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Customization - Mac

zsh and the ~/.zshrc file

zsh is the default shell for Terminal windows on Mac OS. You can configure your shell environment with the ~/.zshrc file. The commands in ~/.zshrc are run every time you open a new Terminal window.

If ~/.zshrc does not exist, you can create a new file.

On older Mac computers, the default shell is bash which uses the file ~/.bashrc for configuration.

Create a geany command

You can create a shell function geany by adding these lines to ~/.zshrc. 

geany() {
    /Applications/Geany.app/Contents/MacOS/geany $@ &
}

This function:

  • Runs the installed geany executable via its full path /Applications/Geany.app/Contents/MacOS/geany.
  • Passes all command line arguments ($@).
  • Launches the command in the background (&) so you still have control in the terminal.

Customize your prompt

Use the following lines in your ~/.zshrc file to customize your prompt.

# convenience variables for the colors
red='\e[0;31m'
RED='\e[1;31m'
blue='\e[0;34m'
BLUE='\e[1;34m'
cyan='\e[0;36m'
CYAN='\e[1;36m'
green='\e[0;32m'
GREEN='\e[1;32m'
NC='\e[0m' # No Color
yellow='\e[0;33m'
magenta='\e[0;35m'
YELLOW='\e[1;33m'
MAGENTA='\e[1;35m'

export PS1="%F{green}%~%f %# "

The PS1 environment variable controls the prompt via some mysterious codes:

  • %F sets the foreground color, %f unsets it.
  • %~ is the current working directory
  • %# displays the % prompt (but changes to # for escalated privileges)

Reference: zsh prompt expansion

Customize the colors for ls

Use the following lines in your ~/.zshrc file to customize your ls colors.

export CLICOLOR=YES
export LSCOLORS="GxGxFxdxHxDxDxhbadExEx"

Here's the code to decipher the LSCOLORS string.

# LSCOLORS: (capital == bold)
#    * a = black
#    * b = red
#    * c = green
#    * d = brown
#    * e = blue
#    * f = magenta
#    * g = cyan
#    * h = light gray
#    * x = default

#   1. DIR
#   2. SYM_LINK
#   3. SOCKET
#   4. PIPE
#   5. EXE
#   6. BLOCK_SP
#   7. CHAR_SP
#   8. EXE_SUID
#   9. EXE_GUID
#  10. DIR_STICKY
#  11. DIR_WO_STICKY