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<section id="introduction">
<span id="intro"></span><h1>Introduction<a class="headerlink" href="#introduction" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h1>
<p>This is the documentation for <strong class="command">fish</strong>, the <strong>f</strong>riendly <strong>i</strong>nteractive <strong>sh</strong>ell.</p>
<p>A shell is a program that helps you operate your computer by starting other programs. fish offers a command-line interface focused on usability and interactive use.</p>
<p>Some of the special features of fish are:</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><p><strong>Extensive UI</strong>: <a class="reference internal" href="interactive.html#syntax-highlighting"><span class="std std-ref">Syntax highlighting</span></a>, <a class="reference internal" href="interactive.html#autosuggestions"><span class="std std-ref">Autosuggestions</span></a>, <a class="reference internal" href="interactive.html#tab-completion"><span class="std std-ref">tab completion</span></a> and selection lists that can be navigated and filtered.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>No configuration needed</strong>: fish is designed to be ready to use immediately, without requiring extensive configuration.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Easy scripting</strong>: New <a class="reference internal" href="language.html#syntax-function"><span class="std std-ref">functions</span></a> can be added on the fly. The syntax is easy to learn and use.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>This page explains how to install and set up fish and where to get more information.</p>
<section id="where-to-go">
<h2>Where to go?<a class="headerlink" href="#where-to-go" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h2>
<p>If this is your first time using fish, see the <a class="reference internal" href="tutorial.html"><span class="doc">tutorial</span></a>.</p>
<p>If you are already familiar with other shells like bash and want to see the scripting differences, see <a class="reference internal" href="fish_for_bash_users.html"><span class="doc">Fish For Bash Users</span></a>.</p>
<p>For an overview of fish’s scripting language, see <a class="reference internal" href="language.html"><span class="doc">The Fish Language</span></a>. If it would be useful in a script file, it’s here.</p>
<p>For information on using fish interactively, see <a class="reference internal" href="interactive.html"><span class="doc">Interactive use</span></a>. If it’s about key presses, syntax highlighting or anything else that needs an interactive terminal session, look here.</p>
<p>If you need to install fish first, read on, the rest of this document will tell you how to get, install and configure fish.</p>
</section>
<section id="setup">
<h2>Setup<a class="headerlink" href="#setup" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h2>
<p>This section describes how to install, uninstall, start, and exit <strong class="command">fish</strong>. It also explains how to make fish the default shell.</p>
<section id="installation">
<h3>Installation<a class="headerlink" href="#installation" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h3>
<p>Up-to-date instructions for installing the latest version of fish are on the <a class="reference external" href="https://fishshell.com/">fish homepage</a>.</p>
<p>To install the development version of fish, see the instructions on the <a class="reference external" href="https://github.com/fish-shell/fish-shell">project’s GitHub page</a>.</p>
</section>
<section id="starting-and-exiting">
<h3>Starting and Exiting<a class="headerlink" href="#starting-and-exiting" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h3>
<p>Once fish has been installed, open a terminal. If fish is not the default shell:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Type <strong class="command">fish</strong> to start a shell:</p>
<div class="highlight-fish-docs-samples notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="gp">> </span><span class="nf">fish</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
</li>
<li><p>Type <strong class="command">exit</strong> to end the session:</p>
<div class="highlight-fish-docs-samples notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="gp">> </span><span class="nf">exit</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
</li>
</ul>
</section>
<section id="default-shell">
<h3>Default Shell<a class="headerlink" href="#default-shell" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h3>
<p>There are multiple ways to switch to fish (or any other shell) as your default.</p>
<p>The simplest method is to set your terminal emulator (e.g. GNOME Terminal, Apple’s Terminal.app, or Konsole) to start fish directly. See its configuration and set the program to start to <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">/usr/local/bin/fish</span></code> (the exact path depends on how you installed fish).</p>
<p>Alternatively, you can set fish as your login shell so that it will be started by all terminal logins, including SSH.</p>
<div class="admonition warning">
<p class="admonition-title">Warning</p>
<p>Setting fish as your login shell may cause issues, such as an incorrect <span class="target" id="index-0"></span><a class="reference internal" href="language.html#envvar-PATH"><code class="xref std std-envvar docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">PATH</span></code></a>. Some operating systems, including a number of Linux distributions, require the login shell to be Bourne-compatible and to read configuration from <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">/etc/profile</span></code>. fish may not be suitable as a login shell on these systems.</p>
</div>
<p>To change your login shell to fish:</p>
<ol class="arabic">
<li><p>Add the shell to <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">/etc/shells</span></code> with:</p>
<div class="highlight-fish-docs-samples notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="gp">> </span><span class="nf">command</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="no">-v</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="no">fish</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="p">|</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nf">sudo</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="no">tee</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="no">-a</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="no">/etc/shells</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
</li>
<li><p>Change your default shell with:</p>
<div class="highlight-fish-docs-samples notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="gp">> </span><span class="nf">chsh</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="no">-s</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="s2">"</span><span class="o">$(</span><span class="nf">command</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="no">-v</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="no">fish</span><span class="o">)</span><span class="s2">"</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
</li>
</ol>
<p>To change it back to another shell, substitute <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">fish</span></code> with <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">bash</span></code>, <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">tcsh</span></code> or <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">zsh</span></code> as appropriate in the above command.</p>
</section>
<section id="uninstalling">
<h3>Uninstalling<a class="headerlink" href="#uninstalling" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h3>
<p>For uninstalling fish: see <a class="reference internal" href="faq.html#faq-uninstalling"><span class="std std-ref">FAQ: Uninstalling fish</span></a>.</p>
</section>
<section id="shebang-line">
<h3>Shebang Line<a class="headerlink" href="#shebang-line" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h3>
<p>Because shell scripts are written in many different languages, they need to carry information about which interpreter should be used to execute them. For this, they are expected to have a first line, the shebang line, which names the interpreter executable.</p>
<p>A script written in <strong class="command">bash</strong> would need a first line like this:</p>
<div class="highlight-fish-docs-samples notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="c">#!/bin/bash</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>When the shell tells the kernel to execute the file, it will use the interpreter <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">/bin/bash</span></code>.</p>
<p>For a script written in another language, just replace <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">/bin/bash</span></code> with the interpreter for that language. For example: <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">/usr/bin/python</span></code> for a python script, or <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">/usr/local/bin/fish</span></code> for a fish script, if that is where you have them installed.</p>
<p>If you want to share your script with others, you might want to use <strong class="command">env</strong> to allow for the interpreter to be installed in other locations. For example:</p>
<div class="highlight-fish-docs-samples notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="c">#!/usr/bin/env fish</span>
<span class="nf">echo</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="no">Hello</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="no">from</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="no">fish</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="o">$version</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>This will call <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">env</span></code>, which then goes through <span class="target" id="index-1"></span><a class="reference internal" href="language.html#envvar-PATH"><code class="xref std std-envvar docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">PATH</span></code></a> to find a program called “fish”. This makes it work, whether fish is installed in (for example) <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">/usr/local/bin/fish</span></code>, <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">/usr/bin/fish</span></code>, or <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">~/.local/bin/fish</span></code>, as long as that directory is in <span class="target" id="index-2"></span><a class="reference internal" href="language.html#envvar-PATH"><code class="xref std std-envvar docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">PATH</span></code></a>.</p>
<p>The shebang line is only used when scripts are executed without specifying the interpreter. For functions inside fish or when executing a script with <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">fish</span> <span class="pre">/path/to/script</span></code>, a shebang is not required (but it doesn’t hurt!).</p>
<p>When executing files without an interpreter, fish, like other shells, tries your system shell, typically <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">/bin/sh</span></code>. This is needed because some scripts are shipped without a shebang line.</p>
</section>
</section>
<section id="configuration">
<h2>Configuration<a class="headerlink" href="#configuration" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h2>
<p>To store configuration write it to a file called <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">~/.config/fish/config.fish</span></code>.</p>
<p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">.fish</span></code> scripts in <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">~/.config/fish/conf.d/</span></code> are also automatically executed before <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">config.fish</span></code>.</p>
<p>These files are read on the startup of every shell, whether interactive and/or if they’re login shells. Use <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">status</span> <span class="pre">--is-interactive</span></code> and <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">status</span> <span class="pre">--is-login</span></code> to do things only in interactive/login shells, respectively.</p>
<p>This is the short version; for a full explanation, like for sysadmins or integration for developers of other software, see <a class="reference internal" href="language.html#configuration"><span class="std std-ref">Configuration files</span></a>.</p>
<p>If you want to see what you changed over fish’s defaults, see <a class="reference internal" href="cmds/fish_delta.html"><span class="doc">fish_delta</span></a>.</p>
<section id="examples">
<h3>Examples:<a class="headerlink" href="#examples" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h3>
<p>To add <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">~/linux/bin</span></code> to PATH variable when using a login shell, add this to <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">~/.config/fish/config.fish</span></code> file:</p>
<div class="highlight-fish-docs-samples notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="nf">if</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nf">status</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="no">--is-login</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="nf">set</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="no">-gx</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="no">PATH</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="o">$PATH</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="o">~</span><span class="no">/linux/bin</span>
<span class="nf">end</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>This is just an example; using <a class="reference internal" href="cmds/fish_add_path.html"><span class="doc">fish_add_path</span></a> e.g. <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">fish_add_path</span> <span class="pre">~/linux/bin</span></code> which only adds the path if it isn’t included yet is easier.</p>
<p>To run commands on exit, use an <a class="reference internal" href="language.html#event"><span class="std std-ref">event handler</span></a> that is triggered by the exit of the shell:</p>
<div class="highlight-fish-docs-samples notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="nf">function</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="no">on_exit</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="no">--on-event</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="no">fish_exit</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="nf">echo</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="no">fish</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="no">is</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="no">now</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="no">exiting</span>
<span class="nf">end</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
</section>
</section>
<section id="resources">
<span id="more-help"></span><h2>Resources<a class="headerlink" href="#resources" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h2>
<ul class="simple">
<li><p>The <a class="reference external" href="https://github.com/fish-shell/fish-shell/">GitHub page</a></p></li>
<li><p>The official <a class="reference external" href="https://matrix.to/#/#fish-shell:matrix.org">Matrix room</a></p></li>
<li><p>The official mailing list at <a class="reference external" href="https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/fish-users">fish-users@lists.sourceforge.net</a></p></li>
</ul>
<p>If you have an improvement for fish, you can submit it via the GitHub page.</p>
</section>
<section id="other-help-pages">
<h2>Other help pages<a class="headerlink" href="#other-help-pages" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h2>
<div class="toctree-wrapper compound">
<ul class="current">
<li class="toctree-l1 current"><a class="current reference internal" href="#">Introduction</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="faq.html">Frequently asked questions</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="interactive.html">Interactive use</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="language.html">The fish language</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="commands.html">Commands</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="fish_for_bash_users.html">Fish for bash users</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="tutorial.html">Tutorial</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="completions.html">Writing your own completions</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="prompt.html">Writing your own prompt</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="design.html">Design</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="relnotes.html">Release notes</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="terminal-compatibility.html">Terminal Compatibility</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="contributing.html">Contributing To Fish</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="license.html">License</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</section>
</section>
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