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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 inher-
ently 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 con-
tributed 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 func-
tion. 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 pro-
cess 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 Func-
tions/Misc, searches for these helpfiles and performs sev-
eral other tests to produce the most complete help possi-
ble 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 administra-
tor.
To create your own help files with helpfiles, choose or
create a directory where the individual command help files
will reside. For example, you might choose ~/zsh_help.
If you unpacked the zsh distribution in your home direc-
tory, you would use the commands:
mkdir ~/zsh_help
cd ~/zsh_help
man zshall | colcrt - | \
perl ~/zsh-4.2.5/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 direc-
tory 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 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/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 develop-
ments, you may find that function digests compiled with
the zcompile builtin are frequently 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 Func-
tions/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 original
files is newer than the compiled file. This works
only if the names stored in the compiled 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 com-
piled 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 com-
piled 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 zcompile, sep-
arated 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 directo-
ries:
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 dif-
ferent 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 window systems
makes it impossible for zsh to have built-in key bindings
for every situation. The zkbd utility, found in Func-
tions/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-4.2.5/Functions/Misc/zkbd
When you run zkbd, it first asks you to enter your termi-
nal type; if the default it offers is correct, just press
return. It then asks you to press a number of different
keys to determine characteristics 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 mail-
ing 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 purpose. (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-4.2.5/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 devel-
opers 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 com-
pletion 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 vari-
ables.
zstyles
Output zstyle commands.
If the state is omitted, all is assumed.
With the exception of `all', every state can be abbrevi-
ated by any prefix, even a single letter; thus a is the
same as aliases, z is the same as zstyles, etc.
PROMPT THEMES
Installation
You should make sure all the functions from the Func-
tions/Prompts directory of the source distribution are
available; they all begin with the string `prompt_' except
for the special function`promptinit'. You also need the
`colors' function from Functions/Misc. All of these func-
tions may already have been installed on your system; if
not, you will need to find them and copy them. The direc-
tory 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 ini-
tialize the use of the system you need to call the promp-
tinit 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 following 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 func-
tions 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 keystrokes in inter-
active 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 mov-
ing over and editing words in the manner of bash,
where only alphanumeric characters are considered
word characters, you can use the functions
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-words-by-style
The eight `-match' functions are drop-in replace-
ments for the builtin widgets without the suffix.
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 charac-
ters 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 usu-
ally the same as `normal'.
More control can be obtained using the zstyle com-
mand, 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 supplied 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. alphanu-
merics 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 char-
acters are those which will not be consid-
ered part of a word.
shell Words are obtained by using the syntactic
rules for generating shell command argu-
ments. 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 styles usually use $WORD-
CHARS, but the value in the parameter can be over-
ridden 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 surrounding 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 char-
acter classes.
The final style is skip-chars. This is mostly use-
ful 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.
Here are some examples of use of the styles, actu-
ally 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 wid-
gets, i.e. only alphanumerics are word characters;
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.
The word matching and all the handling of zstyle
settings is actually implemented by the function
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 cur-
sor (4) any non-word character at the cursor posi-
tion plus any remaining non-word characters before
the next word, including all characters specified
by the skip-chars style, (5) the word at or follow-
ing the cursor (6) any non-word characters follow-
ing 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
For example, match-words-by-style -w shell -c 0 may
be used to extract the command argument around the
cursor.
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. How-
ever, 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 handling;
only the single word around the cursor is consid-
ered. 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.
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 com-
mand 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 disam-
biguate 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.
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-begin-
ning-search-backward-end and history-begin-
ning-search-forward-end. These commands work by
first calling the corresponding builtin widget (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 his-
tory.
Although you autoload only one function, the com-
mands 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-pattern-search
The function history-pattern-search implements wid-
gets which prompt for a pattern with which to
search the history backwards or forwards. The pat-
tern 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 character 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
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 history-beginning-search-backward
and -forward, rather than the first word on the
line.
incarg Typing the keystrokes for this widget with the cur-
sor 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 completion
choices can be shown after every character you
type, which you can delete with ^H or DEL. Press-
ing 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 comple-
tion system.
bindkey '^Xi' incremental-complete-word
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
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 available 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 positions.
The option -S statepm is used to narrow according
to the other options while saving the original
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', then call this function with the option
-R. The argument statepm must be a suitable name
for an ordinary parameter, except that parameters
beginning with the prefix _ntr_ are reserved for
use within narrow-to-region. Typically the parame-
ter 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 addi-
tional 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 beginning 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. How-
ever, 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 position (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 sev-
eral 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 pre-
dict-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 wid-
get 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 pre-
vious 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 place-
ment. 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 terminal 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 simi-
lar functions while reading a value.
replace-string, replace-pattern
The function replace-string implements two 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
replacement is done by pattern matching. 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 addi-
tion, the replacement string can contain parameter
or command substitutions. 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 matched. The form `\{N}' may be used to pro-
tect the digit from following digits.
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 replacment 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.
smart-insert-last-word
This function may replace the insert-last-word wid-
get, 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 com-
ments are ignored when INTERACTIVE_COMMENTS 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 over-
ridden 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 dif-
ferent patterns:
zle -N insert-last-assignment smart-insert-last-word
zstyle :insert-last-assignment match '[[:alpha:]][][[:alnum:]]#=*'
bindkey '\e=' insert-last-assignment
Styles
The behavior of several of the above widgets can be con-
trolled by the use of the zstyle mechanism. In particu-
lar, widgets that interact with the completion system pass
along their context to any completions 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-pre-
dict widgets set up their top-level context name
before calling completion. This allows one to
define different sets of completer functions for
normal completion and for these widgets. For exam-
ple, to use completion, approximation and correc-
tion for normal completion, completion and correc-
tion for incremental completion 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 automatically
invoked as you type. The _list and _menu com-
pleters should never be used with prediction. The
_approximate, _correct, _expand, and _match com-
pleters 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 comple-
tion finished, but only if it is after a
character equal to the one just inserted by
the user. If it is after another character,
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 comple-
tion 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 `:completion: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 con-
tain 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 con-
tain any of the following substrings in the manner
of the PS1 and other prompt parameters:
%c Replaced by the name of the completer func-
tion 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 dif-
ferent 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 con-
text: `: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 predic-
tive state is toggled. This is most useful in com-
bination 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 wid-
gets, 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.
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 [-flv]
zsh-mime-handler
These two functions use the files ~/.mime.types and
/etc/mime.types, which associate types and exten-
sions, as well as ~/.mailcap and /etc/mailcap
files, which associate types and the programs 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 sys-
tem. 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.
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. 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 zsh-
modules(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 trailing * (suit-
ably quoted) be appended to style patterns in case
the system is extended in future. Some examples
are given below.
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 con-
text is :mime:. A + in the list will be
replaced by the default files.
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.
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 han-
dler requires a terminal, the flags style
should be set to include the word needster-
minal, 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.
flags Defines flags to go with a handler; the con-
text is as for the handler style, and the
format is as for the flags in mailcap.
pager If set, will be used instead of $PAGER or
more to handle suffixes where the copi-
ousoutput flag is set. The context is as
for handler, i.e. :mime:.suffix: for han-
dling 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 needsterminal is set to
show that this program must run attached to a ter-
minal.
As there are several steps to dispatching a com-
mand, 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 some-
thing 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 combi-
nation for .ext files. In that case, appro-
priate 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 appropriate.
Running zsh-mime-setup -l will show the han-
dler and, if there are any, the flags. A %s
in the handler is replaced by the file
(suitably quoted if necessary). Check that
the handler program listed lists and can be
run in the way shown. Also check that the
flags needsterminal or copiousoutput are set
if the handler needs to be run under a ter-
minal; 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
pick-web-browser
This function is separate from the two MIME func-
tions 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 dis-
patch a web browser. It will check if an X Windows
display is available, and if so if there is already
a browser running which can accept a remote connec-
tion. In that case, the file will be displayed in
that browser; you should check explicitly if it has
appeared in the running browser's window. Other-
wise, it will start a new browser according to a
builtin set of preferences.
Alternatively, pick-web-browser can be run as a zsh
script.
Two styles are available to customize the choice of
browsers: x-browsers when running under the X Win-
dows System, and tty-browsers otherwise. These are
arrays in decreasing order of preference consiting
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 netscape
specifies that pick-web-browser should first look
for a runing instance of Opera, Konqueror or
Netscape, in that order, and if it fails to find
any should attempt to start Opera.
OTHER FUNCTIONS
There are a large number of helpful functions in the Func-
tions/Misc directory of the zsh distribution. 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, yel-
low, blue, magenta, cyan, and white. Each of these
has codes for foreground and background. In addi-
tion 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 (neither 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 codes and the bg- form for back-
grounds.
Although it is a misnomer to call them `col-
ors', these arrays also map the other four-
teen attributes from names to codes and
codes to names.
fg
fg_bold
fg_no_bold
Map the eight basic color names to ANSI ter-
minal escape sequences that set the corre-
sponding foreground text properties. The fg
sequences change the color without changing
the eight intensity attributes.
bg
bg_bold
bg_no_bold
Map the eight basic color names to ANSI ter-
minal escape sequences that set the corre-
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 version num-
ber; that is, a string of numbers and text with
segments separated by dots or dashes. If the pre-
sent 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 zshmodules(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 context prefix `:comple-
tion:nslookup'.
See also the pager, prompt and rprompt styles
below.
run-help
See `Accessing On-Line Help' above.
tetris Zsh was once accused of not being as complete as
Emacs, because it lacked a Tetris game. This func-
tion 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 editing dis-
appears temporarily, and your keymap is also tem-
porarily 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 invo-
cation 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 works like GNU xargs, except that
instead of reading lines of arguments from the
standard input, it takes them from the command
line. This is useful because zsh, especially 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 arguments of the
command, analogous to the standard input of xargs.
Finally, the arg list consists of those arguments
(usually options) that are passed to the command
each time it runs. The arg list precedes the ele-
ments from the input list in each run. If no com-
mand is provided, 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 subdirecto-
ries:
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 guaranteed 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.
For details of the other zargs options, see
xargs(1) or run zargs with the --help option.
zcalc [ expression ... ]
A reasonably powerful calculator based on zsh's
arithmetic evaluation facility. The syntax is sim-
ilar to that of formulae in most programming lan-
guages; see the section `Arithmetic Evaluation' 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 zshmod-
ules(1). The mathematical functions correspond to
the raw system libraries, so trigonometric func-
tions are evaluated using radians, and so on.
Each line typed is evaluated as an expression. The
prompt shows a number, which corresponds to a posi-
tional parameter where the result of that calcula-
tion is stored. For example, the result of the
calculation on the line preceded by `4> ' is avail-
able as $4. 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.
If arguments are given to zcalc on start up, they
are used to prime the first few positional parame-
ters. 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 possible,
but note that all parameters will be put into the
global namespace.
An extra facility is provided for changing the
default output base. Use, for example, `[#16]' to
display hexadecimal output preceded by an indica-
tion 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.
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 ZCAL-
CPROMPT, 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> '.
See the comments in the function for a few extra
tips.
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 autoload-
ing, 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 bind-
ings 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 distribution,
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 opt-
string ] 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 exam-
ple,
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 sub-
stitution resulted in an empty string, two substi-
tutions 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 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 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. What-
ever 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 prob-
ably begin with a `-'.
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 con-
text 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 sub-
context may be the empty string to re-use the first
context unchanged.
Styles
insert-tab
The zed function sets this style in context `:com-
pletion: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 expan-
sions for the PS1 and RPS1 parameters may be used
(see zshmisc(1)).
zsh 4.2.5 April 6, 2005 ZSHCONTRIB(1)