Zsh 5.9.1

Zsh is close enough to bash that most knowledge transfers directly, with a considerably better interactive experience.

What you actually get

Completion is the headline. It completes command options with descriptions, argument values, git branches, and remote paths over SSH. Typing ssh and pressing tab lists your known hosts.

Globbing is more powerful. **/*.txt recurses without extra options, and qualifiers like *(.) match only regular files or *(.om[1]) the most recently modified.

Spelling correction, shared history across sessions, and directory stack navigation.

Frameworks, and the cost

oh-my-zsh is the usual entry point and loads a great deal you will never use, which shows in startup time.

time zsh -i -c exit

Anything over about 200ms is worth investigating. A minimal .zshrc with zsh-autosuggestions, zsh-syntax-highlighting, and a fast prompt gives most of the benefit and starts instantly.

The usual causes of a slow shell are a heavy framework, version managers initialising eagerly, and a prompt that runs git status on every render.

Changing your login shell

chsh -s "$(which zsh)"

This does not affect your scripts. A script runs under whatever its shebang names, so a bash script with a bash shebang runs identically regardless of your interactive shell. Conflating the two causes most of the anxiety about switching.

Should you

Stay on bash if you administer many machines, because being fluent in the shell that is actually there matters more than a nicer local experience.

Zsh if you want a better daily experience without giving up compatibility. This is the common choice and why macOS switched its default.

fish if you value the out-of-box experience most and do not mind translating pasted snippets.

Our shell comparison covers the tradeoffs, and write scripts in bash regardless.

Verify Your Download

Source releases are published with GPG signatures on SourceForge.