ZSH
I just change my bash to zsh. I am new at this and so what do I do now?
MacBook Pro 13″, OS X 10.11
The Apple Support Community will permanently close on November 20, 2026. Starting today, the site will no longer accept new posts and is available in a read-only state.
You can continue to find trusted guidance and support on the official Apple Support site.
We want to thank the community members who have contributed their time and expertise to help others with their Apple products.
The Apple Support Community will permanently close on November 20, 2026. Starting today, the site will no longer accept new posts and is available in a read-only state.
You can continue to find trusted guidance and support on the official Apple Support site.
We want to thank the community members who have contributed their time and expertise to help others with their Apple products.
I just change my bash to zsh. I am new at this and so what do I do now?
MacBook Pro 13″, OS X 10.11
The Zsh shell is far more powerful than the Bash that it replaced, and Zsh will not read the Bash dot-files (.e.g. .bashrc, .bash_profile, .profile, etc.) so you will need to at minimum, create a .zshrc dot file in your home directory with a minimal PATH and PS1 prompt, as Zsh's shell prompts are different too.
Check to determine if you already have a $HOME/.zshrc file present. Zsh will not create one, so if it is not there, then copy/paste the following HERE script into the Terminal and then press enter afterwards.
<<"EOF" > ~/.zshrc
export PATH=".:/usr/local/bin:${PATH}"
PS1="%m: %~ %% "
EOF
Once that .zshrc file is present, and in the current Terminal session, do the following:
source ~/.zshrc
The Zsh shell will continue to run any Bash scripts where the shell syntax is still supported by Zsh, though the Zsh shell is incredibly more powerful than the Bash shell it replaces.
I would stay away from Zsh enhancement utilities such as Oh my Zsh. I don't use it.
Some additional reading:
Master Your Z Shell with These Outrageously Useful Tips
The Zsh shell is far more powerful than the Bash that it replaced, and Zsh will not read the Bash dot-files (.e.g. .bashrc, .bash_profile, .profile, etc.) so you will need to at minimum, create a .zshrc dot file in your home directory with a minimal PATH and PS1 prompt, as Zsh's shell prompts are different too.
Check to determine if you already have a $HOME/.zshrc file present. Zsh will not create one, so if it is not there, then copy/paste the following HERE script into the Terminal and then press enter afterwards.
<<"EOF" > ~/.zshrc
export PATH=".:/usr/local/bin:${PATH}"
PS1="%m: %~ %% "
EOF
Once that .zshrc file is present, and in the current Terminal session, do the following:
source ~/.zshrc
The Zsh shell will continue to run any Bash scripts where the shell syntax is still supported by Zsh, though the Zsh shell is incredibly more powerful than the Bash shell it replaces.
I would stay away from Zsh enhancement utilities such as Oh my Zsh. I don't use it.
Some additional reading:
Master Your Z Shell with These Outrageously Useful Tips
In general, you’ll use the Terminal CLI the same way you previously used it.
See a bit more here:
Use zsh as the default shell on your Mac - Apple Support (CA)
and a discussion here:
Thanks for this VERY helpful and useful info !!!
🫡
ZSH