🔤 Zsh Native Scripting Handbook

Information

@ is about keeping array form

How do access all array elements in a shell? The standard answer: use @ subscript, i.e. ${array[@]}. However, this is the Bash & Ksh way (and with the option KSH_ARRAYS, Zsh also works this way, i.e. needs @ to access the whole array). Z shell is different: it is a $array that refers to all elements anyway. There is no need for the @ subscript.

So what use has @ in the Zsh-world? It is: "keep array form" or "do not join". When is it activated? When the user quotes the array, i.e. invokes "$array", he induces joining of all array elements (into a single string). @ is to have elements still quoted (so empty elements are preserved), but not joined.

Two forms are available, "$array[@]" and "${(@)array}". The first form has an additional effect – when an option KSH_ARRAYS is set, it indeed induces referencing to the whole array instead of a first element only. It should then use braces, i.e. ${array[@]}, "${array[@]}" (KSH_ARRAYS requirement).

In practice, if you'll use @ as a subscript – [@], not as a flag – ${(@)...}, then you'll make the code KSH_ARRAYS-compatible.

extended_glob

Glob-flags #b and #m require setopt extended_glob. Patterns utilizing ~ and ^ also require it. Extended-glob is one of the main features of Zsh.

Constructs

Reading a file

typeset -a lines
lines=( "${(@f)"$(<path/file)"}" )

This preserves empty lines because of double-quoting (the outside one). @-flag is used to obtain an array instead of a scalar. If you don't want empty lines preserved, you can also skip @-splitting, as is explained in the Information section:

typeset -a lines
lines=( ${(f)"$(<path/file)"} )

Note: $(<...) construct strips trailing empty lines.

Reading from stdin

This topic is governed by the same principles as the previous paragraph (Reading a file), with the single difference that instead of the substitution "$(<file-path)" the substitution that should be used is "$(command arg1 ...)", i.e.:

typeset -a lines
lines=( ${(f)"$(command arg1 ...)"} )

This will read the command's output into the array lines. The version that does @ splitting and retains any empty lines are:

typeset -a lines
lines=( "${(f@)$(command arg1 ...)}" )

Note that instead of four double-quotes ", an idiom that is justified (simply suggested) by the Zsh documentation (and was used in the previous paragraph, in the snippet ... "${(@f)"$(<path/file)"}" ...), only two double-quotes are being used. I've investigated this form with the main Zsh developers on the zsh-workers@zsh.org mailing list and it was clearly stated that single, outside quoting of ${(f@)...} substitution works as if it was also separately applied to $(command ...) (or to $(<file-path)) inner substitution, so the second double-quoting isn't needed.

Skipping dirname basename

dirname and basename can be skipped by:

local dirname="${PWD:h}"
local basename="${PWD:t}"

Read more: zsh: 14 Expansion.

Resolve Symlinks

Symbolic links can be turned into an absolute path with:

local absolute_path="${PWD:A}"

Skipping grep

typeset -a lines; lines=( "${(@f)"$(<path/file)"}" )
typeset -a grepped; grepped=( ${(M)lines:#*query*} )

To have the grep -v effect, skip the M-flag. To grep case-insensitively, use the \#i glob flag (...:#(#i)\*query*}).

As it can be seen, ${...:#...} substitution is filtering of the array, which by default filters-out elements ((M) flag induces the opposite behavior). When used with a string, not an array, it behaves similarly: returns an empty string when {input_string_var:#pattern} matches the whole input string.

Side-note: (M) flag can be used also with ${(M)var#pattern} and other substitutions, to retain what's matched by the pattern instead of removing that.

Multi-line matching like with grep

Suppose you have a Subversion repository and want to check if it contains files not under version control. You could do this in Bash style like follows:

local svn_status="$(svn status)"
if [[ -n "$(echo "$svn_status" | \grep \^\?)" ]]; then
    echo found
fi

Those are 3 forks: for svn status, for echo, and for grep. This can be solved by the :# substitution and the (M) flag described above in this section (just check if the number of matched lines is greater than 0). However, there's a more direct approach:

local svn_status="$(svn status)" nl=$'\n'
if [[ "$svn_status" = *((#s)|$nl)\?* ]]; then
  echo found
fi

This requires extended_glob. The (#s) means: "start of the string". So ((#s)|$nl) means "start of the string OR preceded by a new-line".

If the extended_glob option cannot be used for some reason, this can be achieved also without it, but essentially it means that the alternative (i.e. |) of two versions of the pattern will have to be matched:

setopt local_options no_extended_glob
local svn_status="$(svn status)" nl=$'\n'
if [[ "$svn_status" = (\?*|*$nl\?*) ]]; then
  echo found
fi

In general, multi-line matching falls into the following idiom (extended glob version):

local needle="?" required_preceding='[[:space:]]#'
[[ "$(svn status)" = *((#s)|$nl)${~required_preceding}${needle}* ]] && echo found

It does a single fork (called svn status). The ${~variable} means (the~ init): "the variable is holding a pattern, interpret it". All in all, instead of regular expressions we were using patterns (globs) (see this section).

Pattern matching in AND-fashion

[[ "abc xyz efg" = *abc*~^*efg* ]] && print Match found

The ~ is a negation -- match \*abc* but not .... Then, ^ is also a negation. The effect is: \*ABC* but not those that don't have \*efg* which equals to: \*ABC* but those that have also \*efg*. This is a regular pattern and it can be used with :# above to search arrays, or with the R-subscript flag to search hashes (${hsh[\(R)\*pattern*]}), etc. The inventor of those patterns is Mikael Magnusson.

Skipping tr

typeset -A map; map=( a 1 b 2 );
text=( "ab" "ba" )
text=( ${text[@]//(#m)?/${map[$MATCH]}} )
print $text → 12 21

#m flag enables the $MATCH parameter. At each // substitution, $map is queried for character-replacement. You can substitute a text variable too, just skip [@] and parentheses in the assignment.

Ternary expressions with +,-,:+,:- substitutions

HELP="yes"; print ${${HELP:+help enabled}:-help disabled} → help enabled
HELP=""; print ${${HELP:+help enabled}:-help disabled} → help disabled

Ternary expression is known from the C language but exists also in Zsh, but directly only in a math context, i.e. \(( a = a > 0 ? b : c )). The flexibility of Zsh allows such expressions also in a normal context. Above is an example. :+ is "if not empty, substitute …" :- is "if empty, substitute …". You can save a great number of lines of code with those substitutions, it's normally at least 4-lines if condition or lengthy &&/|| use.

Ternary expressions with :# substitution

var=abc; print ${${${(M)var:#abc}:+is abc}:-not abc} → is abc
var=abcd; print ${${${(M)var:#abc}:+is abc}:-not abc} → not abc

A one-line "if var = x, then …, else …". Again, can spare a great amount of boring code that makes a 10-line function a 20-line one.

Using built-in regular expressions engine

[[ "aabbb" = (#b)(a##)*(b(#c2,2)) ]] && print ${match[1]}-${match[2]} → aa-bb

\## is: "1 or more". (#c2,2) is: "exactly 2". A few other constructs: # is "0 or more", ? is "any character", (a|b|) is "a or b or empty match". #b enables the $match parameters. There's also #m but it has one parameter $MATCH for whole matched text, not for any parenthesis.

Zsh patterns are a custom regular expressions engine. They are slightly faster than the zsh/regex module (used for the =~ operator) and don't have that dependency (regex module can be not present, e.g. in the default static build of Zsh). Also, they can be used in substitutions, for example in the // substitution.

Skipping uniq

typeset -aU array; array=( a a b ); print $array → a b
typeset -a array; array=( a a b ); print ${(u)array} → a b

Enable the -U flag for the array so that it guards elements to be unique, or use the u-flag to make unique elements of an array.

Skipping awk

typeset -a list; list=( "a,b,c,1,e" "p,q,r,2,t" );
print "${list[@]/(#b)([^,]##,)(#c3,3)([^,]##)*/${match[2]}}" → 1 2

The pattern specifies 3 blocks of [^,]##, so 3 "not-comma multiple times, then comma", then the single block of "not-comma multiple times" in second parentheses -- and then replaces this with second parentheses. The result is the 4th column extracted from multiple lines of text, something awk is often used for. Another method is the use of the s-flag. For a single line of text:

text="a,b,c,1,e"; print ${${(s:,:)text}[4]} → 1

Thanks to in-substitution code-execution capabilities it's possible to use the s-flag to apply it to multiple lines:

typeset -a list; list=( "a,b,c,1,e" "p,q,r,2,t" );
print "${list[@]/(#m)*/${${(s:,:)MATCH}[4]}}" → 1 2

There is a problem with the (s::) flag that can be solved if Zsh is version 5.4 or higher: if there will be single input column, e.g. list=( "column1" "a,b") instead of two or more columns (i.e. list=( "column1,column2" "a,b" )), then (s::) will return string instead of 1-element array. So the index [4] in the above snippet will index a string, and show its 4th letter. Starting with Zsh 5.4, thanks to a patch by Bart Schaefer (40640: the (A) parameter flag forces array result even if...), it is possible to force array-kind of result even for a single column, by adding (A) flag, i.e.:

typeset -a list; list=( "a,b,c,1,e" "p,q,r,2,t" "column1" );
print "${list[@]/(#m)*/${${(As:,:)MATCH}[4]}}" → 1 2
print "${list[@]/(#m)*/${${(s:,:)MATCH}[4]}}" → 1 2 u

Side-note: (A) flag is often used together with the ::= assignment-substitution and (P) flag, to assign arrays and hashes by name.

Searching arrays

typeset -a array; array=( a b " c1" d ); print ${array[(r)[[:space:]][[:alpha:]]*]} → c1

\[[:space:]] contains unicode spaces. This is often used in conditional expression like [[ -z ${array[(r)...]} ]].

Note that Skipping grep that uses :# substitution can also be used to search arrays.

Code execution in // substitution

append() { gathered+=( $array[$1] ); }
functions -M append 1 1 append
typeset -a array; array=( "Value 1" "Other data" "Value 2" )
typeset -a gathered; integer idx=0
: ${array[@]/(#b)(Value ([[:digit:]]##)|*)/$(( ${#match[2]} > 0 ? append(++idx) : ++idx ))}
print $gathered → Value 1 Value 2

Use of the #b glob flag enables math-code execution (and not only) in / and // substitutions. Implementation is very fast.

Serializing data

typeset -A hsh deserialized; hsh=( key value )
serialized="${(j: :)${(qkv@)hsh}}"
deserialized=( "${(Q@)${(z@)serialized}}" )
print ${(kv)deserialized} → key value

j-flag means join -- by spaces, in this case. Flags kv mean keys and values, interleaving. Important q-flag means: quote. So what is obtained is each key and value quoted, and put into a string separated by spaces.

z-flag means: split as if Zsh parser would split. So quoting (with backslashes, double quoting, and others) is recognized. Obtained is array ( "key" "value") which is then de-quoted with Q-flag. This yields original data, assigned to the hash deserialized. Use this to e.g. implement an array of hashes.

Note: to be compatible with setopt ksharrays, use [@] instead of (@), e.g.: ...( "${(Q)${(z)serialized[@]}[@]}" )

Tip: serializing with Bash

array=( key1 key2 )
printf -v serialized "%q " "${array[@]}"
eval "deserialized=($serialized)"

This method works also with Zsh. The drawback is the use of eval, however, no problem may occur unless someone compromises the variable's value, but as always, eval should be avoided if possible.

Real-world examples

Testing for Git subcommand

Following code checks, if there is a git subcommand $mysub:

if git help -a | grep "^  [a-z]" | tr ' ' '\n' | grep -x $mysub > /dev/null > /dev/null; then

Those are 4 forks. The code can be replaced according to this guide:

local -a lines_list
lines_list=( ${(f)"$(git help -a)"} )
lines_list=( ${(M)${(s: :)${(M)lines_list:#   [a-z]*}}:#$mysub} )
if (( ${#lines_list} > 0 )); then
  …
fi

The result is just 1 fork.

Counting unquoted-only apostrophes

A project was needing this to do some Zle line-continuation tricks (when you put a backslash-\ at the end of the line and press enters – it is the line continuation that occurs at that moment).

The required functionality is: in the given string, count the number of apostrophes, but only the unquoted ones. This means that only apostrophes with null or an even number of preceding backslashes should be accepted into the count:

buf="word'continue\'after\\\'afterSecnd\\''afterPair"
integer count=0
: ${buf//(#b)((#s)|[^\\])([\\][\\])#(\'\'#)/$(( count += ${#match[3]} ))}
echo $count → 3

The answer (i.e. the output) to the above presentation and example is: 3 (there are 3 unquoted apostrophes in total in the string kept in the variable $buf).

Below follows a variation of the above snippet that doesn't use math-code execution:

buf="word'continue\'after\\\'afterSecnd\\''afterPair"
buf="${(S)buf//(#b)*((#s)|[^\\])([\\][\\])#(\'\'#)*/${match[3]}}"; buf=${buf%%[^\']##}
integer count=${#buf}
echo $count → 3

This is possible thanks to (S) flag – non-greedy matching, ([\\][\\])# trick – it matches only unquoted following (\'\'##) characters (which are the apostrophes) and a general strategy to replace anything-apostrope(s) (unquoted ones) with the-apostrope(s) (and then count them with ${#buf}).

Tips and Tricks

Parsing INI file

With Zshell extended_glob parsing an ini file is an easy task. It will not result in a nested-arrays data structure (Zsh doesn't support nested hashes), but the hash keys are intuitive such as $DB_CONF[db1_<connection>_host].

The code should be placed in a file named read-ini-file, in $fpath, and autoload read-ini-file should be invoked.

# $1 - path to the ini file to parse
# $2 - the name of the output hash
# $3 - prefix for keys in the hash
#
# Writes to given hash under keys built-in following way: ${3}<section>_field.
# Values are values from the ini file. Example invocation:
#
# read-ini-file ./database1-setup.ini DB_CONF db1_
# read-ini-file ./database2-setup.ini DB_CONF db2_
#

setopt local_options extended_glob

local __ini_file="$1" __out_hash="$2" __key_prefix="$3"
local IFS='' __line __cur_section="void" __access_string
local -a match mbegin mend

[[ ! -r "$__ini_file" ]] && { builtin print -r "read-ini-file: an ini file is unreadable ($__ini_file)"; return 1; }

while read -r -t 1 __line; do
  if [[ "$__line" = [[:blank:]]#\;* ]]; then
    continue
  # Match "[Section]" line
  elif [[ "$__line" = (#b)[[:blank:]]#\[([^\]]##)\][[:blank:]]# ]]; then
    __cur_section="${match[1]}"
  # Match "string = string" line
  elif [[ "$__line" = (#b)[[:blank:]]#([^[:blank:]=]##)[[:blank:]]#[=][[:blank:]]#(*) ]]; then
    match[2]="${match[2]%"${match[2]##*[! $'\t']}"}" # severe trick - remove trailing whitespace
    __access_string="${__out_hash}[${__key_prefix}<$__cur_section>_${match[1]}]"
    : "${(P)__access_string::=${match[2]}}"
  fi
done < "$__ini_file"

return 0