Terminal Tips: iTerm2, oh-my-zsh and more

Apr 17, 2018 · 4 min read

My productivity heavily depends on the tool belt I use. Terminal is not an exception, and I’d like to share my configuration and tweaks.

Let’s go through all the steps I would do if I bought the new laptop and I need to configure everything from scratch.

Use iTerm2

Let’s start from replacing default Terminal.app by iTerm2, feature-packed and easily configurable solution that claimed to “do amazing things”. Can’t disagree with that.

Download iTerm2
Read the whole list of its features

Use ZSH and Oh My ZSH

When you start a terminal application, by default it is running a shell called Bash. It’s the most popular shell, but there are alternatives that make using the terminal faster and more comfortable for developers.

My choice is ZSH and ZSH framework - Oh My ZSH. It comes bundled with a lot of helpful functions, helpers and plugins that boost your productivity.

Install Oh My Zsh
Read Become A Command-Line Power User With Oh My ZSH And Z

Make Your Terminal Pretty

I tried a lot of ZSH prompt themes and finally stayed with Pure.

Install Pure
Install zsh-syntax-highlighting
Import Snazzy.itermcolors to Profiles -> Colors in iTerm2 Settings

Learn iTerm2 Tips & Tricks

Useful Hotkeys

Keys	Purpose
`Cmd + Shift + H`	Show paste history
`Cmd + /`	Find current input
`Cmd + D`	Split pane horizontally
`Cmd + Shift + D`	Split pane vertically
`Cmd + ]`	Next pane
`Cmd + [`	Previous pane
`Cmd + +`	Increase font size
`Cmd + -`	Decrease font size
`Cmd + T`	Open new tab
`Cmd + Number`	Switch to window
`Cmd + K`	Clear buffer

Open links from terminal

Hold Cmd key while clicking on the link in the terminal. It’s really useful when the output of the command is referring to some external resource.

Different working directories

By default, splitting current screen in iTerm2 gives me new split screen in default location (which is user’s home directory) not in my current location. If you want to have split screen of the current location you are working in go to Profiles → Working Directory -> Advanced Configuration.

Map keys to jump between words

If you have experienced typing very long command and you want to fix a typo in the middle, there are not that many choices but to keep pressing left arrow key until the cursor reaches where typo happens.

You can jump between words by sending some special characters in shell and iTerm2 can make it easier. You can go to: Keys → Key Mappings and add key mappings you want.

Keys	Action	Value	Purpose
`Cmd + ⬅️`	“Send Hex Code”	`0x01`	Jump to beginning of the line
`Cmd + ➡️`	“Send Hex Code”	`0x05`	Jump to end of the line
`Cmd + ⌫`	“Send Hex Code”	`0x15`	Delete current line
`Alt + ⬅️`	“Send Escape Sequence”	`b`	Jump to beginning of the word
`Alt + ➡️`	“Send Escape Sequence”	`f`	Jump to end of the word
`Alt + ⌫`	“Send Hex Code”	`0x17`	Delete word

Non-native fullscreen mode

It’s quite controversial step, but it works perfectly for me.

iTerm offers the option to disable “native full screen mode.” This makes it easy to switch back-and-forth between an editor and shell. How? Rather than opening a native full-screen app with the accompanying slow animation, iTerm instantly places a terminal over the desktop.

Add Plugins and Aliases

Add your custom aliases and plugins to ~/.zshrc. I use the following things:

# enables my favorite oh-my-zsh plugins
plugins=(git npm node extract yarn)
 
# instead of 'sudo <command>' you can use 'please <command>'
alias please=sudo
 
# show only directories
alias lsd='ls -l | grep "^d"'
# show files and directories in as a table
alias ll='ls -alF'
 
# navigation shortcuts
alias ..='cd ..'
alias ...='cd ../..'
alias ....='cd ../../..'
alias cd..='cd ..'
alias .....='cd ../../../..'
 
# git aliases and common git typos
alias g='git'
alias gti='git'
alias gi='git'
alias gco='git checkout'
alias gst='git status'
alias gcm='git commit -m'
alias gamend='git commit -a --amend'
alias gdeletemerged='git branch --merged | egrep -v "(^\*|master|dev)" | xargs git branch -d'
 
# open in browser
alias safari="open -a safari"
alias firefox="open -a firefox"
alias opera="open -a opera"
alias chrome="open -a google\ chrome"
alias canary="open -a google\ chrome\ canary"
 
# git log find by commit message
glf() { git log --all --grep="$1"; }
 
# open current folder in finder
alias f='open -a Finder'
 
# hide/show all desktop icons (useful when presenting)
alias hidedesktop='defaults write com.apple.finder CreateDesktop -bool false && killall Finder'
alias showdesktop='defaults write com.apple.finder CreateDesktop -bool true && killall Finder'

More cool CLI that I use

trash and empty-trash for deleting files
fkill for convenient killing processes
imgcat for checking images in terminal
itermocil for pre-defined window/pane configuration in iTerm2
thefuck for correcting wrong console commands
z for jumping around the most used folders
zsh-yarn-autocompletions for autocompletion of yarn commands available in your workspace