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fish shell VS Elvish

Compare fish shell VS Elvish and see what are their differences

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fish shell logo fish shell

The friendly interactive shell.

Elvish logo Elvish

Friendly and expressive Unix shell
  • fish shell Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-01-23
  • Elvish Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-12-29

fish shell features and specs

  • User-Friendly Syntax
    Fish shell features a more readable and user-friendly syntax compared to traditional shells like Bash or Zsh, making it easier for new users to learn and use.
  • Modern Features
    Fish shell includes out-of-the-box support for modern shell features such as syntax highlighting, autosuggestions, and smart command-line completions, greatly enhancing the user experience.
  • Web-Based Configuration
    Users can configure Fish shell through a web interface, making it more accessible and easier to customize compared to other shells that require manual configuration file edits.
  • Consistent Scripting
    Fish shell uses a consistent scripting language, which reduces the quirks and peculiarities often found in other shell scripting languages.

Possible disadvantages of fish shell

  • Compatibility Issues
    Fish shell is not POSIX compliant, which means scripts written in Fish will not be compatible with other POSIX-compliant shells like Bash or Zsh, potentially causing issues in environments that rely on such standards.
  • Smaller Ecosystem
    Compared to shells like Bash and Zsh, Fish has a smaller ecosystem of plugins, themes, and community support, which could limit available resources and tools.
  • Learning Curve for Experienced Users
    Experienced users of traditional shells like Bash or Zsh might find Fish's different syntax and features take some time to adapt to, potentially reducing initial productivity.
  • Limited Script Portability
    Scripts written in Fish shell are often not portable to other shell environments without significant modification, reducing their usability in multi-shell setups.

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.

Analysis of fish shell

Overall verdict

  • Fish Shell is a highly regarded shell due to its modern features, ease of use, and ability to improve productivity for both beginners and experienced users. Its emphasis on user experience and efficient workflows makes it a popular choice.

Why this product is good

  • Fish Shell is known for its user-friendly design, syntax highlighting, and autosuggestions which enhance the command-line experience. Unlike other shells, it has out-of-the-box configurations that are easy to use, reducing the need for manual setup. The inclusion of advanced tab completions, web-based configuration, and a helpful scripting language also contribute to its appeal.

Recommended for

    Fish Shell is recommended for developers and system administrators looking for an intuitive and powerful command-line shell. It is particularly suitable for users who prefer minimal configuration and appreciate features like autosuggestions and syntax highlighting straight out of the box.

fish shell videos

+ Add

this tank is not overstocked | Fish Tank Review Ep. 1

More videos:

  • Review - Can Female Bettas Live In A Bowl Together? | Fish Tank Review 36
  • Review - Ryan's First Time Catching Fish for Dinner!!!

Elvish videos

+ Add

The Elvish Tac R-hop || Gameplay and Impressions

More videos:

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

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to fish shell and Elvish)

fish shell

Elvish

Cryptocurrencies
85 85%
Cryptocurrencies
15% 15
Blockchain
80 80%
Blockchain
20% 20
Developer Tools
85 85%
Developer Tools
15% 15
Programming
100 100%
Programming
0% 0

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, fish shell seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 134 times 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.

fish shell mentions (134)

  • A short tutorial on using fish shell.
    Follow this to install. Note that this tutorial assume that you are on Linux. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • Tools for 2025
    I've probably been using fish shell [0] for close to 10 years now. When I need POSIX compliance or if I need to run a one-off bash command, I just call bash. It's exceedingly rare. Browsing through the documentation for Oils, it seems to be organized in a way that's very confusing. When you open the fish shell website it was two clear buttons for Tutorial and Documentation. [0] https://fishshell.com/. - Source: Hacker News / 4 months ago
  • TIL: Ghostty — a new and quite promising terminal emulator
    I remember that Julia Evans, whose blog I follow, mentioned a few time that she uses Fish. Also, some days ago I came across this post about Fish rewrite to Rust from C++, which sounds like a cool thing to do. However, I tried it some time ago, and while pretty neat, I wasn't convinced to switch to it completely. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • Easy development environments with Nix and Nix flakes!
    The default shell in the above flake adds Valkey, NodeJS 22, the PNPM package manager, and the fish shell to the environment. It also starts Valkey in the background through a shell hook, passing it a custom config (declared via Nix!) and runs fish so we're dropped in the fish shell instead of our login shell. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • A new shell for using modern Unix commands
    I’m testing a new shell called fish, and I’m enjoying some features that truly make it a friendly interactive shell. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
View more

Elvish mentions (0)

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

What are some alternatives?

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

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.

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.

Starship (Shell Prompt) - Starship is the minimal, blazing fast, and extremely customizable prompt for any shell! Shows the information you need, while staying sleek and minimal. Quick installation available for Bash, Fish, ZSH, Ion, and Powershell.

PowerGui - A graphical user interface and script editor for Microsoft Windows https://alternativeto.

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

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