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Oh My Zsh

You will spend much of this course in a terminal: git, docker, kubectl, mvn. A better shell makes that faster and less error-prone. This page sets up three layers:

  • zsh: a shell, like bash, with better completion and a large plugin ecosystem. It is the default shell on macOS since Catalina (10.15).
  • Oh My Zsh1: a framework that manages your zsh configuration, with hundreds of bundled plugins and themes.
  • Plugins: small add-ons that each solve one annoyance (see below).

Install

sudo apt install zsh
chsh -s $(which zsh)
sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/master/tools/install.sh)"

zsh is already the default shell, so only Oh My Zsh is needed:

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

chsh changes your login shell; it takes effect in the next terminal you open. Oh My Zsh also needs git and curl.

Plugins

Plugin What it gives you
git (bundled) Short aliases for common Git commands: gst = git status, gco = git checkout, gp = git push…
zsh-autosuggestions Suggests the rest of the command from your history, in gray, as you type; press → to accept it.
zsh-syntax-highlighting Colors the command line as you type: a command that does not exist turns red before you press Enter.
fzf (bundled, needs the fzf program) Fuzzy search: Ctrl+R searches your history, Ctrl+T inserts a file path, Alt+C jumps to a folder.

git and fzf come with Oh My Zsh; the other two, and the fzf program itself, are downloaded once:

git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-syntax-highlighting ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-~/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/plugins/zsh-syntax-highlighting
git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-autosuggestions ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-~/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/plugins/zsh-autosuggestions
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/junegunn/fzf.git ~/.fzf && ~/.fzf/install

Configure

Edit the file ~/.zshrc in your home folder:

nano ~/.zshrc

Set the theme and the plugins. Keep zsh-syntax-highlighting last: it must be loaded after the plugins that change the command line.

~/.zshrc
ZSH_THEME="afowler"
plugins=(
    git
    fzf
    zsh-autosuggestions
    zsh-syntax-highlighting
)

Open a new terminal (or run source ~/.zshrc) to apply. Other themes are listed in the Oh My Zsh wiki2.

Key takeaways

  • zsh is the shell, Oh My Zsh manages its configuration, and plugins add features one by one.
  • Autosuggestions and fuzzy history search (Ctrl+R) save the most typing; syntax highlighting catches typos before you run them.

  1. Oh My Zsh and its README. ↩

  2. Oh My Zsh themes. ↩