Two questions for zsh users!

Not_Oles

Hi zsh users!

(1) What caused you to switch to zsh?

(2) If you formerly used bash, is there something about bash that you miss when using zsh?

Thanks!

Tom

vpn2024

https://ohmyz.sh/ caused me to switch. Too old to replicate the same with bash or other. Ricing days are over, what a waste. I'll take someone else highly opinionated spin if maintained.. I use git a lot so the aliases there are pretty nice, gst / gd / gp / gpom etc..

Occasionally escaping and subsitutions rules will throw me off in zsh (if coming from external source for example) but you can drop back into a bash shell temporarily anyway.

raindog308

@Not_Oles said: (1) What caused you to switch to zsh?

For a certain group, the answer is going to be "Apple, Inc."

bash was the official macOS shell. Now zsh is. bash still runs fine on macOS but starting with Catalina, macOS default is zsh and I think you have to install bash via homebrew.

I don't think Apple officially ever said why, but...licensing. bash is GPL. zsh is MIT.

https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/4/18651872/apple-macos-catalina-zsh-bash-shell-replacement-features

JerryHou

ohmyzsh is a good reason to switch.

vpn2024

@raindog308 said:

@Not_Oles said: (1) What caused you to switch to zsh?

For a certain group, the answer is going to be "Apple, Inc."

bash was the official macOS shell. Now zsh is. bash still runs fine on macOS but starting with Catalina, macOS default is zsh and I think you have to install bash via homebrew.

I think many developers on mac will homebrew in their shell and CLI tooling, Apple isn't known for keeping anywhere remotely up to date on these so even with zsh included I bet it years behind what homebrew offers. Anyway less that swear word unless its related to Asahi Linux.

stxsh

1) I switched because I wanted to try it (before it came with my MacBook -- I was using it on Arch). It took a little getting used to, to really appreciate but zsh and it's various plugin systems (ohmyzsh is popular, for sure) -- I prefer antibody now, though.

It's quick, easy and fun to install zsh, set up your favorite plugin manager and start exploring all the various plugins available.. there's about 10 I use that I can't live without anymore.

Since I started using Warp Terminal, it's become a bit redundant since Warp's default shell is zsh and it has a lot of functionality I wanted built in (and it's blazing fast).. but, yeah.. just customizability, usability and convenience.

2) Nothing in particular that I miss to be honest, but I think I became more of a power user on my terminal after I started using zsh. I still use bash when I build out scripts.

emdad

OMZ, it's plugins and the convenience they provide. Made life easier. For me the combination of zsh and fig is serving me great. Did not have to look back to bash, so I guess I don't miss it at all.

FlorinMarian

zsh autosuggest plugin worth every penny (even if it's free)

chakraxzz

@FlorinMarian said:
zsh autosuggest plugin worth every penny (even if it's free)

word.

Hitori0221

Because of

sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.github.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/master/tools/install.sh)"

git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-syntax-highlighting.git ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-~/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/plugins/zsh-syntax-highlighting ; \
git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-autosuggestions.git $ZSH_CUSTOM/plugins/zsh-autosuggestions ; \
sed -i 's/robbyrussell/ys/g' ~/.zshrc ; \
sed -i 's/plugins=(git)/plugins=(git zsh-syntax-highlighting zsh-autosuggestions)/g' ~/.zshrc

FlorinMarian

If someone is using ansible and wanna extend his playbook, this is what I've created to improve our proxmox playbook

---

- name: Install prequisites
  apt:
    name: "{{ item }}"
    state: present
    update_cache: yes
  loop:
    - git
    - curl

- name: Install oh-my-zsh
  shell: sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.github.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/master/tools/install.sh)"
  args:
    creates: "/{{ ansible_user }}/.oh-my-zsh"

- name: Set zsh as default shell
  user:
    name: "{{ ansible_user }}"
    shell: /bin/zsh

- name: Install syntax highlighting
  shell: git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-syntax-highlighting.git ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-~/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/plugins/zsh-syntax-highlighting
  args:
    creates: "/{{ ansible_user }}/.oh-my-zsh/custom/plugins/zsh-syntax-highlighting"

- name: Install autosuggestions
  shell: git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-autosuggestions.git ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-~/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/plugins/zsh-autosuggestions
  args:
    creates: "/{{ ansible_user }}/.oh-my-zsh/custom/plugins/zsh-autosuggestions"

- name: Replace old plugins with new ones
  lineinfile:
    path: "/{{ ansible_user }}/.zshrc"
    regexp: "^plugins="
    line: "plugins=(git zsh-syntax-highlighting zsh-autosuggestions)"
    state: present

omelas

@vpn2024 said:
https://ohmyz.sh/ caused me to switch. Too old to replicate the same with bash or other. Ricing days are over, what a waste. I'll take someone else highly opinionated spin if maintained.. I use git a lot so the aliases there are pretty nice, gst / gd / gp / gpom etc..

Occasionally escaping and subsitutions rules will throw me off in zsh (if coming from external source for example) but you can drop back into a bash shell temporarily anyway.

it is indeed license: apple's bash is 3.2.57 which is from 2006 because version after that is GPLv3

xvps

@raindog308 said:

@Not_Oles said: (1) What caused you to switch to zsh?

For a certain group, the answer is going to be "Apple, Inc."

bash was the official macOS shell. Now zsh is. bash still runs fine on macOS but starting with Catalina, macOS default is zsh and I think you have to install bash via homebrew.

bash is still installed in MacOS Sonora (14.4.1), so you can just change the shell with chsh -s /bin/bash.

But as others mentioned, it is an old version (3.2.57). You can install 5.2.26 with brew.

In MacOS Sonora, zsh is the latest stable version (5.9).

Hajt

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