Zsh vs bash vs powershell reddit. This is not how you concatenate strings in bash.

Zsh vs bash vs powershell reddit bash became popular because of Linux, but if you had other shells installed, you could use them. Then there is speed, while powershell core is way faster than it’s predecessor, it can’t hold a candle to python. I'm biased of course but when it comes to The limitation of Bash is everything is a string and Bash the shell only does so much until you have to do sdin and sdout to other programs where it’s up to the developers of those programs to set standards for parameters and syntax. I believe both have the necessary plugins and themes I need, so it all just comes down to speed. If I learn Bash scripting, is it pretty straight forward to learn how to write shell scripts? How difficult is it to convert those bash scripts to other *unix like shells (zsh, awk, fish)? What are some of the major differences to be aware of? Apr 11, 2022 · Caveat emptor. On Windows the default shell is 'cmd' and a secondary one is Windows Powershell. I'm using the number of stars on github as a proxy for popularity. I was looking at Powershell for Linux. Thanks for the correction. Also, you don't use double quotes on the variables during echo, which is advised. Personally, I damn near live in WSL, and prefer the interactive experience in bash moreso than powershell -- but I do use both. Encoding, and Text. These days, you can run Powershell and Git Bash on Windows 10. Just recently a colleague told me he's using starship. Much faster. For anything funny related to programming and software development. I can do pretty much all the things with git bash on a windows machine, like moving through directories, creating deleting listing files, having remote access using ssh keys etc. Zsh is Posix shell, so many more things just work with it. Feb 12, 2025 · PowerShell has the equivalent of sed in -Replace. I am thinking of trying to get the same exact environment for both by making changes to whatever settings I need to but I am concerned that they are different for a good reason. In Bash On MacOS’ terminal the default one is zsh, it used to be bash but it’s like 3years now that zsh is there by default. Having a verbose prompt is nice but having that clutter up the terminal history is terrible. So windows users use bash instead of CMD or Powershell as well right? What is the "canonical" way to use it in windows? Installing bash normally? Using WSL? Isn't WSL a virtual machine? Typically bash shell is the terminal shell provided by default in Linux Distros . bash_profile config for various command line tools; less common but not unheard of to get a . You can use few of these on Windows too like Git-Bash, WSL-bash, nu etc. Using git bash for some time but now have added cygwin with it's bash terminal. trueIn my industry (software) the two are not really compared. What is a more relevant comparison is zsh/fish/sh vs bash. In the end of the day it doesn't matter what shell you run ( Your user runs ). zshrc and such). I use PowerShell on my Mac instead of zsh or bash. If you're mostly interested in using the shell interactively, Bash, ZSH, etc. Mar 3, 2017 · One of the most popular newer shells is Z shell, or "zsh". PowerShell includes a command-line shell, object-oriented scripting language, and a set of tools for executing scripts/cmdlets and managing modules. When it comes to the power of Powershell vs the power of Bash, Powershell is technically far more of a powerful tool than bash. NET classes: String, Char, Convert, BitConverter, Text. It looks like there is a module for git for zsh that does this but I don't see an option like this for bash. Having used Bash, Zsh, and Fish extensively - using Xonsh with the full power of Python behind it is a totally different and wonderful experience, and I don't want to ever go back. Learn "shell", prefer bash Make sure you install a modern version of bash Make sure when you put a #! xxx shebang at the start of a script it references the shell you are actually targeting (so sh for posix, bash for bash, zsh for zsh) Don't configure your system to use bash as a default shell, learn to live with and understand differences. Disclaimer: I made powerlevel10k. The three main ones out there are Bash, Zsh, and Fish. Also I see some folk here mention script incompatibilities in fish – I personally always set a shebang in my scripts, so I actually never encountered any problems when running my bash scripts (which include very 47 votes, 97 comments. PowerShell can use the following . Created by Paul Falstad in 1990, zsh is a Bourne-style shell that contains the features you'll find in bash, plus even more. Agnoster is a classic time-tested theme with powerline look. Does zsh and csh do about the same thing that the command prompt does in windows? Linux/OSX have a native Bash (Bourne Again Shell) terminal which is highly preferable from a development standpoint, whereas Windows has cmd or Powershell (new, improved cmd). I was quickly turned off by the long Verb-Name syntax since its really verbose. While I agree powershell has its advantages (somewhat object-oriented but still 'functional', etc. ) PowerShell is a decent enough object oriented scripting language however if you are on Linux the normal practice would be to use Python when your bash script starts getting more complex. As a default bash user who want to switch from bash why should i use fish instead of zsh ? I was told fish and bash have diffrent syntax but learned that even bash and sh syntax are not all same and people recomends using dash instead of bash . will work very well. Great documentation. I haven't noticed its limitations yet. Understanding how shells work sets the foundation for comparing Zsh vs Bash effectively. With both Bash and Zsh providing compelling advantages, selecting the right shell for scripting can significantly shape your productivity, and simplify your daily tasks. I have some experience with Mac OS and Apple has adopted Z Shell as their terminal shell of choice from now on. PowerShell has direct access to sed and grep on Linux because they're not Bash's intrinsic features. Zsh shell command languages, explore their differences, and see how to use both successfully. I am a Bash user looking into switching to Fish (or Zsh). If you have any scripting tasks, skip Bash/ZSH (for the reasons explained above) and use Python or Perl which are much more at home in an "unixy" environment. But, if you can't move to Linux, and need to live in the terminal, I highly recommend using Starship Prompt. Scripts always use the "#!/bin/bash" or "#!/bin/zsh" to direct the target environment. Later, they created a new shell called PowerShell which is very capable and powerful. Zsh is more likely to be preinstalled on your machine. What common, interactive features are different enough between bash and zsh to throw off one’s muscle memory? Fuck bash powershell is the better language. (I havent read the documentation yet) also if it can be the only shell in the system tho I dont know if it can run bash. I recommend installing zsh and tcsh and trying them out (maybe follow a tutorial) and see how they feel. NET. Powershell is not just a shell it's an actual object oriented language, bash is just a bunch of random strings. Bash, Ksh, Zsh and even Sh are way more portable and reliable when compared to PS. They are very similar. PowerShell - A command-line shell and scripting language built on . 3. May 29, 2019 · @MarkSetchell powershell is verbose, but that's what makes it easy to remember in the long term: you only need to remember words, not silly syntax like the mysterious characters in the zsh globbing patterns. Here are a few: The main features involve things like tab completion, which zsh can do by picking items from a menu (bash displays the options, but doesn't let you pick one, you just keep typing and try again). For example, zsh has spell-checking, the ability to watch for logins/logouts, some built-in programming features like bytecode, support for scientific notation in syntax, allows for floating-point arithmetic, and Arch user here. DT mentioned that he uses all three, I'm wondering how a workflow using three shells would be like and what each shell would be used for? I've been looking at different shells lately, and while I like Fish's overall philosophy and doing things different from POSIX shells like Bash and Zsh, I looked at Nushell's Cookbook and the way it treats things as data instead of raw text looks really interesting. Agnoster polls git status synchronously We would like to show you a description here but the site won’t allow us. I switched to zsh less than a year ago now, and have fallen in love with the great customization that oh my zsh provides. Unix systems have a lot of options like bash, zsh, xsh, fish, xonsh, nu, oil etc. JSON, CSV, XML, etc. Bash is the default login shell for most Linux distributions. Only that you don't delete bash from a system This is not how you concatenate strings in bash. Zsh has job control. Just curious, but how is fish problematic when trying to use shell scripts from the web? For most things that are slightly complicated, I tend to dump the script to a file first, and then i just use a bash shebang or call the script file with bash directly. Running, for example, git status, runs the same thing on bash, fish, zsh, sh, and every other shell as long as it is not aliased to something else and git is in the shell path. While there are various shell options available, Bash, Zsh, and Fish stand out as the most popular choices, each offering a unique set of features, making it crucial to understand their differences in order to select the right Mar 17, 2023 · This Windows PowerShell vs. Apr 29, 2024 · Bash and Zsh are popular Unix shell environments that provide command-line interfaces to the operating system. The advantages of zsh over bash are more in its use as an interactive shell in your terminal, things like syntax highlighting, etc. Somewhat recently, Mac started using zsh (you can change the shell as bash should still be installed). The features and configurations are simple and extensive, and I especially like that it works in PowerShell just as well as in zsh, I can have the same prompt configuration across Windows and Linux. A better comparison would be Powershell vs Python. I got some negative comments about it by other software engineers in the team since they prefer the GitHub GUI or other GUI-based tools. Its code is easy to understand even if you don't have much experience with zsh. sure it has the best completion features but writing completion for your scripts is lot more difficult with zsh compared to bash. It's been an awesome tool, and it makes terminal look good! What do you use? Here are all popular alternatives of powerlevel10k with their pros and cons. Moreover, a table comparing all the three tools. The learning curve is steep but once you've passed that it's extremely easy to use because it's object-oriented and you don't have to process texts in the pipeline. In terms of python, it can be used in the same domain as sh / bash, but in many instances it can be overkill. Git Bash is just bash with git commands made easily available. Plus, you'll learn if being POSIX-compliant actually matters I hop between zsh and bash all day and I’ve never noticed a difference besides output redirection. Nushell has super nice, modern documentation compared to bash / zsh. Helps system administrators and power-users rapidly automate tasks that manage operating systems (Linux, macOS, and Windows) and processes. PowerShell can match grep 's functionality with Get-Content and -Match. 9K votes, 261 comments. PS is basically Python in terms of syntax. Written in Rust. Users of zsh, do you bother installing zsh on every new computer you come into contact with, or do you just put up with sometimes having to use bash instead? Jan 11, 2025 · Both Bash and Zsh are Unix shells designed to make these interactions efficient and intuitive. I primarily use git bash, but often find myself using cmd or powershell when doing things I'll be sharing with others that are git-friendly. We would like to show you a description here but the site won’t allow us. Zsh is designed to be a highly customizable shell with an interactive command-line interface for executing commands, running shell scripts, and performing various system administration tasks. zsh offers a superset of capability. Fairly straightforward configuration. While Bash emphasizes reliability and simplicity, Zsh adds modern enhancements like auto-suggestions and plugin support, offering a more versatile experience. Dive into the debate of fish vs bash. Basic Features of Bash and Zsh Jun 8, 2019 · Many of bash's shopt settings have a corresponding setopt in zsh. While they share many similarities, they also have some significant differences. Which do you think is more powerful and or convenient? I know this sub would be biased to Fish Shell but still. " Zsh especially has a lot of plugins and themes for customization. For why wouldn't they use the I use zsh because of Vim mode and its amazing autocompletion and fish-like syntax highlighting and suggestion. I am using arch linux and using bash as my shell. git directory. Anything and everything uses bash, and it is just there in macOS and Linux. You can go 20 years working in some of the largest companies in silicon valley and never once encounter powershell. Their brief history, basic functionalities, and features. Mar 19, 2025 · Compare the Bash vs. So, out of curiosity, I also installed it on my PopOS and currently playing around it. A coworker of mine uses fish instead and he's frequently grumbling over lack of fish support for this or that tool. There’s a substantial amount (albeit not perfect) compatibility between bash and zsh BUT zsh has modern features that bash in macOS doesn’t have due to it being so outdated. Bash ( Bourne-Again shell ) Bash, or the Bourne-Again Shell, is by far the most popularly used shell and it comes installed as the default shell in the most popular Linux distributions. Main differences for scripting (and for power users on the command line of course) Some of us still need to use Windows 11 at the office. Conceptually it's a combination of both a "terminal" and a "shell" rolled into one git bash: I think it's what the git-for-windows team added in because so many things in git depend on Linux/Unix concepts/tools that it was easier to create "git bash" than to port the code that uses bash [1]. ), REST APIs, and object models. I'd like to learn bash, but given powershell is closely tied into Microsoft's products, I would doubt that bash can do everything powershell can strictly regarding things like com objects, Exchange, AD, SCCM, SharePoint, etc. Is there a limit of what git bash cannot do as a shell, which command prompt can? Or a git bash can replace command prompt? Since bash commands can be run from within python, is this enough to replace all bash scripts with Python scripts to juggling two languages? Or, are there many use cases where a bash script is preferable for whatever reason? Mar 12, 2024 · Here in this article, we are going to differentiate between the two most popular shells bash and zsh. Rune. Mar 24, 2024 · zsh for interactive use, because I like a few of it's extra features vs bash (cd -<tab>, cd this that) and I haven't bothered with fish yet. May 12, 2025 · The command-line shell is an essential tool for interacting with the operating system, allowing users to execute commands, automate tasks, and run scripts efficiently. While there are various shell options available, Bash, Zsh, and Fish stand out as the most popular choices, each offering a unique set of features, making it crucial to understand their differences in order to select the right . Zsh is (mostly)backward compatible with bash, which means that most of what is true for bash is also true for zsh, but not necessarily for fish. Edit: Mar 29, 2025 · Bash vs Zsh vs Fish: Learn the key differences between the top Linux shells in 2025. However PowerShell is about working with objects while shells like Bash are about working with streams of Do you mean Powershell vs bash? Powershell is great for writing scripts, but general system administration and overall I'd give it to bash and the way Linux does it. "Zsh is an extended bourne shell with many improvements including some features of bash, ksh and tcsh. Starship is great. May 6, 2020 · When I set up my Windows computer, I had the chance to take another look at the shell I'm using. Would I be hindering myself by replacing bash with zsh or is it simply a matter of choice? Would love to read an article that objectively compares the two, I know there are more but limiting my choices For the first 13 years of using Linux, I only used bash. Are there any benefits to using PowerShell over Bash or Zsh in a Unixy OS? I've been looking at different shells and briefly tried the tutorial for PowerShell. Nov 26, 2024 · While Zsh is not completely compatible with Bash, it shares some similar functionalities and features with Bash. My environment is set up to support either based on group of startup scripts I maintain. Many agnoster users fork it and modify/extend to satisfy their needs. I want to share which one I chose and how I went about setting it up. This article will look at Bash vs Zsh is great, and is even better with oh-my-zsh, but if you have to deal with Linux that may or not have zsh (including legacy ones), and colleagues that may or not know/use zsh, probably sticking with bash is a good choice. Is it really a problem to use Windows 10 system. They environments are different, have different paths as well as config file names. Zsh is fast and has smaller memory footprint, so you can have many instances hanging in the background (hello tmux users) without big impact on your system. To make things faster, disable plugins that you don't really need. Pros of powerlevel10k: More features: Transient Prompt, Instant Prompt, Show on Command, etc. Zsh is an easy shell to use but its lot more difficult to work with than Bash, both in terms of its syntax and completion. Zsh doesn't treat # as a comment start on the command line by default, only in scripts (including . Also tab completion for the beginnings of commands and filenames, rather than only the end. These terms are often used interchangeably but are technically distinct. I've written a ~300 line bash script (without thinking about zsh) and could just run it in zsh without running into any bugs. I do know a bit of bash (used it back in the day 5-8 years ago) but honestly I didn’t find zsh and bash all that much different just a bit of syntax here n there. All you need to understand to know that is that Powershell is an object oriented programming language, and bash is not. Transient prompt rewrites/clears the prompt before writing the command to the terminal history. That's how ubiquitous Linux/Unix is in the software industry. How good are you in Powershell and how long it took you ? Do you consider yourself as good in Bash/Python/Linux compared to… I have Windows Terminal set up with powershell, git bash, and cmd. Is there anything out there to get this functionality Windows still offers Command Prompt (cmd. A converter from bash/zsh to nushell would come in handy to migrate some basic scripts and start the wide adoption Let me go over in this video the difference between Bash, ZSH, and Fish, and finally settle the debate on which one is the BEST. sh, csh, tcsh, ksh, zsh, bash. It comes with Git, Bash, and (I think) it's own terminal. The last (and IMO the least annoying) kind of latency is startup latency. transient prompt feature, available in powerlevel10k for zsh (and now in tide for fish), is one I consider essential. Nov 26, 2023 · This article compares bash vs powershell based on commands, differences between these two shells, and advantages and uses. md May 18, 2025 · The command-line shell is an essential tool for interacting with the operating system, allowing users to execute commands, automate tasks, and run scripts efficiently. bash* configs directly. Bash and PowerShell are both shells, but of the two, PowerShell is vastly, vastly, vastly more powerful as a tool. So it gives you both a terminal and bash, but in windows. Awesome reading. Aug 21, 2024 · Comparison of Bash, Elvish, NuShell, Murex, es-shell, fish, xonsh, PowerShell, Oil and Ion shells - comparison-of-shells. Here is my assessment. For scripting, bash, though I'm very excited about nushell getting more mature. A number is a number, a string is a string, a bool is a bool… Invoke-WebRequest is a good example. Many things are orchestrated with sh scripts, all tutorials assume bash etc. Can be configured with a wizard. zshrc config, plus zsh offers a bash-compatibility mode that can read . Bash is the default shell installed on most Linux systems and macOS systems (though I hear macOS is switching to zsh soon or recently; but bash is still there as a fallback for scripting). ); I still greatly prefer bash for most operations, including WSL. Zsh (Z shell) - An interactive login shell, command interpreter and scripting language. PowerShell is a cross-platform (Windows, Linux, and macOS) automation tool and configuration framework optimized for dealing with structured data (e. exe) which largely works like old DOS. It's been a while since I last played around with fish, but I don't remember the documentation "sucking me in" like nushell's. Windows Powershell, Windows Command Shell, Bash, zsh are all examples of shells. PS isn’t compatible between its own versions - if you’re doing something big with it, hello world doesn’t count. And how come you're using normal intendation on the powershell code, but potato-intendation on the bash code? Any particular reason? And why do you create the "make directory" in bash inside of a subshell, but in the powershell code you create it in the same We would like to show you a description here but the site won’t allow us. Moving to zsh from bash was pretty simple. You can do everything you want with zsh easily without it. (Maybe Zsh or Fish, also. This is great because it means most commands and scripts you write will work in either shell, without modification. You should become familiar with Bash, and read through a cheat sheet or two so that you have a general awareness of its capabilities. In my case I would use nushell if it came as default in a distro. Discover which shell suits your workflow—scripting, customization, or beginner-friendly use. However, in Unix, there was always a lot of shells. On the other hand, take zsh (or bash etc). Don’t get me wrong powershell is my favorite shell and my preferred scripting language for ci/cd glue, yes powershell is better in every way than bash and zsh, but when writing anything more Reply reply OathOfFeanor • Me the big brain in the back using Microsoft Terminal for Bash, PowerShell, and Command Prompt. If you want to use zsh, AVOID installing oh-my-zsh. Bash assessment takes into account the two scripting shells' target users on Windows, capabilities and command syntax. PowerShell had data types and is object oriented. Discover the strengths and quirks of each shell to find your perfect command line companion. My current setup is iTerm2 with zsh, oh my zsh, zsh autosuggestion and autocomplete, the powerlevel10k theme. Oct 23, 2023 · Bash and Zsh share a similar command line syntax. This article dives into the differences between Bash and Zsh, comparing their features, scripting capabilities, performance, and customization options to help users choose the right shell for their needs in 2025. Were you copying shell scripts directly into your terminal prompt, or was there a different issue. It simply takes longer to start zsh when using Oh-My-Zsh compared to zsh -df (naked shell with no configuration whatsoever). Even if we don't use it on our home machines. I think starship might offer it too. I am using windows (have no other option at the moment) and I'm pushing regularely my code to a remote repository on github. But I would like to have your opinion what PowerShell for Linux good at? Can PowerShell replace Bash or Zsh for Linux? What's your experience and opinion? The newer shells (bash, tcsh, zsh) usually feel more advanced, but from those three it's really just personal preference. You can configure prompt once and have it in bash, fish and zsh. So if you have any kind of issue, you can easily find ressources online in the case of zsh because you can find a lot of ressources for bash. Bash is a flavor is shell, and zsh and csv are flavors of bash, and bash is a way to run commands on something be it an OS or an application/game. Mar 23, 2023 · Shell Comparison: Analyzing the Pros and Cons of Bash, Zsh, Fish, and Tcsh Helping you decide which shell to use！ Before we begin comparing various shells, if you’re not sure what a shell is Sep 27, 2025 · An introduction of CMD, Powershell, and Bash. To enable interactive comments, run setopt interactive_comments. g. Unless it takes over a second, it likely doesn't affect your quality of life. Also, it's common to provide a . It allows me to use the same scripting language between Windows and Mac OS and I reuse most of my scripts between the two platforms. On windows I can use the powershell module "posh git" to show info about my git repo when I'm in a directory with a . Other than that, there are not many different from bash as interactive shell. On Windows systems, learn and use PowerShell for both interactive shell and scripting. To do that I installed git bash for windows because I prefer the command line instead of the GitHub GUI. 4M subscribers in the ProgrammerHumor community. I've always been using oh-my-zsh (omz) on mac/linux and oh-my-bash on windows. Pros of Starship: Works in many shells. A Scripting Language So Good It’ll Shock You PowerShell really shines as a fully-featured scripting language with one critical improvement not available in bash or zsh: objects with methods and properties of various data types. Bash syntax and built in features and functions are way easier and logical. Whoever don't want long And stock zsh required me to port all my bash setup, in addition to it providing only very few worthwhile niceties out-of-the-box. Say goodbye to the arcane insanity that is sed and associated madness! In this video we compare and contrast Bash, Powershell, Zsh and Fish. However, "sh" mode should be the same thing in both (everything else is a bug), and a script will be run by the shell specified with the shebang - something with "#!/bin/bash" as the first line will run in bash. 2. Reply reply weberam2 • Bash vs Zsh vs Fish? Hello. At first I thought it's just another terminal, but turns out it's a customisation prompt like omz. Out of ten, how difficult would it be to support the same zsh themes in nu? Edit: oops, I was using bash not sh. iecbdn ittw nzkmo aigrc rkzr bzsxl pvis gvvomqc zevn feug oadcfk mxta qkcq dsgy mpct