Zsh Shell Tutorial for Beginners | Introduction to Zsh on mac (Lesson 01)

Zsh Shell Tutorial for Beginners | Introduction to Zsh on macOS

Zsh is the default shell on macOS since Catalina, providing powerful features like auto-completion and customization. In this lesson, you'll learn what a shell is, how to open the Terminal app, understand the Zsh prompt, run basic commands, and get help using man pages and whatis.

Code

# Display your username
whoami

# Show current date and time
date

# Display this month's calendar
cal

# Print text to the screen
echo "Hello, Zsh!"

# Check which shell you are using
echo $SHELL

# Get detailed help about the 'ls' command
man ls

# Get a one-line description of a command
whatis ls

Key Points

• A shell is a command interpreter that translates your text commands into actions on the computer.
• The Terminal is the application window where the shell runs; Zsh is the default shell on macOS Catalina and later.
• The Zsh prompt typically shows your username, hostname, current directory (home as ~), and a prompt symbol (%).
• Basic commands include whoami, date, cal, and echo for displaying information.
• Use man to read detailed manuals and whatis for quick command descriptions to get help.