In Operation
Here’s an excerpt of the .zshrc configuration file. It’s ready for you to customize.
Plugins
There is a colossal number of plugins available to install. It’s impossible to cover them all in a single article. Instead, here’s a small sample of ones we have installed on our LinuxLinks.com machines:
- alias – list the shortcuts that are currently available based on the plugins you have enabled.
- autojump – loads the autojump navigation tool.
- brew – adds several aliases for common brew commands.
- catimg – displays images on the terminal using the catimg.sh script
- colorize – syntax-highlight file contents of over 300 supported languages and other text formats.
- copybuffer – adds the ctrl-o keyboard shortcut to copy the current text in the command line to the system clipboard.
- copypath – copies the path of given directory or file to the system clipboard.
- cp – uses rsync to copy files.
- docker – adds auto-completion and aliases for Docker.
- emacs – uses the Emacs daemon capability, allowing the user to quickly open frames, whether they are opened in a terminal via a ssh connection, or X frames opened on the same host.
- encode64 – alias for encoding/decoding using the base64 command.
- git – provides many aliases and other useful functions (there are other git plugins we love too).
- history – useful aliases for using the history command.
- kubectl – adds completion for the Kubernetes cluster manager, as well as some aliases for common kubectl commands.
- Python – adds aliases for useful Python commands.
- Ubuntu – adds completions and aliases for Ubuntu.
- Web Search – adds aliases for searching with Google, Wiki, Bing, YouTube and other popular services.
You add your desired plugins to your plugin list with spaces between them. For example:
plugins=(git cp brew kubectl history web-search encode64)
Themes
Another strong point of Oh My Zsh is the huge number of themes. By default it uses robbyrussell. There are around 140 other themes to try. And if you think variety is the spice of life you can have a random theme loaded each time Oh My Zsh is loaded. And you can also have a random theme loaded from a defined list.
Here’s an image of the amuse theme.
Pages in this article:
Page 1 – Introduction / Installation
Page 2 – In Operation
Page 3 – Summary
Complete list of articles in this series:
| Excellent Utilities | |
|---|---|
| AES Crypt | Encrypt files using the Advanced Encryption Standard |
| Ananicy | Shell daemon created to manage processes’ IO and CPU priorities |
| broot | Next gen tree explorer and customizable launcher |
| Cerebro | Fast application launcher |
| cheat.sh | Community driven unified cheat sheet |
| CopyQ | Advanced clipboard manager |
| croc | Securely transfer files and folders from the command-line |
| Deskreen | Live streaming your desktop to a web browser |
| duf | Disk usage utility with more polished presentation than the classic df |
| eza | A turbo-charged alternative to the venerable ls command |
| Extension Manager | Browse, install and manage GNOME Shell Extensions |
| fd | Wonderful alternative to the venerable find |
| fkill | Kill processes quick and easy |
| fontpreview | Quickly search and preview fonts |
| horcrux | File splitter with encryption and redundancy |
| Kooha | Simple screen recorder |
| KOReader | Document viewer for a wide variety of file formats |
| Imagine | A simple yet effective image optimization tool |
| LanguageTool | Style and grammar checker for 30+ languages |
| Liquid Prompt | Adaptive prompt for Bash & Zsh |
| lnav | Advanced log file viewer for the small-scale; great for troubleshooting |
| lsd | Like exa, lsd is a turbo-charged alternative to ls |
| Mark Text | Simple and elegant Markdown editor |
| McFly | Navigate through your bash shell history |
| mdless | Formatted and highlighted view of Markdown files |
| navi | Interactive cheatsheet tool |
| noti | Monitors a command or process and triggers a notification |
| Nushell | Flexible cross-platform shell with a modern feel |
| nvitop | GPU process management for NVIDIA graphics cards |
| OCRmyPDF | Add OCR text layer to scanned PDFs |
| Oh My Zsh | Framework to manage your Zsh configuration |
| Paperwork | Designed to simplify the management of your paperwork |
| pastel | Generate, analyze, convert and manipulate colors |
| PDF Mix Tool | Perform common editing operations on PDF files |
| peco | Simple interactive filtering tool that's remarkably useful |
| ripgrep | Recursively search directories for a regex pattern |
| Rnote | Sketch and take handwritten notes |
| scrcpy | Display and control Android devices |
| Sticky | Simulates the traditional “sticky note” style stationery on your desktop |
| tldr | Simplified and community-driven man pages |
| tmux | A terminal multiplexer that offers a massive boost to your workflow |
| Tusk | An unofficial Evernote client with bags of potential |
| Ulauncher | Sublime application launcher |
| Watson | Track the time spent on projects |
| Whoogle Search | Self-hosted and privacy-focused metasearch engine |
| Zellij | Terminal workspace with batteries included |