What it is
Zsh is a Unix shell, an alternative to Bash. It runs Bash-style commands and scripts, and adds smarter tab completion, spelling correction, shared history and a lot of options for customizing the prompt and key bindings. Frameworks such as Oh My Zsh build on it.
Why it’s here
- Better completion. Tab completes options and arguments for many commands, with menus.
- Choice. Some people prefer it to Bash, and macOS uses it by default.
On CoreDesktop
Zsh is installed from pacman, but Bash stays your login shell, and CoreDesktop’s shell setup (prompt, aliases, functions, zoxide and fzf key bindings) is written for Bash. Type zsh to try it. To make it your login shell, run chsh -s /usr/bin/zsh, then set up your own ~/.zshrc.
update keeps Zsh current along with the rest of the pacman packages.