zsh-workshop - 20061128

Preface

The following documentation is not a full documentation of the zsh workshop, it just documents some general stuff which might be useful for workshop participants. Notice: some configuration/keybindings/… are not set up on default zsh but used in grml's configuration.

Zsh?

'Zsh is a shell designed for interactive use, although it is also a powerful scripting language. Many of the useful features of bash, ksh, and tcsh were incorporated into zsh; many original features were added. '

-- http://zsh.dotsrc.org/

Merges the best from ksh, csh and bash! (emulate sh + emulate ksh)

More than 100 builtins, ~150 options + >300 keybindings

Configuration files

wget -O ~/.zshrc http://hg.grml.org/grml-etc-core/raw-file/tip/etc/skel/.zshrc
wget -O ~/.zshrc.global http://hg.grml.org/grml-etc-core/raw-file/tip/etc/zsh/zshrc

Useful modules and settings

% setopt autocd && /tmp   # cd /tmp
% setopt append_history share_history histignorealldups

% autoload -U zmv        # zmv "programmable rename"
% zmv '* *' '$f:gs/ /_'  # Replace spaces in filenames with a underline

% autoload run-help      # esc-h
% autoload compinit && compinit
% autoload -U zed

Tip	run setopt ksh_option_print && setopt to get a listing of all current settings

Globbing / Glob Qualifier

% setopt extendedglob
% ls -d *.^c              # list all files excluding c-source files
% ls /etc/*(@)            # list symlinks only
% ls -l *.(png|jpg|gif)   # list pictures only
% ls *(*)                 # list executables only
% ls /etc/**/zsh          # which directories contain 'zsh'?
% ls **/*(-@)             # list dangling symlinks
% ls **/*(/^F)            # list empty directories

Tip	run H-Glob on your grml system for getting help regarding globbing

Keybindings

Some very interesting ones (besides default bindkey):

CTRL-d              complete / EOF
CTRL-l              clear-screen
CTRL-w              delete last word
CTRL-_              undo
TAB                 complete and take first result
ESC-.               insert last parameter of last typed command (similar to typing !$)
ESC-e               edit the current line in $EDITOR
ESC-h               call run-help for the 1st word on the commandline
ESC-m               insert last typed word
CTRL-E d            insert a timestamp on the commandline (yyyy-mm-dd)
CTRL-a              begin of line
CTRL-e              end of line
Alt-'               quote-line => ''
Alt-<number>-char   insert <number> of chars
Alt-?               which-command
CTRL-x+a            complete alias
CTRL-x+e            complete word
CTRL-k              kill line
CTRL-u              copy line
CTRL-w              copy last word
CTRL-y              yank (insert kill-ring)

Tip	run "bindkey ctrl-v <keys>" to find out which action is bount to a key

History

% history
% !23       # Re-execute history command 23
% ^foo^bar  # edit previous command replace foo by bar

Check your history for most frequently used commands and create aliases/functions for them!

% print -l -- ${(o)history%% *} | uniq -c | sort -nr | head -n 10

"Unsorted Must Knows"

% rehash                  # important for bash-users
% ls /u/s/d/x/exa<TAB>    # try it :)
% dpkg -i ~deb/foo.deb    # hash for /var/cache/apt/archives
% ls ~doc                 # hash /usr/share/doc
% ls =vim                 # ls $(which vim)
% sort <f{oo,ubar}        # cat foo fubar | sort
% less <(gzip -cd foo.gz) # gzip -cd foo.gz && less foo
% ls >file1 >file2 >file3
% less <file1 <file2
% vared PATH
% cd -<tab>
% echo {23..42}
% alias -s txt=vim
% RPROMPT=%T
% precmd () { RPROMPT="%(?..:()%" }
% xpdf =(zcat /usr/share/doc/grml-docs/zsh/grml-zsh-refcard.pdf.gz)
% w3m http://www.bash2zsh.com/zsh_refcard/refcard.pdf
% man zsh-lovers

Ressources

Tip	run zsh-help on your grml system to get some hints regarding zsh