{ "content": [ { "type": "text", "text": "# zshparam (man)\n\n## NAME\n\nzshparam - zsh parameters\n\n## DESCRIPTION\n\nA parameter has a name, a value, and a number of attributes. A name may be any sequence of\nalphanumeric characters and underscores, or the single characters `*', `@', `#', `?', `-',\n`$', or `!'. A parameter whose name begins with an alphanumeric or underscore is also re‐\nferred to as a variable.\n\n## Sections\n\n- **NAME**\n- **DESCRIPTION**\n- **ARRAY PARAMETERS** (4 subsections)\n- **POSITIONAL PARAMETERS**\n- **LOCAL PARAMETERS**\n- **PARAMETERS SET BY THE SHELL** (1 subsections)\n- **PARAMETERS USED BY THE SHELL** (2 subsections)\n\nUse structuredContent.sections for detailed options, examples, and full documentation.\n" } ], "structuredContent": { "command": "zshparam", "section": "", "mode": "man", "summary": "zshparam - zsh parameters", "synopsis": null, "tldr_summary": null, "tldr_examples": [], "tldr_source": null, "flags": [], "examples": [], "see_also": [], "section_outline": [ { "name": "NAME", "lines": 2, "subsections": [] }, { "name": "DESCRIPTION", "lines": 48, "subsections": [] }, { "name": "ARRAY PARAMETERS", "lines": 90, "subsections": [ { "name": "Array Subscripts", "lines": 56 }, { "name": "Array Element Assignment", "lines": 24 }, { "name": "Subscript Flags", "lines": 102 }, { "name": "Subscript Parsing", "lines": 85 } ] }, { "name": "POSITIONAL PARAMETERS", "lines": 18, "subsections": [] }, { "name": "LOCAL PARAMETERS", "lines": 26, "subsections": [] }, { "name": "PARAMETERS SET BY THE SHELL", "lines": 159, "subsections": [ { "name": "signals", "lines": 154 } ] }, { "name": "PARAMETERS USED BY THE SHELL", "lines": 215, "subsections": [ { "name": "match", "lines": 1 }, { "name": "mbegin", "lines": 373 } ] } ], "sections": { "NAME": { "content": "zshparam - zsh parameters\n", "subsections": [] }, "DESCRIPTION": { "content": "A parameter has a name, a value, and a number of attributes. A name may be any sequence of\nalphanumeric characters and underscores, or the single characters `*', `@', `#', `?', `-',\n`$', or `!'. A parameter whose name begins with an alphanumeric or underscore is also re‐\nferred to as a variable.\n\nThe attributes of a parameter determine the type of its value, often referred to as the pa‐\nrameter type or variable type, and also control other processing that may be applied to the\nvalue when it is referenced. The value type may be a scalar (a string, an integer, or a\nfloating point number), an array (indexed numerically), or an associative array (an unordered\nset of name-value pairs, indexed by name, also referred to as a hash).\n\nNamed scalar parameters may have the exported, -x, attribute, to copy them into the process\nenvironment, which is then passed from the shell to any new processes that it starts. Ex‐\nported parameters are called environment variables. The shell also imports environment vari‐\nables at startup time and automatically marks the corresponding parameters as exported. Some\nenvironment variables are not imported for reasons of security or because they would inter‐\nfere with the correct operation of other shell features.\n\nParameters may also be special, that is, they have a predetermined meaning to the shell.\nSpecial parameters cannot have their type changed or their readonly attribute turned off, and\nif a special parameter is unset, then later recreated, the special properties will be re‐\ntained.\n\nTo declare the type of a parameter, or to assign a string or numeric value to a scalar param‐\neter, use the typeset builtin.\n\nThe value of a scalar parameter may also be assigned by writing:\n\nname=value\n\nIn scalar assignment, value is expanded as a single string, in which the elements of arrays\nare joined together; filename expansion is not performed unless the option GLOBASSIGN is\nset.\n\nWhen the integer attribute, -i, or a floating point attribute, -E or -F, is set for name, the\nvalue is subject to arithmetic evaluation. Furthermore, by replacing `=' with `+=', a param‐\neter can be incremented or appended to. See the section `Array Parameters' and Arithmetic\nEvaluation (in zshmisc(1)) for additional forms of assignment.\n\nNote that assignment may implicitly change the attributes of a parameter. For example, as‐\nsigning a number to a variable in arithmetic evaluation may change its type to integer or\nfloat, and with GLOBASSIGN assigning a pattern to a variable may change its type to an ar‐\nray.\n\nTo reference the value of a parameter, write `$name' or `${name}'. See Parameter Expansion\nin zshexpn(1) for complete details. That section also explains the effect of the difference\nbetween scalar and array assignment on parameter expansion.\n", "subsections": [] }, "ARRAY PARAMETERS": { "content": "To assign an array value, write one of:\n\nset -A name value ...\nname=(value ...)\nname=([key]=value ...)\n\nIf no parameter name exists, an ordinary array parameter is created. If the parameter name\nexists and is a scalar, it is replaced by a new array.\n\nIn the third form, key is an expression that will be evaluated in arithmetic context (in its\nsimplest form, an integer) that gives the index of the element to be assigned with value. In\nthis form any elements not explicitly mentioned that come before the largest index to which a\nvalue is assigned are assigned an empty string. The indices may be in any order. Note that\nthis syntax is strict: [ and ]= must not be quoted, and key may not consist of the unquoted\nstring ]=, but is otherwise treated as a simple string. The enhanced forms of subscript ex‐\npression that may be used when directly subscripting a variable name, described in the sec‐\ntion Array Subscripts below, are not available.\n\nThe syntaxes with and without the explicit key may be mixed. An implicit key is deduced by\nincrementing the index from the previously assigned element. Note that it is not treated as\nan error if latter assignments in this form overwrite earlier assignments.\n\nFor example, assuming the option KSHARRAYS is not set, the following:\n\narray=(one [3]=three four)\n\ncauses the array variable array to contain four elements one, an empty string, three and\nfour, in that order.\n\nIn the forms where only value is specified, full command line expansion is performed.\n\nIn the [key]=value form, both key and value undergo all forms of expansion allowed for single\nword shell expansions (this does not include filename generation); these are as performed by\nthe parameter expansion flag (e) as described in zshexpn(1). Nested parentheses may surround\nvalue and are included as part of the value, which is joined into a plain string; this dif‐\nfers from ksh which allows the values themselves to be arrays. A future version of zsh may\nsupport that. To cause the brackets to be interpreted as a character class for filename gen‐\neration, and therefore to treat the resulting list of files as a set of values, quote the\nequal sign using any form of quoting. Example:\n\nname=([a-z]'='*)\n\nTo append to an array without changing the existing values, use one of the following:\n\nname+=(value ...)\nname+=([key]=value ...)\n\nIn the second form key may specify an existing index as well as an index off the end of the\nold array; any existing value is overwritten by value. Also, it is possible to use\n[key]+=value to append to the existing value at that index.\n\nWithin the parentheses on the right hand side of either form of the assignment, newlines and\nsemicolons are treated the same as white space, separating individual values. Any consecu‐\ntive sequence of such characters has the same effect.\n\nOrdinary array parameters may also be explicitly declared with:\n\ntypeset -a name\n\nAssociative arrays must be declared before assignment, by using:\n\ntypeset -A name\n\nWhen name refers to an associative array, the list in an assignment is interpreted as alter‐\nnating keys and values:\n\nset -A name key value ...\nname=(key value ...)\nname=([key]=value ...)\n\nNote that only one of the two syntaxes above may be used in any given assignment; the forms\nmay not be mixed. This is unlike the case of numerically indexed arrays.\n\nEvery key must have a value in this case. Note that this assigns to the entire array, delet‐\ning any elements that do not appear in the list. The append syntax may also be used with an\nassociative array:\n\nname+=(key value ...)\nname+=([key]=value ...)\n\nThis adds a new key/value pair if the key is not already present, and replaces the value for\nthe existing key if it is. In the second form it is also possible to use [key]+=value to ap‐\npend to the existing value at that key. Expansion is performed identically to the corre‐\nsponding forms for normal arrays, as described above.\n\nTo create an empty array (including associative arrays), use one of:\n\nset -A name\nname=()\n", "subsections": [ { "name": "Array Subscripts", "content": "Individual elements of an array may be selected using a subscript. A subscript of the form\n`[exp]' selects the single element exp, where exp is an arithmetic expression which will be\nsubject to arithmetic expansion as if it were surrounded by `$((...))'. The elements are\nnumbered beginning with 1, unless the KSHARRAYS option is set in which case they are num‐\nbered from zero.\n\nSubscripts may be used inside braces used to delimit a parameter name, thus `${foo[2]}' is\nequivalent to `$foo[2]'. If the KSHARRAYS option is set, the braced form is the only one\nthat works, as bracketed expressions otherwise are not treated as subscripts.\n\nIf the KSHARRAYS option is not set, then by default accesses to an array element with a sub‐\nscript that evaluates to zero return an empty string, while an attempt to write such an ele‐\nment is treated as an error. For backward compatibility the KSHZEROSUBSCRIPT option can be\nset to cause subscript values 0 and 1 to be equivalent; see the description of the option in\nzshoptions(1).\n\nThe same subscripting syntax is used for associative arrays, except that no arithmetic expan‐\nsion is applied to exp. However, the parsing rules for arithmetic expressions still apply,\nwhich affects the way that certain special characters must be protected from interpretation.\nSee Subscript Parsing below for details.\n\nA subscript of the form `[*]' or `[@]' evaluates to all elements of an array; there is no\ndifference between the two except when they appear within double quotes. `\"$foo[*]\"' evalu‐\nates to `\"$foo[1] $foo[2] ...\"', whereas `\"$foo[@]\"' evaluates to `\"$foo[1]\" \"$foo[2]\" ...'.\nFor associative arrays, `[*]' or `[@]' evaluate to all the values, in no particular order.\nNote that this does not substitute the keys; see the documentation for the `k' flag under Pa‐\nrameter Expansion Flags in zshexpn(1) for complete details. When an array parameter is ref‐\nerenced as `$name' (with no subscript) it evaluates to `$name[*]', unless the KSHARRAYS op‐\ntion is set in which case it evaluates to `${name[0]}' (for an associative array, this means\nthe value of the key `0', which may not exist even if there are values for other keys).\n\nA subscript of the form `[exp1,exp2]' selects all elements in the range exp1 to exp2, inclu‐\nsive. (Associative arrays are unordered, and so do not support ranges.) If one of the sub‐\nscripts evaluates to a negative number, say -n, then the nth element from the end of the ar‐\nray is used. Thus `$foo[-3]' is the third element from the end of the array foo, and\n`$foo[1,-1]' is the same as `$foo[*]'.\n\nSubscripting may also be performed on non-array values, in which case the subscripts specify\na substring to be extracted. For example, if FOO is set to `foobar', then `echo $FOO[2,5]'\nprints `ooba'. Note that some forms of subscripting described below perform pattern match‐\ning, and in that case the substring extends from the start of the match of the first sub‐\nscript to the end of the match of the second subscript. For example,\n\nstring=\"abcdefghijklm\"\nprint ${string[(r)d?,(r)h?]}\n\nprints `defghi'. This is an obvious generalisation of the rule for single-character matches.\nFor a single subscript, only a single character is referenced (not the range of characters\ncovered by the match).\n\nNote that in substring operations the second subscript is handled differently by the r and R\nsubscript flags: the former takes the shortest match as the length and the latter the longest\nmatch. Hence in the former case a * at the end is redundant while in the latter case it\nmatches the whole remainder of the string. This does not affect the result of the single\nsubscript case as here the length of the match is irrelevant.\n" }, { "name": "Array Element Assignment", "content": "A subscript may be used on the left side of an assignment like so:\n\nname[exp]=value\n\nIn this form of assignment the element or range specified by exp is replaced by the expres‐\nsion on the right side. An array (but not an associative array) may be created by assignment\nto a range or element. Arrays do not nest, so assigning a parenthesized list of values to an\nelement or range changes the number of elements in the array, shifting the other elements to\naccommodate the new values. (This is not supported for associative arrays.)\n\nThis syntax also works as an argument to the typeset command:\n\ntypeset \"name[exp]\"=value\n\nThe value may not be a parenthesized list in this case; only single-element assignments may\nbe made with typeset. Note that quotes are necessary in this case to prevent the brackets\nfrom being interpreted as filename generation operators. The noglob precommand modifier\ncould be used instead.\n\nTo delete an element of an ordinary array, assign `()' to that element. To delete an element\nof an associative array, use the unset command:\n\nunset \"name[exp]\"\n" }, { "name": "Subscript Flags", "content": "If the opening bracket, or the comma in a range, in any subscript expression is directly fol‐\nlowed by an opening parenthesis, the string up to the matching closing one is considered to\nbe a list of flags, as in `name[(flags)exp]'.\n\nThe flags s, n and b take an argument; the delimiter is shown below as `:', but any charac‐\nter, or the matching pairs `(...)', `{...}', `[...]', or `<...>', may be used, but note that\n`<...>' can only be used if the subscript is inside a double quoted expression or a parameter\nsubstitution enclosed in braces as otherwise the expression is interpreted as a redirection.\n\nThe flags currently understood are:\n\nw If the parameter subscripted is a scalar then this flag makes subscripting work on\nwords instead of characters. The default word separator is whitespace. When combined\nwith the i or I flag, the effect is to produce the index of the first character of the\nfirst/last word which matches the given pattern; note that a failed match in this case\nalways yields 0.\n\ns:string:\nThis gives the string that separates words (for use with the w flag). The delimiter\ncharacter : is arbitrary; see above.\n\np Recognize the same escape sequences as the print builtin in the string argument of a\nsubsequent `s' flag.\n\nf If the parameter subscripted is a scalar then this flag makes subscripting work on\nlines instead of characters, i.e. with elements separated by newlines. This is a\nshorthand for `pws:\\n:'.\n\nr Reverse subscripting: if this flag is given, the exp is taken as a pattern and the re‐\nsult is the first matching array element, substring or word (if the parameter is an\narray, if it is a scalar, or if it is a scalar and the `w' flag is given, respec‐\ntively). The subscript used is the number of the matching element, so that pairs of\nsubscripts such as `$foo[(r)??,3]' and `$foo[(r)??,(r)f*]' are possible if the parame‐\nter is not an associative array. If the parameter is an associative array, only the\nvalue part of each pair is compared to the pattern, and the result is that value.\n\nIf a search through an ordinary array failed, the search sets the subscript to one\npast the end of the array, and hence ${array[(r)pattern]} will substitute the empty\nstring. Thus the success of a search can be tested by using the (i) flag, for example\n(assuming the option KSHARRAYS is not in effect):\n\n[[ ${array[(i)pattern]} -le ${#array} ]]\n\nIf KSHARRAYS is in effect, the -le should be replaced by -lt.\n\nR Like `r', but gives the last match. For associative arrays, gives all possible\nmatches. May be used for assigning to ordinary array elements, but not for assigning\nto associative arrays. On failure, for normal arrays this has the effect of returning\nthe element corresponding to subscript 0; this is empty unless one of the options\nKSHARRAYS or KSHZEROSUBSCRIPT is in effect.\n\nNote that in subscripts with both `r' and `R' pattern characters are active even if\nthey were substituted for a parameter (regardless of the setting of GLOBSUBST which\ncontrols this feature in normal pattern matching). The flag `e' can be added to in‐\nhibit pattern matching. As this flag does not inhibit other forms of substitution,\ncare is still required; using a parameter to hold the key has the desired effect:\n\nkey2='original key'\nprint ${array[(Re)$key2]}\n\ni Like `r', but gives the index of the match instead; this may not be combined with a\nsecond argument. On the left side of an assignment, behaves like `r'. For associa‐\ntive arrays, the key part of each pair is compared to the pattern, and the first\nmatching key found is the result. On failure substitutes the length of the array plus\none, as discussed under the description of `r', or the empty string for an associative\narray.\n\nI Like `i', but gives the index of the last match, or all possible matching keys in an\nassociative array. On failure substitutes 0, or the empty string for an associative\narray. This flag is best when testing for values or keys that do not exist.\n\nk If used in a subscript on an associative array, this flag causes the keys to be inter‐\npreted as patterns, and returns the value for the first key found where exp is matched\nby the key. Note this could be any such key as no ordering of associative arrays is\ndefined. This flag does not work on the left side of an assignment to an associative\narray element. If used on another type of parameter, this behaves like `r'.\n\nK On an associative array this is like `k' but returns all values where exp is matched\nby the keys. On other types of parameters this has the same effect as `R'.\n\nn:expr:\nIf combined with `r', `R', `i' or `I', makes them give the nth or nth last match (if\nexpr evaluates to n). This flag is ignored when the array is associative. The delim‐\niter character : is arbitrary; see above.\n\nb:expr:\nIf combined with `r', `R', `i' or `I', makes them begin at the nth or nth last ele‐\nment, word, or character (if expr evaluates to n). This flag is ignored when the ar‐\nray is associative. The delimiter character : is arbitrary; see above.\n\ne This flag causes any pattern matching that would be performed on the subscript to use\nplain string matching instead. Hence `${array[(re)*]}' matches only the array element\nwhose value is *. Note that other forms of substitution such as parameter substitu‐\ntion are not inhibited.\n\nThis flag can also be used to force * or @ to be interpreted as a single key rather\nthan as a reference to all values. It may be used for either purpose on the left side\nof an assignment.\n\nSee Parameter Expansion Flags (zshexpn(1)) for additional ways to manipulate the results of\narray subscripting.\n" }, { "name": "Subscript Parsing", "content": "This discussion applies mainly to associative array key strings and to patterns used for re‐\nverse subscripting (the `r', `R', `i', etc. flags), but it may also affect parameter substi‐\ntutions that appear as part of an arithmetic expression in an ordinary subscript.\n\nTo avoid subscript parsing limitations in assignments to associative array elements, use the\nappend syntax:\n\naa+=('key with \"*strange*\" characters' 'value string')\n\nThe basic rule to remember when writing a subscript expression is that all text between the\nopening `[' and the closing `]' is interpreted as if it were in double quotes (see zsh‐\nmisc(1)). However, unlike double quotes which normally cannot nest, subscript expressions\nmay appear inside double-quoted strings or inside other subscript expressions (or both!), so\nthe rules have two important differences.\n\nThe first difference is that brackets (`[' and `]') must appear as balanced pairs in a sub‐\nscript expression unless they are preceded by a backslash (`\\'). Therefore, within a sub‐\nscript expression (and unlike true double-quoting) the sequence `\\[' becomes `[', and simi‐\nlarly `\\]' becomes `]'. This applies even in cases where a backslash is not normally re‐\nquired; for example, the pattern `[^[]' (to match any character other than an open bracket)\nshould be written `[^\\[]' in a reverse-subscript pattern. However, note that `\\[^\\[\\]' and\neven `\\[^[]' mean the same thing, because backslashes are always stripped when they appear\nbefore brackets!\n\nThe same rule applies to parentheses (`(' and `)') and braces (`{' and `}'): they must appear\neither in balanced pairs or preceded by a backslash, and backslashes that protect parentheses\nor braces are removed during parsing. This is because parameter expansions may be surrounded\nby balanced braces, and subscript flags are introduced by balanced parentheses.\n\nThe second difference is that a double-quote (`\"') may appear as part of a subscript expres‐\nsion without being preceded by a backslash, and therefore that the two characters `\\\"' remain\nas two characters in the subscript (in true double-quoting, `\\\"' becomes `\"'). However, be‐\ncause of the standard shell quoting rules, any double-quotes that appear must occur in bal‐\nanced pairs unless preceded by a backslash. This makes it more difficult to write a sub‐\nscript expression that contains an odd number of double-quote characters, but the reason for\nthis difference is so that when a subscript expression appears inside true double-quotes, one\ncan still write `\\\"' (rather than `\\\\\\\"') for `\"'.\n\nTo use an odd number of double quotes as a key in an assignment, use the typeset builtin and\nan enclosing pair of double quotes; to refer to the value of that key, again use double\nquotes:\n\ntypeset -A aa\ntypeset \"aa[one\\\"two\\\"three\\\"quotes]\"=QQQ\nprint \"$aa[one\\\"two\\\"three\\\"quotes]\"\n\nIt is important to note that the quoting rules do not change when a parameter expansion with\na subscript is nested inside another subscript expression. That is, it is not necessary to\nuse additional backslashes within the inner subscript expression; they are removed only once,\nfrom the innermost subscript outwards. Parameters are also expanded from the innermost sub‐\nscript first, as each expansion is encountered left to right in the outer expression.\n\nA further complication arises from a way in which subscript parsing is not different from\ndouble quote parsing. As in true double-quoting, the sequences `\\*', and `\\@' remain as two\ncharacters when they appear in a subscript expression. To use a literal `*' or `@' as an as‐\nsociative array key, the `e' flag must be used:\n\ntypeset -A aa\naa[(e)*]=star\nprint $aa[(e)*]\n\nA last detail must be considered when reverse subscripting is performed. Parameters appear‐\ning in the subscript expression are first expanded and then the complete expression is inter‐\npreted as a pattern. This has two effects: first, parameters behave as if GLOBSUBST were on\n(and it cannot be turned off); second, backslashes are interpreted twice, once when parsing\nthe array subscript and again when parsing the pattern. In a reverse subscript, it's neces‐\nsary to use four backslashes to cause a single backslash to match literally in the pattern.\nFor complex patterns, it is often easiest to assign the desired pattern to a parameter and\nthen refer to that parameter in the subscript, because then the backslashes, brackets, paren‐\ntheses, etc., are seen only when the complete expression is converted to a pattern. To match\nthe value of a parameter literally in a reverse subscript, rather than as a pattern, use\n`${(q)name}' (see zshexpn(1)) to quote the expanded value.\n\nNote that the `k' and `K' flags are reverse subscripting for an ordinary array, but are not\nreverse subscripting for an associative array! (For an associative array, the keys in the\narray itself are interpreted as patterns by those flags; the subscript is a plain string in\nthat case.)\n\nOne final note, not directly related to subscripting: the numeric names of positional parame‐\nters (described below) are parsed specially, so for example `$2foo' is equivalent to\n`${2}foo'. Therefore, to use subscript syntax to extract a substring from a positional pa‐\nrameter, the expansion must be surrounded by braces; for example, `${2[3,5]}' evaluates to\nthe third through fifth characters of the second positional parameter, but `$2[3,5]' is the\nentire second parameter concatenated with the filename generation pattern `[3,5]'.\n" } ] }, "POSITIONAL PARAMETERS": { "content": "The positional parameters provide access to the command-line arguments of a shell function,\nshell script, or the shell itself; see the section `Invocation', and also the section `Func‐\ntions'. The parameter n, where n is a number, is the nth positional parameter. The parame‐\nter `$0' is a special case, see the section `Parameters Set By The Shell'.\n\nThe parameters *, @ and argv are arrays containing all the positional parameters; thus\n`$argv[n]', etc., is equivalent to simply `$n'. Note that the options KSHARRAYS or\nKSHZEROSUBSCRIPT apply to these arrays as well, so with either of those options set,\n`${argv[0]}' is equivalent to `$1' and so on.\n\nPositional parameters may be changed after the shell or function starts by using the set\nbuiltin, by assigning to the argv array, or by direct assignment of the form `n=value' where\nn is the number of the positional parameter to be changed. This also creates (with empty\nvalues) any of the positions from 1 to n that do not already have values. Note that, because\nthe positional parameters form an array, an array assignment of the form `n=(value ...)' is\nallowed, and has the effect of shifting all the values at positions greater than n by as many\npositions as necessary to accommodate the new values.\n", "subsections": [] }, "LOCAL PARAMETERS": { "content": "Shell function executions delimit scopes for shell parameters. (Parameters are dynamically\nscoped.) The typeset builtin, and its alternative forms declare, integer, local and readonly\n(but not export), can be used to declare a parameter as being local to the innermost scope.\n\nWhen a parameter is read or assigned to, the innermost existing parameter of that name is\nused. (That is, the local parameter hides any less-local parameter.) However, assigning to\na non-existent parameter, or declaring a new parameter with export, causes it to be created\nin the outermost scope.\n\nLocal parameters disappear when their scope ends. unset can be used to delete a parameter\nwhile it is still in scope; any outer parameter of the same name remains hidden.\n\nSpecial parameters may also be made local; they retain their special attributes unless either\nthe existing or the newly-created parameter has the -h (hide) attribute. This may have unex‐\npected effects: there is no default value, so if there is no assignment at the point the\nvariable is made local, it will be set to an empty value (or zero in the case of integers).\nThe following:\n\ntypeset PATH=/new/directory:$PATH\n\nis valid for temporarily allowing the shell or programmes called from it to find the programs\nin /new/directory inside a function.\n\nNote that the restriction in older versions of zsh that local parameters were never exported\nhas been removed.\n", "subsections": [] }, "PARAMETERS SET BY THE SHELL": { "content": "In the parameter lists that follow, the mark `' indicates that the parameter is special.\n`' indicates that the parameter does not exist when the shell initializes in sh or ksh em‐\nulation mode.\n\nThe following parameters are automatically set by the shell:\n\n! The process ID of the last command started in the background with &, put into the\nbackground with the bg builtin, or spawned with coproc.\n\n# The number of positional parameters in decimal. Note that some confusion may occur\nwith the syntax $#param which substitutes the length of param. Use ${#} to resolve\nambiguities. In particular, the sequence `$#-...' in an arithmetic expression is in‐\nterpreted as the length of the parameter -, q.v.\n\nARGC \nSame as #.\n\n$ The process ID of this shell. Note that this indicates the original shell started by\ninvoking zsh; all processes forked from the shells without executing a new program,\nsuch as subshells started by (...), substitute the same value.\n\n- Flags supplied to the shell on invocation or by the set or setopt commands.\n\n* An array containing the positional parameters.\n\nargv \nSame as *. Assigning to argv changes the local positional parameters, but argv is not\nitself a local parameter. Deleting argv with unset in any function deletes it every‐\nwhere, although only the innermost positional parameter array is deleted (so * and @\nin other scopes are not affected).\n\n@ Same as argv[@], even when argv is not set.\n\n? The exit status returned by the last command.\n\n0 The name used to invoke the current shell, or as set by the -c command line option\nupon invocation. If the FUNCTIONARGZERO option is set, $0 is set upon entry to a\nshell function to the name of the function, and upon entry to a sourced script to the\nname of the script, and reset to its previous value when the function or script re‐\nturns.\n\nstatus \nSame as ?.\n\npipestatus \nAn array containing the exit statuses returned by all commands in the last pipeline.\n\n The last argument of the previous command. Also, this parameter is set in the envi‐\nronment of every command executed to the full pathname of the command.\n\nCPUTYPE\nThe machine type (microprocessor class or machine model), as determined at run time.\n\nEGID \nThe effective group ID of the shell process. If you have sufficient privileges, you\nmay change the effective group ID of the shell process by assigning to this parameter.\nAlso (assuming sufficient privileges), you may start a single command with a different\neffective group ID by `(EGID=gid; command)'\n\nIf this is made local, it is not implicitly set to 0, but may be explicitly set lo‐\ncally.\n\nEUID \nThe effective user ID of the shell process. If you have sufficient privileges, you\nmay change the effective user ID of the shell process by assigning to this parameter.\nAlso (assuming sufficient privileges), you may start a single command with a different\neffective user ID by `(EUID=uid; command)'\n\nIf this is made local, it is not implicitly set to 0, but may be explicitly set lo‐\ncally.\n\nERRNO \nThe value of errno (see errno(3)) as set by the most recently failed system call.\nThis value is system dependent and is intended for debugging purposes. It is also\nuseful with the zsh/system module which allows the number to be turned into a name or\nmessage.\n\nFUNCNEST \nInteger. If greater than or equal to zero, the maximum nesting depth of shell func‐\ntions. When it is exceeded, an error is raised at the point where a function is\ncalled. The default value is determined when the shell is configured, but is typi‐\ncally 500. Increasing the value increases the danger of a runaway function recursion\ncausing the shell to crash. Setting a negative value turns off the check.\n\nGID \nThe real group ID of the shell process. If you have sufficient privileges, you may\nchange the group ID of the shell process by assigning to this parameter. Also (assum‐\ning sufficient privileges), you may start a single command under a different group ID\nby `(GID=gid; command)'\n\nIf this is made local, it is not implicitly set to 0, but may be explicitly set lo‐\ncally.\n\nHISTCMD\nThe current history event number in an interactive shell, in other words the event\nnumber for the command that caused $HISTCMD to be read. If the current history event\nmodifies the history, HISTCMD changes to the new maximum history event number.\n\nHOST The current hostname.\n\nLINENO \nThe line number of the current line within the current script, sourced file, or shell\nfunction being executed, whichever was started most recently. Note that in the case\nof shell functions the line number refers to the function as it appeared in the origi‐\nnal definition, not necessarily as displayed by the functions builtin.\n\nLOGNAME\nIf the corresponding variable is not set in the environment of the shell, it is ini‐\ntialized to the login name corresponding to the current login session. This parameter\nis exported by default but this can be disabled using the typeset builtin. The value\nis set to the string returned by the getlogin(3) system call if that is available.\n\nMACHTYPE\nThe machine type (microprocessor class or machine model), as determined at compile\ntime.\n\nOLDPWD The previous working directory. This is set when the shell initializes and whenever\nthe directory changes.\n\nOPTARG \nThe value of the last option argument processed by the getopts command.\n\nOPTIND \nThe index of the last option argument processed by the getopts command.\n\nOSTYPE The operating system, as determined at compile time.\n\nPPID \nThe process ID of the parent of the shell. As for $$, the value indicates the parent\nof the original shell and does not change in subshells.\n\nPWD The present working directory. This is set when the shell initializes and whenever\nthe directory changes.\n\nRANDOM \nA pseudo-random integer from 0 to 32767, newly generated each time this parameter is\nreferenced. The random number generator can be seeded by assigning a numeric value to\nRANDOM.\n\nThe values of RANDOM form an intentionally-repeatable pseudo-random sequence; sub‐\nshells that reference RANDOM will result in identical pseudo-random values unless the\nvalue of RANDOM is referenced or seeded in the parent shell in between subshell invo‐\ncations.\n\nSECONDS \nThe number of seconds since shell invocation. If this parameter is assigned a value,\nthen the value returned upon reference will be the value that was assigned plus the\nnumber of seconds since the assignment.\n\nUnlike other special parameters, the type of the SECONDS parameter can be changed us‐\ning the typeset command. Only integer and one of the floating point types are al‐\nlowed. For example, `typeset -F SECONDS' causes the value to be reported as a float‐\ning point number. The value is available to microsecond accuracy, although the shell\nmay show more or fewer digits depending on the use of typeset. See the documentation\nfor the builtin typeset in zshbuiltins(1) for more details.\n\nSHLVL \nIncremented by one each time a new shell is started.\n", "subsections": [ { "name": "signals", "content": "An array containing the names of the signals. Note that with the standard zsh number‐\ning of array indices, where the first element has index 1, the signals are offset by 1\nfrom the signal number used by the operating system. For example, on typical\nUnix-like systems HUP is signal number 1, but is referred to as $signals[2]. This is\nbecause of EXIT at position 1 in the array, which is used internally by zsh but is not\nknown to the operating system.\n\nTRYBLOCKERROR \nIn an always block, indicates whether the preceding list of code caused an error. The\nvalue is 1 to indicate an error, 0 otherwise. It may be reset, clearing the error\ncondition. See Complex Commands in zshmisc(1)\n\nTRYBLOCKINTERRUPT \nThis variable works in a similar way to TRYBLOCKERROR, but represents the status of\nan interrupt from the signal SIGINT, which typically comes from the keyboard when the\nuser types ^C. If set to 0, any such interrupt will be reset; otherwise, the inter‐\nrupt is propagated after the always block.\n\nNote that it is possible that an interrupt arrives during the execution of the always\nblock; this interrupt is also propagated.\n\nTTY The name of the tty associated with the shell, if any.\n\nTTYIDLE \nThe idle time of the tty associated with the shell in seconds or -1 if there is no\nsuch tty.\n\nUID \nThe real user ID of the shell process. If you have sufficient privileges, you may\nchange the user ID of the shell by assigning to this parameter. Also (assuming suffi‐\ncient privileges), you may start a single command under a different user ID by\n`(UID=uid; command)'\n\nIf this is made local, it is not implicitly set to 0, but may be explicitly set lo‐\ncally.\n\nUSERNAME \nThe username corresponding to the real user ID of the shell process. If you have suf‐\nficient privileges, you may change the username (and also the user ID and group ID) of\nthe shell by assigning to this parameter. Also (assuming sufficient privileges), you\nmay start a single command under a different username (and user ID and group ID) by\n`(USERNAME=username; command)'\n\nVENDOR The vendor, as determined at compile time.\n\nzshevalcontext (ZSHEVALCONTEXT )\nAn array (colon-separated list) indicating the context of shell code that is being\nrun. Each time a piece of shell code that is stored within the shell is executed a\nstring is temporarily appended to the array to indicate the type of operation that is\nbeing performed. Read in order the array gives an indication of the stack of opera‐\ntions being performed with the most immediate context last.\n\nNote that the variable does not give information on syntactic context such as pipe‐\nlines or subshells. Use $ZSHSUBSHELL to detect subshells.\n\nThe context is one of the following:\ncmdarg Code specified by the -c option to the command line that invoked the shell.\n\ncmdsubst\nCommand substitution using the `...` or $(...) construct.\n\nequalsubst\nFile substitution using the =(...) construct.\n\neval Code executed by the eval builtin.\n\nevalautofunc\nCode executed with the KSHAUTOLOAD mechanism in order to define an autoloaded\nfunction.\n\nfc Code from the shell history executed by the -e option to the fc builtin.\n\nfile Lines of code being read directly from a file, for example by the source\nbuiltin.\n\nfilecode\nLines of code being read from a .zwc file instead of directly from the source\nfile.\n\nglobqual\nCode executed by the e or + glob qualifier.\n\nglobsort\nCode executed to order files by the o glob qualifier.\n\ninsubst\nFile substitution using the <(...) construct.\n\nloadautofunc\nCode read directly from a file to define an autoloaded function.\n\noutsubst\nFile substitution using the >(...) construct.\n\nsched Code executed by the sched builtin.\n\nshfunc A shell function.\n\nstty Code passed to stty by the STTY environment variable. Normally this is passed\ndirectly to the system's stty command, so this value is unlikely to be seen in\npractice.\n\nstyle Code executed as part of a style retrieved by the zstyle builtin from the\nzsh/zutil module.\n\ntoplevel\nThe highest execution level of a script or interactive shell.\n\ntrap Code executed as a trap defined by the trap builtin. Traps defined as func‐\ntions have the context shfunc. As traps are asynchronous they may have a dif‐\nferent hierarchy from other code.\n\nzpty Code executed by the zpty builtin from the zsh/zpty module.\n\nzregexparse-guard\nCode executed as a guard by the zregexparse command from the zsh/zutil module.\n\nzregexparse-action\nCode executed as an action by the zregexparse command from the zsh/zutil mod‐\nule.\n\nZSHARGZERO\nIf zsh was invoked to run a script, this is the name of the script. Otherwise, it is\nthe name used to invoke the current shell. This is the same as the value of $0 when\nthe POSIXARGZERO option is set, but is always available.\n\nZSHEXECUTIONSTRING\nIf the shell was started with the option -c, this contains the argument passed to the\noption. Otherwise it is not set.\n\nZSHNAME\nExpands to the basename of the command used to invoke this instance of zsh.\n\nZSHPATCHLEVEL\nThe output of `git describe --tags --long' for the zsh repository used to build the\nshell. This is most useful in order to keep track of versions of the shell during de‐\nvelopment between releases; hence most users should not use it and should instead rely\non $ZSHVERSION.\n\nzshscheduledevents\nSee the section `The zsh/sched Module' in zshmodules(1).\n\nZSHSCRIPT\nIf zsh was invoked to run a script, this is the name of the script, otherwise it is\nunset.\n\nZSHSUBSHELL\nReadonly integer. Initially zero, incremented each time the shell forks to create a\nsubshell for executing code. Hence `(print $ZSHSUBSHELL)' and `print $(print\n$ZSHSUBSHELL)' output 1, while `( (print $ZSHSUBSHELL) )' outputs 2.\n\nZSHVERSION\nThe version number of the release of zsh.\n" } ] }, "PARAMETERS USED BY THE SHELL": { "content": "The following parameters are used by the shell. Again, `' indicates that the parameter is\nspecial and `' indicates that the parameter does not exist when the shell initializes in\nsh or ksh emulation mode.\n\nIn cases where there are two parameters with an upper- and lowercase form of the same name,\nsuch as path and PATH, the lowercase form is an array and the uppercase form is a scalar with\nthe elements of the array joined together by colons. These are similar to tied parameters\ncreated via `typeset -T'. The normal use for the colon-separated form is for exporting to\nthe environment, while the array form is easier to manipulate within the shell. Note that\nunsetting either of the pair will unset the other; they retain their special properties when\nrecreated, and recreating one of the pair will recreate the other.\n\nARGV0 If exported, its value is used as the argv[0] of external commands. Usually used in\nconstructs like `ARGV0=emacs nethack'.\n\nBAUD The rate in bits per second at which data reaches the terminal. The line editor will\nuse this value in order to compensate for a slow terminal by delaying updates to the\ndisplay until necessary. If the parameter is unset or the value is zero the compensa‐\ntion mechanism is turned off. The parameter is not set by default.\n\nThis parameter may be profitably set in some circumstances, e.g. for slow modems di‐\naling into a communications server, or on a slow wide area network. It should be set\nto the baud rate of the slowest part of the link for best performance.\n\ncdpath (CDPATH )\nAn array (colon-separated list) of directories specifying the search path for the cd\ncommand.\n\nCOLUMNS \nThe number of columns for this terminal session. Used for printing select lists and\nfor the line editor.\n\nCORRECTIGNORE\nIf set, is treated as a pattern during spelling correction. Any potential correction\nthat matches the pattern is ignored. For example, if the value is `*' then comple‐\ntion functions (which, by convention, have names beginning with `') will never be of‐\nfered as spelling corrections. The pattern does not apply to the correction of file\nnames, as applied by the CORRECTALL option (so with the example just given files be‐\nginning with `' in the current directory would still be completed).\n\nCORRECTIGNOREFILE\nIf set, is treated as a pattern during spelling correction of file names. Any file\nname that matches the pattern is never offered as a correction. For example, if the\nvalue is `.*' then dot file names will never be offered as spelling corrections. This\nis useful with the CORRECTALL option.\n\nDIRSTACKSIZE\nThe maximum size of the directory stack, by default there is no limit. If the stack\ngets larger than this, it will be truncated automatically. This is useful with the\nAUTOPUSHD option.\n\nENV If the ENV environment variable is set when zsh is invoked as sh or ksh, $ENV is\nsourced after the profile scripts. The value of ENV is subjected to parameter expan‐\nsion, command substitution, and arithmetic expansion before being interpreted as a\npathname. Note that ENV is not used unless the shell is interactive and zsh is emu‐\nlating sh or ksh.\n\nFCEDIT The default editor for the fc builtin. If FCEDIT is not set, the parameter EDITOR is\nused; if that is not set either, a builtin default, usually vi, is used.\n\nfignore (FIGNORE )\nAn array (colon separated list) containing the suffixes of files to be ignored during\nfilename completion. However, if completion only generates files with suffixes in\nthis list, then these files are completed anyway.\n\nfpath (FPATH )\nAn array (colon separated list) of directories specifying the search path for function\ndefinitions. This path is searched when a function with the -u attribute is refer‐\nenced. If an executable file is found, then it is read and executed in the current\nenvironment.\n\nhistchars \nThree characters used by the shell's history and lexical analysis mechanism. The\nfirst character signals the start of a history expansion (default `!'). The second\ncharacter signals the start of a quick history substitution (default `^'). The third\ncharacter is the comment character (default `#').\n\nThe characters must be in the ASCII character set; any attempt to set histchars to\ncharacters with a locale-dependent meaning will be rejected with an error message.\n\nHISTCHARS \nSame as histchars. (Deprecated.)\n\nHISTFILE\nThe file to save the history in when an interactive shell exits. If unset, the his‐\ntory is not saved.\n\nHISTORYIGNORE\nIf set, is treated as a pattern at the time history files are written. Any potential\nhistory entry that matches the pattern is skipped. For example, if the value is `fc\n*' then commands that invoke the interactive history editor are never written to the\nhistory file.\n\nNote that HISTORYIGNORE defines a single pattern: to specify alternatives use the\n`(first|second|...)' syntax.\n\nCompare the HISTNOSTORE option or the zshaddhistory hook, either of which would pre‐\nvent such commands from being added to the interactive history at all. If you wish to\nuse HISTORYIGNORE to stop history being added in the first place, you can define the\nfollowing hook:\n\nzshaddhistory() {\nemulate -L zsh\n## uncomment if HISTORYIGNORE\n## should use EXTENDEDGLOB syntax\n# setopt extendedglob\n[[ $1 != ${~HISTORYIGNORE} ]]\n}\n\nHISTSIZE \nThe maximum number of events stored in the internal history list. If you use the\nHISTEXPIREDUPSFIRST option, setting this value larger than the SAVEHIST size will\ngive you the difference as a cushion for saving duplicated history events.\n\nIf this is made local, it is not implicitly set to 0, but may be explicitly set lo‐\ncally.\n\nHOME \nThe default argument for the cd command. This is not set automatically by the shell\nin sh, ksh or csh emulation, but it is typically present in the environment anyway,\nand if it becomes set it has its usual special behaviour.\n\nIFS \nInternal field separators (by default space, tab, newline and NUL), that are used to\nseparate words which result from command or parameter expansion and words read by the\nread builtin. Any characters from the set space, tab and newline that appear in the\nIFS are called IFS white space. One or more IFS white space characters or one non-IFS\nwhite space character together with any adjacent IFS white space character delimit a\nfield. If an IFS white space character appears twice consecutively in the IFS, this\ncharacter is treated as if it were not an IFS white space character.\n\nIf the parameter is unset, the default is used. Note this has a different effect from\nsetting the parameter to an empty string.\n\nKEYBOARDHACK\nThis variable defines a character to be removed from the end of the command line be‐\nfore interpreting it (interactive shells only). It is intended to fix the problem with\nkeys placed annoyingly close to return and replaces the SUNKEYBOARDHACK option which\ndid this for backquotes only. Should the chosen character be one of singlequote, dou‐\nblequote or backquote, there must also be an odd number of them on the command line\nfor the last one to be removed.\n\nFor backward compatibility, if the SUNKEYBOARDHACK option is explicitly set, the value\nof KEYBOARDHACK reverts to backquote. If the option is explicitly unset, this vari‐\nable is set to empty.\n\nKEYTIMEOUT\nThe time the shell waits, in hundredths of seconds, for another key to be pressed when\nreading bound multi-character sequences.\n\nLANG \nThis variable determines the locale category for any category not specifically se‐\nlected via a variable starting with `LC'.\n\nLCALL \nThis variable overrides the value of the `LANG' variable and the value of any of the\nother variables starting with `LC'.\n\nLCCOLLATE \nThis variable determines the locale category for character collation information\nwithin ranges in glob brackets and for sorting.\n\nLCCTYPE \nThis variable determines the locale category for character handling functions. If the\nMULTIBYTE option is in effect this variable or LANG should contain a value that re‐\nflects the character set in use, even if it is a single-byte character set, unless\nonly the 7-bit subset (ASCII) is used. For example, if the character set is\nISO-8859-1, a suitable value might be enUS.iso88591 (certain Linux distributions) or\nenUS.ISO8859-1 (MacOS).\n\nLCMESSAGES \nThis variable determines the language in which messages should be written. Note that\nzsh does not use message catalogs.\n\nLCNUMERIC \nThis variable affects the decimal point character and thousands separator character\nfor the formatted input/output functions and string conversion functions. Note that\nzsh ignores this setting when parsing floating point mathematical expressions.\n\nLCTIME \nThis variable determines the locale category for date and time formatting in prompt\nescape sequences.\n\nLINES \nThe number of lines for this terminal session. Used for printing select lists and for\nthe line editor.\n\nLISTMAX\nIn the line editor, the number of matches to list without asking first. If the value\nis negative, the list will be shown if it spans at most as many lines as given by the\nabsolute value. If set to zero, the shell asks only if the top of the listing would\nscroll off the screen.\n\nLOGCHECK\nThe interval in seconds between checks for login/logout activity using the watch pa‐\nrameter.\n\nMAIL If this parameter is set and mailpath is not set, the shell looks for mail in the\nspecified file.\n\nMAILCHECK\nThe interval in seconds between checks for new mail.\n\nmailpath (MAILPATH )\nAn array (colon-separated list) of filenames to check for new mail. Each filename can\nbe followed by a `?' and a message that will be printed. The message will undergo pa‐\nrameter expansion, command substitution and arithmetic expansion with the variable $\ndefined as the name of the file that has changed. The default message is `You have\nnew mail'. If an element is a directory instead of a file the shell will recursively\ncheck every file in every subdirectory of the element.\n\nmanpath (MANPATH )\nAn array (colon-separated list) whose value is not used by the shell. The manpath ar‐\nray can be useful, however, since setting it also sets MANPATH, and vice versa.\n", "subsections": [ { "name": "match", "content": "" }, { "name": "mbegin", "content": "mend Arrays set by the shell when the b globbing flag is used in pattern matches. See the\nsubsection Globbing flags in the documentation for Filename Generation in zshexpn(1).\n\nMATCH\nMBEGIN\nMEND Set by the shell when the m globbing flag is used in pattern matches. See the subsec‐\ntion Globbing flags in the documentation for Filename Generation in zshexpn(1).\n\nmodulepath (MODULEPATH )\nAn array (colon-separated list) of directories that zmodload searches for dynamically\nloadable modules. This is initialized to a standard pathname, usually `/usr/lo‐‐\ncal/lib/zsh/$ZSHVERSION'. (The `/usr/local/lib' part varies from installation to in‐\nstallation.) For security reasons, any value set in the environment when the shell is\nstarted will be ignored.\n\nThese parameters only exist if the installation supports dynamic module loading.\n\nNULLCMD \nThe command name to assume if a redirection is specified with no command. Defaults to\ncat. For sh/ksh behavior, change this to :. For csh-like behavior, unset this param‐\neter; the shell will print an error message if null commands are entered.\n\npath (PATH )\nAn array (colon-separated list) of directories to search for commands. When this pa‐\nrameter is set, each directory is scanned and all files found are put in a hash table.\n\nPOSTEDIT \nThis string is output whenever the line editor exits. It usually contains termcap\nstrings to reset the terminal.\n\nPROMPT \nPROMPT2 \nPROMPT3 \nPROMPT4 \nSame as PS1, PS2, PS3 and PS4, respectively.\n\nprompt \nSame as PS1.\n\nPROMPTEOLMARK\nWhen the PROMPTCR and PROMPTSP options are set, the PROMPTEOLMARK parameter can be\nused to customize how the end of partial lines are shown. This parameter undergoes\nprompt expansion, with the PROMPTPERCENT option set. If not set, the default behav‐\nior is equivalent to the value `%B%S%#%s%b'.\n\nPS1 \nThe primary prompt string, printed before a command is read. It undergoes a special\nform of expansion before being displayed; see EXPANSION OF PROMPT SEQUENCES in zsh‐\nmisc(1). The default is `%m%# '.\n\nPS2 \nThe secondary prompt, printed when the shell needs more information to complete a com‐\nmand. It is expanded in the same way as PS1. The default is `%> ', which displays\nany shell constructs or quotation marks which are currently being processed.\n\nPS3 \nSelection prompt used within a select loop. It is expanded in the same way as PS1.\nThe default is `?# '.\n\nPS4 \nThe execution trace prompt. Default is `+%N:%i> ', which displays the name of the\ncurrent shell structure and the line number within it. In sh or ksh emulation, the\ndefault is `+ '.\n\npsvar (PSVAR )\nAn array (colon-separated list) whose elements can be used in PROMPT strings. Setting\npsvar also sets PSVAR, and vice versa.\n\nREADNULLCMD \nThe command name to assume if a single input redirection is specified with no command.\nDefaults to more.\n\nREPORTMEMORY\nIf nonnegative, commands whose maximum resident set size (roughly speaking, main mem‐\nory usage) in kilobytes is greater than this value have timing statistics reported.\nThe format used to output statistics is the value of the TIMEFMT parameter, which is\nthe same as for the REPORTTIME variable and the time builtin; note that by default\nthis does not output memory usage. Appending \" max RSS %M\" to the value of TIMEFMT\ncauses it to output the value that triggered the report. If REPORTTIME is also in\nuse, at most a single report is printed for both triggers. This feature requires the\ngetrusage() system call, commonly supported by modern Unix-like systems.\n\nREPORTTIME\nIf nonnegative, commands whose combined user and system execution times (measured in\nseconds) are greater than this value have timing statistics printed for them. Output\nis suppressed for commands executed within the line editor, including completion; com‐\nmands explicitly marked with the time keyword still cause the summary to be printed in\nthis case.\n\nREPLY This parameter is reserved by convention to pass string values between shell scripts\nand shell builtins in situations where a function call or redirection are impossible\nor undesirable. The read builtin and the select complex command may set REPLY, and\nfilename generation both sets and examines its value when evaluating certain expres‐\nsions. Some modules also employ REPLY for similar purposes.\n\nreply As REPLY, but for array values rather than strings.\n\nRPROMPT \nRPS1 \nThis prompt is displayed on the right-hand side of the screen when the primary prompt\nis being displayed on the left. This does not work if the SINGLELINEZLE option is\nset. It is expanded in the same way as PS1.\n\nRPROMPT2 \nRPS2 \nThis prompt is displayed on the right-hand side of the screen when the secondary\nprompt is being displayed on the left. This does not work if the SINGLELINEZLE op‐\ntion is set. It is expanded in the same way as PS2.\n\nSAVEHIST\nThe maximum number of history events to save in the history file.\n\nIf this is made local, it is not implicitly set to 0, but may be explicitly set lo‐\ncally.\n\nSPROMPT \nThe prompt used for spelling correction. The sequence `%R' expands to the string\nwhich presumably needs spelling correction, and `%r' expands to the proposed correc‐\ntion. All other prompt escapes are also allowed.\n\nThe actions available at the prompt are [nyae]:\nn (`no') (default)\nDiscard the correction and run the command.\ny (`yes')\nMake the correction and run the command.\na (`abort')\nDiscard the entire command line without running it.\ne (`edit')\nResume editing the command line.\n\nSTTY If this parameter is set in a command's environment, the shell runs the stty command\nwith the value of this parameter as arguments in order to set up the terminal before\nexecuting the command. The modes apply only to the command, and are reset when it fin‐\nishes or is suspended. If the command is suspended and continued later with the fg or\nwait builtins it will see the modes specified by STTY, as if it were not suspended.\nThis (intentionally) does not apply if the command is continued via `kill -CONT'.\nSTTY is ignored if the command is run in the background, or if it is in the environ‐\nment of the shell but not explicitly assigned to in the input line. This avoids run‐\nning stty at every external command by accidentally exporting it. Also note that STTY\nshould not be used for window size specifications; these will not be local to the com‐\nmand.\n\nTERM \nThe type of terminal in use. This is used when looking up termcap sequences. An as‐\nsignment to TERM causes zsh to re-initialize the terminal, even if the value does not\nchange (e.g., `TERM=$TERM'). It is necessary to make such an assignment upon any\nchange to the terminal definition database or terminal type in order for the new set‐\ntings to take effect.\n\nTERMINFO \nA reference to your terminfo database, used by the `terminfo' library when the system\nhas it; see terminfo(5). If set, this causes the shell to reinitialise the terminal,\nmaking the workaround `TERM=$TERM' unnecessary.\n\nTERMINFODIRS \nA colon-seprarated list of terminfo databases, used by the `terminfo' library when the\nsystem has it; see terminfo(5). This variable is only used by certain terminal li‐\nbraries, in particular ncurses; see terminfo(5) to check support on your system. If\nset, this causes the shell to reinitialise the terminal, making the workaround\n`TERM=$TERM' unnecessary. Note that unlike other colon-separated arrays this is not\ntied to a zsh array.\n\nTIMEFMT\nThe format of process time reports with the time keyword. The default is `%J %U user\n%S system %P cpu %*E total'. Recognizes the following escape sequences, although not\nall may be available on all systems, and some that are available may not be useful:\n\n%% A `%'.\n%U CPU seconds spent in user mode.\n%S CPU seconds spent in kernel mode.\n%E Elapsed time in seconds.\n%P The CPU percentage, computed as 100*(%U+%S)/%E.\n%W Number of times the process was swapped.\n%X The average amount in (shared) text space used in kilobytes.\n%D The average amount in (unshared) data/stack space used in kilobytes.\n%K The total space used (%X+%D) in kilobytes.\n%M The maximum memory the process had in use at any time in kilobytes.\n%F The number of major page faults (page needed to be brought from disk).\n%R The number of minor page faults.\n%I The number of input operations.\n%O The number of output operations.\n%r The number of socket messages received.\n%s The number of socket messages sent.\n%k The number of signals received.\n%w Number of voluntary context switches (waits).\n%c Number of involuntary context switches.\n%J The name of this job.\n\nA star may be inserted between the percent sign and flags printing time (e.g., `%*E');\nthis causes the time to be printed in `hh:mm:ss.ttt' format (hours and minutes are\nonly printed if they are not zero). Alternatively, `m' or `u' may be used (e.g.,\n`%mE') to produce time output in milliseconds or microseconds, respectively.\n\nTMOUT If this parameter is nonzero, the shell will receive an ALRM signal if a command is\nnot entered within the specified number of seconds after issuing a prompt. If there is\na trap on SIGALRM, it will be executed and a new alarm is scheduled using the value of\nthe TMOUT parameter after executing the trap. If no trap is set, and the idle time of\nthe terminal is not less than the value of the TMOUT parameter, zsh terminates. Oth‐\nerwise a new alarm is scheduled to TMOUT seconds after the last keypress.\n\nTMPPREFIX\nA pathname prefix which the shell will use for all temporary files. Note that this\nshould include an initial part for the file name as well as any directory names. The\ndefault is `/tmp/zsh'.\n\nTMPSUFFIX\nA filename suffix which the shell will use for temporary files created by process sub‐\nstitutions (e.g., `=(list)'). Note that the value should include a leading dot `.' if\nintended to be interpreted as a file extension. The default is not to append any suf‐\nfix, thus this parameter should be assigned only when needed and then unset again.\n\nwatch (WATCH )\nAn array (colon-separated list) of login/logout events to report.\n\nIf it contains the single word `all', then all login/logout events are reported. If\nit contains the single word `notme', then all events are reported as with `all' except\n$USERNAME.\n\nAn entry in this list may consist of a username, an `@' followed by a remote hostname,\nand a `%' followed by a line (tty). Any of these may be a pattern (be sure to quote\nthis during the assignment to watch so that it does not immediately perform file gen‐\neration); the setting of the EXTENDEDGLOB option is respected. Any or all of these\ncomponents may be present in an entry; if a login/logout event matches all of them, it\nis reported.\n\nFor example, with the EXTENDEDGLOB option set, the following:\n\nwatch=('^(pws|barts)')\n\ncauses reports for activity associated with any user other than pws or barts.\n\nWATCHFMT\nThe format of login/logout reports if the watch parameter is set. Default is `%n has\n%a %l from %m'. Recognizes the following escape sequences:\n\n%n The name of the user that logged in/out.\n\n%a The observed action, i.e. \"logged on\" or \"logged off\".\n\n%l The line (tty) the user is logged in on.\n\n%M The full hostname of the remote host.\n\n%m The hostname up to the first `.'. If only the IP address is available or the\nutmp field contains the name of an X-windows display, the whole name is\nprinted.\n\nNOTE: The `%m' and `%M' escapes will work only if there is a host name field in\nthe utmp on your machine. Otherwise they are treated as ordinary strings.\n\n%S (%s)\nStart (stop) standout mode.\n\n%U (%u)\nStart (stop) underline mode.\n\n%B (%b)\nStart (stop) boldface mode.\n\n%t\n%@ The time, in 12-hour, am/pm format.\n\n%T The time, in 24-hour format.\n\n%w The date in `day-dd' format.\n\n%W The date in `mm/dd/yy' format.\n\n%D The date in `yy-mm-dd' format.\n\n%D{string}\nThe date formatted as string using the strftime function, with zsh extensions\nas described by EXPANSION OF PROMPT SEQUENCES in zshmisc(1).\n\n%(x:true-text:false-text)\nSpecifies a ternary expression. The character following the x is arbitrary;\nthe same character is used to separate the text for the \"true\" result from that\nfor the \"false\" result. Both the separator and the right parenthesis may be\nescaped with a backslash. Ternary expressions may be nested.\n\nThe test character x may be any one of `l', `n', `m' or `M', which indicate a\n`true' result if the corresponding escape sequence would return a non-empty\nvalue; or it may be `a', which indicates a `true' result if the watched user\nhas logged in, or `false' if he has logged out. Other characters evaluate to\nneither true nor false; the entire expression is omitted in this case.\n\nIf the result is `true', then the true-text is formatted according to the rules\nabove and printed, and the false-text is skipped. If `false', the true-text is\nskipped and the false-text is formatted and printed. Either or both of the\nbranches may be empty, but both separators must be present in any case.\n\nWORDCHARS \nA list of non-alphanumeric characters considered part of a word by the line editor.\n\nZBEEP If set, this gives a string of characters, which can use all the same codes as the\nbindkey command as described in the zsh/zle module entry in zshmodules(1), that will\nbe output to the terminal instead of beeping. This may have a visible instead of an\naudible effect; for example, the string `\\e[?5h\\e[?5l' on a vt100 or xterm will have\nthe effect of flashing reverse video on and off (if you usually use reverse video, you\nshould use the string `\\e[?5l\\e[?5h' instead). This takes precedence over the NOBEEP\noption.\n\nZDOTDIR\nThe directory to search for shell startup files (.zshrc, etc), if not $HOME.\n\nzlebracketedpaste\nMany terminal emulators have a feature that allows applications to identify when text\nis pasted into the terminal rather than being typed normally. For ZLE, this means that\nspecial characters such as tabs and newlines can be inserted instead of invoking edi‐\ntor commands. Furthermore, pasted text forms a single undo event and if the region is\nactive, pasted text will replace the region.\n\nThis two-element array contains the terminal escape sequences for enabling and dis‐\nabling the feature. These escape sequences are used to enable bracketed paste when ZLE\nis active and disable it at other times. Unsetting the parameter has the effect of\nensuring that bracketed paste remains disabled.\n\nzlehighlight\nAn array describing contexts in which ZLE should highlight the input text. See Char‐\nacter Highlighting in zshzle(1).\n\nZLELINEABORTED\nThis parameter is set by the line editor when an error occurs. It contains the line\nthat was being edited at the point of the error. `print -zr -- $ZLELINEABORTED' can\nbe used to recover the line. Only the most recent line of this kind is remembered.\n\nZLEREMOVESUFFIXCHARS\nZLESPACESUFFIXCHARS\nThese parameters are used by the line editor. In certain circumstances suffixes (typ‐\nically space or slash) added by the completion system will be removed automatically,\neither because the next editing command was not an insertable character, or because\nthe character was marked as requiring the suffix to be removed.\n\nThese variables can contain the sets of characters that will cause the suffix to be\nremoved. If ZLEREMOVESUFFIXCHARS is set, those characters will cause the suffix to\nbe removed; if ZLESPACESUFFIXCHARS is set, those characters will cause the suffix\nto be removed and replaced by a space.\n\nIf ZLEREMOVESUFFIXCHARS is not set, the default behaviour is equivalent to:\n\nZLEREMOVESUFFIXCHARS=$' \\t\\n;&|'\n\nIf ZLEREMOVESUFFIXCHARS is set but is empty, no characters have this behaviour.\nZLESPACESUFFIXCHARS takes precedence, so that the following:\n\nZLESPACESUFFIXCHARS=$'&|'\n\ncauses the characters `&' and `|' to remove the suffix but to replace it with a space.\n\nTo illustrate the difference, suppose that the option AUTOREMOVESLASH is in effect\nand the directory DIR has just been completed, with an appended /, following which the\nuser types `&'. The default result is `DIR&'. With ZLEREMOVESUFFIXCHARS set but\nwithout including `&' the result is `DIR/&'. With ZLESPACESUFFIXCHARS set to in‐\nclude `&' the result is `DIR &'.\n\nNote that certain completions may provide their own suffix removal or replacement be‐\nhaviour which overrides the values described here. See the completion system documen‐\ntation in zshcompsys(1).\n\nZLERPROMPTINDENT \nIf set, used to give the indentation between the right hand side of the right prompt\nin the line editor as given by RPS1 or RPROMPT and the right hand side of the screen.\nIf not set, the value 1 is used.\n\nTypically this will be used to set the value to 0 so that the prompt appears flush\nwith the right hand side of the screen. This is not the default as many terminals do\nnot handle this correctly, in particular when the prompt appears at the extreme bottom\nright of the screen. Recent virtual terminals are more likely to handle this case\ncorrectly. Some experimentation is necessary.\n\n\n\nzsh 5.8.1 February 12, 2022 ZSHPARAM(1)" } ] } } } }