How to Set Up the Zsh Shell on Ubuntu

Edited 6 months ago by ExtremeHow Editorial Team

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Shells are an essential part of the Unix and Linux ecosystem. They provide a command line interpreter that allows users to interact with their operating system. While there are many shells available, one of the most popular ones, especially for advanced users and developers, is Zsh (Z Shell). This powerful shell offers advanced features such as easy customization, theme support, and plugins, making it a favorite among many users. In this document, we will take a comprehensive look at how to set up the Zsh shell on an Ubuntu system.

Understanding Zsh and its Benefits
Before proceeding with the setup process, it is important to understand what Zsh is and why one might choose to use it instead of the default shell, Bash, which comes pre-installed on most Linux distributions, including Ubuntu. Zsh is an extended Bourne shell with several enhancements:

• Command and filename completion by default, which is highly configurable
• The ability to automatically correct minor command typing errors
• Powerful history search functionality
• Customizable in terms of themes and prompts
• Rich plugin ecosystem
• Advanced scripting capabilities

These features significantly enhance productivity and can make navigating and using the command line more efficient and enjoyable. Now, let's explore the step-by-step process of installing and configuring Zsh on Ubuntu.

Step 1: Install Zsh
The first step to setting up Zsh is to install it on your Ubuntu system. This can be done easily using apt package manager, which is the default on Ubuntu.

sudo apt update sudo apt install zsh

The above commands will update your package list and install Zsh on your system. You can verify the installation by checking the version of Zsh installed.

zsh --version

If you see the version number, it means Zsh is successfully installed.

Step 2: Change the default shell to Zsh
Once Zsh is installed, you need to make it your default shell so that it starts whenever you open a terminal window. This can be set using chsh command (change shell).

chsh -s $(which zsh)

-s $(which zsh) after chsh command changes the default shell to Zsh. You may be asked to enter your password. After entering it, log out of your current session and log back in, or simply restart your terminal to see Zsh in action.

Step 3: Verify that Zsh is the default shell
You can verify that Zsh is now your default shell by running the following command:

echo $SHELL

This should return /usr/bin/zsh .

Step 4: Configure Zsh with Oh My Zsh
While Zsh itself is highly functional, the Oh My Zsh framework extends its usability by providing an easy way to manage configuration, themes, and plugins.

Install Oh My Zsh:
Install Oh My Zsh by running a single command to download and install the initialization script.

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

The script backs up your existing Zsh configuration file (.zshrc) and installs Oh My Zsh. A new Zsh session may open to notify you of the changes. If so, just close and reopen your terminal.

Step 5: Configuring and using Zsh themes
Zsh is highly customizable and has plenty of themes available for users to personalize the look of their terminal.

Selection of theme:
Open the .zshrc file in your home directory with a text editor:

nano ~/.zshrc

Find the line that begins with ZSH_THEME="robbyrussell" and change the theme to one of the available themes. A list of available themes can be found in the Oh My Zsh themes directory:

ls ~/.oh-my-zsh/themes

For example, you could set the theme to agnoster :

ZSH_THEME="agnoster"

After saving the changes, reload the configuration with the source command:

source ~/.zshrc

Step 6: Extending functionality with Zsh plugins
Plugins in Zsh provide advanced functionality and features that can make your use of the terminal more efficient.

Adding plugins:
To add plugins, edit the .zshrc file again and look for the line with plugins=(git) . You can add other plugins as you wish in brackets. For example:

plugins=(git zsh-autosuggestions zsh-syntax-highlighting)

If these plugins are not part of the default Oh My Zsh setup, you will need to install them manually.

Install Zsh autosuggest:
This plugin suggests commands based on history and completion as you type.

git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-autosuggestions ~/.oh-my-zsh/custom/plugins/zsh-autosuggestions

Install Zsh syntax highlighting:
This plugin provides syntax highlighting as you type commands.

git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-syntax-highlighting.git ~/.oh-my-zsh/custom/plugins/zsh-syntax-highlighting

After installing the plugins, remember to reload your shell configuration:

source ~/.zshrc

Step 7: Customizing Zsh further
Besides themes and plugins, you can further customize Zsh to your liking.

• Aliases: Create shortcuts for commands you use often. For example, to create an alias for listing files, you can add alias ll='ls -alF' to your ~/.zshrc .
• History control: Customize how Zsh saves command history using parameters in your ~/.zshrc
• Prompt customization: Zsh allows deep customization of your command prompt. You can define how you want to display information such as the current directory, branch, or user information.

In short, Zsh is a great shell alternative for anyone looking to increase productivity and have more control over their command-line environment. The setup process on Ubuntu is straightforward and the flexibility it offers is enormous. Once configured with Oh My Zsh, themes, and plugins, you can enjoy a more intuitive and powerful command-line experience.

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