed on the command line (in particular the prefix no) will
not be deleted.
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Note that the use of L in the first part means that it
matches only when at the beginning of both the command line
string and the trial completion. I.e., the string `_NO_f'
would not be completed to `_NO_foo', nor would `NONO_f' be
completed to `NONO_foo' because of the leading underscore or
the second `NO' on the line which makes the pattern fail
even though they are otherwise ignored. To fix this, one
would use `B:[nN][oO]=' instead of the first part. As
described above, this matches at the beginning of the trial
completion, independent of other characters or substrings at
the beginning of the command line word which are ignored by
the same or other match-specs.
The second example makes completion case insensitive. This
is just the same as in the option example, except here we
wish to retain the characters in the list of completions:
compadd -M 'm:{[:lower:]}={[:upper:]}' ...
This makes lower case letters match their upper case coun-
terparts. To make upper case letters match the lower case
forms as well:
compadd -M 'm:{[:lower:][:upper:]}={[:upper:][:lower:]}' ...
A nice example for the use of * patterns is partial word
completion. Sometimes you would like to make strings like
`c.s.u' complete to strings like `comp.source.unix', i.e.
the word on the command line consists of multiple parts,
separated by a dot in this example, where each part should
be completed separately -- note, however, that the case
where each part of the word, i.e. `comp', `source' and
`unix' in this example, is to be completed from separate
sets of matches is a different problem to be solved by the
implementation of the completion widget. The example can be
handled by:
compadd -M 'r:|.=* r:|=*' \
- comp.sources.unix comp.sources.misc ...
The first specification says that lpat is the empty string,
while anchor is a dot; tpat is *, so this can match anything
except for the `.' from the anchor in the trial completion
word. So in `c.s.u', the matcher sees `c', followed by the
empty string, followed by the anchor `.', and likewise for
the second dot, and replaces the empty strings before the
anchors, giving `c[omp].s[ources].u[nix]', where the last
part of the completion is just as normal.
With the pattern shown above, the string `c.u' could not be
completed to `comp.sources.unix' because the single star
means that no dot (matched by the anchor) can be skipped. By
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using two stars as in `r:|.=**', however, `c.u' could be
completed to `comp.sources.unix'. This also shows that in
some cases, especially if the anchor is a real pattern, like
a character class, the form with two stars may result in
more matches than one would like.
The second specification is needed to make this work when
the cursor is in the middle of the string on the command
line and the option COMPLETE_IN_WORD is set. In this case
the completion code would normally try to match trial com-
pletions that end with the string as typed so far, i.e. it
will only insert new characters at the cursor position
rather than at the end. However in our example we would
like the code to recognise matches which contain extra char-
acters after the string on the line (the `nix' in the exam-
ple). Hence we say that the empty string at the end of the
string on the line matches any characters at the end of the
trial completion.
More generally, the specification
compadd -M 'r:|[.,_-]=* r:|=*' ...
allows one to complete words with abbreviations before any
of the characters in the square brackets. For example, to
complete veryverylongfile.c rather than veryverylongheader.h
with the above in effect, you can just type very.c before
attempting completion.
The specifications with both a left and a right anchor are
useful to complete partial words whose parts are not sepa-
rated by some special character. For example, in some places
strings have to be completed that are formed `LikeThis'
(i.e. the separate parts are determined by a leading upper
case letter) or maybe one has to complete strings with
trailing numbers. Here one could use the simple form with
only one anchor as in:
compadd -M 'r:|[[:upper:]0-9]=* r:|=*' LikeTHIS FooHoo 5foo123 5bar234
But with this, the string `H' would neither complete to
`FooHoo' nor to `LikeTHIS' because in each case there is an
upper case letter before the `H' and that is matched by the
anchor. Likewise, a `2' would not be completed. In both
cases this could be changed by using `r:|[[:upper:]0-9]=**',
but then `H' completes to both `LikeTHIS' and `FooHoo' and a
`2' matches the other strings because characters can be
inserted before every upper case letter and digit. To avoid
this one would use:
compadd -M 'r:[^[:upper:]0-9]||[[:upper:]0-9]=** r:|=*' \
LikeTHIS FooHoo foo123 bar234
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By using these two anchors, a `H' matches only upper case
`H's that are immediately preceded by something matching the
left anchor `[^[:upper:]0-9]'. The effect is, of course,
that `H' matches only the string `FooHoo', a `2' matches
only `bar234' and so on.
When using the completion system (see zshcompsys(1)), users
can define match specifications that are to be used for spe-
cific contexts by using the matcher and matcher-list styles.
The values for the latter will be used everywhere.
COMPLETION WIDGET EXAMPLE
The first step is to define the widget:
zle -C complete complete-word complete-files
Then the widget can be bound to a key using the bindkey
builtin command:
bindkey '^X\t' complete
After that the shell function complete-files will be invoked
after typing control-X and TAB. The function should then
generate the matches, e.g.:
complete-files () { compadd - * }
This function will complete files in the current directory
matching the current word.
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following
attributes:
+---------------+------------------+
|ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
+---------------+------------------+
|Availability | shell/zsh |
+---------------+------------------+
|Stability | Volatile |
+---------------+------------------+
NOTES
This software was built from source available at
https://java.net/projects/solaris-userland. The original
community source was downloaded from http://down-
loads.source-
forge.net/project/zsh/zsh/5.0.5/zsh-5.0.5.tar.bz2
Further information about this software can be found on the
open source community website at http://www.zsh.org/.
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NAME
zshcompsys - zsh completion system
DESCRIPTION
This describes the shell code for the `new' completion sys-
tem, referred to as compsys. It is written in shell func-
tions based on the features described in zshcompwid(1).
The features are contextual, sensitive to the point at which
completion is started. Many completions are already pro-
vided. For this reason, a user can perform a great many
tasks without knowing any details beyond how to initialize
the system, which is described below in INITIALIZATION.
The context that decides what completion is to be performed
may be
o an argument or option position: these describe the
position on the command line at which completion is
requested. For example `first argument to rmdir, the
word being completed names a directory';
o a special context, denoting an element in the shell's
syntax. For example `a word in command position' or
`an array subscript'.
A full context specification contains other elements, as we
shall describe.
Besides commands names and contexts, the system employs two
more concepts, styles and tags. These provide ways for the
user to configure the system's behaviour.
Tags play a dual role. They serve as a classification sys-
tem for the matches, typically indicating a class of object
that the user may need to distinguish. For example, when
completing arguments of the ls command the user may prefer
to try files before directories, so both of these are tags.
They also appear as the rightmost element in a context spec-
ification.
Styles modify various operations of the completion system,
such as output formatting, but also what kinds of completers
are used (and in what order), or which tags are examined.
Styles may accept arguments and are manipulated using the
zstyle command described in see zshmodules(1).
In summary, tags describe what the completion objects are,
and style how they are to be completed. At various points
of execution, the completion system checks what styles
and/or tags are defined for the current context, and uses
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that to modify its behavior. The full description of con-
text handling, which determines how tags and other elements
of the context influence the behaviour of styles, is
described below in COMPLETION SYSTEM CONFIGURATION.
When a completion is requested, a dispatcher function is
called; see the description of _main_complete in the list of
control functions below. This dispatcher decides which func-
tion should be called to produce the completions, and calls
it. The result is passed to one or more completers, func-
tions that implement individual completion strategies: sim-
ple completion, error correction, completion with error cor-
rection, menu selection, etc.
More generally, the shell functions contained in the comple-
tion system are of two types:
o those beginning `comp' are to be called directly; there
are only a few of these;
o those beginning `_' are called by the completion code.
The shell functions of this set, which implement com-
pletion behaviour and may be bound to keystrokes, are
referred to as `widgets'. These proliferate as new
completions are required.
INITIALIZATION
If the system was installed completely, it should be enough
to call the shell function compinit from your initialization
file; see the next section. However, the function compin-
stall can be run by a user to configure various aspects of
the completion system.
Usually, compinstall will insert code into .zshrc, although
if that is not writable it will save it in another file and
tell you that file's location. Note that it is up to you to
make sure that the lines added to .zshrc are actually run;
you may, for example, need to move them to an earlier place
in the file if .zshrc usually returns early. So long as you
keep them all together (including the comment lines at the
start and finish), you can rerun compinstall and it will
correctly locate and modify these lines. Note, however,
that any code you add to this section by hand is likely to
be lost if you rerun compinstall, although lines using the
command `zstyle' should be gracefully handled.
The new code will take effect next time you start the shell,
or run .zshrc by hand; there is also an option to make them
take effect immediately. However, if compinstall has
removed definitions, you will need to restart the shell to
see the changes.
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To run compinstall you will need to make sure it is in a
directory mentioned in your fpath parameter, which should
already be the case if zsh was properly configured as long
as your startup files do not remove the appropriate directo-
ries from fpath. Then it must be autoloaded (`autoload -U
compinstall' is recommended). You can abort the installa-
tion any time you are being prompted for information, and
your .zshrc will not be altered at all; changes only take
place right at the end, where you are specifically asked for
confirmation.
Use of compinit
This section describes the use of compinit to initialize
completion for the current session when called directly; if
you have run compinstall it will be called automatically
from your .zshrc.
To initialize the system, the function compinit should be in
a directory mentioned in the fpath parameter, and should be
autoloaded (`autoload -U compinit' is recommended), and then
run simply as `compinit'. This will define a few utility
functions, arrange for all the necessary shell functions to
be autoloaded, and will then re-define all widgets that do
completion to use the new system. If you use the
menu-select widget, which is part of the zsh/complist mod-
ule, you should make sure that that module is loaded before
the call to compinit so that that widget is also re-defined.
If completion styles (see below) are set up to perform
expansion as well as completion by default, and the TAB key
is bound to expand-or-complete, compinit will rebind it to
complete-word; this is necessary to use the correct form of
expansion.
Should you need to use the original completion commands, you
can still bind keys to the old widgets by putting a `.' in
front of the widget name, e.g. `.expand-or-complete'.
To speed up the running of compinit, it can be made to pro-
duce a dumped configuration that will be read in on future
invocations; this is the default, but can be turned off by
calling compinit with the option -D. The dumped file is
.zcompdump in the same directory as the startup files (i.e.
$ZDOTDIR or $HOME); alternatively, an explicit file name can
be given by `compinit -d dumpfile'. The next invocation of
compinit will read the dumped file instead of performing a
full initialization.
If the number of completion files changes, compinit will
recognise this and produce a new dump file. However, if the
name of a function or the arguments in the first line of a
#compdef function (as described below) change, it is easiest
to delete the dump file by hand so that compinit will
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re-create it the next time it is run. The check performed
to see if there are new functions can be omitted by giving
the option -C. In this case the dump file will only be cre-
ated if there isn't one already.
The dumping is actually done by another function, compdump,
but you will only need to run this yourself if you change
the configuration (e.g. using compdef) and then want to dump
the new one. The name of the old dumped file will be remem-
bered for this purpose.
If the parameter _compdir is set, compinit uses it as a
directory where completion functions can be found; this is
only necessary if they are not already in the function
search path.
For security reasons compinit also checks if the completion
system would use files not owned by root or by the current
user, or files in directories that are world- or
group-writable or that are not owned by root or by the cur-
rent user. If such files or directories are found, compinit
will ask if the completion system should really be used. To
avoid these tests and make all files found be used without
asking, use the option -u, and to make compinit silently
ignore all insecure files and directories use the option -i.
This security check is skipped entirely when the -C option
is given.
The security check can be retried at any time by running the
function compaudit. This is the same check used by
compinit, but when it is executed directly any changes to
fpath are made local to the function so they do not persist.
The directories to be checked may be passed as arguments; if
none are given, compaudit uses fpath and _compdir to find
completion system directories, adding missing ones to fpath
as necessary. To force a check of exactly the directories
currently named in fpath, set _compdir to an empty string
before calling compaudit or compinit.
The function bashcompinit provides compatibility with bash's
programmable completion system. When run it will define the
functions, compgen and complete which correspond to the bash
builtins with the same names. It will then be possible to
use completion specifications and functions written for
bash.
Autoloaded files
The convention for autoloaded functions used in completion
is that they start with an underscore; as already mentioned,
the fpath/FPATH parameter must contain the directory in
which they are stored. If zsh was properly installed on
your system, then fpath/FPATH automatically contains the
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required directories for the standard functions.
For incomplete installations, if compinit does not find
enough files beginning with an underscore (fewer than
twenty) in the search path, it will try to find more by
adding the directory _compdir to the search path. If that
directory has a subdirectory named Base, all subdirectories
will be added to the path. Furthermore, if the subdirectory
Base has a subdirectory named Core, compinit will add all
subdirectories of the subdirectories is to the path: this
allows the functions to be in the same format as in the zsh
source distribution.
When compinit is run, it searches all such files accessible
via fpath/FPATH and reads the first line of each of them.
This line should contain one of the tags described below.
Files whose first line does not start with one of these tags
are not considered to be part of the completion system and
will not be treated specially.
The tags are:
#compdef names... [ -[pP] patterns... [ -N names... ] ]
The file will be made autoloadable and the function
defined in it will be called when completing names,
each of which is either the name of a command whose
arguments are to be completed or one of a number of
special contexts in the form -context- described below.
Each name may also be of the form `cmd=service'. When
completing the command cmd, the function typically
behaves as if the command (or special context) service
was being completed instead. This provides a way of
altering the behaviour of functions that can perform
many different completions. It is implemented by set-
ting the parameter $service when calling the function;
the function may choose to interpret this how it
wishes, and simpler functions will probably ignore it.
If the #compdef line contains one of the options -p or
-P, the words following are taken to be patterns. The
function will be called when completion is attempted
for a command or context that matches one of the pat-
terns. The options -p and -P are used to specify pat-
terns to be tried before or after other completions
respectively. Hence -P may be used to specify default
actions.
The option -N is used after a list following -p or -P;
it specifies that remaining words no longer define pat-
terns. It is possible to toggle between the three
options as many times as necessary.
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#compdef -k style key-sequences...
This option creates a widget behaving like the builtin
widget style and binds it to the given key-sequences,
if any. The style must be one of the builtin widgets
that perform completion, namely complete-word,
delete-char-or-list, expand-or-complete, expand-or-com-
plete-prefix, list-choices, menu-complete,
menu-expand-or-complete, or reverse-menu-complete. If
the zsh/complist module is loaded (see zshmodules(1))
the widget menu-select is also available.
When one of the key-sequences is typed, the function in
the file will be invoked to generate the matches. Note
that a key will not be re-bound if it already was (that
is, was bound to something other than undefined-key).
The widget created has the same name as the file and
can be bound to any other keys using bindkey as usual.
#compdef -K widget-name style key-sequences ...
This is similar to -k except that only one
key-sequences argument may be given for each wid-
get-name style pair. However, the entire set of three
arguments may be repeated with a different set of argu-
ments. Note in particular that the widget-name must be
distinct in each set. If it does not begin with `_'
this will be added. The widget-name should not clash
with the name of any existing widget: names based on
the name of the function are most useful. For example,
#compdef -K _foo_complete complete-word "^X^C" \
_foo_list list-choices "^X^D"
(all on one line) defines a widget _foo_complete for
completion, bound to `^X^C', and a widget _foo_list for
listing, bound to `^X^D'.
#autoload [ options ]
Functions with the #autoload tag are marked for
autoloading but are not otherwise treated specially.
Typically they are to be called from within one of the
completion functions. Any options supplied will be
passed to the autoload builtin; a typical use is +X to
force the function to be loaded immediately. Note that
the -U and -z flags are always added implicitly.
The # is part of the tag name and no white space is allowed
after it. The #compdef tags use the compdef function
described below; the main difference is that the name of the
function is supplied implicitly.
The special contexts for which completion functions can be
defined are:
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-array-value-
The right hand side of an array-assignment
(`foo=(...)')
-brace-parameter-
The name of a parameter expansion within braces
(`${...}')
-assign-parameter-
The name of a parameter in an assignment, i.e. on the
left hand side of an `='
-command-
A word in command position
-condition-
A word inside a condition (`[[...]]')
-default-
Any word for which no other completion is defined
-equal-
A word beginning with an equals sign
-first-
This is tried before any other completion function.
The function called may set the _compskip parameter to
one of various values: all: no further completion is
attempted; a string containing the substring patterns:
no pattern completion functions will be called; a
string containing default: the function for the
`-default-' context will not be called, but functions
defined for commands will
-math-
Inside mathematical contexts, such as `((...))'
-parameter-
The name of a parameter expansion (`$...')
-redirect-
The word after a redirection operator.
-subscript-
The contents of a parameter subscript.
-tilde-
After an initial tilde (`~'), but before the first
slash in the word.
-value-
On the right hand side of an assignment.
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Default implementations are supplied for each of these con-
texts. In most cases the context -context- is implemented
by a corresponding function _context, for example the con-
text `-tilde-' and the function `_tilde').
The contexts -redirect- and -value- allow extra context-spe-
cific information. (Internally, this is handled by the
functions for each context calling the function _dispatch.)
The extra information is added separated by commas.
For the -redirect- context, the extra information is in the
form `-redirect-,op,command', where op is the redirection
operator and command is the name of the command on the line.
If there is no command on the line yet, the command field
will be empty.
For the -value- context, the form is `-value-,name,command',
where name is the name of the parameter. In the case of
elements of an associative array, for example `assoc=(key
<TAB>', name is expanded to `name-key'. In certain special
contexts, such as completing after `make CFLAGS=', the com-
mand part gives the name of the command, here make; other-
wise it is empty.
It is not necessary to define fully specific completions as
the functions provided will try to generate completions by
progressively replacing the elements with `-default-'. For
example, when completing after `foo=<TAB>', _value will try
the names `-value-,foo,' (note the empty command part),
`-value-,foo,-default-' and`-value-,-default-,-default-', in
that order, until it finds a function to handle the context.
As an example:
compdef '_files -g "*.log"' '-redirect-,2>,-default-'
completes files matching `*.log' after `2> <TAB>' for any
command with no more specific handler defined.
Also:
compdef _foo -value-,-default-,-default-
specifies that _foo provides completions for the values of
parameters for which no special function has been defined.
This is usually handled by the function _value itself.
The same lookup rules are used when looking up styles (as
described below); for example
zstyle ':completion:*:*:-redirect-,2>,*:*' file-patterns '*.log'
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is another way to make completion after `2> <TAB>' complete
files matching `*.log'.
Functions
The following function is defined by compinit and may be
called directly.
names... ] ]
compdef [ -ane ] function names... [ -[pP] patterns...
[ -N
compdef -d names...
compdef -k [ -an ] function style key-sequences...
compdef -K [ -an ] function name style key-sequences ...
The first form defines the function to call for comple-
tion in the given contexts as described for the #com-
pdef tag above.
Alternatively, all the arguments may have the form
`cmd=service'. Here service should already have been
defined by `cmd1=service' lines in #compdef files, as
described above. The argument for cmd will be com-
pleted in the same way as service.
The function argument may alternatively be a string
containing almost any shell code. If the string con-
tains an equal sign, the above will take precedence.
The option -e may be used to specify the first argument
is to be evaluated as shell code even if it contains an
equal sign. The string will be executed using the eval
builtin command to generate completions. This provides
a way of avoiding having to define a new completion
function. For example, to complete files ending in
`.h' as arguments to the command foo:
compdef '_files -g "*.h"' foo
The option -n prevents any completions already defined
for the command or context from being overwritten.
The option -d deletes any completion defined for the
command or contexts listed.
The names may also contain -p, -P and -N options as
described for the #compdef tag. The effect on the
argument list is identical, switching between defini-
tions of patterns tried initially, patterns tried
finally, and normal commands and contexts.
The parameter $_compskip may be set by any function
defined for a pattern context. If it is set to a value
containing the substring `patterns' none of the pat-
tern-functions will be called; if it is set to a value
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containing the substring `all', no other function will
be called.
The form with -k defines a widget with the same name as
the function that will be called for each of the
key-sequences; this is like the #compdef -k tag. The
function should generate the completions needed and
will otherwise behave like the builtin widget whose
name is given as the style argument. The widgets
usable for this are: complete-word,
delete-char-or-list, expand-or-complete, expand-or-com-
plete-prefix, list-choices, menu-complete,
menu-expand-or-complete, and reverse-menu-complete, as
well as menu-select if the zsh/complist module is
loaded. The option -n prevents the key being bound if
it is already to bound to something other than unde-
fined-key.
The form with -K is similar and defines multiple wid-
gets based on the same function, each of which requires
the set of three arguments name, style and
key-sequences, where the latter two are as for -k and
the first must be a unique widget name beginning with
an underscore.
Wherever applicable, the -a option makes the function
autoloadable, equivalent to autoload -U function.
The function compdef can be used to associate existing com-
pletion functions with new commands. For example,
compdef _pids foo
uses the function _pids to complete process IDs for the com-
mand foo.
Note also the _gnu_generic function described below, which
can be used to complete options for commands that understand
the `--help' option.
COMPLETION SYSTEM CONFIGURATION
This section gives a short overview of how the completion
system works, and then more detail on how users can config-
ure how and when matches are generated.
Overview
When completion is attempted somewhere on the command line
the completion system first works out the context. This
takes account of a number of things including the command
word (such as `grep' or `zsh') and options to which the cur-
rent word may be an argument (such as the `-o' option to zsh
which takes a shell option as an argument).
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This context information is condensed into a string consist-
ing of multiple fields separated by colons, referred to sim-
ply as `the context' in the remainder of the documentation.
This is used to look up styles, context-sensitive options
that can be used to configure the completion system. The
context used for lookup may vary during the same call to the
completion system.
The context string always consists of a fixed set of fields,
separated by colons and with a leading colon before the
first, in the form :completion:function:completer:com-
mand:argument:tag. These have the following meaning:
o The literal string completion, saying that this style
is used by the completion system. This distinguishes
the context from those used by, for example, zle wid-
gets and ZFTP functions.
o The function, if completion is called from a named wid-
get rather than through the normal completion system.
Typically this is blank, but it is set by special wid-
gets such as predict-on and the various functions in
the Widget directory of the distribution to the name of
that function, often in an abbreviated form.
o The completer currently active, the name of the func-
tion without the leading underscore and with other
underscores converted to hyphens. A `completer' is in
overall control of how completion is to be performed;
`complete' is the simplest, but other completers exist
to perform related tasks such as correction, or to mod-
ify the behaviour of a later completer. See the sec-
tion `Control Functions' below for more information.
o The command or a special -context-, just at it appears
following the #compdef tag or the compdef function.
Completion functions for commands that have sub-com-
mands usually modify this field to contain the name of
the command followed by a minus sign and the sub-com-
mand. For example, the completion function for the cvs
command sets this field to cvs-add when completing
arguments to the add subcommand.
o The argument; this indicates which command line or
option argument we are completing. For command argu-
ments this generally takes the form argument-n, where n
is the number of the argument, and for arguments to
options the form option-opt-n where n is the number of
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the argument to option opt. However, this is only the
case if the command line is parsed with standard
UNIX-style options and arguments, so many completions
do not set this.
o The tag. As described previously, tags are used to
discriminate between the types of matches a completion
function can generate in a certain context. Any com-
pletion function may use any tag name it likes, but a
list of the more common ones is given below.
The context is gradually put together as the functions are
executed, starting with the main entry point, which adds
:completion: and the function element if necessary. The
completer then adds the completer element. The contextual
completion adds the command and argument options. Finally,
the tag is added when the types of completion are known.
For example, the context name
:completion::complete:dvips:option-o-1:files
says that normal completion was attempted as the first argu-
ment to the option -o of the command dvips:
dvips -o ...
and the completion function will generate filenames.
Usually completion will be tried for all possible tags in an
order given by the completion function. However, this can
be altered by using the tag-order style. Completion is then
restricted to the list of given tags in the given order.
The _complete_help bindable command shows all the contexts
and tags available for completion at a particular point.
This provides an easy way of finding information for
tag-order and other styles. It is described in the section
`Bindable Commands' below.
Styles determine such things as how the matches are gener-
ated, similarly to shell options but with much more control.
They can have any number of strings as their value. They
are defined with the zstyle builtin command (see zshmod-
ules(1)).
When looking up styles the completion system uses full con-
text names, including the tag. Looking up the value of a
style therefore consists of two things: the context, which
may be matched as a pattern, and the name of the style
itself, which must be given exactly.
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For example, many completion functions can generate matches
in a simple and a verbose form and use the verbose style to
decide which form should be used. To make all such func-
tions use the verbose form, put
zstyle ':completion:*' verbose yes
in a startup file (probably .zshrc). This gives the verbose
style the value yes in every context inside the completion
system, unless that context has a more specific definition.
It is best to avoid giving the context as `*' in case the
style has some meaning outside the completion system.
Many such general purpose styles can be configured simply by
using the compinstall function.
A more specific example of the use of the verbose style is
by the completion for the kill builtin. If the style is
set, the builtin lists full job texts and process command
lines; otherwise it shows the bare job numbers and PIDs. To
turn the style off for this use only:
zstyle ':completion:*:*:kill:*' verbose no
For even more control, the style can use one of the tags
`jobs' or `processes'. To turn off verbose display only for
jobs:
zstyle ':completion:*:*:kill:*:jobs' verbose no
The -e option to zstyle even allows completion function code
to appear as the argument to a style; this requires some
understanding of the internals of completion functions (see
see zshcompwid(1))). For example,
zstyle -e ':completion:*' hosts 'reply=($myhosts)'
This forces the value of the hosts style to be read from the
variable myhosts each time a host name is needed; this is
useful if the value of myhosts can change dynamically. For
another useful example, see the example in the description
of the file-list style below. This form can be slow and
should be avoided for commonly examined styles such as menu
and list-rows-first.
Note that the order in which styles are defined does not
matter; the style mechanism uses the most specific possible
match for a particular style to determine the set of values.
More precisely, strings are preferred over patterns (for
example, `:completion::complete:foo' is more specific than
`:completion::complete:*'), and longer patterns are pre-
ferred over shorter patterns.
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Style names like those of tags are arbitrary and depend on
the completion function. However, the following two sec-
tions list some of the most common tags and styles.
Standard Tags
Some of the following are only used when looking up particu-
lar styles and do not refer to a type of match.
accounts
used to look up the users-hosts style
all-expansions
used by the _expand completer when adding the single
string containing all possible expansions
all-files
for the names of all files (as distinct from a particu-
lar subset, see the globbed-files tag).
arguments
for arguments to a command
arrays
for names of array parameters
association-keys
for keys of associative arrays; used when completing
inside a subscript to a parameter of this type
bookmarks
when completing bookmarks (e.g. for URLs and the zftp
function suite)
builtins
for names of builtin commands
characters
for single characters in arguments of commands such as
stty. Also used when completing character classes
after an opening bracket
colormapids
for X colormap ids
colors
for color names
commands
for names of external commands. Also used by complex
commands such as cvs when completing names subcommands.
contexts
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for contexts in arguments to the zstyle builtin command
corrections
used by the _approximate and _correct completers for
possible corrections
cursors
for cursor names used by X programs
default
used in some contexts to provide a way of supplying a
default when more specific tags are also valid. Note
that this tag is used when only the function field of
the context name is set
descriptions
used when looking up the value of the format style to
generate descriptions for types of matches
devices
for names of device special files
directories
for names of directories -- local-directories is used
instead when completing arguments of cd and related
builtin commands when the cdpath array is set
directory-stack
for entries in the directory stack
displays
for X display names
domains
for network domains
expansions
used by the _expand completer for individual words (as
opposed to the complete set of expansions) resulting
from the expansion of a word on the command line
extensions
for X server extensions
file-descriptors
for numbers of open file descriptors
files
the generic file-matching tag used by functions com-
pleting filenames
fonts
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for X font names
fstypes
for file system types (e.g. for the mount command)
functions
names of functions -- normally shell functions,
although certain commands may understand other kinds of
function
globbed-files
for filenames when the name has been generated by pat-
tern matching
groups
for names of user groups
history-words
for words from the history
hosts
for hostnames
indexes
for array indexes
jobs for jobs (as listed by the `jobs' builtin)
interfaces
for network interfaces
keymaps
for names of zsh keymaps
keysyms
for names of X keysyms
libraries
for names of system libraries
limits
for system limits
local-directories
for names of directories that are subdirectories of the
current working directory when completing arguments of
cd and related builtin commands (compare path-directo-
ries) -- when the cdpath array is unset, directories is
used instead
manuals
for names of manual pages
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mailboxes
for e-mail folders
maps for map names (e.g. NIS maps)
messages
used to look up the format style for messages
modifiers
for names of X modifiers
modules
for modules (e.g. zsh modules)
my-accounts
used to look up the users-hosts style
named-directories
for named directories (you wouldn't have guessed that,
would you?)
names
for all kinds of names
newsgroups
for USENET groups
nicknames
for nicknames of NIS maps
options
for command options
original
used by the _approximate, _correct and _expand com-
pleters when offering the original string as a match
other-accounts
used to look up the users-hosts style
other-files
for the names of any non-directory files. This is used
instead of all-files when the list-dirs-first style is
in effect.
packages
for packages (e.g. rpm or installed Debian packages)
parameters
for names of parameters
path-directories
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for names of directories found by searching the cdpath
array when completing arguments of cd and related
builtin commands (compare local-directories)
paths
used to look up the values of the expand, ambiguous and
special-dirs styles
pods for perl pods (documentation files)
ports
for communication ports
prefixes
for prefixes (like those of a URL)
printers
for print queue names
processes
for process identifiers
processes-names
used to look up the command style when generating the
names of processes for killall
sequences
for sequences (e.g. mh sequences)
sessions
for sessions in the zftp function suite
signals
for signal names
strings
for strings (e.g. the replacement strings for the cd
builtin command)
styles
for styles used by the zstyle builtin command
suffixes
for filename extensions
tags for tags (e.g. rpm tags)
targets
for makefile targets
time-zones
for time zones (e.g. when setting the TZ parameter)
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types
for types of whatever (e.g. address types for the xhost
command)
urls used to look up the urls and local styles when complet-
ing URLs
users
for usernames
values
for one of a set of values in certain lists
variant
used by _pick_variant to look up the command to run
when determining what program is installed for a par-
ticular command name.
visuals
for X visuals
warnings
used to look up the format style for warnings
widgets
for zsh widget names
windows
for IDs of X windows
zsh-options
for shell options
Standard Styles
Note that the values of several of these styles represent
boolean values. Any of the strings `true', `on', `yes', and
`1' can be used for the value `true' and any of the strings
`false', `off', `no', and `0' for the value `false'. The
behavior for any other value is undefined except where
explicitly mentioned. The default value may be either true
or false if the style is not set.
Some of these styles are tested first for every possible tag
corresponding to a type of match, and if no style was found,
for the default tag. The most notable styles of this type
are menu, list-colors and styles controlling completion
listing such as list-packed and last-prompt. When tested
for the default tag, only the function field of the context
will be set so that a style using the default tag will nor-
mally be defined along the lines of:
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zstyle ':completion:*:default' menu ...
accept-exact
This is tested for the default tag in addition to the
tags valid for the current context. If it is set to
`true' and any of the trial matches is the same as the
string on the command line, this match will immediately
be accepted (even if it would otherwise be considered
ambiguous).
When completing pathnames (where the tag used is
`paths') this style accepts any number of patterns as
the value in addition to the boolean values. Pathnames
matching one of these patterns will be accepted immedi-
ately even if the command line contains some more par-
tially typed pathname components and these match no
file under the directory accepted.
This style is also used by the _expand completer to
decide if words beginning with a tilde or parameter
expansion should be expanded. For example, if there
are parameters foo and foobar, the string `$foo' will
only be expanded if accept-exact is set to `true'; oth-
erwise the completion system will be allowed to com-
plete $foo to $foobar. If the style is set to `con-
tinue', _expand will add the expansion as a match and
the completion system will also be allowed to continue.
accept-exact-dirs
This is used by filename completion. Unlike
accept-exact it is a boolean. By default, filename
completion examines all components of a path to see if
there are completions of that component, even if the
component matches an existing directory. For example,
when completion after /usr/bin/, the function examines
possible completions to /usr.
When this style is true, any prefix of a path that
matches an existing directory is accepted without any
attempt to complete it further. Hence, in the given
example, the path /usr/bin/ is accepted immediately and
completion tried in that directory.
If you wish to inhibit this behaviour entirely, set the
path-completion style (see below) to false.
add-space
This style is used by the _expand completer. If it is
true (the default), a space will be inserted after all
words resulting from the expansion, or a slash in the
case of directory names. If the value is `file', the
completer will only add a space to names of existing
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files. Either a boolean true or the value `file' may
be combined with `subst', in which case the completer
will not add a space to words generated from the expan-
sion of a substitution of the form `$(...)' or
`${...}'.
The _prefix completer uses this style as a simple
boolean value to decide if a space should be inserted
before the suffix.
ambiguous
This applies when completing non-final components of
filename paths, in other words those with a trailing
slash. If it is set, the cursor is left after the
first ambiguous component, even if menu completion is
in use. The style is always tested with the paths tag.
assign-list
When completing after an equals sign that is being
treated as an assignment, the completion system nor-
mally completes only one filename. In some cases the
value may be a list of filenames separated by colons,
as with PATH and similar parameters. This style can be
set to a list of patterns matching the names of such
parameters.
The default is to complete lists when the word on the
line already contains a colon.
auto-description
If set, this style's value will be used as the descrip-
tion for options that are not described by the comple-
tion functions, but that have exactly one argument.
The sequence `%d' in the value will be replaced by the
description for this argument. Depending on personal
preferences, it may be useful to set this style to
something like `specify: %d'. Note that this may not
work for some commands.
avoid-completer
This is used by the _all_matches completer to decide if
the string consisting of all matches should be added to
the list currently being generated. Its value is a
list of names of completers. If any of these is the
name of the completer that generated the matches in
this completion, the string will not be added.
The default value for this style is `_expand _old_list
_correct _approximate', i.e. it contains the completers
for which a string with all matches will almost never
be wanted.
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cache-path
This style defines the path where any cache files con-
taining dumped completion data are stored. It defaults
to `$ZDOTDIR/.zcompcache', or `$HOME/.zcompcache' if
$ZDOTDIR is not defined. The completion cache will not
be used unless the use-cache style is set.
cache-policy
This style defines the function that will be used to
determine whether a cache needs rebuilding. See the
section on the _cache_invalid function below.
call-command
This style is used in the function for commands such as
make and ant where calling the command directly to gen-
erate matches suffers problems such as being slow or,
as in the case of make can potentially cause actions in
the makefile to be executed. If it is set to `true' the
command is called to generate matches. The default
value of this style is `false'.
command
In many places, completion functions need to call
external commands to generate the list of completions.
This style can be used to override the command that is
called in some such cases. The elements of the value
are joined with spaces to form a command line to exe-
cute. The value can also start with a hyphen, in which
case the usual command will be added to the end; this
is most useful for putting `builtin' or `command' in
front to make sure the appropriate version of a command
is called, for example to avoid calling a shell func-
tion with the same name as an external command.
As an example, the completion function for process IDs
uses this style with the processes tag to generate the
IDs to complete and the list of processes to display
(if the verbose style is `true'). The list produced by
the command should look like the output of the ps com-
mand. The first line is not displayed, but is searched
for the string `PID' (or `pid') to find the position of
the process IDs in the following lines. If the line
does not contain `PID', the first numbers in each of
the other lines are taken as the process IDs to com-
plete.
Note that the completion function generally has to call
the specified command for each attempt to generate the
completion list. Hence care should be taken to specify
only commands that take a short time to run, and in
particular to avoid any that may never terminate.
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command-path
This is a list of directories to search for commands to
complete. The default for this style is the value of
the special parameter path.
commands
This is used by the function completing sub-commands
for the system initialisation scripts (residing in
/etc/init.d or somewhere not too far away from that).
Its values give the default commands to complete for
those commands for which the completion function isn't
able to find them out automatically. The default for
this style are the two strings `start' and `stop'.
complete
This is used by the _expand_alias function when invoked
as a bindable command. If set to `true' and the word
on the command line is not the name of an alias, match-
ing alias names will be completed.
complete-options
This is used by the completer for cd, chdir and pushd.
For these commands a - is used to introduce a directory
stack entry and completion of these is far more common
than completing options. Hence unless the value of
this style is true options will not be completed, even
after an initial -. If it is true, options will be
completed after an initial - unless there is a preced-
ing -- on the command line.
completer
The strings given as the value of this style provide
the names of the completer functions to use. The avail-
able completer functions are described in the section
`Control Functions' below.
Each string may be either the name of a completer func-
tion or a string of the form `function:name'. In the
first case the completer field of the context will con-
tain the name of the completer without the leading
underscore and with all other underscores replaced by
hyphens. In the second case the function is the name
of the completer to call, but the context will contain
the user-defined name in the completer field of the
context. If the name starts with a hyphen, the string
for the context will be build from the name of the com-
pleter function as in the first case with the name
appended to it. For example:
zstyle ':completion:*' completer _complete _complete:-foo
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Here, completion will call the _complete completer
twice, once using `complete' and once using `com-
plete-foo' in the completer field of the context. Nor-
mally, using the same completer more than once only
makes sense when used with the `functions:name' form,
because otherwise the context name will be the same in
all calls to the completer; possible exceptions to this
rule are the _ignored and _prefix completers.
The default value for this style is `_complete
_ignored': only completion will be done, first using
the ignored-patterns style and the $fignore array and
then without ignoring matches.
condition
This style is used by the _list completer function to
decide if insertion of matches should be delayed uncon-
ditionally. The default is `true'.
delimiters
This style is used when adding a delimiter for use with
history modifiers or glob qualifiers that have delim-
ited arguments. It is an array of preferred delimiters
to add. Non-special characters are preferred as the
completion system may otherwise become confused. The
default list is :, +, /, -, %. The list may be empty
to force a delimiter to be typed.
disabled
If this is set to `true', the _expand_alias completer
and bindable command will try to expand disabled
aliases, too. The default is `false'.
domains
A list of names of network domains for completion. If
this is not set, domain names will be taken from the
file /etc/resolv.conf.
environ
The environ style is used when completing for `sudo'.
It is set to an array of `VAR=value' assignments to be
exported into the local environment before the comple-
tion for the target command is invoked.
zstyle ':completion:*:sudo::' environ \
PATH="/sbin:/usr/sbin:$PATH" HOME="/root"
expand
This style is used when completing strings consisting
of multiple parts, such as path names.
If one of its values is the string `prefix', the par-
tially typed word from the line will be expanded as far
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as possible even if trailing parts cannot be completed.
If one of its values is the string `suffix', matching
names for components after the first ambiguous one will
also be added. This means that the resulting string is
the longest unambiguous string possible. However, menu
completion can be used to cycle through all matches.
fake This style may be set for any completion context. It
specifies additional strings that will always be com-
pleted in that context. The form of each string is
`value:description'; the colon and description may be
omitted, but any literal colons in value must be quoted
with a backslash. Any description provided is shown
alongside the value in completion listings.
It is important to use a sufficiently restrictive con-
text when specifying fake strings. Note that the
styles fake-files and fake-parameters provide addi-
tional features when completing files or parameters.
fake-always
This works identically to the fake style except that
the ignored-patterns style is not applied to it. This
makes it possible to override a set of matches com-
pletely by setting the ignored patterns to `*'.
The following shows a way of supplementing any tag with
arbitrary data, but having it behave for display pur-
poses like a separate tag. In this example we use the
features of the tag-order style to divide the
named-directories tag into two when performing comple-
tion with the standard completer complete for arguments
of cd. The tag named-directories-normal behaves as
normal, but the tag named-directories-mine contains a
fixed set of directories. This has the effect of
adding the match group `extra directories' with the
given completions.
zstyle ':completion::complete:cd:*' tag-order \
'named-directories:-mine:extra\ directories
named-directories:-normal:named\ directories *'
zstyle ':completion::complete:cd:*:named-directories-mine' \
fake-always mydir1 mydir2
zstyle ':completion::complete:cd:*:named-directories-mine' \
ignored-patterns '*'
fake-files
This style is used when completing files and looked up
without a tag. Its values are of the form
`dir:names...'. This will add the names (strings sepa-
rated by spaces) as possible matches when completing in
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the directory dir, even if no such files really exist.
The dir may be a pattern; pattern characters or colons
in dir should be quoted with a backslash to be treated
literally.
This can be useful on systems that support special file
systems whose top-level pathnames can not be listed or
generated with glob patterns. It can also be used for
directories for which one does not have read permis-
sion.
The pattern form can be used to add a certain `magic'
entry to all directories on a particular file system.
fake-parameters
This is used by the completion function for parameter
names. Its values are names of parameters that might
not yet be set but should be completed nonetheless.
Each name may also be followed by a colon and a string
specifying the type of the parameter (like `scalar',
`array' or `integer'). If the type is given, the name
will only be completed if parameters of that type are
required in the particular context. Names for which no
type is specified will always be completed.
file-list
This style controls whether files completed using the
standard builtin mechanism are to be listed with a long
list similar to ls -l. Note that this feature uses the
shell module zsh/stat for file information; this loads
the builtin stat which will replace any external stat
executable. To avoid this the following code can be
included in an initialization file:
zmodload -i zsh/stat
disable stat
The style may either be set to a true value (or `all'),
or one of the values `insert' or `list', indicating
that files are to be listed in long format in all cir-
cumstances, or when attempting to insert a file name,
or when listing file names without attempting to insert
one.
More generally, the value may be an array of any of the
above values, optionally followed by =num. If num is
present it gives the maximum number of matches for
which long listing style will be used. For example,
zstyle ':completion:*' file-list list=20 insert=10
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specifies that long format will be used when listing up
to 20 files or inserting a file with up to 10 matches
(assuming a listing is to be shown at all, for example
on an ambiguous completion), else short format will be
used.
zstyle -e ':completion:*' file-list '(( ${+NUMERIC} )) && reply=(true)'
specifies that long format will be used any time a
numeric argument is supplied, else short format.
file-patterns
This is used by the standard function for completing
filenames, _files. If the style is unset up to three
tags are offered, `globbed-files',`directories' and
`all-files', depending on the types of files expected
by the caller of _files. The first two
(`globbed-files' and `directories') are normally
offered together to make it easier to complete files in
sub-directories.
The file-patterns style provides alternatives to the
default tags, which are not used. Its value consists
of elements of the form `pattern:tag'; each string may
contain any number of such specifications separated by
spaces.
The pattern is a pattern that is to be used to generate
filenames. Any occurrence of the sequence `%p' is
replaced by any pattern(s) passed by the function call-
ing _files. Colons in the pattern must be preceded by
a backslash to make them distinguishable from the colon
before the tag. If more than one pattern is needed,
the patterns can be given inside braces, separated by
commas.
The tags of all strings in the value will be offered by
_files and used when looking up other styles. Any tags
in the same word will be offered at the same time and
before later words. If no `:tag' is given the `files'
tag will be used.
The tag may also be followed by an optional second
colon and a description, which will be used for the
`%d' in the value of the format style (if that is set)
instead of the default description supplied by the com-
pletion function. If the description given here con-
tains itself a `%d', that is replaced with the descrip-
tion supplied by the completion function.
For example, to make the rm command first complete only
names of object files and then the names of all files
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if there is no matching object file:
zstyle ':completion:*:*:rm:*' file-patterns \
'*.o:object-files' '%p:all-files'
To alter the default behaviour of file completion --
offer files matching a pattern and directories on the
first attempt, then all files -- to offer only matching
files on the first attempt, then directories, and
finally all files:
zstyle ':completion:*' file-patterns \
'%p:globbed-files' '*(-/):directories' '*:all-files'
This works even where there is no special pattern:
_files matches all files using the pattern `*' at the
first step and stops when it sees this pattern. Note
also it will never try a pattern more than once for a
single completion attempt.
During the execution of completion functions, the
EXTENDED_GLOB option is in effect, so the characters
`#', `~' and `^' have special meanings in the patterns.
file-sort
The standard filename completion function uses this
style without a tag to determine in which order the
names should be listed; menu completion will cycle
through them in the same order. The possible values
are: `size' to sort by the size of the file; `links' to
sort by the number of links to the file; `modification'
(or `time' or `date') to sort by the last modification
time; `access' to sort by the last access time; and
`inode' (or `change') to sort by the last inode change
time. If the style is set to any other value, or is
unset, files will be sorted alphabetically by name. If
the value contains the string `reverse', sorting is
done in the opposite order. If the value contains the
string `follow', timestamps are associated with the
targets of symbolic links; the default is to use the
timestamps of the links themselves.
filter
This is used by the LDAP plugin for e-mail address com-
pletion to specify the attributes to match against when
filtering entries. So for example, if the style is set
to `sn', matching is done against surnames. Standard
LDAP filtering is used so normal completion matching is
bypassed. If this style is not set, the LDAP plugin is
skipped. You may also need to set the command style to
specify how to connect to your LDAP server.
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force-list
This forces a list of completions to be shown at any
point where listing is done, even in cases where the
list would usually be suppressed. For example, nor-
mally the list is only shown if there are at least two
different matches. By setting this style to `always',
the list will always be shown, even if there is only a
single match that will immediately be accepted. The
style may also be set to a number. In this case the
list will be shown if there are at least that many
matches, even if they would all insert the same string.
This style is tested for the default tag as well as for
each tag valid for the current completion. Hence the
listing can be forced only for certain types of match.
format
If this is set for the descriptions tag, its value is
used as a string to display above matches in completion
lists. The sequence `%d' in this string will be
replaced with a short description of what these matches
are. This string may also contain the following
sequences to specify output attributes, as described in
the section EXPANSION OF PROMPT SEQUENCES in zsh-
misc(1): `%B', `%S', `%U', `%F', `%K' and their lower
case counterparts, as well as `%{...%}'. `%F', `%K'
and `%{...%}' take arguments in the same form as prompt
expansion. Note that the %G sequence is not available;
an argument to `%{' should be used instead.
The style is tested with each tag valid for the current
completion before it is tested for the descriptions
tag. Hence different format strings can be defined for
different types of match.
Note also that some completer functions define addi-
tional `%'-sequences. These are described for the com-
pleter functions that make use of them.
Some completion functions display messages that may be
customised by setting this style for the messages tag.
Here, the `%d' is replaced with a message given by the
completion function.
Finally, the format string is looked up with the warn-
ings tag, for use when no matches could be generated at
all. In this case the `%d' is replaced with the
descriptions for the matches that were expected sepa-
rated by spaces. The sequence `%D' is replaced with
the same descriptions separated by newlines.
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It is possible to use printf-style field width speci-
fiers with `%d' and similar escape sequences. This is
handled by the zformat builtin command from the
zsh/zutil module, see zshmodules(1).
glob This is used by the _expand completer. If it is set to
`true' (the default), globbing will be attempted on the
words resulting from a previous substitution (see the
substitute style) or else the original string from the
line.
global
If this is set to `true' (the default), the
_expand_alias completer and bindable command will try
to expand global aliases.
group-name
The completion system can group different types of
matches, which appear in separate lists. This style
can be used to give the names of groups for particular
tags. For example, in command position the completion
system generates names of builtin and external com-
mands, names of aliases, shell functions and parameters
and reserved words as possible completions. To have
the external commands and shell functions listed sepa-
rately:
zstyle ':completion:*:*:-command-:*:commands' group-name commands
zstyle ':completion:*:*:-command-:*:functions' group-name functions
As a consequence, any match with the same tag will be
displayed in the same group.
If the name given is the empty string the name of the
tag for the matches will be used as the name of the
group. So, to have all different types of matches dis-
played separately, one can just set:
zstyle ':completion:*' group-name ''
All matches for which no group name is defined will be
put in a group named -default-.
group-order
This style is additional to the group-name style to
specify the order for display of the groups defined by
that style (compare tag-order, which determines which
completions appear at all). The groups named are shown
in the given order; any other groups are shown in the
order defined by the completion function.
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For example, to have names of builtin commands, shell
functions and external commands appear in that order
when completing in command position:
zstyle ':completion:*:*:-command-:*' group-order \
builtins functions commands
groups
A list of names of UNIX groups. If this is not set,
group names are taken from the YP database or the file
`/etc/group'.
hidden
If this is set to true, matches for the given context
will not be listed, although any description for the
matches set with the format style will be shown. If it
is set to `all', not even the description will be dis-
played.
Note that the matches will still be completed; they are
just not shown in the list. To avoid having matches
considered as possible completions at all, the
tag-order style can be modified as described below.
hosts
A list of names of hosts that should be completed. If
this is not set, hostnames are taken from the file
`/etc/hosts'.
hosts-ports
This style is used by commands that need or accept
hostnames and network ports. The strings in the value
should be of the form `host:port'. Valid ports are
determined by the presence of hostnames; multiple ports
for the same host may appear.
ignore-line
This is tested for each tag valid for the current com-
pletion. If it is set to `true', none of the words
that are already on the line will be considered as pos-
sible completions. If it is set to `current', the word
the cursor is on will not be considered as a possible
completion. The value `current-shown' is similar but
only applies if the list of completions is currently
shown on the screen. Finally, if the style is set to
`other', all words on the line except for the current
one will be excluded from the possible completions.
The values `current' and `current-shown' are a bit like
the opposite of the accept-exact style: only strings
with missing characters will be completed.
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Note that you almost certainly don't want to set this
to `true' or `other' for a general context such as
`:completion:*'. This is because it would disallow
completion of, for example, options multiple times even
if the command in question accepts the option more than
once.
ignore-parents
The style is tested without a tag by the function com-
pleting pathnames in order to determine whether to
ignore the names of directories already mentioned in
the current word, or the name of the current working
directory. The value must include one or both of the
following strings:
parent
The name of any directory whose path is already
contained in the word on the line is ignored. For
example, when completing after foo/../, the direc-
tory foo will not be considered a valid comple-
tion.
pwd The name of the current working directory will not
be completed; hence, for example, completion after
../ will not use the name of the current direc-
tory.
In addition, the value may include one or both of:
.. Ignore the specified directories only when the
word on the line contains the substring `../'.
directory
Ignore the specified directories only when names
of directories are completed, not when completing
names of files.
Excluded values act in a similar fashion to values of
the ignored-patterns style, so they can be restored to
consideration by the _ignored completer.
extra-verbose
If set, the completion listing is more verbose at the
cost of a probable decrease in completion speed. Com-
pletion performance will suffer if this style is set to
`true'.
ignored-patterns
A list of patterns; any trial completion matching one
of the patterns will be excluded from consideration.
The _ignored completer can appear in the list of com-
pleters to restore the ignored matches. This is a more
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configurable version of the shell parameter $fignore.
Note that the EXTENDED_GLOB option is set during the
execution of completion functions, so the characters
`#', `~' and `^' have special meanings in the patterns.
insert
This style is used by the _all_matches completer to
decide whether to insert the list of all matches uncon-
ditionally instead of adding the list as another match.
insert-ids
When completing process IDs, for example as arguments
to the kill and wait builtins the name of a command may
be converted to the appropriate process ID. A problem
arises when the process name typed is not unique. By
default (or if this style is set explicitly to `menu')
the name will be converted immediately to a set of pos-
sible IDs, and menu completion will be started to cycle
through them.
If the value of the style is `single', the shell will
wait until the user has typed enough to make the com-
mand unique before converting the name to an ID;
attempts at completion will be unsuccessful until that
point. If the value is any other string, menu comple-
tion will be started when the string typed by the user
is longer than the common prefix to the corresponding
IDs.
insert-tab
If this is set to `true', the completion system will
insert a TAB character (assuming that was used to start
completion) instead of performing completion when there
is no non-blank character to the left of the cursor.
If it is set to `false', completion will be done even
there.
The value may also contain the substrings `pending' or
`pending=val'. In this case, the typed character will
be inserted instead of starting completion when there
is unprocessed input pending. If a val is given, com-
pletion will not be done if there are at least that
many characters of unprocessed input. This is often
useful when pasting characters into a terminal. Note
however, that it relies on the $PENDING special parame-
ter from the zsh/zle module being set properly which is
not guaranteed on all platforms.
The default value of this style is `true' except for
completion within vared builtin command where it is
`false'.
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insert-unambiguous
This is used by the _match and _approximate completers.
These completers are often used with menu completion
since the word typed may bear little resemblance to the
final completion. However, if this style is `true',
the completer will start menu completion only if it
could find no unambiguous initial string at least as
long as the original string typed by the user.
In the case of the _approximate completer, the com-
pleter field in the context will already have been set
to one of correct-num or approximate-num, where num is
the number of errors that were accepted.
In the case of the _match completer, the style may also
be set to the string `pattern'. Then the pattern on
the line is left unchanged if it does not match unam-
biguously.
keep-prefix
This style is used by the _expand completer. If it is
`true', the completer will try to keep a prefix con-
taining a tilde or parameter expansion. Hence, for
example, the string `~/f*' would be expanded to `~/foo'
instead of `/home/user/foo'. If the style is set to
`changed' (the default), the prefix will only be left
unchanged if there were other changes between the
expanded words and the original word from the command
line. Any other value forces the prefix to be expanded
unconditionally.
The behaviour of expand when this style is true is to
cause _expand to give up when a single expansion with
the restored prefix is the same as the original; hence
any remaining completers may be called.
last-prompt
This is a more flexible form of the ALWAYS_LAST_PROMPT
option. If it is true, the completion system will try
to return the cursor to the previous command line after
displaying a completion list. It is tested for all
tags valid for the current completion, then the default
tag. The cursor will be moved back to the previous
line if this style is `true' for all types of match.
Note that unlike the ALWAYS_LAST_PROMPT option this is
independent of the numeric prefix argument.
known-hosts-files
This style should contain a list of files to search for
host names and (if the use-ip style is set) IP
addresses in a format compatible with ssh known_hosts
files. If it is not set, the files
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/etc/ssh/ssh_known_hosts and ~/.ssh/known_hosts are
used.
list This style is used by the _history_complete_word bind-
able command. If it is set to `true' it has no effect.
If it is set to `false' matches will not be listed.
This overrides the setting of the options controlling
listing behaviour, in particular AUTO_LIST. The con-
text always starts with `:completion:history-words'.
list-colors
If the zsh/complist module is loaded, this style can be
used to set color specifications. This mechanism
replaces the use of the ZLS_COLORS and ZLS_COLOURS
parameters described in the section `The zsh/complist
Module' in zshmodules(1), but the syntax is the same.
If this style is set for the default tag, the strings
in the value are taken as specifications that are to be
used everywhere. If it is set for other tags, the
specifications are used only for matches of the type
described by the tag. For this to work best, the
group-name style must be set to an empty string.
In addition to setting styles for specific tags, it is
also possible to use group names specified explicitly
by the group-name tag together with the `(group)' syn-
tax allowed by the ZLS_COLORS and ZLS_COLOURS parame-
ters and simply using the default tag.
It is possible to use any color specifications already
set up for the GNU version of the ls command:
zstyle ':completion:*:default' list-colors ${(s.:.)LS_COLORS}
The default colors are the same as for the GNU ls com-
mand and can be obtained by setting the style to an
empty string (i.e. '').
list-dirs-first
This is used by file completion. If set, directories
to be completed are listed separately from and before
completion for other files, regardless of tag ordering.
In addition, the tag other-files is used in place of
all-files for the remaining files, to indicate that no
directories are presented with that tag.
list-grouped
If this style is `true' (the default), the completion
system will try to make certain completion listings
more compact by grouping matches. For example, options
for commands that have the same description (shown when
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the verbose style is set to `true') will appear as a
single entry. However, menu selection can be used to
cycle through all the matches.
list-packed
This is tested for each tag valid in the current con-
text as well as the default tag. If it is set to
`true', the corresponding matches appear in listings as
if the LIST_PACKED option were set. If it is set to
`false', they are listed normally.
list-prompt
If this style is set for the default tag, completion
lists that don't fit on the screen can be scrolled (see
the description of the zsh/complist module in zshmod-
ules(1)). The value, if not the empty string, will be
displayed after every screenful and the shell will
prompt for a key press; if the style is set to the
empty string, a default prompt will be used.
The value may contain the escape sequences: `%l' or
`%L', which will be replaced by the number of the last
line displayed and the total number of lines; `%m' or
`%M', the number of the last match shown and the total
number of matches; and `%p' and `%P', `Top' when at the
beginning of the list, `Bottom' when at the end and the
position shown as a percentage of the total length oth-
erwise. In each case the form with the uppercase let-
ter will be replaced by a string of fixed width, padded
to the right with spaces, while the lowercase form
will be replaced by a variable width string. As in
other prompt strings, the escape sequences `%S', `%s',
`%B', `%b', `%U', `%u' for entering and leaving the
display modes standout, bold and underline, and `%F',
`%f', `%K', `%k' for changing the foreground background
colour, are also available, as is the form `%{...%}'
for enclosing escape sequences which display with zero
(or, with a numeric argument, some other) width.
After deleting this prompt the variable LISTPROMPT
should be unset for the removal to take effect.
list-rows-first
This style is tested in the same way as the list-packed
style and determines whether matches are to be listed
in a rows-first fashion as if the LIST_ROWS_FIRST
option were set.
list-suffixes
This style is used by the function that completes file-
names. If it is true, and completion is attempted on a
string containing multiple partially typed pathname
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components, all ambiguous components will be shown.
Otherwise, completion stops at the first ambiguous com-
ponent.
list-separator
The value of this style is used in completion listing
to separate the string to complete from a description
when possible (e.g. when completing options). It
defaults to `--' (two hyphens).
local
This is for use with functions that complete URLs for
which the corresponding files are available directly
from the file system. Its value should consist of
three strings: a hostname, the path to the default web
pages for the server, and the directory name used by a
user placing web pages within their home area.
For example:
zstyle ':completion:*' local toast \
/var/http/public/toast public_html
Completion after `http://toast/stuff/' will look for
files in the directory /var/http/public/toast/stuff,
while completion after `http://toast/~yousir/' will
look for files in the directory ~yousir/public_html.
mail-directory
If set, zsh will assume that mailbox files can be found
in the directory specified. It defaults to `~/Mail'.
match-original
This is used by the _match completer. If it is set to
only, _match will try to generate matches without
inserting a `*' at the cursor position. If set to any
other non-empty value, it will first try to generate
matches without inserting the `*' and if that yields no
matches, it will try again with the `*' inserted. If
it is unset or set to the empty string, matching will
only be performed with the `*' inserted.
matcher
This style is tested separately for each tag valid in
the current context. Its value is added to any match
specifications given by the matcher-list style. It
should be in the form described in the section `Comple-
tion Matching Control' in zshcompwid(1).
matcher-list
This style can be set to a list of match specifications
that are to be applied everywhere. Match specifications
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are described in the section `Completion Matching Con-
trol' in zshcompwid(1). The completion system will try
them one after another for each completer selected.
For example, to try first simple completion and, if
that generates no matches, case-insensitive completion:
zstyle ':completion:*' matcher-list '' 'm:{a-zA-Z}={A-Za-z}'
By default each specification replaces the previous
one; however, if a specification is prefixed with +, it
is added to the existing list. Hence it is possible to
create increasingly general specifications without rep-
etition:
zstyle ':completion:*' matcher-list '' '+m{a-z}={A-Z}' '+m{A-Z}={a-z}'
It is possible to create match specifications valid for
particular completers by using the third field of the
context. For example, to use the completers _complete
and _prefix but only allow case-insensitive completion
with _complete:
zstyle ':completion:*' completer _complete _prefix
zstyle ':completion:*:complete:*' matcher-list \
'' 'm:{a-zA-Z}={A-Za-z}'
User-defined names, as explained for the completer
style, are available. This makes it possible to try
the same completer more than once with different match
specifications each time. For example, to try normal
completion without a match specification, then normal
completion with case-insensitive matching, then correc-
tion, and finally partial-word completion:
zstyle ':completion:*' completer _complete _correct _complete:foo
zstyle ':completion:*:complete:*' matcher-list \
'' 'm:{a-zA-Z}={A-Za-z}'
zstyle ':completion:*:foo:*' matcher-list \
'm:{a-zA-Z}={A-Za-z} r:|[-_./]=* r:|=*'
If the style is unset in any context no match specifi-
cation is applied. Note also that some completers such
as _correct and _approximate do not use the match spec-
ifications at all, though these completers will only
ever be called once even if the matcher-list contains
more than one element.
Where multiple specifications are useful, note that the
entire completion is done for each element of
matcher-list, which can quickly reduce the shell's per-
formance. As a rough rule of thumb, one to three
strings will give acceptable performance. On the other
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hand, putting multiple space-separated values into the
same string does not have an appreciable impact on per-
formance.
If there is no current matcher or it is empty, and the
option NO_CASE_GLOB is in effect, the matching for
files is performed case-insensitively in any case.
However, any matcher must explicitly specify
case-insensitive matching if that is required.
max-errors
This is used by the _approximate and _correct completer
functions to determine the maximum number of errors to
allow. The completer will try to generate completions
by first allowing one error, then two errors, and so
on, until either a match or matches were found or the
maximum number of errors given by this style has been
reached.
If the value for this style contains the string
`numeric', the completer function will take any numeric
argument as the maximum number of errors allowed. For
example, with
zstyle ':completion:*:approximate:::' max-errors 2 numeric
two errors are allowed if no numeric argument is given,
but with a numeric argument of six (as in `ESC-6 TAB'),
up to six errors are accepted. Hence with a value of
`0 numeric', no correcting completion will be attempted
unless a numeric argument is given.
If the value contains the string `not-numeric', the
completer will not try to generate corrected comple-
tions when given a numeric argument, so in this case
the number given should be greater than zero. For
example, `2 not-numeric' specifies that correcting com-
pletion with two errors will usually be performed, but
if a numeric argument is given, correcting completion
will not be performed.
The default value for this style is `2 numeric'.
max-matches-width
This style is used to determine the trade off between
the width of the display used for matches and the width
used for their descriptions when the verbose style is
in effect. The value gives the number of display col-
umns to reserve for the matches. The default is half
the width of the screen.
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This has the most impact when several matches have the
same description and so will be grouped together.
Increasing the style will allow more matches to be
grouped together; decreasing it will allow more of the
description to be visible.
menu If this is true in the context of any of the tags
defined for the current completion menu completion will
be used. The value for a specific tag will take prece-
dence over that for the `default' tag.
If none of the values found in this way is true but at
least one is set to `auto', the shell behaves as if the
AUTO_MENU option is set.
If one of the values is explicitly set to false, menu
completion will be explicitly turned off, overriding
the MENU_COMPLETE option and other settings.
In the form `yes=num', where `yes' may be any of the
true values (`yes', `true', `on' and `1'), menu comple-
tion will be turned on if there are at least num
matches. In the form `yes=long', menu completion will
be turned on if the list does not fit on the screen.
This does not activate menu completion if the widget
normally only lists completions, but menu completion
can be activated in that case with the value
`yes=long-list' (Typically, the value
`select=long-list' described later is more useful as it
provides control over scrolling.)
Similarly, with any of the `false' values (as in
`no=10'), menu completion will not be used if there are
num or more matches.
The value of this widget also controls menu selection,
as implemented by the zsh/complist module. The follow-
ing values may appear either alongside or instead of
the values above.
If the value contains the string `select', menu selec-
tion will be started unconditionally.
In the form `select=num', menu selection will only be
started if there are at least num matches. If the val-
ues for more than one tag provide a number, the small-
est number is taken.
Menu selection can be turned off explicitly by defining
a value containing the string`no-select'.
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It is also possible to start menu selection only if the
list of matches does not fit on the screen by using the
value `select=long'. To start menu selection even if
the current widget only performs listing, use the value
`select=long-list'.
To turn on menu completion or menu selection when a
there are a certain number of matches or the list of
matches does not fit on the screen, both of `yes=' and
`select=' may be given twice, once with a number and
once with `long' or `long-list'.
Finally, it is possible to activate two special modes
of menu selection. The word `interactive' in the value
causes interactive mode to be entered immediately when
menu selection is started; see the description of the
zsh/complist module in zshmodules(1) for a description
of interactive mode. Including the string `search'
does the same for incremental search mode. To select
backward incremental search, include the string
`search-backward'.
muttrc
If set, gives the location of the mutt configuration
file. It defaults to `~/.muttrc'.
numbers
This is used with the jobs tag. If it is `true', the
shell will complete job numbers instead of the shortest
unambiguous prefix of the job command text. If the
value is a number, job numbers will only be used if
that many words from the job descriptions are required
to resolve ambiguities. For example, if the value is
`1', strings will only be used if all jobs differ in
the first word on their command lines.
old-list
This is used by the _oldlist completer. If it is set
to `always', then standard widgets which perform list-
ing will retain the current list of matches, however
they were generated; this can be turned off explicitly
with the value `never', giving the behaviour without
the _oldlist completer. If the style is unset, or any
other value, then the existing list of completions is
displayed if it is not already; otherwise, the standard
completion list is generated; this is the default be-
haviour of _oldlist. However, if there is an old list
and this style contains the name of the completer func-
tion that generated the list, then the old list will be
used even if it was generated by a widget which does
not do listing.
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For example, suppose you type ^Xc to use the _cor-
rect_word widget, which generates a list of corrections
for the word under the cursor. Usually, typing ^D
would generate a standard list of completions for the
word on the command line, and show that. With
_oldlist, it will instead show the list of corrections
already generated.
As another example consider the _match completer: with
the insert-unambiguous style set to `true' it inserts
only a common prefix string, if there is any. However,
this may remove parts of the original pattern, so that
further completion could produce more matches than on
the first attempt. By using the _oldlist completer and
setting this style to _match, the list of matches gen-
erated on the first attempt will be used again.
old-matches
This is used by the _all_matches completer to decide if
an old list of matches should be used if one exists.
This is selected by one of the `true' values or by the
string `only'. If the value is `only', _all_matches
will only use an old list and won't have any effect on
the list of matches currently being generated.
If this style is set it is generally unwise to call the
_all_matches completer unconditionally. One possible
use is for either this style or the completer style to
be defined with the -e option to zstyle to make the
style conditional.
old-menu
This is used by the _oldlist completer. It controls
how menu completion behaves when a completion has
already been inserted and the user types a standard
completion key such as TAB. The default behaviour of
_oldlist is that menu completion always continues with
the existing list of completions. If this style is set
to `false', however, a new completion is started if the
old list was generated by a different completion com-
mand; this is the behaviour without the _oldlist com-
pleter.
For example, suppose you type ^Xc to generate a list of
corrections, and menu completion is started in one of
the usual ways. Usually, or with this style set to
false, typing TAB at this point would start trying to
complete the line as it now appears. With _oldlist, it
instead continues to cycle through the list of correc-
tions.
original
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This is used by the _approximate and _correct com-
pleters to decide if the original string should be
added as a possible completion. Normally, this is done
only if there are at least two possible corrections,
but if this style is set to `true', it is always added.
Note that the style will be examined with the completer
field in the context name set to correct-num or approx-
imate-num, where num is the number of errors that were
accepted.
packageset
This style is used when completing arguments of the
Debian `dpkg' program. It contains an override for the
default package set for a given context. For example,
zstyle ':completion:*:complete:dpkg:option--status-1:*' \
packageset avail
causes available packages, rather than only installed
packages, to be completed for `dpkg --status'.
path The function that completes color names uses this style
with the colors tag. The value should be the pathname
of a file containing color names in the format of an
X11 rgb.txt file. If the style is not set but this
file is found in one of various standard locations it
will be used as the default.
path-completion
This is used by filename completion. By default, file-
name completion examines all components of a path to
see if there are completions of that component. For
example, /u/b/z can be completed to /usr/bin/zsh.
Explicitly setting this style to false inhibits this
behaviour for path components up to the / before the
cursor; this overrides the setting of
accept-exact-dirs.
Even with the style set to false, it is still possible
to complete multiple paths by setting the option COM-
PLETE_IN_WORD and moving the cursor back to the first
component in the path to be completed. For example,
/u/b/z can be completed to /usr/bin/zsh if the cursor
is after the /u.
pine-directory
If set, specifies the directory containing PINE mailbox
files. There is no default, since recursively search-
ing this directory is inconvenient for anyone who
doesn't use PINE.
ports
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A list of Internet service names (network ports) to
complete. If this is not set, service names are taken
from the file `/etc/services'.
prefix-hidden
This is used for certain completions which share a com-
mon prefix, for example command options beginning with
dashes. If it is `true', the prefix will not be shown
in the list of matches.
The default value for this style is `false'.
prefix-needed
This style is also relevant for matches with a common
prefix. If it is set to `true' this common prefix must
be typed by the user to generate the matches.
The style is applicable to the options, signals, jobs,
functions, and parameters completion tags.
For command options, this means that the initial `-',
`+', or `--' must be typed explicitly before option
names will be completed.
For signals, an initial `-' is required before signal
names will be completed.
For jobs, an initial `%' is required before job names
will be completed.
For function and parameter names, an initial `_' or `.'
is required before function or parameter names starting
with those characters will be completed.
The default value for this style is `false' for func-
tion and parameter completions, and `true' otherwise.
preserve-prefix
This style is used when completing path names. Its
value should be a pattern matching an initial prefix of
the word to complete that should be left unchanged
under all circumstances. For example, on some Unices
an initial `//' (double slash) has a special meaning;
setting this style to the string `//' will preserve it.
As another example, setting this style to `?:/' under
Cygwin would allow completion after `a:/...' and so on.
range
This is used by the _history completer and the _his-
tory_complete_word bindable command to decide which
words should be completed.
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If it is a singe number, only the last N words from the
history will be completed.
If it is a range of the form `max:slice', the last
slice words will be completed; then if that yields no
matches, the slice words before those will be tried and
so on. This process stops either when at least one
match was been found, or max words have been tried.
The default is to complete all words from the history
at once.
recursive-files
If this style is set, its value is an array of patterns
to be tested against `$PWD/': note the trailing slash,
which allows directories in the pattern to be delimited
unambiguously by including slashes on both sides. If
an ordinary file completion fails and the word on the
command line does not yet have a directory part to its
name, the style is retrieved using the same tag as for
the completion just attempted, then the elements tested
against $PWD/ in turn. If one matches, then the shell
reattempts completion by prepending the word on the
command line with each directory in the expansion of
**/*(/) in turn. Typically the elements of the style
will be set to restrict the number of directories
beneath the current one to a manageable number, for
example `*/.git/*'.
For example,
zstyle ':completion:*' recursive-files '*/zsh/*'
If the current directory is /home/pws/zsh/Src, then
zle_trTAB can be completed to Zle/zle_tricky.c.
regular
This style is used by the _expand_alias completer and
bindable command. If set to `true' (the default), reg-
ular aliases will be expanded but only in command posi-
tion. If it is set to `false', regular aliases will
never be expanded. If it is set to `always', regular
aliases will be expanded even if not in command posi-
tion.
rehash
If this is set when completing external commands, the
internal list (hash) of commands will be updated for
each search by issuing the rehash command. There is a
speed penalty for this which is only likely to be
noticeable when directories in the path have slow file
access.
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remote-access
If set to false, certain commands will be prevented
from making Internet connections to retrieve remote
information. This includes the completion for the CVS
command.
It is not always possible to know if connections are in
fact to a remote site, so some may be prevented unnec-
essarily.
remove-all-dups
The _history_complete_word bindable command and the
_history completer use this to decide if all duplicate
matches should be removed, rather than just consecutive
duplicates.
select-prompt
If this is set for the default tag, its value will be
displayed during menu selection (see the menu style
above) when the completion list does not fit on the
screen as a whole. The same escapes as for the
list-prompt style are understood, except that the num-
bers refer to the match or line the mark is on. A
default prompt is used when the value is the empty
string.
select-scroll
This style is tested for the default tag and determines
how a completion list is scrolled during a menu selec-
tion (see the menu style above) when the completion
list does not fit on the screen as a whole. If the
value is `0' (zero), the list is scrolled by
half-screenfuls; if it is a positive integer, the list
is scrolled by the given number of lines; if it is a
negative number, the list is scrolled by a screenful
minus the absolute value of the given number of lines.
The default is to scroll by single lines.
separate-sections
This style is used with the manuals tag when completing
names of manual pages. If it is `true', entries for
different sections are added separately using tag names
of the form `manual.X', where X is the section number.
When the group-name style is also in effect, pages from
different sections will appear separately. This style
is also used similarly with the words style when com-
pleting words for the dict command. It allows words
from different dictionary databases to be added sepa-
rately. The default for this style is `false'.
show-completer
Tested whenever a new completer is tried. If it is
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true, the completion system outputs a progress message
in the listing area showing what completer is being
tried. The message will be overwritten by any output
when completions are found and is removed after comple-
tion is finished.
single-ignored
This is used by the _ignored completer when there is
only one match. If its value is `show', the single
match will be displayed but not inserted. If the value
is `menu', then the single match and the original
string are both added as matches and menu completion is
started, making it easy to select either of them.
sort Many completion widgets call _description at some point
which decides whether the matches are added sorted or
unsorted (often indirectly via _wanted or _requested).
This style can be set explicitly to one of the usual
true or false values as an override. If it is not set
for the context, the standard behaviour of the calling
widget is used.
The style is tested first against the full context
including the tag, and if that fails to produce a value
against the context without the tag.
If the calling widget explicitly requests unsorted
matches, this is usually honoured. However, the
default (unsorted) behaviour of completion for the com-
mand history may be overridden by setting the style to
true.
In the _expand completer, if it is set to `true', the
expansions generated will always be sorted. If it is
set to `menu', then the expansions are only sorted when
they are offered as single strings but not in the
string containing all possible expansions.
special-dirs
Normally, the completion code will not produce the
directory names `.' and `..' as possible completions.
If this style is set to `true', it will add both `.'
and `..' as possible completions; if it is set to `..',
only `..' will be added.
The following example sets special-dirs to `..' when
the current prefix is empty, is a single `.', or con-
sists only of a path beginning with `../'. Otherwise
the value is `false'.
zstyle -e ':completion:*' special-dirs \
'[[ $PREFIX = (../)#(|.|..) ]] && reply=(..)'
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squeeze-slashes
If set to `true', sequences of slashes in filename
paths (for example in `foo//bar') will be treated as a
single slash. This is the usual behaviour of UNIX
paths. However, by default the file completion func-
tion behaves as if there were a `*' between the
slashes.
stop If set to `true', the _history_complete_word bindable
command will stop once when reaching the beginning or
end of the history. Invoking _history_complete_word
will then wrap around to the opposite end of the his-
tory. If this style is set to `false' (the default),
_history_complete_word will loop immediately as in a
menu completion.
strip-comments
If set to `true', this style causes non-essential com-
ment text to be removed from completion matches. Cur-
rently it is only used when completing e-mail addresses
where it removes any display name from the addresses,
cutting them down to plain user@host form.
subst-globs-only
This is used by the _expand completer. If it is set to
`true', the expansion will only be used if it resulted
from globbing; hence, if expansions resulted from the
use of the substitute style described below, but these
were not further changed by globbing, the expansions
will be rejected.
The default for this style is `false'.
substitute
This boolean style controls whether the _expand com-
pleter will first try to expand all substitutions in
the string (such as `$(...)' and `${...}').
The default is `true'.
suffix
This is used by the _expand completer if the word
starts with a tilde or contains a parameter expansion.
If it is set to `true', the word will only be expanded
if it doesn't have a suffix, i.e. if it is something
like `~foo' or `$foo' rather than `~foo/' or
`$foo/bar', unless that suffix itself contains charac-
ters eligible for expansion. The default for this
style is `true'.
tag-order
This provides a mechanism for sorting how the tags
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available in a particular context will be used.
The values for the style are sets of space-separated
lists of tags. The tags in each value will be tried at
the same time; if no match is found, the next value is
used. (See the file-patterns style for an exception to
this behavior.)
For example:
zstyle ':completion:*:complete:-command-:*' tag-order \
'commands functions'
specifies that completion in comm