Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Elvish VS zsh

Compare Elvish VS zsh and see what are their differences

Elvish logo Elvish

Friendly and expressive Unix shell

zsh logo zsh

The Z shell (Zsh) is a Unix shell that can be used as an interactive login shell and as a powerful command interpreter for shell scripting.
  • Elvish Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-12-29
  • zsh Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-04-09

Elvish features and specs

  • User-Friendly Syntax
    Elvish features a syntax that is both expressive and easy to read, making it approachable for newcomers and experienced users alike.
  • Interactive and Scripted Use
    It supports both interactive use as a shell and scripting, allowing users to leverage its power in various environments.
  • Rich Interactive Features
    Elvish offers features like a powerful, customizable prompt, auto-suggestions, and command history, enhancing the interactive shell experience.
  • Extensible and Composable
    Users can extend the shell's functionality with custom scripts and modules, promoting a highly composable workflow.
  • Cross-Platform Compatibility
    Designed to run on multiple operating systems, Elvish provides a consistent experience across platforms.

Possible disadvantages of Elvish

  • Limited Ecosystem
    Compared to more established shells, Elvish has a smaller ecosystem of plugins and extensions, which may limit its functionality for some users.
  • Learning Curve
    While its syntax is user-friendly, transitioning from more traditional shells may require an adjustment period for habitual users.
  • Performance Overhead
    Due to its advanced features, Elvish may have a higher performance overhead compared to simpler shells, impacting speed in some use cases.
  • Less Mature Compared to Alternatives
    As a relatively new shell, Elvish may not be as stable or feature-complete as longer-established shells like Bash or Zsh.

zsh features and specs

  • Powerful Scripting
    zsh offers advanced scripting capabilities, including features like associative arrays, floating-point arithmetic, and powerful loops and conditionals, making it ideal for complex scripting tasks.
  • Customizability
    zsh provides extensive customization options. Users can personalize prompts, key bindings, and much more using various modules and plugins, such as oh-my-zsh.
  • Plugin Ecosystem
    The support for plugins in zsh, especially through frameworks like oh-my-zsh, allows users to easily add functionalities and enhance the shell experience, offering a rich ecosystem of community-contributed plugins.
  • Auto-suggestions and Command Correction
    zsh features intelligent auto-suggestions and command correction capabilities, which can drastically improve efficiency and reduce errors while typing commands.
  • Compatibility with Bash
    zsh is largely compatible with bash, meaning most bash scripts and commands will run without modification, facilitating a smoother transition for users migrating from bash.

Possible disadvantages of zsh

  • Learning Curve
    Due to its extensive features and customizability, zsh can be overwhelming for new users, requiring time to learn and configure effectively.
  • Initial Configuration
    Setting up zsh for the first time can be more complex compared to simpler shells like bash, especially when including frameworks like oh-my-zsh, which can require additional configuration.
  • Performance Overhead
    Loading many plugins and customizations can introduce a performance hit, making zsh slower to start compared to more lightweight shells.
  • Resource Consumption
    zsh, particularly with extensive customizations and plugins, can consume more system resources (memory and CPU) than simpler shells like bash.
  • Inconsistent Behavior with Legacy Scripts
    While zsh is largely compatible with bash, certain edge cases and legacy scripts might exhibit inconsistent behavior, potentially necessitating script rewrites or adjustments.

Elvish videos

The Elvish Tac R-hop || Gameplay and Impressions

More videos:

  • Review - Elvish Yadav Roasting famehouse
  • Review - Kaldheim Commander Golgari CMDR Deck | Elvish Empire

zsh videos

Working with Linux - Terminal, Zsh & Oh My Zsh

More videos:

  • Review - ZSH | A Better Shell
  • Review - You Really Don't Need Oh My Zsh And Here's Why (Rant)

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Elvish and zsh)
Cryptocurrencies
29 29%
71% 71
Blockchain
32 32%
68% 68
Developer Tools
33 33%
67% 67
Cryptocurrency Wallets
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, zsh seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 1 time since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Elvish mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of Elvish yet. Tracking of Elvish recommendations started around Mar 2021.

zsh mentions (1)

  • My developer workflow using WSL, tmux and Neovim
    Ubuntu by default comes with the bash shell. Bash is great but I personally find it harder to customize. That is why I use Z shell, more commonly known as zsh. To manage my zsh configuration, I use Oh My Zsh. It has a huge community and makes it trivial to install and use plugins. - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Elvish and zsh, you can also consider the following products

fish shell - The friendly interactive shell.

GNU Bourne Again SHell - Bash is the shell, or command language interpreter, that will appear in the GNU operating system.

PowerShell Plus - Learn how to learn and master PowerShell fast with an interactive learning center, a powerful IDE, pre-loaded scripts, and a PowerShell Editor… all for free.

DASH - DASH is a secure, blockchain-based global financial network which offers private transactions.

CentminMod - Centmin Mod is a LEMP stack shell menu based auto installer.

PowerShell Studio - PowerShell Studio is the easiest GUI designer and script generator available.