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ZSHALL(1) 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
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 processor. Of the standard shells, zsh most closely resembles ksh but includes many enhance-ments. enhancements.
ments. 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 currently 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/
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://sourceforge.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. (moderated)
<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 <listmas-
ter@zsh.org>. The mailing 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 <gcw@zsh.org>, available at
http://www.zsh.org/mla/.
THE ZSH FAQ
Zsh has a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), maintained 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 matters is <webmas-
ter@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 downright 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.zshwiki.org/. This is a site which can be
added to and modified 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.
If there are any remaining arguments after option processing, and neither of the options -c or -s was
supplied, the first argument is taken as the file name of a script containing 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 argu-ments arguments
ments 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 corresponding 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 equiva-lent equivalent
lent 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 arguments that start with `-' or `+' to be
treated as normal arguments, in two ways. Firstly, a lone `-' (or `+') as an argument by itself ends
option processing. Secondly, a special 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 discussed 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 normal.
COMPATIBILITY
Zsh tries to emulate sh or ksh when it is invoked as sh or ksh respectively; more precisely, it looks
at the first letter of the name by which it was invoked, excluding any initial `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_COM-MENTS, INTERACTIVE_COMMENTS,
MENTS, KSH_ARRAYS, NO_MULTIOS, NO_NOMATCH, NO_NOTIFY, POSIX_BUILTINS, NO_PROMPT_PERCENT,
RM_STAR_SILENT, SH_FILE_EXPANSION, SH_GLOB, SH_OPTION_LETTERS, 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.
RESTRICTED SHELL
When the basename of the command used to invoke zsh starts with the letter `r' or the `-r' command
line option is supplied at invocation, the shell becomes restricted. Emulation mode is determined
after stripping the letter `r' from the invocation name. The following are disabled in restricted
mode:
• changing directories with the cd builtin
• changing or unsetting the PATH, path, MODULE_PATH, module_path, SHELL, HISTFILE, HISTSIZE,
GID, EGID, UID, EUID, USERNAME, LD_LIBRARY_PATH, LD_AOUT_LIBRARY_PATH, LD_PRELOAD and
LD_AOUT_PRELOAD parameters
• specifying command names containing /
• specifying command pathnames using hash
• redirecting output to files
• using the exec builtin command to replace the shell with another command
• using jobs -Z to overwrite the shell process' argument and environment space
• using the ARGV0 parameter to override argv[0] for external commands
• 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 restrictions 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 modi-fied modified
fied 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 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 $ZDOT-DIR/.zlogin $ZDOTDIR/.zlogin
DIR/.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, depending on the installation.
As /etc/zshenv is run for all instances of zsh, it is important 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.
ZSHROADMAP(1) ZSHROADMAP(1)
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 particular 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 cus-tomize customize
tomize 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
zshcontrib(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 substantially 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 variables, 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 sys-tem). system).
tem). 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.dotsrc.org/FAQ/
. Note in particular that for combining characters to be handled the option COMBINING_CHARS needs to
be set. Because the shell is now more sensitive to the definition of the character set, note that if
you are upgrading from an older version of the shell you should ensure that 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 zshparam(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 completions.
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, orga-nized organized
nized 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 preferred.
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 provided 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
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 behaviour. These cover all aspects of the
shell; browsing the full documentation is the only good way to become acquainted with the many possi-bilities. possibilities.
bilities. See zshoptions(1).
PATTERN MATCHING
The shell has a rich set of patterns which are available for file matching (described in the documen-tation documentation
tation as `filename generation' and also known for historical reasons as `globbing') 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 directories) 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 substituted onto the command line are not split
into words. See the description of the shell option SH_WORD_SPLIT in the section `Parameter Expan-sion' Expansion'
sion' 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 Parame-ters' Parameters'
ters' in zshparam(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 `Functions' in zsh-misc(1). zshmisc(1).
misc(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 editor 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 redundant
zmv a command for renaming files by means of shell patterns.
ZSHMISC(1) ZSHMISC(1)
NAME
zshmisc - everything and then some
SIMPLE COMMANDS & PIPELINES
A simple command is a sequence of optional parameter assignments followed by blank-separated words,
with optional redirections 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 com-mand command
mand 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 stan-dard standard
dard input of the next. The value of a pipeline is the value of the last command, unless the pipe-line pipeline
line is preceded by `!' in which case the value is the logical inverse of the value of the last com-mand. command.
mand. 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 operators or with `print -p' and `read -p'. A pipeline cannot be pre-
ceded 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 pipelines are separated by `&&', the second pipeline is executed only if the first suc-ceeds succeeds
ceeds (returns a zero status). If two pipelines are separated by `||', the second is executed only
if the first fails (returns a nonzero status). Both operators have equal precedence and are left
associative. The value of the sublist is the value of the last pipeline 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 sublist 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 executing the next sublist. If a sublist is ter-minated terminated
minated 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 inter-preted. interpreted.
preted. These modifiers 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 command.
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
equivalent to whence -v.
exec [ -cl ] [ -a argv_ ]
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 compatibility
with other shells.
The -c option clears the environment.
The -l option is equivalent to the - precommand modifier, 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 pre-command precommand
command 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 posi-tional positional
tional 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 of the loop the next N words are assigned to the corresponding 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 evaluates 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 evaluated 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 expression, 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'
case word in [ [(] pattern [ | pattern ] ... ) list (;;|;&|;|) ] ... esac
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 Genera-tion'. Generation'.
tion'.
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 ;;, ;& or ;|. Note that word is not re-expanded; all applicable pat-terns patterns
terns 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 number. 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 interactive 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 corresponding 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 executing list.
{ list }
Execute list.
{ try-list } always { always-list }
First execute try-list. Regardless of errors, or break, continue, or return commands encoun-tered encountered
tered within try-list, execute always-list. Execution then continues 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 example, an erro-neously erroneously
neously 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.
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 initialised 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 subshell.
{
# 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 function 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 function is the list between the { and }. See the section `Func-tions'. `Functions'.
tions'.
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.
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 `Conditional 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 limitations on the form of list apply as for the
previous form.
for name ... ( word ... ) sublist
A short form of for.
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 disabled 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 command line, and in a non-interactive shell they cause the shell to be aborted. In
older versions of zsh, a non-interactive 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 func-tions functions
tions or shell constructs such as loops or conditions; this somewhat 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 expression
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
Logical errors with variables such as assignment to the wrong type
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 specified 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.
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 sin-gle single
gle quote.
There is a commonly encountered problem with aliases illustrated 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 exe-cuted executed
cuted 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 `.'. Consequently, 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 exe-cuted: executed:
cuted:
noglob func() {
echo Do something with $*
}
which defines noglob as well as func as functions with the body given. To avoid this, either quote
the name func or use the alternative function definition form `function func'. Ensuring the alias is
defined after the function works but is problematic if the code fragment might be re-executed.
QUOTING
A character may be quoted (that is, made to stand for itself) by preceding it with a `\'. `\' fol-lowed followed
lowed by a newline is ignored.
A string enclosed between `$'' 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 `$' are
quoted. A single quote cannot appear within single quotes unless the option RC_QUOTES is set, in
which case a pair of single quotes are turned into a single quote. For example,
print ''''
outputs nothing apart from a newline if RC_QUOTES is not set, but one single quote if it is set.
Inside double quotes (""), parameter and command substitution occur, and `\' quotes the characters
`\', ``', `"', and `$'.
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 execution of a command con-tains contains
tains 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 filename, 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.
> 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 performed on word. The
resulting document, called a here-document, becomes the standard input.
If any character of word is quoted with single or double quotes or a `\', no interpretation is
placed upon the characters of the document. Otherwise, parameter and command substitution
occurs, `\' followed by a newline 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 them-
selves 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. 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 syntaxes; `&>' can always be used to avoid
this ambiguity.) 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 redirections are specified is signifi-cant. significant.
cant. The shell evaluates each redirection in terms of the (file descriptor, file) association at
the time of evaluation. For example:
... 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 redirections were reversed,
file descriptor 2 would be associated 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 Sub-stitution Substitution
stitution 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 operator 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 identifier to the file descriptor opened. No
whitespace is allowed between the closing brace and the redirection character. 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 parame-ter parameter
ter before using it for allocating a file descriptor avoids the error.
Note that this mechanism merely allocates or closes a file descriptor; it does not perform any redi-rections redirections
rections 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. >&$myfd
exec {myfd}>&-Note {myfd}>&Note
Note that the expansion of the variable in the expression >&$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 processed.
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 outputs, 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 (globbing). Thus
: > *
will truncate all files in the current directory, assuming there's at least one. (Without the MUL-TIOS MULTIOS
TIOS option, it would create an empty file called `*'.) Similarly, you can do
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 contents 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 parent shell does not wait for the multios to finish writing data. This means the com-mand command
mand as shown can exit before file1 and file2 are completely written. As a workaround, it is possi-ble possible
ble to run the cat process as part of a job in the 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_NULLCMD 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 redirec-tions. redirections.
tions. 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 redi-rections. redirections.
rections. If both NULLCMD and READNULLCMD are set, then the value of the latter will be used instead
of that of the former when the redirection 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 READ-
NULLCMD 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 `Functions'. 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 message 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 begin-ning beginning
ning 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 kernel.
If no external command is found but a function command_not_found_handler exists the shell executes
this function with all command line arguments. The function should return status zero if it success-fully successfully
fully 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 commands 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 function 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 supplied with the zsh distribu-tion. distribution.
tion. Note that for functions precompiled with the zcompile builtin command the flag -U must be pro-vided provided
vided when the .zwc file is created, as the corresponding information is compiled into the latter.
For each element in fpath, the shell looks for three possible files, the newest of which is used to
load the definition for the function:
element.zwc
A file created with the zcompile builtin command, which is expected to contain the definitions
for all functions 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 possi-bilities possibilities
bilities 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 functions 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 contain 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 executed 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.
Otherwise, the function body (with no surrounding `funcname() {...}') 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 com-plete complete
plete 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 searching fpath, by using `autoload -X' within a shell function. For example, the fol-lowing following
lowing 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 `# undefined' in the body, because all comments are discarded from defined functions.
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 func-tion function
tion definition may be used: a `()' with no preceding name, or a `function' with an immediately fol-lowing following
lowing open brace. The function is executed 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 following the closing brace defining the func-tion, function,
tion, 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 function called at this point).
Redirections may be applied to the anonymous function in the same manner as to a current-shell struc-ture structure
ture enclosed in braces. The main use of anonymous functions is to provide a scope for local vari-ables. variables.
ables. 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 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 exe-cute; execute;
cute; 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 values `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 function'. 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 executed 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 command 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 mech-anism mechanism
anism 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 com-mand command
mand 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 func-tion function
tion bodies elided); the third argument contains the full text that is being executed.
zshaddhistory
Executed when a history line has been read interactively, 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 return a non-zero value the history line will not be saved,
although it lingers in the history until the next line is executed allow you to reuse or edit
it immediately.
A hook function may call `fc -p ...' to switch the history context so that the history is
saved in a different file from the that in the global HISTFILE parameter. This is handled
specially: the history context is automatically restored after the processing of the history
line is finished.
The following example function first adds the history line to the normal history with the new-line newline
line 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 subshells, 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.
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 specially. If it is zero, the signal is
assumed to have been handled, and execution continues normally. Otherwise, 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 num-ber. number.
ber. 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 executed after each command. See the description of the trap builtin in zsh-builtins(1) zshbuiltins(1)
builtins(1) for details of additional features provided in debug traps.
TRAPEXIT
Executed when the shell exits, or when the current function exits if defined inside a func-tion. function.
tion. 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).
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:
• Function traps have all the properties of normal functions, appearing in the list of functions
and being called with their own function context rather than the context where the trap was
triggered.
• The return status from function traps is special, whereas a return from a list trap causes the
surrounding context to return with the given status.
• 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 associates a job with each pipeline. It keeps a
table of current 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 control features described here.
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 com-mand, command,
mand, 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 function'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 different from the case where the function was never suspended. Zsh is differ-ent different
ent 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 man-aged managed
aged as a single job. Background jobs are normally allowed to produce output, but this can be dis-abled disabled
abled 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.
%?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 notifications are sent
directly to the terminal, not to the standard output or standard error.
When the monitor mode is on, each background job that completes 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 (running) 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 signal. Otherwise, signals
have the values inherited by the shell from its parent (but see the TRAPNAL special functions in the
section `Functions').
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 preci-sion precision
sion where this is available, otherwise precision is 4 bytes. This can be tested, for example, by
giving the command `print - $(( 12345678901 ))'; if the number 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 performed 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 number in that base (for example, `16#ff' is 255 in hexadecimal). 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 parame-ters, parameters,
ters, but an explicitly defined integer or floating point parameter will not be affected. If an
integer variable is implicitly defined by an arithmetic expression, 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 precedence and if it occurs more than once in a mathe-matical mathematical
matical expression, the last encountered is used. For clarity it is recommended that it appear at
the beginning of an expression. 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 output base, and then `8#40 16#20', because y
has been explicitly declared to have output base 16, while x (assuming it does not already exist) is
implicitly typed by the arithmetic 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 out-put output
put if necessary, so that the value output is valid syntax for input. If the # is doubled, for exam-ple example
ple `[##16]', then no base prefix is output.
Floating point constants are recognized by the presence of a decimal point or an exponent. The deci-mal decimal
mal 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 -unary
unary plus/minus, logical NOT, complement, {pre,post}{in,de}crement
<< >> bitwise shift left, right
& bitwise AND
^ bitwise XOR
| bitwise OR
** exponentiation
* / % 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-circuiting, 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 -unary
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 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 expressions. 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 character set
used in the current locale; for multibyte character 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 $val1 to the parameter named val2.
An internal integer representation of a named parameter can be specified with the integer builtin.
Arithmetic evaluation is performed on the value of each assignment to a named parameter declared
integer in this manner. Assigning a floating point number to an integer results in rounding down to
the next integer.
Likewise, floating point numbers can be declared with the float builtin; there are two types, differ-ing differing
ing only in their output format, as described for the typeset builtin. The output format can be
bypassed by using arithmetic substitution instead of the parameter substitution, i.e. `${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 integer.
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 command to test attributes of files and to com-
pare 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.
-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 associated 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 directory.
-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.
-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 compatibility 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 reg-exp regexp
exp is tested as a PCRE regular expression using the zsh/pcre module, else it is tested as a
POSIX extended regular expression 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 parameter 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 subexpressions 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 example, 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 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 parenthesised 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 EVALUATION' 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 constrained to be a single word, similar to the effect of double quotes. Filename gen-eration generation
eration is not performed on any form of argument to conditions. However, pattern metacharacters are
active for the pattern arguments; the patterns are the same as those used for filename generation,
see zshexpn(1), but there is no special behaviour of `/' nor initial 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, com-mand command
mand 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 num-ber. number.
ber. 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 complicated escape
sequences are available to provide conditional expansion.
SIMPLE PROMPT ESCAPES
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 follow the `%' to specify how many compo-nents components
nents of the hostname are desired. With a negative integer, trailing components of the host-name hostname
name 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 vectors.
%? 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 components, i.e. %-1d specifies the first component.
%~ As %d and %/, but if the current working directory has a named directory as its prefix, that
part is replaced by a `~' followed by the name of the directory. If it starts with $HOME,
that part is replaced by a `~'.
%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 currently 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 component. Unless `%C' is used, tilde contraction is performed first. These
are deprecated as %c and %C are equivalent to %1~ and %1/, respectively, while explicit posi-tive positive
tive integers have the same effect as for the latter two sequences.
Date and time
%D The date in yy-mm-dd format.
%T Current time of day, in 24-hour format.
%t
%@ 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 format character causes a leading zero or
space to be stripped is handled directly by the shell for the format 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 dependent. 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 Character 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.
%{...%}
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 otherwise 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 characters.
Multiple uses of %G accumulate in the obvious fashion; the position of the %G is unimportant.
Negative integers are not handled.
Note that when prompt truncation is in use it is advisable 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 inte-ger integer
ger 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 following the x is arbitrary; the same charac-ter character
ter 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 arbitrar-ily-nested arbitrarily-nested
ily-nested escape sequences, including further ternary expressions.
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:
! 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 direc-tory, directory,
tory, 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 equivalent to `%xstringx', i.e. x may be `<' or `>'. The numeric argument, which in
the third form may appear immediately after the `[', specifies the maximum permitted length of
the various strings that can be displayed 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 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, com-
pletely 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.
ZSHEXPN(1) ZSHEXPN(1)
NAME
zshexpn - zsh expansion and substitution
DESCRIPTION
The following types of expansions are performed in the indicated 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 zshmisc(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 occurrences 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 expan-
sion, 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 command lines in the command line you are
typing. This simplifies spelling corrections and the repetition of complicated commands or argu-ments. arguments.
ments. Immediately before execution, each command is saved in the history list, the size of which is
controlled by the HISTSIZE 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 history number that you may see in your prompt (see
EXPANSION OF PROMPT SEQUENCES in zshmisc(1)) is the number that is to be assigned to the next com-mand. command.
mand.
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 sec-tion section
tion `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 references.
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 refer-ence reference
ence 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 preced-ing preceding
ing them on the current 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 param-eter) parameter)
eter) repeats the last command, replacing the string foo with bar. More precisely, 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 temporar-ily temporarily
ily disabled until the current list (see zshmisc(1)) is fully parsed. The `!"' is removed from the
input, and any subsequent `!' characters 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 expansion 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 refer-ence reference
ence 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 `!#' reference.
!{...} 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 his-tory history
tory 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.
$ 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 transformation 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 searching 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 cur-rent current
rent directory.
e Remove all but the part of the filename extension following 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.
q Quote the substituted words, escaping further substitutions. 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 substitution 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 substitution, i.e. substitute every occur-rence occurrence
rence of r for l. Note that the g or :G must appear in exactly the position 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 generation 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 character strings. Any character can be used as the delimiter in place of `/'. A
backslash quotes the delimiter character. 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 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 parame-ters parameters
ters 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 substitution 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 backrefer-ences backreferences
ences ((#b)), so that the parenthesised 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 filename generation.
The following f, F, w and W modifiers work only with parameter 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.
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 handled specially, see
above.
PROCESS SUBSTITUTION
Each part of a command argument that takes the form `<(list)', `>(list)' or `=(list)' is subject to
process substitution. 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 argu-ments. arguments.
ments. Process substitutions may be used following redirection operators; in this case, the substi-tution substitution
tution 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 exe-cuting executing
cuting the shell command line. If the system supports the /dev/fd mechanism, the command argument is
the name of the device file corresponding to a file descriptor; otherwise, if the system supports
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 respectively, 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 tempo-
rary 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.
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 command 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 implementa-
tion, 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 programmes
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 MUL-TIOS MULTIOS
TIOS option is set) as:
paste <(cut -f1 file1) <(cut -f3 file2) \
> >(process1) > >(process2)
The shell uses pipes instead of FIFOs to implement the latter 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 following command cannot
rely on the results being complete. The problem and solution are the same as described in the sec-tion section
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.
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 sub-sitution. subsitution.
sitution. In that case the temporary file will not be cleaned up as the shell no longer has any mem-ory memory
ory 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 parameters are not automatically split on white-space whitespace
space 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 filename generation; see the section `Filename Generation'. Note that these patterns, along
with the replacement text of any substitutions, are themselves subject to parameter expansion, com-mand command
mand substitution, and arithmetic expansion. In addition to the following operations, the colon mod-ifiers modifiers
ifiers described in the section `Modifiers' in the section `History 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 substituted. 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
subscript 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 substituted, 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 sub-stitute substitute
stitute word. In the second form name may be omitted, in which case word is always substi-tuted. substituted.
tuted.
${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}
${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 performed 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 matching 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 portion 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 substitute 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 con-tained contained
tained in arrayname 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 array-name arrayname
name are instead tested against the entire expression.
${name:*arrayname}
Similar to the preceding subsitution, but in the opposite sense, so that entries present in
both the original substitution and as elements of arrayname are retained and others removed.
${name:offset}
${name:offset:length}
This syntax gives effects similar to parameter subscripting in the form $name[start,end], but
is compatible 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 characters 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, sub-stitute substitute
stitute 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 nota-tion). notation).
tion). 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 substitutions 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)}
all have the same effect, extracting the string starting 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 -. Further-more, Furthermore,
more, neither offset nor length may begin with an alphabetic character or & as these are used
to indicate history-style modifiers. To substitute a value from a variable, the recommended
approach is to precede it with a $ as this signifies the intention (parameter substitution can
easily be rendered unreadable); however, as arithmetic substitution is performed, the expres-sion expression
sion ${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, offset 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 subject 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 substi-tuted substituted
tuted 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 inside a substituted parameter.
Note also that the `#', `%' and `#% are not active if they occur inside a substituted parame-ter, parameter,
ter, 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, substitute the number of ele-ments elements
ments of the result. 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 themselves be
split into different list elements.
${=spec}
Perform word splitting using the rules for SH_WORD_SPLIT during the evaluation of spec, but
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 assignment forms of spec before the assignment
to name is performed. This affects the result of array assignments 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 pat-tern pattern
tern anywhere that is possible, such as in filename expansion and filename generation and pat-tern-matching pattern-matching
tern-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 substitution. 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 generation, but ${${~foo}//\*/*.c} substitutes to the
string *.c, which will not be further expanded.
If a ${...} type parameter expression or a $(...) type command 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 pos-sible possible
sible to perform nested operations: ${${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 expressions, 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 surrounding
rounding the whole expression, the other (redundant) surrounding the $(foo) as before.
Parameter Expansion Flags
If the opening brace is directly followed by an opening parenthesis, the string up to the matching
closing parenthesis will be taken as a list of flags. In cases where repeating a flag is meaningful,
the repetitions need not be consecutive; for example, `(q%q%q)' means the same thing as the more
readable `(%%qqq)'. The following flags are supported:
# Evaluate the resulting words as numeric expressions and output the characters corresponding to
the resulting integer. Note that this form is entirely distinct from use of the # without
parentheses.
If the MULTIBYTE option is set and the number is greater than 127 (i.e. not an ASCII charac-ter) character)
ter) it is treated as a Unicode character.
% Expand all % escapes in the resulting words in the same way as in prompts (see EXPANSION OF
PROMPT SEQUENCES in zshmisc(1)). If this flag is given twice, full prompt expansion is done on
the resulting words, depending on the setting of the PROMPT_PERCENT, PROMPT_SUBST and
PROMPT_BANG options.
@ In double quotes, array elements are put into separate words. E.g., `"${(@)foo}"' is equiva-lent equivalent
lent 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 `${...::=...}'. If this flag is
repeated (as in `AA'), create an associative array parameter. Assignment is made before sort-ing sorting
ing or padding. The name part may be a subscripted range for ordinary arrays; the word part
must be converted to an array, for example by using `${(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 therefore 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 con-catenated concatenated
catenated with spaces between them.
C Capitalize the resulting words. `Words' in this case refers to sequences of alphanumeric
characters separated 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 section 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 elements. 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 differing 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'.
o Sort the resulting words in ascending order; if this appears on its own the sorting is lexical
and case-sensitive (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' without `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 fam-ily family
ily of commands (in particular case transformations) are not applied to the value of name used
in this fashion.
If used with a nested parameter or command substitution, 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 characters 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 minimal form of single quoting is used that
only quotes the string if needed to protect special characters. Typically 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 usu-ally usually
ally appear. This string consists of keywords separated by hyphens (`-'). The first keyword in
the string describes the main 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 associa-tive associative
tive array element. Used with subscripts, force values to be substituted even if the sub-script subscript
script form refers to indices or keys.
V Make any special characters in the resulting words visible.
w With ${#name}, count words in arrays or strings; the s flag may be used to set a word delim-iter. delimiter.
iter.
W Similar to w with the difference that empty words between repeated delimiters are also
counted.
X With this flag, parsing errors occurring with the Q, e and # flags or the pattern matching
forms such as `${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. tak-ing taking
ing 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 patterns. Compare with a ~ outside parentheses, which forces the entire substi-tuted substituted
tuted 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 ele-ment. element.
ment. 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 separator. Note that this occurs before
field splitting 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 characters 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 multibyte 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 generating 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 occupies or the overall length of the string. Most printable char-acters characters
acters have a width of one unit, however certain 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 displayed will vary.
If the m is repeated, the character either counts zero (if it has zero width), else one. For
printable character strings this has the effect of counting the number of glyphs (visibly sep-arate separate
arate 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 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 pad-ding padding
ding 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 parameter. 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 dou-ble double
ble 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 charac-ters. characters.
ters. 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 char-acter character
acter 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 newlines 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; anything following an underscore, other than an empty pair of delimiters, is
treated as an error, and the flag itself has no effect.
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 number). This only applies when searching
for substrings, either with the S flag, or with ${.../...} (only the exprth match is substi-tuted) substituted)
tuted) 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 overlapping previous replace-ments replacements
ments 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).
Rules
Here is a summary of the rules for substitution; this assumes that braces are present around the sub-stitution, substitution,
stitution, i.e. ${...}. Some particular examples are given below. Note that the Zsh Development
Group accepts no responsibility for any brain damage which may occur during the reading of the fol-lowing following
lowing rules.
1. Nested substitution
If multiple nested ${...} forms are present, substitution is performed from the inside out-wards. outwards.
wards. 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 substitution, arithmetic expan-sion expansion
sion and filename expansion (i.e. leading ~ and =). Thus, for example, ${${:-=cat}:h} expands
to the directory where the cat program resides. (Explanation: the internal substitution 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 subscript, 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 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.
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 corresponding value, is applied.
5. Double-quoted joining
If the value after this process is an array, and the substitution appears in double quotes,
and no (@) flag is present at the current level, the 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 substitution) 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 mod-ifiers modifiers
ifiers of the form :... (see the section `Modifiers' in the section `History 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 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 characters 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 levels 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 $IFS, and does not cause forced joining.
18. Uniqueness
If the result is an array and the `(u)' flag was present, duplicate elements are removed from
the array.
19. Ordering
If the result is still an array and one of the `(o)' or `(O)' flags was present, the array is
reordered.
20. Re-evaluation
Any `(e)' flag is applied to the value, forcing it to be re-examined for new parameter substi-tutions, substitutions,
tutions, but also for command and arithmetic substitutions.
21. Padding
Any padding of the value by the `(l.fill.)' or `(r.fill.)' flags is applied.
22. Semantic joining
In contexts where expansion semantics requires a single word to result, all words are rejoined
with the first character of IFS between. So in `${(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 substitu-tion; substitution;
tion; the point to note here is simply that it occurs after any of the above parameter opera-tions. operations.
tions.
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 $foo contains the
array (bar baz):
"${(@)${foo}[1]}"
This produces the result b. First, the inner substitution "${foo}", which has no array (@)
flag, produces a single word result "bar baz". The outer substitution "${(@)...[1]}" detects
that this is a scalar, so that (despite the `(@)' flag) the subscript picks the first charac-
ter.
"${${(@)foo}[1]}"
This produces the result `bar'. In this case, the inner substitution "${(@)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'.
${(s/x/)foo%%1*}
produces `a' and ` b' (note the extra space). As substitution occurs before either joining or
splitting, the operation first generates the modified array (ax bx), which is joined to give
"ax bx", and then split to give `a', ` b' and `'. The final empty string will then be elided,
as it is not in double quotes.
COMMAND SUBSTITUTION
A command enclosed in parentheses preceded by a dollar sign, like `$(...)', or quoted with grave
accents, like ``...`', is replaced with its standard output, with any trailing newlines deleted. If
the substitution is not enclosed in double 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 filename generation.
ARITHMETIC EXPANSION
A string of the form `$[exp]' or `$((exp))' is substituted with the value of the arithmetic expres-
sion exp. exp is subjected to parameter expansion, command substitution and arithmetic expansion
before it is evaluated. See the section `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 literally 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 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 decreasing 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 different 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, specify-ing specifying
ing it in the third can be useful to pad for example `{-99..100..01}' which is not possible to spec-ify specify
ify 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 handled). The syntax is similar to a
[...] expression in filename 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 generation takes place.
In particular, note that this is liable to produce a `no match' error if either of the two expres-sions expressions
sions does not match; this is to be contrasted with */(foo|bar), which is treated as a single pattern
but otherwise 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 appropri-ate appropriate
ate substitute value.
A `~' by itself is replaced by the value of $HOME. A `~' followed by a `+' or a `-' is replaced by
current or 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 brackets is treated specially as a dynamic
directory name. Note that the first unquoted closing square bracket always terminates 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 sta-tus status
tus 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 printing the directory stack or when expanding %~ in prompts. In this case each func-tion function
tion 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 directory 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 directory 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
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 certain 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_directory_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 zshcompsys(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
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 directory, 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.
In certain circumstances (in prompts, for instance), when the shell prints a path, 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 `~' followed by the name of the directory. The shortest way of referring to the directory is
used, with ties broken in favour of using a named directory, except when the directory is / itself.
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 commands 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 expression (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=expres-sion' `identifier=expression'
sion' becomes eligible for file expansion as described in the previous paragraph. Quoting the first
`=' also inhibits this.
FILENAME GENERATION
If a word contains an unquoted instance of one of the characters `*', `(', `|', `<', `[', 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 characters by a `-'. A `-' or `]' may be matched by including 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 set-
tings, 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
[: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 alphanumeric 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 parame-ter parameter
ter
[:IFSSPACE:]
The character is an IFS white space character; see the documentation for IFS in the
zshparam(1) manual 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 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 patterns 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 suc-ceeds. succeeds.
ceeds. Expressions such as `<0-9>[^[:digit:]]*' can be used instead.
(...) Matches the enclosed pattern. This is used for grouping. 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 available.
Note that grouping cannot extend over multiple directories: 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 precedence 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'.
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 directories 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 qual-ifiers qualifiers
ifiers 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 `(...)#'.)
+(...) Match at least one occurrence. (Like `(...)##'.)
?(...) Match zero or one occurrence. (Like `(|...)'.)
!(...) Match anything but the expression in parentheses. (Like `(^(...))'.)
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 parenthesised
expression). As mentioned above, a `/' used as a directory separator may not appear inside parenthe-ses, parentheses,
ses, while a `|' must do so; in patterns used in other contexts than filename generation (for exam-ple, example,
ple, in case statements and tests within `[[...]]'), a `/' is not special; and `/' is also not spe-cial special
cial 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 charac-ters characters
ters 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 file-name filename
name 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 parenthesised group, and so on.
These arrays are not otherwise special to the shell. The indices use the same convention as
does parameter substitution, so that elements 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
prints `string with a'. Note that the first parenthesis is before the (#b) and does not cre-ate create
ate a backreference.
Backreferences work with all forms of pattern matching other than filename generation, but
note that when performing 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 followed 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 special meaning; it
cannot be combined with other globbing flags and a bad pattern error occurs if it is mis-placed. misplaced.
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 maxi-mum maximum
mum limit on the number of matches.
m Set references to the match data for the entire string matched; this is similar to backrefer-encing backreferencing
encing 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 uppercase, printing `vEldt jynx grImps wAqf zhO
bUck'.
Unlike backreferences, there is no speed penalty for using match references, other than the
extra substitutions 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 succeeds only at the end of the test string; they correspond
to `^' and `$' in standard regular expressions. They are useful for matching path segments in
patterns other than those in filename generation (where path segments are in any case treated
separately). For example, `*((#s)|/)test((#e)|/)*' matches a path segment `test' in any of
the following strings: test, test/at/start, at/end/test, in/test/middle.
Another use is in parameter substitution; for example `${array/(#s)A*Z(#e)}' will remove only
elements of an array which match the complete pattern `A*Z'. There are other ways of perform-ing performing
ing many operations of this type, however the combination of the substitution operations `/'
and `//' with the `(#s)' and `(#e)' flags provides a single simple and memorable method.
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 overrides the MULTIBYTE option;
the default behaviour is taken from the option. Compare U. (Mnemonic: typically multibyte
characters are from Unicode in the UTF-8 encoding, although any extension of ASCII supported
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-insensitive 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 letters inside [...]
groups, in other words (#i)[a-z] still matches only lowercase letters. Finally, note that when exam-ining examining
ining whole paths case-insensitively every directory must be searched for all files which match, so
that a pattern 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:
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, including 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 separately for non-contiguous strings in the pattern, so that (ab|cd)ef is two
errors from aebf.
When using exclusion via the ~ operator, approximate matching 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 example, (#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 estab-lishing establishing
lishing 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.
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 directory). This form does not follow symbolic links; the alternative form `***/' does, but
is otherwise identical. Neither of these can be combined with other forms of globbing within the
same path segment; in that case, the `*' operators 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 qualifiers, 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 unambiguous, 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 probably be avoided for the sake of clarity.
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 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 num-ber number
ber 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 char-acter character
acter (`[', `{', 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 execute per-mission, permission,
mission, 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 filename 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; `[', `{', 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 parame-ter parameter
ter 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 com-mand command
mand 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 longest 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 modified 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. Otherwise, id specifies a user name: the char-acter character
acter after the `u' will be taken as a separator and the string between it and the next match-ing matching
ing separator will be taken as a user name. The starting separators `[', `{', and `<' match
the final separators `]', `}', and `>', respectively; any other character matches itself. The
selected files are those owned by this user. For example, `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 performed 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
- 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 pattern
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 parameter 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 num-ber number
ber 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 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 subscripting they may be negative to make them count from the last match back-ward. backward.
ward. 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 separately 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 pattern `*(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 sublists matches (they are `or'ed, the qualifiers in the sublists 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 brack-ets brackets
ets (`[...]').
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 followed 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
ls *(%W)
lists all world-writable device files in the current directory, 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 sym-links, symlinks,
links, and
ls *.*~(lex|parse).[ch](^D^l1)
lists all files having a link count of one whose names contain 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 quali-fier qualifier
fier `.' 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'.
ZSHPARAM(1) 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 alphanu-meric alphanumeric
meric 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. Fur-thermore, Furthermore,
thermore, 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 zsh-expn(1) zshexpn(1)
expn(1) for complete 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 recreated, the special properties will be retained. `<Z>' indicates
that the parameter does not exist when the shell initializes 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:
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 subscript. A subscript of the form `[exp]'
selects the single element exp, where exp is an arithmetic expression which will be subject to arith-metic arithmetic
metic expansion as if it were surrounded 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 `$foo[2]'. If the KSH_ARRAYS option is set, the braced form is the only one that works, as brack-eted bracketed
eted expressions otherwise are not treated as subscripts.
If the KSH_ARRAYS option is not set, then by default accesses to an array element with a subscript
that evaluates to zero return an empty string, while an attempt to write such an element is treated
as an error. For backward compatibility the KSH_ZERO_SUBSCRIPT option can be set to cause subscript
values 0 and 1 to be equivalent; see the description of the option in zshoptions(1).
The same subscripting syntax is used for associative arrays, except that no arithmetic expansion is
applied to exp. However, the parsing rules for arithmetic expressions still apply, which affects the
way that certain special characters must be protected from interpretation. See Subscript Parsing
below for details.
A subscript of the form `[*]' or `[@]' evaluates to all elements of an array; there is no difference
between the two except when they appear within double quotes. `"$foo[*]"' evaluates to `"$foo[1]
$foo[2] ..."', whereas `"$foo[@]"' evaluates to `"$foo[1]" "$foo[2]" ...'. For associative arrays,
`[*]' or `[@]' evaluate to all the values, in no particular order. Note that this does not substi-tute substitute
tute 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 `$name' (with no subscript) it evalu-ates evaluates
ates to `$name[*]', unless the KSH_ARRAYS option is set in which case it evaluates to `${name[0]}'
(for an associative array, this means the value of the key `0', which may not exist even if there are
values for other keys).
A subscript of the form `[exp1,exp2]' selects all elements in the range exp1 to exp2, inclusive.
(Associative arrays are unordered, and so do not support ranges.) If one of the subscripts evaluates
to a negative number, say -n, then the nth element from the end of the array is used. Thus
`$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 sub-string substring
string 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 ele-ment. element.
ment. 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 command:
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 brackets from being inter-preted interpreted
preted 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, use the unset command:
unset "name[exp]"
Subscript Flags
If the opening bracket, or the comma in a range, in any subscript expression is directly followed by
an opening parenthesis, the string up to the matching closing one is considered 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 interpreted 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 arbitrary; see above.
p Recognize the same escape sequences as the print builtin in the string argument of a subse-quent subsequent
quent `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 parame-ter parameter
ter is an associative array, only the value part of each pair is compared to the pattern, and
the result is that value.
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 normal 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 fea-ture feature
ture in normal pattern matching). 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 param-eter parameter
eter 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 compared 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 associa-tive associative
tive array. On failure substitutes 0, or the empty string for an associative array. This
flag is best when testing for values 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 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 interpreted 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 sub-scripting subscripting
scripting (the `r', `R', `i', etc. flags), but it may also affect parameter substitutions that appear
as part of an arithmetic expression 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 is.
The basic rule to remember when writing a subscript expression is that all text between the opening
`[' and the closing `]' 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 double-quoted
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 pat-tern. pattern.
tern. 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 protect parentheses or braces are
removed during parsing. This is because parameter expansions may be surrounded by balanced 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 with-out without
out being preceded by a backslash, and therefore that the two characters `\"' remain as two charac-ters characters
ters in the subscript (in true double-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 assignment, use the typeset builtin and an
enclosing pair of double 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]"
It is important to note that the quoting rules do not change when a parameter expansion with a sub-script subscript
script 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 expan-sion expansion
sion 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 $aa[(e)*]
A last detail must be considered when reverse subscripting is performed. Parameters appearing in the
subscript expression are first expanded and then the complete expression is interpreted as a pattern.
This has two effects: first, parameters behave as if GLOB_SUBST were on (and it cannot be turned
off); second, backslashes are interpreted twice, once when parsing the array subscript and again when
parsing the pattern. In a reverse subscript, it's necessary to use four backslashes to cause a sin-gle single
gle backslash to match literally in the pattern. For complex patterns, it is often easiest to assign
the desired pattern to a parameter and then refer to that parameter in the subscript, because then
the backslashes, brackets, parentheses, etc., are seen only when the complete expression is converted
to a pattern. To match the value of a parameter literally in a reverse subscript, rather than as a
pattern, use `${(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'. There-fore, Therefore,
fore, 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 `$2[3,5]' is the entire second parameter concatenated with the
filename generation pattern `[3,5]'.
POSITIONAL PARAMETERS
The positional parameters provide access to the command-line arguments of a shell function, shell
script, or the shell itself; see the section `Invocation', and also the section `Functions'. The
parameter n, where n is a number, is the nth positional parameter. The parameters *, @ and argv are
arrays containing all the positional parameters; thus `$argv[n]', etc., is equivalent to simply `$n'.
Positional parameters may be changed after the shell or function starts by using the set builtin, by
assigning to the argv array, or by direct assignment of the form `n=value' where n is the number of
the positional parameter to be changed. This also creates (with empty values) any of the positions
from 1 to n that do not already have values. Note that, because the positional parameters form an
array, an array assignment of the form `n=(value ...)' is allowed, and has the effect of shifting all
the values at positions greater than n by as many positions as necessary to accommodate the new val-ues. values.
ues.
LOCAL PARAMETERS
Shell function executions delimit scopes for shell parameters. (Parameters are dynamically scoped.)
The typeset builtin, and its alternative forms declare, integer, local and readonly (but not export),
can be used to declare a parameter as being local to the innermost scope.
When a parameter is read or assigned to, the innermost existing parameter of that name is used.
(That is, the local parameter hides any less-local parameter.) However, assigning to a non-existent
parameter, or declaring a new parameter with export, causes it to be created in the outermost scope.
Local parameters disappear when their scope ends. unset can be used to delete a parameter while it
is still in scope; any outer parameter of the same name remains hidden.
Special parameters may also be made local; they retain their special attributes unless either the
existing or the newly-created parameter has the -h (hide) attribute. This may have unexpected
effects: there is no default value, so if there is no assignment at the point the variable is made
local, it will be set to an empty value (or zero in the case of integers). The following:
typeset PATH=/new/directory:$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 background with &, or put into the back-ground background
ground 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 processes 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 positional 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).
@ <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 effective 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 effective 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>
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 priv-ileges), privileges),
ileges), you may start a single 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 neces-sarily necessarily
sarily as displayed by the functions builtin.
LOGNAME
If the corresponding variable is not set in the environment 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 disabled 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.
PWD The present working directory. This is set when the shell initializes and whenever the direc-tory directory
tory changes.
RANDOM <S>
A pseudo-random integer from 0 to 32767, newly generated each time this parameter is refer-enced. referenced.
enced. The random 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 parent 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 SECONDS parameter can be changed using the
typeset command. 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 indicate an error, 0 otherwise. It may be reset, clearing the error condition. See
Complex Commands in zshmisc(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>
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 (assuming sufficient privileges),
you may start a single command 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 single
command under a different username (and user ID and group ID) by `(USERNAME=username; com-mand)' command)'
mand)'
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 indicate 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
immediate 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 func-tion. function.
tion.
fc Code from the shell history executed by the -e option to the fc builtin.
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 qualifier.
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 variable. 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 interactive shell.
trap Code executed as a trap defined by the trap builtin. Traps defined as functions have
the context 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
Code executed as a guard by the zregexparse command from the zsh/zutil module.
zregexparse-action
Code executed as an action by the zregexparse command 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_VERSION.
zsh_scheduled_events
See the section `The zsh/sched Module' in zshmodules(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_SUBSHELL) )' 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 external commands. Usually used in con-structs constructs
structs like `ARGV0=emacs nethack'.
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 nec-essary. necessary.
essary. 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 circumstances, e.g. for slow modems dialing into
a communications 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 specifying 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 correction. Any potential correction that
matches the pattern is ignored. For example, if the value is `_*' then completion functions
(which, by convention, have names beginning with `_') will never be offered as spelling cor-rections. corrections.
rections. The pattern does not apply to the correction of file names, as applied by the COR-RECT_ALL CORRECT_ALL
RECT_ALL option (so with the example just given files beginning with `_' in the current direc-tory directory
tory 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 substitu-tion, substitution,
tion, and arithmetic expansion 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>)
An array (colon separated list) containing the suffixes of files to be ignored during filename
completion. However, if completion only generates files with suffixes in this list, then
these files are completed anyway.
fpath <S> <Z> (FPATH <S>)
An array (colon separated list) of directories specifying the search path for function defini-tions. definitions.
tions. This path is searched when a function with the -u attribute is referenced. If an exe-cutable executable
cutable file is found, then it is read and executed in the current environment.
histchars <S>
Three characters used by the shell's history and lexical analysis mechanism. The first char-acter character
acter 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.
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 saving duplicated history events.
HOME <S>
The default argument for the cd command. This is not set automatically by the shell in sh,
ksh or csh emulation, 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, newline 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 character.
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 inter-preting interpreting
preting 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 back-quotes backquotes
quotes 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 KEY-BOARD_HACK KEYBOARD_HACK
BOARD_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' variable and the value of any of the other
variables starting with `LC_'.
LC_COLLATE <S>
This variable determines the locale category for character collation information within ranges
in glob brackets and for sorting.
LC_CTYPE <S>
This variable determines the locale category for character handling functions. If the MULTI-BYTE MULTIBYTE
BYTE option is in effect this variable or LANG should contain a value that reflects the char-acter character
acter 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 floating 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 without asking first. If the value is nega-tive, negative,
tive, 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 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 fol-lowed followed
lowed by a `?' and a message that will be printed. The message will undergo parameter expan-sion, expansion,
sion, command substitution and arithmetic expansion with the variable $_ defined as the name
of the file that has changed. The default message is `You have new mail'. If an element is a
directory instead of a file the shell will recursively check every file in every subdirectory
of the element.
manpath <S> <Z> (MANPATH <S> <Z>)
An array (colon-separated list) whose value is not used by the shell. The manpath array can
be useful, however, since setting it also sets MANPATH, and vice versa.
match
mbegin
mend Arrays set by the shell when the b globbing flag is used in pattern matches. See the subsec-tion subsection
tion Globbing flags in the documentation for Filename Generation in zshexpn(1).
MATCH
MBEGIN
MEND Set by the shell when the m globbing flag is used in pattern matches. See the subsection
Globbing flags in the documentation for Filename Generation in zshexpn(1).
module_path <S> <Z> (MODULE_PATH <S>)
An array (colon-separated list) of directories that zmodload searches for dynamically loadable
modules. This is initialized to a standard pathname, usually `/usr/local/lib/zsh/$ZSH_VER-SION'. `/usr/local/lib/zsh/$ZSH_VERSION'.
SION'. (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 supports dynamic module loading.
NULLCMD <S>
The command name to assume if a redirection is specified with no command. Defaults to cat.
For sh/ksh 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 terminal.
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 equivalent 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 displays any shell con-structs constructs
structs 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 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 first nine values can be used in PROMPT strings. Set-ting Setting
ting psvar also sets PSVAR, and vice versa.
READNULLCMD <S>
The command name to assume if a single input redirection 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 situations where a function call or redirection are impossible or undesirable.
The read builtin and the select complex command may set REPLY, and filename generation both
sets and examines its value when evaluating certain 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.
SPROMPT <S>
The prompt used for spelling correction. The sequence `%R' expands to the string which pre-sumably presumably
sumably 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 com-mand. command.
mand. The modes apply only to the command, and are reset when it finishes or is suspended. 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 continued via `kill -CONT'. STTY is ignored if the command is run in the back-ground, background,
ground, or if it is in the environment 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 specifications; 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 keyword. The default is `%J %U user %S sys-tem system
tem %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.
%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 parame-ter parameter
ter 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. Otherwise a new alarm is sched-uled scheduled
uled to TMOUT seconds after the last keypress.
TMPPREFIX
A pathname prefix which the shell will use for all temporary 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 reported.
WATCHFMT
The format of login/logout reports if the watch parameter is set. Default is `%n has %a %l
from %m'. Recognizes 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 separator and the right parenthesis may be escaped 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 separators 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 exam-ple, example,
ple, 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 -- $ZLE_LINE_ABORTED' can be used to
recover the line. Only the most recent line of this kind is remembered.
ZLE_REMOVE_SUFFIX_CHARS
ZLE_SPACE_SUFFIX_CHARS
These parameters are used by the line editor. In certain circumstances suffixes (typically
space or slash) added by the completion system will be removed automatically, either because
the next editing command was not an insertable character, or because the character was marked
as requiring the suffix to be removed.
These variables can contain the sets of characters that will cause the suffix to be removed.
If ZLE_REMOVE_SUFFIX_CHARS is set, those characters will cause the suffix to be removed; if
ZLE_SPACE_SUFFIX_CHARS is set, those characters will cause the suffix to be removed and
replaced by a space.
If ZLE_REMOVE_SUFFIX_CHARS is not set, the default behaviour is equivalent to:
ZLE_REMOVE_SUFFIX_CHARS=$' \t\n;&|'
If ZLE_REMOVE_SUFFIX_CHARS is set but is empty, no characters 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 zsh-compsys(1). zshcompsys(1).
compsys(1).
ZSHOPTIONS(1) 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 equiva-lent equivalent
lent 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 preceded by `-'.
The sense of the single letter options may be inverted by using `+' instead of `-'. Some of the sin-gle single
gle letter option names refer to an option being off, in which case the inversion of that name refers
to the option being on. For example, `+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 emulations 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 normal command, and the command is the name
of a directory, perform the cd command to that directory.
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 direc-tory, directory,
tory, 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 directory /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 symbolic links in the
path will also be resolved.
CHASE_LINKS (-w)
Resolve symbolic links to their true values when changing 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 segment 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 directories
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 interactive 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 other-wise otherwise
wise treated as `.', causes the directory to be printed.
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 consecutive request for completion, for
example by pressing 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 directory, that will be used by the `%~' and related prompt sequences, and will be avail-able available
able 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 character (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 charac-ter character
ter typed comes immediately after the parameter name. Completion in a brace expansion is
affected similarly: 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 delimiter, 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 succession. This takes precedence over AUTO_LIST. The setting 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_COMPLETE, since repeated completion calls immediately
cycle through the list in that case.
COMPLETE_ALIASES
Prevents aliases on the command line from being internally substituted before completion is
attempted. The effect is to make the alias a distinct command for completion 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 con-tains contains
tains a pattern; simply turning on the GLOB_COMPLETE option does not have this effect.
HASH_LIST_ALL <D>
Whenever a command completion or spelling correction is attempted, make sure the entire com-mand command
mand 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 behaviour 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 col-umns columns
umns with different widths.
LIST_ROWS_FIRST
Lay out the matches in completion lists sorted horizontally, 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 possibilities or beeping, insert the first
match immediately. 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.
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 spe-cial special
cial 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 `Filename Expansion'.)
EXTENDED_GLOB
Treat the `#', `~' and `^' characters as part of patterns for filename generation, etc. (An
initial unquoted `~' always produces named directory expansion.)
GLOB (+F, ksh: +f) <D>
Perform filename generation (globbing). (See the section `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 generation, and any characters resulting from command substitution as being eli-gible eligible
gible 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 syntac-tically syntactically
tically significant 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 construct. 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.
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=expression' appearing after the command name have
filename expansion (that is, where expression has a leading `~' or `=') performed on expres-sion expression
sion as if it were a parameter 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. assignment.
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 character, depending on
the current locale. This affects the way characters are counted in pattern matching, parame-ter parameter
ter values and various delimiters.
The option is on by default if the shell was compiled with MULTIBYTE_SUPPORT except in sh emu-lation; emulation;
lation; otherwise 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.
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 characters. 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 generation pattern, sort the filenames numeri-cally numerically
cally 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 sub-stituted substituted
stituted 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 =~ operator will use Perl-Compatible Regular
Expressions from the PCRE library, if available. If not set, regular expressions will use the
extended regexp syntax provided by the system libraries.
SH_GLOB <K> <S>
Disables the special meaning of `(', `|', `)' and '<' for globbing the result of parameter and
command substitutions, 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 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 substituting. Otherwise they are treated as
an error.
WARN_CREATE_GLOBAL
Print a warning message when a global parameter is created in a function by an assignment.
This often indicates 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 his-tory history
tory 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 speci-fied specified
fied by $SAVEHIST (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 sec-onds) seconds)
onds) 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 lost before losing a
unique event from the list. You should be sure to set the value of HISTSIZE to a larger num-ber number
ber 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 locking on some operating systems. With this option locking 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 com-mand command
mand 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 internal 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 handled, with the conse-quence consequence
quence that references to words in history lines that have been read from a file may be inac-curate. inaccurate.
curate. When this option is set, words read in from a history file are divided up in a simi-lar similar
lar fashion to normal shell command line handling. Although this 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 $HIST-FILE.new $HISTFILE.new
FILE.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 history-appending
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 possible to lose history entries if zsh gets interrupted during
the save.
When writing out a copy of the history file, zsh preserves the old file's permissions and
group information, 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 history 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 $HIST-FILE $HISTFILE
FILE incrementally (as soon as they are entered), rather than waiting until the shell exits.
The file will still be periodically 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 com-mands commands
mands to be appended to the history file (the latter is like specifying 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 commands 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 envi-ronment environment
ronment 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 compatibility; it is not recommended that its be-haviour behaviour
haviour 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 por-table portable
table way to achieve this behaviour.
GLOBAL_RCS (-d) <D>
If this option is unset, the startup files /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 others
ers will not be; it can be set at any time to prevent the remaining startup files after the
currently executing 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 commands are used.
The shell variable CORRECT_IGNORE may be set to a pattern to match words that will never be
offered as corrections.
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 logout instead. However, ten consecu-tive consecutive
tive 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 mes-sage. message.
sage. 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 directo-ries directories
ries 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 com-mands, commands,
mands, 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 command `/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.
Note that subdirectories of the current directory are always searched for executables speci-fied specified
fied in this form. This takes place before any search indicated by this option, and regard-less regardless
less 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 system 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.
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 reflexively 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 annoyingly close to it. As an alternative the variable KEY-BOARD_HACK KEYBOARD_HACK
BOARD_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 previous command line included a `jobs' com-mand, command,
mand, 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 FUNCTIONS 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 print-ing printing
ing a prompt.
POSIX_JOBS <K> <S>
This option makes job control more compliant with the POSIX standard.
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 dis-played displayed
played 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 out-putting outputting
putting 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 success-ful successful
ful 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.
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. Substitutions within prompts do not affect the command status.
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 behaviour 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 spe-cially: specially:
cially: 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 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.
ERR_RETURN
If a command has a non-zero exit status, return immediately from the enclosing function. The
logic is identical 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 out-put output
put 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 typically 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.
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. However, 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 function 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 key-word keyword
word is always allowed. Multiple function definitions are not often used and can cause
obscure errors.
MULTIOS <Z>
Perform implicit tees or cats when multiple redirections are attempted (see the section `Redi-rection'). `Redirection').
rection').
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 exam-ple, example,
ple, 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.
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 <source-
trace>. 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 executed. 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 sub-strings. substrings.
strings. 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 sub-strings. substrings.
strings.
BSD_ECHO <S>
Make the echo builtin compatible with the BSD echo(1) command. This disables backslashed
escape sequences in 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 run-ning running
ning 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 condi-tions. conditions.
tions. 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 versions 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 newlines 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 substitutions 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 corre-sponding corresponding
sponding file is merely executed, and must define the function itself. (By default, the func-tion function
tion is defined to the contents of the file. However, the most common ksh-style case - of the
file containing only a simple definition of the function - is always handled in the ksh-com-patible ksh-compatible
patible manner.)
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' other-wise. otherwise.
wise.
KSH_TYPESET <K>
Alters the way arguments to the typeset family of commands, 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 sub-script subscript
script 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 candidates 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 until the end of any function or other piece of shell code parsed as one unit.
Note this may cause differences 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
command argument is parsed as one unit, so aliases defined within the argument are not avail-able available
able even in later lines. If in doubt, avoid use of aliases in non-interactive code.
POSIX_BUILTINS <K> <S>
When this option is set the command builtin can be used to execute shell builtin commands.
Parameter assignments 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 support 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-standard but is the tra-ditional traditional
ditional zsh behaviour.
POSIX_STRINGS <K> <S>
This option affects processing of quoted strings. Currently it only affects the behaviour of
null characters, i.e. character 0 in the portable character set corresponding to US ASCII.
When this option is not set, null characters embedded within strings of the form $'...' are
treated as ordinary 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
external programs.
When this option is set, the $'...' expression is truncated at the null character. Note that
remaining parts of the same string beyond the termination of the quotes are not trunctated.
For example, the command line argument a$'b\0c'd is treated with the option off as the charac-ters characters
ters 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 substitu-tion, substitution,
tion, 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 single 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 nothing to do with word splitting. (See the section `Parameter Expansion'.)
TRAPS_ASYNC
While waiting for a program to exit, handle signals and 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 commands are being read from standard input. (See the discussion of SHIN_STDIN.)
This heuristic may be overridden 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 explicitly 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 changing 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. Commands 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 positional 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 running - that is purely an indicator of whether on not commands are actu-ally actually
ally 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 exe-cuted. executed.
cuted. 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 supplied 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 character 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 charac-ters characters
ters 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 equivalent effect of `bindkey -e'. In addi-tion, addition,
tion, the VI option is unset. Turning it off has no effect. The option setting is not guar-anteed guaranteed
anteed 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 emulation it only provides superficial compat-ibility compatibility
ibility with the ksh line editor and reduces the effectiveness of the zsh line editor. As it
has no effect on shell syntax, many users may wish to disable this option when using ksh emu-lation emulation
lation interactively.
VI If ZLE is loaded, turning on this option has the equivalent effect of `bindkey -v'. In addi-tion, addition,
tion, 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)
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
-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 processing
-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
ZSHBUILTINS(1) ZSHBUILTINS(1)
NAME
zshbuiltins - zsh built-in commands
SHELL BUILTIN COMMANDS
- 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 $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 positional 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 posi-tion. position.
tion.
If the -s flags 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 differ-ent different
ent 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 global, regular or suffix
aliases, respectively; a regular alias is one which is neither a global nor a suffix 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 calling function to be marked for autoloading and then immediately loaded and exe-cuted, executed,
cuted, with the current array of positional parameters as arguments. This replaces the previ-ous previous
ous definition of the function. If no function 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 behav-iour behaviour
iour on the first call to the function. If the -m flag is also given each name is treated as
a pattern and all functions already marked for autoload that match the pattern 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 the function is loaded.
Note that the autoload command makes no attempt to ensure the shell options set during the
loading or execution 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 current 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 parameter 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 `.' 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 parame-ter parameter
ter 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 directory stack, and changes to that direc-tory. directory.
tory. 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 function chpwd and the functions in the array
chpwd_functions are not called. This is useful for calls to cd that do not change the envi-ronment environment
ronment seen by an interactive user.
If the -s option is specified, cd refuses to change the current directory if the given path-name pathname
name contains symlinks. 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 zshmodules(1).
command [ -pvV ] simple command
The simple command argument is taken as an external command instead of a function or builtin
and is executed. If the POSIX_BUILTINS option is set, builtins will also be executed but cer-tain certain
tain 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 zshmodules(1).
compcall
See the section `The zsh/compctl Module' in zshmodules(1).
compctl
See the section `The zsh/compctl Module' in zshmodules(1).
compdescribe
See the section `The zsh/computil Module' in zshmodules(1).
compfiles
See the section `The zsh/computil Module' in zshmodules(1).
compgroups
See the section `The zsh/computil Module' in zshmodules(1).
compquote
See the section `The zsh/computil Module' in zshmodules(1).
comptags
See the section `The zsh/computil Module' in zshmodules(1).
comptry
See the section `The zsh/computil Module' in zshmodules(1).
compvalues
See the section `The zsh/computil Module' in zshmodules(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.
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 commands. 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.
-p print directory entries one per line.
-v number the directories in the stack when printing.
disable [ -afmrs ] name ...
Temporarily disable the named hash table elements. The default is to disable builtin com-mands. commands.
mands. 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 dis-able disable
able 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 corresponding hash table matching these patterns are dis-abled. disabled.
abled. Disabled objects can be enabled with the enable command.
disown [ job ... ]
job ... &|
job ... &!
Remove the specified jobs from the job table; the shell will no longer report their status,
and will not complain 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, indepen-dent independent
dent 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 following 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.
echotc See the section `The zsh/termcap Module' in zshmodules(1).
echoti See the section `The zsh/terminfo Module' in zshmodules(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 COMPATIBILITY
PATIBILITY in zsh(1) .
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 executed inside the function by the ., source, or eval commands
is not considered to be running directly from the function, hence does not provoke this behav-iour. behaviour.
iour.
If the -R switch is given, all settable options are reset to their default value corresponding
to the specified emulation mode, except for certain options describing the interactive envi-ronment; environment;
ronment; 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 and LOCAL_TRAPS
will be set as well, causing the effects of the emulate command and any setopt and trap com-mands commands
mands to be local to the immediately 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.
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 expres-sion: expression:
sion: 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 before entry to the function, and 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 cshnullglob, 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 `emulate shell -c' is identical to that
provided by entry to a function marked for sticky emulation as a consequence of being
defined in such an environment. 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 emulate 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 emulations are different, so for example `emulate zsh -c' and `emulate zsh -o
cbases -c' are treated as distinct sticky emulations.
enable [ -afmrs ] name ...
Enable the named hash table elements, presumably disabled 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.
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 string or
whitespace) the return status is zero.
exec [ -cl ] [ -a argv_ ] 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 argv_ 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.
export [ name[=value] ... ]
The specified names are marked for automatic export to the environment of subsequently exe-cuted executed
cuted 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 number 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 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 sec-tion section
tion 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 automatically popped when the cur-rent current
rent 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 argu-ment argument
ment 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 argument
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 however
you desire in order to manipulate the new history list.
`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 $HISTFILE 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 functions that use `fc -p'. The one other guaranteed-safe combination is declar-ing declaring
ing 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 filename 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 cur-rent current
rent job.
float [ {+|-}EFHghlprtux ] [ -LRZ [ n ]] [ name[=value] ... ]
Equivalent to typeset -E, except that options irrelevant 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 arithmetical expressions; see the section `Arithmetic Evaluation' 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 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 function 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 expressions. 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 mathemati-cal mathematical
cal function.
functions -M with no arguments lists all such user-defined functions in the same form as a
definition. 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 considered a valid
option argument. optstring contains the letters that getopts recognizes. If a letter is fol-lowed followed
lowed by a `:', that option requires an argument. The options can be separated from the argu-ment argument
ment by blanks.
Each time it is invoked, getopts places the option letter 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 emptied. It will be subsequently rebuilt
in the normal fashion. The -f option causes the selected hash table to be fully rebuilt imme-diately. immediately.
diately. 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 patterns (which should be quoted) and the
elements of the hash table matching those patterns are printed. This is the only way to dis-play display
play 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 pathname `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 appropriate 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 specifica-tion. specification.
tion. 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 irrelevant 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 specified 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 environment space with the given string, trun-cated truncated
cated if necessary to fit. This will normally be visible in ps (ps(1)) listings. This fea-ture feature
ture 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 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 argu-ment argument
ment 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 number is listed. For each sig that is a signal number or a number rep-resenting representing
resenting 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 chil-dren children
dren of the shell. If -s is given without other arguments, the resource limits of the current
shell is set to the previously 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 argument. However, if it fails to set a limit for some other reason it will continue
trying to set the remaining limits.
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.
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.
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.
vmemorysize
Maximum amount of virtual memory.
Which of these resource limits are available depends on the system. resource can be abbrevi-ated abbreviated
ated to any unambiguous prefix. It can also be an integer, which corresponds 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 param-eter. parameter.
eter.
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
of `+' and `-' in this context are swapped.
If the -q (quiet) option is specified, the hook function chpwd and the functions in the array
$chpwd_functions 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 character (`\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 incrementing 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 directory names, replacing prefixes with ~ expressions, as
appropriate.
-i If given together with -o or -O, sorting is performed 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 argu-ment argument
ment list together with subsequent arguments that do not match this pattern.
-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 newline. 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 con-tent. content.
tent.
-S Place the results in the history list instead of on the standard output. In this case
only a single 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 specification. Formatting rules are the same as
used in C. The same escape sequences as for echo are recognised in the format. All C conver-sion conversion
sion specifications ending in one of csdiouxXeEfgGn are handled. In addition to this, `%b' can
be used instead of `%s' to cause escape 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 charac-ter, character,
ter, 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 explic-itly explicitly
itly 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 subject to future change.
If arguments remain unused after formatting, the format string is reused until all arguments
have been consumed. 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
interpreted 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' 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 function chpwd and the functions in the array
$chpwd_functions are not called, and the new directory stack is 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 characters in $IFS as separators, except as
noted below. The first field is assigned to the first name, the second 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 signify 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 terminal
unless one of -u or -p is present. This option may also be used within zle widgets.
-k [ num ]
Read only one (or num) characters. All are assigned to the first name, without word
splitting. 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 splitting. 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 com-mand command
mand 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 cursor 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 ]
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 read-ing, reading,
ing, 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 processed one key at a time; in this case, only avail-ability availability
ability 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 stan-dard standard
dard 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. Other-wise Otherwise
wise 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 ]
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 function, 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 argu-ment, argument,
ment, so the statement `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 zshmodules(1).
set [ {+|-}options | {+|-}o [ option_name ] ] ... [ {+|-}A [ name ] ] [ arg ... ]
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 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 fur-ther further
ther arguments, the positional parameters will be unset.
If no arguments and no `--' are given, then the names and values of all parameters are printed
on the standard 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
modified by the option KSH_OPTION_PRINT, however the rationale 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 patterns (which should be quoted to protect
them from filename expansion), and all options with names matching these patterns are set.
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 standard, but setopt is not.
shift [ n ] [ name ... ]
The positional parameters ${n+1} ... are renamed to $1 ..., where n is an arithmetic expres-sion expression
sion 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 compatibility; use conditional expressions instead
(see the section `Conditional Expressions'). The main differences between the conditional
expression syntax and the test and [ builtins are: these commands are not handled syntacti-cally, syntactically,
cally, so for example an empty variable expansion 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 extensions where these are specified. Unfor-tunately Unfortunately
tunately 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 ambiguities.
times Print the accumulated user and system times for the shell and for processes run from the
shell.
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 specified 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 `command' is what is described
as a `sublist' in the shell grammar, see the section SIMPLE COMMANDS & PIPELINES in zsh-misc(1). zshmisc(1).
misc(1). If DEBUG_BEFORE_CMD is set various additional 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 origi-nal original
nal 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 execu-tion execution
tion 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 inside the body of a function, then the com-mand command
mand arg is executed when the shell terminates; the trap runs before any zshexit hook func-tions. functions.
tions.
ZERR, DEBUG, and EXIT traps are not executed inside other traps. ZERR and DEBUG traps are
kept within subshells, 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 environment (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 $LINENO; }
will always print the number zero.
Alternative signal names are allowed as described under kill above. Defining a trap under
either name causes any trap under an alternative name to be removed. However, it is recom-mended recommended
mended that for consistency users stick exclusively to one name or another.
true [ arg ... ]
Do nothing and return an exit status of 0.
ttyctl -fu
The -f option freezes the tty, and -u unfreezes it. When the tty is frozen, no changes made
to the tty settings by external programs will be honored by the shell, except for changes in
the size of the screen; the shell will simply reset the settings to their previous values as
soon as each command exits or is suspended. Thus, stty and similar programs have no effect
when the tty is frozen. Without options it reports whether the terminal is frozen or not.
type [ -wfpams ] name ...
Equivalent to whence -v.
typeset [ {+|-}AEFHUafghklprtuxmz ] [ -LRZi [ n ]] [ name[=value] ... ]
typeset -T [ {+|-}Urux ] [ -LRZ [ n ]] SCALAR[=value] array [ sep ]
Set or display attributes and values for shell parameters.
A parameter is created for each name that does not already refer to one. When inside a func-tion, function,
tion, a new parameter is created for every name (even those that already exist), and is unset
again when the function completes. See `Local Parameters' in zshparam(1). The same rules
apply to special shell parameters, which retain their special attributes when made local.
For each name=value assignment, the parameter name is set to value. Note that arrays cur-rently currently
rently cannot be assigned in typeset expressions, only scalars and integers. Unless the
option KSH_TYPESET is set, normal expansion rules apply to assignment arguments, so value may
be split into separate words; if the option is set, assignments which can be recognised when
expansion is performed are treated as single words. For example the command typeset
vbl=$(echo one two) is treated as having 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 param-eter parameter
eter that is set, the name and value of the parameter are printed in the form of an assign-ment. assignment.
ment. 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 assignment (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 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, assign-ing assigning
ing an array to SCALAR is an error, and assigning a scalar to array sets it to be a sin-gle-element single-element
gle-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 separator 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 printing of the
values of parameters when there is no parameter 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 TYPESET_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 parameter (array, asso-ciation, association,
ciation, exported, integer, readonly). If +m is used with attribute flags, and all those
flags are introduced with +, the matching parameter 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 MULTI-BYTE MULTIBYTE
BYTE option is in effect. Note that the screen width of the character 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 unexpected 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. 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 output.
-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 parameters. No assignments can be made, and
the only other valid flags are -t, -T, -k, -u, -U and -z. The flag -t turns on execu-tion execution
tion 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 zsh-param(1)), zshparam(1)),
param(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 spe-cial special
cial effect when made local. Thus after `typeset -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 param-eter parameter
eter using `typeset +h special', where the local copy of special will retain its spe-cial special
cial properties regardless of having the -h attribute. Global special parameters
loaded from shell modules (currently those in zsh/mapfile and zsh/parameter) are auto-matically automatically
matically given the -h attribute to avoid name clashes.
-H Hide value: specifies that typeset will not display 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 specified 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,
however, 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 arith-metic arithmetic
metic base, otherwise it is determined by the first assignment. 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 num-ber number
ber of digits to display 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 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 [ [ -SHacdfilmnpqrstvx | -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 lim-its. limits.
its.
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 argument. However, if it fails to set a limit for some other reason it will continue
trying to set the remaining limits.
Not all the following resources are supported on all systems. Running ulimit -a will show
which are supported.
-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.
-l Kilobytes on the size of locked-in memory.
-m Kilobytes on the size of physical memory.
-n open file descriptors.
-q Bytes in POSIX message queues.
-s Kilobytes on the size of the stack.
-t CPU seconds to be used.
-r The number of simultaneous threads available to the user.
-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'.
-x The number of locks on files.
A resource may also be specified by integer in the form `-N resource', where resource corre-sponds corresponds
sponds to the integer 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 number. 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 table. The default is remove elements
from the command hash table. The -a option causes unhash to remove regular 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 directories. 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.
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 sub-script subscript
script from filename generation.
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 asso-ciative associative
ciative 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 arguments are supplied, the names of all options currently unset are printed.
If the -m flag is given the arguments are taken as patterns (which should be quoted to pre-serve preserve
serve 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 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, func-tion, function,
tion, 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 displayed, which would otherwise not hap-pen happen
pen 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 occurrence is printed.
-m The arguments are taken as patterns (should be quoted), and the information is dis-played displayed
played for each command matching one of these patterns.
-s If a pathname contains symlinks, print the symlink-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 are read.
The first form (without the -c, -a or -t options) creates 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 function
file when the function is autoloaded; see the section `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 functions 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
initialization code in the file is lost. Using `zcompile -a' captures all this extra informa-tion. information.
tion.
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 existing compiled file. Without further argu-ments, arguments,
ments, the 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 memory-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 memory 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 contains 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 determined 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.
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 independent 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 zshmodules(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 (`dynamical loading') is not available on all operating systems, or on all installa-tions installations
tions on a particular operating system, although the zmodload command itself is always avail-able available
able 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 commands. Forms with arguments
are:
zmodload [ -i ] name ...
zmodload -u [ -i ] name ...
In the simplest case, zmodload loads a binary module. 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 mod-ule module
ule 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 mod-ule module
ule 2>/dev/null' is sufficient to test whether a module is available. If it is avail-able, available,
able, the module is loaded if necessary, while if it is not available, non-zero status
is silently returned. The option -i is accepted for compatibility but has no 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 con-tains contains
tains a `/', which it usually does. There is no way to prevent the path search.
If the module supports features (see below), zmodload 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 suppresses 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 features is set to the required state. If no features are
specified, the module is loaded, if it was not already loaded, but the state of fea-tures features
tures is unchanged. Each feature may be preceded by a + to turn the feature on, or -to orto
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 features were set, 1 if the module failed to load, and 2 if some features could not
be set (for example, a parameter couldn't be added because there was a different param-eter parameter
eter 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 condition), `p:' and `f:',
respectively, followed by the name that the corresponding feature would have in the
shell. For example, `b:strftime' indicates a builtin named strftime and p:EPOCHSECONDS
indicates 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 modules 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 feature 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 exam-ined. examined.
ined. Any feature given with no prefix is simply tested to see if the module 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 initial + or - must be given
explicitly. This may not be combined with the -a option as autoloads must be specified
explicitly.
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 feature is enabled. Autoload requests are pre-served preserved
served 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 mod-ule module
ule that is already loaded.
When the module is loaded each autoload is checked against the features actually pro-vided provided
vided by the module; 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 different fea-ture, feature,
ture, 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 dependencies. The modules named in the
second and subsequent 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 Make-file-like Makefile-like
file-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 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 zmodload -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 condition 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 com-mands commands
mands if the -L option is given).
The -uc option removes definitions for autoloaded conditions.
zmodload -ap [ -L ]
zmodload -ap [ -i ] name [ parameter ... ]
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 functions 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 imple-mented implemented
mented by modules. In this case, any aliases are automatically 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 module module. If the module modalias is ever subsequently requested,
either via a call to zmodload or implicitly, the shell will attempt to load module
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 actually 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 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. However, 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 avail-able available
able 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 mod-ules. modules.
ules.
zparseopts
See the section `The zsh/zutil Module' in zshmodules(1).
zprof See the section `The zsh/zprof Module' in zshmodules(1).
zpty See the section `The zsh/zpty Module' in zshmodules(1).
zregexparse
See the section `The zsh/zutil Module' in zshmodules(1).
zsocket
See the section `The zsh/net/socket Module' in zshmodules(1).
zstyle See the section `The zsh/zutil Module' in zshmodules(1).
ztcp See the section `The zsh/net/tcp Module' in zshmodules(1).
ZSHZLE(1) ZSHZLE(1)
NAME
zshzle - zsh command line editor
DESCRIPTION
If the ZLE option is set (which it is by default in interactive shells) and the shell input is
attached to the terminal, 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 second, single line mode,
is used if TERM is invalid or incapable 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 zshparam(1).
The parameter zle_highlight is also used by the line editor; see Character Highlighting below. High-lighting Highlighting
lighting 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.
Irascible conservatives will wish to know that all highlighting may be disabled by the following set-ting: setting:
ting:
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 manipulate 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
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 special 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 convenient 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 prefix 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 parameter; 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 compiled with multibyte mode
enabled; typically also the locale has characters with the UTF-8 encoding, although any multibyte
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 replacement
strings, but in order to detect loops the process will be stopped if there are twenty such replace-ments replacements
ments without a real command being read.
A key sequence typed by the user can be turned into a command name for use in user-defined widgets
with the read-command 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. functions.
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 com-mand, command,
mand, 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
command.
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:
-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 dupli-cate duplicate
cate 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.
-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 prefixes. 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 cursor 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 bind-ings bindings
ings 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 bindings.
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 initialized to the same bindings by `bindkey -m'.
vared [ -Aache ] [ -p prompt ] [ -r rprompt ]
[ -M main-keymap ] [ -m vicmd-keymap ]
[ -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 editor. 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 characters as defined in $IFS will be
shown quoted with a backslash, 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 per-formed. performed.
formed.
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 (Control-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 during 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.
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 ] [ 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 concerning ZLE.
With no options and no arguments, only the return status will be set. It is zero if ZLE is
currently active and widgets could be invoked using this builtin command and non-zero other-wise. otherwise.
wise. 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.
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 existing 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 widgets.
-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 Widgets 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 completion-widget. To gener-ate generate
ate the completions, the shell function function will be called. For further informa-tion, information,
tion, see zshcompwid(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 finishes 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 pro-cessed processed
cessed 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. Any following invocation (e.g., the next command line) will start
as usual with the `main' keymap selected.
-F [ -L ] [ 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 handle input from file descriptor
fd. When zle is attempting to read data, it will examine both the terminal 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 han-dler handler
dler 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.
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 handler to
be replaced.
If no handler is given, but an fd is present, any handler 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 supplied, 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 handled can cause the terminal to become unusable.
Here is a simple example of using this feature. A connection to a remote TCP port is
created using the ztcp command; see the description of the zsh/net/tcp module in zsh-modules(1). zshmodules(1).
modules(1). Then a handler is installed which simply prints out any data which arrives
on this connection. 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 normal output to the terminal is required. It invalidates the cur-rent current
rent zle display in preparation for output; typically this will be from a trap func-tion. function.
tion. 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 disruption.
Note that there are normally better ways of manipulating the display from within zle
widgets; see, for example, `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 transformations on the processing per-formed performed
formed 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 function func.
`zle -Tr transformation' removes the given transformation if it was present (it is not
an error if none was).
`zle -TL' can be used to list all transformations currently 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 function 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 debug-ging debugging
ging or testing. Note that this transformation is not applied to other non-printing
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 argument will be saved and then
restored after the call to widget; `-n num' sets the numerical argument temporarily 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 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 han-dling handling
dling is performed, any general argument list should be preceded by --. If it is a
shell function, these are passed down as positional 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 preceded by a `.'. The `.' name is special: it can't be rebound to
a different widget. This makes the widget available even when its usual name has been redefined.
User-defined widgets are defined using `zle -N', and implemented 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 `.'.
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 block-ing blocking
ing 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 temporarily inaccessible, but
will return when the widget function 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 written 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 redisplay); 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.
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 his-tory history
tory to the corresponding 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)
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 function, 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 display 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 display a complete line, a newline must be prepended explicitly. 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)
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 command line that will take effect the next time the command line is redis-played. redisplayed.
played. Highlighting of the non-editable parts of the command line in PREDISPLAY and POSTDIS-PLAY POSTDISPLAY
PLAY are possible, but note that the P flag is needed for character indexing to include PRE-DISPLAY. PREDISPLAY.
DISPLAY.
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 widget 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, 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
argument 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 com-pletion completion
pletion 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 `localhistory' 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 spe-cial special
cial 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,
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 read-ing reading
ing 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 special parameter KEYMAP is set to a differ-ent different
ent 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 $KEYMAP within the function reflects the new keymap. The old keymap is passed as
the sole argument.
This can be used for detecting switches between the vi command (vicmd) and insert (usually
main) keymaps.
STANDARD WIDGETS
The following is a list of all the standard widgets, and their default bindings in emacs mode, vi
command mode and vi insert mode (the `emacs', `vicmd' and `viins' keymaps, respectively).
Note that cursor keys are bound to movement keys in all three keymaps; the shell assumes that the
cursor keys send the key sequences reported by the terminal-handling library (termcap or terminfo).
The key sequences shown in the list are those based on the VT100, common on many modern terminals,
but in fact these are not necessarily bound. In the case of the viins keymap, the initial escape
character of the sequences serves also to return to the vicmd keymap: whether this happens is deter-mined determined
mined by the KEYTIMEOUT parameter, see zshparam(1).
Movement
vi-backward-blank-word (unbound) (B) (unbound)
Move backward one word, where a word is defined as a series of non-blank characters.
backward-char (^B ESC-[D) (unbound) (unbound)
Move backward one character.
vi-backward-char (unbound) (^H h ^?) (ESC-[D)
Move backward one character, without changing lines.
backward-word (ESC-B ESC-b) (unbound) (unbound)
Move to the beginning of the previous word.
emacs-backward-word
Move to the beginning of the previous word.
vi-backward-word (unbound) (b) (unbound)
Move to the beginning of the previous word, vi-style.
beginning-of-line (^A) (unbound) (unbound)
Move to the beginning of the line. If already at the beginning of the line, move to the
beginning of the previous line, if any.
vi-beginning-of-line
Move to the beginning of the line, without changing lines.
end-of-line (^E) (unbound) (unbound)
Move to the end of the line. If already at the end of the line, move to the end of the next
line, if any.
vi-end-of-line (unbound) ($) (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 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 occur-rence occurrence
rence 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 parameter.
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.
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 direction.
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 his-
tory 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 his-tory history
tory for a line beginning with the first word in the buffer.
If called from a function by the zle command with arguments, 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.
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 argument. This defaults to the current his-tory history
tory 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 original 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 incremental search. The command line dis-played displayed
played is executed.
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 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 multiple searches have been performed since
the character was inserted the search history is rewound to the point just before the
character was entered. Hence this has the effect of repeating backward-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 incremental search mode.
vi-cmd-mode
Toggle between the `main' and `vicmd' keymaps; the `main' keymap (insert mode) will be
selected initially.
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.
When called from a widget function by the zle command, the incremental search commands can
take a string argument. 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 history-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 vari-ous various
ous options affecting pattern matching. See FILENAME GENERATION in zshexpn(1) for a descrip-tion description
tion 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 arguments, the first argument is taken as
the string for which to search, rather than the first word in the buffer.
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, backward-delete-char, vi-backward-delete-char, back-ward-kill-word, backward-kill-word,
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 arguments, 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 arguments, 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-history-search-backward. Argument handling is also the same as for that com-mand. command.
mand.
infer-next-history (^X^N) (unbound) (unbound)
Search in the history list for a line matching the current 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 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 offset 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 confusing 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 relative to the current history line, rather than the one remembered after the pre-vious previous
vious invocations of insert-last-word.
For example, the default behaviour of the command corresponds to
zle insert-last-word -- -1 -1
while the command
zle insert-last-word -- -1 1 -always 1always
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 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 beginning with the first word in the buffer.
If called from a function by the zle command with arguments, 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 changing 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
Kill from the beginning of the line to the cursor position.
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 movement. 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 movement. If the command is vi-delete, kill the current line.
delete-char
Delete the character under the cursor.
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 new-line newline
line character.
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)
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 cursor. 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 cursor. 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 literally. 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 lit-erally. literally.
erally. 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 `'' characters to `'\'''.
quote-region (ESC-") (unbound) (unbound)
Quote the region from the cursor to the mark.
vi-replace (unbound) (R) (unbound)
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 remembered count, and is
remembered for future uses of this command. The cut buffer specification is similarly remem-bered. remembered.
bered.
vi-replace-chars (unbound) (r) (unbound)
Replace the character under the cursor with a character read from the keyboard.
self-insert (printable characters) (unbound) (printable characters and some control characters)
Insert a character into the buffer at the cursor position.
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 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-begin-
ning-of-line. This only works if bound to a key sequence ending in a decimal 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. Alternatively, 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 forward 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 numer-ical numerical
ical 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 inclu-sive. inclusive.
sive. Subsequent use of digit-argument and universal-argument will input a new prefix in the
given base. The usual hexadecimal convention is used: the letter a or A 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 argument 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 completion.
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 cursor.
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 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 cur-rent current
rent 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. Otherwise 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 suf-fix-removal suffix-removal
fix-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.
This widget is intended to be called from user-defined widgets to enforce a desired suf-fix-preservation suffix-preservation
fix-preservation behavior.
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 high-lighted. highlighted.
lighted. If a zero prefix argument 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 exe-cuted-named-cmd executed-named-cmd
cuted-named-cmd environment and cannot be replaced by user defined widgets, nor can the set of
functions be extended. The allowed functions are: backward-delete-char, vi-back-ward-delete-char, vi-backward-delete-char,
ward-delete-char, clear-screen, redisplay, quoted-insert, vi-quoted-insert, back-ward-kill-word, backward-kill-word,
ward-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 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 cur-rent current
rent 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 INTERACTIVE_COMMENTS option must be set for this to have any usefulness.
vi-pound-insert
If there is no # character at the beginning of the current 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 edit-ing editing
ing 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.
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 unde-fined-key undefined-key
fined-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 recursive edit is detected as a non-zero return sta-tus status
tus and propagated by using the send-break widget.
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 variables 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. execute-named-command, or the editor itself, e.g. if
you are in vared. Otherwise abort the parsing of the current 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 command. 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 speci-fied: specified:
fied: 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 con-tents contents
tents of the specified 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 negative prefix argument, do not set
the mark but deactivate 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 history as returned by the
UNDO_CHANGE_NO variable; modifications 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 cursor 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 listing 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. Oth-erwise, Otherwise,
erwise, execute vi-beginning-of-line.
CHARACTER HIGHLIGHTING
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 highlighting 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 highlighted 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-command 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 simply 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 completion 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 different completions.
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 representing 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 representing 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 terminals:
none No highlighting is applied to the given context. It is not useful for this to appear with
other types of highlighting; it is used to override a default.
fg=colour
The foreground colour should be set to colour, a decimal 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 terminal's default foreground colour. Abbrevia-tions Abbreviations
tions 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 specific to the terminal; on many terminals it is inverse video. On some such ter-minals, terminals,
minals, 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
preferable for highlighting the region and matched search string.
underline
The characters in the given context are shown underlined. Some terminals show the foreground
in a different 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 fol-lows. follows.
lows. If the 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 hexadecimal 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 system'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 column of a line, it is instead shown on
the next line. The empty space left in the original position is highlighted as a special char-acter. character.
acter.
If zle_highlight is not set or no value applies to a particular 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 setting the special array parameter
region_highlight; see above.
ZSHCOMPWID(1) ZSHCOMPWID(1)
NAME
zshcompwid - zsh completion widgets
DESCRIPTION
The shell's programmable completion mechanism can be manipulated in two ways; here the low-level fea-tures features
tures 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 dictionary entry for `hubris') should skip the cur-rent current
rent 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 zshzle(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 completions: complete-word, expand-or-complete, expand-or-complete-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 question 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 func-tion function
tion 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-complete.
COMPLETION SPECIAL PARAMETERS
The parameters ZLE_REMOVE_SUFFIX_CHARS and ZLE_SPACE_SUFFIX_CHARS are used by the completion mecha-nism, mechanism,
nism, 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 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 function exit (including nested function calls from within the completion widget) to the val-ues values
ues 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 con-tains contains
tains 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 considered 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 prefix for all matches.
QIPREFIX
This parameter is read-only and contains the quoted string up to the word being completed.
E.g. when completing `"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 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 values that the completion code uses to
exchange information 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 char-acter. character.
acter. The first character 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 parentheses.
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 command line argument is presented and the handler 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.
command
when completing for a normal command (either in command position or for an argu-ment argument
ment of the command).
condition
when completing inside a `[[...]]' conditional expression; in this case the
words array contains only the words inside the conditional 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 otherwise.
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 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 completion 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
maximum 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 sec-ond second
ond 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 character 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 command 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 of completions has been dis-played. displayed.
played. 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 sub-string substring
string 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 substring rows.
Finally, if the value contains the string explanations, 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.
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 com-pletion completion
pletion at the time the widget is invoked. This will usually be the case if and only
if the previous editing operation was a completion widget or one of the builtin comple-tion completion
tion 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
assignment.
pattern_insert
Normally this is set to menu, which specifies that menu completion will be used when-ever whenever
ever 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 set-tings, settings,
tings, 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 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 backtick. Otherwise it is
unset.
redirect
The redirection operator when completing in a redirection 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 values 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 unambiguous 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 respectively. Any other string is treated as match.
unambiguous
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 unam-biguous unambiguous
biguous 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 unambiguous 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:
<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
generation 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 com-padd compadd
padd 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.
-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 con-tain contain
tain 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 element instead of the first
word, and so on. The array may be given as the name of an array parameter 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 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 cur-rently currently
rently 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 consists 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
automatically 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 characters 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 character typed inserts anything but a digit. One extra backslash sequence is
understood in this string: `\-' stands for all characters that insert nothing. 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 suffix has been inserted and the comple-tion completion
tion 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 mod-ify modify
ify the command line.
-f If this flag is given, all of the matches built 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 com-pletion completion
pletion 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 performed.
-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 inserting them into the command line.
-M match-spec
This gives local match specifications as described below in the section `Completion
Matching Control'. This option may be given more than once. In this case all
match-specs given are concatenated with spaces between them to form the specification
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 accepted and no matching will be done by
the completion code. Normally this is used in functions that do the matching them-selves. themselves.
selves.
-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 use-ful useful
ful 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 removed, this option implies the -V
and -2 options (even if an explicit -J option is given).
--- 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 characters are removed from it and appended to the contents 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, any-thing anything
thing up to the numberth match is moved. If the number is negative, the numberth long-est longest
est 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
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 parameter CURRENT is decremented by begin.
If the optional end is given, the modification is done only if the current word posi-tion position
tion 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 backwards 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 CURRENT 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 matching 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
testing 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, PREFIX, 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:
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 func-tions functions
tions (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 compctl -D or the builtin default) in the
appropriate places, the -T and/or -D flags can be passed to compcall.
The return status can be used to test if a matching compctl definition was found. It is
non-zero if a compctl 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 com-pletion completion
pletion 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 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 pattern_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) con-sists consists
sists 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 completion. 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 character the string on the command line is changed into the corre-sponding corresponding
sponding 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 lanchor. 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 lan-chor lanchor
chor 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 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 completion or command line string.
Each lpat, tpat or anchor is either an empty string or consists 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 delim-ited delimited
ited by a pair of braces, and negated classes are not allowed, so the characters ! and ^ have no spe-cial special
cial meaning directly after the opening brace. They indicate that a range of characters on the line
match a range of characters in the trial completion, but (unlike ordinary character classes) paired
according 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 completion, 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 charac-ter character
ter classes.
The standard `[:name:]' forms described for standard shell patterns, see the section FILENAME GENERA-TION GENERATION
TION in zshexpn(1), may appear in correspondence classes as well as normal character 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
`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 handle 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 constrained; any matching character in one set goes with any matching charac-ter character
ter 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 com-mand command
mand 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 characters 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 trying to match the trial completions generated and upper case letters on the line
match the corresponding lower case letters 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 comple-tion, completion,
tion, 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.
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 exam-ple, example,
ple, 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 counterparts. 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 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 completions 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 characters after the string on the line (the
`nix' in the example). 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 separated 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
By using these two anchors, a `H' matches only upper case `H's that are immediately preceded by some-thing something
thing 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 specific 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.
ZSHCOMPSYS(1) ZSHCOMPSYS(1)
NAME
zshcompsys - zsh completion system
DESCRIPTION
This describes the shell code for the `new' completion system, referred to as compsys. It is written
in shell functions 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 provided. 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
• an argument or option position: these describe the position on the command line at which com-pletion completion
pletion is requested. For example `first argument to rmdir, the word being completed names a
directory';
• 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 system 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 specification.
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 that to modify its behavior. The full description of context 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_com-plete _main_complete
plete in the list of control functions below. This dispatcher decides which function should be called
to produce the completions, and calls it. The result is passed to one or more completers, functions
that implement individual completion strategies: simple completion, error correction, completion with
error correction, menu selection, etc.
More generally, the shell functions contained in the completion system are of two types:
• those beginning `comp' are to be called directly; there are only a few of these;
• those beginning `_' are called by the completion code. The shell functions of this set, which
implement completion 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 compinstall 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 han-dled. handled.
dled.
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.
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 directories from fpath. Then it must be autoloaded (`autoload -U compinstall'
is recommended). You can abort the installation 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 module, you should make sure that
that module is loaded before the call to compinit so that that widget is also re-defined. If comple-tion completion
tion 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 produce 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. $ZDOT-DIR $ZDOTDIR
DIR 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 re-cre-ate re-create
ate 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 created if there isn't one already.
The dumping is actually done by another function, compdump, but you will only need to run this your-self yourself
self 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 remembered 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 current 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 direc-tories directories
tories 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 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 complet-ing completing
ing 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 func-tion function
tion 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 setting 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 patterns. The options -p and -P are used to specify patterns 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 patterns. It is possible to toggle between the three options as many times as
necessary.
#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-complete-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 widget-name
get-name style pair. However, the entire set of three arguments may be repeated with a dif-ferent different
ferent set of arguments. 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 spe-cially. specially.
cially. 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 com-pdef compdef
pdef 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:
-array-value-The -array-valueThe
The right hand side of an array-assignment (`foo=(...)')
-brace-parameter-The -brace-parameterThe
The name of a parameter expansion within braces (`${...}')
-assign-parameter-The -assign-parameterThe
The name of a parameter in an assignment, i.e. on the left hand side of an `='
-command-A -commandA
A word in command position
-condition-A -conditionA
A word inside a condition (`[[...]]')
-default-Any -defaultAny
Any word for which no other completion is defined
-equal-A -equalA
A word beginning with an equals sign
-first-This -firstThis
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 contain-ing containing
ing the substring patterns: no pattern completion functions will be called; a string contain-ing containing
ing 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 -parameterThe
The name of a parameter expansion (`$...')
-redirect-The -redirectThe
The word after a redirection operator.
-subscript-The -subscriptThe
The contents of a parameter subscript.
-tilde-After -tildeAfter
After an initial tilde (`~'), but before the first slash in the word.
-value-On -valueOn
On the right hand side of an assignment.
Default implementations are supplied for each of these contexts. In most cases the context -context-is -contextis
is implemented by a corresponding function _context, for example the context `-tilde-' and the func-tion function
tion `_tilde').
The contexts -redirect- and -value- allow extra context-specific 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 command part
gives the name of the command, here make; otherwise it is empty.
It is not necessary to define fully specific completions as the functions provided will try to gener-ate generate
ate completions by progressively replacing the elements with `-default-'. For example, when complet-ing completing
ing 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 -value-,-default-,-defaultspecifies
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'
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.
compdef [ -ane ] function names... [ -[pP] patterns... [ -N names... ] ]
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 completion in the given contexts as described
for the #compdef 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 completed in the same way as service.
The function argument may alternatively be a string containing almost any shell code. If the
string contains 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 pro-vides provides
vides 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 definitions of patterns tried ini-tially, initially,
tially, 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 pattern-functions will be
called; if it is set to a value 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-complete-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 undefined-key.
The form with -K is similar and defines multiple widgets 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 completion functions with new commands. For
example,
compdef _pids foo
uses the function _pids to complete process IDs for the command foo.
Note also the _gnu_generic function described below, which can be used to complete options for com-mands commands
mands 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 configure 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 current word may be an argument (such as the `-o' option to zsh which
takes a shell option as an argument).
This context information is condensed into a string consisting of multiple fields separated by
colons, referred to simply 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:command:argument:tag. These have
the following meaning:
• 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 widgets and ZFTP functions.
• The function, if completion is called from a named widget rather than through the normal com-pletion completion
pletion system. Typically this is blank, but it is set by special widgets 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.
• The completer currently active, the name of the function without the leading underscore and
with other underscores converted to hyphens. A `completer' is in overall control of how com-pletion completion
pletion is to be performed; `complete' is the simplest, but other completers exist to perform
related tasks such as correction, or to modify the behaviour of a later completer. See the
section `Control Functions' below for more information.
• The command or a special -context-, just at it appears following the #compdef tag or the com-pdef compdef
pdef function. Completion functions for commands that have sub-commands usually modify this
field to contain the name of the command followed by a minus sign and the sub-command. For
example, the completion function for the cvs command sets this field to cvs-add when complet-ing completing
ing arguments to the add subcommand.
• The argument; this indicates which command line or option argument we are completing. For
command arguments this generally takes the form argument-n, where n is the number of the argu-ment, argument,
ment, and for arguments to options the form option-opt-n where n is the number of 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.
• 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 completion 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 argument 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 generated, 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 zshmodules(1)).
When looking up styles the completion system uses full context names, including the tag. Looking up
the value of a style therefore consists of two things: the context, which may be matched as a pat-tern, pattern,
tern, and the name of the style itself, which must be given exactly.
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 functions 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 exam-ple, example,
ple, 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 preferred over shorter patterns.
Style names like those of tags are arbitrary and depend on the completion function. However, the
following two sections list some of the most common tags and styles.
Standard Tags
Some of the following are only used when looking up particular 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 particular 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 char-acter character
acter 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
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 expan-sions) expansions)
sions) 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 completing filenames
fonts 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 pattern 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 com-pleting completing
pleting arguments of cd and related builtin commands (compare path-directories) -- when the
cdpath array is unset, directories is used instead
manuals
for names of manual pages
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 completers 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
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)
types for types of whatever (e.g. address types for the xhost command)
urls used to look up the urls and local styles when completing 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 particular 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 normally be defined along the lines of:
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 pat-terns patterns
terns will be accepted immediately even if the command line contains some more partially 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'; otherwise the com-pletion completion
pletion system will be allowed to complete $foo to $foobar. If the style is set to `continue',
_expand will add the expansion as a match and the completion system will also be allowed to
continue.
accept-exact-dirs
This is used by filename completion. Unlike accept-exact it is a boolean. By default, file-name filename
name completion examines all components of a path to see if there are completions of that com-ponent, component,
ponent, even if the component matches an existing directory. For example, when completion
after /usr/bin/, the function examines possible completions to /usr.
When this style is true, any prefix of a path that matches an existing directory is accepted
without any attempt to complete it further. Hence, in the given example, the path /usr/bin/
is accepted immediately and completion tried in that directory.
If you wish to inhibit this behaviour entirely, set the path-completion style (see below) to
false.
add-space
This style is used by the _expand completer. If it is true (the default), a space will be
inserted after all words resulting from the expansion, or a slash in the case of directory
names. If the value is `file', the completer will only add a space to names of existing
files. Either a boolean true or the value `file' may be combined with `subst', in which case
the completer will not add a space to words generated from the expansion of a substitution of
the form `$(...)' or `${...}'.
The _prefix completer uses this style as a simple boolean value to decide if a space should be
inserted before the suffix.
ambiguous
This applies when completing non-final components of filename paths, in other words those with
a trailing slash. If it is set, the cursor is left after the first ambiguous component, even
if menu completion is in use. The style is always tested with the paths tag.
assign-list
When completing after an equals sign that is being treated as an assignment, the completion
system normally completes only one filename. In some cases the value may be a list of file-names filenames
names separated by colons, as with PATH and similar parameters. This style can be set to a
list of patterns matching the names of such parameters.
The default is to complete lists when the word on the line already contains a colon.
auto-description
If set, this style's value will be used as the description for options that are not described
by the completion functions, but that have exactly one argument. The sequence `%d' in the
value will be replaced by the description for this argument. Depending on personal prefer-ences, preferences,
ences, it may be useful to set this style to something like `specify: %d'. Note that this may
not work for some commands.
avoid-completer
This is used by the _all_matches completer to decide if the string consisting of all matches
should be added to the list currently being generated. Its value is a list of names of com-pleters. completers.
pleters. If any of these is the name of the completer that generated the matches in this com-pletion, completion,
pletion, the string will not be added.
The default value for this style is `_expand _old_list _correct _approximate', i.e. it con-tains contains
tains the completers for which a string with all matches will almost never be wanted.
cache-path
This style defines the path where any cache files containing dumped completion data are
stored. It defaults to `$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 rebuild-ing. rebuilding.
ing. 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 generate 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 com-mand command
mand 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 execute.
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 appro-priate appropriate
priate version of a command is called, for example to avoid calling a shell function 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 command. The
first line is not displayed, but is searched for the string `PID' (or `pid') to find the posi-tion position
tion 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 complete.
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.
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, matching 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 preceding -- on the command line.
completer
The strings given as the value of this style provide the names of the completer functions to
use. The available completer functions are described in the section `Control Functions' below.
Each string may be either the name of a completer function or a string of the form `func-tion:name'. `function:name'.
tion:name'. In the first case the completer field of the context will contain 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 completer function as
in the first case with the name appended to it. For example:
zstyle ':completion:*' completer _complete _complete:-foo
Here, completion will call the _complete completer twice, once using `complete' and once using
`complete-foo' in the completer field of the context. Normally, 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 $fignore array and then without ignoring matches.
condition
This style is used by the _list completer function to decide if insertion of matches should be
delayed unconditionally. The default is `true'.
delimiters
This style is used when adding a delimiter for use with history modifiers or glob qualifiers
that have delimited arguments. It is an array of preferred delimiters to add. Non-special
characters are preferred as the completion system may otherwise become confused. The default
list is :, +, /, -, %. The list may be empty to force a delimiter to be typed.
disabled
If this is set to `true', the _expand_alias completer and bindable command will try to expand
disabled aliases, too. The default is `false'.
domains
A list of names of network domains for completion. If this is not set, domain names will be
taken from the file /etc/resolv.conf.
environ
The environ style is used when completing for `sudo'. It is set to an array of `VAR=value'
assignments to be exported into the local environment before the completion for the target
command is invoked.
zstyle ':completion:*:sudo::' environ \
PATH="/sbin:/usr/sbin:$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 partially typed word from the line will be
expanded as far 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 unam-biguous unambiguous
biguous 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 completed 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 context when specifying fake strings. Note
that the styles fake-files and fake-parameters provide additional 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 completely by setting the ignored
patterns to `*'.
The following shows a way of supplementing any tag with arbitrary data, but having it behave
for display purposes 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 completion 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 separated by spaces) as possible
matches when completing in 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 permission.
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 parame-ters parameters
ters 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 circumstances, 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
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 com-pletion), completion),
pletion), 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 `direc-tories') `directories')
tories') 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 calling _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, sepa-rated separated
rated 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 descrip-tion description
tion supplied by the completion function. If the description given here contains itself a
`%d', that is replaced with the description 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 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 direc-tories directories
tories 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 pat-tern pattern
tern 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 completion 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.
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, normally 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 comple-tion. completion.
tion. 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
zshmisc(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 additional `%'-sequences. These are described
for the completer 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 warnings 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 separated by spaces. The sequence `%D' is replaced with the same descrip-tions descriptions
tions separated by newlines.
It is possible to use printf-style field width specifiers with `%d' and similar escape
sequences. This is handled by the zformat builtin command from the zsh/zutil module, see zsh-modules(1). zshmodules(1).
modules(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 com-mand command
mand position the completion system generates names of builtin and external commands, names of
aliases, shell functions and parameters and reserved words as possible completions. To have
the external commands and shell functions listed separately:
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 displayed 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.
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 data-base database
base 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 displayed.
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 completion. If it is set to `true', none of
the words that are already on the line will be considered as possible 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.
Note that you almost certainly don't want to set this to `true' or `other' for a general con-text context
text 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 completing 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 directory foo will not be
considered a valid completion.
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 directory.
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 comple-tion completion
tion speed. Completion 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 completers to restore the
ignored matches. This is a more 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 unconditionally 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 possible 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 command 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 completion will be
started when the string typed by the user is longer than the common prefix to the correspond-ing corresponding
ing 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 charac-ter character
ter 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, completion will not be done if there are at least that many char-acters characters
acters of unprocessed input. This is often useful when pasting characters into a terminal.
Note however, that it relies on the $PENDING special parameter 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'.
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 completer 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 unambiguously.
keep-prefix
This style is used by the _expand completer. If it is `true', the completer will try to keep
a prefix containing 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 comple-tion completion
tion 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 pre-fix prefix
fix 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 /etc/ssh/ssh_known_hosts and ~/.ssh/known_hosts are used.
list This style is used by the _history_complete_word bindable 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 set-ting setting
ting of the options controlling listing behaviour, in particular AUTO_LIST. The context
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 speci-fied specified
fied explicitly by the group-name tag together with the `(group)' syntax allowed by the
ZLS_COLORS and ZLS_COLOURS parameters 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 command 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 direc-tories directories
tories are presented with that tag.
list-grouped
If this style is `true' (the default), the completion system will try to make certain comple-tion completion
tion listings more compact by grouping matches. For example, options for commands that have
the same description (shown when 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 context 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 zshmodules(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 begin-ning beginning
ning of the list, `Bottom' when at the end and the position shown as a percentage of the total
length otherwise. In each case the form with the uppercase letter 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 filenames. If it is true, and completion is
attempted on a string containing multiple partially typed pathname components, all ambiguous
components will be shown. Otherwise, completion stops at the first ambiguous component.
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 avail-able available
able 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 plac-ing placing
ing 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/pub-lic/toast/stuff, /var/http/public/toast/stuff,
lic/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 `Completion 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 are described in the section `Completion Matching Control' in zshcomp-wid(1). zshcompwid(1).
wid(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-insensi-tive case-insensitive
tive 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 pre-fixed prefixed
fixed with +, it is added to the existing list. Hence it is possible to create increasingly
general specifications without repetition:
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 possi-ble possible
ble 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 correction, 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 specification is applied. Note also that some
completers such as _correct and _approximate do not use the match specifications 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 performance. As a rough rule of
thumb, one to three strings will give acceptable performance. On the other hand, putting mul-tiple multiple
tiple space-separated values into the same string does not have an appreciable impact on per-formance. performance.
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 maxi-mum maximum
mum 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 cor-recting correcting
recting 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 cor-rected corrected
rected completions 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 completion 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 columns to reserve for the matches. The default is half the
width of the screen.
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 com-pletion completion
pletion will be used. The value for a specific tag will take precedence 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 completion 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 com-pletion completion
pletion 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 mod-ule. module.
ule. The following values may appear either alongside or instead of the values above.
If the value contains the string `select', menu selection will be started unconditionally.
In the form `select=num', menu selection will only be started if there are at least num
matches. If the values for more than one tag provide a number, the smallest number is taken.
Menu selection can be turned off explicitly by defining a value containing the
string`no-select'.
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 `interac-tive' `interactive'
tive' 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 listing 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 behaviour of _oldlist. However, if there is an old list and this style con-tains contains
tains the name of the completer function that generated the list, then the old list will be
used even if it was generated by a widget which does not do listing.
For example, suppose you type ^Xc to use the _correct_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 generated 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 uncondition-ally. unconditionally.
ally. 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 com-pletion completion
pletion 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 command; this is the behaviour without
the _oldlist completer.
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 corrections.
original
This is used by the _approximate and _correct completers 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
approximate-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, filename completion examines all components
of a path to see if there are completions of that component. For example, /u/b/z can be com-pleted completed
pleted 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 COMPLETE_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 searching this directory is inconvenient for anyone who doesn't use PINE.
ports 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 common 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 parame-ter parameter
ter names starting with those characters will be completed.
The default value for this style is `false' for function and parameter completions, and
`true' otherwise.
preserve-prefix
This style is used when completing path names. Its value should be a pattern matching an ini-tial initial
tial 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 _history_complete_word bindable command to
decide which words should be completed.
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 manage-able manageable
able 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), regular aliases will be expanded but only in command position. 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 position.
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.
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 unnecessarily.
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 numbers 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 dur-ing during
ing a menu selection (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 `man-ual.X', `manual.X',
ual.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 completing words for the dict command. It allows words from different dictio-nary dictionary
nary databases to be added separately. The default for this style is `false'.
show-completer
Tested whenever a new completer is tried. If it is 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 completion 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. How-ever, However,
ever, the default (unsorted) behaviour of completion for the command 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 com-pletions; completions;
pletions; 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 consists only of a path beginning with `../'. Otherwise the value is `false'.
zstyle -e ':completion:*' special-dirs \
'[[ $PREFIX = (../)#(|.|..) ]] && reply=(..)'
squeeze-slashes
If set to `true', sequences of slashes in filename paths (for example in `foo//bar') will be
treated as a single slash. This is the usual behaviour of UNIX paths. However, by default
the file completion function behaves as if there were a `*' between the slashes.
stop If set to `true', the _history_complete_word bindable command will stop once when reaching the
beginning or end of the history. Invoking _history_complete_word will then wrap around to the
opposite end of the history. If this style is set to `false' (the default), _history_com-plete_word _history_complete_word
plete_word will loop immediately as in a menu completion.
strip-comments
If set to `true', this style causes non-essential comment text to be removed from completion
matches. Currently it is only used when completing e-mail addresses where it removes any dis-play display
play name from the addresses, cutting them down to plain user@host form.
subst-globs-only
This is used by the _expand completer. If it is set to `true', the expansion will only be
used if it resulted from globbing; hence, if expansions resulted from the use of the substi-tute substitute
tute style described below, but these were not further changed by globbing, the expansions
will be rejected.
The default for this style is `false'.
substitute
This boolean style controls whether the _expand completer will first try to expand all substi-tutions substitutions
tutions in the string (such as `$(...)' and `${...}').
The default is `true'.
suffix This is used by the _expand completer if the word starts with a tilde or contains a parameter
expansion. If it is set to `true', the word will only be expanded if it doesn't have a suf-fix, suffix,
fix, i.e. if it is something like `~foo' or `$foo' rather than `~foo/' or `$foo/bar', unless
that suffix itself contains characters eligible for expansion. The default for this style is
`true'.
tag-order
This provides a mechanism for sorting how the tags 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 command position first offers external commands and shell func-tions. functions.
tions. Remaining tags will be tried if no completions are found.
In addition to tag names, each string in the value may take one of the following forms:
- If any value consists of only a hyphen, then only the tags specified in the other val-ues values
ues are generated. Normally all tags not explicitly selected are tried last if the
specified tags fail to generate any matches. This means that a single value consisting
only of a single hyphen turns off completion.
! tags...
A string starting with an exclamation mark specifies names of tags that are not to be
used. The effect is the same as if all other possible tags for the context had been
listed.
tag:label ...
Here, tag is one of the standard tags and label is an arbitrary name. Matches are gen-erated generated
erated as normal but the name label is used in contexts instead of tag. This is not
useful in words starting with !.
If the label starts with a hyphen, the tag is prepended to the label to form the name
used for lookup. This can be used to make the completion system try a certain tag more
than once, supplying different style settings for each attempt; see below for an exam-ple. example.
ple.
tag:label:description
As before, but description will replace the `%d' in the value of the format style
instead of the default description supplied by the completion function. Spaces in the
description must be quoted with a backslash. A `%d' appearing in description is
replaced with the description given by the completion function.
In any of the forms above the tag may be a pattern or several patterns in the form
`{pat1,pat2...}'. In this case all matching tags will be used except for any given explicitly
in the same string.
One use of these features is to try one tag more than once, setting other styles differently
on each attempt, but still to use all the other tags without having to repeat them all. For
example, to make completion of function names in command position ignore all the completion
functions starting with an underscore the first time completion is tried:
zstyle ':completion:*:*:-command-:*' tag-order \
'functions:-non-comp *' functions
zstyle ':completion:*:functions-non-comp' ignored-patterns '_*'
On the first attempt, all tags will be offered but the functions tag will be replaced by func-tions-non-comp. functions-non-comp.
tions-non-comp. The ignored-patterns style is set for this tag to exclude functions starting
with an underscore. If there are no matches, the second value of the tag-order style is used
which completes functions using the default tag, this time presumably including all function
names.
The matches for one tag can be split into different groups. For example:
zstyle ':completion:*' tag-order \
'options:-long:long\ options
options:-short:short\ options
options:-single-letter:single\ letter\ options'
zstyle ':completion:*:options-long' ignored-patterns '[-+](|-|[^-]*)'
zstyle ':completion:*:options-short' ignored-patterns '--*' '[-+]?'
zstyle ':completion:*:options-single-letter' ignored-patterns '???*'
With the group-names style set, options beginning with `--', options beginning with a single
`-' or `+' but containing multiple characters, and single-letter options will be displayed in
separate groups with different descriptions.
Another use of patterns is to try multiple match specifications one after another. The
matcher-list style offers something similar, but it is tested very early in the completion
system and hence can't be set for single commands nor for more specific contexts. Here is how
to try normal completion without any match specification and, if that generates no matches,
try again with case-insensitive matching, restricting the effect to arguments of the command
foo:
zstyle ':completion:*:*:foo:*' tag-order '*' '*:-case'
zstyle ':completion:*-case' matcher 'm:{a-z}={A-Z}'
First, all the tags offered when completing after foo are tried using the normal tag name. If
that generates no matches, the second value of tag-order is used, which tries all tags again
except that this time each has -case appended to its name for lookup of styles. Hence this
time the value for the matcher style from the second call to zstyle in the example is used to
make completion case-insensitive.
It is possible to use the -e option of the zstyle builtin command to specify conditions for
the use of particular tags. For example:
zstyle -e '*:-command-:*' tag-order '
if [[ -n $PREFIX$SUFFIX ]]; then
reply=( )
else
reply=( - )
fi'
Completion in command position will be attempted only if the string typed so far is not empty.
This is tested using the PREFIX special parameter; see zshcompwid for a description of parame-ters parameters
ters which are special inside completion widgets. Setting reply to an empty array provides
the default behaviour of trying all tags at once; setting it to an array containing only a
hyphen disables the use of all tags and hence of all completions.
If no tag-order style has been defined for a context, the strings `(|*-)argument-*
(|*-)option-* values' and `options' plus all tags offered by the completion function will be
used to provide a sensible default behavior that causes arguments (whether normal command
arguments or arguments of options) to be completed before option names for most commands.
urls This is used together with the urls tag by functions completing URLs.
If the value consists of more than one string, or if the only string does not name a file or
directory, the strings are used as the URLs to complete.
If the value contains only one string which is the name of a normal file the URLs are taken
from that file (where the URLs may be separated by white space or newlines).
Finally, if the only string in the value names a directory, the directory hierarchy rooted at
this directory gives the completions. The top level directory should be the file access
method, such as `http', `ftp', `bookmark' and so on. In many cases the next level of directo-ries directories
ries will be a filename. The directory hierarchy can descend as deep as necessary.
For example,
zstyle ':completion:*' urls ~/.urls
mkdir -p ~/.urls/ftp/ftp.zsh.org/pub
allows completion of all the components of the URL ftp://ftp.zsh.org/pub after suitable com-mands commands
mands such as `netscape' or `lynx'. Note, however, that access methods and files are com-pleted completed
pleted separately, so if the hosts style is set hosts can be completed without reference to
the urls style.
See the description in the function _urls itself for more information (e.g. `more
$^fpath/_urls(N)').
use-cache
If this is set, the completion caching layer is activated for any completions which use it
(via the _store_cache, _retrieve_cache, and _cache_invalid functions). The directory contain-ing containing
ing the cache files can be changed with the cache-path style.
use-compctl
If this style is set to a string not equal to false, 0, no, and off, the completion system may
use any completion specifications defined with the compctl builtin command. If the style is
unset, this is done only if the zsh/compctl module is loaded. The string may also contain the
substring `first' to use completions defined with `compctl -T', and the substring `default' to
use the completion defined with `compctl -D'.
Note that this is only intended to smooth the transition from compctl to the new completion
system and may disappear in the future.
Note also that the definitions from compctl will only be used if there is no specific comple-tion completion
tion function for the command in question. For example, if there is a function _foo to com-plete complete
plete arguments to the command foo, compctl will never be invoked for foo. However, the com-pctl compctl
pctl version will be tried if foo only uses default completion.
use-ip By default, the function _hosts that completes host names strips IP addresses from entries
read from host databases such as NIS and ssh files. If this style is true, the corresponding
IP addresses can be completed as well. This style is not use in any context where the hosts
style is set; note also it must be set before the cache of host names is generated (typically
the first completion attempt).
users This may be set to a list of usernames to be completed. If it is not set all usernames will
be completed. Note that if it is set only that list of users will be completed; this is
because on some systems querying all users can take a prohibitive amount of time.
users-hosts
The values of this style should be of the form `user@host' or `user:host'. It is used for com-mands commands
mands that need pairs of user- and hostnames. These commands will complete usernames from
this style (only), and will restrict subsequent hostname completion to hosts paired with that
user in one of the values of the style.
It is possible to group values for sets of commands which allow a remote login, such as rlogin
and ssh, by using the my-accounts tag. Similarly, values for sets of commands which usually
refer to the accounts of other people, such as talk and finger, can be grouped by using the
other-accounts tag. More ambivalent commands may use the accounts tag.
users-hosts-ports
Like users-hosts but used for commands like telnet and containing strings of the form
`user@host:port'.
verbose
If set, as it is by default, the completion listing is more verbose. In particular many com-mands commands
mands show descriptions for options if this style is `true'.
word This is used by the _list completer, which prevents the insertion of completions until a sec-ond second
ond completion attempt when the line has not changed. The normal way of finding out if the
line has changed is to compare its entire contents between the two occasions. If this style
is true, the comparison is instead performed only on the current word. Hence if completion is
performed on another word with the same contents, completion will not be delayed.
CONTROL FUNCTIONS
The initialization script compinit redefines all the widgets which perform completion to call the
supplied widget function _main_complete. This function acts as a wrapper calling the so-called `com-pleter' `completer'
pleter' functions that generate matches. If _main_complete is called with arguments, these are taken
as the names of completer functions to be called in the order given. If no arguments are given, the
set of functions to try is taken from the completer style. For example, to use normal completion and
correction if that doesn't generate any matches:
zstyle ':completion:*' completer _complete _correct
after calling compinit. The default value for this style is `_complete _ignored', i.e. normally only
ordinary completion is tried, first with the effect of the ignored-patterns style and then without
it. The _main_complete function uses the return status of the completer functions to decide if other
completers should be called. If the return status is zero, no other completers are tried and the
_main_complete function returns.
If the first argument to _main_complete is a single hyphen, the arguments will not be taken as names
of completers. Instead, the second argument gives a name to use in the completer field of the con-text context
text and the other arguments give a command name and arguments to call to generate the matches.
The following completer functions are contained in the distribution, although users may write their
own. Note that in contexts the leading underscore is stripped, for example basic completion is per-formed performed
formed in the context `:completion::complete:...'.
_all_matches
This completer can be used to add a string consisting of all other matches. As it influences
later completers it must appear as the first completer in the list. The list of all matches
is affected by the avoid-completer and old-matches styles described above.
It may be useful to use the _generic function described below to bind _all_matches to its own
keystroke, for example:
zle -C all-matches complete-word _generic
bindkey '^Xa' all-matches
zstyle ':completion:all-matches:*' old-matches only
zstyle ':completion:all-matches::::' completer _all_matches
Note that this does not generate completions by itself: first use any of the standard ways of
generating a list of completions, then use ^Xa to show all matches. It is possible instead to
add a standard completer to the list and request that the list of all matches should be
directly inserted:
zstyle ':completion:all-matches::::' completer _all_matches _complete
zstyle ':completion:all-matches:*' insert true
In this case the old-matches style should not be set.
_approximate
This is similar to the basic _complete completer but allows the completions to undergo correc-tions. corrections.
tions. The maximum number of errors can be specified by the max-errors style; see the
description of approximate matching in zshexpn(1) for how errors are counted. Normally this
completer will only be tried after the normal _complete completer:
zstyle ':completion:*' completer _complete _approximate
This will give correcting completion if and only if normal completion yields no possible com-pletions. completions.
pletions. When corrected completions are found, the completer will normally start menu com-pletion completion
pletion allowing you to cycle through these strings.
This completer uses the tags corrections and original when generating the possible corrections
and the original string. The format style for the former may contain the additional sequences
`%e' and `%o' which will be replaced by the number of errors accepted to generate the correc-tions corrections
tions and the original string, respectively.
The completer progressively increases the number of errors allowed up to the limit by the
max-errors style, hence if a completion is found with one error, no completions with two
errors will be shown, and so on. It modifies the completer name in the context to indicate
the number of errors being tried: on the first try the completer field contains `approxi-mate-1', `approximate-1',
mate-1', on the second try `approximate-2', and so on.
When _approximate is called from another function, the number of errors to accept may be
passed with the -a option. The argument is in the same format as the max-errors style, all in
one string.
Note that this completer (and the _correct completer mentioned below) can be quite expensive
to call, especially when a large number of errors are allowed. One way to avoid this is to
set up the completer style using the -e option to zstyle so that some completers are only used
when completion is attempted a second time on the same string, e.g.:
zstyle -e ':completion:*' completer '
if [[ $_last_try != "$HISTNO$BUFFER$CURSOR" ]]; then
_last_try="$HISTNO$BUFFER$CURSOR"
reply=(_complete _match _prefix)
else
reply=(_ignored _correct _approximate)
fi'
This uses the HISTNO parameter and the BUFFER and CURSOR special parameters that are available
inside zle and completion widgets to find out if the command line hasn't changed since the
last time completion was tried. Only then are the _ignored, _correct and _approximate com-pleters completers
pleters called.
_complete
This completer generates all possible completions in a context-sensitive manner, i.e. using
the settings defined with the compdef function explained above and the current settings of all
special parameters. This gives the normal completion behaviour.
To complete arguments of commands, _complete uses the utility function _normal, which is in
turn responsible for finding the particular function; it is described below. Various contexts
of the form -context- are handled specifically. These are all mentioned above as possible
arguments to the #compdef tag.
Before trying to find a function for a specific context, _complete checks if the parameter
`compcontext' is set. Setting `compcontext' allows the usual completion dispatching to be
overridden which is useful in places such as a function that uses vared for input. If it is
set to an array, the elements are taken to be the possible matches which will be completed
using the tag `values' and the description `value'. If it is set to an associative array, the
keys are used as the possible completions and the values (if non-empty) are used as descrip-tions descriptions
tions for the matches. If `compcontext' is set to a string containing colons, it should be of
the form `tag:descr:action'. In this case the tag and descr give the tag and description to
use and the action indicates what should be completed in one of the forms accepted by the
_arguments utility function described below.
Finally, if `compcontext' is set to a string without colons, the value is taken as the name of
the context to use and the function defined for that context will be called. For this pur-pose, purpose,
pose, there is a special context named -command-line- that completes whole command lines (com-mands (commands
mands and their arguments). This is not used by the completion system itself but is nonethe-less nonetheless
less handled when explicitly called.
_correct
Generate corrections, but not completions, for the current word; this is similar to _approxi-mate _approximate
mate but will not allow any number of extra characters at the cursor as that completer does.
The effect is similar to spell-checking. It is based on _approximate, but the completer field
in the context name is correct.
For example, with:
zstyle ':completion:::::' completer _complete _correct _approximate
zstyle ':completion:*:correct:::' max-errors 2 not-numeric
zstyle ':completion:*:approximate:::' max-errors 3 numeric
correction will accept up to two errors. If a numeric argument is given, correction will not
be performed, but correcting completion will be, and will accept as many errors as given by
the numeric argument. Without a numeric argument, first correction and then correcting com-pletion completion
pletion will be tried, with the first one accepting two errors and the second one accepting
three errors.
When _correct is called as a function, the number of errors to accept may be given following
the -a option. The argument is in the same form a values to the accept style, all in one
string.
This completer function is intended to be used without the _approximate completer or, as in
the example, just before it. Using it after the _approximate completer is useless since
_approximate will at least generate the corrected strings generated by the _correct completer
-- and probably more.
_expand
This completer function does not really perform completion, but instead checks if the word on
the command line is eligible for expansion and, if it is, gives detailed control over how this
expansion is done. For this to happen, the completion system needs to be invoked with com-plete-word, complete-word,
plete-word, not expand-or-complete (the default binding for TAB), as otherwise the string will
be expanded by the shell's internal mechanism before the completion system is started. Note
also this completer should be called before the _complete completer function.
The tags used when generating expansions are all-expansions for the string containing all pos-sible possible
sible expansions, expansions when adding the possible expansions as single matches and origi-nal original
nal when adding the original string from the line. The order in which these strings are gen-erated, generated,
erated, if at all, can be controlled by the group-order and tag-order styles, as usual.
The format string for all-expansions and for expansions may contain the sequence `%o' which
will be replaced by the original string from the line.
The kind of expansion to be tried is controlled by the substitute, glob and subst-globs-only
styles.
It is also possible to call _expand as a function, in which case the different modes may be
selected with options: -s for substitute, -g for glob and -o for subst-globs-only.
_expand_alias
If the word the cursor is on is an alias, it is expanded and no other completers are called.
The types of aliases which are to be expanded can be controlled with the styles regular,
global and disabled.
This function is also a bindable command, see the section `Bindable Commands' below.
_history
Complete words from the shell's command history. This completer can be controlled by the
remove-all-dups, and sort styles as for the _history_complete_word bindable command, see the
section `Bindable Commands' below and the section `Completion System Configuration' above.
_ignored
The ignored-patterns style can be set to a list of patterns which are compared against possi-ble possible
ble completions; matching ones are removed. With this completer those matches can be rein-stated, reinstated,
stated, as if no ignored-patterns style were set. The completer actually generates its own
list of matches; which completers are invoked is determined in the same way as for the _prefix
completer. The single-ignored style is also available as described above.
_list This completer allows the insertion of matches to be delayed until completion is attempted a
second time without the word on the line being changed. On the first attempt, only the list
of matches will be shown. It is affected by the styles condition and word, see the section
`Completion System Configuration' above.
_match This completer is intended to be used after the _complete completer. It behaves similarly but
the string on the command line may be a pattern to match against trial completions. This
gives the effect of the GLOB_COMPLETE option.
Normally completion will be performed by taking the pattern from the line, inserting a `*' at
the cursor position and comparing the resulting pattern with the possible completions gener-ated. generated.
ated. This can be modified with the match-original style described above.
The generated matches will be offered in a menu completion unless the insert-unambiguous style
is set to `true'; see the description above for other options for this style.
Note that matcher specifications defined globally or used by the completion functions (the
styles matcher-list and matcher) will not be used.
_menu This completer was written as simple example function to show how menu completion can be
enabled in shell code. However, it has the notable effect of disabling menu selection which
can be useful with _generic based widgets. It should be used as the first completer in the
list. Note that this is independent of the setting of the MENU_COMPLETE option and does not
work with the other menu completion widgets such as reverse-menu-complete, or
accept-and-menu-complete.
_oldlist
This completer controls how the standard completion widgets behave when there is an existing
list of completions which may have been generated by a special completion (i.e. a sepa-rately-bound separately-bound
rately-bound completion command). It allows the ordinary completion keys to continue to use
the list of completions thus generated, instead of producing a new list of ordinary contextual
completions. It should appear in the list of completers before any of the widgets which gen-erate generate
erate matches. It uses two styles: old-list and old-menu, see the section `Completion System
Configuration' above.
_prefix
This completer can be used to try completion with the suffix (everything after the cursor)
ignored. In other words, the suffix will not be considered to be part of the word to com-plete. complete.
plete. The effect is similar to the expand-or-complete-prefix command.
The completer style is used to decide which other completers are to be called to generate
matches. If this style is unset, the list of completers set for the current context is used
-- except, of course, the _prefix completer itself. Furthermore, if this completer appears
more than once in the list of completers only those completers not already tried by the last
invocation of _prefix will be called.
For example, consider this global completer style:
zstyle ':completion:*' completer \
_complete _prefix _correct _prefix:foo
Here, the _prefix completer tries normal completion but ignoring the suffix. If that doesn't
generate any matches, and neither does the call to the _correct completer after it, _prefix
will be called a second time and, now only trying correction with the suffix ignored. On the
second invocation the completer part of the context appears as `foo'.
To use _prefix as the last resort and try only normal completion when it is invoked:
zstyle ':completion:*' completer _complete ... _prefix
zstyle ':completion::prefix:*' completer _complete
The add-space style is also respected. If it is set to `true' then _prefix will insert a
space between the matches generated (if any) and the suffix.
Note that this completer is only useful if the COMPLETE_IN_WORD option is set; otherwise, the
cursor will be moved to the end of the current word before the completion code is called and
hence there will be no suffix.
_user_expand
This completer behaves similarly to the _expand completer but instead performs expansions
defined by users. The styles add-space and sort styles specific to the _expand completer are
usable with _user_expand in addition to other styles handled more generally by the completion
system. The tag all-expansions is also available.
The expansion depends on the array style user-expand being defined for the current context;
remember that the context for completers is less specific than that for contextual completion
as the full context has not yet been determined. Elements of the array may have one of the
following forms:
$hash hash is the name of an associative array. Note this is not a full parameter expres-sion, expression,
sion, merely a $, suitably quoted to prevent immediate expansion, followed by the name
of an associative array. If the trial expansion word matches a key in hash, the
resulting expansion is the corresponding value.
_func _func is the name of a shell function whose name must begin with _ but is not other-wise otherwise
wise special to the completion system. The function is called with the trial word as
an argument. If the word is to be expanded, the function should set the array reply to
a list of expansions. Optionally, it can set REPLY to a word that will be used as a
description for the set of expansions. The return status of the function is irrele-vant. irrelevant.
vant.
BINDABLE COMMANDS
In addition to the context-dependent completions provided, which are expected to work in an intu-itively intuitively
itively obvious way, there are a few widgets implementing special behaviour which can be bound sepa-rately separately
rately to keys. The following is a list of these and their default bindings.
_bash_completions
This function is used by two widgets, _bash_complete-word and _bash_list-choices. It exists
to provide compatibility with completion bindings in bash. The last character of the binding
determines what is completed: `!', command names; `$', environment variables; `@', host names;
`/', file names; `~' user names. In bash, the binding preceded by `\e' gives completion, and
preceded by `^X' lists options. As some of these bindings clash with standard zsh bindings,
only `\e~' and `^X~' are bound by default. To add the rest, the following should be added to
.zshrc after compinit has been run:
for key in '!' '$' '@' '/' '~'; do
bindkey "\e$key" _bash_complete-word
bindkey "^X$key" _bash_list-choices
done
This includes the bindings for `~' in case they were already bound to something else; the com-pletion completion
pletion code does not override user bindings.
_correct_filename (^XC)
Correct the filename path at the cursor position. Allows up to six errors in the name. Can
also be called with an argument to correct a filename path, independently of zle; the correc-tion correction
tion is printed on standard output.
_correct_word (^Xc)
Performs correction of the current argument using the usual contextual completions as possible
choices. This stores the string `correct-word' in the function field of the context name and
then calls the _correct completer.
_expand_alias (^Xa)
This function can be used as a completer and as a bindable command. It expands the word the
cursor is on if it is an alias. The types of alias expanded can be controlled with the styles
regular, global and disabled.
When used as a bindable command there is one additional feature that can be selected by set-ting setting
ting the complete style to `true'. In this case, if the word is not the name of an alias,
_expand_alias tries to complete the word to a full alias name without expanding it. It leaves
the cursor directly after the completed word so that invoking _expand_alias once more will
expand the now-complete alias name.
_expand_word (^Xe)
Performs expansion on the current word: equivalent to the standard expand-word command, but
using the _expand completer. Before calling it, the function field of the context is set to
`expand-word'.
_generic
This function is not defined as a widget and not bound by default. However, it can be used to
define a widget and will then store the name of the widget in the function field of the con-text context
text and call the completion system. This allows custom completion widgets with their own set
of style settings to be defined easily. For example, to define a widget that performs normal
completion and starts menu selection:
zle -C foo complete-word _generic
bindkey '...' foo
zstyle ':completion:foo:*' menu yes select=1
Note in particular that the completer style may be set for the context in order to change the
set of functions used to generate possible matches. If _generic is called with arguments,
those are passed through to _main_complete as the list of completers in place of those defined
by the completer style.
_history_complete_word (\e/)
Complete words from the shell's command history. This uses the list, remove-all-dups, sort,
and stop styles.
_most_recent_file (^Xm)
Complete the name of the most recently modified file matching the pattern on the command line
(which may be blank). If given a numeric argument N, complete the Nth most recently modified
file. Note the completion, if any, is always unique.
_next_tags (^Xn)
This command alters the set of matches used to that for the next tag, or set of tags, either
as given by the tag-order style or as set by default; these matches would otherwise not be
available. Successive invocations of the command cycle through all possible sets of tags.
_read_comp (^X^R)
Prompt the user for a string, and use that to perform completion on the current word. There
are two possibilities for the string. First, it can be a set of words beginning `_', for
example `_files -/', in which case the function with any arguments will be called to generate
the completions. Unambiguous parts of the function name will be completed automatically (nor-mal (normal
mal completion is not available at this point) until a space is typed.
Second, any other string will be passed as a set of arguments to compadd and should hence be
an expression specifying what should be completed.
A very restricted set of editing commands is available when reading the string: `DEL' and
`^H' delete the last character; `^U' deletes the line, and `^C' and `^G' abort the function,
while `RET' accepts the completion. Note the string is used verbatim as a command line, so
arguments must be quoted in accordance with standard shell rules.
Once a string has been read, the next call to _read_comp will use the existing string instead
of reading a new one. To force a new string to be read, call _read_comp with a numeric argu-ment. argument.
ment.
_complete_debug (^X?)
This widget performs ordinary completion, but captures in a temporary file a trace of the
shell commands executed by the completion system. Each completion attempt gets its own file.
A command to view each of these files is pushed onto the editor buffer stack.
_complete_help (^Xh)
This widget displays information about the context names, the tags, and the completion func-tions functions
tions used when completing at the current cursor position. If given a numeric argument other
than 1 (as in `ESC-2 ^Xh'), then the styles used and the contexts for which they are used will
be shown, too.
Note that the information about styles may be incomplete; it depends on the information avail-able available
able from the completion functions called, which in turn is determined by the user's own
styles and other settings.
_complete_help_generic
Unlike other commands listed here, this must be created as a normal ZLE widget rather than a
completion widget (i.e. with zle -N). It is used for generating help with a widget bound to
the _generic widget that is described above.
If this widget is created using the name of the function, as it is by default, then when exe-cuted executed
cuted it will read a key sequence. This is expected to be bound to a call to a completion
function that uses the _generic widget. That widget will be executed, and information pro-vided provided
vided in the same format that the _complete_help widget displays for contextual completion.
If the widget's name contains debug, for example if it is created as `zle -N _com-plete_debug_generic _complete_debug_generic
plete_debug_generic _complete_help_generic', it will read and execute the keystring for a
generic widget as before, but then generate debugging information as done by _complete_debug
for contextual completion.
If the widget's name contains noread, it will not read a keystring but instead arrange that
the next use of a generic widget run in the same shell will have the effect as described
above.
The widget works by setting the shell parameter ZSH_TRACE_GENERIC_WIDGET which is read by
_generic. Unsetting the parameter cancels any pending effect of the noread form.
For example, after executing the following:
zle -N _complete_debug_generic _complete_help_generic
bindkey '^x:' _complete_debug_generic
typing `C-x :' followed by the key sequence for a generic widget will cause trace output for
that widget to be saved to a file.
_complete_tag (^Xt)
This widget completes symbol tags created by the etags or ctags programmes (note there is no
connection with the completion system's tags) stored in a file TAGS, in the format used by
etags, or tags, in the format created by ctags. It will look back up the path hierarchy for
the first occurrence of either file; if both exist, the file TAGS is preferred. You can spec-ify specify
ify the full path to a TAGS or tags file by setting the parameter $TAGSFILE or $tagsfile
respectively. The corresponding completion tags used are etags and vtags, after emacs and vi
respectively.
UTILITY FUNCTIONS
Descriptions follow for utility functions that may be useful when writing completion functions. If
functions are installed in subdirectories, most of these reside in the Base subdirectory. Like the
example functions for commands in the distribution, the utility functions generating matches all fol-low follow
low the convention of returning status zero if they generated completions and non-zero if no matching
completions could be added.
Two more features are offered by the _main_complete function. The arrays compprefuncs and comppost-funcs comppostfuncs
funcs may contain names of functions that are to be called immediately before or after completion has
been tried. A function will only be called once unless it explicitly reinserts itself into the
array.
_all_labels [ -x ] [ -12VJ ] tag name descr [ command args ... ]
This is a convenient interface to the _next_label function below, implementing the loop shown
in the _next_label example. The command and its arguments are called to generate the matches.
The options stored in the parameter name will automatically be inserted into the args passed
to the command. Normally, they are put directly after the command, but if one of the args is
a single hyphen, they are inserted directly before that. If the hyphen is the last argument,
it will be removed from the argument list before the command is called. This allows
_all_labels to be used in almost all cases where the matches can be generated by a single call
to the compadd builtin command or by a call to one of the utility functions.
For example:
local expl
...
if _requested foo; then
...
_all_labels foo expl '...' compadd ... - $matches
fi
Will complete the strings from the matches parameter, using compadd with additional options
which will take precedence over those generated by _all_labels.
_alternative [ -O name ] [ -C name ] spec ...
This function is useful in simple cases where multiple tags are available. Essentially it
implements a loop like the one described for the _tags function below.
The tags to use and the action to perform if a tag is requested are described using the specs
which are of the form: `tag:descr:action'. The tags are offered using _tags and if the tag is
requested, the action is executed with the given description descr. The actions are those
accepted by the _arguments function (described below), excluding the `->state' and `=...'
forms.
For example, the action may be a simple function call:
_alternative \
'users:user:_users' \
'hosts:host:_hosts'
offers usernames and hostnames as possible matches, generated by the _users and _hosts func-tions functions
tions respectively.
Like _arguments, this function uses _all_labels to execute the actions, which will loop over
all sets of tags. Special handling is only required if there is an additional valid tag, for
example inside a function called from _alternative.
The option `-O name' is used in the same way as by the _arguments function. In other words,
the elements of the name array will be passed to compadd when executing an action.
Like _tags this function supports the -C option to give a different name for the argument con-text context
text field.
_arguments [ -nswWACRS ] [ -O name ] [ -M matchspec ] [ : ] spec ...
This function can be used to give a complete specification for completion for a command whose
arguments follow standard UNIX option and argument conventions. The following forms specify
individual sets of options and arguments; to avoid ambiguity, these may be separated from the
options to _arguments itself by a single colon. Options to _arguments itself must be in sepa-rate separate
rate words, i.e. -s -w, not -sw.
With the option -n, _arguments sets the parameter NORMARG to the position of the first normal
argument in the $words array, i.e. the position after the end of the options. If that argu-ment argument
ment has not been reached, NORMARG is set to -1. The caller should declare `integer NORMARG'
if the -n option is passed; otherwise the parameter is not used.
n:message:action
n::message:action
This describes the n'th normal argument. The message will be printed above the matches
generated and the action indicates what can be completed in this position (see below).
If there are two colons before the message the argument is optional. If the message
contains only white space, nothing will be printed above the matches unless the action
adds an explanation string itself.
:message:action
::message:action
Similar, but describes the next argument, whatever number that happens to be. If all
arguments are specified in this form in the correct order the numbers are unnecessary.
*:message:action
*::message:action
*:::message:action
This describes how arguments (usually non-option arguments, those not beginning with -or withor
or +) are to be completed when neither of the first two forms was provided. Any number
of arguments can be completed in this fashion.
With two colons before the message, the words special array and the CURRENT special
parameter are modified to refer only to the normal arguments when the action is exe-cuted executed
cuted or evaluated. With three colons before the message they are modified to refer
only to the normal arguments covered by this description.
optspec
optspec:...
This describes an option. The colon indicates handling for one or more arguments to
the option; if it is not present, the option is assumed to take no arguments.
By default, options are multi-character name, one `-word' per option. With -s, options
may be single characters, with more than one option per word, although words starting
with two hyphens, such as `--prefix', are still considered complete option names. This
is suitable for standard GNU options.
The combination of -s with -w allows single-letter options to be combined in a single
word even if one or more of the options take arguments. For example, if -a takes an
argument, with no -s `-ab' is considered as a single (unhandled) option; with -s -ab is
an option with the argument `b'; with both -s and -w, -ab may be the option -a and the
option -b with arguments still to come.
The option -W takes this a stage further: it is possible to complete single-letter
options even after an argument that occurs in the same word. However, it depends on
the action performed whether options will really be completed at this point. For more
control, use a utility function like _guard as part of the action.
The following forms are available for the initial optspec, whether or not the option
has arguments.
*optspec
Here optspec is one of the remaining forms below. This indicates the following
optspec may be repeated. Otherwise if the corresponding option is already
present on the command line to the left of the cursor it will not be offered
again.
-optname
+optname
In the simplest form the optspec is just the option name beginning with a minus
or a plus sign, such as `-foo'. The first argument for the option (if any) must
follow as a separate word directly after the option.
Either of `-+optname' and `+-optname' can be used to specify that -optname and
+optname are both valid.
In all the remaining forms, the leading `-' may be replaced by or paired with
`+' in this way.
-optname-The -optnameThe
The first argument of the option must come directly after the option name in the
same word. For example, `-foo-:...' specifies that the completed option and
argument will look like `-fooarg'.
-optname+
The first argument may appear immediately after optname in the same word, or may
appear as a separate word after the option. For example, `-foo+:...' specifies
that the completed option and argument will look like either `-fooarg' or `-foo
arg'.
-optname=
The argument may appear as the next word, or in same word as the option name
provided that it is separated from it by an equals sign, for example `-foo=arg'
or `-foo arg'.
-optname=-The -optname=The
The argument to the option must appear after an equals sign in the same word,
and may not be given in the next argument.
optspec[explanation]
An explanation string may be appended to any of the preceding forms of optspec
by enclosing it in brackets, as in `-q[query operation]'.
The verbose style is used to decide whether the explanation strings are dis-played displayed
played with the option in a completion listing.
If no bracketed explanation string is given but the auto-description style is
set and only one argument is described for this optspec, the value of the style
is displayed, with any appearance of the sequence `%d' in it replaced by the
message of the first optarg that follows the optspec; see below.
It is possible for options with a literal `+' or `=' to appear, but that character must be
quoted, for example `-\+'.
Each optarg following an optspec must take one of the following forms:
:message:action
::message:action
An argument to the option; message and action are treated as for ordinary arguments.
In the first form, the argument is mandatory, and in the second form it is optional.
This group may be repeated for options which take multiple arguments. In other words,
:message1:action1:message2:action2 specifies that the option takes two arguments.
:*pattern:message:action
:*pattern::message:action
:*pattern:::message:action
This describes multiple arguments. Only the last optarg for an option taking multiple
arguments may be given in this form. If the pattern is empty (i.e., :*:), all the
remaining words on the line are to be completed as described by the action; otherwise,
all the words up to and including a word matching the pattern are to be completed using
the action.
Multiple colons are treated as for the `*:...' forms for ordinary arguments: when the
message is preceded by two colons, the words special array and the CURRENT special
parameter are modified during the execution or evaluation of the action to refer only
to the words after the option. When preceded by three colons, they are modified to
refer only to the words covered by this description.
Any literal colon in an optname, message, or action must be preceded by a backslash, `\:'.
Each of the forms above may be preceded by a list in parentheses of option names and argument num-bers. numbers.
bers. If the given option is on the command line, the options and arguments indicated in parentheses
will not be offered. For example, `(-two -three 1)-one:...' completes the option `-one'; if this
appears on the command line, the options -two and -three and the first ordinary argument will not be
completed after it. `(-foo):...' specifies an ordinary argument completion; -foo will not be com-pleted completed
pleted if that argument is already present.
Other items may appear in the list of excluded options to indicate various other items that should
not be applied when the current specification is matched: a single star (*) for the rest arguments
(i.e. a specification of the form `*:...'); a colon (:) for all normal (non-option-) arguments; and a
hyphen (-) for all options. For example, if `(*)' appears before an option and the option appears on
the command line, the list of remaining arguments (those shown in the above table beginning with
`*:') will not be completed.
To aid in reuse of specifications, it is possible to precede any of the forms above with `!'; then
the form will no longer be completed, although if the option or argument appears on the command line
they will be skipped as normal. The main use for this is when the arguments are given by an array,
and _arguments is called repeatedly for more specific contexts: on the first call `_arguments
$global_options' is used, and on subsequent calls `_arguments !$^global_options'.
In each of the forms above the action determines how completions should be generated. Except for the
`->string' form below, the action will be executed by calling the _all_labels function to process all
tag labels. No special handling of tags is needed unless a function call introduces a new one.
The forms for action are as follows.
(single unquoted space)
This is useful where an argument is required but it is not possible or desirable to generate
matches for it. The message will be displayed but no completions listed. Note that even in
this case the colon at the end of the message is needed; it may only be omitted when neither a
message nor an action is given.
(item1 item2 ...)
One of a list of possible matches, for example:
:foo:(foo bar baz)
((item1\:desc1 ...))
Similar to the above, but with descriptions for each possible match. Note the backslash
before the colon. For example,
:foo:((a\:bar b\:baz))
The matches will be listed together with their descriptions if the description style is set
with the values tag in the context.
->string
In this form, _arguments processes the arguments and options and then returns control to the
calling function with parameters set to indicate the state of processing; the calling function
then makes its own arrangements for generating completions. For example, functions that
implement a state machine can use this type of action.
Where _arguments encounters action in the `->string' format, it will strip all leading and
trailing whitespace from string and set the array state to the set of all strings for which an
action is to be performed. The elements of the array state_descr are assigned the correspond-ing corresponding
ing message field from each optarg containing such an action.
By default and in common with all other well behaved completion functions, _arguments returns
status zero if it was able to add matches and non-zero otherwise. However, if the -R option is
given, _arguments will instead return a status of 300 to indicate that $state is to be han-dled. handled.
dled.
In addition to $state and $state_descr, _arguments also sets the global parameters `context',
`line' and `opt_args' as described below, and does not reset any changes made to the special
parameters such as PREFIX and words. This gives the calling function the choice of resetting
these parameters or propagating changes in them.
A function calling _arguments with at least one action containing a `->string' must therefore
declare appropriate local parameters:
local context state state_descr line
typeset -A opt_args
to prevent _arguments from altering the global environment.
{eval-string}
A string in braces is evaluated as shell code to generate matches. If the eval-string itself
does not begin with an opening parenthesis or brace it is split into separate words before
execution.
= action
If the action starts with `= ' (an equals sign followed by a space), _arguments will insert
the contents of the argument field of the current context as the new first element in the
words special array and increment the value of the CURRENT special parameter. This has the
effect of inserting a dummy word onto the completion command line while not changing the point
at which completion is taking place.
This is most useful with one of the specifiers that restrict the words on the command line on
which the action is to operate (the two- and three-colon forms above). One particular use is
when an action itself causes _arguments on a restricted range; it is necessary to use this
trick to insert an appropriate command name into the range for the second call to _arguments
to be able to parse the line.
word...
word...
This covers all forms other than those above. If the action starts with a space, the remain-ing remaining
ing list of words will be invoked unchanged.
Otherwise it will be invoked with some extra strings placed after the first word; these are to
be passed down as options to the compadd builtin. They ensure that the state specified by
_arguments, in particular the descriptions of options and arguments, is correctly passed to
the completion command. These additional arguments are taken from the array parameter `expl';
this will be set up before executing the action and hence may be referred to inside it, typi-cally typically
cally in an expansion of the form `$expl[@]' which preserves empty elements of the array.
During the performance of the action the array `line' will be set to the command name and normal
arguments from the command line, i.e. the words from the command line excluding all options and their
arguments. Options are stored in the associative array `opt_args' with option names as keys and
their arguments as the values. For options that have more than one argument these are given as one
string, separated by colons. All colons in the original arguments are preceded with backslashes.
The parameter `context' is set when returning to the calling function to perform an action of the
form `->string'. It is set to an array of elements corresponding to the elements of $state. Each
element is a suitable name for the argument field of the context: either a string of the form
`option-opt-n' for the n'th argument of the option -opt, or a string of the form `argument-n' for the
n'th argument. For `rest' arguments, that is those in the list at the end not handled by position, n
is the string `rest'. For example, when completing the argument of the -o option, the name is
`option-o-1', while for the second normal (non-option-) argument it is `argument-2'.
Furthermore, during the evaluation of the action the context name in the curcontext parameter is
altered to append the same string that is stored in the context parameter.
It is possible to specify multiple sets of options and arguments with the sets separated by single
hyphens. The specifications before the first hyphen (if any) are shared by all the remaining sets.
The first word in every other set provides a name for the set which may appear in exclusion lists in
specifications, either alone or before one of the possible values described above. In the second
case a `-' should appear between this name and the remainder.
For example:
_arguments \
-a \
- set1 \
-c \
- set2 \
-d \
':arg:(x2 y2)'
This defines two sets. When the command line contains the option `-c', the `-d' option and the argu-ment argument
ment will not be considered possible completions. When it contains `-d' or an argument, the option
`-c' will not be considered. However, after `-a' both sets will still be considered valid.
If the name given for one of the mutually exclusive sets is of the form `(name)' then only one value
from each set will ever be completed; more formally, all specifications are mutually exclusive to all
other specifications in the same set. This is useful for defining multiple sets of options which are
mutually exclusive and in which the options are aliases for each other. For example:
_arguments \
-a -b \
- '(compress)' \
{-c,--compress}'[compress]' \
- '(uncompress)' \
{-d,--decompress}'[decompress]'
As the completion code has to parse the command line separately for each set this form of argument is
slow and should only be used when necessary. A useful alternative is often an option specification
with rest-arguments (as in `-foo:*:...'); here the option -foo swallows up all remaining arguments as
described by the optarg definitions.
The options -S and -A are available to simplify the specifications for commands with standard option
parsing. With -S, no option will be completed after a `--' appearing on its own on the line; this
argument will otherwise be ignored; hence in the line
foobar -a -- -b
the `-a' is considered an option but the `-b' is considered an argument, while the `--' is considered
to be neither.
With -A, no options will be completed after the first non-option argument on the line. The -A must
be followed by a pattern matching all strings which are not to be taken as arguments. For example,
to make _arguments stop completing options after the first normal argument, but ignoring all strings
starting with a hyphen even if they are not described by one of the optspecs, the form is `-A "-*"'.
The option `-O name' specifies the name of an array whose elements will be passed as arguments to
functions called to execute actions. For example, this can be used to pass the same set of options
for the compadd builtin to all actions.
The option `-M spec' sets a match specification to use to completion option names and values. It
must appear before the first argument specification. The default is `r:|[_-]=* r:|=*': this allows
partial word completion after `_' and `-', for example `-f-b' can be completed to `-foo-bar'.
The option -C tells _arguments to modify the curcontext parameter for an action of the form
`->state'. This is the standard parameter used to keep track of the current context. Here it (and
not the context array) should be made local to the calling function to avoid passing back the modi-fied modified
fied value and should be initialised to the current value at the start of the function:
local curcontext="$curcontext"
This is useful where it is not possible for multiple states to be valid together.
The option `--' allows _arguments to work out the names of long options that support the `--help'
option which is standard in many GNU commands. The command word is called with the argument `--help'
and the output examined for option names. Clearly, it can be dangerous to pass this to commands
which may not support this option as the behaviour of the command is unspecified.
In addition to options, `_arguments --' will try to deduce the types of arguments available for
options when the form `--opt=val' is valid. It is also possible to provide hints by examining the
help text of the command and adding specifiers of the form `pattern:message:action'; note that normal
_arguments specifiers are not used. The pattern is matched against the help text for an option, and
if it matches the message and action are used as for other argument specifiers. For example:
_arguments -- '*\*:toggle:(yes no)' \
'*=FILE*:file:_files' \
'*=DIR*:directory:_files -/' \
'*=PATH*:directory:_files -/'
Here, `yes' and `no' will be completed as the argument of options whose description ends in a star;
file names will be completed for options that contain the substring `=FILE' in the description; and
directories will be completed for options whose description contains `=DIR' or `=PATH'. The last
three are in fact the default and so need not be given explicitly, although it is possible to over-ride override
ride the use of these patterns. A typical help text which uses this feature is:
-C, --directory=DIR change to directory DIR
so that the above specifications will cause directories to be completed after `--directory', though
not after `-C'.
Note also that _arguments tries to find out automatically if the argument for an option is optional.
This can be specified explicitly by doubling the colon before the message.
If the pattern ends in `(-)', this will be removed from the pattern and the action will be used only
directly after the `=', not in the next word. This is the behaviour of a normal specification
defined with the form `=-'.
The `_arguments --' can be followed by the option `-i patterns' to give patterns for options which
are not to be completed. The patterns can be given as the name of an array parameter or as a literal
list in parentheses. For example,
_arguments -- -i \
"(--(en|dis)able-FEATURE*)"
will cause completion to ignore the options `--enable-FEATURE' and `--disable-FEATURE' (this example
is useful with GNU configure).
The `_arguments --' form can also be followed by the option `-s pair' to describe option aliases.
Each pair consists of a pattern and a replacement. For example, some configure-scripts describe
options only as `--enable-foo', but also accept `--disable-foo'. To allow completion of the second
form:
_arguments -- -s "(#--enable- --disable-)"
Here is a more general example of the use of _arguments:
_arguments '-l+:left border:' \
'-format:paper size:(letter A4)' \
'*-copy:output file:_files::resolution:(300 600)' \
':postscript file:_files -g \*.\(ps\|eps\)' \
'*:page number:'
This describes three options: `-l', `-format', and `-copy'. The first takes one argument described
as `left border' for which no completion will be offered because of the empty action. Its argument
may come directly after the `-l' or it may be given as the next word on the line.
The `-format' option takes one argument in the next word, described as `paper size' for which only
the strings `letter' and `A4' will be completed.
The `-copy' option may appear more than once on the command line and takes two arguments. The first
is mandatory and will be completed as a filename. The second is optional (because of the second
colon before the description `resolution') and will be completed from the strings `300' and `600'.
The last two descriptions say what should be completed as arguments. The first describes the first
argument as a `postscript file' and makes files ending in `ps' or `eps' be completed. The last
description gives all other arguments the description `page numbers' but does not offer completions.
_cache_invalid cache_identifier
This function returns status zero if the completions cache corresponding to the given cache
identifier needs rebuilding. It determines this by looking up the cache-policy style for the
current context. This should provide a function name which is run with the full path to the
relevant cache file as the only argument.
Example:
_example_caching_policy () {
# rebuild if cache is more than a week old
local -a oldp
oldp=( "$1"(Nm+7) )
(( $#oldp ))
}
_call_function return name [ args ... ]
If a function name exists, it is called with the arguments args. The return argument gives
the name of a parameter in which the return status from the function name should be stored; if
return is empty or a single hyphen it is ignored.
The return status of _call_function itself is zero if the function name exists and was called
and non-zero otherwise.
_call_program tag string ...
This function provides a mechanism for the user to override the use of an external command.
It looks up the command style with the supplied tag. If the style is set, its value is used
as the command to execute. The strings from the call to _call_program, or from the style if
set, are concatenated with spaces between them and the resulting string is evaluated. The
return status is the return status of the command called.
_combination [ -s pattern ] tag style spec ... field opts ...
This function is used to complete combinations of values, for example pairs of hostnames and
usernames. The style argument gives the style which defines the pairs; it is looked up in a
context with the tag specified.
The style name consists of field names separated by hyphens, for example `users-hosts-ports'.
For each field for a value is already known, a spec of the form `field=pattern' is given. For
example, if the command line so far specifies a user `pws', the argument `users=pws' should
appear.
The next argument with no equals sign is taken as the name of the field for which completions
should be generated (presumably not one of the fields for which the value is known).
The matches generated will be taken from the value of the style. These should contain the
possible values for the combinations in the appropriate order (users, hosts, ports in the
example above). The different fields the values for the different fields are separated by
colons. This can be altered with the option -s to _combination which specifies a pattern.
Typically this is a character class, as for example `-s "[:@]"' in the case of the users-hosts
style. Each `field=pattern' specification restricts the completions which apply to elements
of the style with appropriately matching fields.
If no style with the given name is defined for the given tag, or if none of the strings in
style's value match, but a function name of the required field preceded by an underscore is
defined, that function will be called to generate the matches. For example, if there is no
`users-hosts-ports' or no matching hostname when a host is required, the function `_hosts'
will automatically be called.
If the same name is used for more than one field, in both the `field=pattern' and the argument
that gives the name of the field to be completed, the number of the field (starting with one)
may be given after the fieldname, separated from it by a colon.
All arguments after the required field name are passed to compadd when generating matches from
the style value, or to the functions for the fields if they are called.
_describe [ -oO | -t tag ] descr name1 [ name2 ] opts ... -- ...
This function associates completions with descriptions. Multiple groups separated by -- can
be supplied, potentially with different completion options opts.
The descr is taken as a string to display above the matches if the format style for the
descriptions tag is set. This is followed by one or two names of arrays followed by options
to pass to compadd. The first array contains the possible completions with their descriptions
in the form `completion:description'. Any literal colons in completion must be quoted with a
backslash. If a second array is given, it should have the same number of elements as the
first; in this case the corresponding elements are added as possible completions instead of
the completion strings from the first array. The completion list will retain the descriptions
from the first array. Finally, a set of completion options can appear.
If the option `-o' appears before the first argument, the matches added will be treated as
names of command options (N.B. not shell options), typically following a `-', `--' or `+' on
the command line. In this case _describe uses the prefix-hidden, prefix-needed and verbose
styles to find out if the strings should be added as completions and if the descriptions
should be shown. Without the `-o' option, only the verbose style is used to decide how
descriptions are shown. If `-O' is used instead of `-o', command options are completed as
above but _describe will not handle the prefix-needed style.
With the -t option a tag can be specified. The default is `values' or, if the -o option is
given, `options'.
If selected by the list-grouped style, strings with the same description will appear together
in the list.
_describe uses the _all_labels function to generate the matches, so it does not need to appear
inside a loop over tag labels.
_description [ -x ] [ -12VJ ] tag name descr [ spec ... ]
This function is not to be confused with the previous one; it is used as a helper function for
creating options to compadd. It is buried inside many of the higher level completion func-tions functions
tions and so often does not need to be called directly.
The styles listed below are tested in the current context using the given tag. The resulting
options for compadd are put into the array named name (this is traditionally `expl', but this
convention is not enforced). The description for the corresponding set of matches is passed
to the function in descr.
The styles tested are: format, hidden, matcher, ignored-patterns and group-name. The format
style is first tested for the given tag and then for the descriptions tag if no value was
found, while the remainder are only tested for the tag given as the first argument. The func-tion function
tion also calls _setup which tests some more styles.
The string returned by the format style (if any) will be modified so that the sequence `%d' is
replaced by the descr given as the third argument without any leading or trailing white space.
If, after removing the white space, the descr is the empty string, the format style will not
be used and the options put into the name array will not contain an explanation string to be
displayed above the matches.
If _description is called with more than three arguments, the additional specs should be of
the form `char:str'. These supply escape sequence replacements for the format style: every
appearance of `%char' will be replaced by string.
If the -x option is given, the description will be passed to compadd using the -x option
instead of the default -X. This means that the description will be displayed even if there
are no corresponding matches.
The options placed in the array name take account of the group-name style, so matches are
placed in a separate group where necessary. The group normally has its elements sorted (by
passing the option -J to compadd), but if an option starting with `-V', `-J', `-1', or `-2' is
passed to _description, that option will be included in the array. Hence it is possible for
the completion group to be unsorted by giving the option `-V', `-1V', or `-2V'.
In most cases, the function will be used like this:
local expl
_description files expl file
compadd "$expl[@]" - "$files[@]"
Note the use of the parameter expl, the hyphen, and the list of matches. Almost all calls to
compadd within the completion system use a similar format; this ensures that user-specified
styles are correctly passed down to the builtins which implement the internals of completion.
_dispatch context string ...
This sets the current context to context and looks for completion functions to handle this
context by hunting through the list of command names or special contexts (as described above
for compdef) given as string .... The first completion function to be defined for one of the
contexts in the list is used to generate matches. Typically, the last string is -default- to
cause the function for default completion to be used as a fallback.
The function sets the parameter $service to the string being tried, and sets the context/com-mand context/command
mand field (the fourth) of the $curcontext parameter to the context given as the first argu-ment. argument.
ment.
_files The function _files calls _path_files with all the arguments it was passed except for -g and
-/. The use of these two options depends on the setting of the file-patterns style.
This function accepts the full set of options allowed by _path_files, described below.
_gnu_generic
This function is a simple wrapper around the _arguments function described above. It can be
used to determine automatically the long options understood by commands that produce a list
when passed the option `--help'. It is intended to be used as a top-level completion function
in its own right. For example, to enable option completion for the commands foo and bar, use
compdef _gnu_generic foo bar
after the call to compinit.
The completion system as supplied is conservative in its use of this function, since it is
important to be sure the command understands the option `--help'.
_guard [ options ] pattern descr
This function is intended to be used in the action for the specifications passed to _arguments
and similar functions. It returns immediately with a non-zero return status if the string to
be completed does not match the pattern. If the pattern matches, the descr is displayed; the
function then returns status zero if the word to complete is not empty, non-zero otherwise.
The pattern may be preceded by any of the options understood by compadd that are passed down
from _description, namely -M, -J, -V, -1, -2, -n, -F and -X. All of these options will be
ignored. This fits in conveniently with the argument-passing conventions of actions for
_arguments.
As an example, consider a command taking the options -n and -none, where -n must be followed
by a numeric value in the same word. By using:
_arguments '-n-: :_guard "[0-9]#" "numeric value"' '-none'
_arguments can be made to both display the message `numeric value' and complete options after
`-n<TAB>'. If the `-n' is already followed by one or more digits (the pattern passed to
_guard) only the message will be displayed; if the `-n' is followed by another character, only
options are completed.
_message [ -r12 ] [ -VJ group ] descr
_message -e [ tag ] descr
The descr is used in the same way as the third argument to the _description function, except
that the resulting string will always be shown whether or not matches were generated. This is
useful for displaying a help message in places where no completions can be generated.
The format style is examined with the messages tag to find a message; the usual tag, descrip-tions, descriptions,
tions, is used only if the style is not set with the former.
If the -r option is given, no style is used; the descr is taken literally as the string to
display. This is most useful when the descr comes from a pre-processed argument list which
already contains an expanded description.
The -12VJ options and the group are passed to compadd and hence determine the group the mes-sage message
sage string is added to.
The second form gives a description for completions with the tag tag to be shown even if there
are no matches for that tag. The tag can be omitted and if so the tag is taken from the
parameter $curtag; this is maintained by the completion system and so is usually correct.
_multi_parts sep array
The argument sep is a separator character. The array may be either the name of an array
parameter or a literal array in the form `(foo bar)', a parenthesised list of words separated
by whitespace. The possible completions are the strings from the array. However, each chunk
delimited by sep will be completed separately. For example, the _tar function uses
`_multi_parts / patharray' to complete partial file paths from the given array of complete
file paths.
The -i option causes _multi_parts to insert a unique match even if that requires multiple sep-arators separators
arators to be inserted. This is not usually the expected behaviour with filenames, but cer-tain certain
tain other types of completion, for example those with a fixed set of possibilities, may be
more suited to this form.
Like other utility functions, this function accepts the `-V', `-J', `-1', `-2', `-n', `-f',
`-X', `-M', `-P', `-S', `-r', `-R', and `-q' options and passes them to the compadd builtin.
_next_label [ -x ] [ -12VJ ] tag name descr [ options ... ]
This function is used to implement the loop over different tag labels for a particular tag as
described above for the tag-order style. On each call it checks to see if there are any more
tag labels; if there is it returns status zero, otherwise non-zero. As this function requires
a current tag to be set, it must always follow a call to _tags or _requested.
The -x12VJ options and the first three arguments are passed to the _description function.
Where appropriate the tag will be replaced by a tag label in this call. Any description given
in the tag-order style is preferred to the descr passed to _next_label.
The options given after the descr are set in the parameter given by name, and hence are to be
passed to compadd or whatever function is called to add the matches.
Here is a typical use of this function for the tag foo. The call to _requested determines if
tag foo is required at all; the loop over _next_label handles any labels defined for the tag
in the tag-order style.
local expl ret=1
...
if _requested foo; then
...
while _next_label foo expl '...'; do
compadd "$expl[@]" ... && ret=0
done
...
fi
return ret
_normal
This is the standard function called to handle completion outside any special -context-. It
is called both to complete the command word and also the arguments for a command. In the sec-ond second
ond case, _normal looks for a special completion for that command, and if there is none it
uses the completion for the -default- context.
A second use is to reexamine the command line specified by the $words array and the $CURRENT
parameter after those have been modified. For example, the function _precommand, which com-pletes completes
pletes after pre-command specifiers such as nohup, removes the first word from the words
array, decrements the CURRENT parameter, then calls _normal again. The effect is that `nohup
cmd ...' is treated in the same way as `cmd ...'.
If the command name matches one of the patterns given by one of the options -p or -P to com-pdef, compdef,
pdef, the corresponding completion function is called and then the parameter _compskip is
checked. If it is set completion is terminated at that point even if no matches have been
found. This is the same effect as in the -first- context.
_options
This can be used to complete the names of shell options. It provides a matcher specification
that ignores a leading `no', ignores underscores and allows upper-case letters to match their
lower-case counterparts (for example, `glob', `noglob', `NO_GLOB' are all completed). Any
arguments are propagated to the compadd builtin.
_options_set and _options_unset
These functions complete only set or unset options, with the same matching specification used
in the _options function.
Note that you need to uncomment a few lines in the _main_complete function for these functions
to work properly. The lines in question are used to store the option settings in effect
before the completion widget locally sets the options it needs. Hence these functions are not
generally used by the completion system.
_parameters
This is used to complete the names of shell parameters.
The option `-g pattern' limits the completion to parameters whose type matches the pattern.
The type of a parameter is that shown by `print ${(t)param}', hence judicious use of `*' in
pattern is probably necessary.
All other arguments are passed to the compadd builtin.
_path_files
This function is used throughout the completion system to complete filenames. It allows com-pletion completion
pletion of partial paths. For example, the string `/u/i/s/sig' may be completed to
`/usr/include/sys/signal.h'.
The options accepted by both _path_files and _files are:
-f Complete all filenames. This is the default.
-/ Specifies that only directories should be completed.
-g pattern
Specifies that only files matching the pattern should be completed.
-W paths
Specifies path prefixes that are to be prepended to the string from the command line to
generate the filenames but that should not be inserted as completions nor shown in com-pletion completion
pletion listings. Here, paths may be the name of an array parameter, a literal list of
paths enclosed in parentheses or an absolute pathname.
-F ignored-files
This behaves as for the corresponding option to the compadd builtin. It gives direct
control over which filenames should be ignored. If the option is not present, the
ignored-patterns style is used.
Both _path_files and _files also accept the following options which are passed to compadd:
`-J', `-V', `-1', `-2', `-n', `-X', `-M', `-P', `-S', `-q', `-r', and `-R'.
Finally, the _path_files function uses the styles expand, ambiguous, special-dirs, list-suf-fixes list-suffixes
fixes and file-sort described above.
_pick_variant [ -b builtin-label ] [ -c
command ] [ -r name ]
label=pattern ... label [ args ... ]
This function is used to resolve situations where a single command name requires more than one
type of handling, either because it has more than one variant or because there is a name clash
between two different commands.
The command to run is taken from the first element of the array words unless this is overrid-den overridden
den by the option -c. This command is run and its output is compared with a series of pat-terns. patterns.
terns. Arguments to be passed to the command can be specified at the end after all the other
arguments. The patterns to try in order are given by the arguments label=pattern; if the out-put output
put of `command args ...' contains pattern, then label is selected as the label for the com-mand command
mand variant. If none of the patterns match, the final command label is selected and status 1
is returned.
If the `-b builtin-label' is given, the command is tested to see if it is provided as a shell
builtin, possibly autoloaded; if so, the label builtin-label is selected as the label for the
variant.
If the `-r name' is given, the label picked is stored in the parameter named name.
The results are also cached in the _cmd_variant associative array indexed by the name of the
command run.
_regex_arguments name spec ...
This function generates a completion function name which matches the specifications spec ...,
a set of regular expressions as described below. After running _regex_arguments, the function
name should be called as a normal completion function. The pattern to be matched is given by
the contents of the words array up to the current cursor position joined together with null
characters; no quotation is applied.
The arguments are grouped as sets of alternatives separated by `|', which are tried one after
the other until one matches. Each alternative consists of a one or more specifications which
are tried left to right, with each pattern matched being stripped in turn from the command
line being tested, until all of the group succeeds or until one fails; in the latter case, the
next alternative is tried. This structure can be repeated to arbitrary depth by using paren-theses; parentheses;
theses; matching proceeds from inside to outside.
A special procedure is applied if no test succeeds but the remaining command line string con-tains contains
tains no null character (implying the remaining word is the one for which completions are to
be generated). The completion target is restricted to the remaining word and any actions for
the corresponding patterns are executed. In this case, nothing is stripped from the command
line string. The order of evaluation of the actions can be determined by the tag-order style;
the various formats supported by _alternative can be used in action. The descr is used for
setting up the array parameter expl.
Specification arguments take one of following forms, in which metacharacters such as `(', `)',
`#' and `|' should be quoted.
/pattern/ [%lookahead%] [-guard] [:tag:descr:action]
This is a single primitive component. The function tests whether the combined pattern
`(#b)((#B)pattern)lookahead*' matches the command line string. If so, `guard' is eval-uated evaluated
uated and its return status is examined to determine if the test has succeeded. The
pattern string `[]' is guaranteed never to match. The lookahead is not stripped from
the command line before the next pattern is examined.
The argument starting with : is used in the same manner as an argument to _alternative.
A component is used as follows: pattern is tested to see if the component already
exists on the command line. If it does, any following specifications are examined to
find something to complete. If a component is reached but no such pattern exists yet
on the command line, the string containing the action is used to generate matches to
insert at that point.
/pattern/+ [%lookahead%] [-guard] [:tag:descr:action]
This is similar to `/pattern/ ...' but the left part of the command line string (i.e.
the part already matched by previous patterns) is also considered part of the comple-tion completion
tion target.
/pattern/- [%lookahead%] [-guard] [:tag:descr:action]
This is similar to `/pattern/ ...' but the actions of the current and previously
matched patterns are ignored even if the following `pattern' matches the empty string.
( spec )
Parentheses may be used to groups specs; note each parenthesis is a single argument to
_regex_arguments.
spec # This allows any number of repetitions of spec.
spec spec
The two specs are to be matched one after the other as described above.
spec | spec
Either of the two specs can be matched.
The function _regex_words can be used as a helper function to generate matches for a set of
alternative words possibly with their own arguments as a command line argument.
Examples:
_regex_arguments _tst /$'[^\0]#\0'/ \
/$'[^\0]#\0'/ :'compadd aaa'
This generates a function _tst that completes aaa as its only argument. The tag and descrip-tion description
tion for the action have been omitted for brevity (this works but is not recommended in normal
use). The first component matches the command word, which is arbitrary; the second matches
any argument. As the argument is also arbitrary, any following component would not depend on
aaa being present.
_regex_arguments _tst /$'[^\0]#\0'/ \
/$'aaa\0'/ :'compadd aaa'
This is a more typical use; it is similar, but any following patterns would only match if aaa
was present as the first argument.
_regex_arguments _tst /$'[^\0]#\0'/ \( \
/$'aaa\0'/ :'compadd aaa' \
/$'bbb\0'/ :'compadd bbb' \) \#
In this example, an indefinite number of command arguments may be completed. Odd arguments
are completed as aaa and even arguments as bbb. Completion fails unless the set of aaa and
bbb arguments before the current one is matched correctly.
_regex_arguments _tst /$'[^\0]#\0'/ \
\( /$'aaa\0'/ :'compadd aaa' \| \
/$'bbb\0'/ :'compadd bbb' \) \#
This is similar, but either aaa or bbb may be completed for any argument. In this case
_regex_words could be used to generate a suitable expression for the arguments.
_regex_words tag description spec ...
This function can be used to generate arguments for the _regex_arguments command which may be
inserted at any point where a set of rules is expected. The tag and description give a stan-dard standard
dard tag and description pertaining to the current context. Each spec contains two or three
arguments separated by a colon: note that there is no leading colon in this case.
Each spec gives one of a set of words that may be completed at this point, together with argu-ments. arguments.
ments. It is thus roughly equivalent to the _arguments function when used in normal
(non-regex) completion.
The part of the spec before the first colon is the word to be completed. This may contain a
*; the entire word, before and after the * is completed, but only the text before the * is
required for the context to be matched, so that further arguments may be completed after the
abbreviated form.
The second part of spec is a description for the word being completed.
The optional third part of the spec describes how words following the one being completed are
themselves to be completed. It will be evaluated in order to avoid problems with quoting.
This means that typically it contains a reference to an array containing previously generated
regex arguments.
The option -t term specifies a terminator for the word instead of the usual space. This is
handled as an auto-removable suffix in the manner of the option -s sep to _values.
The result of the processing by _regex_words is placed in the array reply, which should be
made local to the calling function. If the set of words and arguments may be matched repeat-edly, repeatedly,
edly, a # should be appended to the generated array at that point.
For example:
local -a reply
_regex_words mydb-commands 'mydb commands' \
'add:add an entry to mydb:$mydb_add_cmds' \
'show:show entries in mydb'
_regex_arguments _mydb "$reply[@]"
_mydb "$@"
This shows a completion function for a command mydb which takes two command arguments, add and
show. show takes no arguments, while the arguments for add have already been prepared in an
array mydb_add_cmds, quite possibly by a previous call to _regex_words.
_requested [ -x ] [ -12VJ ] tag [ name descr [ command args ... ] ]
This function is called to decide whether a tag already registered by a call to _tags (see
below) has been requested by the user and hence completion should be performed for it. It
returns status zero if the tag is requested and non-zero otherwise. The function is typically
used as part of a loop over different tags as follows:
_tags foo bar baz
while _tags; do
if _requested foo; then
... # perform completion for foo
fi
... # test the tags bar and baz in the same way
... # exit loop if matches were generated
done
Note that the test for whether matches were generated is not performed until the end of the
_tags loop. This is so that the user can set the tag-order style to specify a set of tags to
be completed at the same time.
If name and descr are given, _requested calls the _description function with these arguments
together with the options passed to _requested.
If command is given, the _all_labels function will be called immediately with the same argu-ments. arguments.
ments. In simple cases this makes it possible to perform the test for the tag and the match-ing matching
ing in one go. For example:
local expl ret=1
_tags foo bar baz
while _tags; do
_requested foo expl 'description' \
compadd foobar foobaz && ret=0
...
(( ret )) || break
done
If the command is not compadd, it must nevertheless be prepared to handle the same options.
_retrieve_cache cache_identifier
This function retrieves completion information from the file given by cache_identifier, stored
in a directory specified by the cache-path style which defaults to ~/.zcompcache. The return
status is zero if retrieval was successful. It will only attempt retrieval if the use-cache
style is set, so you can call this function without worrying about whether the user wanted to
use the caching layer.
See _store_cache below for more details.
_sep_parts
This function is passed alternating arrays and separators as arguments. The arrays specify
completions for parts of strings to be separated by the separators. The arrays may be the
names of array parameters or a quoted list of words in parentheses. For example, with the
array `hosts=(ftp news)' the call `_sep_parts '(foo bar)' @ hosts' will complete the string
`f' to `foo' and the string `b@n' to `bar@news'.
This function accepts the compadd options `-V', `-J', `-1', `-2', `-n', `-X', `-M', `-P',
`-S', `-r', `-R', and `-q' and passes them on to the compadd builtin used to add the matches.
_setup tag [ group ]
This function sets up the special parameters used by the completion system appropriately for
the tag given as the first argument. It uses the styles list-colors, list-packed,
list-rows-first, last-prompt, accept-exact, menu and force-list.
The optional group supplies the name of the group in which the matches will be placed. If it
is not given, the tag is used as the group name.
This function is called automatically from _description and hence is not normally called
explicitly.
_store_cache cache_identifier params ...
This function, together with _retrieve_cache and _cache_invalid, implements a caching layer
which can be used in any completion function. Data obtained by costly operations are stored
in parameters; this function then dumps the values of those parameters to a file. The data
can then be retrieved quickly from that file via _retrieve_cache, even in different instances
of the shell.
The cache_identifier specifies the file which the data should be dumped to. The file is
stored in a directory specified by the cache-path style which defaults to ~/.zcompcache. The
remaining params arguments are the parameters to dump to the file.
The return status is zero if storage was successful. The function will only attempt storage
if the use-cache style is set, so you can call this function without worrying about whether
the user wanted to use the caching layer.
The completion function may avoid calling _retrieve_cache when it already has the completion
data available as parameters. However, in that case it should call _cache_invalid to check
whether the data in the parameters and in the cache are still valid.
See the _perl_modules completion function for a simple example of the usage of the caching
layer.
_tags [ [ -C name ] tags ... ]
If called with arguments, these are taken to be the names of tags valid for completions in the
current context. These tags are stored internally and sorted by using the tag-order style.
Next, _tags is called repeatedly without arguments from the same completion function. This
successively selects the first, second, etc. set of tags requested by the user. The return
status is zero if at least one of the tags is requested and non-zero otherwise. To test if a
particular tag is to be tried, the _requested function should be called (see above).
If `-C name' is given, name is temporarily stored in the argument field (the fifth) of the
context in the curcontext parameter during the call to _tags; the field is restored on exit.
This allows _tags to use a more specific context without having to change and reset the cur-context curcontext
context parameter (which has the same effect).
_values [ -O name ] [ -s sep ] [ -S sep ] [ -wC ] desc spec ...
This is used to complete arbitrary keywords (values) and their arguments, or lists of such
combinations.
If the first argument is the option `-O name', it will be used in the same way as by the
_arguments function. In other words, the elements of the name array will be passed to compadd
when executing an action.
If the first argument (or the first argument after `-O name') is `-s', the next argument is
used as the character that separates multiple values. This character is automatically added
after each value in an auto-removable fashion (see below); all values completed by `_values
-s' appear in the same word on the command line, unlike completion using _arguments. If this
option is not present, only a single value will be completed per word.
Normally, _values will only use the current word to determine which values are already present
on the command line and hence are not to be completed again. If the -w option is given, other
arguments are examined as well.
The first non-option argument is used as a string to print as a description before listing the
values.
All other arguments describe the possible values and their arguments in the same format used
for the description of options by the _arguments function (see above). The only differences
are that no minus or plus sign is required at the beginning, values can have only one argu-ment, argument,
ment, and the forms of action beginning with an equal sign are not supported.
The character separating a value from its argument can be set using the option -S (like -s,
followed by the character to use as the separator in the next argument). By default the
equals sign will be used as the separator between values and arguments.
Example:
_values -s , 'description' \
'*foo[bar]' \
'(two)*one[number]:first count:' \
'two[another number]::second count:(1 2 3)'
This describes three possible values: `foo', `one', and `two'. The first is described as
`bar', takes no argument and may appear more than once. The second is described as `number',
may appear more than once, and takes one mandatory argument described as `first count'; no
action is specified, so it will not be completed. The `(two)' at the beginning says that if
the value `one' is on the line, the value `two' will no longer be considered a possible com-pletion. completion.
pletion. Finally, the last value (`two') is described as `another number' and takes an
optional argument described as `second count' for which the completions (to appear after an
`=') are `1', `2', and `3'. The _values function will complete lists of these values sepa-rated separated
rated by commas.
Like _arguments, this function temporarily adds another context name component to the argu-ments arguments
ments element (the fifth) of the current context while executing the action. Here this name
is just the name of the value for which the argument is completed.
The style verbose is used to decide if the descriptions for the values (but not those for the
arguments) should be printed.
The associative array val_args is used to report values and their arguments; this works simi-larly similarly
larly to the opt_args associative array used by _arguments. Hence the function calling _val-ues _values
ues should declare the local parameters state, state_descr, line, context and val_args:
local context state state_descr line
typeset -A val_args
when using an action of the form `->string'. With this function the context parameter will be
set to the name of the value whose argument is to be completed. Note that for _values, the
state and state_descr are scalars rather than arrays. Only a single matching state is
returned.
Note also that _values normally adds the character used as the separator between values as an
auto-removable suffix (similar to a `/' after a directory). However, this is not possible for
a `->string' action as the matches for the argument are generated by the calling function. To
get the usual behaviour, the calling function can add the separator x as a suffix by passing
the options `-qS x' either directly or indirectly to compadd.
The option -C is treated in the same way as it is by _arguments. In that case the parameter
curcontext should be made local instead of context (as described above).
_wanted [ -x ] [ -C name ] [ -12VJ ] tag name descr command args ...
In many contexts, completion can only generate one particular set of matches, usually corre-sponding corresponding
sponding to a single tag. However, it is still necessary to decide whether the user requires
matches of this type. This function is useful in such a case.
The arguments to _wanted are the same as those to _requested, i.e. arguments to be passed to
_description. However, in this case the command is not optional; all the processing of tags,
including the loop over both tags and tag labels and the generation of matches, is carried out
automatically by _wanted.
Hence to offer only one tag and immediately add the corresponding matches with the given
description:
local expl
_wanted tag expl 'description' \
compadd matches...
Note that, as for _requested, the command must be able to accept options to be passed down to
compadd.
Like _tags this function supports the -C option to give a different name for the argument con-text context
text field. The -x option has the same meaning as for _description.
COMPLETION DIRECTORIES
In the source distribution, the files are contained in various subdirectories of the Completion
directory. They may have been installed in the same structure, or into one single function direc-tory. directory.
tory. The following is a description of the files found in the original directory structure. If you
wish to alter an installed file, you will need to copy it to some directory which appears earlier in
your fpath than the standard directory where it appears.
Base The core functions and special completion widgets automatically bound to keys. You will cer-tainly certainly
tainly need most of these, though will probably not need to alter them. Many of these are
documented above.
Zsh Functions for completing arguments of shell builtin commands and utility functions for this.
Some of these are also used by functions from the Unix directory.
Unix Functions for completing arguments of external commands and suites of commands. They may need
modifying for your system, although in many cases some attempt is made to decide which version
of a command is present. For example, completion for the mount command tries to determine the
system it is running on, while completion for many other utilities try to decide whether the
GNU version of the command is in use, and hence whether the --help option is supported.
X, AIX, BSD, ...
Completion and utility function for commands available only on some systems. These are not
arranged hierarchically, so, for example, both the Linux and Debian directories, as well as
the X directory, may be useful on your system.
ZSHCOMPCTL(1) ZSHCOMPCTL(1)
NAME
zshcompctl - zsh programmable completion
DESCRIPTION
This version of zsh has two ways of performing completion of words on the command line. New users of
the shell may prefer to use the newer and more powerful system based on shell functions; this is
described in zshcompsys(1), and the basic shell mechanisms which support it are described in zshcomp-wid(1). zshcompwid(1).
wid(1). This manual entry describes the older compctl command.
compctl [ -CDT ] options [ command ... ]
compctl [ -CDT ] options [ -x pattern options - ... -- ] [ + options [ -x ... -- ] ... [+] ] [ com-mand command
mand ... ]
compctl -M match-specs ...
compctl -L [ -CDTM ] [ command ... ]
compctl + command ...
Control the editor's completion behavior according to the supplied set of options. Various editing
commands, notably expand-or-complete-word, usually bound to tab, will attempt to complete a word
typed by the user, while others, notably delete-char-or-list, usually bound to ^D in EMACS editing
mode, list the possibilities; compctl controls what those possibilities are. They may for example be
filenames (the most common case, and hence the default), shell variables, or words from a user-speci-fied user-specified
fied list.
COMMAND FLAGS
Completion of the arguments of a command may be different for each command or may use the default.
The behavior when completing the command word itself may also be separately specified. These corre-spond correspond
spond to the following flags and arguments, all of which (except for -L) may be combined with any
combination of the options described subsequently in the section `Option Flags':
command ...
controls completion for the named commands, which must be listed last on the command line. If
completion is attempted for a command with a pathname containing slashes and no completion
definition is found, the search is retried with the last pathname component. If the command
starts with a =, completion is tried with the pathname of the command.
Any of the command strings may be patterns of the form normally used for filename generation.
These should be quoted to protect them from immediate expansion; for example the command
string 'foo*' arranges for completion of the words of any command beginning with foo. When
completion is attempted, all pattern completions are tried in the reverse order of their defi-nition definition
nition until one matches. By default, completion then proceeds as normal, i.e. the shell will
try to generate more matches for the specific command on the command line; this can be over-ridden overridden
ridden by including -tn in the flags for the pattern completion.
Note that aliases are expanded before the command name is determined unless the COM-PLETE_ALIASES COMPLETE_ALIASES
PLETE_ALIASES option is set. Commands may not be combined with the -C, -D or -T flags.
-C controls completion when the command word itself is being completed. If no compctl -C command
has been issued, the names of any executable command (whether in the path or specific to the
shell, such as aliases or functions) are completed.
-D controls default completion behavior for the arguments of commands not assigned any special
behavior. If no compctl -D command has been issued, filenames are completed.
-T supplies completion flags to be used before any other processing is done, even before process-ing processing
ing for compctls defined for specific commands. This is especially useful when combined with
extended completion (the -x flag, see the section `Extended Completion' below). Using this
flag you can define default behavior which will apply to all commands without exception, or
you can alter the standard behavior for all commands. For example, if your access to the user
database is too slow and/or it contains too many users (so that completion after `~' is too
slow to be usable), you can use
compctl -T -x 's[~] C[0,[^/]#]' -k friends -S/ -tn
to complete the strings in the array friends after a `~'. The C[...] argument is necessary so
that this form of ~-completion is not tried after the directory name is finished.
-L lists the existing completion behavior in a manner suitable for putting into a start-up
script; the existing behavior is not changed. Any combination of the above forms, or the -M
flag (which must follow the -L flag), may be specified, otherwise all defined completions are
listed. Any other flags supplied are ignored.
no argument
If no argument is given, compctl lists all defined completions in an abbreviated form; with a
list of options, all completions with those flags set (not counting extended completion) are
listed.
If the + flag is alone and followed immediately by the command list, the completion behavior for all
the commands in the list is reset to the default. In other words, completion will subsequently use
the options specified by the -D flag.
The form with -M as the first and only option defines global matching specifications (see zshcomp-wid). zshcompwid).
wid). The match specifications given will be used for every completion attempt (only when using com-pctl, compctl,
pctl, not with the new completion system) and are tried in the order in which they are defined until
one generates at least one match. E.g.:
compctl -M '' 'm:{a-zA-Z}={A-Za-z}'
This will first try completion without any global match specifications (the empty string) and, if
that generates no matches, will try case insensitive completion.
OPTION FLAGS
[ -fcFBdeaRGovNAIOPZEnbjrzu/12 ]
[ -k array ] [ -g globstring ] [ -s subststring ]
[ -K function ]
[ -Q ] [ -P prefix ] [ -S suffix ]
[ -W file-prefix ] [ -H num pattern ]
[ -q ] [ -X explanation ] [ -Y explanation ]
[ -y func-or-var ] [ -l cmd ] [ -h cmd ] [ -U ]
[ -t continue ] [ -J name ] [ -V name ]
[ -M match-spec ]
The remaining options specify the type of command arguments to look for during completion. Any com-bination combination
bination of these flags may be specified; the result is a sorted list of all the possibilities. The
options are as follows.
Simple Flags
These produce completion lists made up by the shell itself:
-f Filenames and file system paths.
-/ Just file system paths.
-c Command names, including aliases, shell functions, builtins and reserved words.
-F Function names.
-B Names of builtin commands.
-m Names of external commands.
-w Reserved words.
-a Alias names.
-R Names of regular (non-global) aliases.
-G Names of global aliases.
-d This can be combined with -F, -B, -w, -a, -R and -G to get names of disabled functions,
builtins, reserved words or aliases.
-e This option (to show enabled commands) is in effect by default, but may be combined with -d;
-de in combination with -F, -B, -w, -a, -R and -G will complete names of functions, builtins,
reserved words or aliases whether or not they are disabled.
-o Names of shell options (see zshoptions(1)).
-v Names of any variable defined in the shell.
-N Names of scalar (non-array) parameters.
-A Array names.
-I Names of integer variables.
-O Names of read-only variables.
-p Names of parameters used by the shell (including special parameters).
-Z Names of shell special parameters.
-E Names of environment variables.
-n Named directories.
-b Key binding names.
-j Job names: the first word of the job leader's command line. This is useful with the kill
builtin.
-r Names of running jobs.
-z Names of suspended jobs.
-u User names.
Flags with Arguments
These have user supplied arguments to determine how the list of completions is to be made up:
-k array
Names taken from the elements of $array (note that the `$' does not appear on the command
line). Alternatively, the argument array itself may be a set of space- or comma-separated
values in parentheses, in which any delimiter may be escaped with a backslash; in this case
the argument should be quoted. For example,
compctl -k "(cputime filesize datasize stacksize
coredumpsize resident descriptors)" limit
-g globstring
The globstring is expanded using filename globbing; it should be quoted to protect it from
immediate expansion. The resulting filenames are taken as the possible completions. Use
`*(/)' instead of `*/' for directories. The fignore special parameter is not applied to the
resulting files. More than one pattern may be given separated by blanks. (Note that brace
expansion is not part of globbing. Use the syntax `(either|or)' to match alternatives.)
-s subststring
The subststring is split into words and these words are than expanded using all shell expan-sion expansion
sion mechanisms (see zshexpn(1)). The resulting words are taken as possible completions. The
fignore special parameter is not applied to the resulting files. Note that -g is faster for
filenames.
-K function
Call the given function to get the completions. Unless the name starts with an underscore,
the function is passed two arguments: the prefix and the suffix of the word on which comple-tion completion
tion is to be attempted, in other words those characters before the cursor position, and those
from the cursor position onwards. The whole command line can be accessed with the -c and -l
flags of the read builtin. The function should set the variable reply to an array containing
the completions (one completion per element); note that reply should not be made local to the
function. From such a function the command line can be accessed with the -c and -l flags to
the read builtin. For example,
function whoson { reply=(`users`); }
compctl -K whoson talk
completes only logged-on users after `talk'. Note that `whoson' must return an array, so
`reply=`users`' would be incorrect.
-H num pattern
The possible completions are taken from the last num history lines. Only words matching pat-tern pattern
tern are taken. If num is zero or negative the whole history is searched and if pattern is
the empty string all words are taken (as with `*'). A typical use is
compctl -D -f + -H 0 ''
which forces completion to look back in the history list for a word if no filename matches.
Control Flags
These do not directly specify types of name to be completed, but manipulate the options that do:
-Q This instructs the shell not to quote any metacharacters in the possible completions. Nor-mally Normally
mally the results of a completion are inserted into the command line with any metacharacters
quoted so that they are interpreted as normal characters. This is appropriate for filenames
and ordinary strings. However, for special effects, such as inserting a backquoted expression
from a completion array (-k) so that the expression will not be evaluated until the complete
line is executed, this option must be used.
-P prefix
The prefix is inserted just before the completed string; any initial part already typed will
be completed and the whole prefix ignored for completion purposes. For example,
compctl -j -P "%" kill
inserts a `%' after the kill command and then completes job names.
-S suffix
When a completion is found the suffix is inserted after the completed string. In the case of
menu completion the suffix is inserted immediately, but it is still possible to cycle through
the list of completions by repeatedly hitting the same key.
-W file-prefix
With directory file-prefix: for command, file, directory and globbing completion (options -c,
-f, -/, -g), the file prefix is implicitly added in front of the completion. For example,
compctl -/ -W ~/Mail maildirs
completes any subdirectories to any depth beneath the directory ~/Mail, although that prefix
does not appear on the command line. The file-prefix may also be of the form accepted by the
-k flag, i.e. the name of an array or a literal list in parenthesis. In this case all the
directories in the list will be searched for possible completions.
-q If used with a suffix as specified by the -S option, this causes the suffix to be removed if
the next character typed is a blank or does not insert anything or if the suffix consists of
only one character and the next character typed is the same character; this the same rule used
for the AUTO_REMOVE_SLASH option. The option is most useful for list separators (comma,
colon, etc.).
-l cmd This option restricts the range of command line words that are considered to be arguments. If
combined with one of the extended completion patterns `p[...]', `r[...]', or `R[...]' (see
the section `Extended Completion' below) the range is restricted to the range of arguments
specified in the brackets. Completion is then performed as if these had been given as argu-ments arguments
ments to the cmd supplied with the option. If the cmd string is empty the first word in the
range is instead taken as the command name, and command name completion performed on the first
word in the range. For example,
compctl -x 'r[-exec,;]' -l '' -- find
completes arguments between `-exec' and the following `;' (or the end of the command line if
there is no such string) as if they were a separate command line.
-h cmd Normally zsh completes quoted strings as a whole. With this option, completion can be done
separately on different parts of such strings. It works like the -l option but makes the com-pletion completion
pletion code work on the parts of the current word that are separated by spaces. These parts
are completed as if they were arguments to the given cmd. If cmd is the empty string, the
first part is completed as a command name, as with -l.
-U Use the whole list of possible completions, whether or not they actually match the word on the
command line. The word typed so far will be deleted. This is most useful with a function
(given by the -K option) which can examine the word components passed to it (or via the read
builtin's -c and -l flags) and use its own criteria to decide what matches. If there is no
completion, the original word is retained. Since the produced possible completions seldom
have interesting common prefixes and suffixes, menu completion is started immediately if
AUTO_MENU is set and this flag is used.
-y func-or-var
The list provided by func-or-var is displayed instead of the list of completions whenever a
listing is required; the actual completions to be inserted are not affected. It can be pro-vided provided
vided in two ways. Firstly, if func-or-var begins with a $ it defines a variable, or if it
begins with a left parenthesis a literal array, which contains the list. A variable may have
been set by a call to a function using the -K option. Otherwise it contains the name of a
function which will be executed to create the list. The function will be passed as an argu-ment argument
ment list all matching completions, including prefixes and suffixes expanded in full, and
should set the array reply to the result. In both cases, the display list will only be
retrieved after a complete list of matches has been created.
Note that the returned list does not have to correspond, even in length, to the original set
of matches, and may be passed as a scalar instead of an array. No special formatting of char-acters characters
acters is performed on the output in this case; in particular, newlines are printed literally
and if they appear output in columns is suppressed.
-X explanation
Print explanation when trying completion on the current set of options. A `%n' in this string
is replaced by the number of matches that were added for this explanation string. The expla-nation explanation
nation only appears if completion was tried and there was no unique match, or when listing
completions. Explanation strings will be listed together with the matches of the group speci-fied specified
fied together with the -X option (using the -J or -V option). If the same explanation string
is given to multiple -X options, the string appears only once (for each group) and the number
of matches shown for the `%n' is the total number of all matches for each of these uses. In
any case, the explanation string will only be shown if there was at least one match added for
the explanation string.
The sequences %B, %b, %S, %s, %U, and %u specify output attributes (bold, standout, and under-line), underline),
line), %F, %f, %K, %k specify foreground and background colours, and %{...%} can be used to
include literal escape sequences as in prompts.
-Y explanation
Identical to -X, except that the explanation first undergoes expansion following the usual
rules for strings in double quotes. The expansion will be carried out after any functions are
called for the -K or -y options, allowing them to set variables.
-t continue
The continue-string contains a character that specifies which set of completion flags should
be used next. It is useful:
(i) With -T, or when trying a list of pattern completions, when compctl would usually continue
with ordinary processing after finding matches; this can be suppressed with `-tn'.
(ii) With a list of alternatives separated by +, when compctl would normally stop when one of
the alternatives generates matches. It can be forced to consider the next set of completions
by adding `-t+' to the flags of the alternative before the `+'.
(iii) In an extended completion list (see below), when compctl would normally continue until a
set of conditions succeeded, then use only the immediately following flags. With `-t-', com-pctl compctl
pctl will continue trying extended completions after the next `-'; with `-tx' it will attempt
completion with the default flags, in other words those before the `-x'.
-J name
This gives the name of the group the matches should be placed in. Groups are listed and sorted
separately; likewise, menu completion will offer the matches in the groups in the order in
which the groups were defined. If no group name is explicitly given, the matches are stored in
a group named default. The first time a group name is encountered, a group with that name is
created. After that all matches with the same group name are stored in that group.
This can be useful with non-exclusive alternative completions. For example, in
compctl -f -J files -t+ + -v -J variables foo
both files and variables are possible completions, as the -t+ forces both sets of alternatives
before and after the + to be considered at once. Because of the -J options, however, all
files are listed before all variables.
-V name
Like -J, but matches within the group will not be sorted in listings nor in menu completion.
These unsorted groups are in a different name space from the sorted ones, so groups defined as
-J files and -V files are distinct.
-1 If given together with the -V option, makes only consecutive duplicates in the group be
removed. Note that groups with and without this flag are in different name spaces.
-2 If given together with the -J or -V option, makes all duplicates be kept. Again, groups with
and without this flag are in different name spaces.
-M match-spec
This defines additional matching control specifications that should be used only when testing
words for the list of flags this flag appears in. The format of the match-spec string is
described in zshcompwid.
ALTERNATIVE COMPLETION
compctl [ -CDT ] options + options [ + ... ] [ + ] command ...
The form with `+' specifies alternative options. Completion is tried with the options before the
first `+'. If this produces no matches completion is tried with the flags after the `+' and so on. If
there are no flags after the last `+' and a match has not been found up to that point, default com-pletion completion
pletion is tried. If the list of flags contains a -t with a + character, the next list of flags is
used even if the current list produced matches.
Additional options are available that restrict completion to some part of the command line; this is
referred to as `extended completion'.
EXTENDED COMPLETION
compctl [ -CDT ] options -x pattern options - ... --[ -[
[ command ... ]
compctl [ -CDT ] options [ -x pattern options - ... -- ]
[ + options [ -x ... -- ] ... [+] ] [ command ... ]
The form with `-x' specifies extended completion for the commands given; as shown, it may be combined
with alternative completion using `+'. Each pattern is examined in turn; when a match is found, the
corresponding options, as described in the section `Option Flags' above, are used to generate possi-ble possible
ble completions. If no pattern matches, the options given before the -x are used.
Note that each pattern should be supplied as a single argument and should be quoted to prevent expan-sion expansion
sion of metacharacters by the shell.
A pattern is built of sub-patterns separated by commas; it matches if at least one of these sub-pat-terns sub-patterns
terns matches (they are `or'ed). These sub-patterns are in turn composed of other sub-patterns sepa-rated separated
rated by white spaces which match if all of the sub-patterns match (they are `and'ed). An element of
the sub-patterns is of the form `c[...][...]', where the pairs of brackets may be repeated as often
as necessary, and matches if any of the sets of brackets match (an `or'). The example below makes
this clearer.
The elements may be any of the following:
s[string]...
Matches if the current word on the command line starts with one of the strings given in brack-ets. brackets.
ets. The string is not removed and is not part of the completion.
S[string]...
Like s[string] except that the string is part of the completion.
p[from,to]...
Matches if the number of the current word is between one of the from and to pairs inclusive.
The comma and to are optional; to defaults to the same value as from. The numbers may be neg-ative: negative:
ative: -n refers to the n'th last word on the line.
c[offset,string]...
Matches if the string matches the word offset by offset from the current word position. Usu-ally Usually
ally offset will be negative.
C[offset,pattern]...
Like c but using pattern matching instead.
w[index,string]...
Matches if the word in position index is equal to the corresponding string. Note that the
word count is made after any alias expansion.
W[index,pattern]...
Like w but using pattern matching instead.
n[index,string]...
Matches if the current word contains string. Anything up to and including the indexth occur-rence occurrence
rence of this string will not be considered part of the completion, but the rest will. index
may be negative to count from the end: in most cases, index will be 1 or -1. For example,
compctl -s '`users`' -x 'n[1,@]' -k hosts -- talk
will usually complete usernames, but if you insert an @ after the name, names from the array
hosts (assumed to contain hostnames, though you must make the array yourself) will be com-pleted. completed.
pleted. Other commands such as rcp can be handled similarly.
N[index,string]...
Like n except that the string will be taken as a character class. Anything up to and includ-ing including
ing the indexth occurrence of any of the characters in string will not be considered part of
the completion.
m[min,max]...
Matches if the total number of words lies between min and max inclusive.
r[str1,str2]...
Matches if the cursor is after a word with prefix str1. If there is also a word with prefix
str2 on the command line after the one matched by str1 it matches only if the cursor is before
this word. If the comma and str2 are omitted, it matches if the cursor is after a word with
prefix str1.
R[str1,str2]...
Like r but using pattern matching instead.
q[str]...
Matches the word currently being completed is in single quotes and the str begins with the
letter `s', or if completion is done in double quotes and str starts with the letter `d', or
if completion is done in backticks and str starts with a `b'.
EXAMPLE
compctl -u -x 's[+] c[-1,-f],s[-f+]' \
-g '~/Mail/*(:t)' - 's[-f],c[-1,-f]' -f -- mail
This is to be interpreted as follows:
If the current command is mail, then
if ((the current word begins with + and the previous word is -f)
or (the current word begins with -f+)), then complete the
non-directory part (the `:t' glob modifier) of files in the directory
~/Mail; else
if the current word begins with -f or the previous word was -f, then
complete any file; else
complete user names.
ZSHMODULES(1) ZSHMODULES(1)
NAME
zshmodules - zsh loadable modules
DESCRIPTION
Some optional parts of zsh are in modules, separate from the core of the shell. Each of these mod-ules modules
ules may be linked in to the shell at build time, or can be dynamically linked while the shell is
running if the installation supports this feature. Modules are linked at runtime with the zmodload
command, see zshbuiltins(1).
The modules that are bundled with the zsh distribution are:
zsh/attr
Builtins for manipulating extended attributes (xattr).
zsh/cap
Builtins for manipulating POSIX.1e (POSIX.6) capability (privilege) sets.
zsh/clone
A builtin that can clone a running shell onto another terminal.
zsh/compctl
The compctl builtin for controlling completion.
zsh/complete
The basic completion code.
zsh/complist
Completion listing extensions.
zsh/computil
A module with utility builtins needed for the shell function based completion system.
zsh/curses
curses windowing commands
zsh/datetime
Some date/time commands and parameters.
zsh/deltochar
A ZLE function duplicating EMACS' zap-to-char.
zsh/example
An example of how to write a module.
zsh/files
Some basic file manipulation commands as builtins.
zsh/langinfo
Interface to locale information.
zsh/mapfile
Access to external files via a special associative array.
zsh/mathfunc
Standard scientific functions for use in mathematical evaluations.
zsh/newuser
Arrange for files for new users to be installed.
zsh/parameter
Access to internal hash tables via special associative arrays.
zsh/pcre
Interface to the PCRE library.
zsh/regex
Interface to the POSIX regex library.
zsh/sched
A builtin that provides a timed execution facility within the shell.
zsh/net/socket
Manipulation of Unix domain sockets
zsh/stat
A builtin command interface to the stat system call.
zsh/system
A builtin interface to various low-level system features.
zsh/net/tcp
Manipulation of TCP sockets
zsh/termcap
Interface to the termcap database.
zsh/terminfo
Interface to the terminfo database.
zsh/zftp
A builtin FTP client.
zsh/zle
The Zsh Line Editor, including the bindkey and vared builtins.
zsh/zleparameter
Access to internals of the Zsh Line Editor via parameters.
zsh/zprof
A module allowing profiling for shell functions.
zsh/zpty
A builtin for starting a command in a pseudo-terminal.
zsh/zselect
Block and return when file descriptors are ready.
zsh/zutil
Some utility builtins, e.g. the one for supporting configuration via styles.
THE ZSH/ATTR MODULE
The zsh/attr module is used for manipulating extended attributes. The -h option causes all commands
to operate on symbolic links instead of their targets. The builtins in this module are:
zgetattr [ -h ] filename attribute [ parameter ]
Get the extended attribute attribute from the specified filename. If the optional argument
parameter is given, the attribute is set on that parameter instead of being printed to stdout.
zsetattr [ -h ] filename attribute value
Set the extended attribute attribute on the specified filename to value.
zdelattr [ -h ] filename attribute
Remove the extended attribute attribute from the specified filename.
zlistattr [ -h ] filename [ parameter ]
List the extended attributes currently set on the specified filename. If the optional argument
parameter is given, the list of attributes is set on that parameter instead of being printed
to stdout.
zgetattr and zlistattr allocate memory dynamically. If the attribute or list of attributes grows
between the allocation and the call to get them, they return 2. On all other errors, 1 is returned.
This allows the calling function to check for this case and retry.
THE ZSH/CAP MODULE
The zsh/cap module is used for manipulating POSIX.1e (POSIX.6) capability sets. If the operating
system does not support this interface, the builtins defined by this module will do nothing. The
builtins in this module are:
cap [ capabilities ]
Change the shell's process capability sets to the specified capabilities, otherwise display
the shell's current capabilities.
getcap filename ...
This is a built-in implementation of the POSIX standard utility. It displays the capability
sets on each specified filename.
setcap capabilities filename ...
This is a built-in implementation of the POSIX standard utility. It sets the capability sets
on each specified filename to the specified capabilities.
THE ZSH/CLONE MODULE
The zsh/clone module makes available one builtin command:
clone tty
Creates a forked instance of the current shell, attached to the specified tty. In the new
shell, the PID, PPID and TTY special parameters are changed appropriately. $! is set to zero
in the new shell, and to the new shell's PID in the original shell.
The return status of the builtin is zero in both shells if successful, and non-zero on error.
The target of clone should be an unused terminal, such as an unused virtual console or a vir-tual virtual
tual terminal created by
xterm -e sh -c 'trap : INT QUIT TSTP; tty; while :; do sleep 100000000; done'
Some words of explanation are warranted about this long xterm command line: when doing clone
on a pseudo-terminal, some other session ("session" meant as a unix session group, or SID) is
already owning the terminal. Hence the cloned zsh cannot acquire the pseudo-terminal as a con-trolling controlling
trolling tty. That means two things:
the job control signals will go to the sh-started-by-xterm process
group (that's why we disable INT QUIT and TSTP with trap; otherwise
the while loop could get suspended or killed)
the cloned shell will have job control disabled, and the job
control keys (control-C, control-\ and control-Z) will not work.
This does not apply when cloning to an unused vc.
Cloning to a used (and unprepared) terminal will result in two processes reading simultane-ously simultaneously
ously from the same terminal, with input bytes going randomly to either process.
clone is mostly useful as a shell built-in replacement for openvt.
THE ZSH/COMPCTL MODULE
The zsh/compctl module makes available two builtin commands. compctl, is the old, deprecated way to
control completions for ZLE. See zshcompctl(1). The other builtin command, compcall can be used in
user-defined completion widgets, see zshcompwid(1).
THE ZSH/COMPLETE MODULE
The zsh/complete module makes available several builtin commands which can be used in user-defined
completion widgets, see zshcompwid(1).
THE ZSH/COMPLIST MODULE
The zsh/complist module offers three extensions to completion listings: the ability to highlight
matches in such a list, the ability to scroll through long lists and a different style of menu com-pletion. completion.
pletion.
Colored completion listings
Whenever one of the parameters ZLS_COLORS or ZLS_COLOURS is set and the zsh/complist module is loaded
or linked into the shell, completion lists will be colored. Note, however, that complist will not
automatically be loaded if it is not linked in: on systems with dynamic loading, `zmodload zsh/com-plist' zsh/complist'
plist' is required.
The parameters ZLS_COLORS and ZLS_COLOURS describe how matches are highlighted. To turn on high-lighting highlighting
lighting an empty value suffices, in which case all the default values given below will be used. The
format of the value of these parameters is the same as used by the GNU version of the ls command: a
colon-separated list of specifications of the form `name=value'. The name may be one of the follow-ing following
ing strings, most of which specify file types for which the value will be used. The strings and
their default values are:
no 0 for normal text (i.e. when displaying something other than a matched file)
fi 0 for regular files
di 32 for directories
ln 36 for symbolic links. If this has the special value target, symbolic links are dereferenced and
the target file used to determine the display format.
pi 31 for named pipes (FIFOs)
so 33 for sockets
bd 44;37
for block devices
cd 44;37
for character devices
or none
for a symlink to nonexistent file (default is the value defined for ln)
mi none
for a non-existent file (default is the value defined for fi); this code is currently not used
su 37;41
for files with setuid bit set
sg 30;43
for files with setgid bit set
tw 30;42
for world writable directories with sticky bit set
ow 34;43
for world writable directories without sticky bit set
sa none
for files with an associated suffix alias; this is only tested after specific suffixes, as
described below
st 37;44
for directories with sticky bit set but not world writable
ex 35 for executable files
lc \e[ for the left code (see below)
rc m for the right code
tc 0 for the character indicating the file type printed after filenames if the LIST_TYPES option
is set
sp 0 for the spaces printed after matches to align the next column
ec none
for the end code
Apart from these strings, the name may also be an asterisk (`*') followed by any string. The value
given for such a string will be used for all files whose name ends with the string. The name may
also be an equals sign (`=') followed by a pattern; the EXTENDED_GLOB option will be turned on for
evaluation of the pattern. The value given for this pattern will be used for all matches (not just
filenames) whose display string are matched by the pattern. Definitions for the form with the lead-ing leading
ing equal sign take precedence over the values defined for file types, which in turn take precedence
over the form with the leading asterisk (file extensions).
The leading-equals form also allows different parts of the displayed strings to be colored differ-ently. differently.
ently. For this, the pattern has to use the `(#b)' globbing flag and pairs of parentheses surround-ing surrounding
ing the parts of the strings that are to be colored differently. In this case the value may consist
of more than one color code separated by equal signs. The first code will be used for all parts for
which no explicit code is specified and the following codes will be used for the parts matched by the
sub-patterns in parentheses. For example, the specification `=(#b)(?)*(?)=0=3=7' will be used for
all matches which are at least two characters long and will use the code `3' for the first character,
`7' for the last character and `0' for the rest.
All three forms of name may be preceded by a pattern in parentheses. If this is given, the value
will be used only for matches in groups whose names are matched by the pattern given in the parenthe-ses. parentheses.
ses. For example, `(g*)m*=43' highlights all matches beginning with `m' in groups whose names begin
with `g' using the color code `43'. In case of the `lc', `rc', and `ec' codes, the group pattern is
ignored.
Note also that all patterns are tried in the order in which they appear in the parameter value until
the first one matches which is then used.
When printing a match, the code prints the value of lc, the value for the file-type or the last
matching specification with a `*', the value of rc, the string to display for the match itself, and
then the value of ec if that is defined or the values of lc, no, and rc if ec is not defined.
The default values are ISO 6429 (ANSI) compliant and can be used on vt100 compatible terminals such
as xterms. On monochrome terminals the default values will have no visible effect. The colors func-tion function
tion from the contribution can be used to get associative arrays containing the codes for ANSI termi-nals terminals
nals (see the section `Other Functions' in zshcontrib(1)). For example, after loading colors, one
could use `$colors[red]' to get the code for foreground color red and `$colors[bg-green]' for the
code for background color green.
If the completion system invoked by compinit is used, these parameters should not be set directly
because the system controls them itself. Instead, the list-colors style should be used (see the sec-tion section
tion `Completion System Configuration' in zshcompsys(1)).
Scrolling in completion listings
To enable scrolling through a completion list, the LISTPROMPT parameter must be set. Its value will
be used as the prompt; if it is the empty string, a default prompt will be used. The value may con-tain contain
tain escapes of the form `%x'. It supports the escapes `%B', `%b', `%S', `%s', `%U', `%u', `%F',
`%f', `%K', `%k' and `%{...%}' used also in shell prompts as well as three pairs of additional
sequences: a `%l' or `%L' is replaced by the number of the last line shown and the total number of
lines in the form `number/total'; a `%m' or `%M' is replaced with the number of the last match shown
and the total number of matches; and `%p' or `%P' is replaced with `Top', `Bottom' or the position of
the first line shown in percent of the total number of lines, respectively. In each of these cases
the form with the uppercase letter will be replaced with a string of fixed width, padded to the right
with spaces, while the lowercase form will not be padded.
If the parameter LISTPROMPT is set, the completion code will not ask if the list should be shown.
Instead it immediately starts displaying the list, stopping after the first screenful, showing the
prompt at the bottom, waiting for a keypress after temporarily switching to the listscroll keymap.
Some of the zle functions have a special meaning while scrolling lists:
send-break
stops listing discarding the key pressed
accept-line, down-history, down-line-or-history
down-line-or-search, vi-down-line-or-history
scrolls forward one line
complete-word, menu-complete, expand-or-complete
expand-or-complete-prefix, menu-complete-or-expand
scrolls forward one screenful
accept-search
stop listing but take no other action
Every other character stops listing and immediately processes the key as usual. Any key that is not
bound in the listscroll keymap or that is bound to undefined-key is looked up in the keymap currently
selected.
As for the ZLS_COLORS and ZLS_COLOURS parameters, LISTPROMPT should not be set directly when using
the shell function based completion system. Instead, the list-prompt style should be used.
Menu selection
The zsh/complist module also offers an alternative style of selecting matches from a list, called
menu selection, which can be used if the shell is set up to return to the last prompt after showing a
completion list (see the ALWAYS_LAST_PROMPT option in zshoptions(1)).
Menu selection can be invoked directly by the widget menu-select defined by this module. This is a
standard ZLE widget that can be bound to a key in the usual way as described in zshzle(1).
Alternatively, the parameter MENUSELECT can be set to an integer, which gives the minimum number of
matches that must be present before menu selection is automatically turned on. This second method
requires that menu completion be started, either directly from a widget such as menu-complete, or due
to one of the options MENU_COMPLETE or AUTO_MENU being set. If MENUSELECT is set, but is 0, 1 or
empty, menu selection will always be started during an ambiguous menu completion.
When using the completion system based on shell functions, the MENUSELECT parameter should not be
used (like the ZLS_COLORS and ZLS_COLOURS parameters described above). Instead, the menu style
should be used with the select=... keyword.
After menu selection is started, the matches will be listed. If there are more matches than fit on
the screen, only the first screenful is shown. The matches to insert into the command line can be
selected from this list. In the list one match is highlighted using the value for ma from the
ZLS_COLORS or ZLS_COLOURS parameter. The default value for this is `7' which forces the selected
match to be highlighted using standout mode on a vt100-compatible terminal. If neither ZLS_COLORS
nor ZLS_COLOURS is set, the same terminal control sequence as for the `%S' escape in prompts is used.
If there are more matches than fit on the screen and the parameter MENUPROMPT is set, its value will
be shown below the matches. It supports the same escape sequences as LISTPROMPT, but the number of
the match or line shown will be that of the one where the mark is placed. If its value is the empty
string, a default prompt will be used.
The MENUSCROLL parameter can be used to specify how the list is scrolled. If the parameter is unset,
this is done line by line, if it is set to `0' (zero), the list will scroll half the number of lines
of the screen. If the value is positive, it gives the number of lines to scroll and if it is nega-tive, negative,
tive, the list will be scrolled the number of lines of the screen minus the (absolute) value.
As for the ZLS_COLORS, ZLS_COLOURS and LISTPROMPT parameters, neither MENUPROMPT nor MENUSCROLL
should be set directly when using the shell function based completion system. Instead, the
select-prompt and select-scroll styles should be used.
The completion code sometimes decides not to show all of the matches in the list. These hidden
matches are either matches for which the completion function which added them explicitly requested
that they not appear in the list (using the -n option of the compadd builtin command) or they are
matches which duplicate a string already in the list (because they differ only in things like pre-fixes prefixes
fixes or suffixes that are not displayed). In the list used for menu selection, however, even these
matches are shown so that it is possible to select them. To highlight such matches the hi and du
capabilities in the ZLS_COLORS and ZLS_COLOURS parameters are supported for hidden matches of the
first and second kind, respectively.
Selecting matches is done by moving the mark around using the zle movement functions. When not all
matches can be shown on the screen at the same time, the list will scroll up and down when crossing
the top or bottom line. The following zle functions have special meaning during menu selection.
Note that the following always perform the same task within the menu selection map and cannot be
replaced by user defined widgets, nor can the set of functions be extended:
accept-line, accept-search
accept the current match and leave menu selection (but do not cause the command line to be
accepted)
send-break
leaves menu selection and restores the previous contents of the command line
redisplay, clear-screen
execute their normal function without leaving menu selection
accept-and-hold, accept-and-menu-complete
accept the currently inserted match and continue selection allowing to select the next match
to insert into the line
accept-and-infer-next-history
accepts the current match and then tries completion with menu selection again; in the case of
files this allows one to select a directory and immediately attempt to complete files in it;
if there are no matches, a message is shown and one can use undo to go back to completion on
the previous level, every other key leaves menu selection (including the other zle functions
which are otherwise special during menu selection)
undo removes matches inserted during the menu selection by one of the three functions before
down-history, down-line-or-history
vi-down-line-or-history, down-line-or-search
moves the mark one line down
up-history, up-line-or-history
vi-up-line-or-history, up-line-or-search
moves the mark one line up
forward-char, vi-forward-char
moves the mark one column right
backward-char, vi-backward-char
moves the mark one column left
forward-word, vi-forward-word
vi-forward-word-end, emacs-forward-word
moves the mark one screenful down
backward-word, vi-backward-word, emacs-backward-word
moves the mark one screenful up
vi-forward-blank-word, vi-forward-blank-word-end
moves the mark to the first line of the next group of matches
vi-backward-blank-word
moves the mark to the last line of the previous group of matches
beginning-of-history
moves the mark to the first line
end-of-history
moves the mark to the last line
beginning-of-buffer-or-history, beginning-of-line
beginning-of-line-hist, vi-beginning-of-line
moves the mark to the leftmost column
end-of-buffer-or-history, end-of-line
end-of-line-hist, vi-end-of-line
moves the mark to the rightmost column
complete-word, menu-complete, expand-or-complete
expand-or-complete-prefix, menu-expand-or-complete
moves the mark to the next match
reverse-menu-complete
moves the mark to the previous match
vi-insert
this toggles between normal and interactive mode; in interactive mode the keys bound to
self-insert and self-insert-unmeta insert into the command line as in normal editing mode but
without leaving menu selection; after each character completion is tried again and the list
changes to contain only the new matches; the completion widgets make the longest unambiguous
string be inserted in the command line and undo and backward-delete-char go back to the previ-ous previous
ous set of matches
history-incremental-search-forward
history-incremental-search-backward
this starts incremental searches in the list of completions displayed; in this mode,
accept-line only leaves incremental search, going back to the normal menu selection mode
All movement functions wrap around at the edges; any other zle function not listed leaves menu selec-tion selection
tion and executes that function. It is possible to make widgets in the above list do the same by
using the form of the widget with a `.' in front. For example, the widget `.accept-line' has the
effect of leaving menu selection and accepting the entire command line.
During this selection the widget uses the keymap menuselect. Any key that is not defined in this
keymap or that is bound to undefined-key is looked up in the keymap currently selected. This is used
to ensure that the most important keys used during selection (namely the cursor keys, return, and
TAB) have sensible defaults. However, keys in the menuselect keymap can be modified directly using
the bindkey builtin command (see zshmodules(1)). For example, to make the return key leave menu
selection without accepting the match currently selected one could call
bindkey -M menuselect '^M' send-break
after loading the zsh/complist module.
THE ZSH/COMPUTIL MODULE
The zsh/computil module adds several builtin commands that are used by some of the completion func-tions functions
tions in the completion system based on shell functions (see zshcompsys(1) ). Except for compquote
these builtin commands are very specialised and thus not very interesting when writing your own com-pletion completion
pletion functions. In summary, these builtin commands are:
comparguments
This is used by the _arguments function to do the argument and command line parsing. Like
compdescribe it has an option -i to do the parsing and initialize some internal state and var-ious various
ious options to access the state information to decide what should be completed.
compdescribe
This is used by the _describe function to build the displays for the matches and to get the
strings to add as matches with their options. On the first call one of the options -i or -I
should be supplied as the first argument. In the first case, display strings without the
descriptions will be generated, in the second case, the string used to separate the matches
from their descriptions must be given as the second argument and the descriptions (if any)
will be shown. All other arguments are like the definition arguments to _describe itself.
Once compdescribe has been called with either the -i or the -I option, it can be repeatedly
called with the -g option and the names of five arrays as its arguments. This will step
through the different sets of matches and store the options in the first array, the strings
with descriptions in the second, the matches for these in the third, the strings without
descriptions in the fourth, and the matches for them in the fifth array. These are then
directly given to compadd to register the matches with the completion code.
compfiles
Used by the _path_files function to optimize complex recursive filename generation (globbing).
It does three things. With the -p and -P options it builds the glob patterns to use, includ-ing including
ing the paths already handled and trying to optimize the patterns with respect to the prefix
and suffix from the line and the match specification currently used. The -i option does the
directory tests for the ignore-parents style and the -r option tests if a component for some
of the matches are equal to the string on the line and removes all other matches if that is
true.
compgroups
Used by the _tags function to implement the internals of the group-order style. This only
takes its arguments as names of completion groups and creates the groups for it (all six
types: sorted and unsorted, both without removing duplicates, with removing all duplicates and
with removing consecutive duplicates).
compquote [ -p ] names ...
There may be reasons to write completion functions that have to add the matches using the -Q
option to compadd and perform quoting themselves. Instead of interpreting the first character
of the all_quotes key of the compstate special association and using the q flag for parameter
expansions, one can use this builtin command. The arguments are the names of scalar or array
parameters and the values of these parameters are quoted as needed for the innermost quoting
level. If the -p option is given, quoting is done as if there is some prefix before the val-ues values
ues of the parameters, so that a leading equal sign will not be quoted.
The return status is non-zero in case of an error and zero otherwise.
comptags
comptry
These implement the internals of the tags mechanism.
compvalues
Like comparguments, but for the _values function.
THE ZSH/CURSES MODULE
The zsh/curses module makes available one builtin command and various parameters.
Builtin
zcurses init
zcurses end
zcurses addwin targetwin nlines ncols begin_y begin_x [ parentwin ]
zcurses delwin targetwin
zcurses refresh [ targetwin ... ]
zcurses touch targetwin ...
zcurses move targetwin new_y new_x
zcurses clear targetwin [ redraw | eol | bot ]
zcurses position targetwin array
zcurses char targetwin character
zcurses string targetwin string
zcurses border targetwin border
zcurses attr targetwin [ {+/-}attribute | fg_col/bg_col ] [...]
zcurses bg targetwin [ {+/-}attribute | fg_col/bg_col | @char ] [...]
zcurses scroll targetwin [ on | off | {+/-}lines ]
zcurses input targetwin [ param [ kparam [ mparam ] ] ]
zcurses mouse [ delay num | {+/-}motion ]
zcurses timeout targetwin intval
zcurses querychar targetwin [ param ]
Manipulate curses windows. All uses of this command should be bracketed by `zcurses init' to
initialise use of curses, and `zcurses end' to end it; omitting `zcurses end' can cause the
terminal to be in an unwanted state.
The subcommand addwin creates a window with nlines lines and ncols columns. Its upper left
corner will be placed at row begin_y and column begin_x of the screen. targetwin is a string
and refers to the name of a window that is not currently assigned. Note in particular the
curses convention that vertical values appear before horizontal values.
If addwin is given an existing window as the final argument, the new window is created as a
subwindow of parentwin. This differs from an ordinary new window in that the memory of the
window contents is shared with the parent's memory. Subwindows must be deleted before their
parent. Note that the coordinates of subwindows are relative to the screen, not the parent,
as with other windows.
Use the subcommand delwin to delete a window created with addwin. Note that end does not
implicitly delete windows, and that delwin does not erase the screen image of the window.
The window corresponding to the full visible screen is called stdscr; it always exists after
`zcurses init' and cannot be delete with delwin.
The subcommand refresh will refresh window targetwin; this is necessary to make any pending
changes (such as characters you have prepared for output with char) visible on the screen.
refresh without an argument causes the screen to be cleared and redrawn. If multiple windows
are given, the screen is updated once at the end.
The subcommand touch marks the targetwins listed as changed. This is necessary before
refreshing windows if a window that was in front of another window (which may be stdscr) is
deleted.
The subcommand move moves the cursor position in targetwin to new coordinates new_y and new_x.
Note that the subcommand string (but not the subcommand char) advances the cursor position
over the characters added.
The subcommand clear erases the contents of targetwin. One (and no more than one) of three
options may be specified. With the option redraw, in addition the next refresh of targetwin
will cause the screen to be cleared and repainted. With the option eol, targetwin is only
cleared to the end of the current cursor line. With the option bot, targetwin is cleared to
the end of the window, i.e everything to the right and below the cursor is cleared.
The subcommand position writes various positions associated with targetwin into the array
named array. These are, in order:
The y and x coordinates of the cursor relative to the top left
of targetwin
The y and x coordinates of the top left of targetwin on the
screen
The size of targetwin in y and x dimensions.
Outputting characters and strings are achieved by char and string respectively.
To draw a border around window targetwin, use border. Note that the border is not subse-quently subsequently
quently handled specially: in other words, the border is simply a set of characters output at
the edge of the window. Hence it can be overwritten, can scroll off the window, etc.
The subcommand attr will set targetwin's attributes or foreground/background color pair for
any successive character output. Each attribute given on the line may be prepended by a + to
set or a - to unset that attribute; + is assumed if absent. The attributes supported are
blink, bold, dim, reverse, standout, and underline.
Each fg_col/bg_col attribute (to be read as `fg_col on bg_col') sets the foreground and back-ground background
ground color for character output. The color default is sometimes available (in particular if
the library is ncurses), specifying the foreground or background color with which the terminal
started. The color pair default/default is always available.
bg overrides the color and other attributes of all characters in the window. Its usual use is
to set the background initially, but it will overwrite the attributes of any characters at the
time when it is called. In addition to the arguments allowed with attr, an argument @char
specifies a character to be shown in otherwise blank areas of the window. Owing to limita-tions limitations
tions of curses this cannot be a multibyte character (use of ASCII characters only is recom-mended). recommended).
mended). As the specified set of attributes override the existing background, turning
attributes off in the arguments is not useful, though this does not cause an error.
The subcommand scroll can be used with on or off to enabled or disable scrolling of a window
when the cursor would otherwise move below the window due to typing or output. It can also be
used with a positive or negative integer to scroll the window up or down the given number of
lines without changing the current cursor position (which therefore appears to move in the
opposite direction relative to the window). In the second case, if scrolling is off it is
temporarily turned on to allow the window to be scrolled.
The subcommand input reads a single character from the window without echoing it back. If
param is supplied the character is assigned to the parameter param, else it is assigned to the
parameter REPLY.
If both param and kparam are supplied, the key is read in `keypad' mode. In this mode special
keys such as function keys and arrow keys return the name of the key in the parameter kparam.
The key names are the macros defined in the curses.h or ncurses.h with the prefix `KEY_'
removed; see also the description of the parameter zcurses_keycodes below. Other keys cause a
value to be set in param as before. On a successful return only one of param or kparam con-tains contains
tains a non-empty string; the other is set to an empty string.
If mparam is also supplied, input attempts to handle mouse input. This is only available with
the ncurses library; mouse handling can be detected by checking for the exit status of
`zcurses mouse' with no arguments. If a mouse button is clicked (or double- or
triple-clicked, or pressed or released with a configurable delay from being clicked) then
kparam is set to the string MOUSE, and mparam is set to an array consisting of the following
elements:
- An identifier to discriminate different input devices; this is only rarely useful.
- The x, y and z coordinates of the mouse click relative to the full screen, as three
elements in that order (i.e. the y coordinate is, unusually, after the x coordinate).
The z coordinate is only available for a few unusual input devices and is otherwise set
to zero.
- Any events that occurred as separate items; usually there will be just one. An event
consists of PRESSED, RELEASED, CLICKED, DOUBLE_CLICKED or TRIPLE_CLICKED followed imme-diately immediately
diately (in the same element) by the number of the button.
- If the shift key was pressed, the string SHIFT.
- If the control key was pressed, the string CTRL.
- If the alt key was pressed, the string ALT.
Not all mouse events may be passed through to the terminal window; most terminal emulators
handle some mouse events themselves. Note that the ncurses manual implies that using input
both with and without mouse handling may cause the mouse cursor to appear and disappear.
The subcommand mouse can be used to configure the use of the mouse. There is no window argu-ment; argument;
ment; mouse options are global. `zcurses mouse' with no arguments returns status 0 if mouse
handling is possible, else status 1. Otherwise, the possible arguments (which may be combined
on the same command line) are as follows. delay num sets the maximum delay in milliseconds
between press and release events to be considered as a click; the value 0 disables click reso-lution, resolution,
lution, and the default is one sixth of a second. motion proceeded by an optional `+' (the
default) or - turns on or off reporting of mouse motion in addition to clicks, presses and
releases, which are always reported. However, it appears reports for mouse motion are not
currently implemented.
The subcommand timeout specifies a timeout value for input from targetwin. If intval is nega-tive, negative,
tive, `zcurses input' waits indefinitely for a character to be typed; this is the default. If
intval is zero, `zcurses input' returns immediately; if there is typeahead it is returned,
else no input is done and status 1 is returned. If intval is positive, `zcurses input' waits
intval milliseconds for input and if there is none at the end of that period returns status 1.
The subcommand querychar queries the character at the current cursor position. The return
values are stored in the array named param if supplied, else in the array reply. The first
value is the character (which may be a multibyte character if the system supports them); the
second is the color pair in the usual fg_col/bg_col notation, or 0 if color is not supported.
Any attributes other than color that apply to the character, as set with the subcommand attr,
appear as additional elements.
Parameters
ZCURSES_COLORS
Readonly integer. The maximum number of colors the terminal supports. This value is ini-tialised initialised
tialised by the curses library and is not available until the first time zcurses init is run.
ZCURSES_COLOR_PAIRS
Readonly integer. The maximum number of color pairs fg_col/bg_col that may be defined in
`zcurses attr' commands; note this limit applies to all color pairs that have been used
whether or not they are currently active. This value is initialised by the curses library and
is not available until the first time zcurses init is run.
zcurses_attrs
Readonly array. The attributes supported by zsh/curses; available as soon as the module is
loaded.
zcurses_colors
Readonly array. The colors supported by zsh/curses; available as soon as the module is
loaded.
zcurses_keycodes
Readonly array. The values that may be returned in the second parameter supplied to `zcurses
input' in the order in which they are defined internally by curses. Not all function keys are
listed, only F0; curses reserves space for F0 up to F63.
zcurses_windows
Readonly array. The current list of windows, i.e. all windows that have been created with
`zcurses addwin' and not removed with `zcurses delwin'.
THE ZSH/DATETIME MODULE
The zsh/datetime module makes available one builtin command:
strftime [ -s scalar ] format epochtime
strftime -r [ -q ] [ -s scalar ] format timestring
Output the date denoted by epochtime in the format specified.
With the option -r (reverse), use the format format to parse the input string timestring and
output the number of seconds since the epoch at which the time occurred. If no timezone is
parsed, the current timezone is used; other parameters are set to zero if not present. If
timestring does not match format the command returns status 1; it will additionally print an
error message unless the option -q (quiet) is given. If timestring matches format but not all
characters in timestring were used, the conversion succeeds; however, a warning is issued
unless the option -q is given. The matching is implemented by the system function strptime;
see strptime(3). This means that zsh format extensions are not available, however for reverse
lookup they are not required. If the function is not implemented, the command returns status
2 and (unless -q is given) prints a message.
If -s scalar is given, assign the date string (or epoch time in seconds if -r is given) to
scalar instead of printing it.
The zsh/datetime module makes available several parameters; all are readonly:
EPOCHREALTIME
A floating point value representing the number of seconds since the epoch. The notional accu-racy accuracy
racy is to nanoseconds if the clock_gettime call is available and to microseconds otherwise,
but in practice the range of double precision floating point and shell scheduling latencies
may be significant effects.
EPOCHSECONDS
An integer value representing the number of seconds since the epoch.
epochtime
An array value containing the number of seconds since the epoch in the first element and the
remainder of the time since the epoch in nanoseconds in the second element. To ensure the two
elements are consistent the array should be copied or otherwise referenced as a single substi-tution substitution
tution before the values are used. The following idiom may be used:
for secs nsecs in $epochtime; do
...
done
THE ZSH/DELTOCHAR MODULE
The zsh/deltochar module makes available two ZLE functions:
delete-to-char
Read a character from the keyboard, and delete from the cursor position up to and including
the next (or, with repeat count n, the nth) instance of that character. Negative repeat
counts mean delete backwards.
zap-to-char
This behaves like delete-to-char, except that the final occurrence of the character itself is
not deleted.
THE ZSH/EXAMPLE MODULE
The zsh/example module makes available one builtin command:
example [ -flags ] [ args ... ]
Displays the flags and arguments it is invoked with.
The purpose of the module is to serve as an example of how to write a module.
THE ZSH/FILES MODULE
The zsh/files module makes available some common commands for file manipulation as builtins; these
commands are probably not needed for many normal situations but can be useful in emergency recovery
situations with constrained resources. The commands do not implement all features now required by
relevant standards committees.
For all commands, a variant beginning zf_ is also available and loaded automatically. Using the fea-tures features
tures capability of zmodload will let you load only those names you want.
The commands loaded by default are:
chgrp [ -hRs ] group filename ...
Changes group of files specified. This is equivalent to chown with a user-spec argument of
`:group'.
chown [ -hRs ] user-spec filename ...
Changes ownership and group of files specified.
The user-spec can be in four forms:
user change owner to user; do not change group
user:: change owner to user; do not change group
user: change owner to user; change group to user's primary group
user:group
change owner to user; change group to group
:group do not change owner; change group to group
In each case, the `:' may instead be a `.'. The rule is that if there is a `:' then the sepa-rator separator
rator is `:', otherwise if there is a `.' then the separator is `.', otherwise there is no
separator.
Each of user and group may be either a username (or group name, as appropriate) or a decimal
user ID (group ID). Interpretation as a name takes precedence, if there is an all-numeric
username (or group name).
If the target is a symbolic link, the -h option causes chown to set the ownership of the link
instead of its target.
The -R option causes chown to recursively descend into directories, changing the ownership of
all files in the directory after changing the ownership of the directory itself.
The -s option is a zsh extension to chown functionality. It enables paranoid behaviour,
intended to avoid security problems involving a chown being tricked into affecting files other
than the ones intended. It will refuse to follow symbolic links, so that (for example)
``chown luser /tmp/foo/passwd'' can't accidentally chown /etc/passwd if /tmp/foo happens to be
a link to /etc. It will also check where it is after leaving directories, so that a recursive
chown of a deep directory tree can't end up recursively chowning /usr as a result of directo-ries directories
ries being moved up the tree.
ln [ -dfhins ] filename dest
ln [ -dfhins ] filename ... dir
Creates hard (or, with -s, symbolic) links. In the first form, the specified destination is
created, as a link to the specified filename. In the second form, each of the filenames is
taken in turn, and linked to a pathname in the specified directory that has the same last
pathname component.
Normally, ln will not attempt to create hard links to directories. This check can be overrid-den overridden
den using the -d option. Typically only the super-user can actually succeed in creating hard
links to directories. This does not apply to symbolic links in any case.
By default, existing files cannot be replaced by links. The -i option causes the user to be
queried about replacing existing files. The -f option causes existing files to be silently
deleted, without querying. -f takes precedence.
The -h and -n options are identical and both exist for compatibility; either one indicates
that if the target is a symlink then it should not be dereferenced. Typically this is used in
combination with -sf so that if an existing link points to a directory then it will be
removed, instead of followed. If this option is used with multiple filenames and the target
is a symbolic link pointing to a directory then the result is an error.
mkdir [ -p ] [ -m mode ] dir ...
Creates directories. With the -p option, non-existing parent directories are first created if
necessary, and there will be no complaint if the directory already exists. The -m option can
be used to specify (in octal) a set of file permissions for the created directories, otherwise
mode 777 modified by the current umask (see umask(2)) is used.
mv [ -fi ] filename dest
mv [ -fi ] filename ... dir
Moves files. In the first form, the specified filename is moved to the specified destination.
In the second form, each of the filenames is taken in turn, and moved to a pathname in the
specified directory that has the same last pathname component.
By default, the user will be queried before replacing any file that the user cannot write to,
but writable files will be silently removed. The -i option causes the user to be queried
about replacing any existing files. The -f option causes any existing files to be silently
deleted, without querying. -f takes precedence.
Note that this mv will not move files across devices. Historical versions of mv, when actual
renaming is impossible, fall back on copying and removing files; if this behaviour is desired,
use cp and rm manually. This may change in a future version.
rm [ -dfirs ] filename ...
Removes files and directories specified.
Normally, rm will not remove directories (except with the -r option). The -d option causes rm
to try removing directories with unlink (see unlink(2)), the same method used for files. Typ-ically Typically
ically only the super-user can actually succeed in unlinking directories in this way. -d
takes precedence over -r.
By default, the user will be queried before removing any file that the user cannot write to,
but writable files will be silently removed. The -i option causes the user to be queried
about removing any files. The -f option causes files to be silently deleted, without query-ing, querying,
ing, and suppresses all error indications. -f takes precedence.
The -r option causes rm to recursively descend into directories, deleting all files in the
directory before removing the directory with the rmdir system call (see rmdir(2)).
The -s option is a zsh extension to rm functionality. It enables paranoid behaviour, intended
to avoid common security problems involving a root-run rm being tricked into removing files
other than the ones intended. It will refuse to follow symbolic links, so that (for example)
``rm /tmp/foo/passwd'' can't accidentally remove /etc/passwd if /tmp/foo happens to be a link
to /etc. It will also check where it is after leaving directories, so that a recursive
removal of a deep directory tree can't end up recursively removing /usr as a result of direc-tories directories
tories being moved up the tree.
rmdir dir ...
Removes empty directories specified.
sync Calls the system call of the same name (see sync(2)), which flushes dirty buffers to disk. It
might return before the I/O has actually been completed.
THE ZSH/LANGINFO MODULE
The zsh/langinfo module makes available one parameter:
langinfo
An associative array that maps langinfo elements to their values.
Your implementation may support a number of the following keys:
CODESET, D_T_FMT, D_FMT, T_FMT, RADIXCHAR, THOUSEP, YESEXPR, NOEXPR, CRNCYSTR, ABDAY_{1..7},
DAY_{1..7}, ABMON_{1..12}, MON_{1..12}, T_FMT_AMPM, AM_STR, PM_STR, ERA, ERA_D_FMT,
ERA_D_T_FMT, ERA_T_FMT, ALT_DIGITS
THE ZSH/MAPFILE MODULE
The zsh/mapfile module provides one special associative array parameter of the same name.
mapfile
This associative array takes as keys the names of files; the resulting value is the content of
the file. The value is treated identically to any other text coming from a parameter. The
value may also be assigned to, in which case the file in question is written (whether or not
it originally existed); or an element may be unset, which will delete the file in question.
For example, `vared mapfile[myfile]' works as expected, editing the file `myfile'.
When the array is accessed as a whole, the keys are the names of files in the current direc-tory, directory,
tory, and the values are empty (to save a huge overhead in memory). Thus ${(k)mapfile} has
the same affect as the glob operator *(D), since files beginning with a dot are not special.
Care must be taken with expressions such as rm ${(k)mapfile}, which will delete every file in
the current directory without the usual `rm *' test.
The parameter mapfile may be made read-only; in that case, files referenced may not be written
or deleted.
A file may conveniently be read into an array as one line per element with the form
`array=("${(f)mapfile[filename]}")'. The double quotes are necessary to prevent empty lines
from being removed.
Limitations
Although reading and writing of the file in question is efficiently handled, zsh's internal memory
management may be arbitrarily baroque; however, mapfile is usually very much more efficient than any-thing anything
thing involving a loop. Note in particular that the whole contents of the file will always reside
physically in memory when accessed (possibly multiple times, due to standard parameter substitution
operations). In particular, this means handling of sufficiently long files (greater than the
machine's swap space, or than the range of the pointer type) will be incorrect.
No errors are printed or flagged for non-existent, unreadable, or unwritable files, as the parameter
mechanism is too low in the shell execution hierarchy to make this convenient.
It is unfortunate that the mechanism for loading modules does not yet allow the user to specify the
name of the shell parameter to be given the special behaviour.
THE ZSH/MATHFUNC MODULE
The zsh/mathfunc module provides standard mathematical functions for use when evaluating mathematical
formulae. The syntax agrees with normal C and FORTRAN conventions, for example,
(( f = sin(0.3) ))
assigns the sine of 0.3 to the parameter f.
Most functions take floating point arguments and return a floating point value. However, any neces-sary necessary
sary conversions from or to integer type will be performed automatically by the shell. Apart from
atan with a second argument and the abs, int and float functions, all functions behave as noted in
the manual page for the corresponding C function, except that any arguments out of range for the
function in question will be detected by the shell and an error reported.
The following functions take a single floating point argument: acos, acosh, asin, asinh, atan, atanh,
cbrt, ceil, cos, cosh, erf, erfc, exp, expm1, fabs, floor, gamma, j0, j1, lgamma, log, log10, log1p,
logb, sin, sinh, sqrt, tan, tanh, y0, y1. The atan function can optionally take a second argument,
in which case it behaves like the C function atan2. The ilogb function takes a single floating point
argument, but returns an integer.
The function signgam takes no arguments, and returns an integer, which is the C variable of the same
name, as described in gamma(3). Note that it is therefore only useful immediately after a call to
gamma or lgamma. Note also that `signgam(RPAR' and `signgam' are distinct expressions.
The following functions take two floating point arguments: copysign, fmod, hypot, nextafter.
The following take an integer first argument and a floating point second argument: jn, yn.
The following take a floating point first argument and an integer second argument: ldexp, scalb.
The function abs does not convert the type of its single argument; it returns the absolute value of
either a floating point number or an integer. The functions float and int convert their arguments
into a floating point or integer value (by truncation) respectively.
Note that the C pow function is available in ordinary math evaluation as the `**' operator and is not
provided here.
The function rand48 is available if your system's mathematical library has the function erand48(3).
It returns a pseudo-random floating point number between 0 and 1. It takes a single string optional
argument.
If the argument is not present, the random number seed is initialised by three calls to the rand(3)
function --- this produces the same random numbers as the next three values of $RANDOM.
If the argument is present, it gives the name of a scalar parameter where the current random number
seed will be stored. On the first call, the value must contain at least twelve hexadecimal digits
(the remainder of the string is ignored), or the seed will be initialised in the same manner as for a
call to rand48 with no argument. Subsequent calls to rand48(param) will then maintain the seed in
the parameter param as a string of twelve hexadecimal digits, with no base signifier. The random
number sequences for different parameters are completely independent, and are also independent from
that used by calls to rand48 with no argument.
For example, consider
print $(( rand48(seed) ))
print $(( rand48() ))
print $(( rand48(seed) ))
Assuming $seed does not exist, it will be initialised by the first call. In the second call, the
default seed is initialised; note, however, that because of the properties of rand() there is a cor-relation correlation
relation between the seeds used for the two initialisations, so for more secure uses, you should gen-erate generate
erate your own 12-byte seed. The third call returns to the same sequence of random numbers used in
the first call, unaffected by the intervening rand48().
THE ZSH/NEWUSER MODULE
The zsh/newuser module is loaded at boot if it is available, the RCS option is set, and the PRIVI-LEGED PRIVILEGED
LEGED option is not set (all three are true by default). This takes place immediately after commands
in the global zshenv file (typically /etc/zshenv), if any, have been executed. If the module is not
available it is silently ignored by the shell; the module may safely be removed from $MODULE_PATH by
the administrator if it is not required.
On loading, the module tests if any of the start-up files .zshenv, .zprofile, .zshrc or .zlogin exist
in the directory given by the environment variable ZDOTDIR, or the user's home directory if that is
not set. The test is not performed and the module halts processing if the shell was in an emulation
mode (i.e. had been invoked as some other shell than zsh).
If none of the start-up files were found, the module then looks for the file newuser first in a
sitewide directory, usually the parent directory of the site-functions directory, and if that is not
found the module searches in a version-specific directory, usually the parent of the functions direc-tory directory
tory containing version-specific functions. (These directories can be configured when zsh is built
using the --enable-site-scriptdir=dir and --enable-scriptdir=dir flags to configure, respectively;
the defaults are prefix/share/zsh and prefix/share/zsh/$ZSH_VERSION where the default prefix is
/usr/local.)
If the file newuser is found, it is then sourced in the same manner as a start-up file. The file is
expected to contain code to install start-up files for the user, however any valid shell code will be
executed.
The zsh/newuser module is then unconditionally unloaded.
Note that it is possible to achieve exactly the same effect as the zsh/newuser module by adding code
to /etc/zshenv. The module exists simply to allow the shell to make arrangements for new users with-out without
out the need for intervention by package maintainers and system administrators.
The script supplied with the module invokes the shell function zsh-newuser-install. This may be
invoked directly by the user even if the zsh/newuser module is disabled. Note, however, that if the
module is not installed the function will not be installed either. The function is documented in the
section User Configuration Functions in zshcontrib(1).
THE ZSH/PARAMETER MODULE
The zsh/parameter module gives access to some of the internal hash tables used by the shell by defin-ing defining
ing some special parameters.
options
The keys for this associative array are the names of the options that can be set and unset
using the setopt and unsetopt builtins. The value of each key is either the string on if the
option is currently set, or the string off if the option is unset. Setting a key to one of
these strings is like setting or unsetting the option, respectively. Unsetting a key in this
array is like setting it to the value off.
commands
This array gives access to the command hash table. The keys are the names of external com-mands, commands,
mands, the values are the pathnames of the files that would be executed when the command would
be invoked. Setting a key in this array defines a new entry in this table in the same way as
with the hash builtin. Unsetting a key as in `unset "commands[foo]"' removes the entry for the
given key from the command hash table.
functions
This associative array maps names of enabled functions to their definitions. Setting a key in
it is like defining a function with the name given by the key and the body given by the value.
Unsetting a key removes the definition for the function named by the key.
dis_functions
Like functions but for disabled functions.
builtins
This associative array gives information about the builtin commands currently enabled. The
keys are the names of the builtin commands and the values are either `undefined' for builtin
commands that will automatically be loaded from a module if invoked or `defined' for builtin
commands that are already loaded.
dis_builtins
Like builtins but for disabled builtin commands.
reswords
This array contains the enabled reserved words.
dis_reswords
Like reswords but for disabled reserved words.
aliases
This maps the names of the regular aliases currently enabled to their expansions.
dis_aliases
Like aliases but for disabled regular aliases.
galiases
Like aliases, but for global aliases.
dis_galiases
Like galiases but for disabled global aliases.
saliases
Like raliases, but for suffix aliases.
dis_saliases
Like saliases but for disabled suffix aliases.
parameters
The keys in this associative array are the names of the parameters currently defined. The val-ues values
ues are strings describing the type of the parameter, in the same format used by the t parame-ter parameter
ter flag, see zshexpn(1) . Setting or unsetting keys in this array is not possible.
modules
An associative array giving information about modules. The keys are the names of the modules
loaded, registered to be autoloaded, or aliased. The value says which state the named module
is in and is one of the strings `loaded', `autoloaded', or `alias:name', where name is the
name the module is aliased to.
Setting or unsetting keys in this array is not possible.
dirstack
A normal array holding the elements of the directory stack. Note that the output of the dirs
builtin command includes one more directory, the current working directory.
history
This associative array maps history event numbers to the full history lines.
historywords
A special array containing the words stored in the history.
jobdirs
This associative array maps job numbers to the directories from which the job was started
(which may not be the current directory of the job).
The keys of the associative arrays are usually valid job numbers, and these are the values
output with, for example, ${(k)jobdirs}. Non-numeric job references may be used when looking
up a value; for example, ${jobdirs[%+]} refers to the current job.
jobtexts
This associative array maps job numbers to the texts of the command lines that were used to
start the jobs.
Handling of the keys of the associative array is as described for jobdirs above.
jobstates
This associative array gives information about the states of the jobs currently known. The
keys are the job numbers and the values are strings of the form `job-state:mark:pid=state...'.
The job-state gives the state the whole job is currently in, one of `running', `suspended', or
`done'. The mark is `+' for the current job, `-' for the previous job and empty otherwise.
This is followed by one `pid=state' for every process in the job. The pids are, of course, the
process IDs and the state describes the state of that process.
Handling of the keys of the associative array is as described for jobdirs above.
nameddirs
This associative array maps the names of named directories to the pathnames they stand for.
userdirs
This associative array maps user names to the pathnames of their home directories.
usergroups
This associative array maps names of system groups of which the current user is a member to
the corresponding group identifiers. The contents are the same as the groups output by the id
command.
funcfiletrace
This array contains the absolute line numbers and corresponding file names for the point where
the current function, sourced file, or (if EVAL_LINENO is set) eval command was called. The
array is of the same length as funcsourcetrace and functrace, but differs from funcsourcetrace
in that the line and file are the point of call, not the point of definition, and differs from
functrace in that all values are absolute line numbers in files, rather than relative to the
start of a function, if any.
funcsourcetrace
This array contains the file names and line numbers of the points where the functions, sourced
files, and (if EVAL_LINENO is set) eval commands currently being executed were defined. The
line number is the line where the `function name' or `name ()' started. In the case of an
autoloaded function the line number is reported as zero. The format of each element is file-name:lineno. filename:lineno.
name:lineno. For functions autoloaded from a file in native zsh format, where only the body
of the function occurs in the file, or for files that have been executed by the source or `.'
builtins, the trace information is shown as filename:_, since the entire file is the defini-tion. definition.
tion.
Most users will be interested in the information in the funcfiletrace array instead.
funcstack
This array contains the names of the functions, sourced files, and (if EVAL_LINENO is set)
eval commands. currently being executed. The first element is the name of the function using
the parameter.
functrace
This array contains the names and line numbers of the callers corresponding to the functions
currently being executed. The format of each element is name:lineno. Callers are also shown
for sourced files; the caller is the point where the source or `.' command was executed.
THE ZSH/PCRE MODULE
The zsh/pcre module makes some commands available as builtins:
pcre_compile [ -aimxs ] PCRE
Compiles a perl-compatible regular expression.
Option -a will force the pattern to be anchored. Option -i will compile a case-insensitive
pattern. Option -m will compile a multi-line pattern; that is, ^ and $ will match newlines
within the pattern. Option -x will compile an extended pattern, wherein whitespace and # com-ments comments
ments are ignored. Option -s makes the dot metacharacter match all characters, including
those that indicate newline.
pcre_study
Studies the previously-compiled PCRE which may result in faster matching.
pcre_match [ -v var ] [ -a arr ] [ -n offset ] [ -b ] string
Returns successfully if string matches the previously-compiled PCRE.
Upon successful match, if the expression captures substrings within parentheses, pcre_match
will set the array $match to those substrings, unless the -a option is given, in which case it
will set the array arr. Similarly, the variable MATCH will be set to the entire matched por-tion portion
tion of the string, unless the -v option is given, in which case the variable var will be set.
No variables are altered if there is no successful match. A -n option starts searching for a
match from the byte offset position in string. If the -b option is given, the variable
ZPCRE_OP will be set to an offset pair string, representing the byte offset positions of the
entire matched portion within the string. For example, a ZPCRE_OP set to "32 45" indicates
that the matched portion began on byte offset 32 and ended on byte offset 44. Here, byte off-set offset
set position 45 is the position directly after the matched portion. Keep in mind that the
byte position isn't necessarily the same as the character position when UTF-8 characters are
involved. Consequently, the byte offset positions are only to be relied on in the context of
using them for subsequent searches on string, using an offset position as an argument to the
-n option. This is mostly used to implement the "find all non-overlapping matches" function-ality. functionality.
ality.
A simple example of "find all non-overlapping matches":
string="The following zip codes: 78884 90210 99513"
pcre_compile -m "\d{5}"
accum=()
pcre_match -b -- $string
while [[ $? -eq 0 ]] do
b=($=ZPCRE_OP)
accum+=$MATCH
pcre_match -b -n $b[2] -- $string
done
print -l $accum
The zsh/pcre module makes available the following test condition:
expr -pcre-match pcre
Matches a string against a perl-compatible regular expression.
For example,
[[ "$text" -pcre-match ^d+$ ]] && print text variable contains only "d's".
THE ZSH/REGEX MODULE
The zsh/regex module makes available the following test condition:
expr -regex-match regex
Matches a string against a POSIX extended regular expression. On successful match, matched
portion of the string will normally be placed in the MATCH variable. If there are any captur-ing capturing
ing parentheses within the regex, then the match array variable will contain those. If the
match is not successful, then the variables will not be altered.
For example,
[[ alphabetical -regex-match ^a([^a]+)a([^a]+)a ]] &&
print -l $MATCH X $match
If the option REMATCH_PCRE is not set, then the =~ operator will automatically load this mod-ule module
ule as needed and will invoke the -regex-match operator.
If BASH_REMATCH is set, then the array BASH_REMATCH will be set instead of MATCH and match.
THE ZSH/SCHED MODULE
The zsh/sched module makes available one builtin command and one parameter.
sched [-o] [+]hh:mm[:ss] command ...
sched [-o] [+]seconds command ...
sched [ -item ]
Make an entry in the scheduled list of commands to execute. The time may be specified in
either absolute or relative time, and either as hours, minutes and (optionally) seconds sepa-rated separated
rated by a colon, or seconds alone. An absolute number of seconds indicates the time since
the epoch (1970/01/01 00:00); this is useful in combination with the features in the zsh/date-time zsh/datetime
time module, see the zsh/datetime module entry in zshmodules(1).
With no arguments, prints the list of scheduled commands. If the scheduled command has the -o
flag set, this is shown at the start of the command.
With the argument `-item', removes the given item from the list. The numbering of the list is
continuous and entries are in time order, so the numbering can change when entries are added
or deleted.
Commands are executed either immediately before a prompt, or while the shell's line editor is
waiting for input. In the latter case it is useful to be able to produce output that does not
interfere with the line being edited. Providing the option -o causes the shell to clear the
command line before the event and redraw it afterwards. This should be used with any sched-uled scheduled
uled event that produces visible output to the terminal; it is not needed, for example, with
output that updates a terminal emulator's title bar.
The sched builtin 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/sched b:sched'.
zsh_scheduled_events
A readonly array corresponding to the events scheduled by the sched builtin. The indices of
the array correspond to the numbers shown when sched is run with no arguments (provided that
the KSH_ARRAYS option is not set). The value of the array consists of the scheduled time in
seconds since the epoch (see the section `The zsh/datetime Module' for facilities for using
this number), followed by a colon, followed by any options (which may be empty but will be
preceded by a `-' otherwise), followed by a colon, followed by the command to be executed.
The sched builtin should be used for manipulating the events. Note that this will have an
immediate effect on the contents of the array, so that indices may become invalid.
THE ZSH/NET/SOCKET MODULE
The zsh/net/socket module makes available one builtin command:
zsocket [ -altv ] [ -d fd ] [ args ]
zsocket is implemented as a builtin to allow full use of shell command line editing, file I/O,
and job control mechanisms.
Outbound Connections
zsocket [ -v ] [ -d fd ] filename
Open a new Unix domain connection to filename. The shell parameter REPLY will be set to the
file descriptor associated with that connection. Currently, only stream connections are sup-ported. supported.
ported.
If -d is specified, its argument will be taken as the target file descriptor for the connec-tion. connection.
tion.
In order to elicit more verbose output, use -v.
Inbound Connections
zsocket -l [ -v ] [ -d fd ] filename
zsocket -l will open a socket listening on filename. The shell parameter REPLY will be set to
the file descriptor associated with that listener.
If -d is specified, its argument will be taken as the target file descriptor for the connec-tion. connection.
tion.
In order to elicit more verbose output, use -v.
zsocket -a [ -tv ] [ -d targetfd ] listenfd
zsocket -a will accept an incoming connection to the socket associated with listenfd. The
shell parameter REPLY will be set to the file descriptor associated with the inbound connec-tion. connection.
tion.
If -d is specified, its argument will be taken as the target file descriptor for the connec-tion. connection.
tion.
If -t is specified, zsocket will return if no incoming connection is pending. Otherwise it
will wait for one.
In order to elicit more verbose output, use -v.
THE ZSH/STAT MODULE
The zsh/stat module makes available one builtin command under two possible names:
zstat [ -gnNolLtTrs ] [ -f fd ] [ -H hash ] [ -A array ] [ -F fmt ] [ +element ] [ file ... ]
stat ...
The command acts as a front end to the stat system call (see stat(2)). The same command is
provided with two names; as the name stat is often used by an external command it is recom-mended recommended
mended that only the zstat form of the command is used. This can be arranged by loading the
module with the command `zmodload -F zsh/stat b:zstat'.
If the stat call fails, the appropriate system error message printed and status 1 is returned.
The fields of struct stat give information about the files provided as arguments to the com-mand. command.
mand. In addition to those available from the stat call, an extra element `link' is provided.
These elements are:
device The number of the device on which the file resides.
inode The unique number of the file on this device (`inode' number).
mode The mode of the file; that is, the file's type and access permissions. With the -s
option, this will be returned as a string corresponding to the first column in the dis-play display
play of the ls -l command.
nlink The number of hard links to the file.
uid The user ID of the owner of the file. With the -s option, this is displayed as a user
name.
gid The group ID of the file. With the -s option, this is displayed as a group name.
rdev The raw device number. This is only useful for special devices.
size The size of the file in bytes.
atime
mtime
ctime The last access, modification and inode change times of the file, respectively, as the
number of seconds since midnight GMT on 1st January, 1970. With the -s option, these
are printed as strings for the local time zone; the format can be altered with the -F
option, and with the -g option the times are in GMT.
blksize
The number of bytes in one allocation block on the device on which the file resides.
block The number of disk blocks used by the file.
link If the file is a link and the -L option is in effect, this contains the name of the
file linked to, otherwise it is empty. Note that if this element is selected (``zstat
+link'') then the -L option is automatically used.
A particular element may be selected by including its name preceded by a `+' in the option
list; only one element is allowed. The element may be shortened to any unique set of leading
characters. Otherwise, all elements will be shown for all files.
Options:
-A array
Instead of displaying the results on standard output, assign them to an array, one
struct stat element per array element for each file in order. In this case neither the
name of the element nor the name of the files appears in array unless the -t or -n
options were given, respectively. If -t is given, the element name appears as a prefix
to the appropriate array element; if -n is given, the file name appears as a separate
array element preceding all the others. Other formatting options are respected.
-H hash
Similar to -A, but instead assign the values to hash. The keys are the elements listed
above. If the -n option is provided then the name of the file is included in the hash
with key name.
-f fd Use the file on file descriptor fd instead of named files; no list of file names is
allowed in this case.
-F fmt Supplies a strftime (see strftime(3)) string for the formatting of the time elements.
The -s option is implied.
-g Show the time elements in the GMT time zone. The -s option is implied.
-l List the names of the type elements (to standard output or an array as appropriate) and
return immediately; options other than -A and arguments are ignored.
-L Perform an lstat (see lstat(2)) rather than a stat system call. In this case, if the
file is a link, information about the link itself rather than the target file is
returned. This option is required to make the link element useful. It's important to
note that this is the exact opposite from ls(1), etc.
-n Always show the names of files. Usually these are only shown when output is to stan-dard standard
dard output and there is more than one file in the list.
-N Never show the names of files.
-o If a raw file mode is printed, show it in octal, which is more useful for human con-sumption consumption
sumption than the default of decimal. A leading zero will be printed in this case.
Note that this does not affect whether a raw or formatted file mode is shown, which is
controlled by the -r and -s options, nor whether a mode is shown at all.
-r Print raw data (the default format) alongside string data (the -s format); the string
data appears in parentheses after the raw data.
-s Print mode, uid, gid and the three time elements as strings instead of numbers. In
each case the format is like that of ls -l.
-t Always show the type names for the elements of struct stat. Usually these are only
shown when output is to standard output and no individual element has been selected.
-T Never show the type names of the struct stat elements.
THE ZSH/SYSTEM MODULE
The zsh/system module makes available various builtin commands and parameters.
Builtins
syserror [ -e errvar ] [ -p prefix ] [ errno | errname ]
This command prints out the error message associated with errno, a system error number, fol-lowed followed
lowed by a newline to standard error.
Instead of the error number, a name errname, for example ENOENT, may be used. The set of
names is the same as the contents of the array errnos, see below.
If the string prefix is given, it is printed in front of the error message, with no interven-ing intervening
ing space.
If errvar is supplied, the entire message, without a newline, is assigned to the parameter
names errvar and nothing is output.
A return status of 0 indicates the message was successfully printed (although it may not be
useful if the error number was out of the system's range), a return status of 1 indicates an
error in the parameters, and a return status of 2 indicates the error name was not recognised
(no message is printed for this).
sysread [ -c countvar ] [ -i infd ] [ -o outfd ]
[ -s bufsize ] [ -t timeout ] [ param ]
Perform a single system read from file descriptor infd, or zero if that is not given. The
result of the read is stored in param or REPLY if that is not given. If countvar is given,
the number of bytes read is assigned to the parameter named by countvar.
The maximum number of bytes read is bufsize or 8192 if that is not given, however the command
returns as soon as any number of bytes was successfully read.
If timeout is given, it specifies a timeout in seconds, which may be zero to poll the file
descriptor. This is handled by the poll system call if available, otherwise the select system
call if available.
If outfd is given, an attempt is made to write all the bytes just read to the file descriptor
outfd. If this fails, because of a system error other than EINTR or because of an internal
zsh error during an interrupt, the bytes read but not written are stored in the parameter
named by param if supplied (no default is used in this case), and the number of bytes read but
not written is stored in the parameter named by countvar if that is supplied. If it was suc-cessful, successful,
cessful, countvar contains the full number of bytes transferred, as usual, and param is not
set.
The error EINTR (interrupted system call) is handled internally so that shell interrupts are
transparent to the caller. Any other error causes a return.
The possible return statuses are
0 At least one byte of data was successfully read and, if appropriate, written.
1 There was an error in the parameters to the command. This is the only error for which
a message is printed to standard error.
2 There was an error on the read, or on polling the input file descriptor for a timeout.
The parameter ERRNO gives the error.
3 Data were successfully read, but there was an error writing them to outfd. The parame-ter parameter
ter ERRNO gives the error.
4 The attempt to read timed out. Note this does not set ERRNO as this is not a system
error.
5 No system error occurred, but zero bytes were read. This usually indicates end of
file. The parameters are set according to the usual rules; no write to outfd is
attempted.
syswrite [ -c countvar ] [ -o outfd ] data
The data (a single string of bytes) are written to the file descriptor outfd, or 1 if that is
not given, using the write system call. Multiple write operations may be used if the first
does not write all the data.
If countvar is given, the number of byte written is stored in the parameter named by countvar;
this may not be the full length of data if an error occurred.
The error EINTR (interrupted system call) is handled internally by retrying; otherwise an
error causes the command to return. For example, if the file descriptor is set to non-block-ing non-blocking
ing output, an error EAGAIN (on some systems, EWOULDBLOCK) may result in the command returning
early.
The return status may be 0 for success, 1 for an error in the parameters to the command, or 2
for an error on the write; no error message is printed in the last case, but the parameter
ERRNO will reflect the error that occurred.
zsystem flock [ -t timeout ] [ -f var ] [-er] file
zsystem flock -u fd_expr
The builtin zsystem's subcommand flock performs advisory file locking (via the fcntl(2) system
call) over the entire contents of the given file. This form of locking requires the processes
accessing the file to cooperate; its most obvious use is between two instances of the shell
itself.
In the first form the named file, which must already exist, is locked by opening a file
descriptor to the file and applying a lock to the file descriptor. The lock terminates when
the shell process that created the lock exits; it is therefore often convenient to create file
locks within subshells, since the lock is automatically released when the subshell exits.
Status 0 is returned if the lock succeeds, else status 1.
In the second form the file descriptor given by the arithmetic expression fd_expr is closed,
releasing a lock. The file descriptor can be queried by using the `-f var' form during the
lock; on a successful lock, the shell variable var is set to the file descriptor used for
locking. The lock will be released if the file descriptor is closed by any other means, for
example using `exec {var}>&-'; however, the form described here performs a safety check that
the file descriptor is in use for file locking.
By default the shell waits indefinitely for the lock to succeed. The option -t timeout speci-fies specifies
fies a timeout for the lock in seconds; currently this must be an integer. The shell will
attempt to lock the file once a second during this period. If the attempt times out, status 2
is returned.
If the option -e is given, the file descriptor for the lock is preserved when the shell uses
exec to start a new process; otherwise it is closed at that point and the lock released.
If the option -r is given, the lock is only for reading, otherwise it is for reading and writ-ing. writing.
ing. The file descriptor is opened accordingly.
zsystem supports subcommand
The builtin zsystem's subcommand supports tests whether a given subcommand is supported. It
returns status 0 if so, else status 1. It operates silently unless there was a syntax error
(i.e. the wrong number of arguments), in which case status 255 is returned. Status 1 can
indicate one of two things: subcommand is known but not supported by the current operating
system, or subcommand is not known (possibly because this is an older version of the shell
before it was implemented).
Parameters
errnos A readonly array of the names of errors defined on the system. These are typically macros
defined in C by including the system header file errno.h. The index of each name (assuming
the option KSH_ARRAYS is unset) corresponds to the error number. Error numbers num before the
last known error which have no name are given the name Enum in the array.
Note that aliases for errors are not handled; only the canonical name is used.
sysparams
A readonly associative array. The keys are:
pid Returns the process ID of the current process, even in subshells. Compare $$, which returns
the process ID of the main shell process.
ppid Returns the process ID of the parent of the current process, even in subshells. Compare
$PPID, which returns the process ID of the parent of the main shell process.
THE ZSH/NET/TCP MODULE
The zsh/net/tcp module makes available one builtin command:
ztcp [ -acflLtv ] [ -d fd ] [ args ]
ztcp is implemented as a builtin to allow full use of shell command line editing, file I/O,
and job control mechanisms.
If ztcp is run with no options, it will output the contents of its session table.
If it is run with only the option -L, it will output the contents of the session table in a
format suitable for automatic parsing. The option is ignored if given with a command to open
or close a session. The output consists of a set of lines, one per session, each containing
the following elements separated by spaces:
File descriptor
The file descriptor in use for the connection. For normal inbound (I) and outbound (O)
connections this may be read and written by the usual shell mechanisms. However, it
should only be close with `ztcp -c'.
Connection type
A letter indicating how the session was created:
Z A session created with the zftp command.
L A connection opened for listening with `ztcp -l'.
I An inbound connection accepted with `ztcp -a'.
O An outbound connection created with `ztcp host ...'.
The local host
This is usually set to an all-zero IP address as the address of the localhost is irrel-evant. irrelevant.
evant.
The local port
This is likely to be zero unless the connection is for listening.
The remote host
This is the fully qualified domain name of the peer, if available, else an IP address.
It is an all-zero IP address for a session opened for listening.
The remote port
This is zero for a connection opened for listening.
Outbound Connections
ztcp [ -v ] [ -d fd ] host [ port ]
Open a new TCP connection to host. If the port is omitted, it will default to port 23. The
connection will be added to the session table and the shell parameter REPLY will be set to the
file descriptor associated with that connection.
If -d is specified, its argument will be taken as the target file descriptor for the connec-tion. connection.
tion.
In order to elicit more verbose output, use -v.
Inbound Connections
ztcp -l [ -v ] [ -d fd ] port
ztcp -l will open a socket listening on TCP port. The socket will be added to the session ta-ble table
ble and the shell parameter REPLY will be set to the file descriptor associated with that lis-tener. listener.
tener.
If -d is specified, its argument will be taken as the target file descriptor for the connec-tion. connection.
tion.
In order to elicit more verbose output, use -v.
ztcp -a [ -tv ] [ -d targetfd ] listenfd
ztcp -a will accept an incoming connection to the port associated with listenfd. The connec-tion connection
tion will be added to the session table and the shell parameter REPLY will be set to the file
descriptor associated with the inbound connection.
If -d is specified, its argument will be taken as the target file descriptor for the connec-tion. connection.
tion.
If -t is specified, ztcp will return if no incoming connection is pending. Otherwise it will
wait for one.
In order to elicit more verbose output, use -v.
Closing Connections
ztcp -cf [ -v ] [ fd ]
ztcp -c [ -v ] [ fd ]
ztcp -c will close the socket associated with fd. The socket will be removed from the session
table. If fd is not specified, ztcp will close everything in the session table.
Normally, sockets registered by zftp (see zshmodules(1) ) cannot be closed this way. In order
to force such a socket closed, use -f.
In order to elicit more verbose output, use -v.
Example
Here is how to create a TCP connection between two instances of zsh. We need to pick an unassigned
port; here we use the randomly chosen 5123.
On host1,
zmodload zsh/net/tcp
ztcp -l 5123
listenfd=$REPLY
ztcp -a $listenfd
fd=$REPLY
The second from last command blocks until there is an incoming connection.
Now create a connection from host2 (which may, of course, be the same machine):
zmodload zsh/net/tcp
ztcp host1 5123
fd=$REPLY
Now on each host, $fd contains a file descriptor for talking to the other. For example, on host1:
print This is a message >&$fd
and on host2:
read -r line <&$fd; print -r - $line
prints `This is a message'.
To tidy up, on host1:
ztcp -c $listenfd
ztcp -c $fd
and on host2
ztcp -c $fd
THE ZSH/TERMCAP MODULE
The zsh/termcap module makes available one builtin command:
echotc cap [ arg ... ]
Output the termcap value corresponding to the capability cap, with optional arguments.
The zsh/termcap module makes available one parameter:
termcap
An associative array that maps termcap capability codes to their values.
THE ZSH/TERMINFO MODULE
The zsh/terminfo module makes available one builtin command:
echoti cap [ arg ]
Output the terminfo value corresponding to the capability cap, instantiated with arg if appli-
cable.
The zsh/terminfo module makes available one parameter:
terminfo
An associative array that maps terminfo capability names to their values.
THE ZSH/ZFTP MODULE
The zsh/zftp module makes available one builtin command:
zftp subcommand [ args ]
The zsh/zftp module is a client for FTP (file transfer protocol). It is implemented as a
builtin to allow full use of shell command line editing, file I/O, and job control mechanisms.
Often, users will access it via shell functions providing a more powerful interface; a set is
provided with the zsh distribution and is described in zshzftpsys(1). However, the zftp com-mand command
mand is entirely usable in its own right.
All commands consist of the command name zftp followed by the name of a subcommand. These are
listed below. The return status of each subcommand is supposed to reflect the success or
failure of the remote operation. See a description of the variable ZFTP_VERBOSE for more
information on how responses from the server may be printed.
Subcommands
open host[:port] [ user [ password [ account ] ] ]
Open a new FTP session to host, which may be the name of a TCP/IP connected host or an IP num-ber number
ber in the standard dot notation. If the argument is in the form host:port, open a connection
to TCP port port instead of the standard FTP port 21. This may be the name of a TCP service
or a number: see the description of ZFTP_PORT below for more information.
If IPv6 addresses in colon format are used, the host should be surrounded by quoted square
brackets to distinguish it from the port, for example '[fe80::203:baff:fe02:8b56]'. For con-sistency consistency
sistency this is allowed with all forms of host.
Remaining arguments are passed to the login subcommand. Note that if no arguments beyond host
are supplied, open will not automatically call login. If no arguments at all are supplied,
open will use the parameters set by the params subcommand.
After a successful open, the shell variables ZFTP_HOST, ZFTP_PORT, ZFTP_IP and ZFTP_SYSTEM are
available; see `Variables' below.
login [ name [ password [ account ] ] ]
user [ name [ password [ account ] ] ]
Login the user name with parameters password and account. Any of the parameters can be omit-ted, omitted,
ted, and will be read from standard input if needed (name is always needed). If standard
input is a terminal, a prompt for each one will be printed on standard error and password will
not be echoed. If any of the parameters are not used, a warning message is printed.
After a successful login, the shell variables ZFTP_USER, ZFTP_ACCOUNT and ZFTP_PWD are avail-able; available;
able; see `Variables' below.
This command may be re-issued when a user is already logged in, and the server will first be
reinitialized for a new user.
params [ host [ user [ password [ account ] ] ] ]
params -Store paramsStore
Store the given parameters for a later open command with no arguments. Only those given on
the command line will be remembered. If no arguments are given, the parameters currently set
are printed, although the password will appear as a line of stars; the return status is one if
no parameters were set, zero otherwise.
Any of the parameters may be specified as a `?', which may need to be quoted to protect it
from shell expansion. In this case, the appropriate parameter will be read from stdin as with
the login subcommand, including special handling of password. If the `?' is followed by a
string, that is used as the prompt for reading the parameter instead of the default message
(any necessary punctuation and whitespace should be included at the end of the prompt). The
first letter of the parameter (only) may be quoted with a `\'; hence an argument "\\$word"
guarantees that the string from the shell parameter $word will be treated literally, whether
or not it begins with a `?'.
If instead a single `-' is given, the existing parameters, if any, are deleted. In that case,
calling open with no arguments will cause an error.
The list of parameters is not deleted after a close, however it will be deleted if the
zsh/zftp module is unloaded.
For example,
zftp params ftp.elsewhere.xx juser '?Password for juser: '
will store the host ftp.elsewhere.xx and the user juser and then prompt the user for the cor-responding corresponding
responding password with the given prompt.
test Test the connection; if the server has reported that it has closed the connection (maybe due
to a timeout), return status 2; if no connection was open anyway, return status 1; else return
status 0. The test subcommand is silent, apart from messages printed by the $ZFTP_VERBOSE
mechanism, or error messages if the connection closes. There is no network overhead for this
test.
The test is only supported on systems with either the select(2) or poll(2) system calls; oth-erwise otherwise
erwise the message `not supported on this system' is printed instead.
The test subcommand will automatically be called at the start of any other subcommand for the
current session when a connection is open.
cd directory
Change the remote directory to directory. Also alters the shell variable ZFTP_PWD.
cdup Change the remote directory to the one higher in the directory tree. Note that cd .. will
also work correctly on non-UNIX systems.
dir [ args... ]
Give a (verbose) listing of the remote directory. The args are passed directly to the server.
The command's behaviour is implementation dependent, but a UNIX server will typically inter-pret interpret
pret args as arguments to the ls command and with no arguments return the result of `ls -l'.
The directory is listed to standard output.
ls [ args ]
Give a (short) listing of the remote directory. With no args, produces a raw list of the
files in the directory, one per line. Otherwise, up to vagaries of the server implementation,
behaves similar to dir.
type [ type ]
Change the type for the transfer to type, or print the current type if type is absent. The
allowed values are `A' (ASCII), `I' (Image, i.e. binary), or `B' (a synonym for `I').
The FTP default for a transfer is ASCII. However, if zftp finds that the remote host is a
UNIX machine with 8-bit byes, it will automatically switch to using binary for file transfers
upon open. This can subsequently be overridden.
The transfer type is only passed to the remote host when a data connection is established;
this command involves no network overhead.
ascii The same as type A.
binary The same as type I.
mode [ S | B ]
Set the mode type to stream (S) or block (B). Stream mode is the default; block mode is not
widely supported.
remote files...
local [ files... ]
Print the size and last modification time of the remote or local files. If there is more than
one item on the list, the name of the file is printed first. The first number is the file
size, the second is the last modification time of the file in the format CCYYMMDDhhmmSS con-sisting consisting
sisting of year, month, date, hour, minutes and seconds in GMT. Note that this format,
including the length, is guaranteed, so that time strings can be directly compared via the [[
builtin's < and > operators, even if they are too long to be represented as integers.
Not all servers support the commands for retrieving this information. In that case, the
remote command will print nothing and return status 2, compared with status 1 for a file not
found.
The local command (but not remote) may be used with no arguments, in which case the informa-tion information
tion comes from examining file descriptor zero. This is the same file as seen by a put com-mand command
mand with no further redirection.
get file [...]
Retrieve all files from the server, concatenating them and sending them to standard output.
put file [...]
For each file, read a file from standard input and send that to the remote host with the given
name.
append file [...]
As put, but if the remote file already exists, data is appended to it instead of overwriting
it.
getat file point
putat file point
appendat file point
Versions of get, put and append which will start the transfer at the given point in the remote
file. This is useful for appending to an incomplete local file. However, note that this
ability is not universally supported by servers (and is not quite the behaviour specified by
the standard).
delete file [...]
Delete the list of files on the server.
mkdir directory
Create a new directory directory on the server.
rmdir directory
Delete the directory directory on the server.
rename old-name new-name
Rename file old-name to new-name on the server.
site args...
Send a host-specific command to the server. You will probably only need this if instructed by
the server to use it.
quote args...
Send the raw FTP command sequence to the server. You should be familiar with the FTP command
set as defined in RFC959 before doing this. Useful commands may include STAT and HELP. Note
also the mechanism for returning messages as described for the variable ZFTP_VERBOSE below, in
particular that all messages from the control connection are sent to standard error.
close
quit Close the current data connection. This unsets the shell parameters ZFTP_HOST, ZFTP_PORT,
ZFTP_IP, ZFTP_SYSTEM, ZFTP_USER, ZFTP_ACCOUNT, ZFTP_PWD, ZFTP_TYPE and ZFTP_MODE.
session [ sessname ]
Allows multiple FTP sessions to be used at once. The name of the session is an arbitrary
string of characters; the default session is called `default'. If this command is called
without an argument, it will list all the current sessions; with an argument, it will either
switch to the existing session called sessname, or create a new session of that name.
Each session remembers the status of the connection, the set of connection-specific shell
parameters (the same set as are unset when a connection closes, as given in the description of
close), and any user parameters specified with the params subcommand. Changing to a previous
session restores those values; changing to a new session initialises them in the same way as
if zftp had just been loaded. The name of the current session is given by the parameter
ZFTP_SESSION.
rmsession [ sessname ]
Delete a session; if a name is not given, the current session is deleted. If the current ses-sion session
sion is deleted, the earliest existing session becomes the new current session, otherwise the
current session is not changed. If the session being deleted is the only one, a new session
called `default' is created and becomes the current session; note that this is a new session
even if the session being deleted is also called `default'. It is recommended that sessions
not be deleted while background commands which use zftp are still active.
Parameters
The following shell parameters are used by zftp. Currently none of them are special.
ZFTP_TMOUT
Integer. The time in seconds to wait for a network operation to complete before returning an
error. If this is not set when the module is loaded, it will be given the default value 60.
A value of zero turns off timeouts. If a timeout occurs on the control connection it will be
closed. Use a larger value if this occurs too frequently.
ZFTP_IP
Readonly. The IP address of the current connection in dot notation.
ZFTP_HOST
Readonly. The hostname of the current remote server. If the host was opened as an IP number,
ZFTP_HOST contains that instead; this saves the overhead for a name lookup, as IP numbers are
most commonly used when a nameserver is unavailable.
ZFTP_PORT
Readonly. The number of the remote TCP port to which the connection is open (even if the port
was originally specified as a named service). Usually this is the standard FTP port, 21.
In the unlikely event that your system does not have the appropriate conversion functions,
this appears in network byte order. If your system is little-endian, the port then consists
of two swapped bytes and the standard port will be reported as 5376. In that case, numeric
ports passed to zftp open will also need to be in this format.
ZFTP_SYSTEM
Readonly. The system type string returned by the server in response to an FTP SYST request.
The most interesting case is a string beginning "UNIX Type: L8", which ensures maximum compat-ibility compatibility
ibility with a local UNIX host.
ZFTP_TYPE
Readonly. The type to be used for data transfers , either `A' or `I'. Use the type subcom-mand subcommand
mand to change this.
ZFTP_USER
Readonly. The username currently logged in, if any.
ZFTP_ACCOUNT
Readonly. The account name of the current user, if any. Most servers do not require an
account name.
ZFTP_PWD
Readonly. The current directory on the server.
ZFTP_CODE
Readonly. The three digit code of the last FTP reply from the server as a string. This can
still be read after the connection is closed, and is not changed when the current session
changes.
ZFTP_REPLY
Readonly. The last line of the last reply sent by the server. This can still be read after
the connection is closed, and is not changed when the current session changes.
ZFTP_SESSION
Readonly. The name of the current FTP session; see the description of the session subcommand.
ZFTP_PREFS
A string of preferences for altering aspects of zftp's behaviour. Each preference is a single
character. The following are defined:
P Passive: attempt to make the remote server initiate data transfers. This is slightly
more efficient than sendport mode. If the letter S occurs later in the string, zftp
will use sendport mode if passive mode is not available.
S Sendport: initiate transfers by the FTP PORT command. If this occurs before any P in
the string, passive mode will never be attempted.
D Dumb: use only the bare minimum of FTP commands. This prevents the variables
ZFTP_SYSTEM and ZFTP_PWD from being set, and will mean all connections default to ASCII
type. It may prevent ZFTP_SIZE from being set during a transfer if the server does not
send it anyway (many servers do).
If ZFTP_PREFS is not set when zftp is loaded, it will be set to a default of `PS', i.e. use
passive mode if available, otherwise fall back to sendport mode.
ZFTP_VERBOSE
A string of digits between 0 and 5 inclusive, specifying which responses from the server
should be printed. All responses go to standard error. If any of the numbers 1 to 5 appear
in the string, raw responses from the server with reply codes beginning with that digit will
be printed to standard error. The first digit of the three digit reply code is defined by
RFC959 to correspond to:
1. A positive preliminary reply.
2. A positive completion reply.
3. A positive intermediate reply.
4. A transient negative completion reply.
5. A permanent negative completion reply.
It should be noted that, for unknown reasons, the reply `Service not available', which forces
termination of a connection, is classified as 421, i.e. `transient negative', an interesting
interpretation of the word `transient'.
The code 0 is special: it indicates that all but the last line of multiline replies read from
the server will be printed to standard error in a processed format. By convention, servers
use this mechanism for sending information for the user to read. The appropriate reply code,
if it matches the same response, takes priority.
If ZFTP_VERBOSE is not set when zftp is loaded, it will be set to the default value 450, i.e.,
messages destined for the user and all errors will be printed. A null string is valid and
specifies that no messages should be printed.
Functions
zftp_chpwd
If this function is set by the user, it is called every time the directory changes on the
server, including when a user is logged in, or when a connection is closed. In the last case,
$ZFTP_PWD will be unset; otherwise it will reflect the new directory.
zftp_progress
If this function is set by the user, it will be called during a get, put or append operation
each time sufficient data has been received from the host. During a get, the data is sent to
standard output, so it is vital that this function should write to standard error or directly
to the terminal, not to standard output.
When it is called with a transfer in progress, the following additional shell parameters are
set:
ZFTP_FILE
The name of the remote file being transferred from or to.
ZFTP_TRANSFER
A G for a get operation and a P for a put operation.
ZFTP_SIZE
The total size of the complete file being transferred: the same as the first value pro-vided provided
vided by the remote and local subcommands for a particular file. If the server cannot
supply this value for a remote file being retrieved, it will not be set. If input is
from a pipe the value may be incorrect and correspond simply to a full pipe buffer.
ZFTP_COUNT
The amount of data so far transferred; a number between zero and $ZFTP_SIZE, if that is
set. This number is always available.
The function is initially called with ZFTP_TRANSFER set appropriately and ZFTP_COUNT set to
zero. After the transfer is finished, the function will be called one more time with
ZFTP_TRANSFER set to GF or PF, in case it wishes to tidy up. It is otherwise never called
twice with the same value of ZFTP_COUNT.
Sometimes the progress meter may cause disruption. It is up to the user to decide whether the
function should be defined and to use unfunction when necessary.
Problems
A connection may not be opened in the left hand side of a pipe as this occurs in a subshell and the
file information is not updated in the main shell. In the case of type or mode changes or closing
the connection in a subshell, the information is returned but variables are not updated until the
next call to zftp. Other status changes in subshells will not be reflected by changes to the vari-ables variables
ables (but should be otherwise harmless).
Deleting sessions while a zftp command is active in the background can have unexpected effects, even
if it does not use the session being deleted. This is because all shell subprocesses share informa-tion information
tion on the state of all connections, and deleting a session changes the ordering of that informa-tion. information.
tion.
On some operating systems, the control connection is not valid after a fork(), so that operations in
subshells, on the left hand side of a pipeline, or in the background are not possible, as they should
be. This is presumably a bug in the operating system.
THE ZSH/ZLE MODULE
The zsh/zle module contains the Zsh Line Editor. See zshzle(1).
THE ZSH/ZLEPARAMETER MODULE
The zsh/zleparameter module defines two special parameters that can be used to access internal infor-mation information
mation of the Zsh Line Editor (see zshzle(1)).
keymaps
This array contains the names of the keymaps currently defined.
widgets
This associative array contains one entry per widget defined. The name of the widget is the
key and the value gives information about the widget. It is either the string `builtin' for
builtin widgets, a string of the form `user:name' for user-defined widgets, where name is the
name of the shell function implementing the widget, or it is a string of the form `comple-tion:type:name', `completion:type:name',
tion:type:name', for completion widgets. In the last case type is the name of the builtin wid-gets widgets
gets the completion widget imitates in its behavior and name is the name of the shell function
implementing the completion widget.
THE ZSH/ZPROF MODULE
When loaded, the zsh/zprof causes shell functions to be profiled. The profiling results can be
obtained with the zprof builtin command made available by this module. There is no way to turn pro-filing profiling
filing off other than unloading the module.
zprof [ -c ]
Without the -c option, zprof lists profiling results to standard output. The format is compa-rable comparable
rable to that of commands like gprof.
At the top there is a summary listing all functions that were called at least once. This sum-mary summary
mary is sorted in decreasing order of the amount of time spent in each. The lines contain the
number of the function in order, which is used in other parts of the list in suffixes of the
form `[num]', then the number of calls made to the function. The next three columns list the
time in milliseconds spent in the function and its descendants, the average time in millisec-onds milliseconds
onds spent in the function and its descendants per call and the percentage of time spent in
all shell functions used in this function and its descendants. The following three columns
give the same information, but counting only the time spent in the function itself. The final
column shows the name of the function.
After the summary, detailed information about every function that was invoked is listed,
sorted in decreasing order of the amount of time spent in each function and its descendants.
Each of these entries consists of descriptions for the functions that called the function
described, the function itself, and the functions that were called from it. The description
for the function itself has the same format as in the summary (and shows the same informa-tion). information).
tion). The other lines don't show the number of the function at the beginning and have their
function named indented to make it easier to distinguish the line showing the function
described in the section from the surrounding lines.
The information shown in this case is almost the same as in the summary, but only refers to
the call hierarchy being displayed. For example, for a calling function the column showing
the total running time lists the time spent in the described function and its descendants only
for the times when it was called from that particular calling function. Likewise, for a
called function, this columns lists the total time spent in the called function and its
descendants only for the times when it was called from the function described.
Also in this case, the column showing the number of calls to a function also shows a slash and
then the total number of invocations made to the called function.
As long as the zsh/zprof module is loaded, profiling will be done and multiple invocations of
the zprof builtin command will show the times and numbers of calls since the module was
loaded. With the -c option, the zprof builtin command will reset its internal counters and
will not show the listing.
THE ZSH/ZPTY MODULE
The zsh/zpty module offers one builtin:
zpty [ -e ] [ -b ] name [ arg ... ]
The arguments following name are concatenated with spaces between, then executed as a command,
as if passed to the eval builtin. The command runs under a newly assigned pseudo-terminal;
this is useful for running commands non-interactively which expect an interactive environment.
The name is not part of the command, but is used to refer to this command in later calls to
zpty.
With the -e option, the pseudo-terminal is set up so that input characters are echoed.
With the -b option, input to and output from the pseudo-terminal are made non-blocking.
zpty -d [ names ... ]
The second form, with the -d option, is used to delete commands previously started, by supply-ing supplying
ing a list of their names. If no names are given, all commands are deleted. Deleting a com-mand command
mand causes the HUP signal to be sent to the corresponding process.
zpty -w [ -n ] name [ strings ... ]
The -w option can be used to send the to command name the given strings as input (separated by
spaces). If the -n option is not given, a newline is added at the end.
If no strings are provided, the standard input is copied to the pseudo-terminal; this may stop
before copying the full input if the pseudo-terminal is non-blocking.
Note that the command under the pseudo-terminal sees this input as if it were typed, so beware
when sending special tty driver characters such as word-erase, line-kill, and end-of-file.
zpty -r [ -mt ] name [ param [ pattern ] ]
The -r option can be used to read the output of the command name. With only a name argument,
the output read is copied to the standard output. Unless the pseudo-terminal is non-blocking,
copying continues until the command under the pseudo-terminal exits; when non-blocking, only
as much output as is immediately available is copied. The return status is zero if any output
is copied.
When also given a param argument, at most one line is read and stored in the parameter named
param. Less than a full line may be read if the pseudo-terminal is non-blocking. The return
status is zero if at least one character is stored in param.
If a pattern is given as well, output is read until the whole string read matches the pattern,
even in the non-blocking case. The return status is zero if the string read matches the pat-tern, pattern,
tern, or if the command has exited but at least one character could still be read. If the
option -m is present, the return status is zero only if the pattern matches. As of this writ-ing, writing,
ing, a maximum of one megabyte of output can be consumed this way; if a full megabyte is read
without matching the pattern, the return status is non-zero.
In all cases, the return status is non-zero if nothing could be read, and is 2 if this is
because the command has finished.
If the -r option is combined with the -t option, zpty tests whether output is available before
trying to read. If no output is available, zpty immediately returns the status 1. When used
with a pattern, the behaviour on a failed poll is similar to when the command has exited: the
return value is zero if at least one character could still be read even if the pattern failed
to match.
zpty -t name
The -t option without the -r option can be used to test whether the command name is still run-ning. running.
ning. It returns a zero status if the command is running and a non-zero value otherwise.
zpty [ -L ]
The last form, without any arguments, is used to list the commands currently defined. If the
-L option is given, this is done in the form of calls to the zpty builtin.
THE ZSH/ZSELECT MODULE
The zsh/zselect module makes available one builtin command:
zselect [ -rwe -t timeout -a array ] [ fd ... ]
The zselect builtin is a front-end to the `select' system call, which blocks until a file
descriptor is ready for reading or writing, or has an error condition, with an optional time-out. timeout.
out. If this is not available on your system, the command prints an error message and returns
status 2 (normal errors return status 1). For more information, see your systems documenta-tion documentation
tion for select(3). Note there is no connection with the shell builtin of the same name.
Arguments and options may be intermingled in any order. Non-option arguments are file
descriptors, which must be decimal integers. By default, file descriptors are to be tested
for reading, i.e. zselect will return when data is available to be read from the file descrip-tor, descriptor,
tor, or more precisely, when a read operation from the file descriptor will not block. After
a -r, -w and -e, the given file descriptors are to be tested for reading, writing, or error
conditions. These options and an arbitrary list of file descriptors may be given in any
order.
(The presence of an `error condition' is not well defined in the documentation for many imple-mentations implementations
mentations of the select system call. According to recent versions of the POSIX specifica-tion, specification,
tion, it is really an exception condition, of which the only standard example is out-of-band
data received on a socket. So zsh users are unlikely to find the -e option useful.)
The option `-t timeout' specifies a timeout in hundredths of a second. This may be zero, in
which case the file descriptors will simply be polled and zselect will return immediately. It
is possible to call zselect with no file descriptors and a non-zero timeout for use as a
finer-grained replacement for `sleep'; note, however, the return status is always 1 for a
timeout.
The option `-a array' indicates that array should be set to indicate the file descriptor(s)
which are ready. If the option is not given, the array reply will be used for this purpose.
The array will contain a string similar to the arguments for zselect. For example,
zselect -t 0 -r 0 -w 1
might return immediately with status 0 and $reply containing `-r 0 -w 1' to show that both
file descriptors are ready for the requested operations.
The option `-A assoc' indicates that the associative array assoc should be set to indicate the
file descriptor(s( which are ready. This option overrides the option -a, nor will reply be
modified. The keys of assoc are the file descriptors, and the corresponding values are any of
the characters `rwe' to indicate the condition.
The command returns status 0 if some file descriptors are ready for reading. If the operation
timed out, or a timeout of 0 was given and no file descriptors were ready, or there was an
error, it returns status 1 and the array will not be set (nor modified in any way). If there
was an error in the select operation the appropriate error message is printed.
THE ZSH/ZUTIL MODULE
The zsh/zutil module only adds some builtins:
zstyle [ -L [ pattern [ style ] ] ]
zstyle [ -e | - | -- ] pattern style strings ...
zstyle -d [ pattern [ styles ... ] ]
zstyle -g name [ pattern [ style ] ]
zstyle -abs context style name [ sep ]
zstyle -Tt context style [ strings ...]
zstyle -m context style pattern
This builtin command is used to define and lookup styles. Styles are pairs of names and val-ues, values,
ues, where the values consist of any number of strings. They are stored together with pat-terns patterns
terns and lookup is done by giving a string, called the `context', which is compared to the
patterns. The definition stored for the first matching pattern will be returned.
For ordering of comparisons, patterns are searched from most specific to least specific, and
patterns that are equally specific keep the order in which they were defined. A pattern is
considered to be more specific than another if it contains more components (substrings sepa-rated separated
rated by colons) or if the patterns for the components are more specific, where simple strings
are considered to be more specific than patterns and complex patterns are considered to be
more specific than the pattern `*'.
The first form (without arguments) lists the definitions. Styles are shown in alphabetic
order and patterns are shown in the order zstyle will test them.
If the -L option is given, listing is done in the form of calls to zstyle. The optional first
argument is a pattern which will be matched against the string supplied as the pattern for the
context; note that this means, for example, `zstyle -L ":completion:*"' will match any sup-plied supplied
plied pattern beginning `:completion:', not just ":completion:*": use ":completion:\*" to
match that. The optional second argument limits the output to a specific style (not a pat-tern). pattern).
tern). -L is not compatible with any other options.
The other forms are the following:
zstyle [ - | -- | -e ] pattern style strings ...
Defines the given style for the pattern with the strings as the value. If the -e
option is given, the strings will be concatenated (separated by spaces) and the result-ing resulting
ing string will be evaluated (in the same way as it is done by the eval builtin com-mand) command)
mand) when the style is looked up. In this case the parameter `reply' must be assigned
to set the strings returned after the evaluation. Before evaluating the value, reply
is unset, and if it is still unset after the evaluation, the style is treated as if it
were not set.
zstyle -d [ pattern [ styles ... ] ]
Delete style definitions. Without arguments all definitions are deleted, with a pattern
all definitions for that pattern are deleted and if any styles are given, then only
those styles are deleted for the pattern.
zstyle -g name [ pattern [ style ] ]
Retrieve a style definition. The name is used as the name of an array in which the
results are stored. Without any further arguments, all patterns defined are returned.
With a pattern the styles defined for that pattern are returned and with both a pattern
and a style, the value strings of that combination is returned.
The other forms can be used to look up or test patterns.
zstyle -s context style name [ sep ]
The parameter name is set to the value of the style interpreted as a string. If the
value contains several strings they are concatenated with spaces (or with the sep
string if that is given) between them.
zstyle -b context style name
The value is stored in name as a boolean, i.e. as the string `yes' if the value has
only one string and that string is equal to one of `yes', `true', `on', or `1'. If the
value is any other string or has more than one string, the parameter is set to `no'.
zstyle -a context style name
The value is stored in name as an array. If name is declared as an associative array,
the first, third, etc. strings are used as the keys and the other strings are used as
the values.
zstyle -t context style [ strings ...]
zstyle -T context style [ strings ...]
Test the value of a style, i.e. the -t option only returns a status (sets $?). Without
any strings the return status is zero if the style is defined for at least one matching
pattern, has only one string in its value, and that is equal to one of `true', `yes',
`on' or `1'. If any strings are given the status is zero if and only if at least one of
the strings is equal to at least one of the strings in the value. If the style is
defined but doesn't match, the return status is 1. If the style is not defined, the
status is 2.
The -T option tests the values of the style like -t, but it returns status zero (rather
than 2) if the style is not defined for any matching pattern.
zstyle -m context style pattern
Match a value. Returns status zero if the pattern matches at least one of the strings
in the value.
zformat -f param format specs ...
zformat -a array sep specs ...
This builtin provides two different forms of formatting. The first form is selected with the
-f option. In this case the format string will be modified by replacing sequences starting
with a percent sign in it with strings from the specs. Each spec should be of the form
`char:string' which will cause every appearance of the sequence `%char' in format to be
replaced by the string. The `%' sequence may also contain optional minimum and maximum field
width specifications between the `%' and the `char' in the form `%min.maxc', i.e. the minimum
field width is given first and if the maximum field width is used, it has to be preceded by a
dot. Specifying a minimum field width makes the result be padded with spaces to the right if
the string is shorter than the requested width. Padding to the left can be achieved by giving
a negative minimum field width. If a maximum field width is specified, the string will be
truncated after that many characters. After all `%' sequences for the given specs have been
processed, the resulting string is stored in the parameter param.
The %-escapes also understand ternary expressions in the form used by prompts. The % is fol-lowed followed
lowed by a `(' and then an ordinary format specifier character as described above. There may
be a set of digits either before or after the `('; these specify a test number, which defaults
to zero. Negative numbers are also allowed. An arbitrary delimiter character follows the
format specifier, which is followed by a piece of `true' text, the delimiter character again,
a piece of `false' text, and a closing parenthesis. The complete expression (without the dig-its) digits)
its) thus looks like `%(X.text1.text2)', except that the `.' character is arbitrary. The
value given for the format specifier in the char:string expressions is evaluated as a mathe-matical mathematical
matical expression, and compared with the test number. If they are the same, text1 is output,
else text2 is output. A parenthesis may be escaped in text2 as %). Either of text1 or text2
may contain nested %-escapes.
For example:
zformat -f REPLY "The answer is '%3(c.yes.no)'." c:3
outputs "The answer is 'yes'." to REPLY since the value for the format specifier c is 3,
agreeing with the digit argument to the ternary expression.
The second form, using the -a option, can be used for aligning strings. Here, the specs are
of the form `left:right' where `left' and `right' are arbitrary strings. These strings are
modified by replacing the colons by the sep string and padding the left strings with spaces to
the right so that the sep strings in the result (and hence the right strings after them) are
all aligned if the strings are printed below each other. All strings without a colon are left
unchanged and all strings with an empty right string have the trailing colon removed. In both
cases the lengths of the strings are not used to determine how the other strings are to be
aligned. The resulting strings are stored in the array.
zregexparse
This implements some internals of the _regex_arguments function.
zparseopts [ -D ] [ -K ] [ -M ] [ -E ] [ -a array ] [ -A assoc ] specs
This builtin simplifies the parsing of options in positional parameters, i.e. the set of argu-ments arguments
ments given by $*. Each spec describes one option and must be of the form `opt[=array]'. If
an option described by opt is found in the positional parameters it is copied into the array
specified with the -a option; if the optional `=array' is given, it is instead copied into
that array.
Note that it is an error to give any spec without an `=array' unless one of the -a or -A
options is used.
Unless the -E option is given, parsing stops at the first string that isn't described by one
of the specs. Even with -E, parsing always stops at a positional parameter equal to `-' or
`--'.
The opt description must be one of the following. Any of the special characters can appear in
the option name provided it is preceded by a backslash.
name
name+ The name is the name of the option without the leading `-'. To specify a GNU-style
long option, one of the usual two leading `-' must be included in name; for example, a
`--file' option is represented by a name of `-file'.
If a `+' appears after name, the option is appended to array each time it is found in
the positional parameters; without the `+' only the last occurrence of the option is
preserved.
If one of these forms is used, the option takes no argument, so parsing stops if the
next positional parameter does not also begin with `-' (unless the -E option is used).
name:
name:-name:: name:name::
name:: If one or two colons are given, the option takes an argument; with one colon, the argu-ment argument
ment is mandatory and with two colons it is optional. The argument is appended to the
array after the option itself.
An optional argument is put into the same array element as the option name (note that
this makes empty strings as arguments indistinguishable). A mandatory argument is
added as a separate element unless the `:-' form is used, in which case the argument is
put into the same element.
A `+' as described above may appear between the name and the first colon.
The options of zparseopts itself are:
-a array
As described above, this names the default array in which to store the recognised options.
-A assoc
If this is given, the options and their values are also put into an associative array with the
option names as keys and the arguments (if any) as the values.
-D If this option is given, all options found are removed from the positional parameters of the
calling shell or shell function, up to but not including any not described by the specs. This
is similar to using the shift builtin.
-K With this option, the arrays specified with the -a and -A options and with the `=array' forms
are kept unchanged when none of the specs for them is used. This allows assignment of default
values to them before calling zparseopts.
-M This changes the assignment rules to implement a map among equivalent option names. If any
spec uses the `=array' form, the string array is interpreted as the name of another spec,
which is used to choose where to store the values. If no other spec is found, the values are
stored as usual. This changes only the way the values are stored, not the way $* is parsed,
so results may be unpredicable if the `name+' specifier is used inconsistently.
-E This changes the parsing rules to not stop at the first string that isn't described by one of
the specs. It can be used to test for or (if used together with -D) extract options and their
arguments, ignoring all other options and arguments that may be in the positional parameters.
For example,
set -- -a -bx -c y -cz baz -cend
zparseopts a=foo b:=bar c+:=bar
will have the effect of
foo=(-a)
bar=(-b x -c y -c z)
The arguments from `baz' on will not be used.
As an example for the -E option, consider:
set -- -a x -b y -c z arg1 arg2
zparseopts -E -D b:=bar
will have the effect of
bar=(-b y)
set -- -a x -c z arg1 arg2
I.e., the option -b and its arguments are taken from the positional parameters and put into the array
bar.
The -M option can be used like this:
set -- -a -bx -c y -cz baz -cend
zparseopts -A bar -M a=foo b+: c:=b
to have the effect of
foo=(-a)
bar=(-a '' -b xyz)
ZSHTCPSYS(1) ZSHTCPSYS(1)
NAME
zshtcpsys - zsh tcp system
DESCRIPTION
A module zsh/net/tcp is provided to provide network I/O over TCP/IP from within the shell; see its
description in zshmodules(1) . This manual page describes a function suite based on the module. If
the module is installed, the functions are usually installed at the same time, in which case they
will be available for autoloading in the default function search path. In addition to the
zsh/net/tcp module, the zsh/zselect module is used to implement timeouts on read operations. For
troubleshooting tips, consult the corresponding advice for the zftp functions described in zshzftp-sys(1) zshzftpsys(1)
sys(1) .
There are functions corresponding to the basic I/O operations open, close, read and send, named
tcp_open etc., as well as a function tcp_expect for pattern match analysis of data read as input.
The system makes it easy to receive data from and send data to multiple named sessions at once. In
addition, it can be linked with the shell's line editor in such a way that input data is automati-cally automatically
cally shown at the terminal. Other facilities available including logging, filtering and config-urable configurable
urable output prompts.
To use the system where it is available, it should be enough to `autoload -U tcp_open' and run
tcp_open as documented below to start a session. The tcp_open function will autoload the remaining
functions.
TCP USER FUNCTIONS
Basic I/O
tcp_open [-qz] host port [ sess ]
tcp_open [-qz] [ -s sess | -l sess,... ] ...
tcp_open [-qz] [-a fd | -f fd ] [ sess ]
Open a new session. In the first and simplest form, open a TCP connection to host host at
port port; numeric and symbolic forms are understood for both.
If sess is given, this becomes the name of the session which can be used to refer to multiple
different TCP connections. If sess is not given, the function will invent a numeric name
value (note this is not the same as the file descriptor to which the session is attached). It
is recommended that session names not include `funny' characters, where funny characters are
not well-defined but certainly do not include alphanumerics or underscores, and certainly do
include whitespace.
In the second case, one or more sessions to be opened are given by name. A single session
name is given after -s and a comma-separated list after -l; both options may be repeated as
many times as necessary. A failure to open any session causes tcp_open to abort. The host
and port are read from the file .ztcp_sessions in the same directory as the user's zsh ini-tialisation initialisation
tialisation files, i.e. usually the home directory, but $ZDOTDIR if that is set. The file
consists of lines each giving a session name and the corresponding host and port, in that
order (note the session name comes first, not last), separated by whitespace.
The third form allows passive and fake TCP connections. If the option -a is used, its argu-ment argument
ment is a file descriptor open for listening for connections. No function front-end is pro-vided provided
vided to open such a file descriptor, but a call to `ztcp -l port' will create one with the
file descriptor stored in the parameter $REPLY. The listening port can be closed with `ztcp
-c fd'. A call to `tcp_open -a fd' will block until a remote TCP connection is made to port
on the local machine. At this point, a session is created in the usual way and is largely
indistinguishable from an active connection created with one of the first two forms.
If the option -f is used, its argument is a file descriptor which is used directly as if it
were a TCP session. How well the remainder of the TCP function system copes with this depends
on what actually underlies this file descriptor. A regular file is likely to be unusable; a
FIFO (pipe) of some sort will work better, but note that it is not a good idea for two differ-ent different
ent sessions to attempt to read from the same FIFO at once.
If the option -q is given with any of the three forms, tcp_open will not print informational
messages, although it will in any case exit with an appropriate status.
If the line editor (zle) is in use, which is typically the case if the shell is interactive,
tcp_open installs a handler inside zle which will check for new data at the same time as it
checks for keyboard input. This is convenient as the shell consumes no CPU time while wait-ing; waiting;
ing; the test is performed by the operating system. Giving the option -z to any of the forms
of tcp_open prevents the handler from being installed, so data must be read explicitly. Note,
however, this is not necessary for executing complete sets of send and read commands from a
function, as zle is not active at this point. Generally speaking, the handler is only active
when the shell is waiting for input at a command prompt or in the vared builtin. The option
has no effect if zle is not active; `[[ -o zle]]' will test for this.
The first session to be opened becomes the current session and subsequent calls to tcp_open do
not change it. The current session is stored in the parameter $TCP_SESS; see below for more
detail about the parameters used by the system.
The function tcp_on_open, if defined, is called when a session is opened. See the description
below.
tcp_close [-qn] [ -a | -l sess,... | sess ... ]
Close the named sessions, or the current session if none is given, or all open sessions if -a
is given. The options -l and -s are both handled for consistency with tcp_open, although the
latter is redundant.
If the session being closed is the current one, $TCP_SESS is unset, leaving no current ses-sion, session,
sion, even if there are other sessions still open.
If the session was opened with tcp_open -f, the file descriptor is closed so long as it is in
the range 0 to 9 accessible directly from the command line. If the option -n is given, no
attempt will be made to close file descriptors in this case. The -n option is not used for
genuine ztcp session; the file descriptors are always closed with the session.
If the option -q is given, no informational messages will be printed.
tcp_read [-bdq] [ -t TO ] [ -T TO ]
[ -a | -u fd ... | -l sess,... | -s sess ...]
Perform a read operation on the current session, or on a list of sessions if any are given
with -u, -l or -s, or all open sessions if the option -a is given. Any of the -u, -l or -s
options may be repeated or mixed together. The -u option specifies a file descriptor directly
(only those managed by this system are useful), the other two specify sessions as described
for tcp_open above.
The function checks for new data available on all the sessions listed. Unless the -b option
is given, it will not block waiting for new data. Any one line of data from any of the avail-able available
able sessions will be read, stored in the parameter $TCP_LINE, and displayed to standard out-put output
put unless $TCP_SILENT contains a non-empty string. When printed to standard output the
string $TCP_PROMPT will be shown at the start of the line; the default form for this includes
the name of the session being read. See below for more information on these parameters. In
this mode, tcp_read can be called repeatedly until it returns status 2 which indicates all
pending input from all specified sessions has been handled.
With the option -b, equivalent to an infinite timeout, the function will block until a line is
available to read from one of the specified sessions. However, only a single line is
returned.
The option -d indicates that all pending input should be drained. In this case tcp_read may
process multiple lines in the manner given above; only the last is stored in $TCP_LINE, but
the complete set is stored in the array $tcp_lines. This is cleared at the start of each call
to tcp_read.
The options -t and -T specify a timeout in seconds, which may be a floating point number for
increased accuracy. With -t the timeout is applied before each line read. With -T, the time-out timeout
out applies to the overall operation, possibly including multiple read operations if the
option -d is present; without this option, there is no distinction between -t and -T.
The function does not print informational messages, but if the option -q is given, no error
message is printed for a non-existent session.
A return status of 2 indicates a timeout or no data to read. Any other non-zero return status
indicates some error condition.
See tcp_log for how to control where data is sent by tcp_read.
tcp_send [-cnq] [ -s sess | -l sess,... ] data ...
tcp_send [-cnq] -a data ...
Send the supplied data strings to all the specified sessions in turn. The underlying opera-tion operation
tion differs little from a `print -r' to the session's file descriptor, although it attempts
to prevent the shell from dying owing to a SIGPIPE caused by an attempt to write to a defunct
session.
The option -c causes tcp_send to behave like cat. It reads lines from standard input until
end of input and sends them in turn to the specified session(s) exactly as if they were given
as data arguments to individual tcp_send commands.
The option -n prevents tcp_send from putting a newline at the end of the data strings.
The remaining options all behave as for tcp_read.
The data arguments are not further processed once they have been passed to tcp_send; they are
simply passed down to print -r.
If the parameter $TCP_OUTPUT is a non-empty string and logging is enabled then the data sent
to each session will be echoed to the log file(s) with $TCP_OUTPUT in front where appropriate,
much in the manner of $TCP_PROMPT.
Session Management
tcp_alias [-q] alias=sess ...
tcp_alias [-q] [ alias ] ...
tcp_alias -d [-q] alias ...
This function is not particularly well tested.
The first form creates an alias for a session name; alias can then be used to refer to the
existing session sess. As many aliases may be listed as required.
The second form lists any aliases specified, or all aliases if none.
The third form deletes all the aliases listed. The underlying sessions are not affected.
The option -q suppresses an inconsistently chosen subset of error messages.
tcp_log [-asc] [ -n | -N ] [ logfile ]
With an argument logfile, all future input from tcp_read will be logged to the named file.
Unless -a (append) is given, this file will first be truncated or created empty. With no
arguments, show the current status of logging.
With the option -s, per-session logging is enabled. Input from tcp_read is output to the file
logfile.sess. As the session is automatically discriminated by the filename, the contents are
raw (no $TCP_PROMPT). The option -a applies as above. Per-session logging and logging of
all data in one file are not mutually exclusive.
The option -c closes all logging, both complete and per-session logs.
The options -n and -N respectively turn off or restore output of data read by tcp_read to
standard output; hence `tcp_log -cn' turns off all output by tcp_read.
The function is purely a convenient front end to setting the parameters $TCP_LOG,
$TCP_LOG_SESS, $TCP_SILENT, which are described below.
tcp_rename old new
Rename session old to session new. The old name becomes invalid.
tcp_sess [ sess [ command ... ] ]
With no arguments, list all the open sessions and associated file descriptors. The current
session is marked with a star. For use in functions, direct access to the parameters
$tcp_by_name, $tcp_by_fd and $TCP_SESS is probably more convenient; see below.
With a sess argument, set the current session to sess. This is equivalent to changing
$TCP_SESS directly.
With additional arguments, temporarily set the current session while executing the string com-mand command
mand .... The first argument is re-evaluated so as to expand aliases etc., but the remaining
arguments are passed through as the appear to tcp_sess. The original session is restored when
tcp_sess exits.
Advanced I/O
tcp_command send-options ... send-arguments ...
This is a convenient front-end to tcp_send. All arguments are passed to tcp_send, then the
function pauses waiting for data. While data is arriving at least every $TCP_TIMEOUT (default
0.3) seconds, data is handled and printed out according to the current settings. Status 0 is
always returned.
This is generally only useful for interactive use, to prevent the display becoming fragmented
by output returned from the connection. Within a programme or function it is generally better
to handle reading data by a more explicit method.
tcp_expect [ -q ] [ -p var ] [ -t to | -T TO]
[ -a | -s sess ... | -l sess,... ] pattern ...
Wait for input matching any of the given patterns from any of the specified sessions. Input
is ignored until an input line matches one of the given patterns; at this point status zero is
returned, the matching line is stored in $TCP_LINE, and the full set of lines read during the
call to tcp_expect is stored in the array $tcp_expect_lines.
Sessions are specified in the same way as tcp_read: the default is to use the current session,
otherwise the sessions specified by -a, -s, or -l are used.
Each pattern is a standard zsh extended-globbing pattern; note that it needs to be quoted to
avoid it being expanded immediately by filename generation. It must match the full line, so
to match a substring there must be a `*' at the start and end. The line matched against
includes the $TCP_PROMPT added by tcp_read. It is possible to include the globbing flags `#b'
or `#m' in the patterns to make backreferences available in the parameters $MATCH, $match,
etc., as described in the base zsh documentation on pattern matching.
Unlike tcp_read, the default behaviour of tcp_expect is to block indefinitely until the
required input is found. This can be modified by specifying a timeout with -t or -T; these
function as in tcp_read, specifying a per-read or overall timeout, respectively, in seconds,
as an integer or floating-point number. As tcp_read, the function returns status 2 if a time-out timeout
out occurs.
The function returns as soon as any one of the patterns given match. If the caller needs to
know which of the patterns matched, the option -p var can be used; on return, $var is set to
the number of the pattern using ordinary zsh indexing, i.e. the first is 1, and so on. Note
the absence of a `$' in front of var. To avoid clashes, the parameter cannot begin with
`_expect'.
The option -q is passed directly down to tcp_read.
As all input is done via tcp_read, all the usual rules about output of lines read apply. One
exception is that the parameter $tcp_lines will only reflect the line actually matched by
tcp_expect; use $tcp_expect_lines for the full set of lines read during the function call.
tcp_proxy
This is a simple-minded function to accept a TCP connection and execute a command with I/O
redirected to the connection. Extreme caution should be taken as there is no security whatso-ever whatsoever
ever and this can leave your computer open to the world. Ideally, it should only be used
behind a firewall.
The first argument is a TCP port on which the function will listen.
The remaining arguments give a command and its arguments to execute with standard input, stan-dard standard
dard output and standard error redirected to the file descriptor on which the TCP session has
been accepted. If no command is given, a new zsh is started. This gives everyone on your
network direct access to your account, which in many cases will be a bad thing.
The command is run in the background, so tcp_proxy can then accept new connections. It con-tinues continues
tinues to accept new connections until interrupted.
tcp_spam [-ertv] [ -a | -s sess | -l sess,... ] cmd ...
Execute `cmd ...' for each session in turn. Note this executes the command and arguments; it
does not send the command line as data unless the -t (transmit) option is given.
The sessions may be selected explicitly with the standard -a, -s or -l options, or may be cho-sen chosen
sen implicitly. If none of the three options is given the rules are: first, if the array
$tcp_spam_list is set, this is taken as the list of sessions, otherwise all sessions are
taken. Second, any sessions given in the array $tcp_no_spam_list are removed from the list of
sessions.
Normally, any sessions added by the `-a' flag or when all sessions are chosen implicitly are
spammed in alphabetic order; sessions given by the $tcp_spam_list array or on the command line
are spammed in the order given. The -r flag reverses the order however it was arrived it.
The -v flag specifies that a $TCP_PROMPT will be output before each session. This is output
after any modification to TCP_SESS by the user-defined tcp_on_spam function described below.
(Obviously that function is able to generate its own output.)
If the option -e is present, the line given as cmd ... is executed using eval, otherwise it is
executed without any further processing.
tcp_talk
This is a fairly simple-minded attempt to force input to the line editor to go straight to the
default TCP_SESSION.
An escape string, $TCP_TALK_ESCAPE, default `:', is used to allow access to normal shell oper-ation. operation.
ation. If it is on its own at the start of the line, or followed only by whitespace, the line
editor returns to normal operation. Otherwise, the string and any following whitespace are
skipped and the remainder of the line executed as shell input without any change of the line
editor's operating mode.
The current implementation is somewhat deficient in terms of use of the command history. For
this reason, many users will prefer to use some form of alternative approach for sending data
easily to the current session. One simple approach is to alias some special character (such
as `%') to `tcp_command --'.
tcp_wait
The sole argument is an integer or floating point number which gives the seconds to delay.
The shell will do nothing for that period except wait for input on all TCP sessions by calling
tcp_read -a. This is similar to the interactive behaviour at the command prompt when zle han-dlers handlers
dlers are installed.
`One-shot' file transfer
tcp_point port
tcp_shoot host port
This pair of functions provide a simple way to transfer a file between two hosts within the
shell. Note, however, that bulk data transfer is currently done using cat. tcp_point reads
any data arriving at port and sends it to standard output; tcp_shoot connects to port on host
and sends its standard input. Any unused port may be used; the standard mechanism for picking
a port is to think of a random four-digit number above 1024 until one works.
To transfer a file from host woodcock to host springes, on springes:
tcp_point 8091 >output_file
and on woodcock:
tcp_shoot springes 8091 <input_file
As these two functions do not require tcp_open to set up a TCP connection first, they may need
to be autoloaded separately.
TCP USER-DEFINED FUNCTIONS
Certain functions, if defined by the user, will be called by the function system in certain contexts.
This facility depends on the module zsh/parameter, which is usually available in interactive shells
as the completion system depends on it. None of the functions need be defined; they simply provide
convenient hooks when necessary.
Typically, these are called after the requested action has been taken, so that the various parameters
will reflect the new state.
tcp_on_alias alias fd
When an alias is defined, this function will be called with two arguments: the name of the
alias, and the file descriptor of the corresponding session.
tcp_on_awol sess fd
If the function tcp_fd_handler is handling input from the line editor and detects that the
file descriptor is no longer reusable, by default it removes it from the list of file descrip-
tors handled by this method and prints a message. If the function tcp_on_awol is defined it
is called immediately before this point. It may return status 100, which indicates that the
normal handling should still be performed; any other return status indicates that no further
action should be taken and the tcp_fd_handler should return immediately with the given status.
Typically the action of tcp_on_awol will be to close the session.
The variable TCP_INVALIDATE_ZLE will be a non-empty string if it is necessary to invalidate
the line editor display using `zle -I' before printing output from the function.
(`AWOL' is military jargon for `absent without leave' or some variation. It has no pre-exist-ing pre-existing
ing technical meaning known to the author.)
tcp_on_close sess fd
This is called with the name of a session being closed and the file descriptor which corre-sponded corresponded
sponded to that session. Both will be invalid by the time the function is called.
tcp_on_open sess fd
This is called after a new session has been defined with the session name and file descriptor
as arguments. If it returns a non-zero status, opening the session is assumed to fail and the
session is closed again; however, tcp_open will continue to attempt to open any remaining ses-sions sessions
sions given on the command line.
tcp_on_rename oldsess fd newsess
This is called after a session has been renamed with the three arguments old session name,
file descriptor, new session name.
tcp_on_spam sess command ...
This is called once for each session spammed, just before a command is executed for a session
by tcp_spam. The arguments are the session name followed by the command list to be executed.
If tcp_spam was called with the option -t, the first command will be tcp_send.
This function is called after $TCP_SESS is set to reflect the session to be spammed, but
before any use of it is made. Hence it is possible to alter the value of $TCP_SESS within
this function. For example, the session arguments to tcp_spam could include extra information
to be stripped off and processed in tcp_on_spam.
If the function sets the parameter $REPLY to `done', the command line is not executed; in
addition, no prompt is printed for the -v option to tcp_spam.
tcp_on_unalias alias fd
This is called with the name of an alias and the corresponding session's file descriptor after
an alias has been deleted.
TCP UTILITY FUNCTIONS
The following functions are used by the TCP function system but will rarely if ever need to be called
directly.
tcp_fd_handler
This is the function installed by tcp_open for handling input from within the line editor, if
that is required. It is in the format documented for the builtin `zle -F' in zshzle(1) .
While active, the function sets the parameter TCP_HANDLER_ACTIVE to 1. This allows shell code
called internally (for example, by setting tcp_on_read) to tell if is being called when the
shell is otherwise idle at the editor prompt.
tcp_output [ -q ] -P prompt -F fd -S sess
This function is used for both logging and handling output to standard output, from within
tcp_read and (if $TCP_OUTPUT is set) tcp_send.
The prompt to use is specified by -P; the default is the empty string. It can contain:
%c Expands to 1 if the session is the current session, otherwise 0. Used with ternary
expressions such as `%(c.-.+)' to output `+' for the current session and `-' otherwise.
%f Replaced by the session's file descriptor.
%s Replaced by the session name.
%% Replaced by a single `%'.
The option -q suppresses output to standard output, but not to any log files which are config-ured. configured.
ured.
The -S and -F options are used to pass in the session name and file descriptor for possible
replacement in the prompt.
TCP USER PARAMETERS
Parameters follow the usual convention that uppercase is used for scalars and integers, while lower-case lowercase
case is used for normal and associative array. It is always safe for user code to read these parame-ters. parameters.
ters. Some parameters may also be set; these are noted explicitly. Others are included in this
group as they are set by the function system for the user's benefit, i.e. setting them is typically
not useful but is benign.
It is often also useful to make settable parameters local to a function. For example, `local
TCP_SILENT=1' specifies that data read during the function call will not be printed to standard out-put, output,
put, regardless of the setting outside the function. Likewise, `local TCP_SESS=sess' sets a session
for the duration of a function, and `local TCP_PROMPT=' specifies that no prompt is used for input
during the function.
tcp_expect_lines
Array. The set of lines read during the last call to tcp_expect, including the last
($TCP_LINE).
tcp_filter
Array. May be set directly. A set of extended globbing patterns which, if matched in tcp_out-put, tcp_output,
put, will cause the line not to be printed to standard output. The patterns should be defined
as described for the arguments to tcp_expect. Output of line to log files is not affected.
TCP_HANDLER_ACTIVE
Scalar. Set to 1 within tcp_fd_handler to indicate to functions called recursively that they
have been called during an editor session. Otherwise unset.
TCP_LINE
The last line read by tcp_read, and hence also tcp_expect.
TCP_LINE_FD
The file descriptor from which $TCP_LINE was read. ${tcp_by_fd[$TCP_LINE_FD]} will give the
corresponding session name.
tcp_lines
Array. The set of lines read during the last call to tcp_read, including the last ($TCP_LINE).
TCP_LOG
May be set directly, although it is also controlled by tcp_log. The name of a file to which
output from all sessions will be sent. The output is proceeded by the usual $TCP_PROMPT. If
it is not an absolute path name, it will follow the user's current directory.
TCP_LOG_SESS
May be set directly, although it is also controlled by tcp_log. The prefix for a set of files
to which output from each session separately will be sent; the full filename is
${TCP_LOG_SESS}.sess. Output to each file is raw; no prompt is added. If it is not an abso-lute absolute
lute path name, it will follow the user's current directory.
tcp_no_spam_list
Array. May be set directly. See tcp_spam for how this is used.
TCP_OUTPUT
May be set directly. If a non-empty string, any data sent to a session by tcp_send will be
logged. This parameter gives the prompt to be used in a file specified by $TCP_LOG but not in
a file generated from $TCP_LOG_SESS. The prompt string has the same format as TCP_PROMPT and
the same rules for its use apply.
TCP_PROMPT
May be set directly. Used as the prefix for data read by tcp_read which is printed to stan-dard standard
dard output or to the log file given by $TCP_LOG, if any. Any `%s', `%f' or `%%' occurring in
the string will be replaced by the name of the session, the session's underlying file descrip-tor, descriptor,
tor, or a single `%', respectively. The expression `%c' expands to 1 if the session being
read is the current session, else 0; this is most useful in ternary expressions such as
`%(c.-.+)' which outputs `+' if the session is the current one, else `-'.
TCP_READ_DEBUG
May be set directly. If this has non-zero length, tcp_read will give some limited diagnostics
about data being read.
TCP_SECONDS_START
This value is created and initialised to zero by tcp_open.
The functions tcp_read and tcp_expect use the shell's SECONDS parameter for their own timing
purposes. If that parameter is not of floating point type on entry to one of the functions,
it will create a local parameter SECONDS which is floating point and set the parameter
TCP_SECONDS_START to the previous value of $SECONDS. If the parameter is already floating
point, it is used without a local copy being created and TCP_SECONDS_START is not set. As the
global value is zero, the shell elapsed time is guaranteed to be the sum of $SECONDS and
$TCP_SECONDS_START.
This can be avoided by setting SECONDS globally to a floating point value using `typeset -F
SECONDS'; then the TCP functions will never make a local copy and never set TCP_SECONDS_START
to a non-zero value.
TCP_SESS
May be set directly. The current session; must refer to one of the sessions established by
tcp_open.
TCP_SILENT
May be set directly, although it is also controlled by tcp_log. If of non-zero length, data
read by tcp_read will not be written to standard output, though may still be written to a log
file.
tcp_spam_list
Array. May be set directly. See the description of the function tcp_spam for how this is
used.
TCP_TALK_ESCAPE
May be set directly. See the description of the function tcp_talk for how this is used.
TCP_TIMEOUT
May be set directly. Currently this is only used by the function tcp_command, see above.
TCP USER-DEFINED PARAMETERS
The following parameters are not set by the function system, but have a special effect if set by the
user.
tcp_on_read
This should be an associative array; if it is not, the behaviour is undefined. Each key is
the name of a shell function or other command, and the corresponding value is a shell pattern
(using EXTENDED_GLOB). Every line read from a TCP session directly or indirectly using
tcp_read (which includes lines read by tcp_expect) is compared against the pattern. If the
line matches, the command given in the key is called with two arguments: the name of the ses-sion session
sion from which the line was read, and the line itself.
If any function called to handle a line returns a non-zero status, the line is not output.
Thus a tcp_on_read handler containing only the instruction `return 1' can be used to suppress
output of particular lines (see, however, tcp_filter above). However, the line is still
stored in TCP_LINE and tcp_lines; this occurs after all tcp_on_read processing.
TCP UTILITY PARAMETERS
These parameters are controlled by the function system; they may be read directly, but should not
usually be set by user code.
tcp_aliases
Associative array. The keys are the names of sessions established with tcp_open; each value
is a space-separated list of aliases which refer to that session.
tcp_by_fd
Associative array. The keys are session file descriptors; each value is the name of that ses-sion. session.
sion.
tcp_by_name
Associative array. The keys are the names of sessions; each value is the file descriptor
associated with that session.
TCP EXAMPLES
Here is a trivial example using a remote calculator.
TO create a calculator server on port 7337 (see the dc manual page for quite how infuriating the
underlying command is):
tcp_proxy 7337 dc
To connect to this from the same host with a session also named `dc':
tcp_open localhost 7337 dc
To send a command to the remote session and wait a short while for output (assuming dc is the current
session):
tcp_command 2 4 + p
To close the session:
tcp_close
The tcp_proxy needs to be killed to be stopped. Note this will not usually kill any connections
which have already been accepted, and also that the port is not immediately available for reuse.
The following chunk of code puts a list of sessions into an xterm header, with the current session
followed by a star.
print -n "\033]2;TCP:" ${(k)tcp_by_name:/$TCP_SESS/$TCP_SESS\*} "\a"
TCP BUGS
The function tcp_read uses the shell's normal read builtin. As this reads a complete line at once,
data arriving without a terminating newline can cause the function to block indefinitely.
Though the function suite works well for interactive use and for data arriving in small amounts, the
performance when large amounts of data are being exchanged is likely to be extremely poor.
ZSHZFTPSYS(1) ZSHZFTPSYS(1)
NAME
zshzftpsys - zftp function front-end
DESCRIPTION
This describes the set of shell functions supplied with the source distribution as an interface to
the zftp builtin command, allowing you to perform FTP operations from the shell command line or
within functions or scripts. The interface is similar to a traditional FTP client (e.g. the ftp com-mand command
mand itself, see ftp(1)), but as it is entirely done within the shell all the familiar completion,
editing and globbing features, and so on, are present, and macros are particularly simple to write as
they are just ordinary shell functions.
The prerequisite is that the zftp command, as described in zshmodules(1) , must be available in the
version of zsh installed at your site. If the shell is configured to load new commands at run time,
it probably is: typing `zmodload zsh/zftp' will make sure (if that runs silently, it has worked). If
this is not the case, it is possible zftp was linked into the shell anyway: to test this, type `which
zftp' and if zftp is available you will get the message `zftp: shell built-in command'.
Commands given directly with zftp builtin may be interspersed between the functions in this suite; in
a few cases, using zftp directly may cause some of the status information stored in shell parameters
to become invalid. Note in particular the description of the variables $ZFTP_TMOUT, $ZFTP_PREFS and
$ZFTP_VERBOSE for zftp.
INSTALLATION
You should make sure all the functions from the Functions/Zftp directory of the source distribution
are available; they all begin with the two letters `zf'. They may already have been installed on
your system; otherwise, you will need to find them and copy them. The directory should appear as one
of the elements of the $fpath array (this should already be the case if they were installed), and at
least the function zfinit should be autoloaded; it will autoload the rest. Finally, to initialize
the use of the system you need to call the zfinit function. The following code in your .zshrc will
arrange for this; assume the functions are stored in the directory ~/myfns:
fpath=(~/myfns $fpath)
autoload -U zfinit
zfinit
Note that zfinit assumes you are using the zmodload method to load the zftp command. If it is
already built into the shell, change zfinit to zfinit -n. It is helpful (though not essential) if
the call to zfinit appears after any code to initialize the new completion system, else unnecessary
compctl commands will be given.
FUNCTIONS
The sequence of operations in performing a file transfer is essentially the same as that in a stan-dard standard
dard FTP client. Note that, due to a quirk of the shell's getopts builtin, for those functions that
handle options you must use `--' rather than `-' to ensure the remaining arguments are treated liter-ally literally
ally (a single `-' is treated as an argument).
Opening a connection
zfparams [ host [ user [ password ... ] ] ]
Set or show the parameters for a future zfopen with no arguments. If no arguments are given,
the current parameters are displayed (the password will be shown as a line of asterisks). If
a host is given, and either the user or password is not, they will be prompted for; also, any
parameter given as `?' will be prompted for, and if the `?' is followed by a string, that will
be used as the prompt. As zfopen calls zfparams to store the parameters, this usually need
not be called directly.
A single argument `-' will delete the stored parameters. This will also cause the memory of
the last directory (and so on) on the other host to be deleted.
zfopen [ -1 ] [ host [ user [ password [ account ] ] ] ]
If host is present, open a connection to that host under username user with password password
(and, on the rare occasions when it is necessary, account account). If a necessary parameter
is missing or given as `?' it will be prompted for. If host is not present, use a previously
stored set of parameters.
If the command was successful, and the terminal is compatible with xterm or is sun-cmd, a sum-mary summary
mary will appear in the title bar, giving the local host:directory and the remote host:direc-tory; host:directory;
tory; this is handled by the function zftp_chpwd, described below.
Normally, the host, user and password are internally recorded for later re-opening, either by
a zfopen with no arguments, or automatically (see below). With the option `-1', no informa-tion information
tion is stored. Also, if an open command with arguments failed, the parameters will not be
retained (and any previous parameters will also be deleted). A zfopen on its own, or a zfopen
-1, never alters the stored parameters.
Both zfopen and zfanon (but not zfparams) understand URLs of the form ftp://host/path... as
meaning to connect to the host, then change directory to path (which must be a directory, not
a file). The `ftp://' can be omitted; the trailing `/' is enough to trigger recognition of
the path. Note prefixes other than `ftp:' are not recognized, and that all characters after
the first slash beyond host are significant in path.
zfanon [ -1 ] host
Open a connection host for anonymous FTP. The username used is `anonymous'. The password
(which will be reported the first time) is generated as user@host; this is then stored in the
shell parameter $EMAIL_ADDR which can alternatively be set manually to a suitable string.
Directory management
zfcd [ dir ]
zfcd -zfcd zfcdzfcd
zfcd old new
Change the current directory on the remote server: this is implemented to have many of the
features of the shell builtin cd.
In the first form with dir present, change to the directory dir. The command `zfcd ..' is
treated specially, so is guaranteed to work on non-UNIX servers (note this is handled inter-nally internally
nally by zftp). If dir is omitted, has the effect of `zfcd ~'.
The second form changes to the directory previously current.
The third form attempts to change the current directory by replacing the first occurrence of
the string old with the string new in the current directory.
Note that in this command, and indeed anywhere a remote filename is expected, the string which
on the local host corresponds to `~' is converted back to a `~' before being passed to the
remote machine. This is convenient because of the way expansion is performed on the command
line before zfcd receives a string. For example, suppose the command is `zfcd ~/foo'. The
shell will expand this to a full path such as `zfcd /home/user2/pws/foo'. At this stage, zfcd
recognises the initial path as corresponding to `~' and will send the directory to the remote
host as ~/foo, so that the `~' will be expanded by the server to the correct remote host
directory. Other named directories of the form `~name' are not treated in this fashion.
zfhere Change directory on the remote server to the one corresponding to the current local directory,
with special handling of `~' as in zfcd. For example, if the current local directory is
~/foo/bar, then zfhere performs the effect of `zfcd ~/foo/bar'.
zfdir [ -rfd ] [ - ] [ dir-options ] [ dir ]
Produce a long directory listing. The arguments dir-options and dir are passed directly to
the server and their effect is implementation dependent, but specifying a particular remote
directory dir is usually possible. The output is passed through a pager given by the environ-ment environment
ment variable $PAGER, or `more' if that is not set.
The directory is usually cached for re-use. In fact, two caches are maintained. One is for
use when there is no dir-options or dir, i.e. a full listing of the current remote directory;
it is flushed when the current remote directory changes. The other is kept for repeated use
of zfdir with the same arguments; for example, repeated use of `zfdir /pub/gnu' will only
require the directory to be retrieved on the first call. Alternatively, this cache can be
re-viewed with the -r option. As relative directories will confuse zfdir, the -f option can
be used to force the cache to be flushed before the directory is listed. The option -d will
delete both caches without showing a directory listing; it will also delete the cache of file
names in the current remote directory, if any.
zfls [ ls-options ] [ dir ]
List files on the remote server. With no arguments, this will produce a simple list of file
names for the current remote directory. Any arguments are passed directly to the server. No
pager and no caching is used.
Status commands
zftype [ type ]
With no arguments, show the type of data to be transferred, usually ASCII or binary. With an
argument, change the type: the types `A' or `ASCII' for ASCII data and `B' or `BINARY', `I' or
`IMAGE' for binary data are understood case-insensitively.
zfstat [ -v ]
Show the status of the current or last connection, as well as the status of some of zftp's
status variables. With the -v option, a more verbose listing is produced by querying the
server for its version of events, too.
Retrieving files
The commands for retrieving files all take at least two options. -G suppresses remote filename expan-sion expansion
sion which would otherwise be performed (see below for a more detailed description of that). -t
attempts to set the modification time of the local file to that of the remote file: see the descrip-tion description
tion of the function zfrtime below for more information.
zfget [ -Gtc ] file1 ...
Retrieve all the listed files file1 ... one at a time from the remote server. If a file con-tains contains
tains a `/', the full name is passed to the remote server, but the file is stored locally
under the name given by the part after the final `/'. The option -c (cat) forces all files to
be sent as a single stream to standard output; in this case the -t option has no effect.
zfuget [ -Gvst ] file1 ...
As zfget, but only retrieve files where the version on the remote server is newer (has a later
modification time), or where the local file does not exist. If the remote file is older but
the files have different sizes, or if the sizes are the same but the remote file is newer, the
user will usually be queried. With the option -s, the command runs silently and will always
retrieve the file in either of those two cases. With the option -v, the command prints more
information about the files while it is working out whether or not to transfer them.
zfcget [ -Gt ] file1 ...
As zfget, but if any of the local files exists, and is shorter than the corresponding remote
file, the command assumes that it is the result of a partially completed transfer and attempts
to transfer the rest of the file. This is useful on a poor connection which keeps failing.
Note that this requires a commonly implemented, but non-standard, version of the FTP protocol,
so is not guaranteed to work on all servers.
zfgcp [ -Gt ] remote-file local-file
zfgcp [ -Gt ] rfile1 ... ldir
This retrieves files from the remote server with arguments behaving similarly to the cp com-mand. command.
mand.
In the first form, copy remote-file from the server to the local file local-file.
In the second form, copy all the remote files rfile1 ... into the local directory ldir retain-ing retaining
ing the same basenames. This assumes UNIX directory semantics.
Sending files
zfput [ -r ] file1 ...
Send all the file1 ... given separately to the remote server. If a filename contains a `/',
the full filename is used locally to find the file, but only the basename is used for the
remote file name.
With the option -r, if any of the files are directories they are sent recursively with all
their subdirectories, including files beginning with `.'. This requires that the remote
machine understand UNIX file semantics, since `/' is used as a directory separator.
zfuput [ -vs ] file1 ...
As zfput, but only send files which are newer than their local equivalents, or if the remote
file does not exist. The logic is the same as for zfuget, but reversed between local and
remote files.
zfcput file1 ...
As zfput, but if any remote file already exists and is shorter than the local equivalent,
assume it is the result of an incomplete transfer and send the rest of the file to append to
the existing part. As the FTP append command is part of the standard set, this is in princi-ple principle
ple more likely to work than zfcget.
zfpcp local-file remote-file
zfpcp lfile1 ... rdir
This sends files to the remote server with arguments behaving similarly to the cp command.
With two arguments, copy local-file to the server as remote-file.
With more than two arguments, copy all the local files lfile1 ... into the existing remote
directory rdir retaining the same basenames. This assumes UNIX directory semantics.
A problem arises if you attempt to use zfpcp lfile1 rdir, i.e. the second form of copying but
with two arguments, as the command has no simple way of knowing if rdir corresponds to a
directory or a filename. It attempts to resolve this in various ways. First, if the rdir
argument is `.' or `..' or ends in a slash, it is assumed to be a directory. Secondly, if the
operation of copying to a remote file in the first form failed, and the remote server sends
back the expected failure code 553 and a reply including the string `Is a directory', then
zfpcp will retry using the second form.
Closing the connection
zfclose
Close the connection.
Session management
zfsession [ -lvod ] [ sessname ]
Allows you to manage multiple FTP sessions at once. By default, connections take place in a
session called `default'; by giving the command `zfsession sessname' you can change to a new
or existing session with a name of your choice. The new session remembers its own connection,
as well as associated shell parameters, and also the host/user parameters set by zfparams.
Hence you can have different sessions set up to connect to different hosts, each remembering
the appropriate host, user and password.
With no arguments, zfsession prints the name of the current session; with the option -l it
lists all sessions which currently exist, and with the option -v it gives a verbose list show-ing showing
ing the host and directory for each session, where the current session is marked with an
asterisk. With -o, it will switch to the most recent previous session.
With -d, the given session (or else the current one) is removed; everything to do with it is
completely forgotten. If it was the only session, a new session called `default' is created
and made current. It is safest not to delete sessions while background commands using zftp
are active.
zftransfer sess1:file1 sess2:file2
Transfer files between two sessions; no local copy is made. The file is read from the session
sess1 as file1 and written to session sess2 as file file2; file1 and file2 may be relative to
the current directories of the session. Either sess1 or sess2 may be omitted (though the
colon should be retained if there is a possibility of a colon appearing in the file name) and
defaults to the current session; file2 may be omitted or may end with a slash, in which case
the basename of file1 will be added. The sessions sess1 and sess2 must be distinct.
The operation is performed using pipes, so it is required that the connections still be valid
in a subshell, which is not the case under versions of some operating systems, presumably due
to a system bug.
Bookmarks
The two functions zfmark and zfgoto allow you to `bookmark' the present location (host, user and
directory) of the current FTP connection for later use. The file to be used for storing and retriev-ing retrieving
ing bookmarks is given by the parameter $ZFTP_BMFILE; if not set when one of the two functions is
called, it will be set to the file .zfbkmarks in the directory where your zsh startup files live
(usually ~).
zfmark [ bookmark ]
If given an argument, mark the current host, user and directory under the name bookmark for
later use by zfgoto. If there is no connection open, use the values for the last connection
immediately before it was closed; it is an error if there was none. Any existing bookmark
under the same name will be silently replaced.
If not given an argument, list the existing bookmarks and the points to which they refer in
the form user@host:directory; this is the format in which they are stored, and the file may be
edited directly.
zfgoto [ -n ] bookmark
Return to the location given by bookmark, as previously set by zfmark. If the location has
user `ftp' or `anonymous', open the connection with zfanon, so that no password is required.
If the user and host parameters match those stored for the current session, if any, those will
be used, and again no password is required. Otherwise a password will be prompted for.
With the option -n, the bookmark is taken to be a nickname stored by the ncftp program in its
bookmark file, which is assumed to be ~/.ncftp/bookmarks. The function works identically in
other ways. Note that there is no mechanism for adding or modifying ncftp bookmarks from the
zftp functions.
Other functions
Mostly, these functions will not be called directly (apart from zfinit), but are described here for
completeness. You may wish to alter zftp_chpwd and zftp_progress, in particular.
zfinit [ -n ]
As described above, this is used to initialize the zftp function system. The -n option should
be used if the zftp command is already built into the shell.
zfautocheck [ -dn ]
This function is called to implement automatic reopening behaviour, as described in more
detail below. The options must appear in the first argument; -n prevents the command from
changing to the old directory, while -d prevents it from setting the variable do_close, which
it otherwise does as a flag for automatically closing the connection after a transfer. The
host and directory for the last session are stored in the variable $zflastsession, but the
internal host/user/password parameters must also be correctly set.
zfcd_match prefix suffix
This performs matching for completion of remote directory names. If the remote server is
UNIX, it will attempt to persuade the server to list the remote directory with subdirectories
marked, which usually works but is not guaranteed. On other hosts it simply calls zfget_match
and hence completes all files, not just directories. On some systems, directories may not
even look like filenames.
zfget_match prefix suffix
This performs matching for completion of remote filenames. It caches files for the current
directory (only) in the shell parameter $zftp_fcache. It is in the form to be called by the
-K option of compctl, but also works when called from a widget-style completion function with
prefix and suffix set appropriately.
zfrglob varname
Perform remote globbing, as describes in more detail below. varname is the name of a variable
containing the pattern to be expanded; if there were any matches, the same variable will be
set to the expanded set of filenames on return.
zfrtime lfile rfile [ time ]
Set the local file lfile to have the same modification time as the remote file rfile, or the
explicit time time in FTP format CCYYMMDDhhmmSS for the GMT timezone. This uses the shell's
zsh/datetime module to perform the conversion from GMT to local time.
zftp_chpwd
This function is called every time a connection is opened, or closed, or the remote directory
changes. This version alters the title bar of an xterm-compatible or sun-cmd terminal emula-tor emulator
tor to reflect the local and remote hostnames and current directories. It works best when
combined with the function chpwd. In particular, a function of the form
chpwd() {
if [[ -n $ZFTP_USER ]]; then
zftp_chpwd
else
# usual chpwd e.g put host:directory in title bar
fi
}
fits in well.
zftp_progress
This function shows the status of the transfer. It will not write anything unless the output
is going to a terminal; however, if you transfer files in the background, you should turn off
progress reports by hand using `zstyle ':zftp:*' progress none'. Note also that if you alter
it, any output must be to standard error, as standard output may be a file being received.
The form of the progress meter, or whether it is used at all, can be configured without alter-ing altering
ing the function, as described in the next section.
zffcache
This is used to implement caching of files in the current directory for each session sepa-rately. separately.
rately. It is used by zfget_match and zfrglob.
MISCELLANEOUS FEATURES
Configuration
Various styles are available using the standard shell style mechanism, described in zshmodules(1).
Briefly, the command `zstyle ':zftp:*' style value ...'. defines the style to have value value; more
than one value may be given, although that is not useful in the cases described here. These values
will then be used throughout the zftp function system. For more precise control, the first argument,
which gives a context in which the style applies, can be modified to include a particular function,
as for example `:zftp:zfget': the style will then have the given value only in the zfget function.
Values for the same style in different contexts may be set; the most specific function will be used,
where strings are held to be more specific than patterns, and longer patterns and shorter patterns.
Note that only the top level function name, as called by the user, is used; calling of lower level
functions is transparent to the user. Hence modifications to the title bar in zftp_chpwd use the
contexts :zftp:zfopen, :zftp:zfcd, etc., depending where it was called from. The following styles
are understood:
progress
Controls the way that zftp_progress reports on the progress of a transfer. If empty, unset,
or `none', no progress report is made; if `bar' a growing bar of inverse video is shown; if
`percent' (or any other string, though this may change in future), the percentage of the file
transferred is shown. The bar meter requires that the width of the terminal be available via
the $COLUMNS parameter (normally this is set automatically). If the size of the file being
transferred is not available, bar and percent meters will simply show the number of bytes
transferred so far.
When zfinit is run, if this style is not defined for the context :zftp:*, it will be set to
`bar'.
update Specifies the minimum time interval between updates of the progress meter in seconds. No
update is made unless new data has been received, so the actual time interval is limited only
by $ZFTP_TIMEOUT.
As described for progress, zfinit will force this to default to 1.
remote-glob
If set to `1', `yes' or `true', filename generation (globbing) is performed on the remote
machine instead of by zsh itself; see below.
titlebar
If set to `1', `yes' or `true', zftp_chpwd will put the remote host and remote directory into
the titlebar of terminal emulators such as xterm or sun-cmd that allow this.
As described for progress, zfinit will force this to default to 1.
chpwd If set to `1' `yes' or `true', zftp_chpwd will call the function chpwd when a connection is
closed. This is useful if the remote host details were put into the terminal title bar by
zftp_chpwd and your usual chpwd also modifies the title bar.
When zfinit is run, it will determine whether chpwd exists and if so it will set the default
value for the style to 1 if none exists already.
Note that there is also an associative array zfconfig which contains values used by the function sys-tem. system.
tem. This should not be modified or overwritten.
Remote globbing
The commands for retrieving files usually perform filename generation (globbing) on their arguments;
this can be turned off by passing the option -G to each of the commands. Normally this operates by
retrieving a complete list of files for the directory in question, then matching these locally
against the pattern supplied. This has the advantage that the full range of zsh patterns (respecting
the setting of the option EXTENDED_GLOB) can be used. However, it means that the directory part of a
filename will not be expanded and must be given exactly. If the remote server does not support the
UNIX directory semantics, directory handling is problematic and it is recommended that globbing only
be used within the current directory. The list of files in the current directory, if retrieved, will
be cached, so that subsequent globs in the same directory without an intervening zfcd are much
faster.
If the remote-glob style (see above) is set, globbing is instead performed on the remote host: the
server is asked for a list of matching files. This is highly dependent on how the server is imple-mented, implemented,
mented, though typically UNIX servers will provide support for basic glob patterns. This may in some
cases be faster, as it avoids retrieving the entire list of directory contents.
Automatic and temporary reopening
As described for the zfopen command, a subsequent zfopen with no parameters will reopen the connec-tion connection
tion to the last host (this includes connections made with the zfanon command). Opened in this fash-ion, fashion,
ion, the connection starts in the default remote directory and will remain open until explicitly
closed.
Automatic re-opening is also available. If a connection is not currently open and a command requir-ing requiring
ing a connection is given, the last connection is implicitly reopened. In this case the directory
which was current when the connection was closed again becomes the current directory (unless, of
course, the command given changes it). Automatic reopening will also take place if the connection
was close by the remote server for whatever reason (e.g. a timeout). It is not available if the -1
option to zfopen or zfanon was used.
Furthermore, if the command issued is a file transfer, the connection will be closed after the trans-fer transfer
fer is finished, hence providing a one-shot mode for transfers. This does not apply to directory
changing or listing commands; for example a zfdir may reopen a connection but will leave it open.
Also, automatic closure will only ever happen in the same command as automatic opening, i.e a zfdir
directly followed by a zfget will never close the connection automatically.
Information about the previous connection is given by the zfstat function. So, for example, if that
reports:
Session: default
Not connected.
Last session: ftp.bar.com:/pub/textfiles
then the command zfget file.txt will attempt to reopen a connection to ftp.bar.com, retrieve the file
/pub/textfiles/file.txt, and immediately close the connection again. On the other hand, zfcd ..
will open the connection in the directory /pub and leave it open.
Note that all the above is local to each session; if you return to a previous session, the connection
for that session is the one which will be reopened.
Completion
Completion of local and remote files, directories, sessions and bookmarks is supported. The older,
compctl-style completion is defined when zfinit is called; support for the new widget-based comple-tion completion
tion system is provided in the function Completion/Zsh/Command/_zftp, which should be installed with
the other functions of the completion system and hence should automatically be available.
ZSHCONTRIB(1) ZSHCONTRIB(1)
NAME
zshcontrib - user contributions to zsh
DESCRIPTION
The Zsh source distribution includes a number of items contributed by the user community. These are
not inherently a part of the shell, and some may not be available in every zsh installation. The
most significant of these are documented here. For documentation on other contributed items such as
shell functions, look for comments in the function source files.
UTILITIES
Accessing On-Line Help
The key sequence ESC h is normally bound by ZLE to execute the run-help widget (see zshzle(1)). This
invokes the run-help command with the command word from the current input line as its argument. By
default, run-help is an alias for the man command, so this often fails when the command word is a
shell builtin or a user-defined function. By redefining the run-help alias, one can improve the
on-line help provided by the shell.
The helpfiles utility, found in the Util directory of the distribution, is a Perl program that can be
used to process the zsh manual to produce a separate help file for each shell builtin and for many
other shell features as well. The autoloadable run-help function, found in Functions/Misc, searches
for these helpfiles and performs several other tests to produce the most complete help possible for
the command.
There may already be a directory of help files on your system; look in /usr/share/zsh or
/usr/local/share/zsh and subdirectories below those, or ask your system administrator.
To create your own help files with helpfiles, choose or create a directory where the individual com-mand command
mand help files will reside. For example, you might choose ~/zsh_help. If you unpacked the zsh dis-tribution distribution
tribution in your home directory, you would use the commands:
mkdir ~/zsh_help
cd ~/zsh_help
man zshall | colcrt - | \
perl ~/zsh-5.0.2/Util/helpfiles
Next, to use the run-help function, you need to add lines something like the following to your .zshrc
or equivalent startup file:
unalias run-help
autoload run-help
HELPDIR=~/zsh_help
The HELPDIR parameter tells run-help where to look for the help files. If your system already has a
help file directory installed, set HELPDIR to the path of that directory instead.
Note that in order for `autoload run-help' to work, the run-help file must be in one of the directo-ries directories
ries named in your fpath array (see zshparam(1)). This should already be the case if you have a
standard zsh installation; if it is not, copy Functions/Misc/run-help to an appropriate directory.
Recompiling Functions
If you frequently edit your zsh functions, or periodically update your zsh installation to track the
latest developments, you may find that function digests compiled with the zcompile builtin are fre-quently frequently
quently out of date with respect to the function source files. This is not usually a problem,
because zsh always looks for the newest file when loading a function, but it may cause slower shell
startup and function loading. Also, if a digest file is explicitly used as an element of fpath, zsh
won't check whether any of its source files has changed.
The zrecompile autoloadable function, found in Functions/Misc, can be used to keep function digests
up to date.
zrecompile [ -qt ] [ name ... ]
zrecompile [ -qt ] -p args [ -- args ... ]
This tries to find *.zwc files and automatically re-compile them if at least one of the origi-nal original
nal files is newer than the compiled file. This works only if the names stored in the com-piled compiled
piled files are full paths or are relative to the directory that contains the .zwc file.
In the first form, each name is the name of a compiled file or a directory containing *.zwc
files that should be checked. If no arguments are given, the directories and *.zwc files in
fpath are used.
When -t is given, no compilation is performed, but a return status of zero (true) is set if
there are files that need to be re-compiled and non-zero (false) otherwise. The -q option
quiets the chatty output that describes what zrecompile is doing.
Without the -t option, the return status is zero if all files that needed re-compilation could
be compiled and non-zero if compilation for at least one of the files failed.
If the -p option is given, the args are interpreted as one or more sets of arguments for zcom-pile, zcompile,
pile, separated by `--'. For example:
zrecompile -p \
-R ~/.zshrc -- \
-M ~/.zcompdump -- \
~/zsh/comp.zwc ~/zsh/Completion/*/_*
This compiles ~/.zshrc into ~/.zshrc.zwc if that doesn't exist or if it is older than
~/.zshrc. The compiled file will be marked for reading instead of mapping. The same is done
for ~/.zcompdump and ~/.zcompdump.zwc, but this compiled file is marked for mapping. The last
line re-creates the file ~/zsh/comp.zwc if any of the files matching the given pattern is
newer than it.
Without the -p option, zrecompile does not create function digests that do not already exist,
nor does it add new functions to the digest.
The following shell loop is an example of a method for creating function digests for all functions in
your fpath, assuming that you have write permission to the directories:
for ((i=1; i <= $#fpath; ++i)); do
dir=$fpath[i]
zwc=${dir:t}.zwc
if [[ $dir == (.|..) || $dir == (.|..)/* ]]; then
continue
fi
files=($dir/*(N-.))
if [[ -w $dir:h && -n $files ]]; then
files=(${${(M)files%/*/*}#/})
if ( cd $dir:h &&
zrecompile -p -U -z $zwc $files ); then
fpath[i]=$fpath[i].zwc
fi
fi
done
The -U and -z options are appropriate for functions in the default zsh installation fpath; you may
need to use different options for your personal function directories.
Once the digests have been created and your fpath modified to refer to them, you can keep them up to
date by running zrecompile with no arguments.
Keyboard Definition
The large number of possible combinations of keyboards, workstations, terminals, emulators, and win-
dow systems makes it impossible for zsh to have built-in key bindings for every situation. The zkbd
utility, found in Functions/Misc, can help you quickly create key bindings for your configuration.
Run zkbd either as an autoloaded function, or as a shell script:
zsh -f ~/zsh-5.0.2/Functions/Misc/zkbd
When you run zkbd, it first asks you to enter your terminal type; if the default it offers is cor-rect, correct,
rect, just press return. It then asks you to press a number of different keys to determine charac-teristics characteristics
teristics of your keyboard and terminal; zkbd warns you if it finds anything out of the ordinary,
such as a Delete key that sends neither ^H nor ^?.
The keystrokes read by zkbd are recorded as a definition for an associative array named key, written
to a file in the subdirectory .zkbd within either your HOME or ZDOTDIR directory. The name of the
file is composed from the TERM, VENDOR and OSTYPE parameters, joined by hyphens.
You may read this file into your .zshrc or another startup file with the `source' or `.' commands,
then reference the key parameter in bindkey commands, like this:
source ${ZDOTDIR:-$HOME}/.zkbd/$TERM-$VENDOR-$OSTYPE
[[ -n ${key[Left]} ]] && bindkey "${key[Left]}" backward-char
[[ -n ${key[Right]} ]] && bindkey "${key[Right]}" forward-char
# etc.
Note that in order for `autoload zkbd' to work, the zkdb file must be in one of the directories named
in your fpath array (see zshparam(1)). This should already be the case if you have a standard zsh
installation; if it is not, copy Functions/Misc/zkbd to an appropriate directory.
Dumping Shell State
Occasionally you may encounter what appears to be a bug in the shell, particularly if you are using a
beta version of zsh or a development release. Usually it is sufficient to send a description of the
problem to one of the zsh mailing lists (see zsh(1)), but sometimes one of the zsh developers will
need to recreate your environment in order to track the problem down.
The script named reporter, found in the Util directory of the distribution, is provided for this pur-pose. purpose.
pose. (It is also possible to autoload reporter, but reporter is not installed in fpath by default.)
This script outputs a detailed dump of the shell state, in the form of another script that can be
read with `zsh -f' to recreate that state.
To use reporter, read the script into your shell with the `.' command and redirect the output into a
file:
. ~/zsh-5.0.2/Util/reporter > zsh.report
You should check the zsh.report file for any sensitive information such as passwords and delete them
by hand before sending the script to the developers. Also, as the output can be voluminous, it's
best to wait for the developers to ask for this information before sending it.
You can also use reporter to dump only a subset of the shell state. This is sometimes useful for
creating startup files for the first time. Most of the output from reporter is far more detailed
than usually is necessary for a startup file, but the aliases, options, and zstyles states may be
useful because they include only changes from the defaults. The bindings state may be useful if you
have created any of your own keymaps, because reporter arranges to dump the keymap creation commands
as well as the bindings for every keymap.
As is usual with automated tools, if you create a startup file with reporter, you should edit the
results to remove unnecessary commands. Note that if you're using the new completion system, you
should not dump the functions state to your startup files with reporter; use the compdump function
instead (see zshcompsys(1)).
reporter [ state ... ]
Print to standard output the indicated subset of the current shell state. The state arguments
may be one or more of:
all Output everything listed below.
aliases
Output alias definitions.
bindings
Output ZLE key maps and bindings.
completion
Output old-style compctl commands. New completion is covered by functions and zstyles.
functions
Output autoloads and function definitions.
limits Output limit commands.
options
Output setopt commands.
styles Same as zstyles.
variables
Output shell parameter assignments, plus export commands for any environment variables.
zstyles
Output zstyle commands.
If the state is omitted, all is assumed.
With the exception of `all', every state can be abbreviated by any prefix, even a single letter; thus
a is the same as aliases, z is the same as zstyles, etc.
Manipulating Hook Functions
add-zsh-hook [-dD] hook function
Several functions are special to the shell, as described in the section SPECIAL FUNCTIONS, see
zshmisc(1), in that they are automatic called at a specific point during shell execution.
Each has an associated array consisting of names of functions to be called at the same point;
these are so-called `hook functions'. The shell function add-zsh-hook provides a simple way
of adding or removing functions from the array.
hook is one of chpwd, periodic, precmd, preexec, zshaddhistory, zshexit, or zsh_direc-tory_name, zsh_directory_name,
tory_name, the special functions in question. Note that zsh_directory_name is called in a
different way from the other functions, but may still be manipulated as a hook.
function is name of an ordinary shell function. If no options are given this will be added to
the array of functions to be executed in the given context.
If the option -d is given, the function is removed from the array of functions to be executed.
If the option -D is given, the function is treated as a pattern and any matching names of
functions are removed from the array of functions to be executed.
The options -U, -z and -k are passed as arguments to autoload for function. For functions
contributed with zsh, the options -Uz are appropriate.
REMEMBERING RECENT DIRECTORIES
The function cdr allows you to change the working directory to a previous working directory from a
list maintained automatically. It is similar in concept to the directory stack controlled by the
pushd, popd and dirs builtins, but is more configurable, and as it stores all entries in files it is
maintained across sessions and (by default) between terminal emulators in the current session. (The
pushd directory stack is not actually modified or used by cdr unless you configure it to do so as
described in the configuration section below.)
Installation
The system works by means of a hook function that is called every time the directory changes. To
install the system, autoload the required functions and use the add-zsh-hook function described
above:
autoload -Uz chpwd_recent_dirs cdr add-zsh-hook
add-zsh-hook chpwd chpwd_recent_dirs
Now every time you change directly interactively, no matter which command you use, the directory to
which you change will be remembered in most-recent-first order.
Use
All direct user interaction is via the cdr function.
The argument to cdr is a number N corresponding to the Nth most recently changed-to directory. 1 is
the immediately preceding directory; the current directory is remembered but is not offered as a des-tination. destination.
tination. Note that if you have multiple windows open 1 may refer to a directory changed to in
another window; you can avoid this by having per-terminal files for storing directory as described
for the recent-dirs-file style below.
If you set the recent-dirs-default style described below cdr will behave the same as cd if given a
non-numeric argument, or more than one argument. The recent directory list is updated just the same
however you change directory.
If the argument is omitted, 1 is assumed. This is similar to pushd's behaviour of swapping the two
most recent directories on the stack.
Completion for the argument to cdr is available if compinit has been run; menu selection is recom-mended, recommended,
mended, using:
zstyle ':completion:*:*:cdr:*:*' menu selection
to allow you to cycle through recent directories; the order is preserved, so the first choice is the
most recent directory before the current one. The verbose style is also recommended to ensure the
directory is shown; this style is on by default so no action is required unless you have changed it.
Options
The behaviour of cdr may be modified by the following options.
-l lists the numbers and the corresponding directories in abbreviated form (i.e. with ~ substitu-tion substitution
tion reapplied), one per line. The directories here are not quoted (this would only be an
issue if a directory name contained a newline). This is used by the completion system.
-r sets the variable reply to the current set of directories. Nothing is printed and the direc-tory directory
tory is not changed.
-e allows you to edit the list of directories, one per line. The list can be edited to any
extent you like; no sanity checking is performed. Completion is available. No quoting is
necessary (except for newlines, where I have in any case no sympathy); directories are in
unabbreviated from and contain an absolute path, i.e. they start with /. Usually the first
entry should be left as the current directory.
Configuration
Configuration is by means of the styles mechanism that should be familiar from completion; if not,
see the description of the zstyle command in see zshmodules(1). The context for setting styles
should be ':chpwd:*' in case the meaning of the context is extended in future, for example:
zstyle ':chpwd:*' recent-dirs-max 0
sets the value of the recent-dirs-max style to 0. In practice the style name is specific enough that
a context of '*' should be fine.
An exception is recent-dirs-insert, which is used exclusively by the completion system and so has the
usual completion system context (':completion:*' if nothing more specific is needed), though again
'*' should be fine in practice.
recent-dirs-default
If true, and the command is expecting a recent directory index, and either there is more than
one argument or the argument is not an integer, then fall through to "cd". This allows the
lazy to use only one command for directory changing. Completion recognises this, too; see
recent-dirs-insert for how to control completion when this option is in use.
recent-dirs-file
The file where the list of directories is saved. The default is ${ZDOT-DIR:-$HOME}/.chpwd-recent-dirs, ${ZDOTDIR:-$HOME}/.chpwd-recent-dirs,
DIR:-$HOME}/.chpwd-recent-dirs, i.e. this is in your home directory unless you have set the
variable ZDOTDIR to point somewhere else. Directory names are saved in $'...' quoted form, so
each line in the file can be supplied directly to the shell as an argument.
The value of this style may be an array. In this case, the first file in the list will always
be used for saving directories while any other files are left untouched. When reading the
recent directory list, if there are fewer than the maximum number of entries in the first
file, the contents of later files in the array will be appended with duplicates removed from
the list shown. The contents of the two files are not sorted together, i.e. all the entries
in the first file are shown first. The special value + can appear in the list to indicate the
default file should be read at that point. This allows effects like the following:
zstyle ':chpwd:*' recent-dirs-file \
~/.chpwd-recent-dirs-${TTY##*/} +
Recent directories are read from a file numbered according to the terminal. If there are
insufficient entries the list is supplemented from the default file.
It is possible to use zstyle -e to make the directory configurable at run time:
zstyle -e ':chpwd:*' recent-dirs-file pick-recent-dirs-file
pick-recent-dirs-file() {
if [[ $PWD = ~/text/writing(|/*) ]]; then
reply=(~/.chpwd-recent-dirs-writing)
else
reply=(+)
fi
}
In this example, if the current directory is ~/text/writing or a directory under it, then use
a special file for saving recent directories, else use the default.
recent-dirs-insert
Used by completion. If recent-dirs-default is true, then setting this to true causes the
actual directory, rather than its index, to be inserted on the command line; this has the same
effect as using the corresponding index, but makes the history clearer and the line easier to
edit. With this setting, if part of an argument was already typed, normal directory comple-tion completion
tion rather than recent directory completion is done; this is because recent directory comple-tion completion
tion is expected to be done by cycling through entries menu fashion.
If the value of the style is always, then only recent directories will be completed; in that
case, use the cd command when you want to complete other directories.
If the value is fallback, recent directories will be tried first, then normal directory com-pletion completion
pletion is performed if recent directory completion failed to find a match.
Finally, if the value is both then both sets of completions are presented; the usual tag mech-anism mechanism
anism can be used to distinguish results, with recent directories tagged as recent-dirs. Note
that the recent directories inserted are abbreviated with directory names where appropriate.
recent-dirs-max
The maximum number of directories to save to the file. If this is zero or negative there is
no maximum. The default is 20. Note this includes the current directory, which isn't
offered, so the highest number of directories you will be offered is one less than the maxi-mum. maximum.
mum.
recent-dirs-prune
This style is an array determining what directories should (or should not) be added to the
recent list. Elements of the array can include:
parent Prune parents (more accurately, ancestors) from the recent list. If present, changing
directly down by any number of directories causes the current directory to be overwrit-ten. overwritten.
ten. For example, changing from ~pws to ~pws/some/other/dir causes ~pws not to be left
on the recent directory stack. This only applies to direct changes to descendant
directories; earlier directories on the list are not pruned. For example, changing
from ~pws/yet/another to ~pws/some/other/dir does not cause ~pws to be pruned.
pattern:pattern
Gives a zsh pattern for directories that should not be added to the recent list (if not
already there). This element can be repeated to add different patterns. For example,
'pattern:/tmp(|/*)' stops /tmp or its descendants from being added. The EXTENDED_GLOB
option is always turned on for these patterns.
recent-dirs-pushd
If set to true, cdr will use pushd instead of cd to change the directory, so the directory is
saved on the directory stack. As the directory stack is completely separate from the list of
files saved by the mechanism used in this file there is no obvious reason to do this.
Use with dynamic directory naming
It is possible to refer to recent directories using the dynamic directory name syntax by using the
supplied function zsh_directory_name_cdr a hook:
autoload -Uz add-zsh-hook
add-zsh-hook -Uz zsh_directory_name zsh_directory_name_cdr
When this is done, ~[1] will refer to the most recent directory other than $PWD, and so on. Comple-tion Completion
tion after ~[... also works.
Details of directory handling
This section is for the curious or confused; most users will not need to know this information.
Recent directories are saved to a file immediately and hence are preserved across sessions. Note
currently no file locking is applied: the list is updated immediately on interactive commands and
nowhere else (unlike history), and it is assumed you are only going to change directory in one window
at once. This is not safe on shared accounts, but in any case the system has limited utility when
someone else is changing to a different set of directories behind your back.
To make this a little safer, only directory changes instituted from the command line, either directly
or indirectly through shell function calls (but not through subshells, evals, traps, completion func-tions functions
tions and the like) are saved. Shell functions should use cd -q or pushd -q to avoid side effects if
the change to the directory is to be invisible at the command line. See the contents of the function
chpwd_recent_dirs for more details.
GATHERING INFORMATION FROM VERSION CONTROL SYSTEMS
In a lot of cases, it is nice to automatically retrieve information from version control systems
(VCSs), such as subversion, CVS or git, to be able to provide it to the user; possibly in the user's
prompt. So that you can instantly tell which branch you are currently on, for example.
In order to do that, you may use the vcs_info function.
The following VCSs are supported, showing the abbreviated name by which they are referred to within
the system:
Bazaar (bzr)
http://bazaar-vcs.org/
Codeville (cdv)
http://codeville.org/
Concurrent Versioning System (cvs)
http://www.nongnu.org/cvs/
Darcs (darcs)
http://darcs.net/
Fossil (fossil)
http://fossil-scm.org/
Git (git)
http://git-scm.com/
GNU arch (tla)
http://www.gnu.org/software/gnu-arch/
Mercurial (hg)
http://mercurial.selenic.com/
Monotone (mtn)
http://monotone.ca/
Perforce (p4)
http://www.perforce.com/
Subversion (svn)
http://subversion.tigris.org/
SVK (svk)
http://svk.bestpractical.com/
There is also support for the patch management system quilt (http://savan -
nah.nongnu.org/projects/quilt). See Quilt Support below for details.
To load vcs_info:
autoload -Uz vcs_info
It can be used in any existing prompt, because it does not require any $psvar entries to be left
available.
Quickstart
To get this feature working quickly (including colors), you can do the following (assuming, you
loaded vcs_info properly - see above):
zstyle ':vcs_info:*' actionformats \
'%F{5}(%f%s%F{5})%F{3}-%F{5}[%F{2}%b%F{3}|%F{1}%a%F{5}]%f '
zstyle ':vcs_info:*' formats \
'%F{5}(%f%s%F{5})%F{3}-%F{5}[%F{2}%b%F{5}]%f '
zstyle ':vcs_info:(sv[nk]|bzr):*' branchformat '%b%F{1}:%F{3}%r'
precmd () { vcs_info }
PS1='%F{5}[%F{2}%n%F{5}] %F{3}%3~ ${vcs_info_msg_0_}%f%# '
Obviously, the last two lines are there for demonstration. You need to call vcs_info from your precmd
function. Once that is done you need a single quoted '${vcs_info_msg_0_}' in your prompt.
To be able to use '${vcs_info_msg_0_}' directly in your prompt like this, you will need to have the
PROMPT_SUBST option enabled.
Now call the vcs_info_printsys utility from the command line:
% vcs_info_printsys
## list of supported version control backends:
## disabled systems are prefixed by a hash sign (#)
bzr
cdv
cvs
darcs
fossil
git
hg
mtn
p4
svk
svn
tla
## flavours (cannot be used in the enable or disable styles; they
## are enabled and disabled with their master [git-svn -> git])
## they *can* be used in contexts: ':vcs_info:git-svn:*'.
git-p4
git-svn
hg-git
hg-hgsubversion
hg-hgsvn
You may not want all of these because there is no point in running the code to detect systems you do
not use. So there is a way to disable some backends altogether:
zstyle ':vcs_info:*' disable bzr cdv darcs mtn svk tla
You may also pick a few from that list and enable only those:
zstyle ':vcs_info:*' enable git cvs svn
If you rerun vcs_info_printsys after one of these commands, you will see the backends listed in the
disable style (or backends not in the enable style - if you used that) marked as disabled by a hash
sign. That means the detection of these systems is skipped completely. No wasted time there.
Configuration
The vcs_info feature can be configured via zstyle.
First, the context in which we are working:
:vcs_info:vcs-string:user-context:repo-root-name
vcs-string
is one of: git, git-svn, git-p4, hg, hg-git, hg-hgsubversion, hg-hgsvn, darcs, bzr, cdv, mtn,
svn, cvs, svk, tla, p4 or fossil. When hooks are active the hooks name is added after a `+'.
(See Hooks in vcs_info below.)
user-context
is a freely configurable string, assignable by the user as the first argument to vcs_info (see
its description below).
repo-root-name
is the name of a repository in which you want a style to match. So, if you want a setting spe-cific specific
cific to /usr/src/zsh, with that being a CVS checkout, you can set repo-root-name to zsh to
make it so.
There are three special values for vcs-string: The first is named -init-, that is in effect as long
as there was no decision what VCS backend to use. The second is -preinit-; it is used before vcs_info
is run, when initializing the data exporting variables. The third special value is formats and is
used by the vcs_info_lastmsg for looking up its styles.
The initial value of repo-root-name is -all- and it is replaced with the actual name, as soon as it
is known. Only use this part of the context for defining the formats, actionformats or branchformat
styles, as it is guaranteed that repo-root-name is set up correctly for these only. For all other
styles, just use '*' instead.
There are two pre-defined values for user-context:
default
the one used if none is specified
command
used by vcs_info_lastmsg to lookup its styles
You can of course use ':vcs_info:*' to match all VCSs in all user-contexts at once.
This is a description of all styles that are looked up.
formats
A list of formats, used when actionformats is not used (which is most of the time).
actionformats
A list of formats, used if there is a special action going on in your current repository; like
an interactive rebase or a merge conflict.
branchformat
Some backends replace %b in the formats and actionformats styles above, not only by a branch
name but also by a revision number. This style lets you modify how that string should look.
nvcsformats
These "formats" are exported when we didn't detect a version control system for the current
directory or vcs_info was disabled. This is useful if you want vcs_info to completely take
over the generation of your prompt. You would do something like PS1='${vcs_info_msg_0_}' to
accomplish that.
hgrevformat
hg uses both a hash and a revision number to reference a specific changeset in a repository.
With this style you can format the revision string (see branchformat) to include either or
both. It's only useful when get-revision is true. Note, the full 40-character revision id is
not available (except when using the use-simple option) because executing hg more than once
per prompt is too slow; you may customize this behavior using hooks.
max-exports
Defines the maximum number of vcs_info_msg_*_ variables vcs_info will export.
enable A list of backends you want to use. Checked in the -init- context. If this list contains an
item called NONE no backend is used at all and vcs_info will do nothing. If this list contains
ALL, vcs_info will use all known backends. Only with ALL in enable will the disable style have
any effect. ALL and NONE are case insensitive.
disable
A list of VCSs you don't want vcs_info to test for repositories (checked in the -init- con-text, context,
text, too). Only used if enable contains ALL.
disable-patterns
A list of patterns that are checked against $PWD. If a pattern matches, vcs_info will be dis-abled. disabled.
abled. This style is checked in the :vcs_info:-init-:*:-all- context.
Say, ~/.zsh is a directory under version control, in which you do not want vcs_info to be
active, do:
zstyle ':vcs_info:*' disable-patterns "$HOME/.zsh(|/*)"
use-quilt
If enabled, the quilt support code is active in `addon' mode. See Quilt Support for details.
quilt-standalone
If enabled, `standalone' mode detection is attempted if no VCS is active in a given directory.
See Quilt Support for details.
quilt-patch-dir
Overwrite the value of the $QUILT_PATCHES environment variable. See Quilt Support for details.
quiltcommand
When quilt itself is called in quilt support the value of this style is used as the command
name.
check-for-changes
If enabled, this style causes the %c and %u format escapes to show when the working directory
has uncommitted changes. The strings displayed by these escapes can be controlled via the
stagedstr and unstagedstr styles. The only backends that currently support this option are git
and hg (hg only supports unstaged).
For this style to be evaluated with the hg backend, the get-revision style needs to be set and
the use-simple style needs to be unset. The latter is the default; the former is not.
Note, the actions taken if this style is enabled are potentially expensive (read: they may be
slow, depending on how big the current repository is). Therefore, it is disabled by default.
stagedstr
This string will be used in the %c escape if there are staged changes in the repository.
unstagedstr
This string will be used in the %u escape if there are unstaged changes in the repository.
command
This style causes vcs_info to use the supplied string as the command to use as the VCS's
binary. Note, that setting this in ':vcs_info:*' is not a good idea.
If the value of this style is empty (which is the default), the used binary name is the name
of the backend in use (e.g. svn is used in an svn repository).
The repo-root-name part in the context is always the default -all- when this style is looked
up.
For example, this style can be used to use binaries from non-default installation directories.
Assume, git is installed in /usr/bin but your sysadmin installed a newer version in
/usr/bin/local. Instead of changing the order of your $PATH parameter, you can do this:
zstyle ':vcs_info:git:*:-all-' command /usr/local/bin/git
use-server
This is used by the Perforce backend (p4) to decide if it should contact the Perforce server
to find out if a directory is managed by Perforce. This is the only reliable way of doing
this, but runs the risk of a delay if the server name cannot be found. If the server (more
specifically, the host:port pair describing the server) cannot be contacted, its name is put
into the associative array vcs_info_p4_dead_servers and is not contacted again during the ses-sion session
sion until it is removed by hand. If you do not set this style, the p4 backend is only usable
if you have set the environment variable P4CONFIG to a file name and have corresponding files
in the root directories of each Perforce client. See comments in the function
VCS_INFO_detect_p4 for more detail.
use-simple
If there are two different ways of gathering information, you can select the simpler one by
setting this style to true; the default is to use the not-that-simple code, which is poten-tially potentially
tially a lot slower but might be more accurate in all possible cases. This style is used by
the bzr and hg backends. In the case of hg it will invoke the external hexdump program to
parse the binary dirstate cache file; this method will not return the local revision number.
get-revision
If set to true, vcs_info goes the extra mile to figure out the revision of a repository's work
tree (currently for the git and hg backends, where this kind of information is not always
vital). For git, the hash value of the currently checked out commit is available via the %i
expansion. With hg, the local revision number and the corresponding global hash are available
via %i.
get-mq If set to true, the hg backend will look for a Mercurial Queue (mq) patch directory. Informa-tion Information
tion will be available via the `%m' replacement.
get-bookmarks
If set to true, the hg backend will try to get a list of current bookmarks. They will be
available via the `%m' replacement.
use-prompt-escapes
Determines if we assume that the assembled string from vcs_info includes prompt escapes. (Used
by vcs_info_lastmsg.)
debug Enable debugging output to track possible problems. Currently this style is only used by
vcs_info's hooks system.
hooks A list style that defines hook-function names. See Hooks in vcs_info below for details.
The default values for these styles in all contexts are:
formats
" (%s)-[%b]%u%c-"
actionformats
" (%s)-[%b|%a]%u%c-"
branchformat
"%b:%r" (for bzr, svn, svk and hg)
nvcsformats
""
hgrevformat
"%r:%h"
max-exports
2
enable ALL
disable
(empty list)
disable-patterns
(empty list)
check-for-changes
false
stagedstr
(string: "S")
unstagedstr
(string: "U")
command
(empty string)
use-server
false
use-simple
false
get-revision
false
get-mq true
get-bookmarks
false
use-prompt-escapes
true
debug false
hooks (empty list)
use-quilt
false
quilt-standalone
false
quilt-patch-dir
empty - use $QUILT_PATCHES
quiltcommand
quilt
In normal formats and actionformats the following replacements are done:
%s The VCS in use (git, hg, svn, etc.).
%b Information about the current branch.
%a An identifier that describes the action. Only makes sense in actionformats.
%i The current revision number or identifier. For hg the hgrevformat style may be used to cus-tomize customize
tomize the output.
%c The string from the stagedstr style if there are staged changes in the repository.
%u The string from the unstagedstr style if there are unstaged changes in the repository.
%R The base directory of the repository.
%r The repository name. If %R is /foo/bar/repoXY, %r is repoXY.
%S A subdirectory within a repository. If $PWD is /foo/bar/repoXY/beer/tasty, %S is beer/tasty.
%m A "misc" replacement. It is at the discretion of the backend to decide what this replacement
expands to. It is currently used by the hg and git backends to display patch information from
the mq and stgit extensions.
In branchformat these replacements are done:
%b The branch name.
%r The current revision number or the hgrevformat style for hg.
In hgrevformat these replacements are done:
%r The current local revision number.
%h The current global revision identifier.
In patch-format and nopatch-format these replacements are done:
%p The name of the top-most applied patch (applied-string).
%u The number of unapplied patches (unapplied-string).
%n The number of applied patches.
%c The number of unapplied patches.
%a The number of all patches.
%g The names of active mq guards (hg backend).
%G The number of active mq guards (hg backend).
Not all VCS backends have to support all replacements. For nvcsformats no replacements are performed
at all, it is just a string.
Oddities
If you want to use the %b (bold off) prompt expansion in formats, which expands %b itself, use %%b.
That will cause the vcs_info expansion to replace %%b with %b, so that zsh's prompt expansion mecha-nism mechanism
nism can handle it. Similarly, to hand down %b from branchformat, use %%%%b. Sorry for this inconve-nience, inconvenience,
nience, but it cannot be easily avoided. Luckily we do not clash with a lot of prompt expansions and
this only needs to be done for those.
Quilt Support
Quilt is not a version control system, therefore this is not implemented as a backend. It can help
keeping track of a series of patches. People use it to keep a set of changes they want to use on top
of software packages (which is tightly integrated into the package build process - the Debian project
does this for a large number of packages). Quilt can also help individual developers keep track of
their own patches on top of real version control systems.
The vcs_info integration tries to support both ways of using quilt by having two slightly different
modes of operation: `addon' mode and `standalone' mode).
For `addon' mode to become active vcs_info must have already detected a real version control system
controlling the directory. If that is the case, a directory that holds quilt's patches needs to be
found. That directory is configurable via the `QUILT_PATCHES' environment variable. If that variable
exists its value is used, otherwise the value `patches' is assumed. The value from $QUILT_PATCHES can
be overwritten using the `quilt-patches' style. (Note: you can use vcs_info to keep the value of
$QUILT_PATCHES correct all the time via the post-quilt hook).
When the directory in question is found, quilt is assumed to be active. To gather more information,
vcs_info looks for a directory called `.pc'; Quilt uses that directory to track its current state. If
this directory does not exist we know that quilt has not done anything to the working directory
(read: no patches have been applied yet).
If patches are applied, vcs_info will try to find out which. If you want to know which patches of a
series are not yet applied, you need to activate the get-unapplied style in the appropriate context.
vcs_info allows for very detailed control over how the gathered information is presented (see the
below sections, Styles and Hooks in vcs_info), all of which are documented below. Note there are a
number of other patch tracking systems that work on top of a certain version control system (like
stgit for git, or mq for hg); the configuration for systems like that are generally configured the
same way as the quilt support.
If the quilt support is working in `addon' mode, the produced string is available as a simple format
replacement (%Q to be precise), which can be used in formats and actionformats; see below for
details).
If, on the other hand, the support code is working in `standalone' mode, vcs_info will pretend as if
quilt were an actual version control system. That means that the version control system identifier
(which otherwise would be something like `svn' or `cvs') will be set to `-quilt-'. This has implica-tions implications
tions on the used style context where this identifier is the second element. vcs_info will have
filled in a proper value for the "repository's" root directory and the string containing the informa-tion information
tion about quilt's state will be available as the `misc' replacement (and %Q for compatibility with
`addon' mode.
What is left to discuss is how `standalone' mode is detected. The detection itself is a series of
searches for directories. You can have this detection enabled all the time in every directory that is
not otherwise under version control. If you know there is only a limited set of trees where you would
like vcs_info to try and look for Quilt in `standalone' mode to minimise the amount of searching on
every call to vcs_info, there are a number of ways to do that:
Essentially, `standalone' mode detection is controlled by a style called `quilt-standalone'. It is a
string style and its value can have different effects. The simplest values are: `always' to run
detection every time vcs_info is run, and `never' to turn the detection off entirely.
If the value of quilt-standalone is something else, it is interpreted differently. If the value is
the name of a scalar variable the value of that variable is checked and that value is used in the
same `always'/`never' way as described above.
If the value of quilt-standalone is an array, the elements of that array are used as directory names
under which you want the detection to be active.
If quilt-standalone is an associative array, the keys are taken as directory names under which you
want the detection to be active, but only if the corresponding value is the string `true'.
Last, but not least, if the value of quilt-standalone is the name of a function, the function is
called without arguments and the return value decides whether detection should be active. A `0'
return value is true; a non-zero return value is interpreted as false.
Note, if there is both a function and a variable by the name of quilt-standalone, the function will
take precedence.
Function Descriptions (Public API)
vcs_info [user-context]
The main function, that runs all backends and assembles all data into ${vcs_info_msg_*_}. This
is the function you want to call from precmd if you want to include up-to-date information in
your prompt (see Variable description below). If an argument is given, that string will be
used instead of default in the user-context field of the style context.
vcs_info_hookadd
Statically registers a number of functions to a given hook. The hook needs to be given as the
first argument; what follows is a list of hook-function names to register to the hook. The
`+vi-' prefix needs to be left out here. See Hooks in vcs_info below for details.
vcs_info_hookdel
Remove hook-functions from a given hook. The hook needs to be given as the first non-option
argument; what follows is a list of hook-function names to un-register from the hook. If `-a'
is used as the first argument, all occurances of the functions are unregistered. Otherwise
only the last occurance is removed (if a function was registered to a hook more than once) .
The `+vi-' prefix needs to be left out here. See Hooks in vcs_info below for details.
vcs_info_lastmsg
Outputs the last ${vcs_info_msg_*_} value. Takes into account the value of the
use-prompt-escapes style in ':vcs_info:formats:command:-all-'. It also only prints max-exports
values.
vcs_info_printsys [user-context]
Prints a list of all supported version control systems. Useful to find out possible contexts
(and which of them are enabled) or values for the disable style.
vcs_info_setsys
Initializes vcs_info's internal list of available backends. With this function, you can add
support for new VCSs without restarting the shell.
All functions named VCS_INFO_* are for internal use only.
Variable Description
${vcs_info_msg_N_} (Note the trailing underscore)
Where N is an integer, e.g., vcs_info_msg_0_. These variables are the storage for the informa-tional informational
tional message the last vcs_info call has assembled. These are strongly connected to the for-mats, formats,
mats, actionformats and nvcsformats styles described above. Those styles are lists. The first
member of that list gets expanded into ${vcs_info_msg_0_}, the second into ${vcs_info_msg_1_}
and the Nth into ${vcs_info_msg_N-1_}. These parameters are exported into the environment.
(See the max-exports style above.)
All variables named VCS_INFO_* are for internal use only.
Hooks in vcs_info
Hooks are places in vcs_info where you can run your own code. That code can communicate with the code
that called it and through that, change the system's behaviour.
For configuration, hooks change the style context:
:vcs_info:vcs-string+hook-name:user-context:repo-root-name
To register functions to a hook, you need to list them in the hooks style in the appropriate context.
Example:
zstyle ':vcs_info:*+foo:*' hooks bar baz
This registers functions to the hook `foo' for all backends. In order to avoid namespace problems,
all registered function names are prepended by a `+vi-', so the actual functions called for the `foo'
hook are `+vi-bar' and `+vi-baz'.
If you would like to register a function to a hook regardless of the current context, you may use the
vcs_info_hookadd function. To remove a function that was added like that, the vcs_info_hookdel func-tion function
tion can be used.
If something seems weird, you can enable the `debug' boolean style in the proper context and the
hook-calling code will print what it tried to execute and whether the function in question existed.
When you register more than one function to a hook, all functions are executed one after another
until one function returns non-zero or until all functions have been called. Context-sensitive hook
functions are executed before statically registered ones (the ones added by vcs_info_hookadd).
You may pass data between functions via an associative array, user_data. For example:
+vi-git-myfirsthook(){
user_data[myval]=$myval
}
+vi-git-mysecondhook(){
# do something with ${user_data[myval]}
}
There are a number of variables that are special in hook contexts:
ret The return value that the hooks system will return to the caller. The default is an integer
`zero'. If and how a changed ret value changes the execution of the caller depends on the spe-cific specific
cific hook. See the hook documentation below for details.
hook_com
An associated array which is used for bidirectional communication from the caller to hook
functions. The used keys depend on the specific hook.
context
The active context of the hook. Functions that wish to change this variable should make it
local scope first.
vcs The current VCS after it was detected. The same values as in the enable/disable style are
used. Available in all hooks except start-up.
Finally, the full list of currently available hooks:
start-up
Called after starting vcs_info but before the VCS in this directory is determined. It can be
used to deactivate vcs_info temporarily if necessary. When ret is set to 1, vcs_info aborts
and does nothing; when set to 2, vcs_info sets up everything as if no version control were
active and exits.
pre-get-data
Same as start-up but after the VCS was detected.
gen-hg-bookmark-string
Called in the Mercurial backend when a bookmark string is generated; the get-revision and
get-bookmarks styles must be true.
This hook gets the names of the Mercurial bookmarks that vcs_info collected from `hg'.
When setting ret to non-zero, the string in ${hook_com[hg-bookmark-string]} will be used in
the %m escape in formats and actionformats and will be availabe in the global backend_misc
array as ${backend_misc[bookmarks]}.
gen-applied-string
Called in the git (with stgit), and hg (with mq) backends and in quilt support when the
applied-string is generated; the use-quilt zstyle must be true for quilt (the mq and stgit
backends are active by default).
This hook gets the names of all applied patches which vcs_info collected so far in the oppo-site opposite
site order, which means that the first argument is the top-most patch and so forth.
When setting ret to non-zero, the string in ${hook_com[applied-string]} will be used in the %m
escape in formats and actionformats; it will be available in the global backend_misc array as
$backend_misc[patches]}; and it will be available as %p in the patch-format and nopatch-format
styles.
gen-unapplied-string
Called in the git (with stgit), and hg (with mq) backend and in quilt support when the unap-plied-string unapplied-string
plied-string is generated; the get-unapplied style must be true.
This hook gets the names of all unapplied patches which vcs_info collected so far in the oppo-site opposite
site order, which mean that the first argument is the patch next-in-line to be applied and so
forth.
When setting ret to non-zero, the string in ${hook_com[unapplied-string]} will be available as
%u in the patch-format and nopatch-format styles.
gen-mqguards-string
Called in the hg backend when guards-string is generated; the get-mq style must be true
(default).
This hook gets the names of any active mq guards.
When setting ret to non-zero, the string in ${hook_com[guards-string]} will be used in the %g
escape in the patch-format and nopatch-format styles.
no-vcs This hooks is called when no version control system was detected.
The `hook_com' parameter is not used.
post-quilt
Called after the quilt support is done. The following information is passed as arguments to
the hook: 1. the quilt-support mode (`addon' or `standalone'); 2. the directory that contains
the patch series; 3. the directory that holds quilt's status information (the `.pc' directory)
or the string "-nopc-" if that directory wasn't found.
The `hook_com' parameter is not used.
set-branch-format
Called before `branchformat' is set. The only argument to the hook is the format that is con-figured configured
figured at this point.
The `hook_com' keys considered are `branch' and `revision'. They are set to the values fig-ured figured
ured out so far by vcs_info and any change will be used directly when the actual replacement
is done.
If ret is set to non-zero, the string in ${hook_com[branch-replace]} will be used unchanged as
the `%b' replacement in the variables set by vcs_info.
set-hgrev-format
Called before a `hgrevformat' is set. The only argument to the hook is the format that is con-figured configured
figured at this point.
The `hook_com' keys considered are `hash' and `localrev'. They are set to the values figured
out so far by vcs_info and any change will be used directly when the actual replacement is
done.
If ret is set to non-zero, the string in ${hook_com[rev-replace]} will be used unchanged as
the `%i' replacement in the variables set by vcs_info.
set-message
Called each time before a `vcs_info_msg_N_' message is set. It takes two arguments; the first
being the `N' in the message variable name, the second is the currently configured formats or
actionformats.
There are a number of `hook_com' keys, that are used here: `action', `branch', `base',
`base-name', `subdir', `staged', `unstaged', `revision', `misc', `vcs' and one `miscN' entry
for each backend-specific data field (N starting at zero). They are set to the values figured
out so far by vcs_info and any change will be used directly when the actual replacement is
done.
Since this hook is triggered multiple times (once for each configured formats or actionfor-mats), actionformats),
mats), each of the `hook_com' keys mentioned above (except for the miscN entries) has an
`_orig' counterpart, so even if you changed a value to your liking you can still get the orig-inal original
inal value in the next run. Changing the `_orig' values is probably not a good idea.
If ret is set to non-zero, the string in ${hook_com[message]} will be used unchanged as the
message by vcs_info.
If all of this sounds rather confusing, take a look at the Examples section below and also in the
Misc/vcs_info-examples file in the Zsh source. They contain some explanatory code.
Examples
Don't use vcs_info at all (even though it's in your prompt):
zstyle ':vcs_info:*' enable NONE
Disable the backends for bzr and svk:
zstyle ':vcs_info:*' disable bzr svk
Disable everything but bzr and svk:
zstyle ':vcs_info:*' enable bzr svk
Provide a special formats for git:
zstyle ':vcs_info:git:*' formats ' GIT, BABY! [%b]'
zstyle ':vcs_info:git:*' actionformats ' GIT ACTION! [%b|%a]'
All %x expansion in all sorts of formats ("formats", "actionformats", branchformat, you name it) are
done using the `zformat' builtin from the `zsh/zutil' module. That means you can do everything with
these %x items what zformat supports. In particular, if you want something that is really long to
have a fixed width, like a hash in a mercurial branchformat, you can do this: %12.12i. That'll shrink
the 40 character hash to its 12 leading characters. The form is actually `%min.maxx'. More is possi-ble. possible.
ble. See the section `The zsh/zutil Module' in zshmodules(1) for details.
Use the quicker bzr backend
zstyle ':vcs_info:bzr:*' use-simple true
If you do use use-simple, please report if it does `the-right-thing[tm]'.
Display the revision number in yellow for bzr and svn:
zstyle ':vcs_info:(svn|bzr):*' branchformat '%b%{'${fg[yellow]}'%}:%r'
If you want colors, make sure you enclose the color codes in %{...%} if you want to use the string
provided by vcs_info in prompts.
Here is how to print the VCS information as a command (not in a prompt):
alias vcsi='vcs_info command; vcs_info_lastmsg'
This way, you can even define different formats for output via vcs_info_lastmsg in the
':vcs_info:*:command:*' namespace.
Now as promised, some code that uses hooks: say, you'd like to replace the string `svn' by `subver-sion' `subversion'
sion' in vcs_info's %s formats replacement.
First, we will tell vcs_info to call a function when populating the message variables with the gath-ered gathered
ered information:
zstyle ':vcs_info:*+set-message:*' hooks svn2subversion
Nothing happens. Which is reasonable, since we didn't define the actual function yet. To see what the
hooks subsystem is trying to do, enable the `debug' style:
zstyle ':vcs_info:*+*:*' debug true
That should give you an idea what is going on. Specifically, the function that we are looking for is
`+vi-svn2subversion'. Note, the `+vi-' prefix. So, everything is in order, just as documented. When
you are done checking out the debugging output, disable it again:
zstyle ':vcs_info:*+*:*' debug false
Now, let's define the function:
function +vi-svn2subversion() {
[[ ${hook_com[vcs_orig]} == svn ]] && hook_com[vcs]=subversion
}
Simple enough. And it could have even been simpler, if only we had registered our function in a less
generic context. If we do it only in the `svn' backend's context, we don't need to test which the
active backend is:
zstyle ':vcs_info:svn+set-message:*' hooks svn2subversion
function +vi-svn2subversion() {
hook_com[vcs]=subversion
}
And finally a little more elaborate example, that uses a hook to create a customised bookmark string
for the hg backend.
Again, we start off by registering a function:
zstyle ':vcs_info:hg+gen-hg-bookmark-string:*' hooks hgbookmarks
And then we define the `+vi-hgbookmarks function:
function +vi-hgbookmarks() {
# The default is to connect all bookmark names by
# commas. This mixes things up a little.
# Imagine, there's one type of bookmarks that is
# special to you. Say, because it's *your* work.
# Those bookmarks look always like this: "sh/*"
# (because your initials are sh, for example).
# This makes the bookmarks string use only those
# bookmarks. If there's more than one, it
# concatenates them using commas.
local s i
# The bookmarks returned by `hg' are available in
# the functions positional parameters.
(( $# == 0 )) && return 0
for i in "$@"; do
if [[ $i == sh/* ]]; then
[[ -n $s ]] && s=$s,
s=${s}$i
fi
done
# Now, the communication with the code that calls
# the hook functions is done via the hook_com[]
# hash. The key, at which the `gen-hg-bookmark-string'
# hook looks at is `hg-bookmark-string'. So:
hook_com[hg-bookmark-string]=$s
# And to signal, that we want to use the sting we
# just generated, set the special variable `ret' to
# something other than the default zero:
ret=1
return 0
}
Some longer examples and code snippets which might be useful are available in the examples file
located at Misc/vcs_info-examples in the Zsh source directory.
This concludes our guided tour through zsh's vcs_info.
PROMPT THEMES
Installation
You should make sure all the functions from the Functions/Prompts directory of the source distribu-tion distribution
tion are available; they all begin with the string `prompt_' except for the special function`promp-tinit'. function`promptinit'.
tinit'. You also need the `colors' function from Functions/Misc. All of these functions may already
have been installed on your system; if not, you will need to find them and copy them. The directory
should appear as one of the elements of the fpath array (this should already be the case if they were
installed), and at least the function promptinit should be autoloaded; it will autoload the rest.
Finally, to initialize the use of the system you need to call the promptinit function. The following
code in your .zshrc will arrange for this; assume the functions are stored in the directory ~/myfns:
fpath=(~/myfns $fpath)
autoload -U promptinit
promptinit
Theme Selection
Use the prompt command to select your preferred theme. This command may be added to your .zshrc fol-lowing following
lowing the call to promptinit in order to start zsh with a theme already selected.
prompt [ -c | -l ]
prompt [ -p | -h ] [ theme ... ]
prompt [ -s ] theme [ arg ... ]
Set or examine the prompt theme. With no options and a theme argument, the theme with that
name is set as the current theme. The available themes are determined at run time; use the -l
option to see a list. The special theme `random' selects at random one of the available
themes and sets your prompt to that.
In some cases the theme may be modified by one or more arguments, which should be given after
the theme name. See the help for each theme for descriptions of these arguments.
Options are:
-c Show the currently selected theme and its parameters, if any.
-l List all available prompt themes.
-p Preview the theme named by theme, or all themes if no theme is given.
-h Show help for the theme named by theme, or for the prompt function if no theme is
given.
-s Set theme as the current theme and save state.
prompt_theme_setup
Each available theme has a setup function which is called by the prompt function to install
that theme. This function may define other functions as necessary to maintain the prompt,
including functions used to preview the prompt or provide help for its use. You should not
normally call a theme's setup function directly.
ZLE FUNCTIONS
Widgets
These functions all implement user-defined ZLE widgets (see zshzle(1)) which can be bound to key-strokes keystrokes
strokes in interactive shells. To use them, your .zshrc should contain lines of the form
autoload function
zle -N function
followed by an appropriate bindkey command to associate the function with a key sequence. Suggested
bindings are described below.
bash-style word functions
If you are looking for functions to implement moving over and editing words in the manner of
bash, where only alphanumeric characters are considered word characters, you can use the func-tions functions
tions described in the next section. The following is sufficient:
autoload -U select-word-style
select-word-style bash
forward-word-match, backward-word-match
kill-word-match, backward-kill-word-match
transpose-words-match, capitalize-word-match
up-case-word-match, down-case-word-match
select-word-style, match-word-context, match-words-by-style
The eight `-match' functions are drop-in replacements for the builtin widgets without the suf-fix. suffix.
fix. By default they behave in a similar way. However, by the use of styles and the function
select-word-style, the way words are matched can be altered.
The simplest way of configuring the functions is to use select-word-style, which can either be
called as a normal function with the appropriate argument, or invoked as a user-defined widget
that will prompt for the first character of the word style to be used. The first time it is
invoked, the eight -match functions will automatically replace the builtin versions, so they
do not need to be loaded explicitly.
The word styles available are as follows. Only the first character is examined.
bash Word characters are alphanumeric characters only.
normal As in normal shell operation: word characters are alphanumeric characters plus any
characters present in the string given by the parameter $WORDCHARS.
shell Words are complete shell command arguments, possibly including complete quoted strings,
or any tokens special to the shell.
whitespace
Words are any set of characters delimited by whitespace.
default
Restore the default settings; this is usually the same as `normal'.
All but `default' can be input as an upper case character, which has the same effect but with
subword matching turned on. In this case, words with upper case characters are treated spe-cially: specially:
cially: each separate run of upper case characters, or an upper case character followed by any
number of other characters, is considered a word. The style subword-range can supply an
alternative character range to the default `[:upper:]'; the value of the style is treated as
the contents of a `[...]' pattern (note that the outer brackets should not be supplied, only
those surrounding named ranges).
More control can be obtained using the zstyle command, as described in zshmodules(1). Each
style is looked up in the context :zle:widget where widget is the name of the user-defined
widget, not the name of the function implementing it, so in the case of the definitions sup-plied supplied
plied by select-word-style the appropriate contexts are :zle:forward-word, and so on. The
function select-word-style itself always defines styles for the context `:zle:*' which can be
overridden by more specific (longer) patterns as well as explicit contexts.
The style word-style specifies the rules to use. This may have the following values.
normal Use the standard shell rules, i.e. alphanumerics and $WORDCHARS, unless overridden by
the styles word-chars or word-class.
specified
Similar to normal, but only the specified characters, and not also alphanumerics, are
considered word characters.
unspecified
The negation of specified. The given characters are those which will not be considered
part of a word.
shell Words are obtained by using the syntactic rules for generating shell command arguments.
In addition, special tokens which are never command arguments such as `()' are also
treated as words.
whitespace
Words are whitespace-delimited strings of characters.
The first three of those rules usually use $WORDCHARS, but the value in the parameter can be
overridden by the style word-chars, which works in exactly the same way as $WORDCHARS. In
addition, the style word-class uses character class syntax to group characters and takes
precedence over word-chars if both are set. The word-class style does not include the sur-rounding surrounding
rounding brackets of the character class; for example, `-:[:alnum:]' is a valid word-class to
include all alphanumerics plus the characters `-' and `:'. Be careful including `]', `^' and
`-' as these are special inside character classes.
word-style may also have `-subword' appended to its value to turn on subword matching, as
described above.
The style skip-chars is mostly useful for transpose-words and similar functions. If set, it
gives a count of characters starting at the cursor position which will not be considered part
of the word and are treated as space, regardless of what they actually are. For example, if
zstyle ':zle:transpose-words' skip-chars 1
has been set, and transpose-words-match is called with the cursor on the X of fooXbar, where X
can be any character, then the resulting expression is barXfoo.
Finer grained control can be obtained by setting the style word-context to an array of pairs
of entries. Each pair of entries consists of a pattern and a subcontext. The shell argument
the cursor is on is matched against each pattern in turn until one matches; if it does, the
context is extended by a colon and the corresponding subcontext. Note that the test is made
against the original word on the line, with no stripping of quotes. Special handling is done
between words: the current context is examined and if it contains the string back, the word
before the cursor is considered, else the word after cursor is considered. Some examples are
given below.
The style skip-whitespace-first is only used with the forward-word widget. If it is set to
true, then forward-word skips any non-word-characters, followed by any non-word-characters:
this is similar to the behaviour of other word-orientated widgets, and also that used by other
editors, however it differs from the standard zsh behaviour. When using select-word-style the
widget is set in the context :zle:* to true if the word style is bash and false otherwise. It
may be overridden by setting it in the more specific context :zle:forward-word*.
Here are some examples of use of the styles, actually taken from the simplified interface in
select-word-style:
zstyle ':zle:*' word-style standard
zstyle ':zle:*' word-chars ''
Implements bash-style word handling for all widgets, i.e. only alphanumerics are word charac-ters; characters;
ters; equivalent to setting the parameter WORDCHARS empty for the given context.
style ':zle:*kill*' word-style space
Uses space-delimited words for widgets with the word `kill' in the name. Neither of the
styles word-chars nor word-class is used in this case.
Here are some examples of use of the word-context style to extend the context.
zstyle ':zle:*' word-context "*/*" file "[[:space:]]" whitespace
zstyle ':zle:transpose-words:whitespace' word-style shell
zstyle ':zle:transpose-words:filename' word-style normal
zstyle ':zle:transpose-words:filename' word-chars ''
This provides two different ways of using transpose-words depending on whether the cursor is
on whitespace between words or on a filename, here any word containing a /. On whitespace,
complete arguments as defined by standard shell rules will be transposed. In a filename, only
alphanumerics will be transposed. Elsewhere, words will be transposed using the default style
for :zle:transpose-words.
The word matching and all the handling of zstyle settings is actually implemented by the func-tion function
tion match-words-by-style. This can be used to create new user-defined widgets. The calling
function should set the local parameter curcontext to :zle:widget, create the local parameter
matched_words and call match-words-by-style with no arguments. On return, matched_words will
be set to an array with the elements: (1) the start of the line (2) the word before the cursor
(3) any non-word characters between that word and the cursor (4) any non-word character at the
cursor position plus any remaining non-word characters before the next word, including all
characters specified by the skip-chars style, (5) the word at or following the cursor (6) any
non-word characters following that word (7) the remainder of the line. Any of the elements
may be an empty string; the calling function should test for this to decide whether it can
perform its function.
It is possible to pass options with arguments to match-words-by-style to override the use of
styles. The options are:
-w word-style
-s skip-chars
-c word-class
-C word-chars
-r subword-range
For example, match-words-by-style -w shell -c 0 may be used to extract the command argument
around the cursor.
The word-context style is implemented by the function match-word-context. This should not
usually need to be called directly.
copy-earlier-word
This widget works like a combination of insert-last-word and copy-prev-shell-word. Repeated
invocations of the widget retrieve earlier words on the relevant history line. With a numeric
argument N, insert the Nth word from the history line; N may be negative to count from the end
of the line.
If insert-last-word has been used to retrieve the last word on a previous history line,
repeated invocations will replace that word with earlier words from the same line.
Otherwise, the widget applies to words on the line currently being edited. The widget style
can be set to the name of another widget that should be called to retrieve words. This widget
must accept the same three arguments as insert-last-word.
cycle-completion-positions
After inserting an unambiguous string into the command line, the new function based completion
system may know about multiple places in this string where characters are missing or differ
from at least one of the possible matches. It will then place the cursor on the position it
considers to be the most interesting one, i.e. the one where one can disambiguate between as
many matches as possible with as little typing as possible.
This widget allows the cursor to be easily moved to the other interesting spots. It can be
invoked repeatedly to cycle between all positions reported by the completion system.
delete-whole-word-match
This is another function which works like the -match functions described immediately above,
i.e. using styles to decide the word boundaries. However, it is not a replacement for any
existing function.
The basic behaviour is to delete the word around the cursor. There is no numeric prefix han-dling; handling;
dling; only the single word around the cursor is considered. If the widget contains the
string kill, the removed text will be placed in the cutbuffer for future yanking. This can be
obtained by defining kill-whole-word-match as follows:
zle -N kill-whole-word-match delete-whole-word-match
and then binding the widget kill-whole-word-match.
up-line-or-beginning-search, down-line-or-beginning-search
These widgets are similar to the builtin functions up-line-or-search and down-line-or-search:
if in a multiline buffer they move up or down within the buffer, otherwise they search for a
history line matching the start of the current line. In this case, however, they search for a
line which matches the current line up to the current cursor position, in the manner of his-tory-beginning-search-backward history-beginning-search-backward
tory-beginning-search-backward and -forward, rather than the first word on the line.
edit-command-line
Edit the command line using your visual editor, as in ksh.
bindkey -M vicmd v edit-command-line
history-search-end
This function implements the widgets history-beginning-search-backward-end and history-begin-ning-search-forward-end. history-beginning-search-forward-end.
ning-search-forward-end. These commands work by first calling the corresponding builtin wid-get widget
get (see `History Control' in zshzle(1)) and then moving the cursor to the end of the line.
The original cursor position is remembered and restored before calling the builtin widget a
second time, so that the same search is repeated to look farther through the history.
Although you autoload only one function, the commands to use it are slightly different because
it implements two widgets.
zle -N history-beginning-search-backward-end \
history-search-end
zle -N history-beginning-search-forward-end \
history-search-end
bindkey '\e^P' history-beginning-search-backward-end
bindkey '\e^N' history-beginning-search-forward-end
history-beginning-search-menu
This function implements yet another form of history searching. The text before the cursor is
used to select lines from the history, as for history-beginning-search-backward except that
all matches are shown in a numbered menu. Typing the appropriate digits inserts the full his-tory history
tory line. Note that leading zeroes must be typed (they are only shown when necessary for
removing ambiguity). The entire history is searched; there is no distinction between forwards
and backwards.
With a prefix argument, the search is not anchored to the start of the line; the string typed
by the use may appear anywhere in the line in the history.
If the widget name contains `-end' the cursor is moved to the end of the line inserted. If
the widget name contains `-space' any space in the text typed is treated as a wildcard and can
match anything (hence a leading space is equivalent to giving a prefix argument). Both forms
can be combined, for example:
zle -N history-beginning-search-menu-space-end \
history-beginning-search-menu
history-pattern-search
The function history-pattern-search implements widgets which prompt for a pattern with which
to search the history backwards or forwards. The pattern is in the usual zsh format, however
the first character may be ^ to anchor the search to the start of the line, and the last char-acter character
acter may be $ to anchor the search to the end of the line. If the search was not anchored to
the end of the line the cursor is positioned just after the pattern found.
The commands to create bindable widgets are similar to those in the example immediately above:
autoload -U history-pattern-search
zle -N history-pattern-search-backward history-pattern-search
zle -N history-pattern-search-forward history-pattern-search
incarg Typing the keystrokes for this widget with the cursor placed on or to the left of an integer
causes that integer to be incremented by one. With a numeric prefix argument, the number is
incremented by the amount of the argument (decremented if the prefix argument is negative).
The shell parameter incarg may be set to change the default increment to something other than
one.
bindkey '^X+' incarg
incremental-complete-word
This allows incremental completion of a word. After starting this command, a list of comple-tion completion
tion choices can be shown after every character you type, which you can delete with ^H or DEL.
Pressing return accepts the completion so far and returns you to normal editing (that is, the
command line is not immediately executed). You can hit TAB to do normal completion, ^G to
abort back to the state when you started, and ^D to list the matches.
This works only with the new function based completion system.
bindkey '^Xi' incremental-complete-word
insert-composed-char
This function allows you to compose characters that don't appear on the keyboard to be
inserted into the command line. The command is followed by two keys corresponding to ASCII
characters (there is no prompt). For accented characters, the two keys are a base character
followed by a code for the accent, while for other special characters the two characters
together form a mnemonic for the character to be inserted. The two-character codes are a sub-set subset
set of those given by RFC 1345 (see for example http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc1345.html).
The function may optionally be followed by up to two characters which replace one or both of
the characters read from the keyboard; if both characters are supplied, no input is read. For
example, insert-composed-char a: can be used within a widget to insert an a with umlaut into
the command line. This has the advantages over use of a literal character that it is more
portable.
For best results zsh should have been built with support for multibyte characters (configured
with --enable-multibyte); however, the function works for the limited range of characters
available in single-byte character sets such as ISO-8859-1.
The character is converted into the local representation and inserted into the command line at
the cursor position. (The conversion is done within the shell, using whatever facilities the
C library provides.) With a numeric argument, the character and its code are previewed in the
status line
The function may be run outside zle in which case it prints the character (together with a
newline) to standard output. Input is still read from keystrokes.
See insert-unicode-char for an alternative way of inserting Unicode characters using their
hexadecimal character number.
The set of accented characters is reasonably complete up to Unicode character U+0180, the set
of special characters less so. However, it is very sporadic from that point. Adding new
characters is easy, however; see the function define-composed-chars. Please send any addi-tions additions
tions to zsh-workers@zsh.org.
The codes for the second character when used to accent the first are as follows. Note that
not every character can take every accent.
! Grave.
' Acute.
> Circumflex.
? Tilde. (This is not ~ as RFC 1345 does not assume that character is present on the
keyboard.)
- Macron. (A horizontal bar over the base character.)
( Breve. (A shallow dish shape over the base character.)
. Dot above the base character, or in the case of i no dot, or in the case of L and l a
centered dot.
: Diaeresis (Umlaut).
c Cedilla.
_ Underline, however there are currently no underlined characters.
/ Stroke through the base character.
" Double acute (only supported on a few letters).
; Ogonek. (A little forward facing hook at the bottom right of the character.)
< Caron. (A little v over the letter.)
0 Circle over the base character.
2 Hook over the base character.
9 Horn over the base character.
The most common characters from the Arabic, Cyrillic, Greek and Hebrew alphabets are avail-
able; consult RFC 1345 for the appropriate sequences. In addition, a set of two letter codes
not in RFC 1345 are available for the double-width characters corresponding to ASCII charac-ters characters
ters from ! to ~ (0x21 to 0x7e) by preceding the character with ^, for example ^A for a dou-ble-width double-width
ble-width A.
The following other two-character sequences are understood.
ASCII characters
These are already present on most keyboards:
<( Left square bracket
// Backslash (solidus)
)> Right square bracket
(! Left brace (curly bracket)
!! Vertical bar (pipe symbol)
!) Right brace (curly bracket)
'? Tilde
Special letters
Characters found in various variants of the Latin alphabet:
ss Eszett (scharfes S)
D-, d- Eth
TH, th Thorn
kk Kra
'n 'n
NG, ng Ng
OI, oi Oi
yr yr
ED ezh
Currency symbols
Ct Cent
Pd Pound sterling (also lira and others)
Cu Currency
Ye Yen
Eu Euro (N.B. not in RFC 1345)
Punctuation characters
References to "right" quotes indicate the shape (like a 9 rather than 6) rather than
their grammatical use. (For example, a "right" low double quote is used to open quota-tions quotations
tions in German.)
!I Inverted exclamation mark
BB Broken vertical bar
SE Section
Co Copyright
-a Spanish feminine ordinal indicator
<< Left guillemet
-- Soft hyphen
Rg Registered trade mark
PI Pilcrow (paragraph)
-o Spanish masculine ordinal indicator
>> Right guillemet
?I Inverted question mark
-1 Hyphen
-N En dash
-M Em dash
-3 Horizontal bar
:3 Vertical ellipsis
.3 Horizontal midline ellipsis
!2 Double vertical line
=2 Double low line
'6 Left single quote
'9 Right single quote
.9 "Right" low quote
9' Reversed "right" quote
"6 Left double quote
"9 Right double quote
:9 "Right" low double quote
9" Reversed "right" double quote
/- Dagger
/= Double dagger
Mathematical symbols
DG Degree
-2, +-, -+
- sign, +/- sign, -/+ sign
2S Superscript 2
3S Superscript 3
1S Superscript 1
My Micro
.M Middle dot
14 Quarter
12 Half
34 Three quarters
*X Multiplication
-: Division
%0 Per mille
FA, TE, /0
For all, there exists, empty set
dP, DE, NB
Partial derivative, delta (increment), del (nabla)
(-, -) Element of, contains
*P, +Z Product, sum
*-, Ob, Sb
Asterisk, ring, bullet
RT, 0(, 00
Root sign, proportional to, infinity
Other symbols
cS, cH, cD, cC
Card suits: spades, hearts, diamonds, clubs
Md, M8, M2, Mb, Mx, MX
Musical notation: crotchet (quarter note), quaver (eighth note), semiquavers (sixteenth
notes), flag sign, natural sign, sharp sign
Fm, Ml Female, male
Accents on their own
'> Circumflex (same as caret, ^)
'! Grave (same as backtick, `)
', Cedilla
': Diaeresis (Umlaut)
'm Macron
'' Acute
insert-files
This function allows you type a file pattern, and see the results of the expansion at each
step. When you hit return, all expansions are inserted into the command line.
bindkey '^Xf' insert-files
insert-unicode-char
When first executed, the user inputs a set of hexadecimal digits. This is terminated with
another call to insert-unicode-char. The digits are then turned into the corresponding Uni-code Unicode
code character. For example, if the widget is bound to ^XU, the character sequence `^XU 4 c
^XU' inserts L (Unicode U+004c).
See insert-composed-char for a way of inserting characters using a two-character mnemonic.
narrow-to-region [ -p pre ] [ -P post ]
[ -S statepm | -R statepm ] [ -n ] [ start end ])
narrow-to-region-invisible
Narrow the editable portion of the buffer to the region between the cursor and the mark, which
may be in either order. The region may not be empty.
narrow-to-region may be used as a widget or called as a function from a user-defined widget;
by default, the text outside the editable area remains visible. A recursive-edit is performed
and the original widening status is then restored. Various options and arguments are avail-able available
able when it is called as a function.
The options -p pretext and -P posttext may be used to replace the text before and after the
display for the duration of the function; either or both may be an empty string.
If the option -n is also given, pretext or posttext will only be inserted if there is text
before or after the region respectively which will be made invisible.
Two numeric arguments may be given which will be used instead of the cursor and mark posi-tions. positions.
tions.
The option -S statepm is used to narrow according to the other options while saving the origi-nal original
nal state in the parameter with name statepm, while the option -R statepm is used to restore
the state from the parameter; note in both cases the name of the parameter is required. In
the second case, other options and arguments are irrelevant. When this method is used, no
recursive-edit is performed; the calling widget should call this function with the option -S,
perform its own editing on the command line or pass control to the user via `zle recur-sive-edit', recursive-edit',
sive-edit', then call this function with the option -R. The argument statepm must be a suit-able suitable
able name for an ordinary parameter, except that parameters beginning with the prefix _ntr_
are reserved for use within narrow-to-region. Typically the parameter will be local to the
calling function.
narrow-to-region-invisible is a simple widget which calls narrow-to-region with arguments
which replace any text outside the region with `...'.
The display is restored (and the widget returns) upon any zle command which would usually
cause the line to be accepted or aborted. Hence an additional such command is required to
accept or abort the current line.
The return status of both widgets is zero if the line was accepted, else non-zero.
Here is a trivial example of a widget using this feature.
local state
narrow-to-region -p $'Editing restricted region\n' \
-P '' -S state
zle recursive-edit
narrow-to-region -R state
predict-on
This set of functions implements predictive typing using history search. After predict-on,
typing characters causes the editor to look backward in the history for the first line begin-ning beginning
ning with what you have typed so far. After predict-off, editing returns to normal for the
line found. In fact, you often don't even need to use predict-off, because if the line
doesn't match something in the history, adding a key performs standard completion, and then
inserts itself if no completions were found. However, editing in the middle of a line is
liable to confuse prediction; see the toggle style below.
With the function based completion system (which is needed for this), you should be able to
type TAB at almost any point to advance the cursor to the next ``interesting'' character posi-tion position
tion (usually the end of the current word, but sometimes somewhere in the middle of the word).
And of course as soon as the entire line is what you want, you can accept with return, without
needing to move the cursor to the end first.
The first time predict-on is used, it creates several additional widget functions:
delete-backward-and-predict
Replaces the backward-delete-char widget. You do not need to bind this yourself.
insert-and-predict
Implements predictive typing by replacing the self-insert widget. You do not need to
bind this yourself.
predict-off
Turns off predictive typing.
Although you autoload only the predict-on function, it is necessary to create a keybinding for
predict-off as well.
zle -N predict-on
zle -N predict-off
bindkey '^X^Z' predict-on
bindkey '^Z' predict-off
read-from-minibuffer
This is most useful when called as a function from inside a widget, but will work correctly as
a widget in its own right. It prompts for a value below the current command line; a value may
be input using all of the standard zle operations (and not merely the restricted set available
when executing, for example, execute-named-cmd). The value is then returned to the calling
function in the parameter $REPLY and the editing buffer restored to its previous state. If
the read was aborted by a keyboard break (typically ^G), the function returns status 1 and
$REPLY is not set.
If one argument is supplied to the function it is taken as a prompt, otherwise `? ' is used.
If two arguments are supplied, they are the prompt and the initial value of $LBUFFER, and if a
third argument is given it is the initial value of $RBUFFER. This provides a default value
and starting cursor placement. Upon return the entire buffer is the value of $REPLY.
One option is available: `-k num' specifies that num characters are to be read instead of a
whole line. The line editor is not invoked recursively in this case, so depending on the ter-minal terminal
minal settings the input may not be visible, and only the input keys are placed in $REPLY, not
the entire buffer. Note that unlike the read builtin num must be given; there is no default.
The name is a slight misnomer, as in fact the shell's own minibuffer is not used. Hence it is
still possible to call executed-named-cmd and similar functions while reading a value.
replace-string, replace-pattern
replace-string-again, replace-pattern-again
The function replace-string implements three widgets. If defined under the same name as the
function, it prompts for two strings; the first (source) string will be replaced by the second
everywhere it occurs in the line editing buffer.
If the widget name contains the word `pattern', for example by defining the widget using the
command `zle -N replace-pattern replace-string', then the matching is performed using zsh pat-terns. patterns.
terns. All zsh extended globbing patterns can be used in the source string; note that unlike
filename generation the pattern does not need to match an entire word, nor do glob qualifiers
have any effect. In addition, the replacement string can contain parameter or command substi-tutions. substitutions.
tutions. Furthermore, a `&' in the replacement string will be replaced with the matched
source string, and a backquoted digit `\N' will be replaced by the Nth parenthesised expres-sion expression
sion matched. The form `\{N}' may be used to protect the digit from following digits.
If the widget instead contains the word `regex' (or `regexp'), then the matching is performed
using regular expressions, respecting the setting of the option RE_MATCH_PCRE (see the
description of the function regexp-replace below). The special replacement facilities
described above for pattern matching are available.
By default the previous source or replacement string will not be offered for editing. How-ever, However,
ever, this feature can be activated by setting the style edit-previous in the context
:zle:widget (for example, :zle:replace-string) to true. In addition, a positive numeric argu-ment argument
ment forces the previous values to be offered, a negative or zero argument forces them not to
be.
The function replace-string-again can be used to repeat the previous replacement; no prompting
is done. As with replace-string, if the name of the widget contains the word `pattern' or
`regex', pattern or regular expression matching is performed, else a literal string replace-ment. replacement.
ment. Note that the previous source and replacement text are the same whether pattern, regu-lar regular
lar expression or string matching is used.
In addition, replace-string shows the previous replacement above the prompt, so long as there
was one during the current session; if the source string is empty, that replacement will be
repeated without the widget prompting for a replacement string.
For example, starting from the line:
print This line contains fan and fond
and invoking replace-pattern with the source string `f(?)n' and the replacement string `c\1r'
produces the not very useful line:
print This line contains car and cord
The range of the replacement string can be limited by using the narrow-to-region-invisible
widget. One limitation of the current version is that undo will cycle through changes to the
replacement and source strings before undoing the replacement itself.
send-invisible
This is similar to read-from-minibuffer in that it may be called as a function from a widget
or as a widget of its own, and interactively reads input from the keyboard. However, the
input being typed is concealed and a string of asterisks (`*') is shown instead. The value is
saved in the parameter $INVISIBLE to which a reference is inserted into the editing buffer at
the restored cursor position. If the read was aborted by a keyboard break (typically ^G) or
another escape from editing such as push-line, $INVISIBLE is set to empty and the original
buffer is restored unchanged.
If one argument is supplied to the function it is taken as a prompt, otherwise `Non-echoed
text: ' is used (as in emacs). If a second and third argument are supplied they are used to
begin and end the reference to $INVISIBLE that is inserted into the buffer. The default is to
open with ${, then INVISIBLE, and close with }, but many other effects are possible.
smart-insert-last-word
This function may replace the insert-last-word widget, like so:
zle -N insert-last-word smart-insert-last-word
With a numeric prefix, or when passed command line arguments in a call from another widget, it
behaves like insert-last-word, except that words in comments are ignored when INTERACTIVE_COM-MENTS INTERACTIVE_COMMENTS
MENTS is set.
Otherwise, the rightmost ``interesting'' word from the previous command is found and inserted.
The default definition of ``interesting'' is that the word contains at least one alphabetic
character, slash, or backslash. This definition may be overridden by use of the match style.
The context used to look up the style is the widget name, so usually the context is
:insert-last-word. However, you can bind this function to different widgets to use different
patterns:
zle -N insert-last-assignment smart-insert-last-word
zstyle :insert-last-assignment match '[[:alpha:]][][[:alnum:]]#=*'
bindkey '\e=' insert-last-assignment
If no interesting word is found and the auto-previous style is set to a true value, the search
continues upward through the history. When auto-previous is unset or false (the default), the
widget must be invoked repeatedly in order to search earlier history lines.
transpose-lines
Only useful with a multi-line editing buffer; the lines here are lines within the current
on-screen buffer, not history lines. The effect is similar to the function of the same name
in Emacs.
Transpose the current line with the previous line and move the cursor to the start of the next
line. Repeating this (which can be done by providing a positive numeric prefix argument) has
the effect of moving the line above the cursor down by a number of lines.
With a negative numeric prefix argument, requires two lines above the cursor. These two lines
are transposed and the cursor moved to the start of the previous line. Using a numeric prefix
less than -1 has the effect of moving the line above the cursor up by minus that number of
lines.
which-command
This function is a drop-in replacement for the builtin widget which-command. It has enhanced
behaviour, in that it correctly detects whether or not the command word needs to be expanded
as an alias; if so, it continues tracing the command word from the expanded alias until it
reaches the command that will be executed.
The style whence is available in the context :zle:$WIDGET; this may be set to an array to give
the command and options that will be used to investigate the command word found. The default
is whence -c.
Utility Functions
These functions are useful in constructing widgets. They should be loaded with `autoload -U func-tion' function'
tion' and called as indicated from user-defined widgets.
split-shell-arguments
This function splits the line currently being edited into shell arguments and whitespace. The
result is stored in the array reply. The array contains all the parts of the line in order,
starting with any whitespace before the first argument, and finishing with any whitespace
after the last argument. Hence (so long as the option KSH_ARRAYS is not set) whitespace is
given by odd indices in the array and arguments by even indices. Note that no stripping of
quotes is done; joining together all the elements of reply in order is guaranteed to produce
the original line.
The parameter REPLY is set to the index of the word in reply which contains the character
after the cursor, where the first element has index 1. The parameter REPLY2 is set to the
index of the character under the cursor in that word, where the first character has index 1.
Hence reply, REPLY and REPLY2 should all be made local to the enclosing function.
See the function modify-current-argument, described below, for an example of how to call this
function.
modify-current-argument expr-using-$ARG
This function provides a simple method of allowing user-defined widgets to modify the command
line argument under the cursor (or immediately to the left of the cursor if the cursor is
between arguments). The argument should be an expression which when evaluated operates on the
shell parameter ARG, which will have been set to the command line argument under the cursor.
The expression should be suitably quoted to prevent it being evaluated too early.
For example, a user-defined widget containing the following code converts the characters in
the argument under the cursor into all upper case:
modify-current-argument '${(U)ARG}'
The following strips any quoting from the current word (whether backslashes or one of the
styles of quotes), and replaces it with single quoting throughout:
modify-current-argument '${(qq)${(Q)ARG}}'
Styles
The behavior of several of the above widgets can be controlled by the use of the zstyle mechanism.
In particular, widgets that interact with the completion system pass along their context to any com-pletions completions
pletions that they invoke.
break-keys
This style is used by the incremental-complete-word widget. Its value should be a pattern, and
all keys matching this pattern will cause the widget to stop incremental completion without
the key having any further effect. Like all styles used directly by incremental-complete-word,
this style is looked up using the context `:incremental'.
completer
The incremental-complete-word and insert-and-predict widgets set up their top-level context
name before calling completion. This allows one to define different sets of completer func-tions functions
tions for normal completion and for these widgets. For example, to use completion, approxima-tion approximation
tion and correction for normal completion, completion and correction for incremental comple-tion completion
tion and only completion for prediction one could use:
zstyle ':completion:*' completer \
_complete _correct _approximate
zstyle ':completion:incremental:*' completer \
_complete _correct
zstyle ':completion:predict:*' completer \
_complete
It is a good idea to restrict the completers used in prediction, because they may be automati-cally automatically
cally invoked as you type. The _list and _menu completers should never be used with predic-tion. prediction.
tion. The _approximate, _correct, _expand, and _match completers may be used, but be aware
that they may change characters anywhere in the word behind the cursor, so you need to watch
carefully that the result is what you intended.
cursor The insert-and-predict widget uses this style, in the context `:predict', to decide where to
place the cursor after completion has been tried. Values are:
complete
The cursor is left where it was when completion finished, but only if it is after a
character equal to the one just inserted by the user. If it is after another charac-ter, character,
ter, this value is the same as `key'.
key The cursor is left after the nth occurrence of the character just inserted, where n is
the number of times that character appeared in the word before completion was
attempted. In short, this has the effect of leaving the cursor after the character
just typed even if the completion code found out that no other characters need to be
inserted at that position.
Any other value for this style unconditionally leaves the cursor at the position where the
completion code left it.
list When using the incremental-complete-word widget, this style says if the matches should be
listed on every key press (if they fit on the screen). Use the context prefix `:comple-tion:incremental'. `:completion:incremental'.
tion:incremental'.
The insert-and-predict widget uses this style to decide if the completion should be shown even
if there is only one possible completion. This is done if the value of this style is the
string always. In this case the context is `:predict' (not `:completion:predict').
match This style is used by smart-insert-last-word to provide a pattern (using full EXTENDED_GLOB
syntax) that matches an interesting word. The context is the name of the widget to which
smart-insert-last-word is bound (see above). The default behavior of smart-insert-last-word
is equivalent to:
zstyle :insert-last-word match '*[[:alpha:]/\\]*'
However, you might want to include words that contain spaces:
zstyle :insert-last-word match '*[[:alpha:][:space:]/\\]*'
Or include numbers as long as the word is at least two characters long:
zstyle :insert-last-word match '*([[:digit:]]?|[[:alpha:]/\\])*'
The above example causes redirections like "2>" to be included.
prompt The incremental-complete-word widget shows the value of this style in the status line during
incremental completion. The string value may contain any of the following substrings in the
manner of the PS1 and other prompt parameters:
%c Replaced by the name of the completer function that generated the matches (without the
leading underscore).
%l When the list style is set, replaced by `...' if the list of matches is too long to fit
on the screen and with an empty string otherwise. If the list style is `false' or not
set, `%l' is always removed.
%n Replaced by the number of matches generated.
%s Replaced by `-no match-', `-no prefix-', or an empty string if there is no completion
matching the word on the line, if the matches have no common prefix different from the
word on the line, or if there is such a common prefix, respectively.
%u Replaced by the unambiguous part of all matches, if there is any, and if it is differ-ent different
ent from the word on the line.
Like `break-keys', this uses the `:incremental' context.
stop-keys
This style is used by the incremental-complete-word widget. Its value is treated similarly to
the one for the break-keys style (and uses the same context: `:incremental'). However, in
this case all keys matching the pattern given as its value will stop incremental completion
and will then execute their usual function.
toggle This boolean style is used by predict-on and its related widgets in the context `:predict'.
If set to one of the standard `true' values, predictive typing is automatically toggled off in
situations where it is unlikely to be useful, such as when editing a multi-line buffer or
after moving into the middle of a line and then deleting a character. The default is to leave
prediction turned on until an explicit call to predict-off.
verbose
This boolean style is used by predict-on and its related widgets in the context `:predict'.
If set to one of the standard `true' values, these widgets display a message below the prompt
when the predictive state is toggled. This is most useful in combination with the toggle
style. The default does not display these messages.
widget This style is similar to the command style: For widget functions that use zle to call other
widgets, this style can sometimes be used to override the widget which is called. The context
for this style is the name of the calling widget (not the name of the calling function,
because one function may be bound to multiple widget names).
zstyle :copy-earlier-word widget smart-insert-last-word
Check the documentation for the calling widget or function to determine whether the widget
style is used.
EXCEPTION HANDLING
Two functions are provided to enable zsh to provide exception handling in a form that should be
familiar from other languages.
throw exception
The function throw throws the named exception. The name is an arbitrary string and is only
used by the throw and catch functions. An exception is for the most part treated the same as
a shell error, i.e. an unhandled exception will cause the shell to abort all processing in a
function or script and to return to the top level in an interactive shell.
catch exception-pattern
The function catch returns status zero if an exception was thrown and the pattern excep-tion-pattern exception-pattern
tion-pattern matches its name. Otherwise it returns status 1. exception-pattern is a stan-dard standard
dard shell pattern, respecting the current setting of the EXTENDED_GLOB option. An alias
catch is also defined to prevent the argument to the function from matching filenames, so pat-terns patterns
terns may be used unquoted. Note that as exceptions are not fundamentally different from
other shell errors it is possible to catch shell errors by using an empty string as the excep-tion exception
tion name. The shell variable CAUGHT is set by catch to the name of the exception caught. It
is possible to rethrow an exception by calling the throw function again once an exception has
been caught.
The functions are designed to be used together with the always construct described in zshmisc(1).
This is important as only this construct provides the required support for exceptions. A typical
example is as follows.
{
# "try" block
# ... nested code here calls "throw MyExcept"
} always {
# "always" block
if catch MyExcept; then
print "Caught exception MyExcept"
elif catch ''; then
print "Caught a shell error. Propagating..."
throw ''
fi
# Other exceptions are not handled but may be caught further
# up the call stack.
}
If all exceptions should be caught, the following idiom might be preferable.
{
# ... nested code here throws an exception
} always {
if catch *; then
case $CAUGHT in
(MyExcept)
print "Caught my own exception"
;;
(*)
print "Caught some other exception"
;;
esac
fi
}
In common with exception handling in other languages, the exception may be thrown by code deeply
nested inside the `try' block. However, note that it must be thrown inside the current shell, not in
a subshell forked for a pipeline, parenthesised current-shell construct, or some form of command or
process substitution.
The system internally uses the shell variable EXCEPTION to record the name of the exception between
throwing and catching. One drawback of this scheme is that if the exception is not handled the vari-able variable
able EXCEPTION remains set and may be incorrectly recognised as the name of an exception if a shell
error subsequently occurs. Adding unset EXCEPTION at the start of the outermost layer of any code
that uses exception handling will eliminate this problem.
MIME FUNCTIONS
Three functions are available to provide handling of files recognised by extension, for example to
dispatch a file text.ps when executed as a command to an appropriate viewer.
zsh-mime-setup [ -fv ] [ -l [ suffix ... ] ]
zsh-mime-handler [-l] command arguments ...
These two functions use the files ~/.mime.types and /etc/mime.types, which associate types and
extensions, as well as ~/.mailcap and /etc/mailcap files, which associate types and the pro-grams programs
grams that handle them. These are provided on many systems with the Multimedia Internet Mail
Extensions.
To enable the system, the function zsh-mime-setup should be autoloaded and run. This allows
files with extensions to be treated as executable; such files be completed by the function
completion system. The function zsh-mime-handler should not need to be called by the user.
The system works by setting up suffix aliases with `alias -s'. Suffix aliases already
installed by the user will not be overwritten.
For suffixes defined in lower case, upper case variants will also automatically be handled
(e.g. PDF is automatically handled if handling for the suffix pdf is defined), but not vice
versa.
Repeated calls to zsh-mime-setup do not override the existing mapping between suffixes and
executable files unless the option -f is given. Note, however, that this does not override
existing suffix aliases assigned to handlers other than zsh-mime-handler.
Calling zsh-mime-setup with the option -l lists the existing mappings without altering them.
Suffixes to list (which may contain pattern characters that should be quoted from immediate
interpretation on the command line) may be given as additional arguments, otherwise all suf-fixes suffixes
fixes are listed.
Calling zsh-mime-setup with the option -v causes verbose output to be shown during the setup
operation.
The system respects the mailcap flags needsterminal and copiousoutput, see mailcap(4).
The functions use the following styles, which are defined with the zstyle builtin command (see
zshmodules(1)). They should be defined before zsh-mime-setup is run. The contexts used all
start with :mime:, with additional components in some cases. It is recommended that a trail-ing trailing
ing * (suitably quoted) be appended to style patterns in case the system is extended in
future. Some examples are given below.
For files that have multiple suffixes, e.g. .pdf.gz, where the context includes the suffix it
will be looked up starting with the longest possible suffix until a match for the style is
found. For example, if .pdf.gz produces a match for the handler, that will be used; otherwise
the handler for .gz will be used. Note that, owing to the way suffix aliases work, it is
always required that there be a handler for the shortest possible suffix, so in this example
.pdf.gz can only be handled if .gz is also handled (though not necessarily in the same way).
Alternatively, if no handling for .gz on its own is needed, simply adding the command
alias -s gz=zsh-mime-handler
to the initialisation code is sufficient; .gz will not be handled on its own, but may be in
combination with other suffixes.
current-shell
If this boolean style is true, the mailcap handler for the context in question is run
using the eval builtin instead of by starting a new sh process. This is more effi-cient, efficient,
cient, but may not work in the occasional cases where the mailcap handler uses strict
POSIX syntax.
execute-as-is
This style gives a list of patterns to be matched against files passed for execution
with a handler program. If the file matches the pattern, the entire command line is
executed in its current form, with no handler. This is useful for files which might
have suffixes but nonetheless be executable in their own right. If the style is not
set, the pattern *(*) *(/) is used; hence executable files are executed directly and
not passed to a handler, and the option AUTO_CD may be used to change to directories
that happen to have MIME suffixes.
file-path
Used if the style find-file-in-path is true for the same context. Set to an array of
directories that are used for searching for the file to be handled; the default is the
command path given by the special parameter path. The shell option PATH_DIRS is
respected; if that is set, the appropriate path will be searched even if the name of
the file to be handled as it appears on the command line contains a `/'. The full con-text context
text is :mime:.suffix:, as described for the style handler.
find-file-in-path
If set, allows files whose names do not contain absolute paths to be searched for in
the command path or the path specified by the file-path style. If the file is not
found in the path, it is looked for locally (whether or not the current directory is in
the path); if it is not found locally, the handler will abort unless the handle-nonex-istent handle-nonexistent
istent style is set. Files found in the path are tested as described for the style
execute-as-is. The full context is :mime:.suffix:, as described for the style handler.
flags Defines flags to go with a handler; the context is as for the handler style, and the
format is as for the flags in mailcap.
handle-nonexistent
By default, arguments that don't correspond to files are not passed to the MIME handler
in order to prevent it from intercepting commands found in the path that happen to have
suffixes. This style may be set to an array of extended glob patterns for arguments
that will be passed to the handler even if they don't exist. If it is not explicitly
set it defaults to [[:alpha:]]#:/* which allows URLs to be passed to the MIME handler
even though they don't exist in that format in the file system. The full context is
:mime:.suffix:, as described for the style handler.
handler
Specifies a handler for a suffix; the suffix is given by the context as :mime:.suffix:,
and the format of the handler is exactly that in mailcap. Note in particular the `.'
and trailing colon to distinguish this use of the context. This overrides any handler
specified by the mailcap files. If the handler requires a terminal, the flags style
should be set to include the word needsterminal, or if the output is to be displayed
through a pager (but not if the handler is itself a pager), it should include copi-ousoutput. copiousoutput.
ousoutput.
mailcap
A list of files in the format of ~/.mailcap and /etc/mailcap to be read during setup,
replacing the default list which consists of those two files. The context is :mime:.
A + in the list will be replaced by the default files.
mailcap-priorities
This style is used to resolve multiple mailcap entries for the same MIME type. It con-sists consists
sists of an array of the following elements, in descending order of priority; later
entries will be used if earlier entries are unable to resolve the entries being com-pared. compared.
pared. If none of the tests resolve the entries, the first entry encountered is
retained.
files The order of files (entries in the mailcap style) read. Earlier files are pre-ferred. preferred.
ferred. (Note this does not resolve entries in the same file.)
priority
The priority flag from the mailcap entry. The priority is an integer from 0 to
9 with the default value being 5.
flags The test given by the mailcap-prio-flags option is used to resolve entries.
place Later entries are preferred; as the entries are strictly ordered, this test
always succeeds.
Note that as this style is handled during initialisation, the context is always :mime:,
with no discrimination by suffix.
mailcap-prio-flags
This style is used when the keyword flags is encountered in the list of tests specified
by the mailcap-priorities style. It should be set to a list of patterns, each of which
is tested against the flags specified in the mailcap entry (in other words, the sets of
assignments found with some entries in the mailcap file). Earlier patterns in the list
are preferred to later ones, and matched patterns are preferred to unmatched ones.
mime-types
A list of files in the format of ~/.mime.types and /etc/mime.types to be read during
setup, replacing the default list which consists of those two files. The context is
:mime:. A + in the list will be replaced by the default files.
never-background
If this boolean style is set, the handler for the given context is always run in the
foreground, even if the flags provided in the mailcap entry suggest it need not be (for
example, it doesn't require a terminal).
pager If set, will be used instead of $PAGER or more to handle suffixes where the copiousout-put copiousoutput
put flag is set. The context is as for handler, i.e. :mime:.suffix: for handling a
file with the given suffix.
Examples:
zstyle ':mime:*' mailcap ~/.mailcap /usr/local/etc/mailcap
zstyle ':mime:.txt:' handler less %s
zstyle ':mime:.txt:' flags needsterminal
When zsh-mime-setup is subsequently run, it will look for mailcap entries in the two files
given. Files of suffix .txt will be handled by running `less file.txt'. The flag needstermi-nal needsterminal
nal is set to show that this program must run attached to a terminal.
As there are several steps to dispatching a command, the following should be checked if
attempting to execute a file by extension .ext does not have the expected effect.
The command `alias -s ext' should show `ps=zsh-mime-handler'. If it shows something else,
another suffix alias was already installed and was not overwritten. If it shows nothing, no
handler was installed: this is most likely because no handler was found in the .mime.types
and mailcap combination for .ext files. In that case, appropriate handling should be added to
~/.mime.types and mailcap.
If the extension is handled by zsh-mime-handler but the file is not opened correctly, either
the handler defined for the type is incorrect, or the flags associated with it are in appro-priate. appropriate.
priate. Running zsh-mime-setup -l will show the handler and, if there are any, the flags. A
%s in the handler is replaced by the file (suitably quoted if necessary). Check that the han-dler handler
dler program listed lists and can be run in the way shown. Also check that the flags need-sterminal needsterminal
sterminal or copiousoutput are set if the handler needs to be run under a terminal; the second
flag is used if the output should be sent to a pager. An example of a suitable mailcap entry
for such a program is:
text/html; /usr/bin/lynx '%s'; needsterminal
Running `zsh-mime-handler -l command line' prints the command line that would be executed,
simplified to remove the effect of any flags, and quoted so that the output can be run as a
complete zsh command line. This is used by the completion system to decide how to complete
after a file handled by zsh-mime-setup.
pick-web-browser
This function is separate from the two MIME functions described above and can be assigned
directly to a suffix:
autoload -U pick-web-browser
alias -s html=pick-web-browser
It is provided as an intelligent front end to dispatch a web browser. It may be run as either
a function or a shell script. The status 255 is returned if no browser could be started.
Various styles are available to customize the choice of browsers:
browser-style
The value of the style is an array giving preferences in decreasing order for the type
of browser to use. The values of elements may be
running
Use a GUI browser that is already running when an X Window display is available.
The browsers listed in the x-browsers style are tried in order until one is
found; if it is, the file will be displayed in that browser, so the user may
need to check whether it has appeared. If no running browser is found, one is
not started. Browsers other than Firefox, Opera and Konqueror are assumed to
understand the Mozilla syntax for opening a URL remotely.
x Start a new GUI browser when an X Window display is available. Search for the
availability of one of the browsers listed in the x-browsers style and start the
first one that is found. No check is made for an already running browser.
tty Start a terminal-based browser. Search for the availability of one of the
browsers listed in the tty-browsers style and start the first one that is found.
If the style is not set the default running x tty is used.
x-browsers
An array in decreasing order of preference of browsers to use when running under the X
Window System. The array consists of the command name under which to start the
browser. They are looked up in the context :mime: (which may be extended in future, so
appending `*' is recommended). For example,
zstyle ':mime:*' x-browsers opera konqueror firefox
specifies that pick-web-browser should first look for a running instance of Opera, Kon-queror Konqueror
queror or Firefox, in that order, and if it fails to find any should attempt to start
Opera. The default is firefox mozilla netscape opera konqueror.
tty-browsers
An array similar to x-browsers, except that it gives browsers to use when no X Window
display is available. The default is elinks links lynx.
command
If it is set this style is used to pick the command used to open a page for a browser.
The context is :mime:browser:new:$browser: to start a new browser or :mime:browser:run-ning:$browser: :mime:browser:running:$browser:
ning:$browser: to open a URL in a browser already running on the current X display,
where $browser is the value matched in the x-browsers or tty-browsers style. The
escape sequence %b in the style's value will be replaced by the browser, while %u will
be replaced by the URL. If the style is not set, the default for all new instances is
equivalent to %b %u and the defaults for using running browsers are equivalent to the
values kfmclient openURL %u for Konqueror, firefox -new-tab %u for Firefox, opera -new-page -newpage
page %u for Opera, and %b -remote "openUrl(%u)" for all others.
MATHEMATICAL FUNCTIONS
zcalc [ expression ... ]
A reasonably powerful calculator based on zsh's arithmetic evaluation facility. The syntax is
similar to that of formulae in most programming languages; see the section `Arithmetic Evalua-tion' Evaluation'
tion' in zshmisc(1) for details. The mathematical library zsh/mathfunc will be loaded if it
is available; see the section `The zsh/mathfunc Module' in zshmodules(1). The mathematical
functions correspond to the raw system libraries, so trigonometric functions are evaluated
using radians, and so on.
Each line typed is evaluated as an expression. The prompt shows a number, which corresponds
to a positional parameter where the result of that calculation is stored. For example, the
result of the calculation on the line preceded by `4> ' is available as $4. The last value
calculated is available as ans. Full command line editing, including the history of previous
calculations, is available; the history is saved in the file ~/.zcalc_history. To exit, enter
a blank line or type `:q' on its own (`q' is allowed for historical compatibility).
If arguments are given to zcalc on start up, they are used to prime the first few positional
parameters. A visual indication of this is given when the calculator starts.
The constants PI (3.14159...) and E (2.71828...) are provided. Parameter assignment is possi-ble, possible,
ble, but note that all parameters will be put into the global namespace.
The output base can be initialised by passing the option `-#base', for example `zcalc -#16'
(the `#' may have to be quoted, depending on the globbing options set).
The prompt is configurable via the parameter ZCALCPROMPT, which undergoes standard prompt
expansion. The index of the current entry is stored locally in the first element of the array
psvar, which can be referred to in ZCALCPROMPT as `%1v'. The default prompt is `%1v> '.
A few special commands are available; these are introduced by a colon. For backward compati-bility, compatibility,
bility, the colon may be omitted for certain commands. Completion is available if compinit
has been run.
The output precision may be specified within zcalc by special commands familiar from many cal-culators. calculators.
culators.
:norm The default output format. It corresponds to the printf %g specification. Typically
this shows six decimal digits.
:sci digits
Scientific notation, corresponding to the printf %g output format with the precision
given by digits. This produces either fixed point or exponential notation depending on
the value output.
:fix digits
Fixed point notation, corresponding to the printf %f output format with the precision
given by digits.
:eng digits
Exponential notation, corresponding to the printf %E output format with the precision
given by digits.
:raw Raw output: this is the default form of the output from a math evaluation. This may
show more precision than the number actually possesses.
Other special commands:
:!line...
Execute line... as a normal shell command line. Note that it is executed in the con-text context
text of the function, i.e. with local variables. Space is optional after :!.
:local arg ...
Declare variables local to the function. Note that certain variables are used by the
function for its own purposes. Other variables may be used, too, but they will be
taken from or put into the global scope.
:function name [ body ]
Define a mathematical function or (with no body) delete it. The function is defined
using zmathfuncdef, see below.
Note that zcalc takes care of all quoting. Hence for example:
function cube $1 * $1 * $1
defines a function to cube the sole argument.
[#base]
This is not a special command, rather part of normal arithmetic syntax; however, when
this form appears on a line by itself the default output radix is set to base. Use,
for example, `[#16]' to display hexadecimal output preceded by an indication of the
base, or `[##16]' just to display the raw number in the given base. Bases themselves
are always specified in decimal. `[#]' restores the normal output format. Note that
setting an output base suppresses floating point output; use `[#]' to return to normal
operation.
See the comments in the function for a few extra tips.
zmathfuncdef [ mathfunc [ body ] ]
A convenient front end to functions -M.
With two arguments, define a mathematical function named mathfunc which can be used in any
form of arithmetic evaluation. body is a mathematical expression to implement the function.
It may contain references to position parameters $1, $2, ... to refer to mandatory parameters
and ${1:-defvalue} ... to refer to optional parameters. Note that the forms must be strictly
adhered to for the function to calculate the correct number of arguments. The implementation
is held in a shell function named zsh_math_func_mathfunc; usually the user will not need to
refer to the shell function directly. Any existing function of the same name is silently
replaced.
With one argument, remove the mathematical function mathfunc as well as the shell function
implementation.
With no arguments, list all mathfunc functions in a form suitable for restoring the defini-tion. definition.
tion. The functions have not necessarily been defined by zmathfuncdef.
USER CONFIGURATION FUNCTIONS
The zsh/newuser module comes with a function to aid in configuring shell options for new users. If
the module is installed, this function can also be run by hand. It is available even if the module's
default behaviour, namely running the function for a new user logging in without startup files, is
inhibited.
zsh-newuser-install [ -f ]
The function presents the user with various options for customizing their initialization
scripts. Currently only ~/.zshrc is handled. $ZDOTDIR/.zshrc is used instead if the parame-ter parameter
ter ZDOTDIR is set; this provides a way for the user to configure a file without altering an
existing .zshrc.
By default the function exits immediately if it finds any of the files .zshenv, .zprofile,
.zshrc, or .zlogin in the appropriate directory. The option -f is required in order to force
the function to continue. Note this may happen even if .zshrc itself does not exist.
As currently configured, the function will exit immediately if the user has root privileges;
this behaviour cannot be overridden.
Once activated, the function's behaviour is supposed to be self-explanatory. Menus are
present allowing the user to alter the value of options and parameters. Suggestions for
improvements are always welcome.
When the script exits, the user is given the opportunity to save the new file or not; changes
are not irreversible until this point. However, the script is careful to restrict changes to
the file only to a group marked by the lines `# Lines configured by zsh-newuser-install' and
`# End of lines configured by zsh-newuser-install'. In addition, the old version of .zshrc is
saved to a file with the suffix .zni appended.
If the function edits an existing .zshrc, it is up to the user to ensure that the changes made
will take effect. For example, if control usually returns early from the existing .zshrc the
lines will not be executed; or a later initialization file may override options or parameters,
and so on. The function itself does not attempt to detect any such conflicts.
OTHER FUNCTIONS
There are a large number of helpful functions in the Functions/Misc directory of the zsh distribu-tion. distribution.
tion. Most are very simple and do not require documentation here, but a few are worthy of special
mention.
Descriptions
colors This function initializes several associative arrays to map color names to (and from) the ANSI
standard eight-color terminal codes. These are used by the prompt theme system (see above).
You seldom should need to run colors more than once.
The eight base colors are: black, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, and white. Each of
these has codes for foreground and background. In addition there are eight intensity
attributes: bold, faint, standout, underline, blink, reverse, and conceal. Finally, there are
six codes used to negate attributes: none (reset all attributes to the defaults), normal (nei-ther (neither
ther bold nor faint), no-standout, no-underline, no-blink, and no-reverse.
Some terminals do not support all combinations of colors and intensities.
The associative arrays are:
color
colour Map all the color names to their integer codes, and integer codes to the color names.
The eight base names map to the foreground color codes, as do names prefixed with
`fg-', such as `fg-red'. Names prefixed with `bg-', such as `bg-blue', refer to the
background codes. The reverse mapping from code to color yields base name for fore-ground foreground
ground codes and the bg- form for backgrounds.
Although it is a misnomer to call them `colors', these arrays also map the other four-teen fourteen
teen attributes from names to codes and codes to names.
fg
fg_bold
fg_no_bold
Map the eight basic color names to ANSI terminal escape sequences that set the corre-sponding corresponding
sponding foreground text properties. The fg sequences change the color without chang-ing changing
ing the eight intensity attributes.
bg
bg_bold
bg_no_bold
Map the eight basic color names to ANSI terminal escape sequences that set the corre-sponding corresponding
sponding background properties. The bg sequences change the color without changing the
eight intensity attributes.
In addition, the scalar parameters reset_color and bold_color are set to the ANSI terminal
escapes that turn off all attributes and turn on bold intensity, respectively.
fned name
Same as zed -f. This function does not appear in the zsh distribution, but can be created by
linking zed to the name fned in some directory in your fpath.
is-at-least needed [ present ]
Perform a greater-than-or-equal-to comparison of two strings having the format of a zsh ver-sion version
sion number; that is, a string of numbers and text with segments separated by dots or dashes.
If the present string is not provided, $ZSH_VERSION is used. Segments are paired
left-to-right in the two strings with leading non-number parts ignored. If one string has
fewer segments than the other, the missing segments are considered zero.
This is useful in startup files to set options and other state that are not available in all
versions of zsh.
is-at-least 3.1.6-15 && setopt NO_GLOBAL_RCS
is-at-least 3.1.0 && setopt HIST_REDUCE_BLANKS
is-at-least 2.6-17 || print "You can't use is-at-least here."
nslookup [ arg ... ]
This wrapper function for the nslookup command requires the zsh/zpty module (see zshmod-ules(1)). zshmodules(1)).
ules(1)). It behaves exactly like the standard nslookup except that it provides customizable
prompts (including a right-side prompt) and completion of nslookup commands, host names, etc.
(if you use the function-based completion system). Completion styles may be set with the con-text context
text prefix `:completion:nslookup'.
See also the pager, prompt and rprompt styles below.
regexp-replace var regexp replace
Use regular expressions to perform a global search and replace operation on a variable. If
the option RE_MATCH_PCRE is not set, POSIX extended regular expressions are used, else
Perl-compatible regular expressions (this requires the shell to be linked against the pcre
library).
var is the name of the variable containing the string to be matched. The variable will be
modified directly by the function. The variables MATCH, MBEGIN, MEND, match, mbegin, mend
should be avoided as these are used by the regular expression code.
regexp is the regular expression to match against the string.
replace is the replacement text. This can contain parameter, command and arithmetic expres-sions expressions
sions which will be replaced: in particular, a reference to $MATCH will be replaced by the
text matched by the pattern.
The return status is 0 if at least one match was performed, else 1.
run-help cmd
This function is designed to be invoked by the run-help ZLE widget, in place of the default
alias. See `Accessing On-Line Help' above for setup instructions.
In the discussion which follows, if cmd is a file system path, it is first reduced to its
rightmost component (the file name).
Help is first sought by looking for a file named cmd in the directory named by the HELPDIR
parameter. If no file is found, an assistant function, alias, or command named run-help-cmd
is sought. If found, the assistant is executed with the rest of the current command line
(everything after the command name cmd) as its arguments. When neither file nor assistant is
found, the external command `man cmd' is run.
An example assistant for the "ssh" command:
run-help-ssh() {
emulate -LR zsh
local -a args
# Delete the "-l username" option
zparseopts -D -E -a args l:
# Delete other options, leaving: host command
args=(${@:#-*})
if [[ ${#args} -lt 2 ]]; then
man ssh
else
run-help $args[2]
fi
}
Several of these assistants are provided in the Functions/Misc directory. These must be
autoloaded, or placed as executable scripts in your search path, in order to be found and used
by run-help.
run-help-git
run-help-svk
run-help-svn
Assistant functions for the git, svk, and svn commands.
tetris Zsh was once accused of not being as complete as Emacs, because it lacked a Tetris game. This
function was written to refute this vicious slander.
This function must be used as a ZLE widget:
autoload -U tetris
zle -N tetris
bindkey keys tetris
To start a game, execute the widget by typing the keys. Whatever command line you were edit-ing editing
ing disappears temporarily, and your keymap is also temporarily replaced by the Tetris control
keys. The previous editor state is restored when you quit the game (by pressing `q') or when
you lose.
If you quit in the middle of a game, the next invocation of the tetris widget will continue
where you left off. If you lost, it will start a new game.
zargs [ option ... -- ] [ input ... ] [ -- command [ arg ... ] ]
This function has a similar purpose to GNU xargs. Instead of reading lines of arguments from
the standard input, it takes them from the command line. This is useful because zsh, espe-cially especially
cially with recursive glob operators, often can construct a command line for a shell function
that is longer than can be accepted by an external command.
The option list represents options of the zargs command itself, which are the same as those of
xargs. The input list is the collection of strings (often file names) that become the argu-ments arguments
ments of the command, analogous to the standard input of xargs. Finally, the arg list con-sists consists
sists of those arguments (usually options) that are passed to the command each time it runs.
The arg list precedes the elements from the input list in each run. If no command is pro-vided, provided,
vided, then no arg list may be provided, and in that event the default command is `print' with
arguments `-r --'.
For example, to get a long ls listing of all plain files in the current directory or its sub-directories: subdirectories:
directories:
autoload -U zargs
zargs -- **/*(.) -- ls -l
Note that `--' is used both to mark the end of the option list and to mark the end of the
input list, so it must appear twice whenever the input list may be empty. If there is guaran-teed guaranteed
teed to be at least one input and the first input does not begin with a `-', then the first
`--' may be omitted.
In the event that the string `--' is or may be an input, the -e option may be used to change
the end-of-inputs marker. Note that this does not change the end-of-options marker. For
example, to use `..' as the marker:
zargs -e.. -- **/*(.) .. ls -l
This is a good choice in that example because no plain file can be named `..', but the best
end-marker depends on the circumstances.
The options -i, -I, -l, -L, and -n differ slightly from their usage in xargs. There are no
input lines for zargs to count, so -l and -L count through the input list, and -n counts the
number of arguments passed to each execution of command, including any arg list. Also, any
time -i or -I is used, each input is processed separately as if by `-L 1'.
For details of the other zargs options, see xargs(1) (but note the difference in function
between zargs and xargs) or run zargs with the --help option.
zed [ -f ] name
zed -b This function uses the ZLE editor to edit a file or function.
Only one name argument is allowed. If the -f option is given, the name is taken to be that of
a function; if the function is marked for autoloading, zed searches for it in the fpath and
loads it. Note that functions edited this way are installed into the current shell, but not
written back to the autoload file.
Without -f, name is the path name of the file to edit, which need not exist; it is created on
write, if necessary.
While editing, the function sets the main keymap to zed and the vi command keymap to
zed-vicmd. These will be copied from the existing main and vicmd keymaps if they do not exist
the first time zed is run. They can be used to provide special key bindings used only in zed.
If it creates the keymap, zed rebinds the return key to insert a line break and `^X^W' to
accept the edit in the zed keymap, and binds `ZZ' to accept the edit in the zed-vicmd keymap.
The bindings alone can be installed by running `zed -b'. This is suitable for putting into a
startup file. Note that, if rerun, this will overwrite the existing zed and zed-vicmd
keymaps.
Completion is available, and styles may be set with the context prefix `:completion:zed'.
A zle widget zed-set-file-name is available. This can be called by name from within zed using
`\ex zed-set-file-name' (note, however, that because of zed's rebindings you will have to type
^j at the end instead of the return key), or can be bound to a key in either of the zed or
zed-vicmd keymaps after `zed -b' has been run. When the widget is called, it prompts for a
new name for the file being edited. When zed exits the file will be written under that name
and the original file will be left alone. The widget has no effect with `zed -f'.
While zed-set-file-name is running, zed uses the keymap zed-normal-keymap, which is linked
from the main keymap in effect at the time zed initialised its bindings. (This is to make the
return key operate normally.) The result is that if the main keymap has been changed, the
widget won't notice. This is not a concern for most users.
zcp [ -finqQvwW ] srcpat dest
zln [ -finqQsvwW ] srcpat dest
Same as zmv -C and zmv -L, respectively. These functions do not appear in the zsh distribu-tion, distribution,
tion, but can be created by linking zmv to the names zcp and zln in some directory in your
fpath.
zkbd See `Keyboard Definition' above.
zmv [ -finqQsvwW ] [ -C | -L | -M | -p program ] [ -o optstring ] srcpat dest
Move (usually, rename) files matching the pattern srcpat to corresponding files having names
of the form given by dest, where srcpat contains parentheses surrounding patterns which will
be replaced in turn by $1, $2, ... in dest. For example,
zmv '(*).lis' '$1.txt'
renames `foo.lis' to `foo.txt', `my.old.stuff.lis' to `my.old.stuff.txt', and so on.
The pattern is always treated as an EXTENDED_GLOB pattern. Any file whose name is not changed
by the substitution is simply ignored. Any error (a substitution resulted in an empty string,
two substitutions gave the same result, the destination was an existing regular file and -f
was not given) causes the entire function to abort without doing anything.
Options:
-f Force overwriting of destination files. Not currently passed down to the mv/cp/ln com-mand command
mand due to vagaries of implementations (but you can use -o-f to do that).
-i Interactive: show each line to be executed and ask the user whether to execute it. `Y'
or `y' will execute it, anything else will skip it. Note that you just need to type
one character.
-n No execution: print what would happen, but don't do it.
-q Turn bare glob qualifiers off: now assumed by default, so this has no effect.
-Q Force bare glob qualifiers on. Don't turn this on unless you are actually using glob
qualifiers in a pattern.
-s Symbolic, passed down to ln; only works with -L.
-v Verbose: print each command as it's being executed.
-w Pick out wildcard parts of the pattern, as described above, and implicitly add paren-theses parentheses
theses for referring to them.
-W Just like -w, with the addition of turning wildcards in the replacement pattern into
sequential ${1} .. ${N} references.
-C
-L
-M Force cp, ln or mv, respectively, regardless of the name of the function.
-p program
Call program instead of cp, ln or mv. Whatever it does, it should at least understand
the form `program -- oldname newname' where oldname and newname are filenames generated
by zmv.
-o optstring
The optstring is split into words and passed down verbatim to the cp, ln or mv command
called to perform the work. It should probably begin with a `-'.
Further examples:
zmv -v '(* *)' '${1// /_}'
For any file in the current directory with at least one space in the name, replace every space
by an underscore and display the commands executed.
For more complete examples and other implementation details, see the zmv source file, usually
located in one of the directories named in your fpath, or in Functions/Misc/zmv in the zsh
distribution.
zrecompile
See `Recompiling Functions' above.
zstyle+ context style value [ + subcontext style value ... ]
This makes defining styles a bit simpler by using a single `+' as a special token that allows
you to append a context name to the previously used context name. Like this:
zstyle+ ':foo:bar' style1 value1 \
+ ':baz' style2 value2 \
+ ':frob' style3 value3
This defines `style1' with `value1' for the context :foo:bar as usual, but it also defines
`style2' with `value2' for the context :foo:bar:baz and `style3' with `value3' for
:foo:bar:frob. Any subcontext may be the empty string to re-use the first context unchanged.
Styles
insert-tab
The zed function sets this style in context `:completion:zed:*' to turn off completion when
TAB is typed at the beginning of a line. You may override this by setting your own value for
this context and style.
pager The nslookup function looks up this style in the context `:nslookup' to determine the program
used to display output that does not fit on a single screen.
prompt
rprompt
The nslookup function looks up this style in the context `:nslookup' to set the prompt and the
right-side prompt, respectively. The usual expansions for the PS1 and RPS1 parameters may be
used (see EXPANSION OF PROMPT SEQUENCES in zshmisc(1)).
ZSHALL(1) ZSHALL(1)
FILES
$ZDOTDIR/.zshenv
$ZDOTDIR/.zprofile
$ZDOTDIR/.zshrc
$ZDOTDIR/.zlogin
$ZDOTDIR/.zlogout
${TMPPREFIX}* (default is /tmp/zsh*)
/etc/zshenv
/etc/zprofile
/etc/zshrc
/etc/zlogin
/etc/zlogout (installation-specific - /etc is the default)
SEE ALSO
sh(1), csh(1), tcsh(1), rc(1), bash(1), ksh(1)
IEEE Standard for information Technology - Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX) - Part 2:
Shell and Utilities, IEEE Inc, 1993, ISBN 1-55937-255-9.
zsh 5.0.2 December 21, 2012 ZSHALL(1)
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