{
    "mode": "man",
    "parameter": "zshroadmap",
    "section": "1",
    "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/zshroadmap/1/json",
    "generated": "2026-05-30T06:07:04Z",
    "sections": {
        "NAME": {
            "content": "zshroadmap  -  informal introduction to the zsh manual The Zsh Manual, like the shell itself,\nis large and often complicated.  This section of the manual provides some pointers  to  areas\nof  the  shell that are likely to be of particular interest to new users, and indicates where\nin the rest of the manual the documentation is to be found.\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "WHEN THE SHELL STARTS": {
            "content": "When it starts, the shell reads commands from various files.  These can be created or  edited\nto customize the shell.  See the section Startup/Shutdown Files in zsh(1).\n\nIf no personal initialization files exist for the current user, a function is run to help you\nchange some of the most common settings.  It won't appear if your administrator has  disabled\nthe  zsh/newuser module.  The function is designed to be self-explanatory.  You can run it by\nhand with `autoload -Uz zsh-newuser-install; zsh-newuser-install -f'.  See also  the  section\nUser Configuration Functions in zshcontrib(1).\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "INTERACTIVE USE": {
            "content": "Interaction  with  the shell uses the builtin Zsh Line Editor, ZLE.  This is described in de‐\ntail in zshzle(1).\n\nThe first decision a user must make is whether to use the Emacs or Vi  editing  mode  as  the\nkeys  for  editing  are substantially different.  Emacs editing mode is probably more natural\nfor beginners and can be selected explicitly with the command bindkey -e.\n\nA history mechanism for retrieving previously typed lines (most simply with the  Up  or  Down\narrow  keys) is available; note that, unlike other shells, zsh will not save these lines when\nthe shell exits unless you set appropriate variables, and the number  of  history  lines  re‐\ntained by default is quite small (30 lines).  See the description of the shell variables (re‐\nferred to in the documentation as parameters) HISTFILE, HISTSIZE and SAVEHIST in zshparam(1).\nNote  that it's currently only possible to read and write files saving history when the shell\nis interactive, i.e. it does not work from scripts.\n\nThe shell now supports the UTF-8 character set (and also others if supported by the operating\nsystem).   This  is (mostly) handled transparently by the shell, but the degree of support in\nterminal emulators is variable.   There  is  some  discussion  of  this  in  the  shell  FAQ,\nhttp://www.zsh.org/FAQ/.   Note in particular that for combining characters to be handled the\noption COMBININGCHARS needs to be set.  Because the shell is now more sensitive to the defi‐\nnition  of  the  character  set,  note that if you are upgrading from an older version of the\nshell you should ensure that the appropriate variable, either LANG (to affect all aspects  of\nthe  shell's operation) or LCCTYPE (to affect only the handling of character sets) is set to\nan appropriate value.  This is true even if you are using a single-byte character set includ‐\ning  extensions  of ASCII such as ISO-8859-1 or ISO-8859-15.  See the description of LCCTYPE\nin zshparam(1).\n",
            "subsections": [
                {
                    "name": "Completion",
                    "content": "Completion is a feature present in many shells. It allows the user to type only a part  (usu‐\nally the prefix) of a word and have the shell fill in the rest.  The completion system in zsh\nis programmable.  For example, the shell can be set to complete email addresses in  arguments\nto  the  mail  command  from your ~/.abook/addressbook; usernames, hostnames, and even remote\npaths in arguments to scp, and so on.  Anything that can be written in or glued together with\nzsh can be the source of what the line editor offers as possible completions.\n\nZsh has two completion systems, an old, so called compctl completion (named after the builtin\ncommand that serves as its complete and only user interface), and a new one, referred  to  as\ncompsys,  organized as library of builtin and user-defined functions.  The two systems differ\nin their interface for specifying the completion behavior.  The new system is more customiza‐\nble  and  is supplied with completions for many commonly used commands; it is therefore to be\npreferred.\n\nThe completion system must be enabled explicitly when the shell starts.  For more information\nsee zshcompsys(1).\n"
                },
                {
                    "name": "Extending the line editor",
                    "content": "Apart  from  completion,  the  line  editor is highly extensible by means of shell functions.\nSome useful functions are provided with the shell; they provide facilities such as:\n"
                },
                {
                    "name": "insert-composed-char",
                    "content": "composing characters not found on the keyboard\n"
                },
                {
                    "name": "match-words-by-style",
                    "content": "configuring what the line editor considers a word when moving or deleting by word\n\nhistory-beginning-search-backward-end, etc.\nalternative ways of searching the shell history\n\nreplace-string, replace-pattern\nfunctions for replacing strings or patterns globally in the command line\n"
                },
                {
                    "name": "edit-command-line",
                    "content": "edit the command line with an external editor.\n\nSee the section `ZLE Functions' in zshcontrib(1) for descriptions of these.\n"
                }
            ]
        },
        "OPTIONS": {
            "content": "The shell has a large number of options for changing its behaviour.  These cover all  aspects\nof  the shell; browsing the full documentation is the only good way to become acquainted with\nthe many possibilities.  See zshoptions(1).\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "PATTERN MATCHING": {
            "content": "The shell has a rich set of patterns which are available for file matching (described in  the\ndocumentation  as  `filename generation' and also known for historical reasons as `globbing')\nand for use when programming.  These are described in the section  `Filename  Generation'  in\nzshexpn(1).\n\nOf  particular  interest  are the following patterns that are not commonly supported by other\nsystems of pattern matching:\n\nfor matching over multiple directories\n\n|      for matching either of two alternatives\n\n~, ^   the ability to exclude patterns from matching when the EXTENDEDGLOB option is set\n\n(...)  glob qualifiers, included in parentheses at the end of the pattern, which select files\nby type (such as directories) or attribute (such as size).\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "GENERAL COMMENTS ON SYNTAX": {
            "content": "Although  the syntax of zsh is in ways similar to the Korn shell, and therefore more remotely\nto the original UNIX shell, the Bourne shell, its default behaviour does not entirely  corre‐\nspond  to those shells.  General shell syntax is introduced in the section `Shell Grammar' in\nzshmisc(1).\n\nOne commonly encountered difference is that variables substituted onto the command  line  are\nnot  split  into words.  See the description of the shell option SHWORDSPLIT in the section\n`Parameter Expansion' in zshexpn(1).  In zsh, you can either explicitly request the splitting\n(e.g. ${=foo}) or use an array when you want a variable to expand to more than one word.  See\nthe section `Array Parameters' in zshparam(1).\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "PROGRAMMING": {
            "content": "The most convenient way of adding enhancements to the shell is typically by writing  a  shell\nfunction  and  arranging  for  it  to  be autoloaded.  Functions are described in the section\n`Functions' in zshmisc(1).  Users changing from the C shell and its relatives  should  notice\nthat  aliases  are  less used in zsh as they don't perform argument substitution, only simple\ntext replacement.\n\nA few general functions, other than those for the line editor described above,  are  provided\nwith the shell and are described in zshcontrib(1).  Features include:\n",
            "subsections": [
                {
                    "name": "promptinit",
                    "content": "a prompt theme system for changing prompts easily, see the section `Prompt Themes'\n\n"
                },
                {
                    "name": "zsh-mime-setup",
                    "content": "a  MIME-handling system which dispatches commands according to the suffix of a file as\ndone by graphical file managers\n\nzcalc  a calculator\n\nzargs  a version of xargs that makes the find command redundant\n\nzmv    a command for renaming files by means of shell patterns.\n\n\n\nzsh 5.8.1                                 February 12, 2022                            ZSHROADMAP(1)"
                }
            ]
        }
    },
    "summary": "zshroadmap  -  informal introduction to the zsh manual The Zsh Manual, like the shell itself, is large and often complicated.  This section of the manual provides some pointers  to  areas of  the  shell that are likely to be of particular interest to new users, and indicates where in the rest of the manual the documentation is to be found.",
    "flags": [],
    "examples": [],
    "see_also": []
}