public/cheatsheets/zsh/zsh-cheatsheet.md

Zsh Cheatsheet

Reference for the new ZDOTDIR-based zsh setup (oh-my-zsh removed, config lives in ~/.config/zsh/).

Aliases

Docker Compose

Alias	Expands to	What it does
dcu	docker compose up -d	Start containers in detached mode
dcd	docker compose down	Stop and remove containers
dcr	docker compose restart	Restart containers
dcp	docker compose pull	Pull latest images

Navigation

Alias	Expands to	What it does
..	cd ..	Up one directory
...	cd ../..	Up two directories
....	cd ../../..	Up three directories

File listing

Alias	Expands to	What it does
ls	eza -lahF --group-directories-first --time-style="+%d/%m/%Y %H:%M" --git (falls back to plain ls -lahF ... if eza isn't installed)	Long listing, all files, classify symbols (/, *, @), directories first, custom date format, git status column
tree	eza --tree (only if eza is installed)	Tree view of directory structure
cat	bat (only if bat is installed)	Syntax-highlighted file viewer

System

Alias	Expands to	What it does
df	df -h	Disk usage, human-readable sizes
free	free -h	Memory usage, human-readable sizes
c	clear	Clear the terminal

Functions

Function	Usage	What it does
cd (overridden)	cd <dir>	Changes directory, then automatically runs ls (so you always see the contents of where you land). cd with no argument goes to $HOME.
mkcd	mkcd <dir>	Creates a directory and cds into it in one step
extract	extract <file>	Extracts an archive based on its extension. Supports .tar.gz/.tgz, .tar.bz2, .tar.xz, .zip, .gz
ports	ports	Shows listening ports and the processes using them (sudo ss -tulpen)
psg	psg <name>	Searches running processes by name (case-insensitive `ps aux
killport	killport <port>	Kills whatever process is listening on the given port
logtail	logtail <file> [lines]	Tails a log file (-f), default 50 lines, or specify a custom number
reload	reload	Reloads the zsh config (source $ZDOTDIR/.zshrc) without restarting the shell

Keybindings

Key	Action	Notes
Ctrl + →	Move cursor forward one word
Ctrl + ←	Move cursor backward one word
Ctrl + \	Toggle autosuggestions on/off	Echoes "Autosuggestions: on/off" so you know the current state
↑ (Up arrow)	Search history backward by prefix	Type a few characters first, then press Up to find matching previous commands
↓ (Down arrow)	Search history forward by prefix	Same as above, opposite direction

Line editing (built-in zsh defaults)

These come from zsh's default "emacs" editing mode (the standard unless something switches it to vi mode — this setup doesn't). Most of these work in any emacs-style shell (bash, zsh) and are worth building into muscle memory since they work everywhere.

Cursor movement

Key	Action
← / →	Move cursor one character left/right
Ctrl + ← / Ctrl + →	Move cursor one word left/right (custom binding in this setup)
Ctrl + A	Jump to the start of the line
Ctrl + E	Jump to the end of the line
Alt + B	Move backward one word (alternative to Ctrl+←)
Alt + F	Move forward one word (alternative to Ctrl+→)

Deleting / cutting text

Key	Action
Backspace	Delete the character before the cursor
Ctrl + D / Delete	Delete the character under/after the cursor (Ctrl+D on an empty line exits the shell — careful)
Ctrl + W	Delete the word before the cursor (cuts to kill-ring)
Alt + D	Delete the word after the cursor (cuts to kill-ring)
Alt + Backspace	Same as Ctrl+W — delete word before cursor
Ctrl + U	Delete everything before the cursor (whole line back to start)
Ctrl + K	Delete everything after the cursor (to end of line)

Pasting (yanking) deleted text

zsh doesn't have "select text" like a GUI — instead, anything you cut with Ctrl+W, Alt+D, Ctrl+U, or Ctrl+K goes into a clipboard-like buffer (the "kill ring"), which you can paste back with:

Key	Action
Ctrl + Y	Paste ("yank") the last cut text at the cursor

Practical example: to move a word from the end of a command to the start — put cursor at end of word, Alt + Backspace to cut it, Ctrl + A to jump to the start of the line, Ctrl + Y to paste it there.

Undo / retype

Key	Action
Ctrl + _ (Ctrl + Shift + -)	Undo the last edit
Ctrl + L	Clear the screen (same as the c alias, but doesn't lose scrollback the same way)

Transposing / fixing typos

Key	Action
Ctrl + T	Swap the two characters around the cursor (fixes a typo like hte → the) — note: this is overridden by fzf's Ctrl+T in this setup if fzf is installed
Alt + T	Swap the two words around the cursor

Case changes

Key	Action
Alt + U	Uppercase the word from the cursor onward
Alt + L	Lowercase the word from the cursor onward
Alt + C	Capitalize the word from the cursor onward

Re-running / editing previous commands

Key	Action
!!	Re-run the last command (e.g. sudo !! re-runs the last command with sudo)
!$	The last argument of the previous command (e.g. cat !$ opens whatever file you last referenced)
Ctrl + R (no fzf)	Reverse incremental search through history (built-in, before fzf takes over — see fzf section below for the upgraded version)
fc	Opens the last command in $EDITOR (nano) for editing, then runs it

Fuzzy search (fzf)

Only active if fzf is installed.

Key	Action	Notes
Ctrl + R	Fuzzy search command history	Type to filter, select a command, it's inserted at the cursor. This overrides the built-in reverse search mentioned above
Ctrl + F	Fuzzy file search (includes hidden files, excludes .git)	Selected file path is inserted at the cursor. Uses fd if installed, otherwise falls back to find
Ctrl + T	Fuzzy file search (fzf's built-in, non-hidden files)	Only active if fzf's own shell integration is found on the system; uses fd for speed if installed. This overrides the built-in character-transpose shortcut mentioned above

Plugins (auto-loaded on shell startup)

These are cloned automatically into $ZDOTDIR/plugins/ the first time you start a shell after the role runs — no manual setup needed.

Plugin	What it does
zsh-autosuggestions	Shows a greyed-out suggestion as you type, based on history. Press → (right arrow) or End to accept it
fast-syntax-highlighting	Colors commands as you type — valid commands, paths, strings, etc. get different colors so you can spot typos before pressing Enter

Environment / history

• History file: ~/.local/state/zsh/history
• History size: 10,000 commands
• History behavior: shared across sessions, duplicates ignored, commands starting with a space aren't recorded (HIST_IGNORE_SPACE)
• Default editor: nano ($EDITOR / $VISUAL)
• Config location: $ZDOTDIR = ~/.config/zsh/
• Per-host extra env vars (e.g. VAULT_ADDR) are set via zsh_extra_env in Ansible host_vars, appended to env.zsh

Startup

fastfetch runs automatically every time a new shell opens, showing system info (OS, kernel, uptime, packages, etc.) above the prompt.