You can also use the Web configuration tool, <a href="commands.html#fish_config">`fish_config`</a>, to preview and choose from a gallery of sample prompts.
Use the web configuration tool, <a href="commands.html#fish_config">`fish_config`</a>, or alter the <a href="index.html#variables-color">`fish_color` family of environment variables</a>.
<i>For example if `~/images` is a symlink to `~/Documents/Images`, if I write '`cd images`', my prompt will say `~/Documents/Images`, not `~/images`.</i>
Because it is impossible to consistently keep symlinked directories unresolved. It is indeed possible to do this partially, and many other shells do so. But it was felt there are enough serious corner cases that this is a bad idea. Most such issues have to do with how '..' is handled, and are variations of the following example:
Writing `cd images; ls ..` given the above directory structure would list the contents of `~/Documents`, not of `~`, even though using `cd ..` changes the current directory to `~`, and the prompt, the `pwd` builtin and many other directory information sources suggest that the current directory is `~/images` and its parent is `~`. This issue is not possible to fix without either making every single command into a builtin, breaking Unix semantics or implementing kludges in every single command. This issue can also be seen when doing IO redirection.
Another related issue is that many programs that operate on recursive directory trees, like the find command, silently ignore symlinked directories. For example, ```find $PWD -name '*.txt'``` silently fails in shells that don't resolve symlinked paths.
If fish is unable to locate a command with a given name, and it starts with '`.`', '`/`' or '`~`', fish will test if a directory of that name exists. If it does, it is implicitly assumed that you want to change working directory. For example, the fastest way to switch to your home directory is to simply press `~` and enter.
The `open` command uses the MIME type database and the `.desktop` files used by Gnome and KDE to identify filetypes and default actions. If at least one of these environments is installed, but the open command is not working, this probably means that the relevant files are installed in a non-standard location. Consider <a href="index.html#more-help">asking for more help</a>.
If you installed fish manually (e.g. by compiling it, not by using a package manager), you first need to add fish to the list of shells by executing the following command (assuming you installed fish in /usr/local):
Fish is trying to set the titlebar message of your terminal. While screen itself supports this feature, your terminal does not. Unfortunately, when the underlying terminal doesn't support setting the titlebar, screen simply passes through the escape codes and text to the underlying terminal instead of ignoring them. It is impossible to detect and resolve this problem from inside fish since fish has no way of knowing what the underlying terminal type is. For now, the only way to fix this is to unset the titlebar message, as suggested above.
Note that fish has a default titlebar message, which will be used if the fish_title function is undefined. So simply unsetting the fish_title function will not work.
Because history substitution is an awkward interface that was invented before interactive line editing was even possible. Fish drops it in favor of perfecting the interactive history recall interface. Switching requires a small change of habits: if you want to modify an old line/word, first recall it, then edit. E.g. don't type "sudo !!" - first press Up, then Home, then type "sudo ".
- As in any modern shell, the Up arrow, @cursor_key{↑,Up} recalls whole lines, starting from the last line executed. A single press replaces "!!", later presses replace "!-3" and the like.
- If the line you want is far back in the history, type any part of the line and then press Up one or more times. This will constrain the recall to lines that include this text, and you will get to the line you want much faster. This replaces "!vi", "!?bar.c" and the like.
- @key{Alt,↑,Up} recalls individual arguments, starting from the last argument in the last line executed. A single press replaces "!$", later presses replace "!!:4" and the like.
- If the argument you want is far back in history (e.g. 2 lines back - that's a lot of words!), type any part of it and then press @key{Alt,↑,Up}. This will show only arguments containing that part and you will get what you want much faster. Try it out, this is very convenient!
- If you want to reuse several arguments from the same line ("!!:3*" and the like), consider recalling the whole line and removing what you don't need (@key{Alt,D} and @key{Alt,Backspace} are your friends).
\section faq-cd-minus How to make `-` a shortcut for `cd -`?
In fish versions prior to 2.5.0 it was possible to create a function named `-` that would do `cd -`. Changes in the 2.5.0 release included several bug fixes that enforce the rule that a bare hyphen is not a valid function (or variable) name. However, you can achieve the same effect via an abbreviation:
\section faq-reserved-chars Unicode private-use characters reserved by fish
Fish reserves the <a href="http://www.unicode.org/faq/private_use.html">Unicode private-use character range</a> from U+F600 thru U+F73F for internal use. Any attempt to feed characters in that range to fish will result in them being replaced by the Unicode "replacement character" U+FFFD. This includes both interactive input as well as any file read by fish (but not programs run by fish).
\section faq-third-party Where can I find extra tools for fish?
The fish user community extends fish in unique and useful ways via scripts that aren't always appropriate for bundling with the fish package. Typically because they solve a niche problem unlikely to appeal to a broad audience. You can find those extensions, including prompts, themes and useful functions, in various third-party repositories. These include:
This is not an exhaustive list and the fish project has no opinion regarding the merits of the repositories listed above or the scripts found therein. We mention these only because you may find within them a solution to a need you have such as supporting the `&&` and `||` operators or improved integration with other tools that you use.
