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Contrary to popular opinion, programmers are human. We like nice things. And the terminal is one of the most important things that we use on a day-to-day basis.
So why live with a boring terminal when you can make it colourful and fun?
Today, we will do precisely that. Let’s begin!
Install Homebrew
If you are using a mac, you are most probably already familiar with homebrew. It helps with installing software on macOS.
Run the following command:
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL [https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh))"
You may need to install the CLI tools for XCode before that:
xcode-select —-install
If you get an error, run the following command to reset:
xcode-select -r
And that’s it!
2. Install Iterm2
Iterm2 is a terminal emulator for macOS. It’s kind of a replacement for your original terminal. It comes with a bunch of cool features and customizations that we will go over later
Run the following command:
brew cask install iterm2
3. Install ZSH
ZSH, also called the Z shell, is an extended version of the Bourne Shell (sh). it has some advanced features like
Automatic cd: Just type the name of the directory.
Plugin and theme support: ZSH has many plugin and theme frameworks to boost up your terminal even more.
To install it run the following command:
brew install zsh
And you should be set up.
4. Install Oh My ZSH
According to their website…
Oh My Zsh is a delightful, open source, community-driven framework for managing your Zsh configuration
In short, it will help you to manage the configuration and customizations for your Z Shell.
To install, run the following command:
sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/robbyrussell/oh-my-zsh/master/tools/install.sh)"
Okay, now, you have the basic setup complete.
You should already have a nice-looking terminal than before.
5. Customize the Theme
Now restart your iTerm2 and type the following command:
open .zshrc
it will open the config file with a text editor. You can also use nano if you like.
Now there will be a variable named ZSH_THEME . And the value there is robbyrussell . If we set it to random, then every time we open our terminal, a new theme will be loaded
However, you can choose from a wide variety of themes here.
Let’s use a popular custom theme named powerlevel10k. First, install it.
git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/romkatv/powerlevel10k.git ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-$HOME/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/themes/powerlevel10k
Then set the theme name:
ZSH_THEME="powerlevel10k/powerlevel10k"
Then save the file and run the following command from the terminal:
exec zsh
Then open iterm2 again and configure the terminal by running the following command:
p10k configure
It will take you through the configuration process and at the end of it, you will have a nice-looking terminal!
6. Customize with Plugins
Plugins are what make the zsh so powerful and fun to use. There are a lot of plugins that you can find here. Let’s try one of them!
Do you like typing? I guess not. We can have some autosuggestion inside our terminal by using a plugin named zsh-autosuggestions.
Run the following command.
git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-autosuggestions $ZSH_CUSTOM/plugins/zsh-autosuggestions
Then open up your .zshrc file. And find the plugins section. You will see there is already a plugin there (git). Add our new plugin.
That’s it. Now when you want to type a command the terminal will give you suggestions!
Final Thoughts
There are a lot of things that you can do with oh my zsh . I have shown the absolute basics here. I hope you enjoyed it.
Have a great day!
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