A shell is a program which helps you operate your computer by starting other programs. fish offers a command-line interface focused on usability and interactive use.
If fish is your default shell and you want to copy commands from the internet that are written in a different shell language, bash for example, you can proceed in the following way:
Since scripts for shell commands can be written in many different languages, they need to carry information about what interpreter is needed to execute them: For this they are expected to have a first line, the shebang line, which names an executable for this purpose:
Example:
A scripts written in ``bash`` it would need a first line like this::
#!/bin/bash
This line tells the shell to execute the file with the bash interpreter, that is located at the path ``/bin/bash``.
For a script, written in another language, just replace the interpreter ``/bin/bash`` with the language interpreter of that other language (for example ``/bin/python`` for a ``python`` script)
This line is only needed when scripts are executed without specifying the interpreter. For functions inside fish or when executing a script with ```fish /path/to/script`` they aren't required (but don't hurt either!).
This calls the ``echo`` command. ``echo`` is a command which will write its arguments to the screen. In the example above, the output will be 'hello world'. Everything in fish is done with commands. There are commands for performing a set of commands multiple times, commands for assigning variables, commands for treating a group of commands as a single command, etc.. And every single command follows the same basic syntax.
``man`` is a command for displaying a manual page on a given topic. The man command takes the name of the manual page to display as an argument. There are manual pages for almost every command on most computers. There are also manual pages for many other things, such as system libraries and important files.
Every program on your computer can be used as a command in ``fish``. If the program file is located in one of the directories in the PATH_, you can just use the name of the program to use it. Otherwise the whole filename, including the directory (like ``/home/me/code/checkers/checkers`` or ``../checkers``) has to be used.
Commands and parameters are separated by the space character `' '`. Every command ends with either a newline (i.e. by pressing the return key) or a semicolon '``;``'. More than one command can be written on the same line by separating them with semicolons.
A switch is a very common special type of argument. Switches almost always start with one or more hyphens '``-``' and alter the way a command operates. For example, the '``ls``' command usually lists all the files and directories in the current working directory, but by using the '``-l``' switch, the behavior of '``ls``' is changed to not only display the filename, but also the size, permissions, owner and modification time of each file.
Switches differ between commands and are documented in the manual page for each command. Some switches are common to most command though, for example '``--help``' will usually display a help text, '``-i``' will often turn on interactive prompting before taking action, while '``-f``' will turn it off.
This is a short explanation of some of the commonly used words in fish.
-**argument** a parameter given to a command
-**builtin** a command that is implemented in the shell. Builtins are commands that are so closely tied to the shell that it is impossible to implement them as external commands.
-**function** a block of commands that can be called as if they were a single command. By using functions, it is possible to string together multiple smaller commands into one more advanced command.
-**job** a running pipeline or command
-**pipeline** a set of commands stringed together so that the output of one command is the input of the next command
-**redirection** an operation that changes one of the input/output streams associated with a job
-**switch** a special flag sent as an argument to a command that will alter the behavior of the command. A switch almost always begins with one or two hyphens.
Sometimes features such as `parameter expansion <#expand>`_ and `character escapes <#escapes>`_ get in the way. When that happens, the user can write a parameter within quotes, either ``'`` (single quote) or ``"`` (double quote). There is one important difference between single quoted and double quoted strings: When using double quoted string, `variable expansion <#expand-variable>`_ still takes place. Other than that, no other kind of expansion (including `brace expansion <#expand-brace>`_ and parameter expansion) will take place, the parameter may contain spaces, and escape sequences are ignored.
The only backslash escape accepted within single quotes is ``\'``, which escapes a single quote and ``\\``, which escapes the backslash symbol. The only backslash escapes accepted within double quotes are ``\"``, which escapes a double quote, ``\$``, which escapes a dollar character, ``\`` followed by a newline, which deletes the backslash and the newline, and lastly ``\\``, which escapes the backslash symbol. Single quotes have no special meaning within double quotes and vice versa.
-``\xHH``, where *HH* is a hexadecimal number, represents the ascii character with the specified value. For example, ``\x9`` is the tab character.
-``\XHH``, where *HH* is a hexadecimal number, represents a byte of data with the specified value. If you are using a multibyte encoding, this can be used to enter invalid strings. Only use this if you know what you are doing.
-``\ooo``, where *ooo* is an octal number, represents the ascii character with the specified value. For example, ``\011`` is the tab character.
-``\uXXXX``, where *XXXX* is a hexadecimal number, represents the 16-bit Unicode character with the specified value. For example, ``\u9`` is the tab character.
-``\UXXXXXXXX``, where *XXXXXXXX* is a hexadecimal number, represents the 32-bit Unicode character with the specified value. For example, ``\U9`` is the tab character.
-``\cX``, where *X* is a letter of the alphabet, represents the control sequence generated by pressing the control key and the specified letter. For example, ``\ci`` is the tab character
To redirect both standard output and standard error to the file 'all_output.txt', you can write ``echo Hello &> all_output.txt``, which is a convenience for ``echo Hello > all_output.txt 2>&1``.
..[#] Previous versions of fish also allowed spelling this as ``^DESTINATION``, but that made another character special so it was deprecated and will be removed in future.
The user can string together multiple commands into a *pipeline*. This means that the standard output of one command will be read in as standard input into the next command. This is done by separating the commands by the pipe character '``|``'. For example
will call the ``cat`` program with the parameter 'foo.txt', which will print the contents of the file 'foo.txt'. The contents of foo.txt will then be filtered through the program 'head', which will pass on the first ten lines of the file to the screen. For more information on how to combine commands through pipes, read the manual pages of the commands you want to use using the ``man`` command. If you want to find out more about the ``cat`` program, type ``man cat``.
Pipes usually connect file descriptor 1 (standard output) of the first process to file descriptor 0 (standard input) of the second process. It is possible to use a different output file descriptor by prepending the desired FD number and then output redirect symbol to the pipe. For example::
As a convenience, the pipe ``&|`` may be used to redirect both stdout and stderr to the same process. (Note this is different from bash, which uses ``|&``).
When you start a job in ``fish``, ``fish`` itself will pause, and give control of the terminal to the program just started. Sometimes, you want to continue using the commandline, and have the job run in the background. To create a background job, append an \& (ampersand) to your command. This will tell fish to run the job in the background. Background jobs are very useful when running programs that have a graphical user interface.
Most programs allow you to suspend the program's execution and return control to ``fish`` by pressing :kbd:`Control+Z` (also referred to as ``^Z``). Once back at the ``fish`` commandline, you can start other programs and do anything you want. If you then want you can go back to the suspended command by using the :ref:`fg <cmd-fg>` (foreground) command.
Functions are programs written in the fish syntax. They group together one or more commands and their arguments using a single name. It can also be used to start a specific command with additional arguments.
For example, the following is a function definition that calls the command ``ls`` with the argument '``-l``' to print a detailed listing of the contents of the current directory::
The first line tells fish that a function by the name of ``ll`` is to be defined. To use it, simply write ``ll`` on the commandline. The second line tells fish that the command ``ls -l $argv`` should be called when ``ll`` is invoked. '``$argv``' is a list variable, which always contains all arguments sent to the function. In the example above, these are simply passed on to the ``ls`` command. For more information on functions, see the documentation for the :ref:`function <cmd-function>` builtin.
One of the most common uses for functions is to slightly alter the behavior of an already existing command. For example, one might want to redefine the ``ls`` command to display colors. The switch for turning on colors on GNU systems is '``--color=auto``'. An alias, or wrapper, around ``ls`` might look like this::
- Always take care to add the ``$argv`` variable to the list of parameters to the wrapped command. This makes sure that if the user specifies any additional parameters to the function, they are passed on to the underlying command.
- If the alias has the same name as the aliased command, you need to prefix the call to the program with ``command`` to tell fish that the function should not call itself, but rather a command with the same name. If you forget to do so, the function would call itself until the end of time. Usually fish is smart enough to figure this out and will refrain from doing so (which is hopefully in your interest).
- Autoloading isn't applicable to aliases. Since, by definition, the function is created at the time the alias command is executed. You cannot autoload aliases.
When fish needs to load a function, it searches through any directories in the list variable ``$fish_function_path`` for a file with a name consisting of the name of the function plus the suffix '``.fish``' and loads the first it finds.
- A directory for end-users to keep their own functions, usually ``~/.config/fish/functions`` (controlled by the ``XDG_CONFIG_HOME`` environment variable).
- A directory for systems administrators to install functions for all users on the system, usually ``/etc/fish/functions`` (really ``$__fish_sysconfdir/functions``).
- Directories for third-party software vendors to ship their own functions for their software. Fish searches the directories in the ``XDG_DATA_DIRS`` environment variable for a ``fish/vendor_functions.d`` directory; if this variable is not defined, the default is usually to search ``/usr/share/fish/vendor_functions.d`` and ``/usr/local/share/fish/vendor_functions.d``.
It is very important that function definition files only contain the definition for the specified function and nothing else. Otherwise, it is possible that autoloading a function files requires that the function already be loaded, which creates a circular dependency.
Autoloading also won't work for `event handlers <#event>`_, since fish cannot know that a function is supposed to be executed when an event occurs when it hasn't yet loaded the function. See the `event handlers <#event>`_ section for more information.
Autoloading is not applicable to functions created by the ``alias`` command. For functions simple enough that you prefer to use the ``alias`` command to define them you'll need to put those commands in your ``~/.config/fish/config.fish`` script or some other script run when the shell starts.
If you are developing another program, you may wish to install functions which are available for all users of the fish shell on a system. They can be installed to the "vendor" functions directory. As this path may vary from system to system, the ``pkgconfig`` framework should be used to discover this path with the output of ``pkg-config --variable functionsdir fish``. Your installation system should support a custom path to override the pkgconfig path, as other distributors may need to alter it easily.
There are four fish builtins that let you execute commands only if a specific criterion is met. These builtins are :ref:`if <cmd-if>`, :ref:`switch <cmd-switch>`, :ref:`and <cmd-and>` and :ref:`or <cmd-or>`.
The ``switch`` command is used to execute one of possibly many blocks of commands depending on the value of a string. See the documentation for :ref:`switch <cmd-switch>` for more information.
The other conditionals use the `exit status <#variables-status>`_ of a command to decide if a command or a block of commands should be executed. See their documentation for more information.
When an argument for a program is given on the commandline, it undergoes the process of parameter expansion before it is sent on to the command. Parameter expansion is a powerful mechanism that allows you to expand the parameter in various ways, including performing wildcard matching on files, inserting the value of a shell variable into the parameter or even using the output of another command as a parameter list.
If a star (``*``) or a question mark (``?``) is present in the parameter, ``fish`` attempts to match the given parameter to any files in such a way that:
-``**`` matches any string of characters. This includes matching an empty string. The matched string may include the ``/`` character; that is, it recurses into subdirectories. Note that augmenting this wildcard with other strings will not match files in the current working directory (``$PWD``) if you separate the strings with a slash ("/"). This is unlike other shells such as zsh. For example, ``**\/*.fish`` in zsh will match ``.fish`` files in the PWD but in fish will only match such files in a subdirectory. In fish you should type ``**.fish`` to match files in the PWD as well as subdirectories.
-``?`` can match any single character except '/'. This is deprecated and can be disabled via the `qmark-noglob`:ref:`feature flag<featureflags>`, so `?` will just be an ordinary character.
Other shells, such as zsh, provide a rich glob syntax for restricting the files matched by globs. For example, ``**(.)``, to only match regular files. Fish prefers to defer such features to programs, such as ``find``, rather than reinventing the wheel. Thus, if you want to limit the wildcard expansion to just regular files the fish approach is to define and use a function. For example,
Wildcard matches are sorted case insensitively. When sorting matches containing numbers, consecutive digits are considered to be one element, so that the strings '1' '5' and '12' would be sorted in the order given.
File names beginning with a dot are not considered when wildcarding unless a dot is specifically given as the first character of the file name.
Note that for most commands, if any wildcard fails to expand, the command is not executed, :ref:`$status <variables-status>` is set to nonzero, and a warning is printed. This behavior is consistent with setting ``shopt -s failglob`` in bash. There are exactly 4 exceptions, namely :ref:`set <cmd-set>`, overriding variables in :ref:`overrides <variables-override>`, :ref:`count <cmd-count>` and :ref:`for <cmd-for>`. Their globs are permitted to expand to zero arguments, as with ``shopt -s nullglob`` in bash.
The output of a series of commands can be used as the parameters to another command. If a parameter contains a set of parenthesis, the text enclosed by the parenthesis will be interpreted as a list of commands. On expansion, this list is executed, and substituted by the output. If the output is more than one line long, each line will be expanded to a new parameter. Setting ``IFS`` to the empty string will disable line splitting.
If the output is piped to :ref:`string split or string split0 <cmd-string-split>` as the last step, those splits are used as they appear and no additional splitting on newlines takes place.
The exit status of the last run command substitution is available in the `status <#variables-status>`_ variable if the substitution occurs in the context of a ``set`` command.
Fish has a default limit of 100 MiB on the amount of data a command substitution can output. If the limit is exceeded the entire command, not just the substitution, is failed and ``$status`` is set to 122. You can modify the limit by setting the ``fish_read_limit`` variable at any time including in the environment before fish starts running. If you set it to zero then no limit is imposed. This is a safety mechanism to keep the shell from consuming too much memory if a command outputs an unreasonable amount of data, typically your operating system also has a limit, and it's often much lower. Note that this limit also affects how much data the ``read`` command will process.
A comma separated list of characters enclosed in curly braces will be expanded so each element of the list becomes a new parameter. This is useful to save on typing, and to separate a variable name from surrounding text.
One of the most important expansions in fish is the "variable expansion". This is the replacing of a dollar sign (`$`) followed by a variable name with the _value_ of that variable. For more on shell variables, read the `Shell variables <#variables>`_ section.
Unlike all the other expansions, variable expansion also happens in double quoted strings. Inside double quotes (``"these"``), variables will always expand to exactly one argument. If they are empty or undefined, it will result in an empty string. If they have one element, they'll expand to that element. If they have more than that, the elements will be joined with spaces, unless the variable is a :ref:`path variable <variables-path>` - in that case it will use a colon (`:`) instead [#]_.
Outside of double quotes, variables will expand to as many arguments as they have elements. That means an empty list will expand to nothing, a variable with one element will expand to that element, and a variable with multiple elements will expand to each of those elements separately.
If a variable expands to nothing, it will cancel out any other strings attached to it. See the :ref:`cartesian product <cartesian-product>` section for more information.
When using this feature together with list brackets, the brackets will be used from the inside out. ``$$foo[5]`` will use the fifth element of the ``$foo`` variable as a variable name, instead of giving the fifth element of all the variables $foo refers to. That would instead be expressed as ``$$foo[1][5]`` (take the first element of ``$foo``, use it as a variable name, then give the fifth element of that).
Be careful when you try to use braces to separate variable names from text. The problem shown above can be avoided by wrapping the variable in double quotes instead of braces (``echo "$c"word``).
This also happens after `command substitution <#expand-command-substitution>`_. Therefore strings might be eliminated. This can be avoided by making the inner command return a trailing newline.
Sometimes it's necessary to access only some of the elements of a list, or some of the lines a command substitution outputs. Both allow this by providing a set of indices in square brackets.
Sequences of elements can be written with the range operator '``..``'. A range '``a..b``' ('a' and 'b' being integers) is expanded into a sequence of indices '``a a+1 a+2 ... b``' or '``a a-1 a-2 ... b``' depending on which of 'a' or 'b' is higher. Negative range limits are calculated from the end of the list. If an index is too large or small it's silently clamped to one or the size of the list as appropriate.
If the end is smaller than the start, or the start is larger than the end, range expansion will go in reverse. This is unless exactly one of the given indices is negative, so the direction doesn't change if the list has fewer elements than expected.
A missing starting index in a range defaults to 1. This is allowed if the range is the first index expression of the sequence. Similarly, a missing ending index, defaulting to -1 is allowed for the last index range in the sequence.
The ``~`` (tilde) character at the beginning of a parameter, followed by a username, is expanded into the home directory of the specified user. A lone ``~``, or a ``~`` followed by a slash, is expanded into the home directory of the process owner.
The names given to shell objects like variables and function names are known as "identifiers". Each type of identifier has rules that define what sequences of characters are valid to use.
A function name cannot be empty. It may not begin with a hyphen ("-") and may not contain a slash ("/"). All other characters, including a space, are valid.
Shell variables are named pieces of data, which can be created, deleted and their values changed and used by the user. Variables may optionally be "exported", so that a copy of the variable is available to any subprocesses the shell creates. An exported variable is referred to as an "environment variable".
To set a variable value, use the :ref:`set <cmd-set>` command. A variable name can not be empty and can contain only letters, digits, and underscores. It may begin and end with any of those characters.
To use the value of the variable ``smurf_color``, write ``$`` (dollar symbol) followed by the name of the variable, like ``echo Smurfs are usually $smurf_color``, which would print the result 'Smurfs are usually blue'.
There are three kinds of variables in fish: universal, global and local variables.
- Universal variables are shared between all fish sessions a user is running on one computer.
- Global variables are specific to the current fish session, but are not associated with any specific block scope, and will never be erased unless the user explicitly requests it using ``set -e``.
- Local variables are specific to the current fish session, and associated with a specific block of commands, and is automatically erased when a specific block goes out of scope. A block of commands is a series of commands that begins with one of the commands ``for``, ``while`` , ``if``, ``function``, ``begin`` or ``switch``, and ends with the command ``end``.
Variables can be explicitly set to be universal with the ``-U`` or ``--universal`` switch, global with the ``-g`` or ``--global`` switch, or local with the ``-l`` or ``--local`` switch. The scoping rules when creating or updating a variable are:
- If a variable is explicitly set to a scope (universal, global or local), that setting will be honored. If a variable of the same name exists in a different scope, that variable will not be changed.
- If a variable is not explicitly set to a scope and has not been defined, the variable will be local to the currently executing function. Note that this is different from using the ``-l`` or ``--local`` flag. If one of those flags is used, the variable will be local to the most inner currently executing block, while without these the variable will be local to the function. If no function is executing, the variable will be global.
There may be many variables with the same name, but different scopes. When using a variable, the variable scope will be searched from the inside out, i.e. a local variable will be used rather than a global variable with the same name, a global variable will be used rather than a universal variable with the same name.
Universal variables are variables that are shared between all the users' fish sessions on the computer. Fish stores many of its configuration options as universal variables. This means that in order to change fish settings, all you have to do is change the variable value once, and it will be automatically updated for all sessions, and preserved across computer reboots and login/logout.
To see universal variables in action, start two fish sessions side by side, and issue the following command in one of them ``set fish_color_cwd blue``. Since ``fish_color_cwd`` is a universal variable, the color of the current working directory listing in the prompt will instantly change to blue on both terminals.
`Universal variables <#variables-universal>`_ are stored in the file ``.config/fish/fish_variables``. Do not edit this file directly, as your edits may be overwritten. Edit the variables through fish scripts or by using fish interactively instead.
Do not append to universal variables in :ref:`config.fish <initialization>`, because these variables will then get longer with each new shell instance. Instead, simply set them once at the command line.
When calling a function, all current local variables temporarily disappear. This shadowing of the local scope is needed since the variable namespace would become cluttered, making it very easy to accidentally overwrite variables from another function.
Variables in fish can be "exported", so they will be inherited by any commands started by fish. In particular, this is necessary for variables used to configure external commands like $LESS or $GOPATH, but also for variables that contain general system settings like $PATH or $LANGUAGE. If an external command needs to know a variable, it needs to be exported.
Variables can be explicitly set to be exported with the ``-x`` or ``--export`` switch, or not exported with the ``-u`` or ``--unexport`` switch. The exporting rules when setting a variable are identical to the scoping rules for variables:
- If a variable is not explicitly set to be exported or not exported, but has been previously defined, the previous exporting rule for the variable is kept.
- If a variable has local scope and is exported, any function called receives a _copy_ of it, so any changes it makes to the variable disappear once the function returns.
``fish`` can store a list (or an "array" if you wish) of multiple strings inside of a variable. To access one element of a list, use the index of the element inside of square brackets, like this:
Note that list indices start at 1 in ``fish``, not 0, as is more common in other languages. This is because many common Unix tools like ``seq`` are more suited to such use. An invalid index is silently ignored resulting in no value being substituted (not an empty string).
If you do not use any brackets, all the elements of the list will be written as separate items. This means you can easily iterate over a list using this syntax::
If you specify a negative index when expanding or assigning to a list variable, the index will be calculated from the end of the list. For example, the index -1 means the last index of a list.
All lists are one-dimensional and cannot contain other lists, although it is possible to fake nested lists using the dereferencing rules of `variable expansion <#expand-variable>`_.
``fish`` automatically creates lists from all environment variables whose name ends in PATH, by splitting them on colons. Other variables are not automatically split.
Path variables are a special kind of variable used to support colon-delimited path lists including PATH, CDPATH, MANPATH, PYTHONPATH, etc. All variables that end in ``PATH`` (case-sensitive) become PATH variables.
-``LANG``, ``LC_ALL``, ``LC_COLLATE``, ``LC_CTYPE``, ``LC_MESSAGES``, ``LC_MONETARY``, ``LC_NUMERIC`` and ``LC_TIME`` set the language option for the shell and subprograms. See the section `Locale variables <#variables-locale>`_ for more information.
- A large number of variable starting with the prefixes ``fish_color`` and ``fish_pager_color``. See `Variables for changing highlighting colors <#variables-color>`__ for more information.
-``fish_emoji_width`` controls the computed width of certain characters, in particular emoji, whose rendered width changed in Unicode 9 and hence varies across terminal emulators. This should be set to 2 if your terminal emulator supports Unicode >= 9 and renders them double-width, and 1 otherwise. Set this only if you see graphical glitching when printing emoji, typically it will be automatically detected.
-``fish_ambiguous_width`` controls the computed width of ambiguous-width characters. This should be set to 1 if your terminal emulator renders these characters as single-width (typical), or 2 if double-width.
-``fish_escape_delay_ms`` overrides the default timeout of 30ms after seeing an escape character before giving up on matching a key binding. This is explained in the documentation for the :ref:`bind <cmd-bind-escape>` builtin command. This delay facilitates using escape as a meta key.
-``fish_trace``, if set and not empty, will cause fish to print commands before they execute, similar to `set -x` in bash. The trace is printed to the path given by the :ref:`--debug-output <cmd-fish>` option to fish (stderr by default).
-``umask``, the current file creation mask. The preferred way to change the umask variable is through the :ref:`umask <cmd-umask>` function. An attempt to set umask to an invalid value will always fail.
-``BROWSER``, the user's preferred web browser. If this variable is set, fish will use the specified browser instead of the system default browser to display the fish documentation.
``fish`` also sends additional information to the user through the values of certain environment variables. The user cannot change the values of most of these variables.
-``argv``, a list of arguments to the shell or function. ``argv`` is only defined when inside a function call, or if fish was invoked with a list of arguments, like ``fish myscript.fish foo bar``. This variable can be changed by the user.
-``IFS``, the internal field separator that is used for word splitting with the :ref:`read <cmd-read>` builtin. Setting this to the empty string will also disable line splitting in `command substitution <#expand-command-substitution>`_. This variable can be changed by the user.
-``status``, the `exit status <#variables-status>`_ of the last foreground job to exit. If the job was terminated through a signal, the exit status will be 128 plus the signal number.
-``COLUMNS`` and ``LINES``, the current size of the terminal in height and width. These values are only used by fish if the operating system does not report the size of the terminal. Both variables must be set in that case otherwise a default of 80x24 will be used. They are updated when the window size changes.
Variables whose name are in uppercase are generally exported to the commands started by fish, while those in lowercase are not exported (``CMD_DURATION`` is an exception, for historical reasons). This rule is not enforced by fish, but it is good coding practice to use casing to distinguish between exported and unexported variables. ``fish`` also uses several variables internally. Such variables are prefixed with the string ``__FISH`` or ``__fish.`` These should never be used by the user. Changing their value may break fish.
Whenever a process exits, an exit status is returned to the program that started it (usually the shell). This exit status is an integer number, which tells the calling application how the execution of the command went. In general, a zero exit status means that the command executed without problem, but a non-zero exit status means there was some form of problem.
The colors used by fish for syntax highlighting can be configured by changing the values of a various variables. The value of these variables can be one of the colors accepted by the :ref:`set_color <cmd-set_color>` command. The ``--bold`` or ``-b`` switches accepted by ``set_color`` are also accepted.
-``fish_color_host_remote``, the color used to print the current host system in some of fish default prompts, if fish is running remotely (via ssh or similar)
-``fish_pager_color_secondary_background``, ``fish_pager_color_background`` of every second unselected completion. Defaults to ``fish_pager_color_background``
-``fish_pager_color_secondary_ prefix``, ``fish_pager_color_prefix`` of every second unselected completion. Defaults to ``fish_pager_color_prefix``
-``fish_pager_color_secondary_completion``, ``fish_pager_color_completion`` of every second unselected completion. Defaults to ``fish_pager_color_completion``
-``fish_pager_color_secondary_description``, ``fish_pager_color_description`` of every second unselected completion. Defaults to ``fish_pager_color_description``
-``fish_pager_color_selected_background``, ``fish_pager_color_background`` of the selected completion. Defaults to ``fish_color_search_match``
-``fish_pager_color_selected_prefix``, ``fish_pager_color_prefix`` of the selected completion. Defaults to ``fish_pager_color_prefix``
-``fish_pager_color_selected_completion``, ``fish_pager_color_completion`` of the selected completion. Defaults to ``fish_pager_color_completion``
-``fish_pager_color_selected_description``, ``fish_pager_color_description`` of the selected completion. Defaults to ``fish_pager_color_description``
The most common way to set the locale to use a command like 'set -x LANG en_GB.utf8', which sets the current locale to be the English language, as used in Great Britain, using the UTF-8 character set. For a list of available locales, use 'locale -a'.
``LANG``, ``LC_ALL``, ``LC_COLLATE``, ``LC_CTYPE``, ``LC_MESSAGES``, ``LC_MONETARY``, ``LC_NUMERIC`` and ``LC_TIME`` set the language option for the shell and subprograms. These variables work as follows: ``LC_ALL`` forces all the aspects of the locale to the specified value. If ``LC_ALL`` is set, all other locale variables will be ignored. The other ``LC_`` variables set the specified aspect of the locale information. ``LANG`` is a fallback value, it will be used if none of the ``LC_`` variables are specified.
Many other shells have a large library of builtin commands. Most of these commands are also available as standalone commands, but have been implemented in the shell anyway. To avoid code duplication, and to avoid the confusion of subtly differing versions of the same command, ``fish`` generally only implements builtins for actions which cannot be performed by a regular command.
For a list of all builtins, functions and commands shipped with fish, see the :ref:`list of commands <Commands>`. The documentation is also available by using the ``--help`` switch of the command.
Fish prides itself on being really nice to use interactively. That's down to a few features we'll explain in the next few sections.
Help
----
``fish`` has an extensive help system. Use the :ref:`help <cmd-help>` command to obtain help on a specific subject or command. For instance, writing ``help syntax`` displays the `syntax section <#syntax>`_ of this documentation.
``fish`` also has man pages for its commands. For example, ``man set`` will show the documentation for ``set`` as a man page.
Help on a specific builtin can also be obtained with the ``-h`` parameter. For instance, to obtain help on the ``fg`` builtin, either type ``fg -h`` or ``help fg``.
Autosuggestions
---------------
fish suggests commands as you type, based on `command history <#history-search>`_, completions, and valid file paths. As you type commands, you will see a suggestion offered after the cursor, in a muted gray color (which can be changed with the ``fish_color_autosuggestion`` variable).
To accept the autosuggestion (replacing the command line contents), press right arrow or :kbd:`Control+F`. To accept the first suggested word, press :kbd:`Alt+→,Right` or :kbd:`Alt+F`. If the autosuggestion is not what you want, just ignore it: it won't execute unless you accept it.
Autosuggestions are a powerful way to quickly summon frequently entered commands, by typing the first few characters. They are also an efficient technique for navigating through directory hierarchies.
Tab Completion
--------------
Tab completion is one of the most time saving features of any modern shell. By tapping the tab key, the user asks ``fish`` to guess the rest of the command or parameter that the user is currently typing. If ``fish`` can only find one possible completion, ``fish`` will write it out. If there is more than one completion, ``fish`` will write out the longest prefix that all completions have in common. If the completions differ on the first character, a list of all possible completions is printed. The list features descriptions of the completions and if the list doesn't fit the screen, it is scrollable by using the arrow keys, the page up/page down keys, the tab key or the space bar.
If the list is visible, pressing control-S (or the ``pager-toggle-search`` binding) will allow filtering the list. Shift-tab (or the ``complete-and-search`` binding) will trigger completion with the search field immediately visible.
These are the general purpose tab completions that ``fish`` provides:
- Completion of commands (builtins, functions and regular programs).
- Completion of shell variable names.
- Completion of usernames for tilde expansion.
- Completion of filenames, even on strings with wildcards such as '``*``' and '``**``'.
``fish`` provides a large number of program specific completions. Most of these completions are simple options like the ``-l`` option for ``ls``, but some are more advanced. The latter include:
- The programs ``man`` and ``whatis`` show all installed manual pages as completions.
- The ``make`` program uses all targets in the Makefile in the current directory as completions.
- The ``mount`` command uses all mount points specified in fstab as completions.
- The ``ssh`` command uses all hosts that are stored in the known_hosts file as completions. (See the ssh documentation for more information)
- The ``su`` command uses all users on the system as completions.
- The ``apt-get``, ``rpm`` and ``yum`` commands use all installed packages as completions.
The ``fish`` editor features copy and paste, a `searchable history <#history-search>`_ and many editor functions that can be bound to special keyboard shortcuts.
Similar to bash, fish has Emacs and Vi editing modes. The default editing mode is Emacs. You can switch to Vi mode with ``fish_vi_key_bindings`` and switch back with ``fish_default_key_bindings``. You can also make your own key bindings by creating a function and setting $fish_key_bindings to its name. For example::
Some bindings are shared between emacs- and vi-mode because they aren't text editing bindings or because what Vi/Vim does for a particular key doesn't make sense for a shell.
-:kbd:`Alt+←,Left` and :kbd:`Alt+→,Right` move the cursor one word left or right (to the next space or punctuation mark), or moves forward/backward in the directory history if the command line is empty. If the cursor is already at the end of the line, and an autosuggestion is available, :kbd:`Alt+→,Right` (or :kbd:`Alt+F`) accepts the first word in the suggestion.
-:kbd:`↑` (Up) and :kbd:`↓` (Down) (or :kbd:`Control+P` and :kbd:`Control+N` for emacs aficionados) search the command history for the previous/next command containing the string that was specified on the commandline before the search was started. If the commandline was empty when the search started, all commands match. See the `history <#history-search>`_ section for more information on history searching.
-:kbd:`Alt+↑,Up` and :kbd:`Alt+↓,Down` search the command history for the previous/next token containing the token under the cursor before the search was started. If the commandline was not on a token when the search started, all tokens match. See the `history <#history-search>`_ section for more information on history searching.
-:kbd:`Alt+l` lists the contents of the current directory, unless the cursor is over a directory argument, in which case the contents of that directory will be listed.
-:kbd:`Alt+e` edit the current command line in an external editor. The editor is chosen from the first available of the ``$VISUAL`` or ``$EDITOR`` variables.
-:kbd:`End` or :kbd:`Control+E` moves to the end of line. If the cursor is already at the end of the line, and an autosuggestion is available, :kbd:`End` or :kbd:`Control+E` accepts the autosuggestion.
-:kbd:`←` (Left) (or :kbd:`Control+B`) and :kbd:`→` (Right) (or :kbd:`Control+F`) move the cursor left or right by one character. If the cursor is already at the end of the line, and an autosuggestion is available, the :kbd:`→` (Right) key and the :kbd:`Control+F` combination accept the suggestion.
Vi mode allows for the use of Vi-like commands at the prompt. Initially, `insert mode <#vi-mode-insert>`_ is active. :kbd:`Escape` enters `command mode <#vi-mode-command>`_. The commands available in command, insert and visual mode are described below. Vi mode shares `some bindings <#shared-binds>`_ with `Emacs mode <#emacs-mode>`_.
When in vi-mode, the :ref:`fish_mode_prompt <cmd-fish_mode_prompt>` function will display a mode indicator to the left of the prompt. To disable this feature, override it with an empty function. To display the mode elsewhere (like in your right prompt), use the output of the ``fish_default_mode_prompt`` function.
When a binding switches the mode, it will repaint the mode-prompt if it exists, and the rest of the prompt only if it doesn't. So if you want a mode-indicator in your ``fish_prompt``, you need to erase ``fish_mode_prompt`` e.g. by adding an empty file at `~/.config/fish/functions/fish_mode_prompt.fish`. (Bindings that change the mode are supposed to call the `repaint-mode` bind function, see :ref:`bind <cmd-bind>`)
The ``fish_vi_cursor`` function will be used to change the cursor's shape depending on the mode in supported terminals. The following snippet can be used to manually configure cursors after enabling vi-mode::
# Emulates vim's cursor shape behavior
# Set the normal and visual mode cursors to a block
-:kbd:`[` and :kbd:`]` search the command history for the previous/next token containing the token under the cursor before the search was started. See the `history <#history-search>`_ section for more information on history searching.
``fish`` uses an Emacs-style kill ring for copy and paste functionality. For example, use :kbd:`Control+K` (`kill-line`) to cut from the current cursor position to the end of the line. The string that is cut (a.k.a. killed in emacs-ese) is inserted into a list of kills, called the kill ring. To paste the latest value from the kill ring (emacs calls this "yanking") use :kbd:`Control+Y` (the `yank` input function). After pasting, use :kbd:`Alt+Y` (`yank-pop`) to rotate to the previous kill.
Copy and paste from outside are also supported, both via the :kbd:`Control+X` / :kbd:`Control+V` bindings (the `fish_clipboard_copy` and `fish_clipboard_paste` functions [#]_) and via the terminal's paste function, for which fish enables "Bracketed Paste Mode", so it can tell a paste from manually entered text.
In addition, when pasting inside single quotes, pasted single quotes and backslashes are automatically escaped so that the result can be used as a single token simply by closing the quote after.
..[#] These rely on external tools. Currently xsel, xclip, wl-copy/wl-paste and pbcopy/pbpaste are supported.
After a command has been entered, it is inserted at the end of a history list. Any duplicate history items are automatically removed. By pressing the up and down keys, the user can search forwards and backwards in the history. If the current command line is not empty when starting a history search, only the commands containing the string entered into the command line are shown.
By pressing :kbd:`Alt+↑,Up` and :kbd:`Alt+↓,Down`, a history search is also performed, but instead of searching for a complete commandline, each commandline is broken into separate elements just like it would be before execution, and the history is searched for an element matching that under the cursor.
If the commandline reads ``cd m``, place the cursor over the ``m`` character and press :kbd:`Alt+↑,Up` to search for previously typed words containing 'm'.
The fish commandline editor can be used to work on commands that are several lines long. There are three ways to make a command span more than a single line:
- Pressing the :kbd:`Enter` key while a block of commands is unclosed, such as when one or more block commands such as ``for``, ``begin`` or ``if`` do not have a corresponding ``end`` command.
The fish commandline editor works exactly the same in single line mode and in multiline mode. To move between lines use the left and right arrow keys and other such keyboard shortcuts.
Normally when ``fish`` starts a program, this program will be put in the foreground, meaning it will take control of the terminal and ``fish`` will be stopped until the program finishes. Sometimes this is not desirable. For example, you may wish to start an application with a graphical user interface from the terminal, and then be able to continue using the shell. In such cases, there are several ways in which the user can change fish's behavior.
- By ending a command with the ``&`` (ampersand) symbol, the user tells ``fish`` to put the specified command into the background. A background process will be run simultaneous with ``fish``. ``fish`` will retain control of the terminal, so the program will not be able to read from the keyboard.
- By pressing :kbd:`Control+Z`, the user stops a currently running foreground program and returns control to ``fish``. Some programs do not support this feature, or remap it to another key. GNU Emacs uses :kbd:`Control+X`:kbd:`z` to stop running.
- By using the :ref:`bg <cmd-bg>` and :ref:`fg <cmd-fg>` builtin commands, the user can send any currently running job into the foreground or background.
Note that functions cannot be started in the background. Functions that are stopped and then restarted in the background using the ``bg`` command will not execute correctly.
On startup, Fish evaluates a number of configuration files, which can be used to control the behavior of the shell. The location of these is controlled by a number of environment variables, and their default or usual location is given below.
- Directories for third-party software vendors to ship their own configuration snippets for their software. Fish searches the directories in the ``XDG_DATA_DIRS`` environment variable for a ``fish/vendor_conf.d`` directory; if this variable is not defined, the default is usually to search ``/usr/share/fish/vendor_conf.d`` and ``/usr/local/share/fish/vendor_conf.d``
- System-wide configuration files, where administrators can include initialization that should be run for all users on the system - similar to ``/etc/profile`` for POSIX-style shells - in ``$__fish_sysconf_dir`` (usually ``/etc/fish/config.fish``).
- User initialization, usually in `~/.config/fish/config.fish` (controlled by the ``XDG_CONFIG_HOME`` environment variable, and accessible as ``$__fish_config_dir``).
These paths are controlled by parameters set at build, install, or run time, and may vary from the defaults listed above.
This wide search may be confusing. If you are unsure where to put your own customisations, use `~/.config/fish/config.fish`.
Note that ~/.config/fish/config.fish is sourced _after_ the snippets. This is so users can copy snippets and override some of their behavior.
These files are all executed on the startup of every shell. If you want to run a command only on starting an interactive shell, use the exit status of the command `status --is-interactive` to determine if the shell is interactive. If you want to run a command only when using a login shell, use `status --is-login` instead. This will speed up the starting of non-interactive or non-login shells.
If you are developing another program, you may wish to install configuration which is run for all users of the fish shell on a system. This is discouraged; if not carefully written, they may have side-effects or slow the startup of the shell. Additionally, users of other shells will not benefit from the Fish-specific configuration. However, if they are absolutely required, you may install them to the "vendor" configuration directory. As this path may vary from system to system, the ``pkgconfig`` framework should be used to discover this path with the output of `pkg-config --variable confdir fish`.
If you want to add the directory ``~/linux/bin`` to your PATH variable when using a login shell, add the following to your `~/.config/fish/config.fish` file::
Feature flags are how fish stages changes that might break scripts. Breaking changes are introduced as opt-in, in a few releases they become opt-out, and eventually the old behavior is removed.
There are two breaking changes in fish 3.0: caret ``^`` no longer redirects stderr, and question mark ``?`` is no longer a glob.
There is one breaking change in fish 3.1: ``string replace -r`` does a superfluous round of escaping for the replacement, so escaping backslashes would look like ``string replace -ra '([ab])' '\\\\\\\$1' a``. This flag removes that if turned on, so ``'\\\\$1'`` is enough.
These changes are off by default. They can be enabled on a per session basis::
``fish`` interprets the command line as it is typed and uses syntax highlighting to provide feedback to the user. The most important feedback is the detection of potential errors. By default, errors are marked red.
To customize the syntax highlighting, you can set the environment variables listed in the `Variables for changing highlighting colors <#variables-color>`__ section.
When using most virtual terminals, it is possible to set the message displayed in the titlebar of the terminal window. This can be done automatically in fish by defining the ``fish_title`` function. The ``fish_title`` function is executed before and after a new command is executed or put into the foreground and the output is used as a titlebar message. The `status current-command` builtin will always return the name of the job to be put into the foreground (or 'fish' if control is returning to the shell) when the ``fish_prompt`` function is called. The first argument to fish_title will contain the most recently executed foreground command as a string, starting with fish 2.2.
When fish waits for input, it will display a prompt by evaluating the ``fish_prompt`` and `fish_right_prompt` functions. The output of the former is displayed on the left and the latter's output on the right side of the terminal. The output of ``fish_mode_prompt`` will be prepended on the left, though the default function only does this when in `vi-mode <#vi-mode>`__.
If a function named ``fish_greeting`` exists, it will be run when entering interactive mode. Otherwise, if an environment variable named ``fish_greeting`` exists, it will be printed.
fish supports launching in private mode via ``fish --private`` (or ``fish -P`` for short). In private mode, old history is not available and any interactive commands you execute will not be appended to the global history file, making it useful both for avoiding inadvertently leaking personal information (e.g. for screencasts) and when dealing with sensitive information to prevent it being persisted to disk. You can query the global variable `fish_private_mode`` (``if set -q fish_private_mode ...``) if you would like to respect the user's wish for privacy and alter the behavior of your own fish scripts.
When defining a new function in fish, it is possible to make it into an event handler, i.e. a function that is automatically run when a specific event takes place. Events that can trigger a handler currently are:
Please note that event handlers only become active when a function is loaded, which means you might need to otherwise :ref:`source <cmd-source>` or execute a function instead of relying on :ref:`autoloading <syntax-function-autoloading>`. One approach is to put it into your :ref:`initialization file <initialization>`.
Fish includes a built in debugging facility. The debugger allows you to stop execution of a script at an arbitrary point. When this happens you are presented with an interactive prompt. At this prompt you can execute any fish command (there are no debug commands as such). For example, you can check or change the value of any variables using ``printf`` and ``set``. As another example, you can run ``status print-stack-trace`` to see how this breakpoint was reached. To resume normal execution of the script, simply type ``exit`` or [ctrl-D].
To start a debug session simply run the builtin command ``breakpoint`` at the point in a function or script where you wish to gain control. Also, the default action of the TRAP signal is to call this builtin. So a running script can be debugged by sending it the TRAP signal with the ``kill`` command. Once in the debugger, it is easy to insert new breakpoints by using the funced function to edit the definition of a function.
