zish

fast, opinionated shell written in zig. for the brave.

features

• hybrid vim/emacs editing (vim text objects + emacs keys + arrows)
• git prompt (set git_prompt on)
• syntax highlighting
• tab completion with common prefix
• persistent history
• aliases & functions
• ${VAR:-default} parameter expansion
• [[ ]] test expressions
• pipes, redirects, &&, ||
• $(cmd) and $((math))
• builtins: cd, -, .., ..., local, export

performance

test	vs bash	vs zsh
command substitution	7.0x faster	7.0x faster
nested loops	4.0x faster	4.4x faster
conditionals	4.0x faster	4.5x faster
arithmetic	3.8x faster	4.3x faster
variables	3.6x faster	3.9x faster
functions	3.4x faster	3.8x faster
pipelines	1.7x faster	1.9x faster

methodology: ./bench.sh runs from /bin/sh with hyperfine. all shells use --norc --noprofile / --no-rcs to skip user config. output correctness is validated against bash before each benchmark.

why it's fast:

• static binary - no dynamic linker overhead, no shared libs
• stack buffers - echo/test builtins use stack allocation in loops, no malloc
• minimal init - no readline/job control setup for -c mode

build

zig build --release=fast
./zig-out/bin/zish

config

cp example.zishrc ~/.zishrc

vim mode

zish has vim-style modal editing enabled by default.

modes

mode	indicator	description
insert	[I]	normal typing (default)
normal	[N]	vim commands
visual	[V]	character selection
visual line	[VL]	line selection
replace	[R]	overwrite mode

normal mode commands

mode entry

key	action
i	insert at cursor
I	insert at line start
a	append after cursor
A	append at line end
o	open line below
O	open line above
s	substitute char
S	substitute line
v	visual mode
V	visual line mode
R	replace mode

motions

key	action
h l	left / right
j k	down / up (multiline)
w W	word / WORD forward
b B	word / WORD backward
e E	word / WORD end
0	line start
^	first non-blank
$	line end
G	buffer end

operators (combine with motions or text objects)

key	action
d	delete
c	change (delete + insert)
y	yank (copy)

text objects (use with i inner or a around)

object	description
w W	word / WORD
" ' `	quoted string
( ) b	parentheses
[ ]	brackets
{ } B	braces
< >	angle brackets

common combos

ciw     change inner word
diw     delete inner word
daw     delete around word (includes space)
ci"     change inside quotes
da(     delete around parentheses
yiw     yank inner word
dd      delete line
cc      change line
yy      yank line
3dw     delete 3 words

single char operations

key	action
x	delete char under cursor
X	delete char before cursor
r	replace single char
C	change to end of line
D	delete to end of line
p	paste after
P	paste before

visual mode

select text then operate:

• d / x - delete selection
• c / s - change selection
• y - yank selection
• o - swap cursor/anchor
• Esc - cancel

insert mode

key	action
Esc	back to normal
Ctrl-a	line start
Ctrl-e	line end
Ctrl-u	delete to start
Ctrl-w	delete word back
Ctrl-c	cancel

status

v0.7.0 - production ready