Commands
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These are the legacy v4 docs. For other versions, use the links in the header dropdown.
zsh-abbr has commands to add, rename, and erase abbreviations; to add abbreviations for every alias or Git alias; to list the available abbreviations with or without their expansions; and to create aliases from abbreviations.
abbr with no arguments is shorthand for abbr list. abbr ... with arguments is shorthand for abbr add ....
add
abbr [(add | -a)] [<SCOPE>] [<TYPE>] [--dry-run] [(--quiet | --quieter)] [--force] ABBREVIATION=EXPANSION
Add a new abbreviation.
To add a session abbreviation, use the --session or -S scope flag. Otherwise, or if the --user or -U scope flag is used, the new abbreviation will be available to all sessions.
To add a global abbreviation, use the --global flag. Otherwise, the new abbreviation will be a command abbreviation.
% abbr add gcm='git checkout main'
% gcm[Space] # expands as git checkout main
% gcm[Enter] # expands and accepts git checkout main
add is the default command, and does not need to be explicit:
% abbr gco='git checkout'
% gco[Space] # expands as git checkout
% gco[Enter] # expands and accepts git checkout
The ABBREVIATION must be only one word long.
As with aliases, to include whitespace, quotation marks, or other special characters like ;, |, or & in the EXPANSION, quote the EXPANSION or \-escape the characters as necessary.
abbr a=b\;c # allowed
abbr a="b|c" # allowed
User-scope abbreviations can also be manually to the user abbreviations file. See Storage below.
The session regular, session global, user regular, and user global abbreviation sets are independent. If you wanted, you could have more than one abbreviation with the same ABBREVIATION. Order of precedence is "session command > user command > session global > user global".
Use --dry-run to see what would result, without making any actual changes.
Will error rather than overwrite an existing abbreviation.
Will warn if the abbreviation would replace an existing command. To add in spite of the warning, use --force. To silence the warning, use --quieter.
clear-session
abbr (clear-session | c)
Erase all session abbreviations.
erase
abbr (erase | e) [<SCOPE>] [<TYPE>] [--dry-run] [--quiet] ABBREVIATION
Erase an abbreviation.
Use the --session or -S scope flag to erase a session abbreviation. Otherwise, or if the --user or -U scope flag is used, a cross-session abbreviation will be erased.
Use the --global flag to erase a session abbreviation. Otherwise, a cross-session abbreviation will be erased.
% abbr gcm="git checkout main"
% gcm[Enter] # expands and accepts git checkout main
Switched to branch 'main'
% abbr -e gcm;[Enter] # or abbr -e gcm[Ctrl-Space][Enter]
% gcm[Space|Enter] # normal
User abbreviations can also be manually erased from the ABBR_USER_ABBREVIATIONS_FILE. See Storage below.
expand
abbr (expand | x) ABBREVIATION
Output the ABBREVIATION's EXPANSION.
% abbr gc="git checkout"
% abbr -x gc; # or `abbr -x gc[Ctrl-Space][Enter]`
git checkout
export-aliases
abbr export-aliases [<SCOPE>] [<TYPE>]
Export abbreviations as alias commands. Regular abbreviations follow global abbreviations. Session abbreviations follow user abbreviations.
Use the --session or -S scope flag to export only session abbreviations. Use the --user or -U scope flag to export only user abbreviations.
Use the --global or -g type flag to export only global abbreviations. Use the --regular or -r type flag to export only regular abbreviations.
Combine a scope flag and a type flag to further limit the output.
% abbr gcm="git checkout main"
% abbr -S g=git
% abbr export-aliases
alias gcm='git checkout main'
% abbr export-aliases --session
alias g='git'
help
abbr (help | --help)
Show the manpage.
import-aliases
abbr import-aliases [<type>] [--dry-run] [--quiet]
Add regular abbreviations for every regular alias in the session, and global abbreviations for every global alias in the session.
% cat ~/.zshrc
# --snip--
alias -S d='bin/deploy'
# --snip--
% abbr import-aliases
% d[Space] # expands to bin/deploy
Note that zsh-abbr does not lint the imported abbreviations. An effort is made to correctly wrap the expansion in single or double quotes, but it is possible that importing will add an abbreviation with a quotation mark problem in the expansion. It is up to the user to double-check the result before taking further actions.
Use --dry-run to see what would result, without making any actual changes.
import-fish
abbr import-fish [<SCOPE>] FILE [--dry-run] [--quiet]
Import fish abbr-syntax abbreviations (abbreviation expansion as compared to zsh abbr's abbreviation=expansion).
In fish:
abbr -s > file/to/save/fish/abbreviations/to
Then in zsh:
abbr import-fish file/to/save/fish/abbreviations/to
# file is no longer needed, so feel free to
# rm file/to/save/fish/abbreviations/to
Note that zsh-abbr does not lint the imported abbreviations. An effort is made to correctly wrap the expansion in single or double quotes, but it is possible that importing will add an abbreviation with a quotation mark problem in the expansion. It is up to the user to double-check the result before taking further actions.
Use --dry-run to see what would result, without making any actual changes.
import-git-aliases
abbr [--dry-run] [--quiet] import-git-aliases [--file <config-file>]
Add two abbreviations for every Git alias available in the current session: a global abbreviation where the WORD is prefixed with g, and a command abbreviation. For both the EXPANSION is prefixed with git[Space].
Use --file <config-file> to use a config file instead of the one specified by GIT_CONFIG (see man git-config).
Use the --session or -S scope flag to create session abbreviations. Otherwise, or if the --user or -U scope flag is used, the Git abbreviations will be user.
% git config alias.co checkout
# session
% abbr import-git-aliases -S
% gco[Space] # git checkout
% echo gco[Space] # echo git checkout
% co[Space] # git checkout
% echo co[Space] # echo co
% source ~/.zshrc
% gco[Space] # gco
# user
% abbr import-git-aliases
% gco[Space] # git checkout
% source ~/.zshrc
% gco[Space] # git checkout
Note for users migrating from Oh-My-Zsh: OMZ's Git aliases are shell aliases, not aliases in the Git config. To add abbreviations for them, use import-aliases.
Note that zsh-abbr does not lint the imported abbreviations. It is up to the user to double-check the result before taking further actions.
Use --dry-run to see what would result, without making any actual changes.
list
abbr [list] [<SCOPE>] [<TYPE>]
List the abbreviations with their expansions, like zsh's alias. Regular abbreviations follow global abbreviations. Session abbreviations follow user abbreviations.
% abbr a=apple
% abbr -g b=ball
% abbr -S c=cat
% abbr -S -g d=dog
% abbr list
a="apple"
b="ball"
c="cat"
d="dog"
% source ~/.zshrc
% abbr list
a="apple"
b="ball"
list is the default when no additional arguments are passed; it does not need to be made explicit:
% abbr a=apple
% abbr
a="apple"
list-abbreviations
abbr (list-abbreviations | l) [<SCOPE>] [<TYPE>]
List the abbreviations only, like fish's abbr -l. Regular abbreviations follow global abbreviations. Session abbreviations follow user abbreviations.
% abbr a=apple
% abbr -g b=ball
% abbr -S c=cat
% abbr -S -g d=dog
% abbr list-abbreviations
a
b
c
d
% source ~/.zshrc
% abbr list-abbreviations
a
b
list-commands
abbr (list-commands | L) [<SCOPE>] [<TYPE>]
List as commands suitable for export, like zsh's alias -L. Regular abbreviations follow global abbreviations. Session abbreviations follow user abbreviations.
% abbr a=apple
% abbr -g b=ball
% abbr -S c=cat
% abbr -S -g d=dog
% abbr list-abbreviations
abbr a="apple"
abbr -g b="ball"
abbr -S c="cat"
abbr -S -g d="dog"
% source ~/.zshrc
% abbr list-abbreviations
abbr a="apple"
abbr -g b="ball"
profile
abbr profile
Log profile information for debugging.
rename
abbr (rename | R) [<SCOPE>] [<TYPE>] [--dry-run] [(--quiet | --quieter)] OLD NEW
Rename an abbreviation.
Use the --session or -S scope flag to rename a session abbreviation. Otherwise, or if the --user or -U scope flag is used, a cross-session abbreviation will be renamed.
Use the --global flag to rename a global abbreviation. Otherwise, a command abbreviation will be renamed.
Rename is scope- and type-specific. If you get a "no matching abbreviation" error, make sure you added the right flags (list abbreviations if you are not sure).
% abbr add gcm git checkout main
% gcm[Space] # expands to git checkout main
% gm[Space] # no expansion
% abbr rename gcm[Ctrl-Space] gm
% gcm[Space] # no expansion
% gm[Space] # expands to git checkout main
Use --dry-run to see what would result, without making any actual changes.
Abbreviations can also be manually renamed in the ABBR_USER_ABBREVIATIONS_FILE. See Storage below.
Conflicts will error or warn. See add for details.
version
abbr (version | --version | -v)
Show the current version.