History

Indrajit Raychaudhuri 1ff9421f7b general: Update documentation better qualifying runcom paths Zsh and Prezto files don't always reside in `~/`. Instead, they have a more spec compliant location (`${ZDOTDIR:-$HOME}/`). Make them unambiguous in the documentation. Likewise, for `$GNUPGHOME`. Further, add instruction for optionally setting up Prezto in `$XDG_CONFIG_HOME`. While at this, also add clarification on relative ordering of some of the modules, apply more formatting tweaks and doc improvements.		4 years ago
..
README.md	general: Update documentation better qualifying runcom paths	4 years ago
zlogin	Make .zcomp* location configurable (#1842 )	5 years ago
zlogout	Remove zlogout's Apu quote (#1583 )	7 years ago
zpreztorc	general: Update documentation better qualifying runcom paths	4 years ago
zprofile	Fix typo	7 years ago
zshenv	Avoid setting TMPDIR and make sure all modules handle that properly	7 years ago
zshrc	Only one newline at end of file	10 years ago

README.md

Configuration Files

Zsh has several system-wide and user-local configuration files.

Prezto has one user-local configuration file.

System-wide configuration files are installation-dependent but are installed in /etc by default.

User-local configuration files have the same name as their global counterparts but are prefixed with a dot (hidden). Zsh looks for these files in the path stored in the $ZDOTDIR environment variable. However, if said variable is not defined, Zsh will use the user's home directory.

File Descriptions

The configuration files are read in the following order:

/etc/zshenv
${ZDOTDIR:-$HOME}/.zshenv
/etc/zprofile
${ZDOTDIR:-$HOME}/.zprofile
/etc/zshrc
${ZDOTDIR:-$HOME}/.zshrc
${ZDOTDIR:-$HOME}/.zpreztorc
/etc/zlogin
${ZDOTDIR:-$HOME}/.zlogin
${ZDOTDIR:-$HOME}/.zlogout
/etc/zlogout

zshenv

This file is sourced by all instances of Zsh, and thus, it should be kept as small as possible and should only define environment variables.

zprofile

This file is similar to zlogin, but it is sourced before zshrc. It was added for KornShell fans. See the description of zlogin below for what it may contain.

zprofile and zlogin are not meant to be used together but can be done so.

zshrc

This file is sourced by interactive shells. It should define aliases, functions, shell options, and key bindings.

zpreztorc

This file configures Prezto.

zlogin

This file is sourced by login shells after zshrc. Thus, it should contain commands that need to execute at login. It is usually used for messages such as fortune, msgs, or for the creation of files.

This is not the file to define aliases, functions, shell options, and key bindings. It should not change the shell environment.

zlogout

This file is sourced by login shells during logout. It should be used for displaying messages and for deletion of files.

Authors

The authors of these files should be contacted via the issue tracker.

Sorin Ionescu