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NAME

       zshmisc - everything and then some

SIMPLE COMMANDS & PIPELINES

       A   simple   command   is  a  sequence  of  optional  parameter  assignments  followed  by
       blank-separated words, with optional redirections  interspersed.   For  a  description  of
       assignment, see the beginning of zshparam(1).

       The  first  word  is  the  command  to  be  executed, and the remaining words, if any, are
       arguments to the command.  If a command name is given, the  parameter  assignments  modify
       the  environment of the command when it is executed.  The value of a simple command is its
       exit status, or 128 plus the signal number if terminated by a signal.  For example,

              echo foo

       is a simple command with arguments.

       A pipeline is either a simple command, or a sequence of two or more simple commands  where
       each  command  is separated from the next by `|' or `|&'.  Where commands are separated by
       `|', the standard output of the first command is connected to the standard  input  of  the
       next.   `|&'  is  shorthand  for `2>&1 |', which connects both the standard output and the
       standard error of the command to the standard input of the next.  The value of a  pipeline
       is the value of the last command, unless the pipeline is preceded by `!' in which case the
       value is the logical inverse of the value of the last command.  For example,

              echo foo | sed 's/foo/bar/'

       is a pipeline, where the output (`foo' plus a newline) of the first command will be passed
       to the input of the second.

       If  a  pipeline  is preceded by `coproc', it is executed as a coprocess; a two-way pipe is
       established between it and the parent shell.  The shell can read  from  or  write  to  the
       coprocess  by  means  of  the `>&p' and `<&p' redirection operators or with `print -p' and
       `read -p'.  A pipeline cannot be preceded by both `coproc' and `!'.   If  job  control  is
       active,  the  coprocess  can  be  treated  in  other  than input and output as an ordinary
       background job.

       A sublist is either a single pipeline, or a sequence of two or more pipelines separated by
       `&&'  or  `||'.   If  two pipelines are separated by `&&', the second pipeline is executed
       only if the first succeeds (returns a zero status).  If two  pipelines  are  separated  by
       `||',  the  second  is  executed only if the first fails (returns a nonzero status).  Both
       operators have equal precedence and are left associative.  The value of the sublist is the
       value of the last pipeline executed.  For example,

              dmesg | grep panic && print yes

       is  a  sublist consisting of two pipelines, the second just a simple command which will be
       executed if and only if the grep command returns a zero status.  If it does not, the value
       of  the sublist is that return status, else it is the status returned by the print (almost
       certainly zero).

       A list is a sequence of zero or more sublists, in which each sublist is terminated by `;',
       `&',  `&|',  `&!',  or a newline.  This terminator may optionally be omitted from the last
       sublist in the list when the list appears as a complex command inside `(...)' or  `{...}'.
       When  a  sublist  is terminated by `;' or newline, the shell waits for it to finish before
       executing the next sublist.  If a sublist is terminated by a `&', `&|', or `&!', the shell
       executes  the  last  pipeline  in it in the background, and does not wait for it to finish
       (note the difference from other shells which execute the whole sublist in the background).
       A backgrounded pipeline returns a status of zero.

       More  generally,  a  list can be seen as a set of any shell commands whatsoever, including
       the complex commands below; this is implied wherever the  word  `list'  appears  in  later
       descriptions.  For example, the commands in a shell function form a special sort of list.

PRECOMMAND MODIFIERS

       A  simple  command  may  be  preceded  by  a precommand modifier, which will alter how the
       command is interpreted.  These modifiers are shell builtin commands with the exception  of
       nocorrect which is a reserved word.

       -      The command is executed with a `-' prepended to its argv[0] string.

       builtin
              The  command word is taken to be the name of a builtin command, rather than a shell
              function or external command.

       command [ -pvV ]
              The command word is taken to be the name of an  external  command,  rather  than  a
              shell  function  or  builtin.    If the POSIX_BUILTINS option is set, builtins will
              also be executed but certain special properties of them are suppressed. The -p flag
              causes  a  default  path to be searched instead of that in $path. With the -v flag,
              command is similar to whence and with -V, it is equivalent to whence -v.

       exec [ -cl ] [ -a argv0 ]
              The following command together with any arguments is run in place  of  the  current
              process,  rather  than  as a sub-process.  The shell does not fork and is replaced.
              The shell does not invoke TRAPEXIT, nor does it source zlogout files.  The  options
              are provided for compatibility with other shells.

              The -c option clears the environment.

              The  -l option is equivalent to the - precommand modifier, to treat the replacement
              command as a login shell; the command is executed with a - prepended to its argv[0]
              string.  This flag has no effect if used together with the -a option.

              The  -a  option  is  used to specify explicitly the argv[0] string (the name of the
              command as seen by the process itself) to be used by the replacement command and is
              directly equivalent to setting a value for the ARGV0 environment variable.

       nocorrect
              Spelling  correction  is not done on any of the words.  This must appear before any
              other precommand modifier, as it is interpreted immediately, before any parsing  is
              done.  It has no effect in non-interactive shells.

       noglob Filename generation (globbing) is not performed on any of the words.

COMPLEX COMMANDS

       A complex command in zsh is one of the following:

       if list then list [ elif list then list ] ... [ else list ] fi
              The  if  list  is  executed, and if it returns a zero exit status, the then list is
              executed.  Otherwise, the elif list is executed and if its status is zero, the then
              list  is  executed.   If  each  elif  list returns nonzero status, the else list is
              executed.

       for name ... [ in word ... ] term do list done
              where term is at least one newline or ;.  Expand the list of  words,  and  set  the
              parameter  name  to each of them in turn, executing list each time.  If the in word
              is omitted, use the positional parameters instead of the words.

              More than one parameter name can appear before the list of words.  If N  names  are
              given,  then  on  each  execution  of the loop the next N words are assigned to the
              corresponding parameters.  If there  are  more  names  than  remaining  words,  the
              remaining  parameters are each set to the empty string.  Execution of the loop ends
              when there is no remaining word to assign to the first name.  It is  only  possible
              for  in to appear as the first name in the list, else it will be treated as marking
              the end of the list.

       for (( [expr1] ; [expr2] ; [expr3] )) do list done
              The arithmetic expression expr1 is evaluated first  (see  the  section  `Arithmetic
              Evaluation').   The  arithmetic  expression  expr2 is repeatedly evaluated until it
              evaluates to zero and when non-zero, list is executed and the arithmetic expression
              expr3  evaluated.  If any expression is omitted, then it behaves as if it evaluated
              to 1.

       while list do list done
              Execute the do list as long as the while list returns a zero exit status.

       until list do list done
              Execute the do list as long as until list returns a nonzero exit status.

       repeat word do list done
              word is expanded and treated as an arithmetic expression, which must evaluate to  a
              number n.  list is then executed n times.

              The  repeat syntax is disabled by default when the shell starts in a mode emulating
              another shell.  It can be enabled with the command `enable -r repeat'

       case word in [ [(] pattern [ | pattern ] ... ) list (;;|;&|;|) ] ... esac
              Execute the list associated with the first pattern that matches word, if any.   The
              form  of  the  patterns  is the same as that used for filename generation.  See the
              section `Filename Generation'.

              Note further that, unless the  SH_GLOB  option  is  set,  the  whole  pattern  with
              alternatives  is  treated  by the shell as equivalent to a group of patterns within
              parentheses, although white space may appear about the parentheses and the vertical
              bar  and will be stripped from the pattern at those points.  White space may appear
              elsewhere in the pattern; this is not stripped.  If the SH_GLOB option is  set,  so
              that  an  opening  parenthesis  can  be  unambiguously  treated as part of the case
              syntax, the expression is parsed into separate  words  and  these  are  treated  as
              strict alternatives (as in other shells).

              If  the  list  that is executed is terminated with ;& rather than ;;, the following
              list is also executed.  The rule for the terminator of the following list ;;, ;& or
              ;| is applied unless the esac is reached.

              If  the list that is executed is terminated with ;| the shell continues to scan the
              patterns looking for the next match, executing the corresponding list, and applying
              the  rule  for  the  corresponding  terminator ;;, ;& or ;|.  Note that word is not
              re-expanded; all applicable patterns are tested with the same word.

       select name [ in word ... term ] do list done
              where term is one or more newline or ; to terminate the words.  Print  the  set  of
              words,  each  preceded  by a number.  If the in word is omitted, use the positional
              parameters.  The PROMPT3 prompt is printed and a line is read from the line  editor
              if  the  shell  is interactive and that is active, or else standard input.  If this
              line consists of the number of one of the listed words, then the parameter name  is
              set to the word corresponding to this number.  If this line is empty, the selection
              list is printed again.  Otherwise, the value of the parameter name is set to  null.
              The  contents of the line read from standard input is saved in the parameter REPLY.
              list is executed for each selection until a break or end-of-file is encountered.

       ( list )
              Execute list in a subshell.  Traps set by the  trap  builtin  are  reset  to  their
              default values while executing list.

       { list }
              Execute list.

       { try-list } always { always-list }
              First  execute  try-list.   Regardless  of  errors,  or  break, continue, or return
              commands  encountered  within  try-list,  execute  always-list.    Execution   then
              continues  from the result of the execution of try-list; in other words, any error,
              or break, continue, or  return  command  is  treated  in  the  normal  way,  as  if
              always-list  were  not present.  The two chunks of code are referred to as the `try
              block' and the `always block'.

              Optional newlines or semicolons may appear after the always;  note,  however,  that
              they may not appear between the preceding closing brace and the always.

              An  `error'  in this context is a condition such as a syntax error which causes the
              shell to abort execution of the current function, script, or list.   Syntax  errors
              encountered  while the shell is parsing the code do not cause the always-list to be
              executed.  For example, an erroneously constructed if block in try-list would cause
              the shell to abort during parsing, so that always-list would not be executed, while
              an erroneous substitution such as ${*foo*} would  cause  a  run-time  error,  after
              which always-list would be executed.

              An  error  condition  can  be  tested  and  reset with the special integer variable
              TRY_BLOCK_ERROR.  Outside an  always-list  the  value  is  irrelevant,  but  it  is
              initialised  to -1.  Inside always-list, the value is 1 if an error occurred in the
              try-list, else 0.  If TRY_BLOCK_ERROR is set to 0 during the always-list, the error
              condition  caused  by the try-list is reset, and shell execution continues normally
              after the end of always-list.  Altering the value during the try-list is not useful
              (unless this forms part of an enclosing always block).

              Regardless of TRY_BLOCK_ERROR, after the end of always-list the normal shell status
              $? is the value returned from try-list.  This will be  non-zero  if  there  was  an
              error, even if TRY_BLOCK_ERROR was set to zero.

              The  following  executes the given code, ignoring any errors it causes.  This is an
              alternative to the usual convention  of  protecting  code  by  executing  it  in  a
              subshell.

                     {
                         # code which may cause an error
                       } always {
                         # This code is executed regardless of the error.
                         (( TRY_BLOCK_ERROR = 0 ))
                     }
                     # The error condition has been reset.

              An  exit command (or a return command executed at the outermost function level of a
              script) encountered in try-list  does  not  cause  the  execution  of  always-list.
              Instead, the shell exits immediately after any EXIT trap has been executed.

       function word ... [ () ] [ term ] { list }
       word ... () [ term ] { list }
       word ... () [ term ] command
              where  term  is one or more newline or ;.  Define a function which is referenced by
              any one of word.  Normally, only one word is provided; multiple words  are  usually
              only  useful for setting traps.  The body of the function is the list between the {
              and }.  See the section `Functions'.

              If the option SH_GLOB is set for compatibility with other shells,  then  whitespace
              may  appear  between  the  left  and right parentheses when there is a single word;
              otherwise, the parentheses will be treated as forming a globbing  pattern  in  that
              case.

              In  any of the forms above, a redirection may appear outside the function body, for
              example

                     func() { ... } 2>&1

              The redirection is stored with the function and applied whenever  the  function  is
              executed.   Any variables in the redirection are expanded at the point the function
              is executed, but outside the function scope.

       time [ pipeline ]
              The pipeline is executed, and timing statistics are reported on the standard  error
              in  the  form  specified  by  the TIMEFMT parameter.  If pipeline is omitted, print
              statistics about the shell process and its children.

       [[ exp ]]
              Evaluates the conditional expression exp and return a zero exit  status  if  it  is
              true.  See the section `Conditional Expressions' for a description of exp.

ALTERNATE FORMS FOR COMPLEX COMMANDS

       Many  of  zsh's  complex  commands  have  alternate forms.  These are non-standard and are
       likely not to be obvious even to seasoned shell  programmers;  they  should  not  be  used
       anywhere that portability of shell code is a concern.

       The  short  versions  below  only  work  if  sublist  is  of the form `{ list }' or if the
       SHORT_LOOPS option is set.  For the if, while and until commands, in both these cases  the
       test  part  of the loop must also be suitably delimited, such as by `[[ ... ]]' or `(( ...
       ))', else the end of the test will not be recognized.   For  the  for,  repeat,  case  and
       select  commands  no  such  special  form  for  the  arguments is necessary, but the other
       condition (the special form of sublist or use of the SHORT_LOOPS option) still applies.

       if list { list } [ elif list { list } ] ... [ else { list } ]
              An alternate form of if.  The rules mean that

                     if [[ -o ignorebraces ]] {
                       print yes
                     }

              works, but

                     if true {  # Does not work!
                       print yes
                     }

              does not, since the test is not suitably delimited.

       if list sublist
              A short form of the alternate if.  The same limitations on the form of  list  apply
              as for the previous form.

       for name ... ( word ... ) sublist
              A short form of for.

       for name ... [ in word ... ] term sublist
              where term is at least one newline or ;.  Another short form of for.

       for (( [expr1] ; [expr2] ; [expr3] )) sublist
              A short form of the arithmetic for command.

       foreach name ... ( word ... ) list end
              Another form of for.

       while list { list }
              An  alternative  form of while.  Note the limitations on the form of list mentioned
              above.

       until list { list }
              An alternative form of until.  Note the limitations on the form of  list  mentioned
              above.

       repeat word sublist
              This is a short form of repeat.

       case word { [ [(] pattern [ | pattern ] ... ) list (;;|;&|;|) ] ... }
              An alternative form of case.

       select name [ in word ... term ] sublist
              where term is at least one newline or ;.  A short form of select.

RESERVED WORDS

       The  following  words  are  recognized  as reserved words when used as the first word of a
       command unless quoted or disabled using disable -r:

       do done esac then elif else fi for case if while function repeat time until select  coproc
       nocorrect foreach end ! [[ { } declare export float integer local readonly typeset

       Additionally,  `}'  is  recognized in any position if neither the IGNORE_BRACES option nor
       the IGNORE_CLOSE_BRACES option is set.

ERRORS

       Certain errors are treated as fatal by the shell: in  an  interactive  shell,  they  cause
       control to return to the command line, and in a non-interactive shell they cause the shell
       to be aborted.  In older versions of zsh, a non-interactive shell running a  script  would
       not  abort  completely, but would resume execution at the next command to be read from the
       script, skipping the remainder of any functions or  shell  constructs  such  as  loops  or
       conditions;  this  somewhat  illogical  behaviour  can  be recovered by setting the option
       CONTINUE_ON_ERROR.

       Fatal errors found in non-interactive shells include:

       •      Failure to parse shell options passed when invoking the shell

       •      Failure to change options with the set builtin

       •      Parse errors of all sorts, including failures to parse mathematical expressions

       •      Failures to set or modify variable behaviour with typeset, local, declare,  export,
              integer, float

       •      Execution of incorrectly positioned loop control structures (continue, break)

       •      Attempts to use regular expression with no regular expression module available

       •      Disallowed operations when the RESTRICTED options is set

       •      Failure to create a pipe needed for a pipeline

       •      Failure to create a multio

       •      Failure to autoload a module needed for a declared shell feature

       •      Errors creating command or process substitutions

       •      Syntax errors in glob qualifiers

       •      File generation errors where not caught by the option BAD_PATTERN

       •      All bad patterns used for matching within case statements

       •      File generation failures where not caused by NO_MATCH or similar options

       •      All file generation errors where the pattern was used to create a multio

       •      Memory errors where detected by the shell

       •      Invalid subscripts to shell variables

       •      Attempts to assign read-only variables

       •      Logical errors with variables such as assignment to the wrong type

       •      Use of invalid variable names

       •      Errors in variable substitution syntax

       •      Failure to convert characters in $'...' expressions

       If  the  POSIX_BUILTINS  option is set, more errors associated with shell builtin commands
       are treated as fatal, as specified by the POSIX standard.

COMMENTS

       In non-interactive shells, or in interactive shells with the  INTERACTIVE_COMMENTS  option
       set, a word beginning with the third character of the histchars parameter (`#' by default)
       causes that word and all the following characters up to a newline to be ignored.

ALIASING

       Every eligible word in the shell input is checked to see if there is an alias defined  for
       it.   If  so,  it is replaced by the text of the alias if it is in command position (if it
       could be the first word of a  simple  command),  or  if  the  alias  is  global.   If  the
       replacement  text  ends  with a space, the next word in the shell input is always eligible
       for purposes of alias expansion.  An alias is defined  using  the  alias  builtin;  global
       aliases may be defined using the -g option to that builtin.

       A word is defined as:

       •      Any plain string or glob pattern

       •      Any  quoted  string, using any quoting method (note that the quotes must be part of
              the alias definition for this to be eligible)

       •      Any parameter reference or command substitution

       •      Any series of the  foregoing,  concatenated  without  whitespace  or  other  tokens
              between them

       •      Any reserved word (case, do, else, etc.)

       •      With  global  aliasing, any command separator, any redirection operator, and `(' or
              `)' when not part of a glob pattern

       It is  not  presently  possible  to  alias  the  `(('  token  that  introduces  arithmetic
       expressions,  because  until  a full statement has been parsed, it cannot be distinguished
       from two consecutive `(' tokens introducing nested subshells.

       When POSIX_ALIASES is set, only plain unquoted strings are  eligible  for  aliasing.   The
       alias builtin does not reject ineligible aliases, but they are not expanded.

       Alias  expansion  is  done  on  the  shell input before any other expansion except history
       expansion.  Therefore, if an alias is defined for the word foo,  alias  expansion  may  be
       avoided by quoting part of the word, e.g. \foo.  Any form of quoting works, although there
       is nothing to prevent an alias being defined for the quoted form such  as  \foo  as  well.
       Also,  if  a separator such as && is aliased, \&& turns into the two tokens \& and &, each
       of which may have been aliased separately.  Similarly for \<<, \>|, etc.

       For use with completion, which would remove an initial backslash followed by  a  character
       that  isn't special, it may be more convenient to quote the word by starting with a single
       quote, i.e. 'foo; completion will automatically add the trailing single quote.

       There is a commonly encountered problem with aliases illustrated by the following code:

              alias echobar='echo bar'; echobar

       This prints a message that the command echobar could not be found.  This  happens  because
       aliases  are expanded when the code is read in; the entire line is read in one go, so that
       when echobar is executed it is too late to expand the newly defined alias.  This is  often
       a  problem  in  shell  scripts,  functions,  and  code  executed  with  `source'  or  `.'.
       Consequently, use of functions rather than aliases is recommended in non-interactive code.

       Note also the unhelpful interaction of aliases and function definitions:

              alias func='noglob func'
              func() {
                  echo Do something with $*
              }

       Because aliases are expanded in function definitions, this causes the following command to
       be executed:

              noglob func() {
                  echo Do something with $*
              }

       which  defines  noglob  as  well as func as functions with the body given.  To avoid this,
       either quote the name func or use  the  alternative  function  definition  form  `function
       func'.   Ensuring  the alias is defined after the function works but is problematic if the
       code fragment might be re-executed.

QUOTING

       A character may be quoted (that is, made to stand for itself) by preceding it with a  `\'.
       `\' followed by a newline is ignored.

       A  string  enclosed between `$'' and `'' is processed the same way as the string arguments
       of the print builtin, and the resulting string is considered to  be  entirely  quoted.   A
       literal `'' character can be included in the string by using the `\'' escape.

       All characters enclosed between a pair of single quotes ('') that is not preceded by a `$'
       are quoted.  A single quote cannot appear within single quotes unless the option RC_QUOTES
       is  set,  in  which  case  a  pair  of  single quotes are turned into a single quote.  For
       example,

              print ''''

       outputs nothing apart from a newline if RC_QUOTES is not set, but one single quote  if  it
       is set.

       Inside  double  quotes  (""), parameter and command substitution occur, and `\' quotes the
       characters `\', ``', `"', and `$'.

REDIRECTION

       If a command is followed by & and job control is not active,  then  the  default  standard
       input  for  the  command  is the empty file /dev/null.  Otherwise, the environment for the
       execution of a command contains the file descriptors of the invoking shell as modified  by
       input/output specifications.

       The  following  may appear anywhere in a simple command or may precede or follow a complex
       command.  Expansion occurs before word or digit is used except as  noted  below.   If  the
       result  of  substitution  on  word produces more than one filename, redirection occurs for
       each separate filename in turn.

       < word Open file word for reading as standard input.

       <> word
              Open file word for reading and writing as standard input.  If  the  file  does  not
              exist then it is created.

       > word Open  file word for writing as standard output.  If the file does not exist then it
              is created.  If the file exists, and the CLOBBER option is unset,  this  causes  an
              error; otherwise, it is truncated to zero length.

       >| word
       >! word
              Same  as  >, except that the file is truncated to zero length if it exists, even if
              CLOBBER is unset.

       >> word
              Open file word for writing in append mode as standard output.  If the file does not
              exist,  and  the CLOBBER option is unset, this causes an error; otherwise, the file
              is created.

       >>| word
       >>! word
              Same as >>, except that the file is created if it does not exist, even  if  CLOBBER
              is unset.

       <<[-] word
              The  shell  input  is  read  up  to  a  line  that  is  the  same as word, or to an
              end-of-file.  No parameter expansion, command substitution or  filename  generation
              is  performed on word.  The resulting document, called a here-document, becomes the
              standard input.

              If any character of word is quoted with single  or  double  quotes  or  a  `\',  no
              interpretation is placed upon the characters of the document.  Otherwise, parameter
              and command substitution occurs, `\' followed by a newline is removed, and `\' must
              be used to quote the characters `\', `$', ``' and the first character of word.

              Note  that word itself does not undergo shell expansion.  Backquotes in word do not
              have their usual effect; instead they behave similarly  to  double  quotes,  except
              that  the backquotes themselves are passed through unchanged.  (This information is
              given for completeness and it is not recommended that backquotes be used.)   Quotes
              in  the  form $'...' have their standard effect of expanding backslashed references
              to special characters.

              If <<- is used, then all leading tabs are stripped from word and from the document.

       <<< word
              Perform shell expansion on word and pass the result to  standard  input.   This  is
              known  as  a  here-string.   Compare the use of word in here-documents above, where
              word does not undergo shell expansion.

       <& number
       >& number
              The standard input/output is duplicated from file descriptor number (see dup2(2)).

       <& -
       >& -   Close the standard input/output.

       <& p
       >& p   The input/output from/to the coprocess is moved to the standard input/output.

       >& word
       &> word
              (Except where `>& word' matches one of the above syntaxes; `&>' can always be  used
              to  avoid this ambiguity.)  Redirects both standard output and standard error (file
              descriptor 2) in the manner of `> word'.  Note that this does  not  have  the  same
              effect as `> word 2>&1' in the presence of multios (see the section below).

       >&| word
       >&! word
       &>| word
       &>! word
              Redirects both standard output and standard error (file descriptor 2) in the manner
              of `>| word'.

       >>& word
       &>> word
              Redirects both standard output and standard error (file descriptor 2) in the manner
              of `>> word'.

       >>&| word
       >>&! word
       &>>| word
       &>>! word
              Redirects both standard output and standard error (file descriptor 2) in the manner
              of `>>| word'.

       If one of the above is preceded by a digit, then the file descriptor referred to  is  that
       specified by the digit instead of the default 0 or 1.  The order in which redirections are
       specified is significant.  The shell evaluates each redirection  in  terms  of  the  (file
       descriptor, file) association at the time of evaluation.  For example:

              ... 1>fname 2>&1

       first  associates file descriptor 1 with file fname.  It then associates file descriptor 2
       with the file associated with file descriptor  1  (that  is,  fname).   If  the  order  of
       redirections  were  reversed,  file  descriptor  2  would  be associated with the terminal
       (assuming file descriptor 1 had been) and then file descriptor 1 would be associated  with
       file fname.

       The  `|&'  command  separator  described in Simple Commands & Pipelines in zshmisc(1) is a
       shorthand for `2>&1 |'.

       The various forms  of  process  substitution,  `<(list)',  and  `=(list)'  for  input  and
       `>(list)'  for  output, are often used together with redirection.  For example, if word in
       an output redirection is of the form `>(list)' then the output is  piped  to  the  command
       represented by list.  See Process Substitution in zshexpn(1).

OPENING FILE DESCRIPTORS USING PARAMETERS

       When  the  shell  is parsing arguments to a command, and the shell option IGNORE_BRACES is
       not set, a different form of redirection  is  allowed:  instead  of  a  digit  before  the
       operator  there is a valid shell identifier enclosed in braces.  The shell will open a new
       file descriptor that is guaranteed to be at least 10 and set the parameter  named  by  the
       identifier  to  the  file descriptor opened.  No whitespace is allowed between the closing
       brace and the redirection character.  For example:

              ... {myfd}>&1

       This opens a new file descriptor that is a duplicate of file descriptor  1  and  sets  the
       parameter  myfd  to the number of the file descriptor, which will be at least 10.  The new
       file descriptor can be written to using the syntax >&$myfd.

       The syntax {varid}>&-, for example {myfd}>&-, may be  used  to  close  a  file  descriptor
       opened  in this fashion.  Note that the parameter given by varid must previously be set to
       a file descriptor in this case.

       It is an error to open or close a file descriptor in this fashion when  the  parameter  is
       readonly.   However,  it is not an error to read or write a file descriptor using <&$param
       or >&$param if param is readonly.

       If the option CLOBBER is unset, it is an error to open a file descriptor using a parameter
       that  is  already  set  to an open file descriptor previously allocated by this mechanism.
       Unsetting the parameter before using it for allocating a file descriptor avoids the error.

       Note that this mechanism merely allocates or closes a file descriptor; it does not perform
       any  redirections  from  or to it.  It is usually convenient to allocate a file descriptor
       prior to use as an argument to exec.  The syntax does not  in  any  case  work  when  used
       around  complex commands such as parenthesised subshells or loops, where the opening brace
       is interpreted as part of a command list to be executed in the current shell.

       The following shows a  typical  sequence  of  allocation,  use,  and  closing  of  a  file
       descriptor:

              integer myfd
              exec {myfd}>~/logs/mylogfile.txt
              print This is a log message. >&$myfd
              exec {myfd}>&-

       Note  that the expansion of the variable in the expression >&$myfd occurs at the point the
       redirection is opened.  This is after the expansion of command  arguments  and  after  any
       redirections to the left on the command line have been processed.

MULTIOS

       If  the  user  tries to open a file descriptor for writing more than once, the shell opens
       the file descriptor as a pipe to a process that copies its  input  to  all  the  specified
       outputs, similar to tee, provided the MULTIOS option is set, as it is by default.  Thus:

              date >foo >bar

       writes  the  date  to  two  files, named `foo' and `bar'.  Note that a pipe is an implicit
       redirection; thus

              date >foo | cat

       writes the date to the file `foo', and also pipes it to cat.

       If the MULTIOS option is set, the word after a redirection operator is also  subjected  to
       filename generation (globbing).  Thus

              : > *

       will truncate all files in the current directory, assuming there's at least one.  (Without
       the MULTIOS option, it would create an empty file called `*'.)  Similarly, you can do

              echo exit 0 >> *.sh

       If the user tries to open a file descriptor for reading more than once,  the  shell  opens
       the  file  descriptor  as  a pipe to a process that copies all the specified inputs to its
       output in the order specified, similar to cat, provided the MULTIOS option is set.  Thus

              sort <foo <fubar

       or even

              sort <f{oo,ubar}

       is equivalent to `cat foo fubar | sort'.

       Expansion of the redirection argument occurs at the point the redirection  is  opened,  at
       the point described above for the expansion of the variable in >&$myfd.

       Note that a pipe is an implicit redirection; thus

              cat bar | sort <foo

       is equivalent to `cat bar foo | sort' (note the order of the inputs).

       If  the  MULTIOS  option  is unset, each redirection replaces the previous redirection for
       that file descriptor.  However, all files redirected to are actually opened, so

              echo Hello > bar > baz

       when MULTIOS is unset will truncate `bar', and write `Hello' into `baz'.

       There is a problem when an output multio is attached to an  external  program.   A  simple
       example shows this:

              cat file >file1 >file2
              cat file1 file2

       Here, it is possible that the second `cat' will not display the full contents of file1 and
       file2 (i.e. the original contents of file repeated twice).

       The reason for this is that the multios are spawned after the cat process is  forked  from
       the  parent  shell,  so  the  parent shell does not wait for the multios to finish writing
       data.  This means the command as shown can exit before  file1  and  file2  are  completely
       written.   As  a workaround, it is possible to run the cat process as part of a job in the
       current shell:

              { cat file } >file >file2

       Here, the {...} job will pause to wait for both files to be written.

REDIRECTIONS WITH NO COMMAND

       When a simple command consists of one or more  redirection  operators  and  zero  or  more
       parameter assignments, but no command name, zsh can behave in several ways.

       If  the parameter NULLCMD is not set or the option CSH_NULLCMD is set, an error is caused.
       This is the csh behavior and CSH_NULLCMD is set by default when emulating csh.

       If the option SH_NULLCMD is set, the builtin `:' is inserted as a command with  the  given
       redirections.  This is the default when emulating sh or ksh.

       Otherwise,  if  the parameter NULLCMD is set, its value will be used as a command with the
       given redirections.  If both NULLCMD and READNULLCMD are set, then the value of the latter
       will  be used instead of that of the former when the redirection is an input.  The default
       for NULLCMD is `cat' and for READNULLCMD is `more'. Thus

              < file

       shows the contents of file on standard output, with paging if that is a terminal.  NULLCMD
       and READNULLCMD may refer to shell functions.

COMMAND EXECUTION

       If a command name contains no slashes, the shell attempts to locate it.  If there exists a
       shell function by that  name,  the  function  is  invoked  as  described  in  the  section
       `Functions'.  If there exists a shell builtin by that name, the builtin is invoked.

       Otherwise,  the  shell  searches  each  element  of  $path  for  a directory containing an
       executable file by that name.  If the search is unsuccessful, the shell  prints  an  error
       message and returns a nonzero exit status.

       If  execution  fails  because  the file is not in executable format, and the file is not a
       directory, it is assumed to be a shell script.  /bin/sh is spawned to execute it.  If  the
       program  is  a  file  beginning  with  `#!',  the remainder of the first line specifies an
       interpreter for the  program.   The  shell  will  execute  the  specified  interpreter  on
       operating systems that do not handle this executable format in the kernel.

       If  no external command is found but a function command_not_found_handler exists the shell
       executes this function with all command line arguments.  The function should return status
       zero  if  it  successfully  handled  the command, or non-zero status if it failed.  In the
       latter case the standard handling is applied: `command not found' is printed  to  standard
       error  and  the  shell  exits  with  status  127.   Note that the handler is executed in a
       subshell forked to execute an  external  command,  hence  changes  to  directories,  shell
       parameters, etc. have no effect on the main shell.

FUNCTIONS

       Shell  functions  are  defined  with  the  function  reserved  word  or the special syntax
       `funcname ()'.  Shell functions are read  in  and  stored  internally.   Alias  names  are
       resolved  when  the  function  is  read.   Functions  are  executed like commands with the
       arguments passed as positional parameters.  (See the section `Command Execution'.)

       Functions execute in the same process as the  caller  and  share  all  files  and  present
       working directory with the caller.  A trap on EXIT set inside a function is executed after
       the function completes in the environment of the caller.

       The return builtin is used to return from function calls.

       Function identifiers can be listed with the functions builtin.  Functions can be undefined
       with the unfunction builtin.

AUTOLOADING FUNCTIONS

       A  function  can  be  marked as undefined using the autoload builtin (or `functions -u' or
       `typeset -fu').  Such a function has no body.  When the function is  first  executed,  the
       shell  searches  for  its  definition  using  the elements of the fpath variable.  Thus to
       define functions for autoloading, a typical sequence is:

              fpath=(~/myfuncs $fpath)
              autoload myfunc1 myfunc2 ...

       The usual alias expansion during reading will be suppressed if the autoload builtin or its
       equivalent  is  given the option -U. This is recommended for the use of functions supplied
       with the zsh distribution.  Note that for functions precompiled with the zcompile  builtin
       command  the  flag -U must be provided when the .zwc file is created, as the corresponding
       information is compiled into the latter.

       For each element in fpath, the shell looks for three possible files, the newest  of  which
       is used to load the definition for the function:

       element.zwc
              A  file created with the zcompile builtin command, which is expected to contain the
              definitions for all functions in the directory named element.  The file is  treated
              in  the  same  manner as a directory containing files for functions and is searched
              for the definition of the function.   If the definition is not  found,  the  search
              for a definition proceeds with the other two possibilities described below.

              If  element  already  includes  a .zwc extension (i.e. the extension was explicitly
              given by the user), element is searched for the definition of the function  without
              comparing  its  age  to that of other files; in fact, there does not need to be any
              directory named element without the suffix.  Thus  including  an  element  such  as
              `/usr/local/funcs.zwc'  in  fpath  will speed up the search for functions, with the
              disadvantage that functions included must be explicitly recompiled by  hand  before
              the shell notices any changes.

       element/function.zwc
              A  file  created  with  zcompile,  which  is expected to contain the definition for
              function.  It may include other function definitions as well, but those are neither
              loaded  nor  executed; a file found in this way is searched only for the definition
              of function.

       element/function
              A file of zsh command text, taken to be the definition for function.

       In summary, the order of searching is, first, in the parents of directories in  fpath  for
       the newer of either a compiled directory or a directory in fpath; second, if more than one
       of these contains a definition for the function that is sought, the leftmost in the  fpath
       is  chosen;  and  third, within a directory, the newer of either a compiled function or an
       ordinary function definition is used.

       If the KSH_AUTOLOAD option is set, or the file contains only a simple  definition  of  the
       function, the file's contents will be executed.  This will normally define the function in
       question, but may also perform initialization, which is executed in  the  context  of  the
       function  execution,  and  may  therefore  define local parameters.  It is an error if the
       function is not defined by loading the file.

       Otherwise, the function body (with no surrounding `funcname() {...}') is taken to  be  the
       complete  contents  of  the  file.   This  form  allows the file to be used directly as an
       executable shell script.  If  processing  of  the  file  results  in  the  function  being
       re-defined,  the  function  itself  is  not  re-executed.   To  force the shell to perform
       initialization and then call the function defined, the file should contain  initialization
       code (which will be executed then discarded) in addition to a complete function definition
       (which will be retained for subsequent calls to the function), and a  call  to  the  shell
       function, including any arguments, at the end.

       For example, suppose the autoload file func contains

              func() { print This is func; }
              print func is initialized

       then  `func; func' with KSH_AUTOLOAD set will produce both messages on the first call, but
       only the message `This is func' on the second and subsequent calls.  Without  KSH_AUTOLOAD
       set,  it  will produce the initialization message on the first call, and the other message
       on the second and subsequent calls.

       It is also possible to create a function that is not marked as autoloaded, but which loads
       its  own  definition  by  searching fpath, by using `autoload -X' within a shell function.
       For example, the following are equivalent:

              myfunc() {
                autoload -X
              }
              myfunc args...

       and

              unfunction myfunc   # if myfunc was defined
              autoload myfunc
              myfunc args...

       In fact, the functions command outputs `builtin autoload -X' as the body of an  autoloaded
       function.  This is done so that

              eval "$(functions)"

       produces  a  reasonable  result.   A  true  autoloaded  function  can be identified by the
       presence of the comment `# undefined' in the body, because all comments are discarded from
       defined functions.

       To load the definition of an autoloaded function myfunc without executing myfunc, use:

              autoload +X myfunc

ANONYMOUS FUNCTIONS

       If  no  name  is given for a function, it is `anonymous' and is handled specially.  Either
       form of function definition may be used: a `()' with no preceding name,  or  a  `function'
       with  an  immediately  following  open brace.  The function is executed immediately at the
       point of definition and is not stored for  future  use.   The  function  name  is  set  to
       `(anon)'.

       Arguments  to  the function may be specified as words following the closing brace defining
       the function, hence if there are none no arguments (other than $0) are  set.   This  is  a
       difference  from  the  way  other functions are parsed: normal function definitions may be
       followed by certain keywords such as `else' or `fi', which will be treated as arguments to
       anonymous  functions,  so  that  a  newline  or  semicolon  is  needed  to  force  keyword
       interpretation.

       Note also that the argument list of any enclosing script or function is hidden  (as  would
       be the case for any other function called at this point).

       Redirections  may  be  applied  to  the  anonymous  function  in  the  same manner as to a
       current-shell structure enclosed in braces.  The main use of  anonymous  functions  is  to
       provide a scope for local variables.  This is particularly convenient in start-up files as
       these do not provide their own local variable scope.

       For example,

              variable=outside
              function {
                local variable=inside
                print "I am $variable with arguments $*"
              } this and that
              print "I am $variable"

       outputs the following:

              I am inside with arguments this and that
              I am outside

       Note that function definitions with arguments that expand to nothing, for example  `name=;
       function  $name  {  ...  }',  are  not  treated as anonymous functions.  Instead, they are
       treated as normal function definitions where the definition is silently discarded.

SPECIAL FUNCTIONS

       Certain functions, if defined, have special meaning to the shell.

   Hook Functions
       For the functions below, it is possible to define an array that has the same name  as  the
       function with `_functions' appended.  Any element in such an array is taken as the name of
       a function to execute; it is executed in the same context and with the same  arguments  as
       the  basic  function.   For example, if $chpwd_functions is an array containing the values
       `mychpwd', `chpwd_save_dirstack',  then  the  shell  attempts  to  execute  the  functions
       `chpwd',  `mychpwd'  and `chpwd_save_dirstack', in that order.  Any function that does not
       exist is silently ignored.  A function found by this mechanism is referred to elsewhere as
       a  `hook  function'.   An error in any function causes subsequent functions not to be run.
       Note further that an error in a precmd  hook  causes  an  immediately  following  periodic
       function not to run (though it may run at the next opportunity).

       chpwd  Executed whenever the current working directory is changed.

       periodic
              If  the  parameter  PERIOD is set, this function is executed every $PERIOD seconds,
              just before a prompt.  Note that if multiple functions are defined using the  array
              periodic_functions only one period is applied to the complete set of functions, and
              the scheduled time is not reset if the list of functions is altered.  Hence the set
              of functions is always called together.

       precmd Executed  before  each  prompt.  Note that precommand functions are not re-executed
              simply because the command line  is  redrawn,  as  happens,  for  example,  when  a
              notification about an exiting job is displayed.

       preexec
              Executed  just  after  a command has been read and is about to be executed.  If the
              history mechanism is active (regardless of whether the line was discarded from  the
              history  buffer),  the  string that the user typed is passed as the first argument,
              otherwise it is an  empty  string.   The  actual  command  that  will  be  executed
              (including  expanded aliases) is passed in two different forms: the second argument
              is a single-line, size-limited version of the command (with  things  like  function
              bodies elided); the third argument contains the full text that is being executed.

       zshaddhistory
              Executed  when  a  history  line  has  been  read  interactively,  but before it is
              executed.  The sole argument is the complete history line (so that any  terminating
              newline will still be present).

              If  any of the hook functions returns status 1 (or any non-zero value other than 2,
              though this is not guaranteed for future versions of the shell)  the  history  line
              will  not  be  saved,  although  it  lingers  in the history until the next line is
              executed, allowing you to reuse or edit it immediately.

              If any of the hook functions returns status 2 the history line will be saved on the
              internal history list, but not written to the history file.  In case of a conflict,
              the first non-zero status value is taken.

              A hook function may call `fc -p ...' to switch the  history  context  so  that  the
              history  is  saved  in  a  different  file  from  the  that  in the global HISTFILE
              parameter.  This  is  handled  specially:  the  history  context  is  automatically
              restored after the processing of the history line is finished.

              The  following example function works with one of the options INC_APPEND_HISTORY or
              SHARE_HISTORY set, in order that the line is  written  out  immediately  after  the
              history  entry is added.  It first adds the history line to the normal history with
              the newline stripped, which is usually the correct behaviour.  Then it switches the
              history  context  so that the line will be written to a history file in the current
              directory.

                     zshaddhistory() {
                       print -sr -- ${1%%$'\n'}
                       fc -p .zsh_local_history
                     }

       zshexit
              Executed at the point where the main shell is about to exit normally.  This is  not
              called  by  exiting subshells, nor when the exec precommand modifier is used before
              an external command.  Also, unlike TRAPEXIT, it is not called when functions exit.

   Trap Functions
       The functions below are treated specially but do not have corresponding hook arrays.

       TRAPNAL
              If defined and non-null, this function will be executed whenever the shell  catches
              a signal SIGNAL, where NAL is a signal name as specified for the kill builtin.  The
              signal number will be passed as the first parameter to the function.

              If a function of this form is defined and null, the shell and processes spawned  by
              it will ignore SIGNAL.

              The  return  status  from  the  function  is handled specially.  If it is zero, the
              signal  is  assumed  to  have  been  handled,  and  execution  continues  normally.
              Otherwise,  the  shell  will behave as interrupted except that the return status of
              the trap is retained.

              Programs terminated by uncaught signals typically return the status  128  plus  the
              signal  number.   Hence  the  following  causes  the  handler for SIGINT to print a
              message, then mimic the usual effect of the signal.

                     TRAPINT() {
                       print "Caught SIGINT, aborting."
                       return $(( 128 + $1 ))
                     }

              The functions TRAPZERR, TRAPDEBUG and TRAPEXIT  are  never  executed  inside  other
              traps.

       TRAPDEBUG
              If  the  option DEBUG_BEFORE_CMD is set (as it is by default), executed before each
              command; otherwise executed after each command.  See the description  of  the  trap
              builtin  in  zshbuiltins(1)  for  details  of additional features provided in debug
              traps.

       TRAPEXIT
              Executed when the shell exits, or when the current function exits if defined inside
              a  function.   The  value of $? at the start of execution is the exit status of the
              shell or the return status of the function exiting.

       TRAPZERR
              Executed whenever a command has a non-zero exit status.  However, the  function  is
              not  executed  if  the command occurred in a sublist followed by `&&' or `||'; only
              the final command in a sublist of this type causes the trap to  be  executed.   The
              function  TRAPERR  acts  the  same  as TRAPZERR on systems where there is no SIGERR
              (this is the usual case).

       The functions beginning `TRAP' may alternatively be defined with the trap  builtin:   this
       may  be  preferable  for  some uses.  Setting a trap with one form removes any trap of the
       other form for the same signal; removing a trap in either form removes all traps  for  the
       same signal.  The forms

              TRAPNAL() {
               # code
              }

       ('function traps') and

              trap '
               # code
              ' NAL

       ('list traps') are equivalent in most ways, the exceptions being the following:

       •      Function  traps  have all the properties of normal functions, appearing in the list
              of functions and being called with their  own  function  context  rather  than  the
              context where the trap was triggered.

       •      The return status from function traps is special, whereas a return from a list trap
              causes the surrounding context to return with the given status.

       •      Function traps are not reset within subshells, in accordance  with  zsh  behaviour;
              list traps are reset, in accordance with POSIX behaviour.

JOBS

       If  the  MONITOR  option is set, an interactive shell associates a job with each pipeline.
       It keeps a table of current jobs, printed by the jobs  command,  and  assigns  them  small
       integer  numbers.   When a job is started asynchronously with `&', the shell prints a line
       to standard error which looks like:

              [1] 1234

       indicating that the job which was started asynchronously was job  number  1  and  had  one
       (top-level) process, whose process ID was 1234.

       If  a  job  is  started  with  `&|' or `&!', then that job is immediately disowned.  After
       startup, it does not have a place in the job table, and is not subject to the job  control
       features described here.

       If  you are running a job and wish to do something else you may hit the key ^Z (control-Z)
       which sends a TSTP signal to the current job:  this key  may  be  redefined  by  the  susp
       option  of  the external stty command.  The shell will then normally indicate that the job
       has been `suspended', and print another prompt.  You can then manipulate the state of this
       job, putting it in the background with the bg command, or run some other commands and then
       eventually bring the job back into the foreground with the foreground command  fg.   A  ^Z
       takes  effect immediately and is like an interrupt in that pending output and unread input
       are discarded when it is typed.

       A job being run in the background will suspend if it tries to read from the terminal.

       Note that if the job running in the foreground is a shell  function,  then  suspending  it
       will  have  the  effect  of  causing the shell to fork.  This is necessary to separate the
       function's state from that of the parent shell performing the job  control,  so  that  the
       latter can return to the command line prompt.  As a result, even if fg is used to continue
       the job the function will no longer be part of the parent shell, and any variables set  by
       the  function  will  not  be visible in the parent shell.  Thus the behaviour is different
       from the case where the function was never suspended.  Zsh is different  from  many  other
       shells in this regard.

       The  same  behaviour is found when the shell is executing code as the right hand side of a
       pipeline or any complex shell construct such as if, for, etc., in order  that  the  entire
       block  of  code  can  be managed as a single job.  Background jobs are normally allowed to
       produce output, but this can be disabled by giving the command `stty tostop'.  If you  set
       this  tty  option,  then background jobs will suspend when they try to produce output like
       they do when they try to read input.

       When a command is suspended and continued later with the fg or wait builtins, zsh restores
       tty  modes that were in effect when it was suspended.  This (intentionally) does not apply
       if the command is continued via `kill -CONT', nor when it is continued with bg.

       There are several ways to refer to jobs in the shell.  A job can be  referred  to  by  the
       process ID of any process of the job or by one of the following:

       %number
              The job with the given number.
       %string
              Any job whose command line begins with string.
       %?string
              Any job whose command line contains string.
       %%     Current job.
       %+     Equivalent to `%%'.
       %-     Previous job.

       The  shell  learns  immediately whenever a process changes state.  It normally informs you
       whenever a job becomes blocked so that no further progress is  possible.   If  the  NOTIFY
       option  is  not  set, it waits until just before it prints a prompt before it informs you.
       All such notifications are sent directly to the terminal, not to the  standard  output  or
       standard error.

       When  the monitor mode is on, each background job that completes triggers any trap set for
       CHLD.

       When you try to leave the shell while jobs are running or suspended, you  will  be  warned
       that  `You  have suspended (running) jobs'.  You may use the jobs command to see what they
       are.  If you do this or immediately try to exit again, the  shell  will  not  warn  you  a
       second  time;  the  suspended jobs will be terminated, and the running jobs will be sent a
       SIGHUP signal, if the HUP option is set.

       To avoid having the shell terminate the running jobs, either use the  nohup  command  (see
       nohup(1)) or the disown builtin.

SIGNALS

       The  INT and QUIT signals for an invoked command are ignored if the command is followed by
       `&' and the MONITOR option is not active.   The  shell  itself  always  ignores  the  QUIT
       signal.   Otherwise,  signals  have the values inherited by the shell from its parent (but
       see the TRAPNAL special functions in the section `Functions').

       Certain jobs are run asynchronously by the shell other than those explicitly put into  the
       background;  even  in  cases where the shell would usually wait for such jobs, an explicit
       exit command or exit due to the option ERR_EXIT will  cause  the  shell  to  exit  without
       waiting.   Examples  of  such  asynchronous jobs are process substitution, see the section
       PROCESS SUBSTITUTION in the zshexpn(1) manual page, and the handler processes for multios,
       see the section MULTIOS in the zshmisc(1) manual page.

ARITHMETIC EVALUATION

       The shell can perform integer and floating point arithmetic, either using the builtin let,
       or via a substitution of the form $((...)).  For integers, the shell is  usually  compiled
       to use 8-byte precision where this is available, otherwise precision is 4 bytes.  This can
       be tested, for example, by giving the command `print - $(( 12345678901 ))'; if the  number
       appears  unchanged,  the  precision is at least 8 bytes.  Floating point arithmetic always
       uses the `double' type with whatever corresponding precision is provided by  the  compiler
       and the library.

       The  let  builtin  command  takes  arithmetic  expressions as arguments; each is evaluated
       separately.  Since many of the arithmetic operators, as well as spaces,  require  quoting,
       an  alternative  form  is  provided:  for  any  command  which begins with a `((', all the
       characters until a matching `))'  are  treated  as  a  quoted  expression  and  arithmetic
       expansion performed as for an argument of let.  More precisely, `((...))' is equivalent to
       `let "..."'.  The return status is  0  if  the  arithmetic  value  of  the  expression  is
       non-zero, 1 if it is zero, and 2 if an error occurred.

       For example, the following statement

              (( val = 2 + 1 ))

       is equivalent to

              let "val = 2 + 1"

       both assigning the value 3 to the shell variable val and returning a zero status.

       Integers  can be in bases other than 10.  A leading `0x' or `0X' denotes hexadecimal and a
       leading `0b' or `0B' binary.  Integers may also be of the form `base#n', where base  is  a
       decimal  number  between  two  and  thirty-six representing the arithmetic base and n is a
       number in that base (for example, `16#ff' is 255 in hexadecimal).  The base# may  also  be
       omitted, in which case base 10 is used.  For backwards compatibility the form `[base]n' is
       also accepted.

       An integer expression or a base given in the form `base#n' may contain  underscores  (`_')
       after  the  leading digit for visual guidance; these are ignored in computation.  Examples
       are 1_000_000 or 0xffff_ffff which are equivalent to 1000000 and 0xffffffff respectively.

       It is also possible to specify a base to be used for output in  the  form  `[#base]',  for
       example  `[#16]'.   This  is  used  when  outputting  arithmetical  substitutions  or when
       assigning to scalar parameters, but  an  explicitly  defined  integer  or  floating  point
       parameter  will  not  be  affected.   If  an  integer variable is implicitly defined by an
       arithmetic expression, any base specified in this way will be set as the variable's output
       arithmetic  base  as  if  the  option `-i base' to the typeset builtin had been used.  The
       expression has no precedence and if it occurs more than once in a mathematical expression,
       the  last  encountered  is  used.   For  clarity  it  is recommended that it appear at the
       beginning of an expression.  As an example:

              typeset -i 16 y
              print $(( [#8] x = 32, y = 32 ))
              print $x $y

       outputs first `8#40', the rightmost value in the given output base, and then `8#40 16#20',
       because  y  has been explicitly declared to have output base 16, while x (assuming it does
       not already exist) is implicitly typed by the arithmetic evaluation, where it acquires the
       output base 8.

       The  base  may be replaced or followed by an underscore, which may itself be followed by a
       positive integer (if it is missing the value 3 is used).  This indicates that  underscores
       should  be  inserted  into the output string, grouping the number for visual clarity.  The
       following integer specifies the number of digits to group together.  For example:

              setopt cbases
              print $(( [#16_4] 65536 ** 2 ))

       outputs `0x1_0000_0000'.

       The feature can be used with floating point numbers,  in  which  case  the  base  must  be
       omitted; grouping is away from the decimal point.  For example,

              zmodload zsh/mathfunc
              print $(( [#_] sqrt(1e7) ))

       outputs `3_162.277_660_168_379_5' (the number of decimal places shown may vary).

       If the C_BASES option is set, hexadecimal numbers are output in the standard C format, for
       example `0xFF' instead of the usual `16#FF'.  If the option OCTAL_ZEROES is also  set  (it
       is  not  by  default),  octal  numbers will be treated similarly and hence appear as `077'
       instead of `8#77'.  This  option  has  no  effect  on  the  output  of  bases  other  than
       hexadecimal and octal, and these formats are always understood on input.

       When  an  output  base is specified using the `[#base]' syntax, an appropriate base prefix
       will be output if necessary, so that the value output is valid syntax for input.  If the #
       is doubled, for example `[##16]', then no base prefix is output.

       Floating point constants are recognized by the presence of a decimal point or an exponent.
       The decimal point may be the first character of the constant, but the exponent character e
       or  E  may  not,  as it will be taken for a parameter name.  All numeric parts (before and
       after the decimal point and in the exponent) may contain  underscores  after  the  leading
       digit for visual guidance; these are ignored in computation.

       An  arithmetic  expression uses nearly the same syntax and associativity of expressions as
       in C.

       In the native mode  of  operation,  the  following  operators  are  supported  (listed  in
       decreasing order of precedence):

       + - ! ~ ++ --
              unary plus/minus, logical NOT, complement, {pre,post}{in,de}crement
       << >>  bitwise shift left, right
       &      bitwise AND
       ^      bitwise XOR
       |      bitwise OR
       **     exponentiation
       * / %  multiplication, division, modulus (remainder)
       + -    addition, subtraction
       < > <= >=
              comparison
       == !=  equality and inequality
       &&     logical AND
       || ^^  logical OR, XOR
       ? :    ternary operator
       = += -= *= /= %= &= ^= |= <<= >>= &&= ||= ^^= **=
              assignment
       ,      comma operator

       The  operators  `&&',  `||',  `&&=',  and  `||=' are short-circuiting, and only one of the
       latter two expressions in a ternary operator is evaluated.  Note  the  precedence  of  the
       bitwise AND, OR, and XOR operators.

       With  the  option C_PRECEDENCES the precedences (but no other properties) of the operators
       are altered to be the same as those in most other  languages  that  support  the  relevant
       operators:

       + - ! ~ ++ --
              unary plus/minus, logical NOT, complement, {pre,post}{in,de}crement
       **     exponentiation
       * / %  multiplication, division, modulus (remainder)
       + -    addition, subtraction
       << >>  bitwise shift left, right
       < > <= >=
              comparison
       == !=  equality and inequality
       &      bitwise AND
       ^      bitwise XOR
       |      bitwise OR
       &&     logical AND
       ^^     logical XOR
       ||     logical OR
       ? :    ternary operator
       = += -= *= /= %= &= ^= |= <<= >>= &&= ||= ^^= **=
              assignment
       ,      comma operator

       Note  the  precedence  of  exponentiation  in both cases is below that of unary operators,
       hence `-3**2' evaluates as `9', not `-9'.  Use  parentheses  where  necessary:  `-(3**2)'.
       This is for compatibility with other shells.

       Mathematical  functions  can  be  called  with the syntax `func(args)', where the function
       decides if the args  is  used  as  a  string  or  a  comma-separated  list  of  arithmetic
       expressions.  The  shell  currently  defines no mathematical functions by default, but the
       module zsh/mathfunc may be loaded with the zmodload builtin to provide  standard  floating
       point mathematical functions.

       An  expression  of  the form `##x' where x is any character sequence such as `a', `^A', or
       `\M-\C-x' gives the value of this character and an expression of the  form  `#name'  gives
       the  value of the first character of the contents of the parameter name.  Character values
       are according to the character set used in the current  locale;  for  multibyte  character
       handling  the  option  MULTIBYTE  must  be  set.   Note  that  this form is different from
       `$#name', a standard parameter substitution which gives the length of the parameter  name.
       `#\' is accepted instead of `##', but its use is deprecated.

       Named  parameters  and  subscripted  arrays can be referenced by name within an arithmetic
       expression without using the parameter expansion syntax.  For example,

              ((val2 = val1 * 2))

       assigns twice the value of $val1 to the parameter named val2.

       An internal integer representation of a named parameter can be specified with the  integer
       builtin.   Arithmetic  evaluation  is performed on the value of each assignment to a named
       parameter declared integer in this manner.   Assigning  a  floating  point  number  to  an
       integer results in rounding down to the next integer.

       Likewise,  floating  point  numbers  can be declared with the float builtin; there are two
       types, differing only in their output format, as described for the typeset  builtin.   The
       output  format  can  be bypassed by using arithmetic substitution instead of the parameter
       substitution, i.e. `${float}' uses the defined format, but  `$((float))'  uses  a  generic
       floating point format.

       Promotion  of integer to floating point values is performed where necessary.  In addition,
       if any operator which requires an integer (`~', `&', `|', `^', `%', `<<', `>>'  and  their
       equivalents  with  assignment)  is  given  a  floating point argument, it will be silently
       rounded down to the next integer.

       Users should beware that, in common with many other programming languages but not software
       designed for calculation, the evaluation of an expression in zsh is taken a term at a time
       and promotion of integers to floating point  does  not  occur  in  terms  only  containing
       integers.   A  typical result of this is that a division such as 6/8 is truncated, in this
       being rounded down to 0.  The FORCE_FLOAT shell option can be used in scripts or functions
       where floating point evaluation is required throughout.

       Scalar variables can hold integer or floating point values at different times; there is no
       memory of the numeric type in this case.

       If a variable is first assigned in a numeric context without previously being declared, it
       will be implicitly typed as integer or float and retain that type either until the type is
       explicitly changed or until the end of the scope.  This can have unforeseen  consequences.
       For example, in the loop

              for (( f = 0; f < 1; f += 0.1 )); do
              # use $f
              done

       if f has not already been declared, the first assignment will cause it to be created as an
       integer, and consequently the operation `f += 0.1' will always  cause  the  result  to  be
       truncated  to  zero,  so  that  the  loop  will  fail.   A simple fix would be to turn the
       initialization into `f = 0.0'.  It is therefore best to  declare  numeric  variables  with
       explicit types.

CONDITIONAL EXPRESSIONS

       A  conditional expression is used with the [[ compound command to test attributes of files
       and to compare strings.  Each expression can be  constructed  from  one  or  more  of  the
       following unary or binary expressions:

       -a file
              true if file exists.

       -b file
              true if file exists and is a block special file.

       -c file
              true if file exists and is a character special file.

       -d file
              true if file exists and is a directory.

       -e file
              true if file exists.

       -f file
              true if file exists and is a regular file.

       -g file
              true if file exists and has its setgid bit set.

       -h file
              true if file exists and is a symbolic link.

       -k file
              true if file exists and has its sticky bit set.

       -n string
              true if length of string is non-zero.

       -o option
              true if option named option is on.  option may be a single character, in which case
              it is a single letter option name.  (See the section `Specifying Options'.)

       -p file
              true if file exists and is a FIFO special file (named pipe).

       -r file
              true if file exists and is readable by current process.

       -s file
              true if file exists and has size greater than zero.

       -t fd  true if file descriptor number fd is open and associated with  a  terminal  device.
              (note: fd is not optional)

       -u file
              true if file exists and has its setuid bit set.

       -w file
              true if file exists and is writable by current process.

       -x file
              true  if file exists and is executable by current process.  If file exists and is a
              directory, then the current process has permission to search in the directory.

       -z string
              true if length of string is zero.

       -L file
              true if file exists and is a symbolic link.

       -O file
              true if file exists and is owned by the effective user ID of this process.

       -G file
              true if file exists and its group matches the effective group ID of this process.

       -S file
              true if file exists and is a socket.

       -N file
              true if file exists and its access time is not newer than its modification time.

       file1 -nt file2
              true if file1 exists and is newer than file2.

       file1 -ot file2
              true if file1 exists and is older than file2.

       file1 -ef file2
              true if file1 and file2 exist and refer to the same file.

       string = pattern
       string == pattern
              true if string matches pattern.  The `==' form is the preferred one.  The `='  form
              is for backward compatibility and should be considered obsolete.

       string != pattern
              true if string does not match pattern.

       string =~ regexp
              true  if string matches the regular expression regexp.  If the option RE_MATCH_PCRE
              is set regexp is tested as a PCRE regular expression  using  the  zsh/pcre  module,
              else  it  is  tested  as  a  POSIX  extended regular expression using the zsh/regex
              module.  Upon successful match, some variables will be updated;  no  variables  are
              changed if the matching fails.

              If  the  option  BASH_REMATCH  is  not set the scalar parameter MATCH is set to the
              substring that matched the pattern and the integer parameters MBEGIN  and  MEND  to
              the  index of the start and end, respectively, of the match in string, such that if
              string is contained in  variable  var  the  expression  `${var[$MBEGIN,$MEND]}'  is
              identical  to  `$MATCH'.   The  setting  of  the  option  KSH_ARRAYS  is respected.
              Likewise, the array match is set  to  the  substrings  that  matched  parenthesised
              subexpressions  and  the arrays mbegin and mend to the indices of the start and end
              positions, respectively, of the substrings within string.  The arrays are  not  set
              if  there  were  no  parenthesised  subexpresssions.  For example, if the string `a
              short string' is matched against the regular expression `s(...)t',  then  (assuming
              the  option  KSH_ARRAYS  is  not  set) MATCH, MBEGIN and MEND are `short', 3 and 7,
              respectively, while match, mbegin and mend are single entry arrays  containing  the
              strings `hor', `4' and `6', respectively.

              If  the  option  BASH_REMATCH is set the array BASH_REMATCH is set to the substring
              that matched the pattern followed by  the  substrings  that  matched  parenthesised
              subexpressions within the pattern.

       string1 < string2
              true if string1 comes before string2 based on ASCII value of their characters.

       string1 > string2
              true if string1 comes after string2 based on ASCII value of their characters.

       exp1 -eq exp2
              true  if  exp1  is  numerically  equal  to  exp2.   Note  that  for  purely numeric
              comparisons use of  the  ((...))  builtin  described  in  the  section  `ARITHMETIC
              EVALUATION' is more convenient than conditional expressions.

       exp1 -ne exp2
              true if exp1 is numerically not equal to exp2.

       exp1 -lt exp2
              true if exp1 is numerically less than exp2.

       exp1 -gt exp2
              true if exp1 is numerically greater than exp2.

       exp1 -le exp2
              true if exp1 is numerically less than or equal to exp2.

       exp1 -ge exp2
              true if exp1 is numerically greater than or equal to exp2.

       ( exp )
              true if exp is true.

       ! exp  true if exp is false.

       exp1 && exp2
              true if exp1 and exp2 are both true.

       exp1 || exp2
              true if either exp1 or exp2 is true.

       For  compatibility,  if  there is a single argument that is not syntactically significant,
       typically a variable, the condition is treated  as  a  test  for  whether  the  expression
       expands  as  a string of non-zero length.  In other words, [[ $var ]] is the same as [[ -n
       $var ]].  It is recommended that the second, explicit, form be used where possible.

       Normal shell expansion is performed on the file, string and  pattern  arguments,  but  the
       result  of  each  expansion  is  constrained to be a single word, similar to the effect of
       double quotes.

       Filename generation is not performed on any form of argument to conditions.   However,  it
       can  be  forced  in  any  case  where  normal shell expansion is valid and when the option
       EXTENDED_GLOB is in effect by using an explicit glob qualifier of the form (#q) at the end
       of  the  string.   A  normal  glob qualifier expression may appear between the `q' and the
       closing parenthesis; if none appears the expression has no effect beyond causing  filename
       generation.  The results of filename generation are joined together to form a single word,
       as with the results of other forms of expansion.

       This special use of filename generation is only available with  the  [[  syntax.   If  the
       condition  occurs  within  the  [ or test builtin commands then globbing occurs instead as
       part of normal command line expansion before the condition is evaluated.  In this case  it
       may generate multiple words which are likely to confuse the syntax of the test command.

       For example,

              [[ -n file*(#qN) ]]

       produces  status  zero  if and only if there is at least one file in the current directory
       beginning with the string `file'.  The globbing qualifier N ensures that the expression is
       empty if there is no matching file.

       Pattern  metacharacters are active for the pattern arguments; the patterns are the same as
       those used for filename generation, see zshexpn(1), but there is no special  behaviour  of
       `/' nor initial dots, and no glob qualifiers are allowed.

       In  each  of  the  above  expressions,  if  file is of the form `/dev/fd/n', where n is an
       integer, then the test applied to the open file whose descriptor number is n, even if  the
       underlying system does not support the /dev/fd directory.

       In the forms which do numeric comparison, the expressions exp undergo arithmetic expansion
       as if they were enclosed in $((...)).

       For example, the following:

              [[ ( -f foo || -f bar ) && $report = y* ]] && print File exists.

       tests if either file foo or file bar exists, and if so, if  the  value  of  the  parameter
       report  begins  with `y'; if the complete condition is true, the message `File exists.' is
       printed.

EXPANSION OF PROMPT SEQUENCES

       Prompt sequences undergo a special form of expansion.  This  type  of  expansion  is  also
       available using the -P option to the print builtin.

       If  the  PROMPT_SUBST  option  is  set,  the prompt string is first subjected to parameter
       expansion, command substitution and arithmetic expansion.  See zshexpn(1).

       Certain escape sequences may be recognised in the prompt string.

       If the PROMPT_BANG option is set, a `!' in the prompt is replaced by the  current  history
       event number.  A literal `!' may then be represented as `!!'.

       If  the  PROMPT_PERCENT  option  is  set, certain escape sequences that start with `%' are
       expanded.  Many escapes are followed by a single character, although some of these take an
       optional integer argument that should appear between the `%' and the next character of the
       sequence.   More  complicated  escape  sequences  are  available  to  provide  conditional
       expansion.

SIMPLE PROMPT ESCAPES

   Special characters
       %%     A `%'.

       %)     A `)'.

   Login information
       %l     The  line  (tty)  the  user  is  logged in on, without `/dev/' prefix.  If the name
              starts with `/dev/tty', that prefix is stripped.

       %M     The full machine hostname.

       %m     The hostname up to the first `.'.  An integer may follow the  `%'  to  specify  how
              many  components  of  the  hostname are desired.  With a negative integer, trailing
              components of the hostname are shown.

       %n     $USERNAME.

       %y     The line (tty) the user is logged in on, without `/dev/'  prefix.   This  does  not
              treat `/dev/tty' names specially.

   Shell state
       %#     A  `#'  if  the  shell  is  running  with  privileges, a `%' if not.  Equivalent to
              `%(!.#.%%)'.  The definition of `privileged', for these purposes,  is  that  either
              the  effective user ID is zero, or, if POSIX.1e capabilities are supported, that at
              least one capability is raised in either the Effective  or  Inheritable  capability
              vectors.

       %?     The return status of the last command executed just before the prompt.

       %_     The status of the parser, i.e. the shell constructs (like `if' and `for') that have
              been started on the command line. If given an integer number that many strings will
              be  printed; zero or negative or no integer means print as many as there are.  This
              is most useful in prompts PS2 for continuation lines and PS4 for debugging with the
              XTRACE option; in the latter case it will also work non-interactively.

       %^     The  status of the parser in reverse. This is the same as `%_' other than the order
              of strings.  It is often used in RPS2.

       %d
       %/     Current working directory.  If an integer follows the `%', it specifies a number of
              trailing  components of the current working directory to show; zero means the whole
              path.  A negative integer specifies leading components,  i.e.  %-1d  specifies  the
              first component.

       %~     As  %d and %/, but if the current working directory starts with $HOME, that part is
              replaced by a `~'. Furthermore, if it has a named directory  as  its  prefix,  that
              part  is  replaced  by a `~' followed by the name of the directory, but only if the
              result is shorter than the full path; see Dynamic and Static named  directories  in
              zshexpn(1).

       %e     Evaluation  depth  of  the  current sourced file, shell function, or eval.  This is
              incremented or decremented every time the value of %N  is  set  or  reverted  to  a
              previous value, respectively.  This is most useful for debugging as part of $PS4.

       %h
       %!     Current history event number.

       %i     The  line  number  currently  being  executed in the script, sourced file, or shell
              function given by %N.  This is most useful for debugging as part of $PS4.

       %I     The line number currently being executed in the file %x.  This is  similar  to  %i,
              but the line number is always a line number in the file where the code was defined,
              even if the code is a shell function.

       %j     The number of jobs.

       %L     The current value of $SHLVL.

       %N     The name of the script, sourced file, or  shell  function  that  zsh  is  currently
              executing,  whichever  was  started  most  recently.   If  there  is  none, this is
              equivalent to the parameter $0.  An integer may follow the `%' to specify a  number
              of  trailing path components to show; zero means the full path.  A negative integer
              specifies leading components.

       %x     The name of the file containing the source code  currently  being  executed.   This
              behaves  as  %N  except that function and eval command names are not shown, instead
              the file where they were defined.

       %c
       %.
       %C     Trailing component of the current working directory.  An integer may follow the `%'
              to  get  more  than  one  component.   Unless  `%C'  is  used, tilde contraction is
              performed first.  These are deprecated as %c and %C are equivalent to %1~ and  %1/,
              respectively,  while  explicit  positive  integers  have the same effect as for the
              latter two sequences.

   Date and time
       %D     The date in yy-mm-dd format.

       %T     Current time of day, in 24-hour format.

       %t
       %@     Current time of day, in 12-hour, am/pm format.

       %*     Current time of day in 24-hour format, with seconds.

       %w     The date in day-dd format.

       %W     The date in mm/dd/yy format.

       %D{string}
              string is formatted using the strftime function.  See strftime(3) for more details.
              Various  zsh extensions provide numbers with no leading zero or space if the number
              is a single digit:

              %f     a day of the month
              %K     the hour of the day on the 24-hour clock
              %L     the hour of the day on the 12-hour clock

              In addition, if the system supports the POSIX gettimeofday system call, %. provides
              decimal  fractions  of  a  second  since the epoch with leading zeroes.  By default
              three decimal places are provided, but a number of digits up  to  6  may  be  given
              following the %; hence %6.  outputs microseconds.  A typical example of this is the
              format `%D{%H:%M:%S.%.}'.

              The GNU extension that a `-' between the  %  and  the  format  character  causes  a
              leading  zero  or  space  to  be  stripped is handled directly by the shell for the
              format characters d, f, H, k, l, m, M, S and y; any  other  format  characters  are
              provided  to the system's strftime(3) with any leading `-' present, so the handling
              is system dependent.   Further  GNU  (or  other)  extensions  are  also  passed  to
              strftime(3) and may work if the system supports them.

   Visual effects
       %B (%b)
              Start (stop) boldface mode.

       %E     Clear to end of line.

       %U (%u)
              Start (stop) underline mode.

       %S (%s)
              Start (stop) standout mode.

       %F (%f)
              Start  (stop)  using  a  different foreground colour, if supported by the terminal.
              The colour may be specified two ways: either as a numeric argument, as  normal,  or
              by  a sequence in braces following the %F, for example %F{red}.  In the latter case
              the values allowed are  as  described  for  the  fg  zle_highlight  attribute;  see
              Character  Highlighting  in zshzle(1).  This means that numeric colours are allowed
              in the second format also.

       %K (%k)
              Start (stop) using a different bacKground colour.  The syntax is identical to  that
              for %F and %f.

       %{...%}
              Include a string as a literal escape sequence.  The string within the braces should
              not change the cursor position.  Brace pairs can nest.

              A positive numeric argument between the % and the { is treated as described for  %G
              below.

       %G     Within  a  %{...%}  sequence,  include  a  `glitch':  that is, assume that a single
              character width will be output.  This is useful  when  outputting  characters  that
              otherwise cannot be correctly handled by the shell, such as the alternate character
              set on some terminals.  The characters in question can be included within a %{...%}
              sequence  together  with  the  appropriate  number  of %G sequences to indicate the
              correct width.  An integer between the `%' and  `G'  indicates  a  character  width
              other  than one.  Hence %{seq%2G%} outputs seq and assumes it takes up the width of
              two standard characters.

              Multiple uses of %G accumulate in the obvious fashion; the position of  the  %G  is
              unimportant.  Negative integers are not handled.

              Note that when prompt truncation is in use it is advisable to divide up output into
              single characters within each %{...%} group so that the  correct  truncation  point
              can be found.

CONDITIONAL SUBSTRINGS IN PROMPTS

       %v     The  value  of  the  first element of the psvar array parameter.  Following the `%'
              with an integer gives that element of the array.  Negative integers count from  the
              end of the array.

       %(x.true-text.false-text)
              Specifies  a  ternary  expression.  The character following the x is arbitrary; the
              same character is used to separate the text for the `true' result from that for the
              `false'  result.  This separator may not appear in the true-text, except as part of
              a %-escape sequence.  A `)' may appear in the false-text as  `%)'.   true-text  and
              false-text  may both contain arbitrarily-nested escape sequences, including further
              ternary expressions.

              The left parenthesis may be preceded or followed by a  positive  integer  n,  which
              defaults  to  zero.   A  negative integer will be multiplied by -1, except as noted
              below for `l'.  The test character x may be any of the following:

              !      True if the shell is running with privileges.
              #      True if the effective uid of the current process is n.
              ?      True if the exit status of the last command was n.
              _      True if at least n shell constructs were started.
              C
              /      True if the current absolute path has at least n elements  relative  to  the
                     root directory, hence / is counted as 0 elements.
              c
              .
              ~      True  if  the current path, with prefix replacement, has at least n elements
                     relative to the root directory, hence / is counted as 0 elements.
              D      True if the month is equal to n (January = 0).
              d      True if the day of the month is equal to n.
              e      True if the evaluation depth is at least n.
              g      True if the effective gid of the current process is n.
              j      True if the number of jobs is at least n.
              L      True if the SHLVL parameter is at least n.
              l      True if at least n characters have already been printed on the current line.
                     When  n  is  negative,  true if at least abs(n) characters remain before the
                     opposite margin (thus the left margin for RPROMPT).
              S      True if the SECONDS parameter is at least n.
              T      True if the time in hours is equal to n.
              t      True if the time in minutes is equal to n.
              v      True if the array psvar has at least n elements.
              V      True if element n of the array psvar is set and non-empty.
              w      True if the day of the week is equal to n (Sunday = 0).

       %<string<
       %>string>
       %[xstring]
              Specifies truncation behaviour for the remainder of the prompt string.  The  third,
              deprecated,  form  is  equivalent  to  `%xstringx',  i.e. x may be `<' or `>'.  The
              string will be displayed in place of the truncated portion of any string; note this
              does not undergo prompt expansion.

              The numeric argument, which in the third form may appear immediately after the `[',
              specifies the maximum permitted length of the various strings that can be displayed
              in  the  prompt.  In the first two forms, this numeric argument may be negative, in
              which case the truncation length is determined by subtracting the absolute value of
              the  numeric  argument  from  the  number  of  character positions remaining on the
              current prompt line.  If this results in a zero or negative length, a length  of  1
              is  used.   In  other  words, a negative argument arranges that after truncation at
              least n characters remain before the right margin (left margin for RPROMPT).

              The forms with `<' truncate at the left of the  string,  and  the  forms  with  `>'
              truncate  at  the  right  of  the string.  For example, if the current directory is
              `/home/pike', the prompt `%8<..<%/' will expand to `..e/pike'.  In this string, the
              terminating character (`<', `>' or `]'), or in fact any character, may be quoted by
              a preceding `\'; note when using print -P, however, that this must  be  doubled  as
              the  string  is  also  subject  to  standard  print  processing, in addition to any
              backslashes removed by a double quoted string:  the worst case is therefore  `print
              -P "%<\\\\<<..."'.

              If  the  string  is  longer than the specified truncation length, it will appear in
              full, completely replacing the truncated string.

              The part of the prompt string to be truncated runs to the end of the string, or  to
              the  end  of  the  next  enclosing  group  of  the  `%('  construct, or to the next
              truncation encountered at the same grouping level (i.e. truncations inside  a  `%('
              are  separate),  which ever comes first.  In particular, a truncation with argument
              zero (e.g., `%<<') marks the end of the range of the string to be  truncated  while
              turning  off  truncation  from there on. For example, the prompt `%10<...<%~%<<%# '
              will print a truncated representation of the current directory, followed by  a  `%'
              or  `#',  followed  by  a  space.  Without the `%<<', those two characters would be
              included in the string to be truncated.  Note that `%-0<<'  is  not  equivalent  to
              `%<<' but specifies that the prompt is truncated at the right margin.

              Truncation  applies only within each individual line of the prompt, as delimited by
              embedded newlines (if any).  If the total length of any line of  the  prompt  after
              truncation  is  greater  than  the  terminal  width, or if the part to be truncated
              contains embedded newlines, truncation behavior is undefined and may  change  in  a
              future  version of the shell.  Use `%-n(l.true-text.false-text)' to remove parts of
              the prompt when the available space is less than n.