ZSHOPTIONS(1) General Commands Manual ZSHOPTIONS(1)
NAME
zshoptions - zsh options
SPECIFYING OPTIONS
Options are primarily referred to by name. These names are case insen-
sitive and underscores are ignored. For example, `allexport' is equiva-
lent to `A__lleXP_ort'.
The sense of an option name may be inverted by preceding it with `no',
so `setopt No_Beep' is equivalent to `unsetopt beep'. This inversion
can only be done once, so `nonobeep' is not a synonym for `beep'. Simi-
larly, `tify' is not a synonym for `nonotify' (the inversion of `no-
tify').
Some options also have one or more single letter names. There are two
sets of single letter options: one used by default, and another used to
emulate sh/ksh (used when the SH_OPTION_LETTERS option is set). The
single letter options can be used on the shell command line, or with the
set, setopt and unsetopt builtins, as normal Unix options preceded by
`-'.
The sense of the single letter options may be inverted by using `+' in-
stead of `-'. Some of the single letter option names refer to an option
being off, in which case the inversion of that name refers to the option
being on. For example, `+n' is the short name of `exec', and `-n' is
the short name of its inversion, `noexec'.
In strings of single letter options supplied to the shell at startup,
trailing whitespace will be ignored; for example the string `-f '
will be treated just as `-f', but the string `-f i' is an error. This
is because many systems which implement the `#!' mechanism for calling
scripts do not strip trailing whitespace.
It is possible for options to be set within a function scope. See the
description of the option LOCAL_OPTIONS below.
DESCRIPTION OF OPTIONS
In the following list, options set by default in all emulations are
marked <D>; those set by default only in csh, ksh, sh, or zsh emulations
are marked <C>, <K>, <S>, <Z> as appropriate. When listing options (by
`setopt', `unsetopt', `set -o' or `set +o'), those turned on by default
appear in the list prefixed with `no'. Hence (unless KSH_OPTION_PRINT
is set), `setopt' shows all options whose settings are changed from the
default.
Changing Directories
AUTO_CD (-J)
If a command is issued that can't be executed as a normal com-
mand, and the command is the name of a directory, perform the cd
command to that directory. This option is only applicable if the
option SHIN_STDIN is set, i.e. if commands are being read from
standard input. The option is designed for interactive use; it
is recommended that cd be used explicitly in scripts to avoid am-
biguity.
AUTO_PUSHD (-N)
Make cd push the old directory onto the directory stack.
CDABLE_VARS (-T)
If the argument to a cd command (or an implied cd with the
AUTO_CD option set) is not a directory, and does not begin with a
slash, try to expand the expression as if it were preceded by a
`~' (see the section `Filename Expansion').
CD_SILENT
Never print the working directory after a cd (whether explicit or
implied with the AUTO_CD option set). cd normally prints the
working directory when the argument given to it was -, a stack
entry, or the name of a directory found under CDPATH. Note that
this is distinct from pushd's stack-printing behaviour, which is
controlled by PUSHD_SILENT. This option overrides the print-
ing-related effects of POSIX_CD.
CHASE_DOTS
When changing to a directory containing a path segment `..' which
would otherwise be treated as canceling the previous segment in
the path (in other words, `foo/..' would be removed from the
path, or if `..' is the first part of the path, the last part of
the current working directory would be removed), instead resolve
the path to the physical directory. This option is overridden by
CHASE_LINKS.
For example, suppose /foo/bar is a link to the directory
/alt/rod. Without this option set, `cd /foo/bar/..' changes to
/foo; with it set, it changes to /alt. The same applies if the
current directory is /foo/bar and `cd ..' is used. Note that all
other symbolic links in the path will also be resolved.
CHASE_LINKS (-w)
Resolve symbolic links to their true values when changing direc-
tory. This also has the effect of CHASE_DOTS, i.e. a `..' path
segment will be treated as referring to the physical parent, even
if the preceding path segment is a symbolic link.
POSIX_CD <K> <S>
Modifies the behaviour of cd, chdir and pushd commands to make
them more compatible with the POSIX standard. The behaviour with
the option unset is described in the documentation for the cd
builtin in zshbuiltins(1). If the option is set, the shell does
not test for directories beneath the local directory (`.') until
after all directories in cdpath have been tested, and the cd and
chdir commands do not recognise arguments of the form `{+|-}n' as
directory stack entries.
Also, if the option is set, the conditions under which the shell
prints the new directory after changing to it are modified. It
is no longer restricted to interactive shells (although printing
of the directory stack with pushd is still limited to interactive
shells); and any use of a component of CDPATH, including a `.'
but excluding an empty component that is otherwise treated as
`.', causes the directory to be printed.
PUSHD_IGNORE_DUPS
Don't push multiple copies of the same directory onto the direc-
tory stack.
PUSHD_MINUS
Exchanges the meanings of `+' and `-' when used with a number to
specify a directory in the stack.
PUSHD_SILENT (-E)
Do not print the directory stack after pushd or popd.
PUSHD_TO_HOME (-D)
Have pushd with no arguments act like `pushd $HOME'.
Completion
ALWAYS_LAST_PROMPT <D>
If unset, key functions that list completions try to return to
the last prompt if given a numeric argument. If set these func-
tions try to return to the last prompt if given no numeric argu-
ment.
ALWAYS_TO_END
If a completion is performed with the cursor within a word, and a
full completion is inserted, the cursor is moved to the end of
the word. That is, the cursor is moved to the end of the word if
either a single match is inserted or menu completion is per-
formed.
AUTO_LIST (-9) <D>
Automatically list choices on an ambiguous completion.
AUTO_MENU <D>
Automatically use menu completion after the second consecutive
request for completion, for example by pressing the tab key re-
peatedly. This option is overridden by MENU_COMPLETE.
AUTO_NAME_DIRS
Any parameter that is set to the absolute name of a directory im-
mediately becomes a name for that directory, that will be used by
the `%~' and related prompt sequences, and will be available when
completion is performed on a word starting with `~'. (Otherwise,
the parameter must be used in the form `~param' first.)
AUTO_PARAM_KEYS <D>
If a parameter name was completed and a following character (nor-
mally a space) automatically inserted, and the next character
typed is one of those that have to come directly after the name
(like `}', `:', etc.), the automatically added character is
deleted, so that the character typed comes immediately after the
parameter name. Completion in a brace expansion is affected sim-
ilarly: the added character is a `,', which will be removed if
`}' is typed next.
AUTO_PARAM_SLASH <D>
If a parameter is completed whose content is the name of a direc-
tory, then add a trailing slash instead of a space.
AUTO_REMOVE_SLASH <D>
When the last character resulting from a completion is a slash
and the next character typed is a word delimiter, a slash, or a
character that ends a command (such as a semicolon or an amper-
sand), remove the slash.
BASH_AUTO_LIST
On an ambiguous completion, automatically list choices when the
completion function is called twice in succession. This takes
precedence over AUTO_LIST. The setting of LIST_AMBIGUOUS is re-
spected. If AUTO_MENU is set, the menu behaviour will then start
with the third press. Note that this will not work with
MENU_COMPLETE, since repeated completion calls immediately cycle
through the list in that case.
COMPLETE_ALIASES
Prevents aliases on the command line from being internally sub-
stituted before completion is attempted. The effect is to make
the alias a distinct command for completion purposes.
COMPLETE_IN_WORD
If unset, the cursor is set to the end of the word if completion
is started. Otherwise it stays there and completion is done from
both ends.
GLOB_COMPLETE
When the current word has a glob pattern, do not insert all the
words resulting from the expansion but generate matches as for
completion and cycle through them like MENU_COMPLETE. The matches
are generated as if a `*' was added to the end of the word, or
inserted at the cursor when COMPLETE_IN_WORD is set. This actu-
ally uses pattern matching, not globbing, so it works not only
for files but for any completion, such as options, user names,
etc.
Note that when the pattern matcher is used, matching control (for
example, case-insensitive or anchored matching) cannot be used.
This limitation only applies when the current word contains a
pattern; simply turning on the GLOB_COMPLETE option does not have
this effect.
HASH_LIST_ALL <D>
Whenever a command completion or spelling correction is at-
tempted, make sure the entire command path is hashed first. This
makes the first completion slower but avoids false reports of
spelling errors.
LIST_AMBIGUOUS <D>
This option works when AUTO_LIST or BASH_AUTO_LIST is also set.
If there is an unambiguous prefix to insert on the command line,
that is done without a completion list being displayed; in other
words, auto-listing behaviour only takes place when nothing would
be inserted. In the case of BASH_AUTO_LIST, this means that the
list will be delayed to the third call of the function.
LIST_BEEP <D>
Beep on an ambiguous completion. More accurately, this forces
the completion widgets to return status 1 on an ambiguous comple-
tion, which causes the shell to beep if the option BEEP is also
set; this may be modified if completion is called from a user-de-
fined widget.
LIST_PACKED
Try to make the completion list smaller (occupying less lines) by
printing the matches in columns with different widths.
LIST_ROWS_FIRST
Lay out the matches in completion lists sorted horizontally, that
is, the second match is to the right of the first one, not under
it as usual.
LIST_TYPES (-X) <D>
When listing files that are possible completions, show the type
of each file with a trailing identifying mark.
MENU_COMPLETE (-Y)
On an ambiguous completion, instead of listing possibilities or
beeping, insert the first match immediately. Then when comple-
tion is requested again, remove the first match and insert the
second match, etc. When there are no more matches, go back to
the first one again. reverse-menu-complete may be used to loop
through the list in the other direction. This option overrides
AUTO_MENU.
REC_EXACT (-S)
If the string on the command line exactly matches one of the pos-
sible completions, it is accepted, even if there is another com-
pletion (i.e. that string with something else added) that also
matches.
Expansion and Globbing
BAD_PATTERN (+2) <C> <Z>
If a pattern for filename generation is badly formed, print an
error message. (If this option is unset, the pattern will be
left unchanged.)
BARE_GLOB_QUAL <Z>
In a glob pattern, treat a trailing set of parentheses as a qual-
ifier list, if it contains no `|', `(' or (if special) `~' char-
acters. See the section `Filename Generation'.
BRACE_CCL
Expand expressions in braces which would not otherwise undergo
brace expansion to a lexically ordered list of all the charac-
ters. See the section `Brace Expansion'.
CASE_GLOB <D>
Make globbing (filename generation) sensitive to case. Note that
other uses of patterns are always sensitive to case. If the op-
tion is unset, the presence of any character which is special to
filename generation will cause case-insensitive matching. For
example, cvs(/) can match the directory CVS owing to the presence
of the globbing flag (unless the option BARE_GLOB_QUAL is unset).
CASE_MATCH <D>
Make regular expressions using the zsh/regex module (including
matches with =~) sensitive to case.
CASE_PATHS
If CASE_PATHS is not set (the default), CASE_GLOB affects the in-
terpretation of every path component, whenever a special charac-
ter appears in any component. When CASE_PATHS is set, file path
components that do not contain special filename generation char-
acters are always sensitive to case, thus restricting
NO_CASE_GLOB to components that contain globbing characters.
Note that if the filesystem itself is not sensitive to case, then
CASE_PATHS has no effect.
CSH_NULL_GLOB <C>
If a pattern for filename generation has no matches, delete the
pattern from the argument list; do not report an error unless all
the patterns in a command have no matches. Overrides NOMATCH.
EQUALS <Z>
Perform = filename expansion. (See the section `Filename Expan-
sion'.)
EXTENDED_GLOB
Treat the `#', `~' and `^' characters as part of patterns for
filename generation, etc. (An initial unquoted `~' always pro-
duces named directory expansion.)
FORCE_FLOAT
Constants in arithmetic evaluation will be treated as floating
point even without the use of a decimal point; the values of in-
teger variables will be converted to floating point when used in
arithmetic expressions. Integers in any base will be converted.
GLOB (+F, ksh: +f) <D>
Perform filename generation (globbing). (See the section `File-
name Generation'.)
GLOB_ASSIGN <C>
If this option is set, filename generation (globbing) is per-
formed on the right hand side of scalar parameter assignments of
the form `name=pattern (e.g. `foo=*'). If the result has more
than one word the parameter will become an array with those words
as arguments. This option is provided for backwards compatibility
only: globbing is always performed on the right hand side of ar-
ray assignments of the form `name=(value)' (e.g. `foo=(*)') and
this form is recommended for clarity; with this option set, it is
not possible to predict whether the result will be an array or a
scalar.
GLOB_DOTS (-4)
Do not require a leading `.' in a filename to be matched explic-
itly.
GLOB_STAR_SHORT
When this option is set and the default zsh-style globbing is in
effect, the pattern `**/*' can be abbreviated to `**' and the
pattern `***/*' can be abbreviated to ***. Hence `**.c' finds a
file ending in .c in any subdirectory, and `***.c' does the same
while also following symbolic links. A / immediately after the
`**' or `***' forces the pattern to be treated as the unabbrevi-
ated form.
GLOB_SUBST <C> <K> <S>
Treat any characters resulting from parameter expansion as being
eligible for filename expansion and filename generation, and any
characters resulting from command substitution as being eligible
for filename generation. Braces (and commas in between) do not
become eligible for expansion.
HIST_SUBST_PATTERN
Substitutions using the :s and :& history modifiers are performed
with pattern matching instead of string matching. This occurs
wherever history modifiers are valid, including glob qualifiers
and parameters. See the section `Modifiers' in zshexpn(1).
IGNORE_BRACES (-I) <S>
Do not perform brace expansion. For historical reasons this also
includes the effect of the IGNORE_CLOSE_BRACES option.
IGNORE_CLOSE_BRACES
When neither this option nor IGNORE_BRACES is set, a sole close
brace character `}' is syntactically significant at any point on
a command line. This has the effect that no semicolon or newline
is necessary before the brace terminating a function or current
shell construct. When either option is set, a closing brace is
syntactically significant only in command position. Unlike IG-
NORE_BRACES, this option does not disable brace expansion.
For example, with both options unset a function may be defined in
the following fashion:
args() { echo $# }
while if either option is set, this does not work and something
equivalent to the following is required:
args() { echo $#; }
KSH_GLOB <K>
In pattern matching, the interpretation of parentheses is af-
fected by a preceding `@', `*', `+', `?' or `!'. See the section
`Filename Generation'.
MAGIC_EQUAL_SUBST
All unquoted arguments of the form `anything=expression' appear-
ing after the command name have filename expansion (that is,
where expression has a leading `~' or `=') performed on expres-
sion as if it were a parameter assignment. The argument is not
otherwise treated specially; it is passed to the command as a
single argument, and not used as an actual parameter assignment.
For example, in echo foo=~/bar:~/rod, both occurrences of ~ would
be replaced. Note that this happens anyway with typeset and sim-
ilar statements.
This option respects the setting of the KSH_TYPESET option. In
other words, if both options are in effect, arguments looking
like assignments will not undergo word splitting.
MARK_DIRS (-8, ksh: -X)
Append a trailing `/' to all directory names resulting from file-
name generation (globbing).
MULTIBYTE <D>
Respect multibyte characters when found in strings. When this
option is set, strings are examined using the system library to
determine how many bytes form a character, depending on the cur-
rent locale. This affects the way characters are counted in pat-
tern matching, parameter values and various delimiters.
The option is on by default if the shell was compiled with MULTI-
BYTE_SUPPORT; otherwise it is off by default and has no effect if
turned on.
If the option is off a single byte is always treated as a single
character. This setting is designed purely for examining strings
known to contain raw bytes or other values that may not be char-
acters in the current locale. It is not necessary to unset the
option merely because the character set for the current locale
does not contain multibyte characters.
The option does not affect the shell's editor, which always uses
the locale to determine multibyte characters. This is because
the character set displayed by the terminal emulator is indepen-
dent of shell settings.
NOMATCH (+3) <C> <Z>
If a pattern for filename generation has no matches, print an er-
ror, instead of leaving it unchanged in the argument list. This
also applies to file expansion of an initial `~' or `='.
NULL_GLOB (-G)
If a pattern for filename generation has no matches, delete the
pattern from the argument list instead of reporting an error.
Overrides NOMATCH.
NUMERIC_GLOB_SORT
If numeric filenames are matched by a filename generation pat-
tern, sort the filenames numerically rather than lexicographi-
cally.
RC_EXPAND_PARAM (-P)
Array expansions of the form `foo${xx}bar', where the parameter
xx is set to (a b c), are substituted with `fooabar foobbar
foocbar' instead of the default `fooa b cbar'. Note that an
empty array will therefore cause all arguments to be removed.
REMATCH_PCRE
If set, regular expression matching with the =~ operator will use
Perl-Compatible Regular Expressions from the PCRE library. (The
zsh/pcre module must be available.) If not set, regular expres-
sions will use the extended regexp syntax provided by the system
libraries.
SH_GLOB <K> <S>
Disables the special meaning of `(', `|', `)' and '<' for glob-
bing the result of parameter and command substitutions, and in
some other places where the shell accepts patterns. If SH_GLOB
is set but KSH_GLOB is not, the shell allows the interpretation
of subshell expressions enclosed in parentheses in some cases
where there is no space before the opening parenthesis, e.g.
!(true) is interpreted as if there were a space after the !.
This option is set by default if zsh is invoked as sh or ksh.
UNSET (+u, ksh: +u) <K> <S> <Z>
Treat unset parameters as if they were empty when substituting,
and as if they were zero when reading their values in arithmetic
expansion and arithmetic commands. Otherwise they are treated as
an error.
WARN_CREATE_GLOBAL
Print a warning message when a global parameter is created in a
function by an assignment or in math context. This often indi-
cates that a parameter has not been declared local when it should
have been. Parameters explicitly declared global from within a
function using typeset -g do not cause a warning. Note that
there is no warning when a local parameter is assigned to in a
nested function, which may also indicate an error.
WARN_NESTED_VAR
Print a warning message when an existing parameter from an en-
closing function scope, or global, is set in a function by an as-
signment or in math context. Assignment to shell special parame-
ters does not cause a warning. This is the companion to
WARN_CREATE_GLOBAL as in this case the warning is only printed
when a parameter is not created. Where possible, use of typeset
-g to set the parameter suppresses the error, but note that this
needs to be used every time the parameter is set. To restrict
the effect of this option to a single function scope, use `func-
tions -W'.
For example, the following code produces a warning for the as-
signment inside the function nested as that overrides the value
within toplevel
toplevel() {
local foo="in fn"
nested
}
nested() {
foo="in nested"
}
setopt warn_nested_var
toplevel
History
APPEND_HISTORY <D>
If this is set, zsh sessions will append their history list to
the history file, rather than replace it. Thus, multiple parallel
zsh sessions will all have the new entries from their history
lists added to the history file, in the order that they exit.
The file will still be periodically re-written to trim it when
the number of lines grows 20% beyond the value specified by
$SAVEHIST (see also the HIST_SAVE_BY_COPY option).
BANG_HIST (+K) <C> <Z>
Perform textual history expansion, csh-style, treating the char-
acter `!' specially.
EXTENDED_HISTORY <C>
Save each command's beginning timestamp (in seconds since the
epoch) and the duration (in seconds) to the history file. The
format of this prefixed data is:
`: <beginning time>:<elapsed seconds>;<command>'.
HIST_ALLOW_CLOBBER
Add `|' to output redirections in the history. This allows his-
tory references to clobber files even when CLOBBER is unset.
HIST_BEEP <D>
Beep in ZLE when a widget attempts to access a history entry
which isn't there.
HIST_EXPIRE_DUPS_FIRST
If the internal history needs to be trimmed to add the current
command line, setting this option will cause the oldest history
event that has a duplicate to be lost before losing a unique
event from the list. You should be sure to set the value of
HISTSIZE to a larger number than SAVEHIST in order to give you
some room for the duplicated events, otherwise this option will
behave just like HIST_IGNORE_ALL_DUPS once the history fills up
with unique events.
HIST_FCNTL_LOCK
When writing out the history file, by default zsh uses ad-hoc
file locking to avoid known problems with locking on some operat-
ing systems. With this option locking is done by means of the
system's fcntl call, where this method is available. On recent
operating systems this may provide better performance, in partic-
ular avoiding history corruption when files are stored on NFS.
HIST_FIND_NO_DUPS
When searching for history entries in the line editor, do not
display duplicates of a line previously found, even if the dupli-
cates are not contiguous.
HIST_IGNORE_ALL_DUPS
If a new command line being added to the history list duplicates
an older one, the older command is removed from the list (even if
it is not the previous event).
HIST_IGNORE_DUPS (-h)
Do not enter command lines into the history list if they are du-
plicates of the previous event.
HIST_IGNORE_SPACE (-g)
Remove command lines from the history list when the first charac-
ter on the line is a space, or when one of the expanded aliases
contains a leading space. Only normal aliases (not global or
suffix aliases) have this behaviour. Note that the command
lingers in the internal history until the next command is entered
before it vanishes, allowing you to briefly reuse or edit the
line. If you want to make it vanish right away without entering
another command, type a space and press return.
HIST_LEX_WORDS
By default, shell history that is read in from files is split
into words on all white space. This means that arguments with
quoted whitespace are not correctly handled, with the consequence
that references to words in history lines that have been read
from a file may be inaccurate. When this option is set, words
read in from a history file are divided up in a similar fashion
to normal shell command line handling. Although this produces
more accurately delimited words, if the size of the history file
is large this can be slow. Trial and error is necessary to de-
cide.
HIST_NO_FUNCTIONS
Remove function definitions from the history list. Note that the
function lingers in the internal history until the next command
is entered before it vanishes, allowing you to briefly reuse or
edit the definition.
HIST_NO_STORE
Remove the history (fc -l) command from the history list when in-
voked. Note that the command lingers in the internal history un-
til the next command is entered before it vanishes, allowing you
to briefly reuse or edit the line.
HIST_REDUCE_BLANKS
Remove superfluous blanks from each command line being added to
the history list.
HIST_SAVE_BY_COPY <D>
When the history file is re-written, we normally write out a copy
of the file named $HISTFILE.new and then rename it over the old
one. However, if this option is unset, we instead truncate the
old history file and write out the new version in-place. If one
of the history-appending options is enabled, this option only has
an effect when the enlarged history file needs to be re-written
to trim it down to size. Disable this only if you have special
needs, as doing so makes it possible to lose history entries if
zsh gets interrupted during the save.
When writing out a copy of the history file, zsh preserves the
old file's permissions and group information, but will refuse to
write out a new file if it would change the history file's owner.
HIST_SAVE_NO_DUPS
When writing out the history file, older commands that duplicate
newer ones are omitted.
HIST_VERIFY
Whenever the user enters a line with history expansion, don't ex-
ecute the line directly; instead, perform history expansion and
reload the line into the editing buffer.
INC_APPEND_HISTORY
This option works like APPEND_HISTORY except that new history
lines are added to the $HISTFILE incrementally (as soon as they
are entered), rather than waiting until the shell exits. The
file will still be periodically re-written to trim it when the
number of lines grows 20% beyond the value specified by $SAVEHIST
(see also the HIST_SAVE_BY_COPY option).
INC_APPEND_HISTORY_TIME
This option is a variant of INC_APPEND_HISTORY in which, where
possible, the history entry is written out to the file after the
command is finished, so that the time taken by the command is
recorded correctly in the history file in EXTENDED_HISTORY for-
mat. This means that the history entry will not be available im-
mediately from other instances of the shell that are using the
same history file.
This option is only useful if INC_APPEND_HISTORY and SHARE_HIS-
TORY are turned off. The three options should be considered mu-
tually exclusive.
SHARE_HISTORY <K>
This option both imports new commands from the history file, and
also causes your typed commands to be appended to the history
file (the latter is like specifying INC_APPEND_HISTORY, which
should be turned off if this option is in effect). The history
lines are also output with timestamps ala EXTENDED_HISTORY (which
makes it easier to find the spot where we left off reading the
file after it gets re-written).
By default, history movement commands visit the imported lines as
well as the local lines, but you can toggle this on and off with
the set-local-history zle binding. It is also possible to create
a zle widget that will make some commands ignore imported com-
mands, and some include them.
If you find that you want more control over when commands get im-
ported, you may wish to turn SHARE_HISTORY off, INC_APPEND_HIS-
TORY or INC_APPEND_HISTORY_TIME (see above) on, and then manually
import commands whenever you need them using `fc -RI'.
Initialisation
ALL_EXPORT (-a, ksh: -a)
All parameters subsequently defined are automatically exported.
GLOBAL_EXPORT <Z>
If this option is set, passing the -x flag to the builtins de-
clare, float, integer, readonly and typeset (but not local) will
also set the -g flag; hence parameters exported to the environ-
ment will not be made local to the enclosing function, unless
they were already or the flag +g is given explicitly. If the op-
tion is unset, exported parameters will be made local in just the
same way as any other parameter.
This option is set by default for backward compatibility; it is
not recommended that its behaviour be relied upon. Note that the
builtin export always sets both the -x and -g flags, and hence
its effect extends beyond the scope of the enclosing function;
this is the most portable way to achieve this behaviour.
GLOBAL_RCS (+d) <D>
If this option is unset, the startup files /etc/zsh/zprofile,
/etc/zsh/zshrc, /etc/zsh/zlogin and /etc/zsh/zlogout will not be
run. It can be disabled and re-enabled at any time, including
inside local startup files (.zshrc, etc.).
RCS (+f) <D>
After /etc/zsh/zshenv is sourced on startup, source the .zshenv,
/etc/zsh/zprofile, .zprofile, /etc/zsh/zshrc, .zshrc,
/etc/zsh/zlogin, .zlogin, and .zlogout files, as described in the
section `Files'. If this option is unset, the /etc/zsh/zshenv
file is still sourced, but any of the others will not be; it can
be set at any time to prevent the remaining startup files after
the currently executing one from being sourced.
Input/Output
ALIASES <D>
Expand aliases.
CLOBBER (+C, ksh: +C) <D>
Allows `>' redirection to truncate existing files. Otherwise
`>!' or `>|' must be used to truncate a file.
If the option is not set, and the option APPEND_CREATE is also
not set, `>>!' or `>>|' must be used to create a file. If either
option is set, `>>' may be used.
CLOBBER_EMPTY
This option is only used if the option CLOBBER is not set: note
that it is set by default.
If this option is set, then regular files of zero length may be
ovewritten (`clobbered'). Note that it is possible another
process has written to the file between this test and use of the
file by the current process. This option should therefore not be
used in cases where files to be clobbered may be written to asyn-
chronously.
CORRECT (-0)
Try to correct the spelling of commands. Note that, when the
HASH_LIST_ALL option is not set or when some directories in the
path are not readable, this may falsely report spelling errors
the first time some commands are used.
The shell variable CORRECT_IGNORE may be set to a pattern to
match words that will never be offered as corrections.
CORRECT_ALL (-O)
Try to correct the spelling of all arguments in a line.
The shell variable CORRECT_IGNORE_FILE may be set to a pattern to
match file names that will never be offered as corrections.
DVORAK Use the Dvorak keyboard instead of the standard qwerty keyboard
as a basis for examining spelling mistakes for the CORRECT and
CORRECT_ALL options and the spell-word editor command.
FLOW_CONTROL <D>
If this option is unset, output flow control via start/stop char-
acters (usually assigned to ^S/^Q) is disabled in the shell's ed-
itor.
IGNORE_EOF (-7)
Do not exit on end-of-file. Require the use of exit or logout
instead. However, ten consecutive EOFs will cause the shell to
exit anyway, to avoid the shell hanging if its tty goes away.
Also, if this option is set and the Zsh Line Editor is used, wid-
gets implemented by shell functions can be bound to EOF (normally
Control-D) without printing the normal warning message. This
works only for normal widgets, not for completion widgets.
INTERACTIVE_COMMENTS (-k) <K> <S>
Allow comments even in interactive shells.
HASH_CMDS <D>
Note the location of each command the first time it is executed.
Subsequent invocations of the same command will use the saved lo-
cation, avoiding a path search. If this option is unset, no path
hashing is done at all. However, when CORRECT is set, commands
whose names do not appear in the functions or aliases hash tables
are hashed in order to avoid reporting them as spelling errors.
HASH_DIRS <D>
Whenever a command name is hashed, hash the directory containing
it, as well as all directories that occur earlier in the path.
Has no effect if neither HASH_CMDS nor CORRECT is set.
HASH_EXECUTABLES_ONLY
When hashing commands because of HASH_CMDS, check that the file
to be hashed is actually an executable. This option is unset by
default as if the path contains a large number of commands, or
consists of many remote files, the additional tests can take a
long time. Trial and error is needed to show if this option is
beneficial.
MAIL_WARNING (-U)
Print a warning message if a mail file has been accessed since
the shell last checked.
PATH_DIRS (-Q)
Perform a path search even on command names with slashes in them.
Thus if `/usr/local/bin' is in the user's path, and he or she
types `X11/xinit', the command `/usr/local/bin/X11/xinit' will be
executed (assuming it exists). Commands explicitly beginning
with `/', `./' or `../' are not subject to the path search. This
also applies to the `.' and source builtins.
Note that subdirectories of the current directory are always
searched for executables specified in this form. This takes
place before any search indicated by this option, and regardless
of whether `.' or the current directory appear in the command
search path.
PATH_SCRIPT <K> <S>
If this option is not set, a script passed as the first non-op-
tion argument to the shell must contain the name of the file to
open. If this option is set, and the script does not specify a
directory path, the script is looked for first in the current di-
rectory, then in the command path. See the section INVOCATION in
zsh(1).
PRINT_EIGHT_BIT
Print eight bit characters literally in completion lists, etc.
This option is not necessary if your system correctly returns the
printability of eight bit characters (see ctype(3)).
PRINT_EXIT_VALUE (-1)
Print the exit value of programs with non-zero exit status. This
is only available at the command line in interactive shells.
RC_QUOTES
Allow the character sequence `''' to signify a single quote
within singly quoted strings. Note this does not apply in quoted
strings using the format $'...', where a backslashed single quote
can be used.
RM_STAR_SILENT (-H) <K> <S>
Do not query the user before executing `rm *' or `rm path/*'.
RM_STAR_WAIT
If querying the user before executing `rm *' or `rm path/*',
first wait ten seconds and ignore anything typed in that time.
This avoids the problem of reflexively answering `yes' to the
query when one didn't really mean it. The wait and query can al-
ways be avoided by expanding the `*' in ZLE (with tab).
SHORT_LOOPS <C> <Z>
Allow the short forms of for, repeat, select, if, and function
constructs.
SHORT_REPEAT
Allow the short form repeat as SHORT_LOOPS but without enabling
it for the other constructs.
SUN_KEYBOARD_HACK (-L)
If a line ends with a backquote, and there are an odd number of
backquotes on the line, ignore the trailing backquote. This is
useful on some keyboards where the return key is too small, and
the backquote key lies annoyingly close to it. As an alternative
the variable KEYBOARD_HACK lets you choose the character to be
removed.
Job Control
AUTO_CONTINUE
With this option set, stopped jobs that are removed from the job
table with the disown builtin command are automatically sent a
CONT signal to make them running.
AUTO_RESUME (-W)
Treat single word simple commands without redirection as candi-
dates for resumption of an existing job.
BG_NICE (-6) <C> <Z>
Run all background jobs at a lower priority. This option is set
by default.
CHECK_JOBS <Z>
Report the status of background and suspended jobs before exiting
a shell with job control; a second attempt to exit the shell will
succeed. NO_CHECK_JOBS is best used only in combination with
NO_HUP, else such jobs will be killed automatically.
The check is omitted if the commands run from the previous com-
mand line included a `jobs' command, since it is assumed the user
is aware that there are background or suspended jobs. A `jobs'
command run from one of the hook functions defined in the section
SPECIAL FUNCTIONS in zshmisc(1) is not counted for this purpose.
CHECK_RUNNING_JOBS <Z>
Check for both running and suspended jobs when CHECK_JOBS is en-
abled. When this option is disabled, zsh checks only for sus-
pended jobs, which matches the default behavior of bash.
This option has no effect unless CHECK_JOBS is set.
HUP <Z>
Send the HUP signal to running jobs when the shell exits.
LONG_LIST_JOBS (-R)
Print job notifications in the long format by default.
MONITOR (-m, ksh: -m)
Allow job control. Set by default in interactive shells.
NOTIFY (-5, ksh: -b) <Z>
Report the status of background jobs immediately, rather than
waiting until just before printing a prompt.
POSIX_JOBS <K> <S>
This option makes job control more compliant with the POSIX stan-
dard.
When the option is not set, the MONITOR option is unset on entry
to subshells, so that job control is no longer active. When the
option is set, the MONITOR option and job control remain active
in the subshell, but note that the subshell has no access to jobs
in the parent shell.
When the option is not set, jobs put in the background or fore-
ground with bg or fg are displayed with the same information that
would be reported by jobs. When the option is set, only the text
is printed. The output from jobs itself is not affected by the
option.
When the option is not set, job information from the parent shell
is saved for output within a subshell (for example, within a
pipeline). When the option is set, the output of jobs is empty
until a job is started within the subshell.
In previous versions of the shell, it was necessary to enable
POSIX_JOBS in order for the builtin command wait to return the
status of background jobs that had already exited. This is no
longer the case.
Prompting
PROMPT_BANG <K>
If set, `!' is treated specially in prompt expansion. See EXPAN-
SION OF PROMPT SEQUENCES in zshmisc(1).
PROMPT_CR (+V) <D>
Print a carriage return just before printing a prompt in the line
editor. This is on by default as multi-line editing is only pos-
sible if the editor knows where the start of the line appears.
PROMPT_SP <D>
Attempt to preserve a partial line (i.e. a line that did not end
with a newline) that would otherwise be covered up by the command
prompt due to the PROMPT_CR option. This works by outputting
some cursor-control characters, including a series of spaces,
that should make the terminal wrap to the next line when a par-
tial line is present (note that this is only successful if your
terminal has automatic margins, which is typical).
When a partial line is preserved, by default you will see an in-
verse+bold character at the end of the partial line: a `%' for a
normal user or a `#' for root. If set, the shell parameter
PROMPT_EOL_MARK can be used to customize how the end of partial
lines are shown.
NOTE: if the PROMPT_CR option is not set, enabling this option
will have no effect. This option is on by default.
PROMPT_PERCENT <C> <Z>
If set, `%' is treated specially in prompt expansion. See EXPAN-
SION OF PROMPT SEQUENCES in zshmisc(1).
PROMPT_SUBST <K> <S>
If set, parameter expansion, command substitution and arithmetic
expansion are performed in prompts. Substitutions within prompts
do not affect the command status.
TRANSIENT_RPROMPT
Remove any right prompt from display when accepting a command
line. This may be useful with terminals with other cut/paste
methods.
Scripts and Functions
ALIAS_FUNC_DEF <S>
By default, zsh does not allow the definition of functions using
the `name ()' syntax if name was expanded as an alias: this
causes an error. This is usually the desired behaviour, as oth-
erwise the combination of an alias and a function based on the
same definition can easily cause problems.
When this option is set, aliases can be used for defining func-
tions.
For example, consider the following definitions as they might oc-
cur in a startup file.
alias foo=bar
foo() {
print This probably does not do what you expect.
}
Here, foo is expanded as an alias to bar before the () is encoun-
tered, so the function defined would be named bar. By default
this is instead an error in native mode. Note that quoting any
part of the function name, or using the keyword function, avoids
the problem, so is recommended when the function name can also be
an alias.
C_BASES
Output hexadecimal numbers in the standard C format, for example
`0xFF' instead of the usual `16#FF'. If the option OCTAL_ZEROES
is also set (it is not by default), octal numbers will be treated
similarly and hence appear as `077' instead of `8#77'. This op-
tion has no effect on the choice of the output base, nor on the
output of bases other than hexadecimal and octal. Note that
these formats will be understood on input irrespective of the
setting of C_BASES.
C_PRECEDENCES
This alters the precedence of arithmetic operators to be more
like C and other programming languages; the section ARITHMETIC
EVALUATION in zshmisc(1) has an explicit list.
DEBUG_BEFORE_CMD <D>
Run the DEBUG trap before each command; otherwise it is run after
each command. Setting this option mimics the behaviour of ksh
93; with the option unset the behaviour is that of ksh 88.
ERR_EXIT (-e, ksh: -e)
If a command has a non-zero exit status, execute the ZERR trap,
if set, and exit. This is disabled while running initialization
scripts.
The behaviour is also disabled inside DEBUG traps. In this case
the option is handled specially: it is unset on entry to the
trap. If the option DEBUG_BEFORE_CMD is set, as it is by de-
fault, and the option ERR_EXIT is found to have been set on exit,
then the command for which the DEBUG trap is being executed is
skipped. The option is restored after the trap exits.
Non-zero status in a command list containing && or || is ignored
for commands not at the end of the list. Hence
false && true
does not trigger exit.
Exiting due to ERR_EXIT has certain interactions with asynchro-
nous jobs noted in the section JOBS in zshmisc(1).
ERR_RETURN
If a command has a non-zero exit status, return immediately from
the enclosing function. The logic is similar to that for
ERR_EXIT, except that an implicit return statement is executed
instead of an exit. This will trigger an exit at the outermost
level of a non-interactive script.
Normally this option inherits the behaviour of ERR_EXIT that code
followed by `&&' `||' does not trigger a return. Hence in the
following:
summit || true
no return is forced as the combined effect always has a zero re-
turn status.
Note. however, that if summit in the above example is itself a
function, code inside it is considered separately: it may force a
return from summit (assuming the option remains set within sum-
mit), but not from the enclosing context. This behaviour is dif-
ferent from ERR_EXIT which is unaffected by function scope.
EVAL_LINENO <Z>
If set, line numbers of expressions evaluated using the builtin
eval are tracked separately of the enclosing environment. This
applies both to the parameter LINENO and the line number output
by the prompt escape %i. If the option is set, the prompt escape
%N will output the string `(eval)' instead of the script or func-
tion name as an indication. (The two prompt escapes are typi-
cally used in the parameter PS4 to be output when the option
XTRACE is set.) If EVAL_LINENO is unset, the line number of the
surrounding script or function is retained during the evaluation.
EXEC (+n, ksh: +n) <D>
Do execute commands. Without this option, commands are read and
checked for syntax errors, but not executed. This option cannot
be turned off in an interactive shell, except when `-n' is sup-
plied to the shell at startup.
FUNCTION_ARGZERO <C> <Z>
When executing a shell function or sourcing a script, set $0 tem-
porarily to the name of the function/script. Note that toggling
FUNCTION_ARGZERO from on to off (or off to on) does not change
the current value of $0. Only the state upon entry to the func-
tion or script has an effect. Compare POSIX_ARGZERO.
LOCAL_LOOPS
When this option is not set, the effect of break and continue
commands may propagate outside function scope, affecting loops in
calling functions. When the option is set in a calling function,
a break or a continue that is not caught within a called function
(regardless of the setting of the option within that function)
produces a warning and the effect is cancelled.
LOCAL_OPTIONS <K>
If this option is set at the point of return from a shell func-
tion, most options (including this one) which were in force upon
entry to the function are restored; options that are not restored
are PRIVILEGED and RESTRICTED. Otherwise, only this option, and
the LOCAL_LOOPS, XTRACE and PRINT_EXIT_VALUE options are re-
stored. Hence if this is explicitly unset by a shell function
the other options in force at the point of return will remain so.
A shell function can also guarantee itself a known shell configu-
ration with a formulation like `emulate -L zsh'; the -L activates
LOCAL_OPTIONS.
LOCAL_PATTERNS
If this option is set at the point of return from a shell func-
tion, the state of pattern disables, as set with the builtin com-
mand `disable -p', is restored to what it was when the function
was entered. The behaviour of this option is similar to the ef-
fect of LOCAL_OPTIONS on options; hence `emulate -L sh' (or in-
deed any other emulation with the -L option) activates LOCAL_PAT-
TERNS.
LOCAL_TRAPS <K>
If this option is set when a signal trap is set inside a func-
tion, then the previous status of the trap for that signal will
be restored when the function exits. Note that this option must
be set prior to altering the trap behaviour in a function; unlike
LOCAL_OPTIONS, the value on exit from the function is irrelevant.
However, it does not need to be set before any global trap for
that to be correctly restored by a function. For example,
unsetopt localtraps
trap - INT
fn() { setopt localtraps; trap '' INT; sleep 3; }
will restore normal handling of SIGINT after the function exits.
MULTI_FUNC_DEF <Z>
Allow definitions of multiple functions at once in the form `fn1
fn2...()'; if the option is not set, this causes a parse error.
Definition of multiple functions with the function keyword is al-
ways allowed. Multiple function definitions are not often used
and can cause obscure errors.
MULTIOS <Z>
Perform implicit tees or cats when multiple redirections are at-
tempted (see the section `Redirection').
OCTAL_ZEROES <S>
Interpret any integer constant beginning with a 0 as octal, per
IEEE Std 1003.2-1992 (ISO 9945-2:1993). This is not enabled by
default as it causes problems with parsing of, for example, date
and time strings with leading zeroes.
Sequences of digits indicating a numeric base such as the `08'
component in `08#77' are always interpreted as decimal, regard-
less of leading zeroes.
PIPE_FAIL
By default, when a pipeline exits the exit status recorded by the
shell and returned by the shell variable $? reflects that of the
rightmost element of a pipeline. If this option is set, the exit
status instead reflects the status of the rightmost element of
the pipeline that was non-zero, or zero if all elements exited
with zero status.
SOURCE_TRACE
If set, zsh will print an informational message announcing the
name of each file it loads. The format of the output is similar
to that for the XTRACE option, with the message <sourcetrace>. A
file may be loaded by the shell itself when it starts up and
shuts down (Startup/Shutdown Files) or by the use of the `source'
and `dot' builtin commands.
TYPESET_SILENT
If this is unset, executing any of the `typeset' family of com-
mands with no options and a list of parameters that have no val-
ues to be assigned but already exist will display the value of
the parameter. If the option is set, they will only be shown
when parameters are selected with the `-m' option. The option
`-p' is available whether or not the option is set.
TYPESET_TO_UNSET <K> <S>
When declaring a new parameter with any of the `typeset' family
of related commands, the parameter remains unset unless and until
a value is explicitly assigned to it, either in the `typeset'
command itself or as a later assignment statement.
VERBOSE (-v, ksh: -v)
Print shell input lines as they are read.
XTRACE (-x, ksh: -x)
Print commands and their arguments as they are executed. The
output is preceded by the value of $PS4, formatted as described
in the section EXPANSION OF PROMPT SEQUENCES in zshmisc(1).
Shell Emulation
APPEND_CREATE <K> <S>
This option only applies when NO_CLOBBER (-C) is in effect.
If this option is not set, the shell will report an error when a
append redirection (>>) is used on a file that does not already
exists (the traditional zsh behaviour of NO_CLOBBER). If the op-
tion is set, no error is reported (POSIX behaviour).
BASH_REMATCH
When set, matches performed with the =~ operator will set the
BASH_REMATCH array variable, instead of the default MATCH and
match variables. The first element of the BASH_REMATCH array
will contain the entire matched text and subsequent elements will
contain extracted substrings. This option makes more sense when
KSH_ARRAYS is also set, so that the entire matched portion is
stored at index 0 and the first substring is at index 1. Without
this option, the MATCH variable contains the entire matched text
and the match array variable contains substrings.
BSD_ECHO <S>
Make the echo builtin compatible with the BSD echo(1) command.
This disables backslashed escape sequences in echo strings unless
the -e option is specified.
CONTINUE_ON_ERROR
If a fatal error is encountered (see the section ERRORS in zsh-
misc(1)), and the code is running in a script, the shell will re-
sume execution at the next statement in the script at the top
level, in other words outside all functions or shell constructs
such as loops and conditions. This mimics the behaviour of in-
teractive shells, where the shell returns to the line editor to
read a new command; it was the normal behaviour in versions of
zsh before 5.0.1.
CSH_JUNKIE_HISTORY <C>
A history reference without an event specifier will always refer
to the previous command. Without this option, such a history
reference refers to the same event as the previous history refer-
ence on the current command line, defaulting to the previous com-
mand.
CSH_JUNKIE_LOOPS <C>
Allow loop bodies to take the form `list; end' instead of `do
list; done'.
CSH_JUNKIE_QUOTES <C>
Changes the rules for single- and double-quoted text to match
that of csh. These require that embedded newlines be preceded by
a backslash; unescaped newlines will cause an error message. In
double-quoted strings, it is made impossible to escape `$', ``'
or `"' (and `\' itself no longer needs escaping). Command sub-
stitutions are only expanded once, and cannot be nested.
CSH_NULLCMD <C>
Do not use the values of NULLCMD and READNULLCMD when running
redirections with no command. This make such redirections fail
(see the section `Redirection').
KSH_ARRAYS <K> <S>
Emulate ksh array handling as closely as possible. If this op-
tion is set, array elements are numbered from zero, an array pa-
rameter without subscript refers to the first element instead of
the whole array, and braces are required to delimit a subscript
(`${path[2]}' rather than just `$path[2]') or to apply modifiers
to any parameter (`${PWD:h}' rather than `$PWD:h').
KSH_AUTOLOAD <K> <S>
Emulate ksh function autoloading. This means that when a func-
tion is autoloaded, the corresponding file is merely executed,
and must define the function itself. (By default, the function
is defined to the contents of the file. However, the most common
ksh-style case - of the file containing only a simple definition
of the function - is always handled in the ksh-compatible man-
ner.)
KSH_OPTION_PRINT <K>
Alters the way options settings are printed: instead of separate
lists of set and unset options, all options are shown, marked
`on' if they are in the non-default state, `off' otherwise.
KSH_TYPESET
This option is now obsolete: a better appropximation to the be-
haviour of other shells is obtained with the reserved word inter-
face to declare, export, float, integer, local, readonly and
typeset. Note that the option is only applied when the reserved
word interface is not in use.
Alters the way arguments to the typeset family of commands, in-
cluding declare, export, float, integer, local and readonly, are
processed. Without this option, zsh will perform normal word
splitting after command and parameter expansion in arguments of
an assignment; with it, word splitting does not take place in
those cases.
KSH_ZERO_SUBSCRIPT
Treat use of a subscript of value zero in array or string expres-
sions as a reference to the first element, i.e. the element that
usually has the subscript 1. Ignored if KSH_ARRAYS is also set.
If neither this option nor KSH_ARRAYS is set, accesses to an ele-
ment of an array or string with subscript zero return an empty
element or string, while attempts to set element zero of an array
or string are treated as an error. However, attempts to set an
otherwise valid subscript range that includes zero will succeed.
For example, if KSH_ZERO_SUBSCRIPT is not set,
array[0]=(element)
is an error, while
array[0,1]=(element)
is not and will replace the first element of the array.
This option is for compatibility with older versions of the shell
and is not recommended in new code.
POSIX_ALIASES <K> <S>
When this option is set, reserved words are not candidates for
alias expansion: it is still possible to declare any of them as
an alias, but the alias will never be expanded. Reserved words
are described in the section RESERVED WORDS in zshmisc(1).
Alias expansion takes place while text is being read; hence when
this option is set it does not take effect until the end of any
function or other piece of shell code parsed as one unit. Note
this may cause differences from other shells even when the option
is in effect. For example, when running a command with `zsh -c',
or even `zsh -o posixaliases -c', the entire command argument is
parsed as one unit, so aliases defined within the argument are
not available even in later lines. If in doubt, avoid use of
aliases in non-interactive code.
POSIX_ARGZERO
This option may be used to temporarily disable FUNCTION_ARGZERO
and thereby restore the value of $0 to the name used to invoke
the shell (or as set by the -c command line option). For compat-
ibility with previous versions of the shell, emulations use
NO_FUNCTION_ARGZERO instead of POSIX_ARGZERO, which may result in
unexpected scoping of $0 if the emulation mode is changed inside
a function or script. To avoid this, explicitly enable
POSIX_ARGZERO in the emulate command:
emulate sh -o POSIX_ARGZERO
Note that NO_POSIX_ARGZERO has no effect unless FUNCTION_ARGZERO
was already enabled upon entry to the function or script.
POSIX_BUILTINS <K> <S>
When this option is set the command builtin can be used to exe-
cute shell builtin commands. Parameter assignments specified be-
fore shell functions and special builtins are kept after the com-
mand completes unless the special builtin is prefixed with the
command builtin. Special builtins are ., :, break, continue, de-
clare, eval, exit, export, integer, local, readonly, return, set,
shift, source, times, trap and unset.
In addition, various error conditions associated with the above
builtins or exec cause a non-interactive shell to exit and an in-
teractive shell to return to its top-level processing.
Furthermore, functions and shell builtins are not executed after
an exec prefix; the command to be executed must be an external
command found in the path.
Furthermore, the getopts builtin behaves in a POSIX-compatible
fashion in that the associated variable OPTIND is not made local
to functions, and its value is calculated differently to match
other shells.
Moreover, the warning and special exit code from [[ -o non_exis-
tent_option ]] are suppressed.
POSIX_IDENTIFIERS <K> <S>
When this option is set, only the ASCII characters a to z, A to
Z, 0 to 9 and _ may be used in identifiers (names of shell para-
meters and modules).
In addition, setting this option limits the effect of parameter
substitution with no braces, so that the expression $# is treated
as the parameter $# even if followed by a valid parameter name.
When it is unset, zsh allows expressions of the form $#name to
refer to the length of $name, even for special variables, for ex-
ample in expressions such as $#- and $#*.
Another difference is that with the option set assignment to an
unset variable in arithmetic context causes the variable to be
created as a scalar rather than a numeric type. So after `unset
t; (( t = 3 ))'. without POSIX_IDENTIFIERS set t has integer
type, while with it set it has scalar type.
When the option is unset and multibyte character support is en-
abled (i.e. it is compiled in and the option MULTIBYTE is set),
then additionally any alphanumeric characters in the local char-
acter set may be used in identifiers. Note that scripts and
functions written with this feature are not portable, and also
that both options must be set before the script or function is
parsed; setting them during execution is not sufficient as the
syntax variable=value has already been parsed as a command rather
than an assignment.
If multibyte character support is not compiled into the shell
this option is ignored; all octets with the top bit set may be
used in identifiers. This is non-standard but is the traditional
zsh behaviour.
POSIX_STRINGS <K> <S>
This option affects processing of quoted strings. Currently it
only affects the behaviour of null characters, i.e. character 0
in the portable character set corresponding to US ASCII.
When this option is not set, null characters embedded within
strings of the form $'...' are treated as ordinary characters.
The entire string is maintained within the shell and output to
files where necessary, although owing to restrictions of the li-
brary interface the string is truncated at the null character in
file names, environment variables, or in arguments to external
programs.
When this option is set, the $'...' expression is truncated at
the null character. Note that remaining parts of the same string
beyond the termination of the quotes are not truncated.
For example, the command line argument a$'b\0c'd is treated with
the option off as the characters a, b, null, c, d, and with the
option on as the characters a, b, d.
POSIX_TRAPS <K> <S>
When this option is set, the usual zsh behaviour of executing
traps for EXIT on exit from shell functions is suppressed. In
that case, manipulating EXIT traps always alters the global trap
for exiting the shell; the LOCAL_TRAPS option is ignored for the
EXIT trap.
Also, a return statement executed in a trap with no argument
passes back from the function the value from the surrounding con-
text, not from code executed within the trap.
Furthermore, if a trap is set to be ignored, this state persists
when a subshell is entered. Without the option, the trap would
be reset to its default state at this point.
SH_FILE_EXPANSION <K> <S>
Perform filename expansion (e.g., ~ expansion) before parameter
expansion, command substitution, arithmetic expansion and brace
expansion. If this option is unset, it is performed after brace
expansion, so things like `~$USERNAME' and `~{pfalstad,rc}' will
work.
SH_NULLCMD <K> <S>
Do not use the values of NULLCMD and READNULLCMD when doing redi-
rections, use `:' instead (see the section `Redirection').
SH_OPTION_LETTERS <K> <S>
If this option is set the shell tries to interpret single letter
options (which are used with set and setopt) like ksh does. This
also affects the value of the - special parameter.
SH_WORD_SPLIT (-y) <K> <S>
Causes field splitting to be performed on unquoted parameter ex-
pansions. Note that this option has nothing to do with word
splitting. (See zshexpn(1).)
TRAPS_ASYNC
While waiting for a program to exit, handle signals and run traps
immediately. Otherwise the trap is run after a child process has
exited. Note this does not affect the point at which traps are
run for any case other than when the shell is waiting for a child
process.
Shell State
INTERACTIVE (-i, ksh: -i)
This is an interactive shell. This option is set upon initiali-
sation if the standard input is a tty and commands are being read
from standard input. (See the discussion of SHIN_STDIN.) This
heuristic may be overridden by specifying a state for this option
on the command line. The value of this option can only be
changed via flags supplied at invocation of the shell. It cannot
be changed once zsh is running.
LOGIN (-l, ksh: -l)
This is a login shell. If this option is not explicitly set, the
shell becomes a login shell if the first character of the argv[0]
passed to the shell is a `-'.
PRIVILEGED (-p, ksh: -p)
Turn on privileged mode. Typically this is used when script is to
be run with elevated privileges. This should be done as follows
directly with the -p option to zsh so that it takes effect during
startup.
#!/bin/zsh -p
The option is enabled automatically on startup if the effective
user (group) ID is not equal to the real user (group) ID. In this
case, turning the option off causes the effective user and group
IDs to be set to the real user and group IDs. Be aware that if
that fails the shell may be running with different IDs than was
intended so a script should check for failure and act accord-
ingly, for example:
unsetopt privileged || exit
The PRIVILEGED option disables sourcing user startup files. If
zsh is invoked as `sh' or `ksh' with this option set,
/etc/suid_profile is sourced (after /etc/profile on interactive
shells). Sourcing ~/.profile is disabled and the contents of the
ENV variable is ignored. This option cannot be changed using the
-m option of setopt and unsetopt, and changing it inside a func-
tion always changes it globally regardless of the LOCAL_OPTIONS
option.
RESTRICTED (-r)
Enables restricted mode. This option cannot be changed using un-
setopt, and setting it inside a function always changes it glob-
ally regardless of the LOCAL_OPTIONS option. See the section
`Restricted Shell'.
SHIN_STDIN (-s, ksh: -s)
Commands are being read from the standard input. Commands are
read from standard input if no command is specified with -c and
no file of commands is specified. If SHIN_STDIN is set explic-
itly on the command line, any argument that would otherwise have
been taken as a file to run will instead be treated as a normal
positional parameter. Note that setting or unsetting this option
on the command line does not necessarily affect the state the op-
tion will have while the shell is running - that is purely an in-
dicator of whether or not commands are actually being read from
standard input. The value of this option can only be changed via
flags supplied at invocation of the shell. It cannot be changed
once zsh is running.
SINGLE_COMMAND (-t, ksh: -t)
If the shell is reading from standard input, it exits after a
single command has been executed. This also makes the shell
non-interactive, unless the INTERACTIVE option is explicitly set
on the command line. The value of this option can only be
changed via flags supplied at invocation of the shell. It cannot
be changed once zsh is running.
Zle
BEEP (+B) <D>
Beep on error in ZLE.
COMBINING_CHARS
Assume that the terminal displays combining characters correctly.
Specifically, if a base alphanumeric character is followed by one
or more zero-width punctuation characters, assume that the
zero-width characters will be displayed as modifications to the
base character within the same width. Not all terminals handle
this. If this option is not set, zero-width characters are dis-
played separately with special mark-up.
If this option is set, the pattern test [[:WORD:]] matches a
zero-width punctuation character on the assumption that it will
be used as part of a word in combination with a word character.
Otherwise the base shell does not handle combining characters
specially.
EMACS If ZLE is loaded, turning on this option has the equivalent ef-
fect of `bindkey -e'. In addition, the VI option is unset.
Turning it off has no effect. The option setting is not guaran-
teed to reflect the current keymap. This option is provided for
compatibility; bindkey is the recommended interface.
OVERSTRIKE
Start up the line editor in overstrike mode.
SINGLE_LINE_ZLE (-M) <K>
Use single-line command line editing instead of multi-line.
Note that although this is on by default in ksh emulation it only
provides superficial compatibility with the ksh line editor and
reduces the effectiveness of the zsh line editor. As it has no
effect on shell syntax, many users may wish to disable this op-
tion when using ksh emulation interactively.
VI If ZLE is loaded, turning on this option has the equivalent ef-
fect of `bindkey -v'. In addition, the EMACS option is unset.
Turning it off has no effect. The option setting is not guaran-
teed to reflect the current keymap. This option is provided for
compatibility; bindkey is the recommended interface.
ZLE (-Z)
Use the zsh line editor. Set by default in interactive shells
connected to a terminal.
OPTION ALIASES
Some options have alternative names. These aliases are never used for
output, but can be used just like normal option names when specifying
options to the shell.
BRACE_EXPAND
NO_IGNORE_BRACES (ksh and bash compatibility)
DOT_GLOB
GLOB_DOTS (bash compatibility)
HASH_ALL
HASH_CMDS (bash compatibility)
HIST_APPEND
APPEND_HISTORY (bash compatibility)
HIST_EXPAND
BANG_HIST (bash compatibility)
LOG NO_HIST_NO_FUNCTIONS (ksh compatibility)
MAIL_WARN
MAIL_WARNING (bash compatibility)
ONE_CMD
SINGLE_COMMAND (bash compatibility)
PHYSICAL
CHASE_LINKS (ksh and bash compatibility)
PROMPT_VARS
PROMPT_SUBST (bash compatibility)
STDIN SHIN_STDIN (ksh compatibility)
TRACK_ALL
HASH_CMDS (ksh compatibility)
SINGLE LETTER OPTIONS
Default set
-0 CORRECT
-1 PRINT_EXIT_VALUE
-2 NO_BAD_PATTERN
-3 NO_NOMATCH
-4 GLOB_DOTS
-5 NOTIFY
-6 BG_NICE
-7 IGNORE_EOF
-8 MARK_DIRS
-9 AUTO_LIST
-B NO_BEEP
-C NO_CLOBBER
-D PUSHD_TO_HOME
-E PUSHD_SILENT
-F NO_GLOB
-G NULL_GLOB
-H RM_STAR_SILENT
-I IGNORE_BRACES
-J AUTO_CD
-K NO_BANG_HIST
-L SUN_KEYBOARD_HACK
-M SINGLE_LINE_ZLE
-N AUTO_PUSHD
-O CORRECT_ALL
-P RC_EXPAND_PARAM
-Q PATH_DIRS
-R LONG_LIST_JOBS
-S REC_EXACT
-T CDABLE_VARS
-U MAIL_WARNING
-V NO_PROMPT_CR
-W AUTO_RESUME
-X LIST_TYPES
-Y MENU_COMPLETE
-Z ZLE
-a ALL_EXPORT
-e ERR_EXIT
-f NO_RCS
-g HIST_IGNORE_SPACE
-h HIST_IGNORE_DUPS
-i INTERACTIVE
-k INTERACTIVE_COMMENTS
-l LOGIN
-m MONITOR
-n NO_EXEC
-p PRIVILEGED
-r RESTRICTED
-s SHIN_STDIN
-t SINGLE_COMMAND
-u NO_UNSET
-v VERBOSE
-w CHASE_LINKS
-x XTRACE
-y SH_WORD_SPLIT
sh/ksh emulation set
-C NO_CLOBBER
-T TRAPS_ASYNC
-X MARK_DIRS
-a ALL_EXPORT
-b NOTIFY
-e ERR_EXIT
-f NO_GLOB
-i INTERACTIVE
-l LOGIN
-m MONITOR
-n NO_EXEC
-p PRIVILEGED
-r RESTRICTED
-s SHIN_STDIN
-t SINGLE_COMMAND
-u NO_UNSET
-v VERBOSE
-x XTRACE
Also note
-A Used by set for setting arrays
-b Used on the command line to specify end of option processing
-c Used on the command line to specify a single command
-m Used by setopt for pattern-matching option setting
-o Used in all places to allow use of long option names
-s Used by set to sort positional parameters
zsh 5.9 May 14, 2022 ZSHOPTIONS(1)
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