Zsh + Oh My Zsh on Linux and macOS

 

Using the terminal can be a huge productivity boost. But, most of the time, the default terminal emulator’s look and configuration sucks.

So why not add some life to your terminal with the Z shell ( Zsh ) and Oh my Zsh ( includes nearly 300 optional plugins and over 140 themes from 1700+ contributors ).

NOTE for Linux users: Check if zsh is already present on your system with which zsh. If not, install it from your distro’s repositories.

NOTE for macOS users: if you’re running macOS Mojave or earlier zsh should already be present on your system even if macOS defaults to bash. Starting with macOS Catalina, Apple repleaced bash with zsh as the default shell.

 

1. Install Oh My ZSH

sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.github.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/master/tools/install.sh)"

or

sh -c "$(wget https://raw.github.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/master/tools/install.sh -O -)"

 

2. ( Optional – but useful ) Install additional plugins: zsh-synstax-highlighting and zsh-autosuggestions

git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-syntax-highlighting.git ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-~/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/plugins/zsh-syntax-highlighting

and

git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-autosuggestions ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-~/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/plugins/zsh-autosuggestions

 

3. ( Optional – personal preference ) Installing Purify theme for Oh My Zsh

curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kyoz/purify/master/zsh/purify.zsh-theme --output ~/.oh-my-zsh/themes/purify.zsh-theme

or

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kyoz/purify/master/zsh/purify.zsh-theme -O ~/.oh-my-zsh/themes/purify.zsh-theme

or

git clone https://github.com/kyoz/purify.git
cd purify/zsh
cp purify.zsh-theme ~/.oh-my-zsh/themes/

 

NOTE: Purify is also available for Vim, Terminals and so on. See more on the Purify Github Page

 

 

3. Configuring zsh

Edit your ~./zshrc config file and :

• Change the theme to purify: ZSH_THEME="purify"
• Edit the plugins section:

plugins=(
git
zsh-autosuggestions
zsh-syntax-highlighting
)

 

4. Apply chances with source ~/.zshrc

5. Make zsh your default shell: chsh -s $(which zsh)

 

6. Now download some nice fonts for your terminal and enjoy.

6.1 You can find the default Oh My Zsh themes and plugins here:

• Linux – ~/.oh-my-zsh/
• macOS – /Users/your-username/.oh-my-zsh/