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Bruno Ciccarino λ
Bruno Ciccarino λ

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Bash, Fish, and Zsh: Choosing Your Shell

When it comes to choosing a shell, Bash, Fish, and Zsh are the heavy hitters. They all have their fanbases, quirks, and strengths, but which one is right for you? Let’s break it down—no fluff, just real talk about their pros and cons.


Bash: The Classic Choice

Bash (Bourne Again Shell) is the default shell on most Unix-like systems. If you’ve opened a terminal on Linux or macOS, chances are you’ve used Bash.

Pros:

  • Ubiquity: It’s everywhere. Scripts written for Bash will run on almost any system without additional configuration.
  • Extensive Documentation: Because it’s so widely used, there’s no shortage of tutorials, guides, and forums to help you troubleshoot.
  • POSIX Compatibility: If you need scripts to work across different Unix systems, Bash is your best bet.
  • Lightweight: No bells and whistles to slow you down—it’s lean and efficient.

Cons:

  • Basic Features: The out-of-the-box experience is barebones. Autocompletion is minimal, and there’s no syntax highlighting.
  • Slow Scripting for Complex Tasks: Bash can get sluggish and clunky when you try to use it for anything beyond simple scripting.
  • Harder to Customize: While powerful, tweaking Bash to match modern standards takes time and effort—and plugins like bash-completion aren’t as seamless as they could be.

Fish: The New Kid With Style

Fish (Friendly Interactive Shell) is all about a modern, user-friendly experience. If you’re looking for something that “just works” out of the box, Fish might catch your eye.

Pros:

  • Zero Configuration Needed: It’s pretty from the start—syntax highlighting, autosuggestions, and tab completions are baked right in.
  • Readable Syntax: Fish scripts are straightforward and intuitive compared to Bash.
  • Fast: Lightweight and quick to respond, even with all its shiny features.

Cons:

  • Not POSIX-Compliant: Scripts written in Fish won’t work in other shells, which can be a dealbreaker if you need portability.
  • Plugin Ecosystem Is Limited: While it has some customization options (e.g., Oh My Fish), the community is smaller compared to Zsh.
  • Learning Curve for Power Users: If you’re migrating from Bash or Zsh, adapting to Fish’s scripting language can slow you down.

Zsh: The Power User’s Playground

Zsh (Z Shell) is a powerhouse. It’s highly customizable and has a massive plugin ecosystem, thanks to tools like Oh My Zsh.

Pros:

  • Customizability: With plugins, themes, and configuration options, you can make Zsh fit your workflow perfectly.
  • Powerful Features: Zsh has excellent globbing, better autocompletion, and rich syntax highlighting out of the box.
  • Oh My Zsh: This framework makes installing plugins and themes a breeze, taking Zsh to another level.
  • POSIX-Compatible: Unlike Fish, Zsh scripts will run on other shells.

Cons:

  • Performance Hit: If you go overboard with plugins and themes, Zsh can slow down significantly.
  • Steeper Learning Curve: The sheer number of customization options can be overwhelming for newcomers.
  • Default Config Isn’t Great: You need to spend time setting it up to unlock its full potential.

Which Shell Should You Use?

It depends on what you’re looking for:

  • Bash: Stick with this if you need simplicity, portability, or you’re writing scripts for a wide range of environments.
  • Fish: Perfect for those who want a polished, user-friendly experience right away without much fuss.
  • Zsh: Ideal for power users who love tinkering and want a shell that can do it all (but don’t mind setting it up).

At the end of the day, there’s no "wrong" choice—just the one that fits your workflow best. So, go ahead and give them a try. Your terminal, your rules.

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Top comments (7)

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katafrakt profile image
Paweł Świątkowski

Great summary. I was a ZSH fanboy for over a decade, but recently moved to Fish. What was holding me back was that it's not POSIX-compatible, as you mentioned, but it took me far too many years to figure out it really does not matter for my personal use.

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gbhorwood profile image
grant horwood

you can use fish on the command line and still write scripts in bash if it's installed. although now, when i need to script the shell, i use amber which can transpile to bash (or run natively if installed).

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srbhr profile image
Saurabh Rai

How'd you find FISH over ZSH? I just switched to Ghostty and the experience is pretty amazing.

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katafrakt profile image
Paweł Świątkowski

I wouldn't say Fish is objectively better, but it's better for me at this point in time ;) I was previously bitten by ZSH's plugin managers come and go (I wasn't using oh-my-zsh, because it was too slow in my experience) and I realized I'm too old to have to switch to new manager every couple months. As mentioned in the article, Fish just provides nice defaults with almost no need to configure things.

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brunociccarino profile image
Bruno Ciccarino λ

fish is the future bro, zsh is more customizable but the simplicity of fish is worth it

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kurealnum profile image
Oscar

I'm still running with Bash. If I ever try anything different, it'll probably be ZSH.

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kroxis profile image
Vladislav Zhukov

Windows Terminal :)

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