Z-Shell (zsh) FAQ changes this month

[Peter Stephenson <pws@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

This file contains general information on how to find out about zsh,
(the first part of the FAQ up to item 1.1), then any other items which
have changed since last month's posting, then the differences in the
yodl version of the FAQ.  If you would like a complete individual
copy, email me and I will add you to the list.


Changes since issue posted November 1999:

1.5  Latest development versions now in archive.
4.3  Unmisspelled LIST_AMBIGUOUS; added BASH_AUTO_LIST.

This document contains a list of frequently-asked (or otherwise
significant) questions concerning the Z-shell, a command interpreter
for many UNIX systems which is freely available to anyone with FTP
access.  Zsh is among the most powerful freely available Bourne-like
shell for interactive use.

If you have never heard of `sh', `csh' or `ksh', then you are
probably better off to start by reading a general introduction to UNIX
rather than this document.

If you just want to know how to get your hands on the latest version,
skip to question 1.6; if you want to know what to do with
insoluble problems, go to 5.2.

Notation: Quotes `like this' are ordinary textual quotation
marks.  Other uses of quotation marks are input to the shell.

Contents:
Chapter 1:  Introducing zsh and how to install it
1.1. Sources of information
1.2. What is it?
1.3. What is it good at?
1.4. On what machines will it run?  (Plus important compilation notes)
1.5. What's the latest version?
1.6. Where do I get it?
1.7. I don't have root access: how do I make zsh my login shell?

Chapter 2:  How does zsh differ from...?
2.1. sh and ksh?
2.2. csh?
2.3. Why do my csh aliases not work?  (Plus other alias pitfalls.)
2.4. tcsh?
2.5. bash?
2.6. Shouldn't zsh be more/less like ksh/(t)csh?

Chapter 3:  How to get various things to work
3.1. Why does `$var' where `var="foo bar"' not do what I expect?
3.2. In which startup file do I put...?
3.3. What is the difference between `export' and the ALL_EXPORT option?
3.4. How do I turn off spelling correction/globbing for a single command?
3.5. How do I get the meta key to work on my xterm?
3.6. How do I automatically display the directory in my xterm title bar?
3.7. How do I make the completion list use eight bit characters?
3.8. Why do the cursor (arrow) keys not work?
3.9. Why does my terminal act funny in some way?
3.10. Why does zsh not work in an Emacs shell mode any more?
3.11. Why do my autoloaded functions not autoload [the first time]?
3.12. How does base arithmetic work?
3.13. How do I get a newline in my prompt?
3.14. Why does `bindkey ^a command-name' or 'stty intr ^-' do something funny?
3.15. Why can't I bind \C-s and \C-q any more?
3.16. How do I execute command `foo' within function `foo'?
3.17. Why do history substitutions with single bangs do something funny?
3.18. Why does zsh kill off all my background jobs when I logout?
3.19. How do I list all my history entries?
3.20. How does the alternative loop syntax, e.g. `while {...} {...}' work?
3.21. Why is my history not being saved?
3.22. How do I get a variable's value to be evaluated as another variable?
3.23. How do I prevent the prompt overwriting output when there is no newline?
3.24. What's wrong with cut and paste on my xterm?

Chapter 4:  The mysteries of completion
4.1. What is completion?
4.2. What sorts of things can be completed?
4.3. How does zsh deal with ambiguous completions?
4.4. How do I complete in the middle of words / just what's before the cursor?
4.5. How do I get started with programmable completion?
4.6. And if programmable completion isn't good enough?

Chapter 5:  The future of zsh
5.1. What bugs are currently known and unfixed? (Plus recent important changes)
5.2. Where do I report bugs, get more info / who's working on zsh?
5.3. What's on the wish-list?
5.4. Will zsh have problems in the year 2000?

Acknowledgments

Copyright
--- End of Contents ---

Chapter 1: Introducing zsh and how to install it

1.1: Sources of information

  Information on zsh is available via the World Wide Web.  The URL
  is http://sunsite.auc.dk/zsh/ (note the change of address from the
  end of April 1998).  The server provides this FAQ and much else and is
  now maintained by Karsten Thygesen and others (mail zsh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
  with any related messages).  The FAQ is at http://sunsite.auc.dk/zsh/FAQ/ .
  The site also contains some contributed zsh scripts and functions;
  we are delighted to add more, or simply links to your own collection.

  This document was originally written in YODL, allowing it to be converted
  easily into various other formats.  The master source file lives at
  http://sunsite.auc.dk/zsh/FAQ/zshfaq.yo and the plain text version
  can be found at http://sunsite.auc.dk/zsh/FAQ/zshfaq.txt .

  Another useful source of information is the collection of FAQ articles
  posted frequently to the Usenet news groups comp.unix.questions,
  comp.unix.shells and comp.answers with answers to general questions
  about UNIX.  The fifth of the seven articles deals with shells,
  including zsh, with a brief description of differences.  There is
  also a separate FAQ on shell differences and how to change your
  shell.  Usenet FAQs are available via FTP from rtfm.mit.edu and
  mirrors and also on the World Wide Web; see

    USA         http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/top.html
    UK          http://www.lib.ox.ac.uk/internet/news/faq/comp.unix.shell.html
    Netherlands http://www.cs.uu.nl/wais/html/na-dir/unix-faq/shell/.html

  You can also get it via email by emailing mail-server@xxxxxxxxxxxx
  with, in the body of the message, `send faqs/unix-faq/shell/zsh'.

  The latest version of this FAQ is also available directly from any
  of the zsh archive sites listed in question 1.6.

  There is now a preliminary version of a reference card for
  zsh 3.0, which you can find (while it's being developed) at
    http://www.ifh.de/~pws/computing/refcard.ps
  This is optimised for A4 paper. The LaTeX source is in the
  same place with the extension .tex.  It is not a good place
  from which to learn zsh for the first time.

  (As a method of reading the following in Emacs, you can type \M-2
  \C-x $ to make all the indented text vanish, then \M-0 \C-x $
  when you are on the title you want.)

  For any more eclectic information, you should contact the mailing
  list:  see question 5.2.

--- End of general information, changed items follow in full ---

1.5: What's the latest version?

  Zsh 3.0.7 is the latest production version. The new major number 3.0
  largely reflects the considerable internal changes in zsh to make it more
  reliable, consistent and (where possible) compatible.  Those planning on
  upgrading their zsh installation should take a look at the list of
  incompatibilities at the end of 5.1.  This is longer than usual
  due to enhanced sh, ksh and POSIX compatibility.

  The beta version 3.1.6 is also available.  Development of zsh is usually
  patch by patch, with each intermediate version publicly available.  Note
  that this `open' development system does mean bugs are sometimes
  introduced into the most recent archived version.  These are usually
  fixed quickly.  If you are really interested in getting the latest
  improvements, and less worried about providing a stable environment,
  development versions are uploaded quite frequently to the archive in the
  development subdirectory.

  Note also that as the shell changes, it may become incompatible with
  older versions; see the end of question 5.1 for a partial list.
  Changes of this kind are almost always forced by an awkward or
  unnecessary feature in the original design (as perceived by current
  users), or to enhance compatibility with other Bourne shell
  derivatives, or (most recently) to provide POSIX compliancy.

4.3: How does zsh deal with ambiguous completions?

  Often there will be more than one possible completion: two files
  start with the same characters, for example.  Zsh has a lot of
  flexibility for what it does here via its options.  The default is
  for it to beep and completion to stop until you type another
  character.  You can type \C-D to see all the possible completions.
  (That's assuming you're at the end of the line, otherwise \C-D will
  delete the next character and you have to use ESC-\C-D.)  This can be
  changed by the following options, among others:

   o  with NO_BEEP set, that annoying beep goes away
   o  with NO_LIST_BEEP, beeping is only turned off for ambiguous
      completions
   o  with AUTO_LIST set, when the completion is ambiguous you get a
      list without having to type \C-D
   o  with BASH_AUTO_LIST set, the list only happens the second
      time you hit tab on an ambiguous completion
   o  with LIST_AMBIGUOUS, this is modified so that nothing is listed if
      there is an unambiguous prefix or suffix to be inserted --- this
      can be combined with BASH_AUTO_LIST, so that where both are
      applicable you need to hit tab three times for a listing.
   o  with MENU_COMPLETE set, one completion is always inserted
      completely, then when you hit TAB it changes to the next, and so
      on until you get back to where you started
   o  with AUTO_MENU, you only get the menu behaviour when you hit TAB
      again on the ambiguous completion.
   o  Finally, although it affects all completion lists, including
      those explicitly requested, note also ALWAYS_LAST_PROMPT, which
      causes the cursor to return to the line you were editing after
      printing the list, provided that is short enough.

  Combinations of these are possible; for example, AUTO_LIST and
  AUTO_MENU together give an intuitive combination.  Note that
  from version 3.1 LIST_AMBIGUOUS is set by default; if you use
  autolist, you may well want to `unsetopt listambiguous'.

--- End of changed items, diff from previous version follows ---
Index: zshfaq.yo
===================================================================
RCS file: /pack/anoncvs/zsh/www/FAQ/zshfaq.yo,v
retrieving revision 1.47
retrieving revision 1.48
diff -u -r1.47 -r1.48
--- zshfaq.yo	1999/12/14 22:03:04	1.47
+++ zshfaq.yo	1999/12/28 12:00:50	1.48
@@ -43,20 +43,21 @@
 whenman(report(ARG1)(ARG2)(ARG3))\
 whenms(report(ARG1)(ARG2)(ARG3))\
 whensgml(report(ARG1)(ARG2)(ARG3)))
-myreport(Z-Shell Frequently-Asked Questions)(Peter Stephenson)(1999/11/26)
+myreport(Z-Shell Frequently-Asked Questions)(Peter Stephenson)(1999/12/28)
 COMMENT(-- the following are for Usenet and must appear first)\
 description(\
 mydit(Archive-Name:) unix-faq/shell/zsh
-mydit(Last-Modified:) 1999/11/26
+mydit(Last-Modified:) 1999/12/28
 mydit(Submitted-By:) email(pws@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Peter Stephenson))
 mydit(Version:) <Not yet updated due to archive problems>
 mydit(Posting-Frequency:) Monthly
 mydit(Copyright:) (C) P.W. Stephenson, 1995--1999 (see end of document)
 )
 
-bf(Changes since issue posted September 1999:)
+bf(Changes since issue posted November 1999:)
 description(
-mydit(1.5)  Latest production version is 3.0.7.
+mydit(1.5)  Latest development versions now in archive.
+mydit(4.3)  Unmisspelled LIST_AMBIGUOUS; added BASH_AUTO_LIST.
 )
 
 This document contains a list of frequently-asked (or otherwise
@@ -306,7 +307,10 @@
   patch by patch, with each intermediate version publicly available.  Note
   that this `open' development system does mean bugs are sometimes
   introduced into the most recent archived version.  These are usually
-  fixed quickly.
+  fixed quickly.  If you are really interested in getting the latest
+  improvements, and less worried about providing a stable environment,
+  development versions are uploaded quite frequently to the archive in the
+  tt(development) subdirectory.
 
   Note also that as the shell changes, it may become incompatible with
   older versions; see the end of question link(5.1)(51) for a partial list.
@@ -1135,7 +1139,7 @@
     case $TERM in
       sun-cmd+CHAR(41) print -Pn "\e]l%~\e\\"
         ;;
-      *xterm*|rxvt|dtterm|Eterm+CHAR(41) print -Pn "\e]2;%~\a"
+      *xterm*|rxvt|(dt|k|E)term+CHAR(41) print -Pn "\e]2;%~\a"
         ;;
     esac
   }
@@ -1724,8 +1728,12 @@
       completions
    it() with tt(AUTO_LIST) set, when the completion is ambiguous you get a
       list without having to type tt(\C-D)
-   it() with tt(LIST_AMBIGOUS), this is modified so that nothing is listed if
-      there is an unambiguous prefix or suffix to be inserted
+   it() with tt(BASH_AUTO_LIST) set, the list only happens the second
+      time you hit tab on an ambiguous completion
+   it() with tt(LIST_AMBIGUOUS), this is modified so that nothing is listed if
+      there is an unambiguous prefix or suffix to be inserted --- this
+      can be combined with tt(BASH_AUTO_LIST), so that where both are
+      applicable you need to hit tab three times for a listing.
    it() with tt(MENU_COMPLETE) set, one completion is always inserted
       completely, then when you hit TAB it changes to the next, and so
       on until you get back to where you started