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ZSHALL(1)                   General Commands Manual                  ZSHALL(1)

NAME
       zshall - the Z shell meta-man page

OVERVIEW
       Because  zsh contains many features, the zsh manual has been split into
       a number of sections.  This manual page includes all the separate  man-
       ual pages in the following order:

       zsh          Zsh overview
       zshroadmap   Informal introduction to the manual
       zshmisc      Anything not fitting into the other sections
       zshexpn      Zsh command and parameter expansion
       zshparam     Zsh parameters
       zshoptions   Zsh options
       zshbuiltins  Zsh built-in functions
       zshzle       Zsh command line editing
       zshcompwid   Zsh completion widgets
       zshcompsys   Zsh completion system
       zshcompctl   Zsh completion control
       zshmodules   Zsh loadable modules
       zshcalsys    Zsh built-in calendar functions
       zshtcpsys    Zsh built-in TCP functions
       zshzftpsys   Zsh built-in FTP client
       zshcontrib   Additional zsh functions and utilities

DESCRIPTION
       Zsh  is a UNIX command interpreter (shell) usable as an interactive lo-
       gin shell and as a shell script command  processor.   Of  the  standard
       shells,  zsh most closely resembles ksh but includes many enhancements.
       It does not provide compatibility with POSIX or other shells in its de-
       fault operating mode:  see the section Compatibility below.

       Zsh has command line editing, builtin spelling correction, programmable
       command completion, shell functions (with autoloading), a history mech-
       anism, and a host of other features.

AUTHOR
       Zsh  was  originally  written by Paul Falstad <pf@zsh.org>.  Zsh is now
       maintained by the members of the zsh-workers  mailing  list  <zsh-work-
       ers@zsh.org>.   The  development  is  currently  coordinated  by  Peter
       Stephenson <pws@zsh.org>.  The coordinator can be contacted at <coordi-
       nator@zsh.org>, but matters relating to the code should generally go to
       the mailing list.

AVAILABILITY
       Zsh is available from the following HTTP and anonymous FTP site.

       ftp://ftp.zsh.org/pub/
       https://www.zsh.org/pub/
       )

       The up-to-date source code is available via Git from Sourceforge.   See
       https://sourceforge.net/projects/zsh/  for  details.   A summary of in-
       structions for the archive can be found at http://zsh.sourceforge.net/.

MAILING LISTS
       Zsh has 3 mailing lists:

       <zsh-announce@zsh.org>
              Announcements about releases, major changes in the shell and the
              monthly posting of the Zsh FAQ.  (moderated)

       <zsh-users@zsh.org>
              User discussions.

       <zsh-workers@zsh.org>
              Hacking, development, bug reports and patches.

       To subscribe or unsubscribe, send mail to the associated administrative
       address for the mailing list.

       <zsh-announce-subscribe@zsh.org>
       <zsh-users-subscribe@zsh.org>
       <zsh-workers-subscribe@zsh.org>
       <zsh-announce-unsubscribe@zsh.org>
       <zsh-users-unsubscribe@zsh.org>
       <zsh-workers-unsubscribe@zsh.org>

       YOU ONLY NEED TO JOIN ONE OF THE MAILING LISTS AS THEY ARE NESTED.  All
       submissions  to  zsh-announce are automatically forwarded to zsh-users.
       All submissions to zsh-users are automatically forwarded  to  zsh-work-
       ers.

       If  you  have  problems subscribing/unsubscribing to any of the mailing
       lists, send mail to <listmaster@zsh.org>.  The mailing lists are  main-
       tained by Karsten Thygesen <karthy@kom.auc.dk>.

       The  mailing  lists  are archived; the archives can be accessed via the
       administrative addresses listed above.  There is also a  hypertext  ar-
       chive,   maintained   by   Geoff   Wing   <gcw@zsh.org>,  available  at
       https://www.zsh.org/mla/.

THE ZSH FAQ
       Zsh has a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), maintained by Peter
       Stephenson  <pws@zsh.org>.   It  is  regularly  posted to the newsgroup
       comp.unix.shell and the zsh-announce mailing list.  The latest  version
       can    be    found   at   any   of   the   Zsh   FTP   sites,   or   at
       http://www.zsh.org/FAQ/.  The contact address for  FAQ-related  matters
       is <faqmaster@zsh.org>.

THE ZSH WEB PAGE
       Zsh  has  a web page which is located at https://www.zsh.org/.  This is
       maintained by Karsten Thygesen <karthy@zsh.org>,  of  SunSITE  Denmark.
       The contact address for web-related matters is <webmaster@zsh.org>.

THE ZSH USERGUIDE
       A  userguide is currently in preparation.  It is intended to complement
       the manual, with explanations and hints on issues where the manual  can
       be cabbalistic, hierographic, or downright mystifying (for example, the
       word `hierographic' does not exist).  It can be viewed in  its  current
       state  at  http://zsh.sourceforge.net/Guide/.   At the time of writing,
       chapters dealing with startup files and their contents and the new com-
       pletion system were essentially complete.

INVOCATION
       The following flags are interpreted by the shell when invoked to deter-
       mine where the shell will read commands from:

       -c     Take the first argument as a command  to  execute,  rather  than
              reading  commands  from a script or standard input.  If any fur-
              ther arguments are given, the  first  one  is  assigned  to  $0,
              rather than being used as a positional parameter.

       -i     Force  shell to be interactive.  It is still possible to specify
              a script to execute.

       -s     Force shell to read commands from the standard input.  If the -s
              flag is not present and an argument is given, the first argument
              is taken to be the pathname of a script to execute.

       If there are any remaining arguments after option processing, and  nei-
       ther  of the options -c or -s was supplied, the first argument is taken
       as the file name of a script containing shell commands to be  executed.
       If  the option PATH_SCRIPT is set, and the file name does not contain a
       directory path (i.e. there is no `/' in the name),  first  the  current
       directory  and  then  the  command  path given by the variable PATH are
       searched for the script.  If the option is not set  or  the  file  name
       contains a `/' it is used directly.

       After  the  first  one  or  two arguments have been appropriated as de-
       scribed above, the remaining arguments are assigned to  the  positional
       parameters.

       For  further  options,  which  are  common  to  invocation  and the set
       builtin, see zshoptions(1).

       The long option `--emulate' followed (in a separate word) by an  emula-
       tion  mode  may  be passed to the shell.  The emulation modes are those
       described for the emulate builtin, see zshbuiltins(1).  The `--emulate'
       option  must  precede any other options (which might otherwise be over-
       ridden), but following options are honoured, so may be used  to  modify
       the  requested emulation mode.  Note that certain extra steps are taken
       to ensure a smooth emulation when this option is used compared with the
       emulate  command within the shell: for example, variables that conflict
       with POSIX usage such as path are not defined within the shell.

       Options may be specified by name using the -o option.  -o acts  like  a
       single-letter  option, but takes a following string as the option name.
       For example,

              zsh -x -o shwordsplit scr

       runs the script scr, setting the XTRACE  option  by  the  corresponding
       letter  `-x'  and  the  SH_WORD_SPLIT  option  by name.  Options may be
       turned off by name by using +o instead of -o.  -o  can  be  stacked  up
       with  preceding single-letter options, so for example `-xo shwordsplit'
       or `-xoshwordsplit' is equivalent to `-x -o shwordsplit'.

       Options may also be specified by name in GNU long option style,  `--op-
       tion-name'.   When  this is done, `-' characters in the option name are
       permitted: they are translated into `_', and thus ignored.  So, for ex-
       ample,  `zsh --sh-word-split' invokes zsh with the SH_WORD_SPLIT option
       turned on.  Like other option syntaxes, options can be  turned  off  by
       replacing the initial `-' with a `+'; thus `+-sh-word-split' is equiva-
       lent to `--no-sh-word-split'.  Unlike other option syntaxes,  GNU-style
       long  options  cannot be stacked with any other options, so for example
       `-x-shwordsplit' is an  error,  rather  than  being  treated  like  `-x
       --shwordsplit'.

       The  special GNU-style option `--version' is handled; it sends to stan-
       dard output the shell's version information, then  exits  successfully.
       `--help' is also handled; it sends to standard output a list of options
       that can be used when invoking the shell, then exits successfully.

       Option processing may be finished, allowing  following  arguments  that
       start  with  `-' or `+' to be treated as normal arguments, in two ways.
       Firstly, a lone `-' (or `+') as an argument by itself ends option  pro-
       cessing.  Secondly, a special option `--' (or `+-'), which may be spec-
       ified on its own (which is the standard POSIX usage) or may be  stacked
       with  preceding  options  (so `-x-' is equivalent to `-x --').  Options
       are not permitted to be stacked after `--' (so `-x-f' is an error), but
       note  the  GNU-style option form discussed above, where `--shwordsplit'
       is permitted and does not end option processing.

       Except when the sh/ksh emulation single-letter options are  in  effect,
       the  option  `-b' (or `+b') ends option processing.  `-b' is like `--',
       except that further single-letter options can be stacked after the `-b'
       and will take effect as normal.

COMPATIBILITY
       Zsh  tries to emulate sh or ksh when it is invoked as sh or ksh respec-
       tively; more precisely, it looks at the first letter  of  the  name  by
       which  it  was invoked, excluding any initial `r' (assumed to stand for
       `restricted'), and if that is `b', `s' or `k' it  will  emulate  sh  or
       ksh.   Furthermore,  if invoked as su (which happens on certain systems
       when the shell is executed by the su command), the shell  will  try  to
       find  an  alternative name from the SHELL environment variable and per-
       form emulation based on that.

       In sh and ksh compatibility modes the following parameters are not spe-
       cial  and  not  initialized  by the shell: ARGC, argv, cdpath, fignore,
       fpath, HISTCHARS, mailpath, MANPATH,  manpath,  path,  prompt,  PROMPT,
       PROMPT2, PROMPT3, PROMPT4, psvar, status, watch.

       The  usual zsh startup/shutdown scripts are not executed.  Login shells
       source /etc/profile followed by $HOME/.profile.  If the ENV environment
       variable  is  set  on  invocation,  $ENV  is  sourced after the profile
       scripts.  The value of ENV is subjected to parameter expansion, command
       substitution,  and  arithmetic  expansion before being interpreted as a
       pathname.  Note that the PRIVILEGED option also affects  the  execution
       of startup files.

       The  following  options  are  set if the shell is invoked as sh or ksh:
       NO_BAD_PATTERN,   NO_BANG_HIST,   NO_BG_NICE,    NO_EQUALS,    NO_FUNC-
       TION_ARGZERO,  GLOB_SUBST,  NO_GLOBAL_EXPORT,  NO_HUP, INTERACTIVE_COM-
       MENTS, KSH_ARRAYS, NO_MULTIOS, NO_NOMATCH,  NO_NOTIFY,  POSIX_BUILTINS,
       NO_PROMPT_PERCENT,  RM_STAR_SILENT,  SH_FILE_EXPANSION, SH_GLOB, SH_OP-
       TION_LETTERS,  SH_WORD_SPLIT.   Additionally  the  BSD_ECHO   and   IG-
       NORE_BRACES options are set if zsh is invoked as sh.  Also, the KSH_OP-
       TION_PRINT,   LOCAL_OPTIONS,   PROMPT_BANG,   PROMPT_SUBST   and   SIN-
       GLE_LINE_ZLE options are set if zsh is invoked as ksh.

RESTRICTED SHELL
       When  the  basename  of  the command used to invoke zsh starts with the
       letter `r' or the `-r' command line option is supplied  at  invocation,
       the  shell  becomes  restricted.   Emulation  mode  is determined after
       stripping the letter `r' from the invocation name.  The  following  are
       disabled in restricted mode:

       o      changing directories with the cd builtin

       o      changing  or  unsetting the EGID, EUID, GID, HISTFILE, HISTSIZE,
              IFS,  LD_AOUT_LIBRARY_PATH,  LD_AOUT_PRELOAD,   LD_LIBRARY_PATH,
              LD_PRELOAD, MODULE_PATH, module_path, PATH, path, SHELL, UID and
              USERNAME parameters

       o      specifying command names containing /

       o      specifying command pathnames using hash

       o      redirecting output to files

       o      using the exec builtin command to replace the shell with another
              command

       o      using jobs -Z to overwrite the shell process' argument and envi-
              ronment space

       o      using the ARGV0 parameter to override argv[0] for external  com-
              mands

       o      turning off restricted mode with set +r or unsetopt RESTRICTED

       These  restrictions  are  enforced  after processing the startup files.
       The startup files should set up PATH to point to a  directory  of  com-
       mands  which can be safely invoked in the restricted environment.  They
       may also add further restrictions by disabling selected builtins.

       Restricted mode can also be activated  any  time  by  setting  the  RE-
       STRICTED  option.   This  immediately  enables all the restrictions de-
       scribed above even if the shell still has  not  processed  all  startup
       files.

       A  shell  Restricted Mode is an outdated way to restrict what users may
       do:  modern systems have better, safer and more reliable ways  to  con-
       fine user actions, such as chroot jails, containers and zones.

       A  restricted shell is very difficult to implement safely.  The feature
       may be removed in a future version of zsh.

       It is important to realise that the  restrictions  only  apply  to  the
       shell,  not  to  the commands it runs (except for some shell builtins).
       While a restricted shell can only run the restricted list  of  commands
       accessible  via  the  predefined  `PATH'  variable, it does not prevent
       those commands from running any other command.

       As an example, if `env' is among the list of allowed commands, then  it
       allows the user to run any command as `env' is not a shell builtin com-
       mand and can run arbitrary executables.

       So when implementing a restricted shell framework it is important to be
       fully  aware  of  what actions each of the allowed commands or features
       (which may be regarded as modules) can perform.

       Many commands can have their behaviour affected  by  environment  vari-
       ables.  Except for the few listed above, zsh does not restrict the set-
       ting of environment variables.

       If a `perl', `python', `bash', or  other  general  purpose  interpreted
       script it treated as a restricted command, the user can work around the
       restriction by  setting  specially  crafted  `PERL5LIB',  `PYTHONPATH',
       `BASHENV' (etc.) environment variables. On GNU systems, any command can
       be made to run arbitrary code when performing character set  conversion
       (including  zsh itself) by setting a `GCONV_PATH' environment variable.
       Those are only a few examples.

       Bear in mind that, contrary to some other shells, `readonly' is  not  a
       security  feature  in  zsh as it can be undone and so cannot be used to
       mitigate the above.

       A restricted shell only works if the allowed commands are few and care-
       fully  written  so  as not to grant more access to users than intended.
       It is also important to restrict what zsh module the user may  load  as
       some  of them, such as `zsh/system', `zsh/mapfile' and `zsh/files', al-
       low bypassing most of the restrictions.

STARTUP/SHUTDOWN FILES
       Commands are first read from /etc/zsh/zshenv; this cannot  be  overrid-
       den.   Subsequent  behaviour  is modified by the RCS and GLOBAL_RCS op-
       tions; the former affects all startup files, while the second only  af-
       fects global startup files (those shown here with an path starting with
       a /).  If one of the options is unset  at  any  point,  any  subsequent
       startup file(s) of the corresponding type will not be read.  It is also
       possible for a file in $ZDOTDIR to re-enable GLOBAL_RCS. Both  RCS  and
       GLOBAL_RCS are set by default.

       Commands  are then read from $ZDOTDIR/.zshenv.  If the shell is a login
       shell,  commands  are  read  from  /etc/zsh/zprofile  and  then  $ZDOT-
       DIR/.zprofile.   Then,  if  the shell is interactive, commands are read
       from /etc/zsh/zshrc and then $ZDOTDIR/.zshrc.  Finally, if the shell is
       a login shell, /etc/zsh/zlogin and $ZDOTDIR/.zlogin are read.

       When  a  login  shell  exits,  the  files  $ZDOTDIR/.zlogout  and  then
       /etc/zsh/zlogout are read.  This happens with either an  explicit  exit
       via  the  exit  or  logout  commands,  or  an  implicit exit by reading
       end-of-file from the terminal.  However, if the shell terminates due to
       exec'ing  another  process,  the  logout files are not read.  These are
       also affected by the RCS and GLOBAL_RCS options.  Note  also  that  the
       RCS  option  affects  the saving of history files, i.e. if RCS is unset
       when the shell exits, no history file will be saved.

       If ZDOTDIR is unset, HOME is used instead.  Files listed above as being
       in /etc may be in another directory, depending on the installation.

       As  /etc/zsh/zshenv  is  run  for all instances of zsh, it is important
       that it be kept as small as possible.  In particular, it is a good idea
       to  put code that does not need to be run for every single shell behind
       a test of the form `if [[ -o rcs ]]; then ...' so that it will  not  be
       executed when zsh is invoked with the `-f' option.

       Any  of  these files may be pre-compiled with the zcompile builtin com-
       mand (see zshbuiltins(1)).  If a compiled file exists  (named  for  the
       original  file plus the .zwc extension) and it is newer than the origi-
       nal file, the compiled file will be used instead.

ZSHROADMAP(1)               General Commands Manual              ZSHROADMAP(1)

NAME
       zshroadmap - informal introduction to the zsh manual  The  Zsh  Manual,
       like the shell itself, is large and often complicated.  This section of
       the manual provides some pointers to areas of the shell that are likely
       to  be  of particular interest to new users, and indicates where in the
       rest of the manual the documentation is to be found.

WHEN THE SHELL STARTS
       When it starts, the shell reads commands from various files.  These can
       be  created  or  edited  to  customize  the  shell.   See  the  section
       Startup/Shutdown Files in zsh(1).

       If no personal initialization files exist for the current user, a func-
       tion  is  run  to help you change some of the most common settings.  It
       won't appear if your administrator has disabled the zsh/newuser module.
       The  function  is  designed  to be self-explanatory.  You can run it by
       hand with `autoload -Uz zsh-newuser-install;  zsh-newuser-install  -f'.
       See also the section User Configuration Functions in zshcontrib(1).

INTERACTIVE USE
       Interaction with the shell uses the builtin Zsh Line Editor, ZLE.  This
       is described in detail in zshzle(1).

       The first decision a user must make is whether to use the Emacs  or  Vi
       editing  mode  as  the  keys  for  editing are substantially different.
       Emacs editing mode is probably more natural for beginners  and  can  be
       selected explicitly with the command bindkey -e.

       A  history mechanism for retrieving previously typed lines (most simply
       with the Up or Down arrow keys) is available; note that,  unlike  other
       shells,  zsh  will not save these lines when the shell exits unless you
       set appropriate variables, and the number of history lines retained  by
       default  is  quite  small (30 lines).  See the description of the shell
       variables (referred to in the documentation  as  parameters)  HISTFILE,
       HISTSIZE  and  SAVEHIST  in zshparam(1).  Note that it's currently only
       possible to read and write files saving history when the shell  is  in-
       teractive, i.e. it does not work from scripts.

       The shell now supports the UTF-8 character set (and also others if sup-
       ported by the operating system).  This is  (mostly)  handled  transpar-
       ently  by the shell, but the degree of support in terminal emulators is
       variable.   There  is  some  discussion  of  this  in  the  shell  FAQ,
       http://www.zsh.org/FAQ/.  Note in particular that for combining charac-
       ters to be handled the option COMBINING_CHARS needs to be set.  Because
       the shell is now more sensitive to the definition of the character set,
       note that if you are upgrading from an older version of the  shell  you
       should ensure that the appropriate variable, either LANG (to affect all
       aspects of the shell's operation) or LC_CTYPE (to affect only the  han-
       dling  of character sets) is set to an appropriate value.  This is true
       even if you are using a single-byte character set including  extensions
       of  ASCII  such  as  ISO-8859-1 or ISO-8859-15.  See the description of
       LC_CTYPE in zshparam(1).

   Completion
       Completion is a feature present in many shells. It allows the  user  to
       type only a part (usually the prefix) of a word and have the shell fill
       in the rest.  The completion system in zsh is programmable.  For  exam-
       ple,  the  shell can be set to complete email addresses in arguments to
       the mail command from your ~/.abook/addressbook; usernames,  hostnames,
       and  even  remote  paths in arguments to scp, and so on.  Anything that
       can be written in or glued together with zsh can be the source of  what
       the line editor offers as possible completions.

       Zsh  has  two  completion systems, an old, so called compctl completion
       (named after the builtin command that serves as its complete  and  only
       user  interface),  and  a new one, referred to as compsys, organized as
       library of builtin and user-defined functions.  The two systems  differ
       in  their  interface  for  specifying the completion behavior.  The new
       system is more customizable and is supplied with completions  for  many
       commonly used commands; it is therefore to be preferred.

       The completion system must be enabled explicitly when the shell starts.
       For more information see zshcompsys(1).

   Extending the line editor
       Apart from completion, the line editor is highly extensible by means of
       shell  functions.   Some  useful functions are provided with the shell;
       they provide facilities such as:

       insert-composed-char
              composing characters not found on the keyboard

       match-words-by-style
              configuring what the line editor considers a word when moving or
              deleting by word

       history-beginning-search-backward-end, etc.
              alternative ways of searching the shell history

       replace-string, replace-pattern
              functions for replacing strings or patterns globally in the com-
              mand line

       edit-command-line
              edit the command line with an external editor.

       See the section `ZLE Functions' in zshcontrib(1)  for  descriptions  of
       these.

OPTIONS
       The  shell  has  a  large number of options for changing its behaviour.
       These cover all aspects of the shell; browsing the  full  documentation
       is  the only good way to become acquainted with the many possibilities.
       See zshoptions(1).

PATTERN MATCHING
       The shell has a rich set of  patterns  which  are  available  for  file
       matching  (described  in the documentation as `filename generation' and
       also known for historical reasons as `globbing') and for use when  pro-
       gramming.   These are described in the section `Filename Generation' in
       zshexpn(1).

       Of particular interest are the following patterns that are not commonly
       supported by other systems of pattern matching:

       **     for matching over multiple directories

       |      for matching either of two alternatives

       ~, ^   the  ability  to  exclude  patterns  from  matching when the EX-
              TENDED_GLOB option is set

       (...)  glob qualifiers, included in parentheses at the end of the  pat-
              tern, which select files by type (such as directories) or attri-
              bute (such as size).

GENERAL COMMENTS ON SYNTAX
       Although the syntax of zsh is in ways similar to the  Korn  shell,  and
       therefore  more  remotely to the original UNIX shell, the Bourne shell,
       its default behaviour does not entirely  correspond  to  those  shells.
       General  shell  syntax  is introduced in the section `Shell Grammar' in
       zshmisc(1).

       One commonly encountered difference is that variables substituted  onto
       the  command line are not split into words.  See the description of the
       shell option SH_WORD_SPLIT in the section `Parameter Expansion' in zsh-
       expn(1).  In zsh, you can either explicitly request the splitting (e.g.
       ${=foo}) or use an array when you want a variable  to  expand  to  more
       than one word.  See the section `Array Parameters' in zshparam(1).

PROGRAMMING
       The  most  convenient  way of adding enhancements to the shell is typi-
       cally by writing a shell function  and  arranging  for  it  to  be  au-
       toloaded.   Functions  are described in the section `Functions' in zsh-
       misc(1).  Users changing from the C shell and its relatives should  no-
       tice  that  aliases are less used in zsh as they don't perform argument
       substitution, only simple text replacement.

       A few general functions, other than those for the line editor described
       above,  are provided with the shell and are described in zshcontrib(1).
       Features include:

       promptinit
              a prompt theme system for changing prompts easily, see the  sec-
              tion `Prompt Themes'

       zsh-mime-setup
              a  MIME-handling  system  which dispatches commands according to
              the suffix of a file as done by graphical file managers

       zcalc  a calculator

       zargs  a version of xargs that makes the find command redundant

       zmv    a command for renaming files by means of shell patterns.

ZSHMISC(1)                  General Commands Manual                 ZSHMISC(1)

NAME
       zshmisc - everything and then some

SIMPLE COMMANDS & PIPELINES
       A simple command is a sequence of optional parameter  assignments  fol-
       lowed  by  blank-separated  words,  with  optional  redirections inter-
       spersed.  For a description of assignment, see the  beginning  of  zsh-
       param(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 pipe-
       line 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 ordi-
       nary 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  (re-
       turns a zero status).  If two pipelines are separated by `||', the sec-
       ond 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 com-
       mand 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 be-
       fore executing the next sublist.  If a sublist is terminated by a  `&',
       `&|',  or `&!', the shell executes the last pipeline in it in the back-
       ground, 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 what-
       soever,  including the complex commands below; this is implied wherever
       the word `list' appears in later descriptions.  For example,  the  com-
       mands 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  spe-
              cial properties of them are suppressed. The -p flag causes a de-
              fault 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 inter-
              preted immediately, before any parsing is done.  It has  no  ef-
              fect 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
              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.

              The  term  consists  of one or more newline or ; which terminate
              the words, and are optional when the `in word' is omitted.

              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 pa-
              rameters 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 sec-
              tion  `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 un-
              ambiguously 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 ter-
              minator 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,  exe-
              cuting  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  selec-
              tion 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 or  con-
              tinue 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 or continue com-
              mand 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 func-
              tion, script, or list.   Syntax  errors  encountered  while  the
              shell is parsing the code do not cause the always-list to be ex-
              ecuted.  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  substitu-
              tion  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  in-
              teger  variable  TRY_BLOCK_ERROR.   Outside  an  always-list the
              value is irrelevant, but it is initialised to  -1.   Inside  al-
              ways-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.   Al-
              tering  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  pro-
              tecting 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.

              When  a  try block occurs outside of any function, a return or a
              exit encountered in try-list does not cause the execution of al-
              ways-list.   Instead, the shell exits immediately after any EXIT
              trap has been executed.  Otherwise, a return command encountered
              in  try-list  will cause the execution of always-list, just like
              break and continue.

       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  paren-
              theses  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 parame-
              ter.  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 com-
       mands, in both these cases the test part of the loop must also be suit-
       ably  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 se-
              lect.

       function word ... [ () ] [ term ] sublist
              This is a short form of function.

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 IG-
       NORE_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  behav-
       iour can be recovered by setting the option CONTINUE_ON_ERROR.

       Fatal errors found in non-interactive shells include:

       o      Failure to parse shell options passed when invoking the shell

       o      Failure to change options with the set builtin

       o      Parse errors of all sorts, including failures to parse mathemat-
              ical expressions

       o      Failures to set or modify variable behaviour with  typeset,  lo-
              cal, declare, export, integer, float

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

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

       o      Disallowed operations when the RESTRICTED options is set

       o      Failure to create a pipe needed for a pipeline

       o      Failure to create a multio

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

       o      Errors creating command or process substitutions

       o      Syntax errors in glob qualifiers

       o      File  generation  errors where not caught by the option BAD_PAT-
              TERN

       o      All bad patterns used for matching within case statements

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

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

       o      Memory errors where detected by the shell

       o      Invalid subscripts to shell variables

       o      Attempts to assign read-only variables

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

       o      Use of invalid variable names

       o      Errors in variable substitution syntax

       o      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  stan-
       dard.

COMMENTS
       In  non-interactive  shells, or in interactive shells with the INTERAC-
       TIVE_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  pur-
       poses 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:

       o      Any plain string or glob pattern

       o      Any quoted string, using  any  quoting  method  (note  that  the
              quotes  must be part of the alias definition for this to be eli-
              gible)

       o      Any parameter reference or command substitution

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

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

       o      With global aliasing, any command separator, any redirection op-
              erator, and `(' or `)' when not part of a glob pattern

       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.

       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.

       For  use  with completion, which would remove an initial backslash fol-
       lowed 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.

   Alias difficulties
       Although aliases can be used in ways that bend normal shell syntax, not
       every string of non-white-space characters can be used as an alias.

       Any  set  of characters not listed as a word above is not a word, hence
       no attempt is made to expand it as an alias, no matter how  it  is  de-
       fined  (i.e. via the builtin or the special parameter aliases described
       in the section THE ZSH/PARAMETER MODULE in zshmodules(1)).  However, as
       noted in the case of POSIX_ALIASES above, the shell does not attempt to
       deduce whether the string corresponds to a word at the time  the  alias
       is created.

       For  example,  an  expression containing an = at the start of a command
       line is an assignment and cannot be expanded as an alias; a lone  =  is
       not  an assignment but can only be set as an alias using the parameter,
       as otherwise the = is taken part of the syntax of the builtin command.

       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.   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.

       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 `.'.  Con-
       sequently,  use  of  functions  rather  than  aliases is recommended in
       non-interactive code.

       Note also the unhelpful interaction of  aliases  and  function  defini-
       tions:

              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 func-
       tion 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  pre-
       ceding 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 con-
       sidered 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 the first charac-
       ter of $histchars (default `!').

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 pro-
       duces  more  than  one  filename,  redirection occurs for each separate
       filename in turn.

       < word Open file word for reading as standard input.  It is an error to
              open a file in this fashion if it does not exist.

       <> 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 CLOB-
              BER 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, regardless of CLOBBER.

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

       >>| word
       >>! word
              Same  as  >>, except that the file is created if it does not ex-
              ist, regardless of CLOBBER and APPEND_CREATE.

       <<[-] 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 substitu-
              tion 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.   Back-
              quotes  in word do not have their usual effect; instead they be-
              have 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 ex-
              pansion.

       <& 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 ef-
              fect as `> word 2>&1' in the presence of multios (see  the  sec-
              tion below).

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

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

       >>&| word
       >>&! word
       &>>| word
       &>>! word
              Redirects both standard output and standard error (file descrip-
              tor 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  descrip-
       tor 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 redirect-
       ion.  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  identi-
       fier  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 be-
       tween 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 file descriptor remains open in sub-
       shells and forked external executables.

       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  read-
       only.

       If  the option CLOBBER is unset, it is an error to open a file descrip-
       tor 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 con-
       venient 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 oc-
       curs at the point the redirection is opened.  This is after the  expan-
       sion 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.

       Note that the shell opens all the  files  to  be  used  in  the  multio
       process immediately, not at the point they are about to be written.

       Note also that redirections are always expanded in order.  This happens
       regardless of the setting of the MULTIOS option, but with the option in
       effect  there  are additional consequences. For example, the meaning of
       the expression >&1 will change after a previous redirection:

              date >&1 >output

       In the case above, the >&1 refers to the standard output at  the  start
       of  the  line; the result is similar to the tee command.  However, con-
       sider:

              date >output >&1

       As redirections are evaluated in order, when the >&1 is encountered the
       standard  output is set to the file output and another copy of the out-
       put is therefore sent to that file.  This is unlikely to be what is in-
       tended.

       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, provided
       the MULTIOS option is set.  It should be noted that each file is opened
       immediately, not at the point where it is about to be read: this behav-
       iour differs from cat, so if strictly standard behaviour is needed, cat
       should be used instead.

       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 redirect-
       ion  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 re-
       peated 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 com-
       mand 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  unsuc-
       cessful,  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 oper-
       ating systems that do not handle this executable format in the kernel.

       If  no  external command is found but a function command_not_found_han-
       dler exists the shell executes this function with all command line  ar-
       guments.   The  return status of the function becomes the status of the
       command.  If the function wishes to mimic the behaviour  of  the  shell
       when the command is not found, it should print the message `command not
       found: cmd' to standard error and return status  127.   Note  that  the
       handler  is  executed  in a subshell forked to execute an external com-
       mand, hence changes to directories, shell parameters, etc. have no  ef-
       fect on the main shell.

FUNCTIONS
       Shell functions are defined with the function reserved word or the spe-
       cial syntax `funcname ()'.  Shell functions are read in and stored  in-
       ternally.   Alias  names are resolved when the function is read.  Func-
       tions are executed like commands with the  arguments  passed  as  posi-
       tional 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  in-
       side  a  function is executed after the function completes in the envi-
       ronment of the caller.

       The return builtin is used to return from function calls.

       Function identifiers can be listed with the functions  builtin.   Func-
       tions 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 au-
       toload builtin or its equivalent is given the option -U. This is recom-
       mended  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 cor-
       responding 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 ex-
              pected to contain the definitions for all functions in  the  di-
              rectory  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  defini-
              tions as well, but those are neither loaded nor executed; a file
              found in this way is searched only for the definition  of  func-
              tion.

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

       In summary, the order of searching is, first, in the parents of  direc-
       tories  in  fpath for the newer of either a compiled directory or a di-
       rectory in fpath; second, if more than one of these contains a  defini-
       tion for the function that is sought, the leftmost in the fpath is cho-
       sen; 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 execu-
       tion, 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 it-
       self is not re-executed.  To force the shell to perform  initialization
       and then call the function defined, the file should contain initializa-
       tion code (which will be executed then discarded) in addition to a com-
       plete  function definition (which will be retained for subsequent calls
       to the function), and a call to the shell function, including any argu-
       ments, 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 ini-
       tialization 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 au-
       toloaded, but which loads its own definition by searching fpath, by us-
       ing  `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 iden-
       tified by the presence of the comment `# undefined' in  the  body,  be-
       cause all comments are discarded from defined functions.

       To load the definition of an autoloaded function myfunc without execut-
       ing 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 clos-
       ing brace defining the function, hence if there are none  no  arguments
       (other than $0) are set.  This is a difference from the way other func-
       tions are parsed: normal function definitions may be followed  by  cer-
       tain  keywords  such  as `else' or `fi', which will be treated as argu-
       ments 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 man-
       ner 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  anony-
       mous  functions.   Instead, they are treated as normal function defini-
       tions 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 exe-
       cuted  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 ex-
       ecute 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  immedi-
       ately  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, oth-
              erwise 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  ver-
              sion  of  the command (with things like function bodies elided);
              the third argument contains the full text  that  is  being  exe-
              cuted.

       zshaddhistory
              Executed  when  a  history line has been read interactively, but
              before it is executed.  The sole argument is the  complete  his-
              tory  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,  al-
              though  it  lingers  in  the history until the next line is exe-
              cuted, 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 con-
              text so that the history is saved in a different file  from  the
              that  in  the  global  HISTFILE parameter.  This is handled spe-
              cially: 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  new-
              line  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 nor-
              mally.  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  execu-
              tion  continues  normally.   Otherwise, the shell will behave as
              interrupted except that the return status of  the  trap  is  re-
              tained.

              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  exe-
              cuted inside other traps.

       TRAPDEBUG
              If the option DEBUG_BEFORE_CMD is set (as it is by default), ex-
              ecuted before each command; otherwise executed after  each  com-
              mand.  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  ex-
              its  if defined inside a function.  The value of $? at the start
              of execution is the exit status of the shell or the return  sta-
              tus of the function exiting.

       TRAPZERR
              Executed  whenever  a  command has a non-zero exit status.  How-
              ever, 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  func-
              tion 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:

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

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

       o      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  `sus-
       pended',  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  immedi-
       ately  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 con-
       tinue 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  func-
       tion  was  never suspended.  Zsh is different from many other shells in
       this regard.

       One additional side effect is that use of disown with a job created  by
       suspending  shell  code in this fashion is delayed: the job can only be
       disowned once any process started from the parent shell has terminated.
       At that point, the disowned job disappears silently from the job list.

       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  sus-
       pended.   This (intentionally) does not apply if the command is contin-
       ued 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 re-
       ferred  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
              The last job whose command line begins with string.
       %?string
              The last job whose command line contains string.
       %%     Current job.
       %+     Equivalent to `%%'.
       %-     Previous job.

       The shell learns immediately whenever a process changes state.  It nor-
       mally  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 notifi-
       cations 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 trig-
       gers 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  immedi-
       ately 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 com-
       mand  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  ex-
       plicitly  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 us-
       ing 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 corre-
       sponding 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 match-
       ing `))' 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 arith-
       metical substitutions or when assigning to scalar  parameters,  but  an
       explicitly  defined integer or floating point parameter will not be af-
       fected.  If an integer variable is implicitly defined by an  arithmetic
       expression,  any  base  specified  in this way will be set as the vari-
       able'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 oc-
       curs 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 out-
       put 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 ex-
       ample,

              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 num-
       bers 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  in-
       put.

       When  an output base is specified using the `[#base]' syntax, an appro-
       priate base prefix will be output if necessary, so that the value  out-
       put  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}cre-
              ment
       << >>  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 evalu-
       ated.  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 lan-
       guages that support the relevant operators:

       + - ! ~ ++ --
              unary plus/minus, logical NOT, complement, {pre,post}{in,de}cre-
              ment
       **     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  paren-
       theses  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 de-
       fines 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 ex-
       pression  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 dif-
       ferent 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 speci-
       fied 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 towards zero.

       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 neces-
       sary.   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 towards zero ex-
       cept for `~' which rounds down.

       Users should beware that, in common with many  other  programming  lan-
       guages  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 towards 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 re-
       tain 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 expres-
       sions:

       -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 char-
              acter,  in  which  case it is a single letter option name.  (See
              the section `Specifying Options'.)

              When no option named option exists, and the  POSIX_BUILTINS  op-
              tion  hasn't  been set, return 3 with a warning.  If that option
              is set, return 1 with no warning.

       -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.

       -v varname
              true if shell variable varname is 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  two  forms  are  exactly
              equivalent.   The  `=' form is the traditional shell syntax (and
              hence the only one generally used with the test and [ builtins);
              the  `=='  form  provides compatibility with other sorts of com-
              puter language.

       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  vari-
              ables 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 sub-
              strings 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 subexpressions.  For ex-
              ample, if the string `a short string'  is  matched  against  the
              regular  expression `s(...)t', then (assuming the option KSH_AR-
              RAYS is not set) MATCH, MBEGIN and MEND are `short',  3  and  7,
              respectively,  while match, mbegin and mend are single entry ar-
              rays 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 sub-
              strings 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 condi-
              tional 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  syntacti-
       cally  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 recom-
       mended that the second, explicit, form be used where possible.

       Normal shell expansion is performed on the file, string and pattern ar-
       guments, 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  condi-
       tions.  However, it can be forced in any case where normal shell expan-
       sion 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 be-
       yond 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 multi-
       ple 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 qual-
       ifier N ensures that the expression is empty if there  is  no  matching
       file.

       Pattern  metacharacters  are active for the pattern arguments; the pat-
       terns are the same as those used  for  filename  generation,  see  zsh-
       expn(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 de-
       scriptor 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 ex-
       pansion 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  repre-
       sented 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  se-
       quence.   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 ca-
              pability 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  inte-
              ger  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  direc-
              tories 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 inte-
              ger may follow the `%' to specify a number of trailing path com-
              ponents  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 com-
              mand names are not shown, instead the file where they  were  de-
              fined.

       %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 depre-
              cated 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  strf-
              time(3)  for  more details.  Various zsh extensions provide num-
              bers 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 sys-
              tem 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 9 may be given  following
              the %; hence %6.  outputs microseconds, and %9. outputs nanosec-
              onds.  (The latter requires  a  nanosecond-precision  clock_get-
              time; systems lacking this will return a value multiplied by the
              appropriate power of 10.)  A typical example of this is the for-
              mat `%D{%H:%M:%S.%.}'.

              The GNU extension %N is handled as a synonym for %9..

              Additionally, 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 sup-
              ports 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  attri-
              bute;  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  be-
              tween  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 posi-
              tion of the %G is unimportant.  Negative integers are  not  han-
              dled.

              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  ar-
              ray.  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 es-
              cape 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 char-
              acter 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  dis-
              played  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 immedi-
              ately  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  ab-
              solute  value of the numeric argument from the number of charac-
              ter positions remaining on the current prompt line.  If this re-
              sults  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 mar-
              gin for RPROMPT).

              The forms with `<' truncate at the left of the string,  and  the
              forms  with  `>' truncate at the right of the string.  For exam-
              ple, if  the  current  directory  is  `/home/pike',  the  prompt
              `%8<..<%/'  will expand to `..e/pike'.  In this string, the ter-
              minating character (`<', `>' or `]'), or in fact any  character,
              may be quoted by a preceding `\'; note when using print -P, how-
              ever, that this must be doubled as the string is also subject to
              standard  print  processing,  in addition to any backslashes re-
              moved 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 sepa-
              rate), 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 to-
              tal 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.

ZSHEXPN(1)                  General Commands Manual                 ZSHEXPN(1)

NAME
       zshexpn - zsh expansion and substitution

DESCRIPTION
       The  following types of expansions are performed in the indicated order
       in five steps:

       History Expansion
              This is performed only in interactive shells.

       Alias Expansion
              Aliases are expanded immediately  before  the  command  line  is
              parsed as explained under Aliasing in zshmisc(1).

       Process Substitution
       Parameter Expansion
       Command Substitution
       Arithmetic Expansion
       Brace Expansion
              These  five are performed in left-to-right fashion.  On each ar-
              gument, any of the five steps that are needed are performed  one
              after the other.  Hence, for example, all the parts of parameter
              expansion are completed before command substitution is  started.
              After  these expansions, all unquoted occurrences of the charac-
              ters `\',`'' and `"' are removed.

       Filename Expansion
              If the SH_FILE_EXPANSION option is set, the order  of  expansion
              is  modified  for  compatibility  with sh and ksh.  In that case
              filename expansion is performed immediately after  alias  expan-
              sion, preceding the set of five expansions mentioned above.

       Filename Generation
              This expansion, commonly referred to as globbing, is always done
              last.

       The following sections explain the types of expansion in detail.

HISTORY EXPANSION
       History expansion allows you to use words from previous  command  lines
       in  the  command line you are typing.  This simplifies spelling correc-
       tions and the repetition of complicated commands or arguments.

       Immediately before execution, each command  is  saved  in  the  history
       list,  the  size of which is controlled by the HISTSIZE parameter.  The
       one most recent command is always retained in  any  case.   Each  saved
       command in the history list is called a history event and is assigned a
       number, beginning with 1 (one) when the shell starts up.   The  history
       number  that  you  may  see in your prompt (see EXPANSION OF PROMPT SE-
       QUENCES in zshmisc(1)) is the number that is to be assigned to the next
       command.

   Overview
       A  history  expansion  begins with the first character of the histchars
       parameter, which is `!' by default, and may occur anywhere on the  com-
       mand line, including inside double quotes (but not inside single quotes
       '...' or C-style quotes $'...' nor when escaped with a backslash).

       The first character is followed by an optional  event  designator  (see
       the  section  `Event Designators') and then an optional word designator
       (the section `Word Designators'); if neither of  these  designators  is
       present, no history expansion occurs.

       Input  lines  containing  history expansions are echoed after being ex-
       panded, but before any other expansions take place and before the  com-
       mand  is  executed.   It  is this expanded form that is recorded as the
       history event for later references.

       History expansions do not nest.

       By default, a history reference with no event designator refers to  the
       same  event as any preceding history reference on that command line; if
       it is the only history reference in a command, it refers to the  previ-
       ous  command.   However,  if the option CSH_JUNKIE_HISTORY is set, then
       every history reference with no event specification  always  refers  to
       the previous command.

       For  example,  `!' is the event designator for the previous command, so
       `!!:1' always refers to the first word of  the  previous  command,  and
       `!!$'  always  refers  to  the last word of the previous command.  With
       CSH_JUNKIE_HISTORY set, then `!:1' and `!$' function in the same manner
       as  `!!:1'  and `!!$', respectively.  Conversely, if CSH_JUNKIE_HISTORY
       is unset, then `!:1' and `!$' refer to the first and  last  words,  re-
       spectively,  of  the same event referenced by the nearest other history
       reference preceding them on the current command line, or to the  previ-
       ous command if there is no preceding reference.

       The  character  sequence  `^foo^bar'  (where `^' is actually the second
       character of the histchars parameter) repeats the last command, replac-
       ing  the string foo with bar.  More precisely, the sequence `^foo^bar^'
       is synonymous with `!!:s^foo^bar^', hence other modifiers (see the sec-
       tion   `Modifiers')   may   follow   the  final  `^'.   In  particular,
       `^foo^bar^:G' performs a global substitution.

       If the shell encounters the character sequence `!"' in the  input,  the
       history  mechanism  is temporarily disabled until the current list (see
       zshmisc(1)) is fully parsed.  The `!"' is removed from the  input,  and
       any subsequent `!' characters have no special significance.

       A  less convenient but more comprehensible form of command history sup-
       port is provided by the fc builtin.

   Event Designators
       An event designator is a reference to a command-line entry in the  his-
       tory  list.   In  the list below, remember that the initial `!' in each
       item may be changed to another character by setting the  histchars  pa-
       rameter.

       !      Start a history expansion, except when followed by a blank, new-
              line, `=' or `('.  If followed immediately by a word  designator
              (see  the section `Word Designators'), this forms a history ref-
              erence with no event designator (see the section `Overview').

       !!     Refer to the previous command.  By itself,  this  expansion  re-
              peats the previous command.

       !n     Refer to command-line n.

       !-n    Refer to the current command-line minus n.

       !str   Refer to the most recent command starting with str.

       !?str[?]
              Refer  to  the most recent command containing str.  The trailing
              `?' is necessary if this reference is to be followed by a  modi-
              fier  or  followed by any text that is not to be considered part
              of str.

       !#     Refer to the current command line typed in so far.  The line  is
              treated  as if it were complete up to and including the word be-
              fore the one with the `!#' reference.

       !{...} Insulate a history reference from adjacent characters (if neces-
              sary).

   Word Designators
       A word designator indicates which word or words of a given command line
       are to be included in a history reference.  A `:' usually separates the
       event  specification  from the word designator.  It may be omitted only
       if the word designator begins with a `^', `$', `*', `-' or  `%'.   Word
       designators include:

       0      The first input word (command).
       n      The nth argument.
       ^      The first argument.  That is, 1.
       $      The last argument.
       %      The word matched by (the most recent) ?str search.
       x-y    A range of words; x defaults to 0.
       *      All the arguments, or a null value if there are none.
       x*     Abbreviates `x-$'.
       x-     Like `x*' but omitting word $.

       Note  that  a  `%' word designator works only when used in one of `!%',
       `!:%' or `!?str?:%', and only when used after a !? expansion  (possibly
       in  an  earlier  command).  Anything else results in an error, although
       the error may not be the most obvious one.

   Modifiers
       After the optional word designator, you can add a sequence  of  one  or
       more  of  the following modifiers, each preceded by a `:'.  These modi-
       fiers also work on the result of filename generation and parameter  ex-
       pansion, except where noted.

       a      Turn  a  file  name into an absolute path:  prepends the current
              directory, if necessary; remove `.' path  segments;  and  remove
              `..'  path  segments  and  the segments that immediately precede
              them.

              This transformation is agnostic about what is in the filesystem,
              i.e.  is  on  the logical, not the physical directory.  It takes
              place in the same manner as when changing directories when  nei-
              ther of the options CHASE_DOTS or CHASE_LINKS is set.  For exam-
              ple, `/before/here/../after'  is  always  transformed  to  `/be-
              fore/after', regardless of whether `/before/here' exists or what
              kind of object (dir, file, symlink, etc.) it is.

       A      Turn a file name into an absolute path as the `a' modifier does,
              and  then  pass the result through the realpath(3) library func-
              tion to resolve symbolic links.

              Note: on systems that do not have a  realpath(3)  library  func-
              tion,  symbolic  links are not resolved, so on those systems `a'
              and `A' are equivalent.

              Note: foo:A and realpath(foo) are different on some inputs.  For
              realpath(foo) semantics, see the `P` modifier.

       c      Resolve  a  command  name into an absolute path by searching the
              command path given by the PATH variable.  This does not work for
              commands  containing  directory parts.  Note also that this does
              not usually work as a glob qualifier unless a file of  the  same
              name is found in the current directory.

       e      Remove  all but the part of the filename extension following the
              `.'; see the definition of the filename  extension  in  the  de-
              scription  of the r modifier below.  Note that according to that
              definition the result will be empty if the string  ends  with  a
              `.'.

       h [ digits ]
              Remove a trailing pathname component, shortening the path by one
              directory level: this is the `head' of the pathname.  This works
              like  `dirname'.  If the h is followed immediately (with no spa-
              ces or other separator) by any number of decimal digits, and the
              value  of the resulting number is non-zero, that number of lead-
              ing components is preserved instead of the final component being
              removed.   In an absolute path the leading `/' is the first com-
              ponent, so,  for  example,  if  var=/my/path/to/something,  then
              ${var:h3}  substitutes  /my/path.   Consecutive `/'s are treated
              the same as a single `/'.  In parameter substitution, digits may
              only  be used if the expression is in braces, so for example the
              short form substitution $var:h2 is treated as ${var:h}2, not  as
              ${var:h2}.   No restriction applies to the use of digits in his-
              tory substitution or globbing qualifiers.   If  more  components
              are  requested  than are present, the entire path is substituted
              (so this does not trigger a `failed modifier' error  in  history
              expansion).

       l      Convert the words to all lowercase.

       p      Print  the  new  command but do not execute it.  Only works with
              history expansion.

       P      Turn a file name into an absolute path, like  realpath(3).   The
              resulting  path will be absolute, have neither `.' nor `..' com-
              ponents, and refer to the same  directory  entry  as  the  input
              filename.

              Unlike realpath(3), non-existent trailing components are permit-
              ted and preserved.

       q      Quote the substituted  words,  escaping  further  substitutions.
              Works with history expansion and parameter expansion, though for
              parameters it is only useful if the  resulting  text  is  to  be
              re-evaluated such as by eval.

       Q      Remove one level of quotes from the substituted words.

       r      Remove a filename extension leaving the root name.  Strings with
              no filename extension are not altered.  A filename extension  is
              a `.' followed by any number of characters (including zero) that
              are neither `.' nor `/' and that continue  to  the  end  of  the
              string.  For example, the extension of `foo.orig.c' is `.c', and
              `dir.c/foo' has no extension.

       s/l/r[/]
              Substitute r for l as described below.  The substitution is done
              only  for  the  first string that matches l.  For arrays and for
              filename generation, this applies to each word of  the  expanded
              text.  See below for further notes on substitutions.

              The  forms  `gs/l/r' and `s/l/r/:G' perform global substitution,
              i.e. substitute every occurrence of r for l.  Note that the g or
              :G must appear in exactly the position shown.

              See further notes on this form of substitution below.

       &      Repeat the previous s substitution.  Like s, may be preceded im-
              mediately by a g.  In parameter expansion the & must appear  in-
              side braces, and in filename generation it must be quoted with a
              backslash.

       t [ digits ]
              Remove all leading pathname components, leaving the final compo-
              nent  (tail).  This works like `basename'.  Any trailing slashes
              are first removed.  Decimal  digits  are  handled  as  described
              above  for  (h), but in this case that number of trailing compo-
              nents is preserved instead of the default 1; 0  is  treated  the
              same as 1.

       u      Convert the words to all uppercase.

       x      Like  q, but break into words at whitespace.  Does not work with
              parameter expansion.

       The s/l/r/ substitution works as follows.   By  default  the  left-hand
       side  of  substitutions  are  not patterns, but character strings.  Any
       character can be used as the delimiter in place of  `/'.   A  backslash
       quotes   the   delimiter   character.    The   character  `&',  in  the
       right-hand-side r, is replaced by the text from the  left-hand-side  l.
       The  `&'  can  be  quoted with a backslash.  A null l uses the previous
       string either from the previous l or from the contextual scan string  s
       from  `!?s'.  You can omit the rightmost delimiter if a newline immedi-
       ately follows r; the rightmost `?' in a context scan can  similarly  be
       omitted.  Note the same record of the last l and r is maintained across
       all forms of expansion.

       Note that if a `&' is used within glob qualifiers an extra backslash is
       needed as a & is a special character in this case.

       Also  note that the order of expansions affects the interpretation of l
       and r.  When used in a history expansion, which occurs before any other
       expansions, l and r are treated as literal strings (except as explained
       for HIST_SUBST_PATTERN below).  When used in parameter  expansion,  the
       replacement of r into the parameter's value is done first, and then any
       additional process, parameter, command, arithmetic, or brace references
       are applied, which may evaluate those substitutions and expansions more
       than once if l appears more than once in the starting value.  When used
       in a glob qualifier, any substitutions or expansions are performed once
       at the time the qualifier is parsed, even before  the  `:s'  expression
       itself is divided into l and r sides.

       If  the  option HIST_SUBST_PATTERN is set, l is treated as a pattern of
       the usual form described in  the  section  FILENAME  GENERATION  below.
       This can be used in all the places where modifiers are available; note,
       however, that in globbing qualifiers parameter substitution has already
       taken  place,  so parameters in the replacement string should be quoted
       to ensure they are replaced at the correct time.  Note also  that  com-
       plicated  patterns  used  in  globbing qualifiers may need the extended
       glob qualifier notation (#q:s/.../.../) in order for the shell to  rec-
       ognize the expression as a glob qualifier.  Further, note that bad pat-
       terns in the substitution are not subject to the NO_BAD_PATTERN  option
       so will cause an error.

       When  HIST_SUBST_PATTERN  is set, l may start with a # to indicate that
       the pattern must match at the start of the string  to  be  substituted,
       and a % may appear at the start or after an # to indicate that the pat-
       tern must match at the end of the string to be substituted.  The % or #
       may be quoted with two backslashes.

       For  example,  the following piece of filename generation code with the
       EXTENDED_GLOB option:

              print -r -- *.c(#q:s/#%(#b)s(*).c/'S${match[1]}.C'/)

       takes the expansion of *.c and  applies  the  glob  qualifiers  in  the
       (#q...)  expression, which consists of a substitution modifier anchored
       to the start and end of each word (#%).  This turns  on  backreferences
       ((#b)), so that the parenthesised subexpression is available in the re-
       placement string as ${match[1]}.  The replacement string is  quoted  so
       that the parameter is not substituted before the start of filename gen-
       eration.

       The following f, F, w and W modifiers work only with  parameter  expan-
       sion and filename generation.  They are listed here to provide a single
       point of reference for all modifiers.

       f      Repeats the immediately (without a colon) following modifier un-
              til the resulting word doesn't change any more.

       F:expr:
              Like  f,  but repeats only n times if the expression expr evalu-
              ates to n.  Any character can be used instead  of  the  `:';  if
              `(',  `[',  or `{' is used as the opening delimiter, the closing
              delimiter should be ')', `]', or `}', respectively.

       w      Makes the immediately following modifier work on  each  word  in
              the string.

       W:sep: Like  w  but  words are considered to be the parts of the string
              that are separated by sep. Any character can be used instead  of
              the `:'; opening parentheses are handled specially, see above.

PROCESS SUBSTITUTION
       Each  part  of  a  command  argument  that  takes  the  form `<(list)',
       `>(list)' or `=(list)' is subject to process substitution.  The expres-
       sion  may be preceded or followed by other strings except that, to pre-
       vent clashes with commonly occurring strings  and  patterns,  the  last
       form  must  occur at the start of a command argument, and the forms are
       only expanded when  first  parsing  command  or  assignment  arguments.
       Process  substitutions  may be used following redirection operators; in
       this case, the substitution must appear with no trailing string.

       Note that `<<(list)' is not a special syntax; it is  equivalent  to  `<
       <(list)', redirecting standard input from the result of process substi-
       tution.  Hence all the following  documentation  applies.   The  second
       form (with the space) is recommended for clarity.

       In the case of the < or > forms, the shell runs the commands in list as
       a subprocess of the job executing the shell command line.  If the  sys-
       tem supports the /dev/fd mechanism, the command argument is the name of
       the device file corresponding to a file descriptor; otherwise,  if  the
       system  supports  named  pipes  (FIFOs), the command argument will be a
       named pipe.  If the form with > is selected then writing on  this  spe-
       cial  file  will  provide  input for list.  If < is used, then the file
       passed as an argument will be connected  to  the  output  of  the  list
       process.  For example,

              paste <(cut -f1 file1) <(cut -f3 file2) |
              tee >(process1) >(process2) >/dev/null

       cuts fields 1 and 3 from the files file1 and file2 respectively, pastes
       the results together, and  sends  it  to  the  processes  process1  and
       process2.

       If  =(...)  is used instead of <(...), then the file passed as an argu-
       ment will be the name of a temporary file containing the output of  the
       list  process.   This  may  be used instead of the < form for a program
       that expects to lseek (see lseek(2)) on the input file.

       There is an optimisation for substitutions of the form =(<<<arg), where
       arg is a single-word argument to the here-string redirection <<<.  This
       form produces a file name containing the value of arg after any substi-
       tutions  have been performed.  This is handled entirely within the cur-
       rent shell.  This is  effectively  the  reverse  of  the  special  form
       $(<arg) which treats arg as a file name and replaces it with the file's
       contents.

       The = form is useful as both the /dev/fd and the named pipe implementa-
       tion of <(...) have drawbacks.  In the former case, some programmes may
       automatically close the file descriptor in  question  before  examining
       the file on the command line, particularly if this is necessary for se-
       curity reasons such as when the programme is running  setuid.   In  the
       second case, if the programme does not actually open the file, the sub-
       shell attempting to read from or write to the pipe will (in  a  typical
       implementation,  different  operating systems may have different behav-
       iour) block for ever and have to be killed explicitly.  In both  cases,
       the  shell actually supplies the information using a pipe, so that pro-
       grammes that expect to lseek (see lseek(2)) on the file will not work.

       Also note that the previous example can be  more  compactly  and  effi-
       ciently written (provided the MULTIOS option is set) as:

              paste <(cut -f1 file1) <(cut -f3 file2) \
              > >(process1) > >(process2)

       The  shell  uses  pipes  instead  of  FIFOs to implement the latter two
       process substitutions in the above example.

       There is an additional problem with >(process); when this  is  attached
       to  an  external command, the parent shell does not wait for process to
       finish and hence an immediately following command cannot  rely  on  the
       results  being  complete.  The problem and solution are the same as de-
       scribed in the section MULTIOS in zshmisc(1).  Hence  in  a  simplified
       version of the example above:

              paste <(cut -f1 file1) <(cut -f3 file2) > >(process)

       (note that no MULTIOS are involved), process will be run asynchronously
       as far as the parent shell is concerned.  The workaround is:

              { paste <(cut -f1 file1) <(cut -f3 file2) } > >(process)

       The extra processes here are spawned from the parent shell  which  will
       wait for their completion.

       Another problem arises any time a job with a substitution that requires
       a temporary file is disowned by the shell,  including  the  case  where
       `&!' or `&|' appears at the end of a command containing a substitution.
       In that case the temporary file will not be cleaned up as the shell  no
       longer  has  any memory of the job.  A workaround is to use a subshell,
       for example,

              (mycmd =(myoutput)) &!

       as the forked subshell will wait for the command to finish then  remove
       the temporary file.

       A  general  workaround  to ensure a process substitution endures for an
       appropriate length of time is to pass it as a parameter to an anonymous
       shell  function  (a  piece  of  shell code that is run immediately with
       function scope).  For example, this code:

              () {
                 print File $1:
                 cat $1
              } =(print This be the verse)

       outputs something resembling the following

              File /tmp/zsh6nU0kS:
              This be the verse

       The temporary file created by the process substitution will be  deleted
       when the function exits.

PARAMETER EXPANSION
       The  character `$' is used to introduce parameter expansions.  See zsh-
       param(1) for a description of parameters, including arrays, associative
       arrays, and subscript notation to access individual array elements.

       Note  in  particular the fact that words of unquoted parameters are not
       automatically split on whitespace unless the  option  SH_WORD_SPLIT  is
       set;  see references to this option below for more details.  This is an
       important difference from other shells.  However, as in  other  shells,
       null words are elided from unquoted parameters' expansions.

       With default options, after the assignments:

              array=("first word" "" "third word")
              scalar="only word"

       then  $array  substitutes two words, `first word' and `third word', and
       $scalar substitutes a single word `only word'.  Note that  second  ele-
       ment of array was elided.  Scalar parameters can be elided too if their
       value is null (empty).  To  avoid  elision,  use  quoting  as  follows:
       "$scalar"  for  scalars  and "${array[@]}" or "${(@)array}" for arrays.
       (The last two forms are equivalent.)

       Parameter expansions can involve flags, as  in  `${(@kv)aliases}',  and
       other  operators,  such as `${PREFIX:-"/usr/local"}'.  Parameter expan-
       sions can also be nested.  These topics will be introduced below.   The
       full rules are complicated and are noted at the end.

       In  the  expansions discussed below that require a pattern, the form of
       the pattern is the same as that used for filename generation;  see  the
       section  `Filename  Generation'.   Note that these patterns, along with
       the replacement text of any substitutions, are  themselves  subject  to
       parameter  expansion,  command  substitution, and arithmetic expansion.
       In addition to the following operations, the colon modifiers  described
       in  the  section  `Modifiers' in the section `History Expansion' can be
       applied:  for example, ${i:s/foo/bar/} performs string substitution  on
       the expansion of parameter $i.

       In  the  following descriptions, `word' refers to a single word substi-
       tuted on the command line, not necessarily a space delimited word.

       ${name}
              The value, if any, of the parameter name  is  substituted.   The
              braces are required if the expansion is to be followed by a let-
              ter, digit, or underscore that is not to be interpreted as  part
              of  name.   In  addition, more complicated forms of substitution
              usually require the braces to be present; exceptions, which only
              apply  if  the  option  KSH_ARRAYS is not set, are a single sub-
              script or any colon modifiers appearing after the name,  or  any
              of the characters `^', `=', `~', `#' or `+' appearing before the
              name, all of which work with or without braces.

              If name is an array parameter, and the KSH_ARRAYS option is  not
              set,  then the value of each element of name is substituted, one
              element per word.  Otherwise, the expansion results in one  word
              only;  with  KSH_ARRAYS,  this is the first element of an array.
              No  field  splitting  is  done  on   the   result   unless   the
              SH_WORD_SPLIT   option  is  set.   See  also  the  flags  =  and
              s:string:.

       ${+name}
              If name is the name of a set parameter `1' is substituted,  oth-
              erwise `0' is substituted.

       ${name-word}
       ${name:-word}
              If  name is set, or in the second form is non-null, then substi-
              tute its value; otherwise substitute word.  In the  second  form
              name may be omitted, in which case word is always substituted.

       ${name+word}
       ${name:+word}
              If  name is set, or in the second form is non-null, then substi-
              tute word; otherwise substitute nothing.

       ${name=word}
       ${name:=word}
       ${name::=word}
              In the first form, if name is unset then set it to word; in  the
              second  form,  if name is unset or null then set it to word; and
              in the third form, unconditionally set name  to  word.   In  all
              forms, the value of the parameter is then substituted.

       ${name?word}
       ${name:?word}
              In the first form, if name is set, or in the second form if name
              is both set and non-null, then substitute its value;  otherwise,
              print  word and exit from the shell.  Interactive shells instead
              return to the prompt.  If word is omitted, then a standard  mes-
              sage is printed.

       In  any of the above expressions that test a variable and substitute an
       alternate word, note that you can use standard  shell  quoting  in  the
       word   value   to  selectively  override  the  splitting  done  by  the
       SH_WORD_SPLIT option and the = flag, but not splitting by the s:string:
       flag.

       In  the  following expressions, when name is an array and the substitu-
       tion is not quoted, or if the `(@)' flag or the name[@] syntax is used,
       matching and replacement is performed on each array element separately.

       ${name#pattern}
       ${name##pattern}
              If  the pattern matches the beginning of the value of name, then
              substitute the value of name with the matched  portion  deleted;
              otherwise,  just  substitute  the  value  of name.  In the first
              form, the smallest matching pattern is preferred; in the  second
              form, the largest matching pattern is preferred.

       ${name%pattern}
       ${name%%pattern}
              If  the  pattern matches the end of the value of name, then sub-
              stitute the value of name with the matched portion deleted; oth-
              erwise,  just  substitute the value of name.  In the first form,
              the smallest matching pattern is preferred; in the second  form,
              the largest matching pattern is preferred.

       ${name:#pattern}
              If  the  pattern  matches the value of name, then substitute the
              empty string; otherwise, just substitute the value of name.   If
              name  is  an  array the matching array elements are removed (use
              the `(M)' flag to remove the non-matched elements).

       ${name:|arrayname}
              If arrayname is the name (N.B., not contents) of an array  vari-
              able,  then any elements contained in arrayname are removed from
              the substitution of name.  If the substitution is scalar, either
              because  name  is a scalar variable or the expression is quoted,
              the elements of arrayname are instead tested against the  entire
              expression.

       ${name:*arrayname}
              Similar  to  the  preceding  substitution,  but  in the opposite
              sense, so that entries present in both the original substitution
              and as elements of arrayname are retained and others removed.

       ${name:^arrayname}
       ${name:^^arrayname}
              Zips  two arrays, such that the output array is twice as long as
              the shortest (longest for `:^^') of name and arrayname, with the
              elements  alternatingly being picked from them. For `:^', if one
              of the input arrays is longer, the output will stop when the end
              of the shorter array is reached.  Thus,

                     a=(1 2 3 4); b=(a b); print ${a:^b}

              will  output  `1  a 2 b'.  For `:^^', then the input is repeated
              until all of the longer array has been used  up  and  the  above
              will output `1 a 2 b 3 a 4 b'.

              Either  or  both inputs may be a scalar, they will be treated as
              an array of length 1 with the scalar as the only element. If ei-
              ther array is empty, the other array is output with no extra el-
              ements inserted.

              Currently the following code will output `a b' and  `1'  as  two
              separate  elements,  which  can  be unexpected. The second print
              provides a workaround which should continue to work if  this  is
              changed.

                     a=(a b); b=(1 2); print -l "${a:^b}"; print -l "${${a:^b}}"

       ${name:offset}
       ${name:offset:length}
              This  syntax  gives effects similar to parameter subscripting in
              the form $name[start,end], but is compatible with other  shells;
              note  that  both  offset  and length are interpreted differently
              from the components of a subscript.

              If offset is non-negative, then if the variable name is a scalar
              substitute  the  contents  starting  offset  characters from the
              first character of the string, and if name is an  array  substi-
              tute  elements  starting offset elements from the first element.
              If length is given, substitute that many characters or elements,
              otherwise the entire rest of the scalar or array.

              A positive offset is always treated as the offset of a character
              or element in name from the first character or  element  of  the
              array  (this  is  different from native zsh subscript notation).
              Hence 0 refers to the first character or element  regardless  of
              the setting of the option KSH_ARRAYS.

              A negative offset counts backwards from the end of the scalar or
              array, so that -1 corresponds to the last character or  element,
              and so on.

              When positive, length counts from the offset position toward the
              end of the scalar or array.  When negative, length  counts  back
              from  the  end.  If this results in a position smaller than off-
              set, a diagnostic is printed and nothing is substituted.

              The option MULTIBYTE is obeyed, i.e. the offset and length count
              multibyte characters where appropriate.

              offset and length undergo the same set of shell substitutions as
              for scalar assignment; in addition, they  are  then  subject  to
              arithmetic evaluation.  Hence, for example

                     print ${foo:3}
                     print ${foo: 1 + 2}
                     print ${foo:$(( 1 + 2))}
                     print ${foo:$(echo 1 + 2)}

              all  have the same effect, extracting the string starting at the
              fourth character of $foo if the substitution would otherwise re-
              turn  a  scalar,  or the array starting at the fourth element if
              $foo would return an array.  Note that with the  option  KSH_AR-
              RAYS  $foo always returns a scalar (regardless of the use of the
              offset syntax) and a form such as ${foo[*]:3} is required to ex-
              tract elements of an array named foo.

              If  offset  is  negative, the - may not appear immediately after
              the : as this indicates the ${name:-word} form of  substitution.
              Instead,  a  space  may  be inserted before the -.  Furthermore,
              neither offset nor length may begin with an alphabetic character
              or  & as these are used to indicate history-style modifiers.  To
              substitute a value from a variable, the recommended approach  is
              to  precede it with a $ as this signifies the intention (parame-
              ter substitution can easily be rendered unreadable); however, as
              arithmetic  substitution  is  performed,  the  expression ${var:
              offs} does work, retrieving the offset from $offs.

              For further compatibility with other shells there is  a  special
              case  for  array offset 0.  This usually accesses the first ele-
              ment of the array.  However, if the substitution refers  to  the
              positional parameter array, e.g. $@ or $*, then offset 0 instead
              refers to $0, offset 1 refers to $1, and so on.  In other words,
              the  positional  parameter  array  is  effectively  extended  by
              prepending $0.  Hence ${*:0:1} substitutes $0 and ${*:1:1}  sub-
              stitutes $1.

       ${name/pattern/repl}
       ${name//pattern/repl}
       ${name:/pattern/repl}
              Replace  the  longest possible match of pattern in the expansion
              of parameter name by string repl.  The first form replaces  just
              the  first  occurrence, the second form all occurrences, and the
              third form replaces only if pattern matches the  entire  string.
              Both pattern and repl are subject to double-quoted substitution,
              so that expressions like ${name/$opat/$npat} will work, but obey
              the  usual rule that pattern characters in $opat are not treated
              specially unless either the option GLOB_SUBST is set,  or  $opat
              is instead substituted as ${~opat}.

              The pattern may begin with a `#', in which case the pattern must
              match at the start of the string, or `%', in which case it  must
              match  at  the end of the string, or `#%' in which case the pat-
              tern must match the entire string.  The repl  may  be  an  empty
              string,  in  which  case  the final `/' may also be omitted.  To
              quote the final `/' in other cases it should be  preceded  by  a
              single backslash; this is not necessary if the `/' occurs inside
              a substituted parameter.  Note also that the `#',  `%'  and  `#%
              are  not  active  if  they occur inside a substituted parameter,
              even at the start.

              If, after quoting rules apply, ${name} expands to an array,  the
              replacements  act  on  each element individually.  Note also the
              effect of the I and S parameter expansion flags below;  however,
              the flags M, R, B, E and N are not useful.

              For example,

                     foo="twinkle twinkle little star" sub="t*e" rep="spy"
                     print ${foo//${~sub}/$rep}
                     print ${(S)foo//${~sub}/$rep}

              Here, the `~' ensures that the text of $sub is treated as a pat-
              tern rather than a plain string.  In the first case, the longest
              match for t*e is substituted and the result is `spy star', while
              in the second case, the shortest matches are taken and  the  re-
              sult is `spy spy lispy star'.

       ${#spec}
              If spec is one of the above substitutions, substitute the length
              in characters of the result instead of the  result  itself.   If
              spec  is  an array expression, substitute the number of elements
              of the result.  This has the side-effect that joining is skipped
              even  in quoted forms, which may affect other sub-expressions in
              spec.  Note that `^', `=', and `~', below, must  appear  to  the
              left of `#' when these forms are combined.

              If the option POSIX_IDENTIFIERS is not set, and spec is a simple
              name, then the braces are optional; this is true even  for  spe-
              cial  parameters  so  e.g.  $#-  and  $#* take the length of the
              string $- and the array $* respectively.   If  POSIX_IDENTIFIERS
              is set, then braces are required for the # to be treated in this
              fashion.

       ${^spec}
              Turn on the RC_EXPAND_PARAM option for the evaluation  of  spec;
              if  the  `^'  is doubled, turn it off.  When this option is set,
              array expansions of the form foo${xx}bar, where the parameter xx
              is  set  to  (a  b  c),  are  substituted  with `fooabar foobbar
              foocbar' instead of the default `fooa b  cbar'.   Note  that  an
              empty array will therefore cause all arguments to be removed.

              Internally, each such expansion is converted into the equivalent
              list   for   brace    expansion.     E.g.,    ${^var}    becomes
              {$var[1],$var[2],...}, and is processed as described in the sec-
              tion `Brace Expansion' below: note, however, the expansion  hap-
              pens  immediately,  with  any explicit brace expansion happening
              later.  If word splitting is also  in  effect  the  $var[N]  may
              themselves be split into different list elements.

       ${=spec}
              Perform  word splitting using the rules for SH_WORD_SPLIT during
              the evaluation of spec, but regardless of whether the  parameter
              appears  in  double  quotes; if the `=' is doubled, turn it off.
              This forces parameter expansions to be split into separate words
              before  substitution, using IFS as a delimiter.  This is done by
              default in most other shells.

              Note that splitting is applied to word in the  assignment  forms
              of  spec  before  the assignment to name is performed.  This af-
              fects the result of array assignments with the A flag.

       ${~spec}
              Turn on the GLOB_SUBST option for the evaluation of spec; if the
              `~'  is  doubled,  turn  it  off.   When this option is set, the
              string resulting from the expansion will  be  interpreted  as  a
              pattern anywhere that is possible, such as in filename expansion
              and filename generation and pattern-matching contexts  like  the
              right hand side of the `=' and `!=' operators in conditions.

              In  nested  substitutions, note that the effect of the ~ applies
              to the result of the current level of substitution.  A surround-
              ing  pattern  operation on the result may cancel it.  Hence, for
              example, if the parameter foo is set to  *,  ${~foo//\*/*.c}  is
              substituted  by  the pattern *.c, which may be expanded by file-
              name  generation,  but  ${${~foo}//\*/*.c}  substitutes  to  the
              string *.c, which will not be further expanded.

       If  a ${...} type parameter expression or a $(...) type command substi-
       tution is used in place of name above, it is expanded first and the re-
       sult  is  used as if it were the value of name.  Thus it is possible to
       perform nested operations:  ${${foo#head}%tail} substitutes  the  value
       of  $foo  with both `head' and `tail' deleted.  The form with $(...) is
       often useful in combination with the flags described next; see the  ex-
       amples  below.  Each name or nested ${...} in a parameter expansion may
       also be followed by a subscript expression as described in Array Param-
       eters in zshparam(1).

       Note  that double quotes may appear around nested expressions, in which
       case  only  the  part  inside  is  treated  as  quoted;  for   example,
       ${(f)"$(foo)"} quotes the result of $(foo), but the flag `(f)' (see be-
       low) is applied using the rules for unquoted expansions.  Note  further
       that  quotes  are  themselves  nested  in this context; for example, in
       "${(@f)"$(foo)"}", there are two sets of quotes,  one  surrounding  the
       whole  expression,  the other (redundant) surrounding the $(foo) as be-
       fore.

   Parameter Expansion Flags
       If the opening brace is directly followed by  an  opening  parenthesis,
       the  string  up  to the matching closing parenthesis will be taken as a
       list of flags.  In cases where repeating a flag is meaningful, the rep-
       etitions need not be consecutive; for example, `(q%q%q)' means the same
       thing as the more readable `(%%qqq)'.  The  following  flags  are  sup-
       ported:

       #      Evaluate  the  resulting words as numeric expressions and output
              the characters corresponding to  the  resulting  integer.   Note
              that  this  form  is entirely distinct from use of the # without
              parentheses.

              If the MULTIBYTE option is set and the number  is  greater  than
              127  (i.e.  not  an  ASCII character) it is treated as a Unicode
              character.

       %      Expand all % escapes in the resulting words in the same  way  as
              in prompts (see EXPANSION OF PROMPT SEQUENCES in zshmisc(1)). If
              this flag is given twice, full prompt expansion is done  on  the
              resulting words, depending on the setting of the PROMPT_PERCENT,
              PROMPT_SUBST and PROMPT_BANG options.

       @      In double quotes, array elements are put  into  separate  words.
              E.g.,   `"${(@)foo}"'   is   equivalent   to  `"${foo[@]}"'  and
              `"${(@)foo[1,2]}"' is the same as `"$foo[1]"  "$foo[2]"'.   This
              is  distinct  from field splitting by the f, s or z flags, which
              still applies within each array element.

       A      Convert the substitution into an array expression,  even  if  it
              otherwise  would be scalar.  This has lower precedence than sub-
              scripting, so one level of nested expansion is required in order
              that  subscripts apply to array elements.  Thus ${${(A)name}[1]}
              yields the full value of name when name is scalar.

              This assigns an array parameter with `${...=...}', `${...:=...}'
              or  `${...::=...}'.   If this flag is repeated (as in `AA'), as-
              signs an associative array parameter.  Assignment is made before
              sorting  or padding; if field splitting is active, the word part
              is split before assignment.  The name part may be a  subscripted
              range  for ordinary arrays; when assigning an associative array,
              the word part must be converted to an array, for example by  us-
              ing `${(AA)=name=...}' to activate field splitting.

              Surrounding  context  such  as  additional nesting or use of the
              value in a scalar assignment may cause the array  to  be  joined
              back into a single string again.

       a      Sort  in  array  index order; when combined with `O' sort in re-
              verse array index order.  Note that `a' is therefore  equivalent
              to  the default but `Oa' is useful for obtaining an array's ele-
              ments in reverse order.

       b      Quote with backslashes only characters that are special to  pat-
              tern  matching. This is useful when the contents of the variable
              are to be tested using GLOB_SUBST, including the ${~...} switch.

              Quoting using one of the q family of flags  does  not  work  for
              this  purpose  since  quotes  are  not stripped from non-pattern
              characters by GLOB_SUBST.  In other words,

                     pattern=${(q)str}
                     [[ $str = ${~pattern} ]]

              works if $str is `a*b' but not if it is `a b', whereas

                     pattern=${(b)str}
                     [[ $str = ${~pattern} ]]

              is always true for any possible value of $str.

       c      With ${#name}, count the total number of characters in an array,
              as  if  the elements were concatenated with spaces between them.
              This is not a true join of the array, so other expressions  used
              with  this  flag may have an effect on the elements of the array
              before it is counted.

       C      Capitalize the resulting words.  `Words' in this case refers  to
              sequences  of  alphanumeric characters separated by non-alphanu-
              merics, not to words that result from field splitting.

       D      Assume the string or array elements contain directories and  at-
              tempt to substitute the leading part of these by names.  The re-
              mainder of the path (the whole of it if the leading part was not
              substituted) is then quoted so that the whole string can be used
              as a shell argument.  This is the reverse of  `~'  substitution:
              see the section FILENAME EXPANSION below.

       e      Perform  single  word  shell expansions, namely parameter expan-
              sion, command substitution and arithmetic expansion, on the  re-
              sult.  Such  expansions can be nested but too deep recursion may
              have unpredictable effects.

       f      Split the result of the expansion at newlines. This is a  short-
              hand for `ps:\n:'.

       F      Join  the words of arrays together using newline as a separator.
              This is a shorthand for `pj:\n:'.

       g:opts:
              Process escape sequences like the echo builtin when  no  options
              are  given (g::).  With the o option, octal escapes don't take a
              leading zero.  With the c option, sequences like `^X'  are  also
              processed.   With the e option, processes `\M-t' and similar se-
              quences like the print builtin.  With both of the o  and  e  op-
              tions,  behaves  like  the  print builtin except that in none of
              these modes is `\c' interpreted.

       i      Sort case-insensitively.  May be combined with `n' or `O'.

       k      If name refers to an associative array, substitute the keys (el-
              ement  names) rather than the values of the elements.  Used with
              subscripts (including ordinary arrays), force indices or keys to
              be  substituted  even  if  the  subscript form refers to values.
              However, this flag may not be combined  with  subscript  ranges.
              With  the KSH_ARRAYS option a subscript `[*]' or `[@]' is needed
              to operate on the whole array, as usual.

       L      Convert all letters in the result to lower case.

       n      Sort decimal integers numerically; if the first differing  char-
              acters  of  two test strings are not digits, sorting is lexical.
              Integers with more initial zeroes are sorted before  those  with
              fewer  or  none.   Hence  the  array `foo1 foo02 foo2 foo3 foo20
              foo23' is sorted into the order shown.  May be combined with `i'
              or `O'.

       o      Sort  the resulting words in ascending order; if this appears on
              its own the sorting is lexical and  case-sensitive  (unless  the
              locale renders it case-insensitive).  Sorting in ascending order
              is the default for other forms of sorting, so this is ignored if
              combined with `a', `i' or `n'.

       O      Sort  the  resulting words in descending order; `O' without `a',
              `i' or `n' sorts in reverse lexical order.  May be combined with
              `a', `i' or `n' to reverse the order of sorting.

       P      This forces the value of the parameter name to be interpreted as
              a further parameter name, whose value will be used where  appro-
              priate.   Note  that flags set with one of the typeset family of
              commands (in particular case transformations) are not applied to
              the value of name used in this fashion.

              If used with a nested parameter or command substitution, the re-
              sult of that will be taken as a parameter name in the same  way.
              For  example,  if  you have `foo=bar' and `bar=baz', the strings
              ${(P)foo}, ${(P)${foo}}, and ${(P)$(echo bar)} will be  expanded
              to `baz'.

              Likewise, if the reference is itself nested, the expression with
              the flag is treated as if it were directly replaced by  the  pa-
              rameter  name.   It is an error if this nested substitution pro-
              duces an array  with  more  than  one  word.   For  example,  if
              `name=assoc'  where the parameter assoc is an associative array,
              then `${${(P)name}[elt]}' refers to the element of the  associa-
              tive subscripted `elt'.

       q      Quote  characters that are special to the shell in the resulting
              words with backslashes; unprintable or  invalid  characters  are
              quoted  using  the  $'\NNN'  form, with separate quotes for each
              octet.

              If this flag is given twice, the resulting words are  quoted  in
              single  quotes  and  if  it  is given three times, the words are
              quoted in double quotes; in these forms no special  handling  of
              unprintable  or invalid characters is attempted.  If the flag is
              given four times, the words are quoted in single quotes preceded
              by  a  $.  Note that in all three of these forms quoting is done
              unconditionally, even if this does not change the  way  the  re-
              sulting string would be interpreted by the shell.

              If a q- is given (only a single q may appear), a minimal form of
              single quoting is used that only quotes the string if needed  to
              protect  special characters.  Typically this form gives the most
              readable output.

              If a q+ is given, an extended form of minimal  quoting  is  used
              that  causes unprintable characters to be rendered using $'...'.
              This quoting is similar to that used by the output of values  by
              the typeset family of commands.

       Q      Remove one level of quotes from the resulting words.

       t      Use  a  string  describing  the  type of the parameter where the
              value of the parameter would usually appear.  This  string  con-
              sists  of keywords separated by hyphens (`-'). The first keyword
              in the string  describes  the  main  type,  it  can  be  one  of
              `scalar',  `array',  `integer',  `float'  or  `association'. The
              other keywords describe the type in more detail:

              local  for local parameters

              left   for left justified parameters

              right_blanks
                     for right justified parameters with leading blanks

              right_zeros
                     for right justified parameters with leading zeros

              lower  for parameters whose value is converted to all lower case
                     when it is expanded

              upper  for parameters whose value is converted to all upper case
                     when it is expanded

              readonly
                     for readonly parameters

              tag    for tagged parameters

              export for exported parameters

              unique for arrays which keep only the first occurrence of dupli-
                     cated values

              hide   for parameters with the `hide' flag

              hideval
                     for parameters with the `hideval' flag

              special
                     for special parameters defined by the shell

       u      Expand only the first occurrence of each unique word.

       U      Convert all letters in the result to upper case.

       v      Used  with k, substitute (as two consecutive words) both the key
              and the value of each associative array element.  Used with sub-
              scripts,  force  values  to be substituted even if the subscript
              form refers to indices or keys.

       V      Make any special characters in the resulting words visible.

       w      With ${#name}, count words in arrays or strings; the s flag  may
              be used to set a word delimiter.

       W      Similar  to  w  with the difference that empty words between re-
              peated delimiters are also counted.

       X      With this flag, parsing errors occurring with the  Q,  e  and  #
              flags  or  the  pattern matching forms such as `${name#pattern}'
              are reported.  Without the flag, errors are silently ignored.

       z      Split the result of the expansion into words using shell parsing
              to  find  the words, i.e. taking into account any quoting in the
              value.  Comments are  not  treated  specially  but  as  ordinary
              strings, similar to interactive shells with the INTERACTIVE_COM-
              MENTS option unset (however, see the Z flag  below  for  related
              options)

              Note  that  this  is  done  very late, even later than the `(s)'
              flag. So to access single words in the result use nested  expan-
              sions as in `${${(z)foo}[2]}'. Likewise, to remove the quotes in
              the resulting words use `${(Q)${(z)foo}}'.

       0      Split the result of the expansion on  null  bytes.   This  is  a
              shorthand for `ps:\0:'.

       The following flags (except p) are followed by one or more arguments as
       shown.  Any character, or the matching pairs `(...)', `{...}', `[...]',
       or  `<...>',  may  be  used in place of a colon as delimiters, but note
       that when a flag takes more than one argument, a matched pair of delim-
       iters must surround each argument.

       p      Recognize  the  same  escape  sequences  as the print builtin in
              string arguments to any of the flags described below that follow
              this argument.

              Alternatively,  with  this option string arguments may be in the
              form $var in which case the value of  the  variable  is  substi-
              tuted.   Note  this form is strict; the string argument does not
              undergo general parameter expansion.

              For example,

                     sep=:
                     val=a:b:c
                     print ${(ps.$sep.)val}

              splits the variable on a :.

       ~      Strings inserted into the expansion by any of  the  flags  below
              are to be treated as patterns.  This applies to the string argu-
              ments of flags that follow ~ within the same set of parentheses.
              Compare with ~ outside parentheses, which forces the entire sub-
              stituted string to be treated as a pattern.  Hence, for example,

                     [[ "?" = ${(~j.|.)array} ]]

              treats `|' as a pattern and succeeds if and only if $array  con-
              tains  the  string  `?' as an element.  The ~ may be repeated to
              toggle the behaviour; its effect only lasts to the  end  of  the
              parenthesised group.

       j:string:
              Join  the  words of arrays together using string as a separator.
              Note that this occurs before field splitting  by  the  s:string:
              flag or the SH_WORD_SPLIT option.

       l:expr::string1::string2:
              Pad  the  resulting  words on the left.  Each word will be trun-
              cated if required and placed in a field expr characters wide.

              The arguments :string1: and :string2: are optional; neither, the
              first, or both may be given.  Note that the same pairs of delim-
              iters must be used for each of the three arguments.   The  space
              to  the  left will be filled with string1 (concatenated as often
              as needed) or spaces if string1 is not given.  If  both  string1
              and  string2 are given, string2 is inserted once directly to the
              left of each word, truncated if  necessary,  before  string1  is
              used to produce any remaining padding.

              If either of string1 or string2 is present but empty, i.e. there
              are two delimiters together at that point, the  first  character
              of $IFS is used instead.

              If  the  MULTIBYTE  option  is in effect, the flag m may also be
              given, in which case widths will be used for the calculation  of
              padding;  otherwise  individual multibyte characters are treated
              as occupying one unit of width.

              If the MULTIBYTE option is not  in  effect,  each  byte  in  the
              string is treated as occupying one unit of width.

              Control  characters are always assumed to be one unit wide; this
              allows the mechanism to be used for  generating  repetitions  of
              control characters.

       m      Only  useful together with one of the flags l or r or with the #
              length operator when the MULTIBYTE option is in effect.  Use the
              character  width  reported by the system in calculating how much
              of the string it occupies or the overall length of  the  string.
              Most printable characters have a width of one unit, however cer-
              tain Asian character sets and certain special effects use  wider
              characters; combining characters have zero width.  Non-printable
              characters are arbitrarily counted as zero width; how they would
              actually be displayed will vary.

              If  the  m  is repeated, the character either counts zero (if it
              has zero width), else one.  For printable character strings this
              has  the  effect of counting the number of glyphs (visibly sepa-
              rate characters), except for the case where combining characters
              themselves have non-zero width (true in certain alphabets).

       r:expr::string1::string2:
              As  l, but pad the words on the right and insert string2 immedi-
              ately to the right of the string to be padded.

              Left and right padding may be used together.  In this  case  the
              strategy  is  to  apply  left padding to the first half width of
              each of the resulting words, and right  padding  to  the  second
              half.   If  the string to be padded has odd width the extra pad-
              ding is applied on the left.

       s:string:
              Force field splitting at the  separator  string.   Note  that  a
              string  of  two  or  more characters means that all of them must
              match in sequence; this differs from the  treatment  of  two  or
              more  characters  in the IFS parameter.  See also the = flag and
              the SH_WORD_SPLIT option.  An empty string may also be given  in
              which case every character will be a separate element.

              For historical reasons, the usual behaviour that empty array el-
              ements are retained inside double quotes is disabled for  arrays
              generated by splitting; hence the following:

                     line="one::three"
                     print -l "${(s.:.)line}"

              produces  two  lines  of output for one and three and elides the
              empty field.  To override this behaviour, supply the `(@)'  flag
              as well, i.e.  "${(@s.:.)line}".

       Z:opts:
              As z but takes a combination of option letters between a follow-
              ing pair of delimiter characters.  With no options the effect is
              identical to z.  (Z+c+) causes comments to be parsed as a string
              and retained; any field in the resulting array beginning with an
              unquoted comment character is a comment.  (Z+C+) causes comments
              to be parsed and removed.  The rule for  comments  is  standard:
              anything  between  a  word  starting with the third character of
              $HISTCHARS, default #, up to the  next  newline  is  a  comment.
              (Z+n+) causes unquoted newlines to be treated as ordinary white-
              space, else they are treated as if they are  shell  code  delim-
              iters  and converted to semicolons.  Options are combined within
              the same set of delimiters, e.g. (Z+Cn+).

       _:flags:
              The underscore (_) flag is reserved for future use.  As of  this
              revision of zsh, there are no valid flags; anything following an
              underscore, other than an empty pair of delimiters,  is  treated
              as an error, and the flag itself has no effect.

       The  following  flags  are meaningful with the ${...#...} or ${...%...}
       forms.  The S and I flags may also be used with the ${.../...} forms.

       S      With # or ##, search for the match that starts  closest  to  the
              start  of  the string (a `substring match'). Of all matches at a
              particular position, # selects the shortest and ## the longest:

                     % str="aXbXc"
                     % echo ${(S)str#X*}
                     abXc
                     % echo ${(S)str##X*}
                     a
                     %

              With % or %%, search for the match that starts  closest  to  the
              end of the string:

                     % str="aXbXc"
                     % echo ${(S)str%X*}
                     aXbc
                     % echo ${(S)str%%X*}
                     aXb
                     %

              (Note that % and %% don't search for the match that ends closest
              to the end of the string, as one might expect.)

              With  substitution  via  ${.../...}  or  ${...//...},  specifies
              non-greedy matching, i.e. that the shortest instead of the long-
              est match should be replaced:

                     % str="abab"
                     % echo ${str/*b/_}
                     _
                     % echo ${(S)str/*b/_}
                     _ab
                     %

       I:expr:
              Search the exprth match (where  expr  evaluates  to  a  number).
              This only applies when searching for substrings, either with the
              S flag, or with ${.../...} (only the  exprth  match  is  substi-
              tuted)  or  ${...//...} (all matches from the exprth on are sub-
              stituted).  The default is to take the first match.

              The exprth match is counted such that there  is  either  one  or
              zero matches from each starting position in the string, although
              for global substitution matches  overlapping  previous  replace-
              ments  are  ignored.  With the ${...%...} and ${...%%...} forms,
              the starting position for the match moves backwards from the end
              as the index increases, while with the other forms it moves for-
              ward from the start.

              Hence with the string
                     which switch is the right switch for Ipswich?
              substitutions of the form ${(SI:N:)string#w*ch} as  N  increases
              from  1  will  match  and  remove  `which', `witch', `witch' and
              `wich'; the form using `##' will match and remove `which  switch
              is the right switch for Ipswich', `witch is the right switch for
              Ipswich', `witch for Ipswich' and `wich'.  The  form  using  `%'
              will  remove  the same matches as for `#', but in reverse order,
              and the form using `%%' will remove the same matches as for `##'
              in reverse order.

       B      Include the index of the beginning of the match in the result.

       E      Include the index one character past the end of the match in the
              result (note this is inconsistent with other uses  of  parameter
              index).

       M      Include the matched portion in the result.

       N      Include the length of the match in the result.

       R      Include the unmatched portion in the result (the Rest).

   Rules
       Here  is  a  summary  of  the rules for substitution; this assumes that
       braces are present around the substitution, i.e. ${...}.  Some particu-
       lar  examples are given below.  Note that the Zsh Development Group ac-
       cepts no responsibility for any brain damage which may occur during the
       reading of the following rules.

       1. Nested substitution
              If  multiple  nested  ${...}  forms are present, substitution is
              performed from the inside outwards.  At each level, the  substi-
              tution takes account of whether the current value is a scalar or
              an array, whether the whole substitution is  in  double  quotes,
              and  what  flags  are supplied to the current level of substitu-
              tion, just as if the nested  substitution  were  the  outermost.
              The  flags are not propagated up to enclosing substitutions; the
              nested substitution will return either a scalar or an  array  as
              determined by the flags, possibly adjusted for quoting.  All the
              following steps take place where applicable  at  all  levels  of
              substitution.

              Note  that,  unless the `(P)' flag is present, the flags and any
              subscripts apply directly to the value of the  nested  substitu-
              tion;  for  example, the expansion ${${foo}} behaves exactly the
              same as ${foo}.  When the `(P)' flag is present in a nested sub-
              stitution, the other substitution rules are applied to the value
              before it is interpreted as a name, so ${${(P)foo}}  may  differ
              from ${(P)foo}.

              At  each nested level of substitution, the substituted words un-
              dergo all forms of single-word substitution (i.e.  not  filename
              generation),  including  command substitution, arithmetic expan-
              sion and filename expansion (i.e. leading ~ and =).   Thus,  for
              example,  ${${:-=cat}:h}  expands to the directory where the cat
              program resides.  (Explanation: the internal substitution has no
              parameter  but  a default value =cat, which is expanded by file-
              name expansion to a full path; the outer substitution  then  ap-
              plies the modifier :h and takes the directory part of the path.)

       2. Internal parameter flags
              Any  parameter  flags  set  by one of the typeset family of com-
              mands, in particular the -L, -R, -Z, -u and -l options for  pad-
              ding  and  capitalization, are applied directly to the parameter
              value.  Note these flags are options to the command, e.g. `type-
              set  -Z'; they are not the same as the flags used within parame-
              ter substitutions.

              At the outermost level of substitution, the `(P)' flag (rule 4.)
              ignores  these  transformations and uses the unmodified value of
              the parameter as the name to be replaced.  This is  usually  the
              desired  behavior  because  padding may make the value syntacti-
              cally illegal as a parameter name, but if capitalization changes
              are desired, use the ${${(P)foo}} form (rule 25.).

       3. Parameter subscripting
              If the value is a raw parameter reference with a subscript, such
              as ${var[3]}, the effect of subscripting is applied directly  to
              the  parameter.   Subscripts are evaluated left to right; subse-
              quent subscripts apply to the scalar or array value  yielded  by
              the  previous  subscript.  Thus if var is an array, ${var[1][2]}
              is the second character of the first word, but ${var[2,4][2]} is
              the entire third word (the second word of the range of words two
              through four of the original array).  Any number  of  subscripts
              may  appear.   Flags such as `(k)' and `(v)' which alter the re-
              sult of subscripting are applied.

       4. Parameter name replacement
              At the outermost level of nesting only, the `(P)'  flag  is  ap-
              plied.   This treats the value so far as a parameter name (which
              may include a subscript expression) and replaces that  with  the
              corresponding value.  This replacement occurs later if the `(P)'
              flag appears in a nested substitution.

              If the value so far names a parameter that  has  internal  flags
              (rule 2.), those internal flags are applied to the new value af-
              ter replacement.

       5. Double-quoted joining
              If the value after this process is an array, and  the  substitu-
              tion  appears  in double quotes, and neither an `(@)' flag nor a
              `#' length operator is present at the current level, then  words
              of  the value are joined with the first character of the parame-
              ter $IFS, by default a space, between each word (single word ar-
              rays  are  not modified).  If the `(j)' flag is present, that is
              used for joining instead of $IFS.

       6. Nested subscripting
              Any remaining subscripts (i.e. of  a  nested  substitution)  are
              evaluated  at this point, based on whether the value is an array
              or a scalar.  As with 3., multiple subscripts can appear.   Note
              that  ${foo[2,4][2]} is thus equivalent to ${${foo[2,4]}[2]} and
              also to "${${(@)foo[2,4]}[2]}" (the nested substitution  returns
              an  array  in  both  cases), but not to "${${foo[2,4]}[2]}" (the
              nested substitution returns a scalar because of the quotes).

       7. Modifiers
              Any modifiers, as specified by a trailing `#', `%', `/'  (possi-
              bly  doubled)  or  by a set of modifiers of the form `:...' (see
              the section `Modifiers' in the section `History Expansion'), are
              applied to the words of the value at this level.

       8. Character evaluation
              Any  `(#)' flag is applied, evaluating the result so far numeri-
              cally as a character.

       9. Length
              Any initial `#' modifier, i.e. in the form ${#var}, is  used  to
              evaluate the length of the expression so far.

       10. Forced joining
              If  the  `(j)'  flag is present, or no `(j)' flag is present but
              the string is to be split as given by rule 11., and joining  did
              not take place at rule 5., any words in the value are joined to-
              gether using the given string or the first character of $IFS  if
              none.  Note that the `(F)' flag implicitly supplies a string for
              joining in this manner.

       11. Simple word splitting
              If one of the `(s)' or `(f)' flags are present, or the `=' spec-
              ifier  was  present  (e.g. ${=var}), the word is split on occur-
              rences of the specified string, or (for = with  neither  of  the
              two flags present) any of the characters in $IFS.

              If  no `(s)', `(f)' or `=' was given, but the word is not quoted
              and the option SH_WORD_SPLIT is set, the word is split on occur-
              rences  of  any of the characters in $IFS.  Note this step, too,
              takes place at all levels of a nested substitution.

       12. Case modification
              Any case modification from one of  the  flags  `(L)',  `(U)'  or
              `(C)' is applied.

       13. Escape sequence replacement
              First  any  replacements from the `(g)' flag are performed, then
              any prompt-style formatting from the `(%)' family  of  flags  is
              applied.

       14. Quote application
              Any quoting or unquoting using `(q)' and `(Q)' and related flags
              is applied.

       15. Directory naming
              Any directory name substitution using `(D)' flag is applied.

       16. Visibility enhancement
              Any modifications to make characters  visible  using  the  `(V)'
              flag are applied.

       17. Lexical word splitting
              If  the  '(z)'  flag  or  one  of the forms of the '(Z)' flag is
              present, the word is split as if it were a shell  command  line,
              so that quotation marks and other metacharacters are used to de-
              cide what constitutes a word.  Note this form  of  splitting  is
              entirely  distinct  from that described by rule 11.: it does not
              use $IFS, and does not cause forced joining.

       18. Uniqueness
              If the result is an array and the `(u)' flag was present, dupli-
              cate elements are removed from the array.

       19. Ordering
              If  the  result  is still an array and one of the `(o)' or `(O)'
              flags was present, the array is reordered.

       20. RC_EXPAND_PARAM
              At this point the decision is made whether any  resulting  array
              elements  are to be combined element by element with surrounding
              text, as given by either the RC_EXPAND_PARAM option or  the  `^'
              flag.

       21. Re-evaluation
              Any  `(e)' flag is applied to the value, forcing it to be re-ex-
              amined for new parameter substitutions, but also for command and
              arithmetic substitutions.

       22. Padding
              Any padding of the value by the `(l.fill.)' or `(r.fill.)' flags
              is applied.

       23. Semantic joining
              In contexts where expansion semantics requires a single word  to
              result,  all  words are rejoined with the first character of IFS
              between.  So in `${(P)${(f)lines}}' the  value  of  ${lines}  is
              split  at  newlines,  but  then  must be joined again before the
              `(P)' flag can be applied.

              If a single word is not required, this rule is skipped.

       24. Empty argument removal
              If the substitution does not appear in double  quotes,  any  re-
              sulting  zero-length  argument, whether from a scalar or an ele-
              ment of an array, is elided from the list of arguments  inserted
              into the command line.

              Strictly speaking, the removal happens later as the same happens
              with other forms of substitution; the point to note here is sim-
              ply that it occurs after any of the above parameter operations.

       25. Nested parameter name replacement
              If  the  `(P)'  flag is present and rule 4. has not applied, the
              value so far is treated as a parameter name (which may include a
              subscript expression) and replaced with the corresponding value,
              with internal flags (rule 2.) applied to the new value.

   Examples
       The flag f is useful to split  a  double-quoted  substitution  line  by
       line.   For  example, ${(f)"$(<file)"} substitutes the contents of file
       divided so that each line is an element of the resulting  array.   Com-
       pare  this with the effect of $(<file) alone, which divides the file up
       by words, or the same inside double quotes, which makes the entire con-
       tent of the file a single string.

       The  following  illustrates  the rules for nested parameter expansions.
       Suppose that $foo contains the array (bar baz):

       "${(@)${foo}[1]}"
              This produces the  result  b.   First,  the  inner  substitution
              "${foo}",  which  has  no array (@) flag, produces a single word
              result "bar baz".  The outer substitution "${(@)...[1]}" detects
              that this is a scalar, so that (despite the `(@)' flag) the sub-
              script picks the first character.

       "${${(@)foo}[1]}"
              This produces the result `bar'.  In this case, the inner substi-
              tution  "${(@)foo}"  produces  the array `(bar baz)'.  The outer
              substitution "${...[1]}" detects that this is an array and picks
              the first word.  This is similar to the simple case "${foo[1]}".

       As an example of the rules for word splitting and joining, suppose $foo
       contains the array `(ax1 bx1)'.  Then

       ${(s/x/)foo}
              produces the words `a', `1 b' and `1'.

       ${(j/x/s/x/)foo}
              produces `a', `1', `b' and `1'.

       ${(s/x/)foo%%1*}
              produces `a' and ` b' (note the extra space).   As  substitution
              occurs  before either joining or splitting, the operation  first
              generates the modified array (ax bx), which is  joined  to  give
              "ax  bx",  and  then  split to give `a', ` b' and `'.  The final
              empty string will then be elided, as it is not in double quotes.

COMMAND SUBSTITUTION
       A command enclosed in parentheses  preceded  by  a  dollar  sign,  like
       `$(...)',  or quoted with grave accents, like ``...`', is replaced with
       its standard output, with any trailing newlines deleted.  If  the  sub-
       stitution  is  not enclosed in double quotes, the output is broken into
       words using the IFS parameter.

       The substitution `$(cat foo)' may be replaced by the faster  `$(<foo)'.
       In  this case foo undergoes single word shell expansions (parameter ex-
       pansion, command substitution and arithmetic expansion), but not  file-
       name generation.

       If  the  option  GLOB_SUBST  is set, the result of any unquoted command
       substitution, including the special form just  mentioned,  is  eligible
       for filename generation.

ARITHMETIC EXPANSION
       A  string  of  the  form `$[exp]' or `$((exp))' is substituted with the
       value of the arithmetic expression exp.  exp is subjected to  parameter
       expansion,  command  substitution and arithmetic expansion before it is
       evaluated.  See the section `Arithmetic Evaluation'.

BRACE EXPANSION
       A string of the form `foo{xx,yy,zz}bar' is expanded to  the  individual
       words  `fooxxbar',  `fooyybar'  and `foozzbar'.  Left-to-right order is
       preserved.  This construct may be nested.  Commas may be quoted in  or-
       der to include them literally in a word.

       An  expression of the form `{n1..n2}', where n1 and n2 are integers, is
       expanded to every number between n1 and n2 inclusive.  If either number
       begins with a zero, all the resulting numbers will be padded with lead-
       ing zeroes to that minimum width, but for negative numbers the -  char-
       acter  is also included in the width.  If the numbers are in decreasing
       order the resulting sequence will also be in decreasing order.

       An expression of the form `{n1..n2..n3}', where n1, n2, and n3 are  in-
       tegers,  is expanded as above, but only every n3th number starting from
       n1 is output.  If n3 is negative the numbers are output in reverse  or-
       der,  this  is slightly different from simply swapping n1 and n2 in the
       case that the step n3 doesn't evenly divide the  range.   Zero  padding
       can  be  specified  in  any  of the three numbers, specifying it in the
       third can be useful to pad for example `{-99..100..01}'  which  is  not
       possible  to  specify by putting a 0 on either of the first two numbers
       (i.e. pad to two characters).

       An expression of the form `{c1..c2}', where c1 and c2 are single  char-
       acters  (which may be multibyte characters), is expanded to every char-
       acter in the range from c1 to c2 in whatever character sequence is used
       internally.  For characters with code points below 128 this is US ASCII
       (this is the only case most users will need).  If any intervening char-
       acter  is  not  printable,  appropriate  quotation is used to render it
       printable.  If the character sequence is reversed, the output is in re-
       verse order, e.g. `{d..a}' is substituted as `d c b a'.

       If  a  brace expression matches none of the above forms, it is left un-
       changed, unless the option BRACE_CCL (an abbreviation for `brace  char-
       acter  class')  is  set.  In that case, it is expanded to a list of the
       individual characters between the braces sorted into the order  of  the
       characters  in  the  ASCII  character set (multibyte characters are not
       currently handled).  The syntax is similar to  a  [...]  expression  in
       filename  generation:  `-'  is  treated  specially to denote a range of
       characters, but `^' or `!' as the first character is treated  normally.
       For  example, `{abcdef0-9}' expands to 16 words 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 a b
       c d e f.

       Note that brace expansion is not part  of  filename  generation  (glob-
       bing);  an  expression  such  as */{foo,bar} is split into two separate
       words */foo and */bar before filename generation takes place.  In  par-
       ticular,  note that this is liable to produce a `no match' error if ei-
       ther of the two expressions does not match; this is  to  be  contrasted
       with  */(foo|bar),  which  is treated as a single pattern but otherwise
       has similar effects.

       To combine brace expansion with array expansion, see the ${^spec}  form
       described in the section Parameter Expansion above.

FILENAME EXPANSION
       Each  word  is checked to see if it begins with an unquoted `~'.  If it
       does, then the word up to a `/', or the end of the word if there is  no
       `/',  is checked to see if it can be substituted in one of the ways de-
       scribed here.  If so, then the `~' and the checked portion are replaced
       with the appropriate substitute value.

       A `~' by itself is replaced by the value of $HOME.  A `~' followed by a
       `+' or a `-' is replaced by current or previous working directory,  re-
       spectively.

       A  `~'  followed by a number is replaced by the directory at that posi-
       tion in the directory stack.  `~0' is equivalent to `~+', and  `~1'  is
       the top of the stack.  `~+' followed by a number is replaced by the di-
       rectory at that position in the directory stack.  `~+0'  is  equivalent
       to  `~+', and `~+1' is the top of the stack.  `~-' followed by a number
       is replaced by the directory that many positions from the bottom of the
       stack.   `~-0'  is the bottom of the stack.  The PUSHD_MINUS option ex-
       changes the effects of `~+' and `~-' where they are followed by a  num-
       ber.

   Dynamic named directories
       If  the  function  zsh_directory_name  exists,  or  the  shell variable
       zsh_directory_name_functions exists and contains an array  of  function
       names,  then the functions are used to implement dynamic directory nam-
       ing.  The functions are tried in order until one returns  status  zero,
       so it is important that functions test whether they can handle the case
       in question and return an appropriate status.

       A `~' followed by a  string  namstr  in  unquoted  square  brackets  is
       treated specially as a dynamic directory name.  Note that the first un-
       quoted closing square bracket  always  terminates  namstr.   The  shell
       function  is  passed two arguments: the string n (for name) and namstr.
       It should either set the array reply to a single element which  is  the
       directory  corresponding  to the name and return status zero (executing
       an assignment as the last  statement  is  usually  sufficient),  or  it
       should return status non-zero.  In the former case the element of reply
       is used as the directory; in the latter case the substitution is deemed
       to  have  failed.  If all functions fail and the option NOMATCH is set,
       an error results.

       The functions defined as above are also used to see if a directory  can
       be turned into a name, for example when printing the directory stack or
       when expanding %~ in prompts.  In this case each function is passed two
       arguments:  the  string d (for directory) and the candidate for dynamic
       naming.  The function should either return non-zero status, if the  di-
       rectory cannot be named by the function, or it should set the array re-
       ply to consist of two elements: the first is the dynamic name  for  the
       directory (as would appear within `~[...]'), and the second is the pre-
       fix length of the directory to be replaced.  For example, if the  trial
       directory  is  /home/myname/src/zsh  and the dynamic name for /home/my-
       name/src (which has 16 characters) is s, then the function sets

              reply=(s 16)

       The directory name so returned is compared with possible  static  names
       for  parts of the directory path, as described below; it is used if the
       prefix length matched (16 in the example) is longer than  that  matched
       by any static name.

       It  is not a requirement that a function implements both n and d calls;
       for example, it might be appropriate for certain dynamic forms  of  ex-
       pansion  not to be contracted to names.  In that case any call with the
       first argument d should cause a non-zero status to be returned.

       The completion system calls `zsh_directory_name c' followed by  equiva-
       lent calls to elements of the array zsh_directory_name_functions, if it
       exists, in order to complete dynamic names for directories.   The  code
       for this should be as for any other completion function as described in
       zshcompsys(1).

       As a working example, here is a function that expands any dynamic names
       beginning  with  the string p: to directories below /home/pws/perforce.
       In this simple case a static name for the directory would  be  just  as
       effective.

              zsh_directory_name() {
                emulate -L zsh
                setopt extendedglob
                local -a match mbegin mend
                if [[ $1 = d ]]; then
                  # turn the directory into a name
                  if [[ $2 = (#b)(/home/pws/perforce/)([^/]##)* ]]; then
                    typeset -ga reply
                    reply=(p:$match[2] $(( ${#match[1]} + ${#match[2]} )) )
                  else
                    return 1
                  fi
                elif [[ $1 = n ]]; then
                  # turn the name into a directory
                  [[ $2 != (#b)p:(?*) ]] && return 1
                  typeset -ga reply
                  reply=(/home/pws/perforce/$match[1])
                elif [[ $1 = c ]]; then
                  # complete names
                  local expl
                  local -a dirs
                  dirs=(/home/pws/perforce/*(/:t))
                  dirs=(p:${^dirs})
                  _wanted dynamic-dirs expl 'dynamic directory' compadd -S\] -a dirs
                  return
                else
                  return 1
                fi
                return 0
              }

   Static named directories
       A `~' followed by anything not already covered consisting of any number
       of alphanumeric characters or underscore (`_'), hyphen  (`-'),  or  dot
       (`.')  is  looked up as a named directory, and replaced by the value of
       that named directory if found.  Named directories  are  typically  home
       directories  for  users on the system.  They may also be defined if the
       text after the `~' is the name of a string shell parameter whose  value
       begins with a `/'.  Note that trailing slashes will be removed from the
       path to the directory (though the original parameter is not modified).

       It is also possible to define directory names using the  -d  option  to
       the hash builtin.

       When the shell prints a path (e.g. when expanding %~ in prompts or when
       printing the directory stack), the path is checked to see if it  has  a
       named  directory  as its prefix.  If so, then the prefix portion is re-
       placed with a `~' followed by the name of the directory.   The  shorter
       of  the two ways of referring to the directory is used, i.e. either the
       directory name or the full path; the name is used if they are the  same
       length.   The parameters $PWD and $OLDPWD are never abbreviated in this
       fashion.

   `=' expansion
       If a word begins with an unquoted `=' and the EQUALS option is set, the
       remainder  of the word is taken as the name of a command.  If a command
       exists by that name, the word is replaced by the full pathname  of  the
       command.

   Notes
       Filename  expansion  is performed on the right hand side of a parameter
       assignment, including those appearing after  commands  of  the  typeset
       family.   In  this  case,  the  right  hand  side  will be treated as a
       colon-separated list in the manner of the PATH parameter, so that a `~'
       or  an  `=' following a `:' is eligible for expansion.  All such behav-
       iour can be disabled by quoting the `~', the `=', or the whole  expres-
       sion (but not simply the colon); the EQUALS option is also respected.

       If  the option MAGIC_EQUAL_SUBST is set, any unquoted shell argument in
       the form `identifier=expression' becomes eligible for file expansion as
       described  in  the  previous paragraph.  Quoting the first `=' also in-
       hibits this.

FILENAME GENERATION
       If a word contains an unquoted instance of one of the  characters  `*',
       `(',  `|',  `<',  `[', or `?', it is regarded as a pattern for filename
       generation, unless the GLOB option is unset.  If the EXTENDED_GLOB  op-
       tion  is  set, the `^' and `#' characters also denote a pattern; other-
       wise they are not treated specially by the shell.

       The word is replaced with a list of sorted  filenames  that  match  the
       pattern.   If  no  matching  pattern is found, the shell gives an error
       message, unless the NULL_GLOB option is set, in which case the word  is
       deleted;  or unless the NOMATCH option is unset, in which case the word
       is left unchanged.

       In filename generation, the character `/' must be  matched  explicitly;
       also, a `.' must be matched explicitly at the beginning of a pattern or
       after a `/', unless the GLOB_DOTS option is set.  No  filename  genera-
       tion pattern matches the files `.' or `..'.  In other instances of pat-
       tern matching, the `/' and `.' are not treated specially.

   Glob Operators
       *      Matches any string, including the null string.

       ?      Matches any character.

       [...]  Matches any of the enclosed characters.   Ranges  of  characters
              can  be  specified by separating two characters by a `-'.  A `-'
              or `]' may be matched by including it as the first character  in
              the  list.   There are also several named classes of characters,
              in the form `[:name:]' with the following meanings.   The  first
              set  use the macros provided by the operating system to test for
              the given character combinations,  including  any  modifications
              due to local language settings, see ctype(3):

              [:alnum:]
                     The character is alphanumeric

              [:alpha:]
                     The character is alphabetic

              [:ascii:]
                     The  character  is 7-bit, i.e. is a single-byte character
                     without the top bit set.

              [:blank:]
                     The character is a blank character

              [:cntrl:]
                     The character is a control character

              [:digit:]
                     The character is a decimal digit

              [:graph:]
                     The character is a printable character other than  white-
                     space

              [:lower:]
                     The character is a lowercase letter

              [:print:]
                     The character is printable

              [:punct:]
                     The  character  is printable but neither alphanumeric nor
                     whitespace

              [:space:]
                     The character is whitespace

              [:upper:]
                     The character is an uppercase letter

              [:xdigit:]
                     The character is a hexadecimal digit

              Another set of named classes is handled internally by the  shell
              and is not sensitive to the locale:

              [:IDENT:]
                     The  character is allowed to form part of a shell identi-
                     fier, such as a parameter name

              [:IFS:]
                     The character is used as an input field  separator,  i.e.
                     is contained in the IFS parameter

              [:IFSSPACE:]
                     The  character  is  an IFS white space character; see the
                     documentation for IFS in the zshparam(1) manual page.

              [:INCOMPLETE:]
                     Matches a byte that starts an incomplete multibyte  char-
                     acter.   Note  that  there may be a sequence of more than
                     one bytes that taken together form the prefix of a multi-
                     byte  character.   To  test  for a potentially incomplete
                     byte sequence, use the pattern `[[:INCOMPLETE:]]*'.  This
                     will  never match a sequence starting with a valid multi-
                     byte character.

              [:INVALID:]
                     Matches a byte that does  not  start  a  valid  multibyte
                     character.   Note  this  may be a continuation byte of an
                     incomplete multibyte character as any part of a multibyte
                     string  consisting  of  invalid  and incomplete multibyte
                     characters is treated as single bytes.

              [:WORD:]
                     The character is treated as part of a word; this test  is
                     sensitive to the value of the WORDCHARS parameter

              Note  that the square brackets are additional to those enclosing
              the whole set of characters, so to test for  a  single  alphanu-
              meric  character  you  need `[[:alnum:]]'.  Named character sets
              can be used alongside other types, e.g. `[[:alpha:]0-9]'.

       [^...]
       [!...] Like [...], except that it matches any character which is not in
              the given set.

       <[x]-[y]>
              Matches  any  number  in the range x to y, inclusive.  Either of
              the numbers may be omitted to make the range  open-ended;  hence
              `<->' matches any number.  To match individual digits, the [...]
              form is more efficient.

              Be careful when using other wildcards adjacent  to  patterns  of
              this  form;  for  example, <0-9>* will actually match any number
              whatsoever at the start of the string, since  the  `<0-9>'  will
              match  the first digit, and the `*' will match any others.  This
              is a trap for the unwary, but is in fact  an  inevitable  conse-
              quence  of  the rule that the longest possible match always suc-
              ceeds.  Expressions such as `<0-9>[^[:digit:]]*' can be used in-
              stead.

       (...)  Matches  the  enclosed  pattern.  This is used for grouping.  If
              the KSH_GLOB option is set, then a `@', `*', `+', `?' or `!' im-
              mediately  preceding  the  `(' is treated specially, as detailed
              below. The option SH_GLOB prevents bare parentheses  from  being
              used in this way, though the KSH_GLOB option is still available.

              Note  that  grouping cannot extend over multiple directories: it
              is an error to have a `/' within a group (this only applies  for
              patterns  used in filename generation).  There is one exception:
              a group of the form (pat/)# appearing as a complete path segment
              can match a sequence of directories.  For example, foo/(a*/)#bar
              matches foo/bar, foo/any/bar, foo/any/anyother/bar, and so on.

       x|y    Matches either x or y.  This operator has lower precedence  than
              any  other.   The  `|'  character must be within parentheses, to
              avoid interpretation as a pipeline.  The alternatives are  tried
              in order from left to right.

       ^x     (Requires EXTENDED_GLOB to be set.)  Matches anything except the
              pattern x.  This has a higher precedence than `/', so `^foo/bar'
              will  search  directories in `.' except `./foo' for a file named
              `bar'.

       x~y    (Requires EXTENDED_GLOB to be set.)  Match anything that matches
              the  pattern  x but does not match y.  This has lower precedence
              than any operator except `|', so `*/*~foo/bar' will  search  for
              all  files in all directories in `.'  and then exclude `foo/bar'
              if there was such a match.  Multiple patterns can be excluded by
              `foo~bar~baz'.   In  the  exclusion pattern (y), `/' and `.' are
              not treated specially the way they usually are in globbing.

       x#     (Requires EXTENDED_GLOB to be set.)  Matches zero or more occur-
              rences  of  the  pattern  x.  This operator has high precedence;
              `12#' is equivalent to `1(2#)', rather than `(12)#'.  It  is  an
              error  for  an  unquoted `#' to follow something which cannot be
              repeated; this includes an empty string, a pattern already  fol-
              lowed  by  `##',  or parentheses when part of a KSH_GLOB pattern
              (for example, `!(foo)#' is  invalid  and  must  be  replaced  by
              `*(!(foo))').

       x##    (Requires  EXTENDED_GLOB to be set.)  Matches one or more occur-
              rences of the pattern x.  This  operator  has  high  precedence;
              `12##' is equivalent to `1(2##)', rather than `(12)##'.  No more
              than two active `#' characters may appear together.   (Note  the
              potential  clash with glob qualifiers in the form `1(2##)' which
              should therefore be avoided.)

   ksh-like Glob Operators
       If the KSH_GLOB option is set, the effects of parentheses can be  modi-
       fied by a preceding `@', `*', `+', `?' or `!'.  This character need not
       be unquoted to have special effects, but the `(' must be.

       @(...) Match the pattern in the parentheses.  (Like `(...)'.)

       *(...) Match any number of occurrences.  (Like  `(...)#',  except  that
              recursive directory searching is not supported.)

       +(...) Match at least one occurrence.  (Like `(...)##', except that re-
              cursive directory searching is not supported.)

       ?(...) Match zero or one occurrence.  (Like `(|...)'.)

       !(...) Match  anything  but  the  expression  in  parentheses.    (Like
              `(^(...))'.)

   Precedence
       The precedence of the operators given above is (highest) `^', `/', `~',
       `|' (lowest); the remaining operators are simply treated from  left  to
       right  as  part of a string, with `#' and `##' applying to the shortest
       possible preceding unit (i.e. a character, `?', `[...]', `<...>', or  a
       parenthesised  expression).  As mentioned above, a `/' used as a direc-
       tory separator may not appear inside parentheses, while a `|'  must  do
       so;  in  patterns  used in other contexts than filename generation (for
       example, in case statements and tests within `[[...]]'), a `/'  is  not
       special;  and  `/'  is  also  not special after a `~' appearing outside
       parentheses in a filename pattern.

   Globbing Flags
       There are various flags which affect any text to their right up to  the
       end  of  the enclosing group or to the end of the pattern; they require
       the EXTENDED_GLOB option. All take the form (#X) where X may  have  one
       of the following forms:

       i      Case insensitive:  upper or lower case characters in the pattern
              match upper or lower case characters.

       l      Lower case characters in the pattern match upper or  lower  case
              characters;  upper  case  characters  in  the pattern still only
              match upper case characters.

       I      Case sensitive:  locally negates the effect of i or l from  that
              point on.

       b      Activate backreferences for parenthesised groups in the pattern;
              this does not work in filename generation.  When a pattern  with
              a  set  of active parentheses is matched, the strings matched by
              the groups are stored in the array $match, the  indices  of  the
              beginning  of  the matched parentheses in the array $mbegin, and
              the indices of the end in the array $mend, with the  first  ele-
              ment  of  each  array  corresponding  to the first parenthesised
              group, and so on.  These arrays are not otherwise special to the
              shell.   The  indices  use the same convention as does parameter
              substitution, so that elements of $mend and $mbegin may be  used
              in  subscripts;  the  KSH_ARRAYS  option  is respected.  Sets of
              globbing flags are not considered parenthesised groups; only the
              first nine active parentheses can be referenced.

              For example,

                     foo="a_string_with_a_message"
                     if [[ $foo = (a|an)_(#b)(*) ]]; then
                       print ${foo[$mbegin[1],$mend[1]]}
                     fi

              prints  `string_with_a_message'.   Note  that  the  first set of
              parentheses is before the (#b) and does not create a  backrefer-
              ence.

              Backreferences  work  with  all  forms of pattern matching other
              than filename generation, but note that when performing  matches
              on  an  entire array, such as ${array#pattern}, or a global sub-
              stitution, such as ${param//pat/repl}, only  the  data  for  the
              last  match  remains  available.  In the case of global replace-
              ments this may still be useful.  See the example for the m  flag
              below.

              The  numbering  of  backreferences strictly follows the order of
              the opening parentheses  from  left  to  right  in  the  pattern
              string,  although  sets of parentheses may be nested.  There are
              special rules for parentheses followed by `#' or `##'.  Only the
              last match of the parenthesis is remembered: for example, in `[[
              abab =  (#b)([ab])#  ]]',  only  the  final  `b'  is  stored  in
              match[1].   Thus extra parentheses may be necessary to match the
              complete segment: for example, use  `X((ab|cd)#)Y'  to  match  a
              whole  string  of either `ab' or `cd' between `X' and `Y', using
              the value of $match[1] rather than $match[2].

              If the match fails none of the parameters is altered, so in some
              cases  it  may  be  necessary to initialise them beforehand.  If
              some of the backreferences fail to match  --  which  happens  if
              they are in an alternate branch which fails to match, or if they
              are followed by # and matched zero times  --  then  the  matched
              string is set to the empty string, and the start and end indices
              are set to -1.

              Pattern matching with backreferences  is  slightly  slower  than
              without.

       B      Deactivate  backreferences,  negating  the  effect of the b flag
              from that point on.

       cN,M   The flag (#cN,M) can be used anywhere that the # or ## operators
              can  be  used  except in the expressions `(*/)#' and `(*/)##' in
              filename generation, where `/' has special meaning; it cannot be
              combined  with  other globbing flags and a bad pattern error oc-
              curs if it is misplaced.  It is equivalent to the form {N,M}  in
              regular  expressions.   The  previous  character or group is re-
              quired to match between N and  M  times,  inclusive.   The  form
              (#cN) requires exactly N matches; (#c,M) is equivalent to speci-
              fying N as 0; (#cN,) specifies that there is no maximum limit on
              the number of matches.

       m      Set  references to the match data for the entire string matched;
              this is similar to backreferencing and does not work in filename
              generation.   The  flag must be in effect at the end of the pat-
              tern, i.e. not local to a group. The parameters $MATCH,  $MBEGIN
              and  $MEND  will be set to the string matched and to the indices
              of the beginning and end of the string, respectively.   This  is
              most  useful in parameter substitutions, as otherwise the string
              matched is obvious.

              For example,

                     arr=(veldt jynx grimps waqf zho buck)
                     print ${arr//(#m)[aeiou]/${(U)MATCH}}

              forces all the matches (i.e. all vowels) into uppercase,  print-
              ing `vEldt jynx grImps wAqf zhO bUck'.

              Unlike backreferences, there is no speed penalty for using match
              references, other than the extra substitutions required for  the
              replacement strings in cases such as the example shown.

       M      Deactivate the m flag, hence no references to match data will be
              created.

       anum   Approximate matching: num  errors  are  allowed  in  the  string
              matched by the pattern.  The rules for this are described in the
              next subsection.

       s, e   Unlike the other flags, these have only a local effect, and each
              must  appear  on  its own:  `(#s)' and `(#e)' are the only valid
              forms.  The `(#s)' flag succeeds only at the start of  the  test
              string, and the `(#e)' flag succeeds only at the end of the test
              string; they correspond to `^' and `$' in standard  regular  ex-
              pressions.   They  are useful for matching path segments in pat-
              terns other than those in filename generation (where  path  seg-
              ments  are  in  any  case  treated  separately).   For  example,
              `*((#s)|/)test((#e)|/)*' matches a path segment `test' in any of
              the   following   strings:   test,  test/at/start,  at/end/test,
              in/test/middle.

              Another use is in parameter  substitution;  for  example  `${ar-
              ray/(#s)A*Z(#e)}'  will  remove  only elements of an array which
              match the complete pattern `A*Z'.  There are other ways of  per-
              forming many operations of this type, however the combination of
              the substitution operations `/' and `//'  with  the  `(#s)'  and
              `(#e)' flags provides a single simple and memorable method.

              Note that assertions of the form `(^(#s))' also work, i.e. match
              anywhere except at the start of the string, although this  actu-
              ally  means  `anything except a zero-length portion at the start
              of  the  string';  you  need  to  use  `(""~(#s))'  to  match  a
              zero-length portion of the string not at the start.

       q      A  `q' and everything up to the closing parenthesis of the glob-
              bing flags are ignored by the pattern matching  code.   This  is
              intended  to support the use of glob qualifiers, see below.  The
              result is that the pattern `(#b)(*).c(#q.)' can be used both for
              globbing and for matching against a string.  In the former case,
              the `(#q.)' will be treated as a glob qualifier and  the  `(#b)'
              will  not be useful, while in the latter case the `(#b)' is use-
              ful for backreferences and the `(#q.)' will  be  ignored.   Note
              that colon modifiers in the glob qualifiers are also not applied
              in ordinary pattern matching.

       u      Respect the current locale in determining the presence of multi-
              byte  characters  in  a pattern, provided the shell was compiled
              with MULTIBYTE_SUPPORT.  This overrides  the  MULTIBYTE  option;
              the  default  behaviour  is  taken  from the option.  Compare U.
              (Mnemonic: typically multibyte characters are  from  Unicode  in
              the UTF-8 encoding, although any extension of ASCII supported by
              the system library may be used.)

       U      All characters are considered to be a single byte long.  The op-
              posite of u.  This overrides the MULTIBYTE option.

       For  example,  the  test  string  fooxx  can  be matched by the pattern
       (#i)FOOXX, but not by (#l)FOOXX,  (#i)FOO(#I)XX  or  ((#i)FOOX)X.   The
       string  (#ia2)readme specifies case-insensitive matching of readme with
       up to two errors.

       When using the ksh syntax for grouping both KSH_GLOB and  EXTENDED_GLOB
       must  be  set  and  the left parenthesis should be preceded by @.  Note
       also that the flags do not affect letters inside [...] groups, in other
       words  (#i)[a-z]  still  matches only lowercase letters.  Finally, note
       that when examining whole paths case-insensitively every directory must
       be  searched  for  all files which match, so that a pattern of the form
       (#i)/foo/bar/... is potentially slow.

   Approximate Matching
       When matching approximately, the shell keeps  a  count  of  the  errors
       found,  which  cannot exceed the number specified in the (#anum) flags.
       Four types of error are recognised:

       1.     Different characters, as in fooxbar and fooybar.

       2.     Transposition of characters, as in banana and abnana.

       3.     A character missing in the target string, as  with  the  pattern
              road and target string rod.

       4.     An extra character appearing in the target string, as with stove
              and strove.

       Thus, the pattern (#a3)abcd matches dcba, with the errors occurring  by
       using  the first rule twice and the second once, grouping the string as
       [d][cb][a] and [a][bc][d].

       Non-literal parts of the pattern must match exactly, including  charac-
       ters  in  character  ranges:  hence (#a1)???  matches strings of length
       four, by applying rule 4 to an empty  part  of  the  pattern,  but  not
       strings  of  length  two, since all the ? must match.  Other characters
       which must match exactly are initial  dots  in  filenames  (unless  the
       GLOB_DOTS option is set), and all slashes in filenames, so that a/bc is
       two errors from ab/c (the slash cannot be transposed with another char-
       acter).   Similarly,  errors  are counted separately for non-contiguous
       strings in the pattern, so that (ab|cd)ef is two errors from aebf.

       When using exclusion  via  the  ~  operator,  approximate  matching  is
       treated entirely separately for the excluded part and must be activated
       separately.  Thus, (#a1)README~READ_ME matches READ.ME but not READ_ME,
       as  the  trailing  READ_ME  is matched without approximation.  However,
       (#a1)README~(#a1)READ_ME does not match any pattern of the form READ?ME
       as all such forms are now excluded.

       Apart  from exclusions, there is only one overall error count; however,
       the maximum errors allowed may be altered locally, and this can be  de-
       limited by grouping.  For example, (#a1)cat((#a0)dog)fox allows one er-
       ror in total, which may not occur in the dog section, and  the  pattern
       (#a1)cat(#a0)dog(#a1)fox  is  equivalent.  Note that the point at which
       an error is first found is the crucial one for establishing whether  to
       use   approximation;  for  example,  (#a1)abc(#a0)xyz  will  not  match
       abcdxyz, because the error occurs at the `x',  where  approximation  is
       turned off.

       Entire   path   segments   may   be   matched  approximately,  so  that
       `(#a1)/foo/d/is/available/at/the/bar' allows one error in any path seg-
       ment.   This  is  much  less efficient than without the (#a1), however,
       since every directory in the path must be scanned for  a  possible  ap-
       proximate match.  It is best to place the (#a1) after any path segments
       which are known to be correct.

   Recursive Globbing
       A pathname component of the form `(foo/)#' matches a path consisting of
       zero or more directories matching the pattern foo.

       As  a  shorthand, `**/' is equivalent to `(*/)#'; note that this there-
       fore matches files in the current directory as well as  subdirectories.
       Thus:

              ls -ld -- (*/)#bar

       or

              ls -ld -- **/bar

       does  a  recursive  directory search for files named `bar' (potentially
       including the file `bar' in the current directory).  This form does not
       follow  symbolic links; the alternative form `***/' does, but is other-
       wise identical.  Neither of these can be combined with other  forms  of
       globbing  within the same path segment; in that case, the `*' operators
       revert to their usual effect.

       Even shorter forms are available when  the  option  GLOB_STAR_SHORT  is
       set.   In  that  case  if no / immediately follows a ** or *** they are
       treated as if both a / plus a further * are present.  Hence:

              setopt GLOBSTARSHORT
              ls -ld -- **.c

       is equivalent to

              ls -ld -- **/*.c

   Glob Qualifiers
       Patterns used for filename generation may end in a list  of  qualifiers
       enclosed  in  parentheses.  The qualifiers specify which filenames that
       otherwise match the given pattern will  be  inserted  in  the  argument
       list.

       If the option BARE_GLOB_QUAL is set, then a trailing set of parentheses
       containing no `|' or `(' characters (or `~' if it is special) is  taken
       as  a set of glob qualifiers.  A glob subexpression that would normally
       be taken as glob qualifiers, for example `(^x)', can be  forced  to  be
       treated  as  part  of  the glob pattern by doubling the parentheses, in
       this case producing `((^x))'.

       If the option EXTENDED_GLOB is set, a different syntax for glob  quali-
       fiers  is  available,  namely  `(#qx)'  where x is any of the same glob
       qualifiers used in the other format.  The qualifiers must still  appear
       at  the  end  of  the pattern.  However, with this syntax multiple glob
       qualifiers may be chained together.  They are treated as a logical  AND
       of  the  individual sets of flags.  Also, as the syntax is unambiguous,
       the expression will be treated as glob  qualifiers  just  as  long  any
       parentheses contained within it are balanced; appearance of `|', `(' or
       `~' does not negate the effect.  Note that qualifiers  will  be  recog-
       nised  in  this form even if a bare glob qualifier exists at the end of
       the pattern, for example `*(#q*)(.)' will recognise executable  regular
       files if both options are set; however, mixed syntax should probably be
       avoided for the sake of clarity.  Note that within conditions using the
       `[[' form the presence of a parenthesised expression (#q...) at the end
       of a string indicates that globbing should be performed; the expression
       may include glob qualifiers, but it is also valid if it is simply (#q).
       This does not apply to the right hand side of pattern  match  operators
       as the syntax already has special significance.

       A qualifier may be any one of the following:

       /      directories

       F      `full'  (i.e.  non-empty)  directories.   Note that the opposite
              sense (^F) expands to empty directories and all non-directories.
              Use (/^F) for empty directories.

       .      plain files

       @      symbolic links

       =      sockets

       p      named pipes (FIFOs)

       *      executable plain files (0100 or 0010 or 0001)

       %      device files (character or block special)

       %b     block special files

       %c     character special files

       r      owner-readable files (0400)

       w      owner-writable files (0200)

       x      owner-executable files (0100)

       A      group-readable files (0040)

       I      group-writable files (0020)

       E      group-executable files (0010)

       R      world-readable files (0004)

       W      world-writable files (0002)

       X      world-executable files (0001)

       s      setuid files (04000)

       S      setgid files (02000)

       t      files with the sticky bit (01000)

       fspec  files with access rights matching spec. This spec may be a octal
              number optionally preceded by a `=', a `+', or a `-'. If none of
              these  characters is given, the behavior is the same as for `='.
              The octal number describes the mode bits to be expected, if com-
              bined  with a `=', the value given must match the file-modes ex-
              actly, with a `+', at least the bits in the given number must be
              set  in  the  file-modes, and with a `-', the bits in the number
              must not be set. Giving a `?' instead of a octal digit  anywhere
              in  the  number  ensures  that  the  corresponding  bits  in the
              file-modes are not checked, this is only useful  in  combination
              with `='.

              If the qualifier `f' is followed by any other character anything
              up to the next matching character (`[', `{', and `<' match  `]',
              `}',  and  `>' respectively, any other character matches itself)
              is taken as a list of comma-separated sub-specs.  Each  sub-spec
              may  be  either  an octal number as described above or a list of
              any of the characters `u', `g', `o', and `a', followed by a `=',
              a  `+',  or  a  `-', followed by a list of any of the characters
              `r', `w', `x', `s', and `t', or an octal digit. The  first  list
              of  characters specify which access rights are to be checked. If
              a `u' is given, those for the owner of the file are used,  if  a
              `g'  is  given,  those  of the group are checked, a `o' means to
              test those of other users, and the `a' says to  test  all  three
              groups. The `=', `+', and `-' again says how the modes are to be
              checked and have the same meaning as  described  for  the  first
              form above. The second list of characters finally says which ac-
              cess rights are to be expected: `r' for  read  access,  `w'  for
              write  access,  `x'  for  the  right  to execute the file (or to
              search a directory), `s' for the setuid and setgid bits, and `t'
              for the sticky bit.

              Thus,  `*(f70?)'  gives  the files for which the owner has read,
              write, and execute permission, and for which other group members
              have  no rights, independent of the permissions for other users.
              The pattern `*(f-100)' gives all files for which the owner  does
              not  have  execute  permission,  and `*(f:gu+w,o-rx:)' gives the
              files for which the owner and the other  members  of  the  group
              have  at least write permission, and for which other users don't
              have read or execute permission.

       estring
       +cmd   The string will be executed as shell code.  The filename will be
              included in the list if and only if the code returns a zero sta-
              tus (usually the status of the last command).

              In the first form, the first character after  the  `e'  will  be
              used as a separator and anything up to the next matching separa-
              tor will be taken  as the string; `[', `{', and `<'  match  `]',
              `}',  and  `>',  respectively, while any other character matches
              itself. Note that expansions must be quoted  in  the  string  to
              prevent  them  from  being  expanded  before  globbing  is done.
              string is then executed as shell code.  The string  globqual  is
              appended  to  the  array zsh_eval_context the duration of execu-
              tion.

              During the execution of  string  the  filename  currently  being
              tested is available in the parameter REPLY; the parameter may be
              altered to a string to be inserted into the list instead of  the
              original  filename.  In addition, the parameter reply may be set
              to an array or a string, which overrides the value of REPLY.  If
              set  to  an  array, the latter is inserted into the command line
              word by word.

              For  example,  suppose  a  directory  contains  a  single   file
              `lonely'.   Then  the expression `*(e:'reply=(${REPLY}{1,2})':)'
              will cause the words `lonely1' and `lonely2' to be inserted into
              the command line.  Note the quoting of string.

              The  form  +cmd  has  the  same effect, but no delimiters appear
              around cmd.  Instead, cmd is taken as the  longest  sequence  of
              characters  following the + that are alphanumeric or underscore.
              Typically cmd will be the name of a shell function that contains
              the appropriate test.  For example,

                     nt() { [[ $REPLY -nt $NTREF ]] }
                     NTREF=reffile
                     ls -ld -- *(+nt)

              lists  all  files  in the directory that have been modified more
              recently than reffile.

       ddev   files on the device dev

       l[-|+]ct
              files having a link count less than ct (-), greater than ct (+),
              or equal to ct

       U      files owned by the effective user ID

       G      files owned by the effective group ID

       uid    files  owned  by  user ID id if that is a number.  Otherwise, id
              specifies a user name: the character after the `u' will be taken
              as  a  separator and the string between it and the next matching
              separator will be taken as a user name.  The starting separators
              `[',  `{', and `<' match the final separators `]', `}', and `>',
              respectively; any other character matches itself.  The  selected
              files  are  those  owned by this user.  For example, `u:foo:' or
              `u[foo]' selects files owned by user `foo'.

       gid    like uid but with group IDs or names

       a[Mwhms][-|+]n
              files accessed exactly n days ago.  Files  accessed  within  the
              last  n  days  are  selected  using a negative value for n (-n).
              Files accessed more than n days ago are selected by a positive n
              value  (+n).  Optional unit specifiers `M', `w', `h', `m' or `s'
              (e.g. `ah5') cause the check to be performed with months (of  30
              days), weeks, hours, minutes or seconds instead of days, respec-
              tively.  An explicit `d' for days is also allowed.

              Any fractional part of the difference between  the  access  time
              and  the current part in the appropriate units is ignored in the
              comparison.  For instance, `echo *(ah-5)' would echo  files  ac-
              cessed  within  the  last five hours, while `echo *(ah+5)' would
              echo files accessed at least six hours ago,  as  times  strictly
              between five and six hours are treated as five hours.

       m[Mwhms][-|+]n
              like  the  file  access  qualifier, except that it uses the file
              modification time.

       c[Mwhms][-|+]n
              like the file access qualifier, except that it uses the file in-
              ode change time.

       L[+|-]n
              files less than n bytes (-), more than n bytes (+), or exactly n
              bytes in length.

              If this flag is directly followed by a size specifier `k' (`K'),
              `m'  (`M'),  or  `p' (`P') (e.g. `Lk-50') the check is performed
              with kilobytes, megabytes, or blocks  (of  512  bytes)  instead.
              (On  some  systems additional specifiers are available for giga-
              bytes, `g' or `G', and terabytes, `t' or `T'.) If a size  speci-
              fier  is  used  a  file is regarded as "exactly" the size if the
              file size rounded up to the next unit is equal to the test size.
              Hence `*(Lm1)' matches files from 1 byte up to 1 Megabyte inclu-
              sive.  Note also that the set of files "less than" the test size
              only  includes  files  that  would  not match the equality test;
              hence `*(Lm-1)' only matches files of zero size.

       ^      negates all qualifiers following it

       -      toggles between making the qualifiers  work  on  symbolic  links
              (the default) and the files they point to

       M      sets the MARK_DIRS option for the current pattern

       T      appends a trailing qualifier mark to the filenames, analogous to
              the LIST_TYPES option, for the current pattern (overrides M)

       N      sets the NULL_GLOB option for the current pattern

       D      sets the GLOB_DOTS option for the current pattern

       n      sets the NUMERIC_GLOB_SORT option for the current pattern

       Yn     enables short-circuit mode: the pattern will expand to at most n
              filenames.   If  more  than  n  matches  exist, only the first n
              matches in directory traversal order will be considered.

              Implies oN when no oc qualifier is used.

       oc     specifies how the names of the files should be sorted. If c is n
              they are sorted by name; if it is L they are sorted depending on
              the size (length) of the files; if l they are sorted by the num-
              ber  of  links; if a, m, or c they are sorted by the time of the
              last access, modification, or inode change respectively;  if  d,
              files  in  subdirectories appear before those in the current di-
              rectory at each level of the search --  this  is  best  combined
              with  other  criteria,  for  example `odon' to sort on names for
              files within the same directory; if N, no sorting is  performed.
              Note  that a, m, and c compare the age against the current time,
              hence the first name in the list is the youngest file. Also note
              that  the  modifiers ^ and - are used, so `*(^-oL)' gives a list
              of all files sorted by file size in descending order,  following
              any  symbolic  links.   Unless oN is used, multiple order speci-
              fiers may occur to resolve ties.

              The default sorting is n (by name) unless the Y  glob  qualifier
              is used, in which case it is N (unsorted).

              oe  and  o+  are  special cases; they are each followed by shell
              code, delimited as for the e glob qualifier and the + glob qual-
              ifier  respectively  (see above).  The code is executed for each
              matched file with the parameter REPLY set to  the  name  of  the
              file  on  entry  and globsort appended to zsh_eval_context.  The
              code should modify the parameter REPLY in some fashion.  On  re-
              turn,  the  value  of  the parameter is used instead of the file
              name as the string on which to sort.  Unlike other  sort  opera-
              tors,  oe and o+ may be repeated, but note that the maximum num-
              ber of sort operators of any kind that may appear  in  any  glob
              expression is 12.

       Oc     like  `o',  but  sorts in descending order; i.e. `*(^oc)' is the
              same as `*(Oc)' and `*(^Oc)' is the same as `*(oc)';  `Od'  puts
              files in the current directory before those in subdirectories at
              each level of the search.

       [beg[,end]]
              specifies which of the matched filenames should be  included  in
              the  returned  list.  The  syntax  is the same as for array sub-
              scripts. beg and the optional end may  be  mathematical  expres-
              sions. As in parameter subscripting they may be negative to make
              them count from the last  match  backward.  E.g.:  `*(-OL[1,3])'
              gives a list of the names of the three largest files.

       Pstring
              The  string  will  be prepended to each glob match as a separate
              word.  string is delimited in the same way as arguments to the e
              glob  qualifier described above.  The qualifier can be repeated;
              the words are prepended separately so that the resulting command
              line contains the words in the same order they were given in the
              list of glob qualifiers.

              A typical use for this is to prepend an option before all occur-
              rences  of a file name; for example, the pattern `*(P:-f:)' pro-
              duces the command line arguments `-f file1 -f file2 ...'

              If the modifier ^ is active, then string will  be  appended  in-
              stead  of  prepended.  Prepending and appending is done indepen-
              dently so both can be used on the same glob expression; for  ex-
              ample  by  writing  `*(P:foo:^P:bar:^P:baz:)' which produces the
              command line arguments `foo baz file1 bar ...'

       More than one of these lists can be combined, separated by commas.  The
       whole  list  matches  if at least one of the sublists matches (they are
       `or'ed, the qualifiers in the sublists are `and'ed).  Some  qualifiers,
       however,  affect  all  matches generated, independent of the sublist in
       which they are given.  These are the qualifiers  `M',  `T',  `N',  `D',
       `n', `o', `O' and the subscripts given in brackets (`[...]').

       If  a  `:' appears in a qualifier list, the remainder of the expression
       in parenthesis is interpreted as a modifier  (see  the  section  `Modi-
       fiers'  in the section `History Expansion').  Each modifier must be in-
       troduced by a separate `:'.  Note also that the result after  modifica-
       tion  does  not  have to be an existing file.  The name of any existing
       file can be followed by a modifier of the form `(:...)' even if no  ac-
       tual  filename generation is performed, although note that the presence
       of the parentheses causes the entire expression to be subjected to  any
       global pattern matching options such as NULL_GLOB. Thus:

              ls -ld -- *(-/)

       lists all directories and symbolic links that point to directories, and

              ls -ld -- *(-@)

       lists all broken symbolic links, and

              ls -ld -- *(%W)

       lists all world-writable device files in the current directory, and

              ls -ld -- *(W,X)

       lists  all  files  in  the current directory that are world-writable or
       world-executable, and

              print -rC1 /tmp/foo*(u0^@:t)

       outputs the basename of all root-owned files beginning with the  string
       `foo' in /tmp, ignoring symlinks, and

              ls -ld -- *.*~(lex|parse).[ch](^D^l1)

       lists  all  files  having a link count of one whose names contain a dot
       (but not those starting with  a  dot,  since  GLOB_DOTS  is  explicitly
       switched off) except for lex.c, lex.h, parse.c and parse.h.

              print -rC1 b*.pro(#q:s/pro/shmo/)(#q.:s/builtin/shmiltin/)

       demonstrates  how  colon  modifiers and other qualifiers may be chained
       together.  The ordinary qualifier `.' is applied first, then the  colon
       modifiers  in order from left to right.  So if EXTENDED_GLOB is set and
       the base pattern matches the regular file builtin.pro, the  shell  will
       print `shmiltin.shmo'.

ZSHPARAM(1)                 General Commands Manual                ZSHPARAM(1)

NAME
       zshparam - zsh parameters

DESCRIPTION
       A  parameter  has  a name, a value, and a number of attributes.  A name
       may be any sequence of alphanumeric characters and underscores, or  the
       single  characters  `*',  `@', `#', `?', `-', `$', or `!'.  A parameter
       whose name begins with an alphanumeric or underscore is  also  referred
       to as a variable.

       The  attributes  of  a parameter determine the type of its value, often
       referred to as the parameter type or variable type,  and  also  control
       other  processing  that  may  be applied to the value when it is refer-
       enced.  The value type may be a scalar (a  string,  an  integer,  or  a
       floating  point number), an array (indexed numerically), or an associa-
       tive array (an unordered set of name-value pairs, indexed by name, also
       referred to as a hash).

       Named  scalar  parameters may have the exported, -x, attribute, to copy
       them into the process environment, which is then passed from the  shell
       to  any  new  processes that it starts.  Exported parameters are called
       environment variables. The shell also imports environment variables  at
       startup  time  and  automatically marks the corresponding parameters as
       exported.  Some environment variables are not imported for  reasons  of
       security  or because they would interfere with the correct operation of
       other shell features.

       Parameters may also be special, that  is,  they  have  a  predetermined
       meaning  to  the  shell.   Special  parameters  cannot  have their type
       changed or their readonly attribute turned off, and if a special param-
       eter is unset, then later recreated, the special properties will be re-
       tained.

       To declare the type of a parameter, or to assign a  string  or  numeric
       value to a scalar parameter, use the typeset builtin.

       The value of a scalar parameter may also be assigned by writing:

              name=value

       In  scalar  assignment,  value is expanded as a single string, in which
       the elements of arrays are joined together; filename expansion  is  not
       performed unless the option GLOB_ASSIGN is set.

       When  the  integer  attribute, -i, or a floating point attribute, -E or
       -F, is set for name, the value is  subject  to  arithmetic  evaluation.
       Furthermore, by replacing `=' with `+=', a parameter can be incremented
       or appended to.  See the  section  `Array  Parameters'  and  Arithmetic
       Evaluation (in zshmisc(1)) for additional forms of assignment.

       Note  that assignment may implicitly change the attributes of a parame-
       ter.  For example, assigning a number to a variable in arithmetic eval-
       uation  may  change  its type to integer or float, and with GLOB_ASSIGN
       assigning a pattern to a variable may change its type to an array.

       To reference the value of a parameter, write `$name' or `${name}'.  See
       Parameter  Expansion  in zshexpn(1) for complete details.  That section
       also explains the effect of the difference between scalar and array as-
       signment on parameter expansion.

ARRAY PARAMETERS
       To assign an array value, write one of:

              set -A name value ...
              name=(value ...)
              name=([key]=value ...)

       If  no  parameter  name exists, an ordinary array parameter is created.
       If the parameter name exists and is a scalar, it is replaced by  a  new
       array.

       In  the  third  form,  key  is  an expression that will be evaluated in
       arithmetic context (in its simplest form, an integer)  that  gives  the
       index  of the element to be assigned with value.  In this form any ele-
       ments not explicitly mentioned that come before the  largest  index  to
       which  a  value  is assigned are assigned an empty string.  The indices
       may be in any order.  Note that this syntax is strict: [  and  ]=  must
       not  be  quoted, and key may not consist of the unquoted string ]=, but
       is otherwise treated as a simple string.  The enhanced  forms  of  sub-
       script  expression  that may be used when directly subscripting a vari-
       able name, described in the section Array  Subscripts  below,  are  not
       available.

       The  syntaxes  with  and without the explicit key may be mixed.  An im-
       plicit key is deduced by incrementing the index from the previously as-
       signed  element.  Note that it is not treated as an error if latter as-
       signments in this form overwrite earlier assignments.

       For example, assuming the option KSH_ARRAYS is not set, the following:

              array=(one [3]=three four)

       causes the array variable array to contain four elements one, an  empty
       string, three and four, in that order.

       In the forms where only value is specified, full command line expansion
       is performed.

       In the [key]=value form, both key and value undergo all forms of expan-
       sion  allowed  for  single word shell expansions (this does not include
       filename generation); these are as performed by the parameter expansion
       flag  (e)  as described in zshexpn(1).  Nested parentheses may surround
       value and are included as part of the value, which  is  joined  into  a
       plain  string; this differs from ksh which allows the values themselves
       to be arrays.  A future version of zsh may support that.  To cause  the
       brackets  to  be  interpreted as a character class for filename genera-
       tion, and therefore to treat the resulting list of files as  a  set  of
       values, quote the equal sign using any form of quoting.  Example:

              name=([a-z]'='*)

       To  append to an array without changing the existing values, use one of
       the following:

              name+=(value ...)
              name+=([key]=value ...)

       In the second form key may specify an existing index as well as an  in-
       dex  off the end of the old array; any existing value is overwritten by
       value.  Also, it is possible to use [key]+=value to append to  the  ex-
       isting value at that index.

       Within the parentheses on the right hand side of either form of the as-
       signment, newlines and semicolons are treated the same as white  space,
       separating individual values.  Any consecutive sequence of such charac-
       ters has the same effect.

       Ordinary array parameters may also be explicitly declared with:

              typeset -a name

       Associative arrays must be declared before assignment, by using:

              typeset -A name

       When name refers to an associative array, the list in an assignment  is
       interpreted as alternating keys and values:

              set -A name key value ...
              name=(key value ...)
              name=([key]=value ...)

       Note  that  only one of the two syntaxes above may be used in any given
       assignment; the forms may not be mixed.  This is unlike the case of nu-
       merically indexed arrays.

       Every  key  must  have a value in this case.  Note that this assigns to
       the entire array, deleting any elements that do not appear in the list.
       The append syntax may also be used with an associative array:

              name+=(key value ...)
              name+=([key]=value ...)

       This  adds  a new key/value pair if the key is not already present, and
       replaces the value for the existing key if it is.  In the  second  form
       it is also possible to use [key]+=value to append to the existing value
       at that key.  Expansion is performed identically to  the  corresponding
       forms for normal arrays, as described above.

       To create an empty array (including associative arrays), use one of:

              set -A name
              name=()

   Array Subscripts
       Individual  elements  of an array may be selected using a subscript.  A
       subscript of the form `[exp]' selects the single element exp, where exp
       is  an arithmetic expression which will be subject to arithmetic expan-
       sion as if it were surrounded by `$((...))'.  The elements are numbered
       beginning  with  1,  unless  the KSH_ARRAYS option is set in which case
       they are numbered from zero.

       Subscripts may be used inside braces used to delimit a parameter  name,
       thus  `${foo[2]}' is equivalent to `$foo[2]'.  If the KSH_ARRAYS option
       is set, the braced form is the only one that works,  as  bracketed  ex-
       pressions otherwise are not treated as subscripts.

       If the KSH_ARRAYS option is not set, then by default accesses to an ar-
       ray element with a subscript that evaluates to  zero  return  an  empty
       string,  while an attempt to write such an element is treated as an er-
       ror.  For backward compatibility the KSH_ZERO_SUBSCRIPT option  can  be
       set  to  cause  subscript  values 0 and 1 to be equivalent; see the de-
       scription of the option in zshoptions(1).

       The same subscripting syntax is used  for  associative  arrays,  except
       that  no  arithmetic expansion is applied to exp.  However, the parsing
       rules for arithmetic expressions still apply,  which  affects  the  way
       that  certain special characters must be protected from interpretation.
       See Subscript Parsing below for details.

       A subscript of the form `[*]' or `[@]' evaluates to all elements of  an
       array;  there  is no difference between the two except when they appear
       within double  quotes.   `"$foo[*]"'  evaluates  to  `"$foo[1]  $foo[2]
       ..."', whereas `"$foo[@]"' evaluates to `"$foo[1]" "$foo[2]" ...'.  For
       associative arrays, `[*]' or `[@]' evaluate to all the  values,  in  no
       particular order.  Note that this does not substitute the keys; see the
       documentation for the `k' flag under Parameter Expansion Flags in  zsh-
       expn(1) for complete details.  When an array parameter is referenced as
       `$name' (with no subscript) it  evaluates  to  `$name[*]',  unless  the
       KSH_ARRAYS  option  is  set  in which case it evaluates to `${name[0]}'
       (for an associative array, this means the value of the key  `0',  which
       may not exist even if there are values for other keys).

       A subscript of the form `[exp1,exp2]' selects all elements in the range
       exp1 to exp2, inclusive. (Associative arrays are unordered, and  so  do
       not  support  ranges.) If one of the subscripts evaluates to a negative
       number, say -n, then the nth element from the end of the array is used.
       Thus `$foo[-3]' is the third element from the end of the array foo, and
       `$foo[1,-1]' is the same as `$foo[*]'.

       Subscripting may also be performed on non-array values, in  which  case
       the  subscripts  specify  a substring to be extracted.  For example, if
       FOO is set to `foobar', then `echo $FOO[2,5]' prints `ooba'.  Note that
       some  forms  of  subscripting described below perform pattern matching,
       and in that case the substring extends from the start of the  match  of
       the  first  subscript  to the end of the match of the second subscript.
       For example,

              string="abcdefghijklm"
              print ${string[(r)d?,(r)h?]}

       prints `defghi'.  This is an obvious generalisation  of  the  rule  for
       single-character  matches.  For a single subscript, only a single char-
       acter is referenced (not the range of characters covered by the match).

       Note that in substring operations the second subscript is handled  dif-
       ferently  by the r and R subscript flags: the former takes the shortest
       match as the length and the latter the longest  match.   Hence  in  the
       former  case  a  *  at the end is redundant while in the latter case it
       matches the whole remainder of the string.  This does  not  affect  the
       result  of the single subscript case as here the length of the match is
       irrelevant.

   Array Element Assignment
       A subscript may be used on the left side of an assignment like so:

              name[exp]=value

       In this form of assignment the element or range specified by exp is re-
       placed by the expression on the right side.  An array (but not an asso-
       ciative array) may be created by assignment to a range or element.  Ar-
       rays do not nest, so assigning a parenthesized list of values to an el-
       ement or range changes the number of elements in  the  array,  shifting
       the  other  elements  to accommodate the new values.  (This is not sup-
       ported for associative arrays.)

       This syntax also works as an argument to the typeset command:

              typeset "name[exp]"=value

       The value may not be a parenthesized list in this case; only single-el-
       ement  assignments may be made with typeset.  Note that quotes are nec-
       essary in this case to prevent the brackets from being  interpreted  as
       filename generation operators.  The noglob precommand modifier could be
       used instead.

       To delete an element of an ordinary array, assign `()' to that element.
       To delete an element of an associative array, use the unset command:

              unset "name[exp]"

   Subscript Flags
       If  the  opening bracket, or the comma in a range, in any subscript ex-
       pression is directly followed by an opening parenthesis, the string  up
       to  the matching closing one is considered to be a list of flags, as in
       `name[(flags)exp]'.

       The flags s, n and b take an argument; the delimiter is shown below  as
       `:',  but  any  character,  or  the  matching  pairs  `(...)', `{...}',
       `[...]', or `<...>', may be used, but note that  `<...>'  can  only  be
       used if the subscript is inside a double quoted expression or a parame-
       ter substitution enclosed in braces as otherwise the expression is  in-
       terpreted as a redirection.

       The flags currently understood are:

       w      If  the  parameter  subscripted is a scalar then this flag makes
              subscripting work on words instead of characters.   The  default
              word  separator  is  whitespace.   When combined with the i or I
              flag, the effect is to produce the index of the first  character
              of  the  first/last  word  which matches the given pattern; note
              that a failed match in this case always yields 0.

       s:string:
              This gives the string that separates words (for use with  the  w
              flag).  The delimiter character : is arbitrary; see above.

       p      Recognize  the same escape sequences as the print builtin in the
              string argument of a subsequent `s' flag.

       f      If the parameter subscripted is a scalar then  this  flag  makes
              subscripting work on lines instead of characters, i.e. with ele-
              ments separated by newlines.  This is a shorthand for `pws:\n:'.

       r      Reverse subscripting: if this flag is given, the exp is taken as
              a  pattern  and  the result is the first matching array element,
              substring or word (if the parameter is an  array,  if  it  is  a
              scalar,  or if it is a scalar and the `w' flag is given, respec-
              tively).  The subscript used is the number of the matching  ele-
              ment,  so  that  pairs of subscripts such as `$foo[(r)??,3]' and
              `$foo[(r)??,(r)f*]' are possible if the parameter is not an  as-
              sociative array.  If the parameter is an associative array, only
              the value part of each pair is compared to the pattern, and  the
              result is that value.

              If  a  search  through an ordinary array failed, the search sets
              the subscript to one past the end of the array, and hence  ${ar-
              ray[(r)pattern]}  will  substitute  the  empty string.  Thus the
              success of a search can be tested by using the (i) flag, for ex-
              ample (assuming the option KSH_ARRAYS is not in effect):

                     [[ ${array[(i)pattern]} -le ${#array} ]]

              If KSH_ARRAYS is in effect, the -le should be replaced by -lt.

       R      Like  `r',  but  gives  the last match.  For associative arrays,
              gives all possible matches. May be used for assigning  to  ordi-
              nary  array  elements,  but not for assigning to associative ar-
              rays.  On failure, for normal arrays this has the effect of  re-
              turning  the element corresponding to subscript 0; this is empty
              unless one of the options KSH_ARRAYS or KSH_ZERO_SUBSCRIPT is in
              effect.

              Note that in subscripts with both `r' and `R' pattern characters
              are active even if they were substituted for  a  parameter  (re-
              gardless  of  the setting of GLOB_SUBST which controls this fea-
              ture in normal pattern matching).  The flag `e' can be added  to
              inhibit  pattern  matching.  As this flag does not inhibit other
              forms of substitution, care is still required; using a parameter
              to hold the key has the desired effect:

                     key2='original key'
                     print ${array[(Re)$key2]}

       i      Like `r', but gives the index of the match instead; this may not
              be combined with a second argument.  On the left side of an  as-
              signment,  behaves  like  `r'.   For associative arrays, the key
              part of each pair is compared to  the  pattern,  and  the  first
              matching  key  found  is the result.  On failure substitutes the
              length of the array plus one, as discussed under the description
              of `r', or the empty string for an associative array.

       I      Like `i', but gives the index of the last match, or all possible
              matching keys in an associative array.  On  failure  substitutes
              0,  or  the empty string for an associative array.  This flag is
              best when testing for values or keys that do not exist.

       k      If used in a subscript on an associative array, this flag causes
              the  keys  to  be interpreted as patterns, and returns the value
              for the first key found where exp is matched by the  key.   Note
              this  could be any such key as no ordering of associative arrays
              is defined.  This flag does not work on the left side of an  as-
              signment  to  an  associative array element.  If used on another
              type of parameter, this behaves like `r'.

       K      On an associative array this is like `k' but returns all  values
              where  exp is matched by the keys.  On other types of parameters
              this has the same effect as `R'.

       n:expr:
              If combined with `r', `R', `i' or `I', makes them give  the  nth
              or  nth  last  match (if expr evaluates to n).  This flag is ig-
              nored when the array is associative.  The delimiter character  :
              is arbitrary; see above.

       b:expr:
              If  combined  with `r', `R', `i' or `I', makes them begin at the
              nth or nth last element, word, or character (if  expr  evaluates
              to n).  This flag is ignored when the array is associative.  The
              delimiter character : is arbitrary; see above.

       e      This flag causes any pattern matching that would be performed on
              the  subscript  to  use  plain  string  matching instead.  Hence
              `${array[(re)*]}' matches only the array element whose value  is
              *.  Note that other forms of substitution such as parameter sub-
              stitution are not inhibited.

              This flag can also be used to force * or @ to be interpreted  as
              a  single  key rather than as a reference to all values.  It may
              be used for either purpose on the left side of an assignment.

       See Parameter Expansion Flags (zshexpn(1)) for additional ways  to  ma-
       nipulate the results of array subscripting.

   Subscript Parsing
       This  discussion applies mainly to associative array key strings and to
       patterns used for reverse subscripting (the `r', `R', `i', etc. flags),
       but  it  may also affect parameter substitutions that appear as part of
       an arithmetic expression in an ordinary subscript.

       To avoid subscript parsing limitations in  assignments  to  associative
       array elements, use the append syntax:

              aa+=('key with "*strange*" characters' 'value string')

       The  basic rule to remember when writing a subscript expression is that
       all text between the opening `[' and the closing `]' is interpreted  as
       if  it  were in double quotes (see zshmisc(1)).  However, unlike double
       quotes which normally cannot nest, subscript expressions may appear in-
       side  double-quoted  strings  or inside other subscript expressions (or
       both!), so the rules have two important differences.

       The first difference is that brackets (`[' and `]') must appear as bal-
       anced  pairs  in  a  subscript expression unless they are preceded by a
       backslash (`\').  Therefore, within a subscript expression (and  unlike
       true  double-quoting) the sequence `\[' becomes `[', and similarly `\]'
       becomes `]'.  This applies even in cases where a backslash is not  nor-
       mally required; for example, the pattern `[^[]' (to match any character
       other than an open bracket) should be written `[^\[]' in a reverse-sub-
       script pattern.  However, note that `\[^\[\]' and even `\[^[]' mean the
       same thing, because backslashes are always stripped  when  they  appear
       before brackets!

       The  same rule applies to parentheses (`(' and `)') and braces (`{' and
       `}'): they must appear either in balanced pairs or preceded by a  back-
       slash,  and  backslashes that protect parentheses or braces are removed
       during parsing.  This is because parameter expansions may be surrounded
       by  balanced  braces,  and  subscript  flags are introduced by balanced
       parentheses.

       The second difference is that a double-quote (`"') may appear  as  part
       of  a  subscript  expression without being preceded by a backslash, and
       therefore that the two characters `\"' remain as two characters in  the
       subscript (in true double-quoting, `\"' becomes `"').  However, because
       of the standard shell quoting rules, any double-quotes that appear must
       occur  in balanced pairs unless preceded by a backslash.  This makes it
       more difficult to write a subscript expression  that  contains  an  odd
       number  of  double-quote characters, but the reason for this difference
       is so that  when  a  subscript  expression  appears  inside  true  dou-
       ble-quotes, one can still write `\"' (rather than `\\\"') for `"'.

       To  use  an  odd number of double quotes as a key in an assignment, use
       the typeset builtin and an enclosing pair of double quotes; to refer to
       the value of that key, again use double quotes:

              typeset -A aa
              typeset "aa[one\"two\"three\"quotes]"=QQQ
              print "$aa[one\"two\"three\"quotes]"

       It is important to note that the quoting rules do not change when a pa-
       rameter expansion with a subscript is nested inside  another  subscript
       expression.  That is, it is not necessary to use additional backslashes
       within the inner subscript expression; they are removed only once, from
       the  innermost  subscript  outwards.  Parameters are also expanded from
       the innermost subscript first, as each expansion is encountered left to
       right in the outer expression.

       A  further complication arises from a way in which subscript parsing is
       not different from double quote parsing.  As  in  true  double-quoting,
       the  sequences `\*', and `\@' remain as two characters when they appear
       in a subscript expression.  To use a literal `*' or `@' as an  associa-
       tive array key, the `e' flag must be used:

              typeset -A aa
              aa[(e)*]=star
              print $aa[(e)*]

       A  last  detail  must  be  considered when reverse subscripting is per-
       formed.  Parameters appearing in the subscript expression are first ex-
       panded  and  then  the complete expression is interpreted as a pattern.
       This has two effects: first, parameters behave as if GLOB_SUBST were on
       (and  it  cannot  be  turned  off); second, backslashes are interpreted
       twice, once when parsing the array subscript and again when parsing the
       pattern.   In  a  reverse  subscript,  it's necessary to use four back-
       slashes to cause a single backslash to match literally in the  pattern.
       For complex patterns, it is often easiest to assign the desired pattern
       to a parameter and then refer to that parameter in the  subscript,  be-
       cause  then the backslashes, brackets, parentheses, etc., are seen only
       when the complete expression is converted to a pattern.  To  match  the
       value of a parameter literally in a reverse subscript, rather than as a
       pattern, use `${(q)name}' (see zshexpn(1)) to quote the expanded value.

       Note that the `k' and `K' flags are reverse subscripting for  an  ordi-
       nary  array, but are not reverse subscripting for an associative array!
       (For an associative array, the keys in the array itself are interpreted
       as  patterns  by  those  flags; the subscript is a plain string in that
       case.)

       One final note, not directly related to subscripting: the numeric names
       of positional parameters (described below) are parsed specially, so for
       example `$2foo' is equivalent to `${2}foo'.   Therefore,  to  use  sub-
       script  syntax  to extract a substring from a positional parameter, the
       expansion must be surrounded by braces; for example, `${2[3,5]}' evalu-
       ates to the third through fifth characters of the second positional pa-
       rameter, but `$2[3,5]' is the entire second parameter concatenated with
       the filename generation pattern `[3,5]'.

POSITIONAL PARAMETERS
       The  positional parameters provide access to the command-line arguments
       of a shell function, shell script, or the shell itself; see the section
       `Invocation', and also the section `Functions'.  The parameter n, where
       n is a number, is the nth positional parameter.  The parameter `$0'  is
       a special case, see the section `Parameters Set By The Shell'.

       The  parameters  *, @ and argv are arrays containing all the positional
       parameters; thus `$argv[n]', etc., is equivalent to simply `$n'.   Note
       that the options KSH_ARRAYS or KSH_ZERO_SUBSCRIPT apply to these arrays
       as well, so with either of those options set, `${argv[0]}'  is  equiva-
       lent to `$1' and so on.

       Positional parameters may be changed after the shell or function starts
       by using the set builtin, by assigning to the argv array, or by  direct
       assignment  of  the  form  `n=value' where n is the number of the posi-
       tional parameter to be changed.  This also creates (with empty  values)
       any of the positions from 1 to n that do not already have values.  Note
       that, because the positional parameters form an array, an array assign-
       ment  of  the  form  `n=(value  ...)' is allowed, and has the effect of
       shifting all the values at positions greater than n by  as  many  posi-
       tions as necessary to accommodate the new values.

LOCAL PARAMETERS
       Shell function executions delimit scopes for shell parameters.  (Param-
       eters are dynamically scoped.)  The typeset builtin, and  its  alterna-
       tive  forms  declare, integer, local and readonly (but not export), can
       be used to declare a parameter as being local to the innermost scope.

       When a parameter is read or assigned to, the innermost existing parame-
       ter  of  that  name  is  used.  (That is, the local parameter hides any
       less-local parameter.)  However, assigning to a non-existent parameter,
       or  declaring  a  new parameter with export, causes it to be created in
       the outermost scope.

       Local parameters disappear when their scope ends.  unset can be used to
       delete  a  parameter while it is still in scope; any outer parameter of
       the same name remains hidden.

       Special parameters may also be made local; they  retain  their  special
       attributes  unless  either  the existing or the newly-created parameter
       has the -h (hide) attribute.  This may have unexpected  effects:  there
       is  no  default  value,  so  if there is no assignment at the point the
       variable is made local, it will be set to an empty value  (or  zero  in
       the case of integers).  The following:

              typeset PATH=/new/directory:$PATH

       is  valid  for temporarily allowing the shell or programmes called from
       it to find the programs in /new/directory inside a function.

       Note that the restriction in older versions of zsh that  local  parame-
       ters were never exported has been removed.

PARAMETERS SET BY THE SHELL
       In  the  parameter lists that follow, the mark `<S>' indicates that the
       parameter is special.  `<Z>' indicates that the parameter does not  ex-
       ist when the shell initializes in sh or ksh emulation mode.

       The following parameters are automatically set by the shell:

       ! <S>  The  process  ID  of  the last command started in the background
              with &, put into the background with the bg builtin, or  spawned
              with coproc.

       # <S>  The  number of positional parameters in decimal.  Note that some
              confusion may occur with the syntax  $#param  which  substitutes
              the  length of param.  Use ${#} to resolve ambiguities.  In par-
              ticular, the sequence `$#-...' in an  arithmetic  expression  is
              interpreted as the length of the parameter -, q.v.

       ARGC <S> <Z>
              Same as #.

       $ <S>  The  process  ID  of  this  shell.  Note that this indicates the
              original shell started by invoking  zsh;  all  processes  forked
              from  the  shells  without executing a new program, such as sub-
              shells started by (...), substitute the same value.

       - <S>  Flags supplied to the shell on invocation or by the set  or  se-
              topt commands.

       * <S>  An array containing the positional parameters.

       argv <S> <Z>
              Same  as  *.  Assigning to argv changes the local positional pa-
              rameters, but argv is not itself a  local  parameter.   Deleting
              argv  with unset in any function deletes it everywhere, although
              only the innermost positional parameter array is deleted  (so  *
              and @ in other scopes are not affected).

       @ <S>  Same as argv[@], even when argv is not set.

       ? <S>  The exit status returned by the last command.

       0 <S>  The  name  used to invoke the current shell, or as set by the -c
              command line option upon invocation.   If  the  FUNCTION_ARGZERO
              option  is  set, $0 is set upon entry to a shell function to the
              name of the function, and upon entry to a sourced script to  the
              name  of  the  script,  and reset to its previous value when the
              function or script returns.

       status <S> <Z>
              Same as ?.

       pipestatus <S> <Z>
              An array containing the exit statuses returned by  all  commands
              in the last pipeline.

       _ <S>  The last argument of the previous command.  Also, this parameter
              is set in the environment of every command executed to the  full
              pathname of the command.

       CPUTYPE
              The machine type (microprocessor class or machine model), as de-
              termined at run time.

       EGID <S>
              The effective group ID of the shell process.  If you have suffi-
              cient  privileges,  you may change the effective group ID of the
              shell process by assigning to this  parameter.   Also  (assuming
              sufficient  privileges),  you  may start a single command with a
              different effective group ID by `(EGID=gid; command)'

              If this is made local, it is not implicitly set to 0, but may be
              explicitly set locally.

       EUID <S>
              The  effective user ID of the shell process.  If you have suffi-
              cient privileges, you may change the effective user  ID  of  the
              shell  process  by  assigning to this parameter.  Also (assuming
              sufficient privileges), you may start a single  command  with  a
              different effective user ID by `(EUID=uid; command)'

              If this is made local, it is not implicitly set to 0, but may be
              explicitly set locally.

       ERRNO <S>
              The value of errno (see errno(3)) as set by  the  most  recently
              failed  system  call.  This value is system dependent and is in-
              tended for debugging purposes.   It  is  also  useful  with  the
              zsh/system  module  which  allows the number to be turned into a
              name or message.

       FUNCNEST <S>
              Integer.  If greater than or equal to zero, the maximum  nesting
              depth  of  shell  functions.   When  it is exceeded, an error is
              raised at the point where a function  is  called.   The  default
              value  is  determined when the shell is configured, but is typi-
              cally 500.  Increasing the value increases the danger of a  run-
              away  function  recursion causing the shell to crash.  Setting a
              negative value turns off the check.

       GID <S>
              The real group ID of the shell process.  If you have  sufficient
              privileges,  you may change the group ID of the shell process by
              assigning to this parameter.  Also (assuming  sufficient  privi-
              leges),  you  may start a single command under a different group
              ID by `(GID=gid; command)'

              If this is made local, it is not implicitly set to 0, but may be
              explicitly set locally.

       HISTCMD
              The  current  history  event  number in an interactive shell, in
              other words  the  event  number  for  the  command  that  caused
              $HISTCMD  to be read.  If the current history event modifies the
              history, HISTCMD changes to the new maximum history  event  num-
              ber.

       HOST   The current hostname.

       LINENO <S>
              The  line  number of the current line within the current script,
              sourced file, or shell function being  executed,  whichever  was
              started most recently.  Note that in the case of shell functions
              the line number refers to the function as  it  appeared  in  the
              original  definition,  not necessarily as displayed by the func-
              tions builtin.

       LOGNAME
              If the corresponding variable is not set in the  environment  of
              the  shell, it is initialized to the login name corresponding to
              the current login session. This parameter is exported by default
              but  this  can be disabled using the typeset builtin.  The value
              is set to the string returned by the getlogin(3) system call  if
              that is available.

       MACHTYPE
              The machine type (microprocessor class or machine model), as de-
              termined at compile time.

       OLDPWD The previous working directory.  This is set when the shell ini-
              tializes and whenever the directory changes.

       OPTARG <S>
              The  value  of the last option argument processed by the getopts
              command.

       OPTIND <S>
              The index of the last option argument processed by  the  getopts
              command.

       OSTYPE The operating system, as determined at compile time.

       PPID <S>
              The process ID of the parent of the shell.  As for $$, the value
              indicates the parent of the original shell and does  not  change
              in subshells.

       PWD    The  present working directory.  This is set when the shell ini-
              tializes and whenever the directory changes.

       RANDOM <S>
              A pseudo-random integer from 0 to 32767,  newly  generated  each
              time  this parameter is referenced.  The random number generator
              can be seeded by assigning a numeric value to RANDOM.

              The  values   of   RANDOM   form   an   intentionally-repeatable
              pseudo-random sequence; subshells that reference RANDOM will re-
              sult in identical pseudo-random values unless the value of  RAN-
              DOM  is referenced or seeded in the parent shell in between sub-
              shell invocations.

       SECONDS <S>
              The number of seconds since shell invocation.  If this parameter
              is assigned a value, then the value returned upon reference will
              be the value that was assigned plus the number of seconds  since
              the assignment.

              Unlike other special parameters, the type of the SECONDS parame-
              ter can be changed using the typeset command.  Only integer  and
              one  of  the  floating  point  types  are allowed.  For example,
              `typeset -F SECONDS' causes the value to be reported as a float-
              ing  point  number.  The value is available to microsecond accu-
              racy, although the shell may show more or fewer digits depending
              on  the  use  of typeset.  See the documentation for the builtin
              typeset in zshbuiltins(1) for more details.

       SHLVL <S>
              Incremented by one each time a new shell is started.

       signals
              An array containing the names of the signals.   Note  that  with
              the standard zsh numbering of array indices, where the first el-
              ement has index 1, the signals are offset by 1 from  the  signal
              number  used  by  the operating system.  For example, on typical
              Unix-like systems HUP is signal number 1, but is referred to  as
              $signals[2].   This  is because of EXIT at position 1 in the ar-
              ray, which is used internally by zsh but is not known to the op-
              erating system.

       TRY_BLOCK_ERROR <S>
              In an always block, indicates whether the preceding list of code
              caused an error.  The value is 1 to indicate an error, 0  other-
              wise.   It may be reset, clearing the error condition.  See Com-
              plex Commands in zshmisc(1)

       TRY_BLOCK_INTERRUPT <S>
              This variable works in a similar  way  to  TRY_BLOCK_ERROR,  but
              represents  the  status  of an interrupt from the signal SIGINT,
              which typically comes from the keyboard when the user types  ^C.
              If  set  to  0, any such interrupt will be reset; otherwise, the
              interrupt is propagated after the always block.

              Note that it is possible that an interrupt  arrives  during  the
              execution  of  the  always  block; this interrupt is also propa-
              gated.

       TTY    The name of the tty associated with the shell, if any.

       TTYIDLE <S>
              The idle time of the tty associated with the shell in seconds or
              -1 if there is no such tty.

       UID <S>
              The  real  user ID of the shell process.  If you have sufficient
              privileges, you may change the user ID of the shell by assigning
              to  this  parameter.  Also (assuming sufficient privileges), you
              may start  a  single  command  under  a  different  user  ID  by
              `(UID=uid; command)'

              If this is made local, it is not implicitly set to 0, but may be
              explicitly set locally.

       USERNAME <S>
              The username corresponding to the real  user  ID  of  the  shell
              process.   If you have sufficient privileges, you may change the
              username (and also the user ID and group ID) of the shell by as-
              signing  to  this  parameter.   Also (assuming sufficient privi-
              leges), you may start a single command under a  different  user-
              name  (and  user  ID  and group ID) by `(USERNAME=username; com-
              mand)'

       VENDOR The vendor, as determined at compile time.

       zsh_eval_context <S> <Z> (ZSH_EVAL_CONTEXT <S>)
              An array (colon-separated list) indicating the context of  shell
              code that is being run.  Each time a piece of shell code that is
              stored within the shell is executed a string is temporarily  ap-
              pended  to  the  array to indicate the type of operation that is
              being performed.  Read in order the array gives an indication of
              the  stack of operations being performed with the most immediate
              context last.

              Note that the variable does not give  information  on  syntactic
              context  such  as  pipelines or subshells.  Use $ZSH_SUBSHELL to
              detect subshells.

              The context is one of the following:
              cmdarg Code specified by the -c option to the command line  that
                     invoked the shell.

              cmdsubst
                     Command substitution using the `...` or $(...) construct.

              equalsubst
                     File substitution using the =(...) construct.

              eval   Code executed by the eval builtin.

              evalautofunc
                     Code executed with the KSH_AUTOLOAD mechanism in order to
                     define an autoloaded function.

              fc     Code from the shell history executed by the -e option  to
                     the fc builtin.

              file   Lines  of code being read directly from a file, for exam-
                     ple by the source builtin.

              filecode
                     Lines of code being read from a .zwc file instead of  di-
                     rectly from the source file.

              globqual
                     Code executed by the e or + glob qualifier.

              globsort
                     Code executed to order files by the o glob qualifier.

              insubst
                     File substitution using the <(...) construct.

              loadautofunc
                     Code  read  directly  from a file to define an autoloaded
                     function.

              outsubst
                     File substitution using the >(...) construct.

              sched  Code executed by the sched builtin.

              shfunc A shell function.

              stty   Code passed to stty by  the  STTY  environment  variable.
                     Normally  this  is  passed  directly to the system's stty
                     command, so this value is unlikely to be  seen  in  prac-
                     tice.

              style  Code  executed as part of a style retrieved by the zstyle
                     builtin from the zsh/zutil module.

              toplevel
                     The highest execution level of a  script  or  interactive
                     shell.

              trap   Code  executed  as  a  trap  defined by the trap builtin.
                     Traps defined as functions have the context  shfunc.   As
                     traps  are asynchronous they may have a different hierar-
                     chy from other code.

              zpty   Code executed by the zpty builtin from the zsh/zpty  mod-
                     ule.

              zregexparse-guard
                     Code  executed as a guard by the zregexparse command from
                     the zsh/zutil module.

              zregexparse-action
                     Code executed as an action  by  the  zregexparse  command
                     from the zsh/zutil module.

       ZSH_ARGZERO
              If  zsh  was  invoked  to  run a script, this is the name of the
              script.  Otherwise, it is the name used to  invoke  the  current
              shell.    This  is  the  same  as  the  value  of  $0  when  the
              POSIX_ARGZERO option is set, but is always available.

       ZSH_EXECUTION_STRING
              If the shell was started with the option -c, this  contains  the
              argument passed to the option.  Otherwise it is not set.

       ZSH_NAME
              Expands  to  the basename of the command used to invoke this in-
              stance of zsh.

       ZSH_PATCHLEVEL
              The output of `git describe --tags --long' for the  zsh  reposi-
              tory  used  to build the shell.  This is most useful in order to
              keep track of versions of the shell during  development  between
              releases;  hence most users should not use it and should instead
              rely on $ZSH_VERSION.

       zsh_scheduled_events
              See the section `The zsh/sched Module' in zshmodules(1).

       ZSH_SCRIPT
              If zsh was invoked to run a script, this  is  the  name  of  the
              script, otherwise it is unset.

       ZSH_SUBSHELL
              Readonly  integer.   Initially  zero,  incremented each time the
              shell forks to create a  subshell  for  executing  code.   Hence
              `(print  $ZSH_SUBSHELL)' and `print $(print $ZSH_SUBSHELL)' out-
              put 1, while `( (print $ZSH_SUBSHELL) )' outputs 2.

       ZSH_VERSION
              The version number of the release of zsh.

PARAMETERS USED BY THE SHELL
       The following parameters are used by the shell.  Again, `<S>' indicates
       that  the  parameter  is special and `<Z>' indicates that the parameter
       does not exist when the shell initializes in sh or ksh emulation mode.

       In cases where there are two parameters with an  upper-  and  lowercase
       form  of the same name, such as path and PATH, the lowercase form is an
       array and the uppercase form is a scalar with the elements of the array
       joined  together  by colons.  These are similar to tied parameters cre-
       ated via `typeset -T'.  The normal use for the colon-separated form  is
       for exporting to the environment, while the array form is easier to ma-
       nipulate within the shell.  Note that unsetting either of the pair will
       unset  the  other; they retain their special properties when recreated,
       and recreating one of the pair will recreate the other.

       ARGV0  If exported, its value is used as the argv[0] of  external  com-
              mands.  Usually used in constructs like `ARGV0=emacs nethack'.

       BAUD   The  rate in bits per second at which data reaches the terminal.
              The line editor will use this value in order to compensate for a
              slow  terminal  by  delaying updates to the display until neces-
              sary.  If the parameter is unset or the value is zero  the  com-
              pensation  mechanism is turned off.  The parameter is not set by
              default.

              This parameter may be profitably set in some circumstances, e.g.
              for  slow  modems  dialing into a communications server, or on a
              slow wide area network.  It should be set to the  baud  rate  of
              the slowest part of the link for best performance.

       cdpath <S> <Z> (CDPATH <S>)
              An  array  (colon-separated  list) of directories specifying the
              search path for the cd command.

       COLUMNS <S>
              The number of columns  for  this  terminal  session.   Used  for
              printing select lists and for the line editor.

       CORRECT_IGNORE
              If set, is treated as a pattern during spelling correction.  Any
              potential correction that matches the pattern is  ignored.   For
              example,  if the value is `_*' then completion functions (which,
              by convention, have names beginning with `_') will never be  of-
              fered  as  spelling  corrections.  The pattern does not apply to
              the correction of file names, as applied by the CORRECT_ALL  op-
              tion (so with the example just given files beginning with `_' in
              the current directory would still be completed).

       CORRECT_IGNORE_FILE
              If set, is treated as a pattern during  spelling  correction  of
              file names.  Any file name that matches the pattern is never of-
              fered as a correction.  For example, if the value is  `.*'  then
              dot  file  names  will never be offered as spelling corrections.
              This is useful with the CORRECT_ALL option.

       DIRSTACKSIZE
              The maximum size of the directory stack, by default there is  no
              limit.  If the stack gets larger than this, it will be truncated
              automatically.  This is useful with the AUTO_PUSHD option.

       ENV    If the ENV environment variable is set when zsh is invoked as sh
              or ksh, $ENV is sourced after the profile scripts.  The value of
              ENV is subjected to parameter expansion,  command  substitution,
              and arithmetic expansion before being interpreted as a pathname.
              Note that ENV is not used unless the shell  is  interactive  and
              zsh is emulating sh or ksh.

       FCEDIT The  default  editor  for the fc builtin.  If FCEDIT is not set,
              the parameter EDITOR is used; if  that  is  not  set  either,  a
              builtin default, usually vi, is used.

       fignore <S> <Z> (FIGNORE <S>)
              An array (colon separated list) containing the suffixes of files
              to be ignored during filename completion.  However,  if  comple-
              tion only generates files with suffixes in this list, then these
              files are completed anyway.

       fpath <S> <Z> (FPATH <S>)
              An array (colon separated list) of  directories  specifying  the
              search  path  for  function  definitions.  This path is searched
              when a function with the -u attribute is referenced.  If an exe-
              cutable  file is found, then it is read and executed in the cur-
              rent environment.

       histchars <S>
              Three characters used by the shell's history and lexical  analy-
              sis  mechanism.  The first character signals the start of a his-
              tory expansion (default `!').  The second character signals  the
              start  of a quick history substitution (default `^').  The third
              character is the comment character (default `#').

              The characters must be in the ASCII character set;  any  attempt
              to  set  histchars to characters with a locale-dependent meaning
              will be rejected with an error message.

       HISTCHARS <S> <Z>
              Same as histchars.  (Deprecated.)

       HISTFILE
              The file to save the history in when an interactive shell exits.
              If unset, the history is not saved.

       HISTORY_IGNORE
              If  set,  is  treated as a pattern at the time history files are
              written.  Any potential history entry that matches  the  pattern
              is  skipped.   For example, if the value is `fc *' then commands
              that invoke the interactive history editor are never written  to
              the history file.

              Note  that  HISTORY_IGNORE  defines a single pattern: to specify
              alternatives use the `(first|second|...)' syntax.

              Compare the HIST_NO_STORE option or the zshaddhistory hook,  ei-
              ther  of  which  would prevent such commands from being added to
              the interactive history at all.  If you wish to use  HISTORY_IG-
              NORE to stop history being added in the first place, you can de-
              fine the following hook:

                     zshaddhistory() {
                       emulate -L zsh
                       ## uncomment if HISTORY_IGNORE
                       ## should use EXTENDED_GLOB syntax
                       # setopt extendedglob
                       [[ $1 != ${~HISTORY_IGNORE} ]]
                     }

       HISTSIZE <S>
              The maximum number of events  stored  in  the  internal  history
              list.   If  you  use  the HIST_EXPIRE_DUPS_FIRST option, setting
              this value larger than the SAVEHIST size will give you the  dif-
              ference as a cushion for saving duplicated history events.

              If this is made local, it is not implicitly set to 0, but may be
              explicitly set locally.

       HOME <S>
              The default argument for the cd command.  This is not set  auto-
              matically  by  the  shell in sh, ksh or csh emulation, but it is
              typically present in the environment anyway, and if  it  becomes
              set it has its usual special behaviour.

       IFS <S>
              Internal  field  separators  (by default space, tab, newline and
              NUL), that are used to separate words which result from  command
              or  parameter expansion and words read by the read builtin.  Any
              characters from the set space, tab and newline  that  appear  in
              the IFS are called IFS white space.  One or more IFS white space
              characters or one non-IFS white space  character  together  with
              any  adjacent  IFS white space character delimit a field.  If an
              IFS white space character appears  twice  consecutively  in  the
              IFS,  this  character  is treated as if it were not an IFS white
              space character.

              If the parameter is unset, the default is used.  Note this has a
              different effect from setting the parameter to an empty string.

       KEYBOARD_HACK
              This  variable defines a character to be removed from the end of
              the command line  before  interpreting  it  (interactive  shells
              only). It is intended to fix the problem with keys placed annoy-
              ingly close to return and replaces  the  SUNKEYBOARDHACK  option
              which did this for backquotes only.  Should the chosen character
              be one of singlequote, doublequote or backquote, there must also
              be an odd number of them on the command line for the last one to
              be removed.

              For backward compatibility, if the SUNKEYBOARDHACK option is ex-
              plicitly  set,  the value of KEYBOARD_HACK reverts to backquote.
              If the option is explicitly  unset,  this  variable  is  set  to
              empty.

       KEYTIMEOUT
              The  time the shell waits, in hundredths of seconds, for another
              key to be pressed when reading bound multi-character sequences.

       LANG <S>
              This variable determines the locale category  for  any  category
              not specifically selected via a variable starting with `LC_'.

       LC_ALL <S>
              This variable overrides the value of the `LANG' variable and the
              value of any of the other variables starting with `LC_'.

       LC_COLLATE <S>
              This variable determines the locale category for character  col-
              lation  information within ranges in glob brackets and for sort-
              ing.

       LC_CTYPE <S>
              This variable determines the locale category for character  han-
              dling  functions.   If  the  MULTIBYTE  option is in effect this
              variable or LANG should contain a value that reflects the  char-
              acter set in use, even if it is a single-byte character set, un-
              less only the 7-bit subset (ASCII) is used.  For example, if the
              character   set   is  ISO-8859-1,  a  suitable  value  might  be
              en_US.iso88591 (certain Linux distributions) or  en_US.ISO8859-1
              (MacOS).

       LC_MESSAGES <S>
              This  variable  determines the language in which messages should
              be written.  Note that zsh does not use message catalogs.

       LC_NUMERIC <S>
              This variable affects the decimal point character and  thousands
              separator character for the formatted input/output functions and
              string conversion functions.  Note that zsh ignores this setting
              when parsing floating point mathematical expressions.

       LC_TIME <S>
              This  variable  determines the locale category for date and time
              formatting in prompt escape sequences.

       LINES <S>
              The number of lines for this terminal session.  Used for  print-
              ing select lists and for the line editor.

       LISTMAX
              In the line editor, the number of matches to list without asking
              first. If the value is negative, the list will be  shown  if  it
              spans  at most as many lines as given by the absolute value.  If
              set to zero, the shell asks only if the top of the listing would
              scroll off the screen.

       LOGCHECK
              The interval in seconds between checks for login/logout activity
              using the watch parameter.

       MAIL   If this parameter is set and mailpath  is  not  set,  the  shell
              looks for mail in the specified file.

       MAILCHECK
              The interval in seconds between checks for new mail.

       mailpath <S> <Z> (MAILPATH <S>)
              An  array  (colon-separated  list) of filenames to check for new
              mail.  Each filename can be followed by a `?' and a message that
              will  be printed.  The message will undergo parameter expansion,
              command substitution and arithmetic expansion with the  variable
              $_  defined  as  the name of the file that has changed.  The de-
              fault message is `You have new mail'.  If an element is a direc-
              tory  instead  of  a file the shell will recursively check every
              file in every subdirectory of the element.

       manpath <S> <Z> (MANPATH <S> <Z>)
              An array (colon-separated list) whose value is not used  by  the
              shell.   The manpath array can be useful, however, since setting
              it also sets MANPATH, and vice versa.

       match
       mbegin
       mend   Arrays set by the shell when the b globbing flag is used in pat-
              tern matches.  See the subsection Globbing flags in the documen-
              tation for Filename Generation in zshexpn(1).

       MATCH
       MBEGIN
       MEND   Set by the shell when the m globbing flag  is  used  in  pattern
              matches.  See the subsection Globbing flags in the documentation
              for Filename Generation in zshexpn(1).

       module_path <S> <Z> (MODULE_PATH <S>)
              An array (colon-separated list)  of  directories  that  zmodload
              searches  for dynamically loadable modules.  This is initialized
              to a standard  pathname,  usually  `/usr/local/lib/zsh/$ZSH_VER-
              SION'.   (The  `/usr/local/lib' part varies from installation to
              installation.)  For security reasons, any value set in the envi-
              ronment when the shell is started will be ignored.

              These parameters only exist if the installation supports dynamic
              module loading.

       NULLCMD <S>
              The command name to assume if a redirection is specified with no
              command.   Defaults to cat.  For sh/ksh behavior, change this to
              :.  For csh-like behavior, unset this parameter; the shell  will
              print an error message if null commands are entered.

       path <S> <Z> (PATH <S>)
              An  array  (colon-separated  list)  of directories to search for
              commands.  When this parameter is set, each directory is scanned
              and all files found are put in a hash table.

       POSTEDIT <S>
              This  string  is output whenever the line editor exits.  It usu-
              ally contains termcap strings to reset the terminal.

       PROMPT <S> <Z>
       PROMPT2 <S> <Z>
       PROMPT3 <S> <Z>
       PROMPT4 <S> <Z>
              Same as PS1, PS2, PS3 and PS4, respectively.

       prompt <S> <Z>
              Same as PS1.

       PROMPT_EOL_MARK
              When  the  PROMPT_CR  and  PROMPT_SP  options   are   set,   the
              PROMPT_EOL_MARK  parameter  can be used to customize how the end
              of partial lines are shown.  This parameter undergoes prompt ex-
              pansion,  with  the  PROMPT_PERCENT option set.  If not set, the
              default behavior is equivalent to the value `%B%S%#%s%b'.

       PS1 <S>
              The primary prompt string, printed before a command is read.  It
              undergoes  a  special  form of expansion before being displayed;
              see EXPANSION OF PROMPT SEQUENCES in zshmisc(1).  The default is
              `%m%# '.

       PS2 <S>
              The secondary prompt, printed when the shell needs more informa-
              tion to complete a command.  It is expanded in the same  way  as
              PS1.  The default is `%_> ', which displays any shell constructs
              or quotation marks which are currently being processed.

       PS3 <S>
              Selection prompt used within a select loop.  It is  expanded  in
              the same way as PS1.  The default is `?# '.

       PS4 <S>
              The  execution  trace prompt.  Default is `+%N:%i> ', which dis-
              plays the name of the current shell structure and the line  num-
              ber within it.  In sh or ksh emulation, the default is `+ '.

       psvar <S> <Z> (PSVAR <S>)
              An  array  (colon-separated  list) whose elements can be used in
              PROMPT strings.  Setting psvar also sets PSVAR, and vice versa.

       READNULLCMD <S>
              The command name to assume if  a  single  input  redirection  is
              specified with no command.  Defaults to more.

       REPORTMEMORY
              If   nonnegative,  commands  whose  maximum  resident  set  size
              (roughly speaking, main memory usage) in  kilobytes  is  greater
              than  this  value  have  timing statistics reported.  The format
              used to output statistics is the value of the TIMEFMT parameter,
              which  is  the  same as for the REPORTTIME variable and the time
              builtin; note that by default this does not output memory usage.
              Appending  "  max  RSS  %M" to the value of TIMEFMT causes it to
              output the value that triggered the report.   If  REPORTTIME  is
              also  in  use, at most a single report is printed for both trig-
              gers.  This feature requires the getrusage() system  call,  com-
              monly supported by modern Unix-like systems.

       REPORTTIME
              If  nonnegative,  commands whose combined user and system execu-
              tion times (measured in seconds) are  greater  than  this  value
              have  timing  statistics printed for them.  Output is suppressed
              for commands executed within the line editor, including  comple-
              tion;  commands  explicitly  marked  with the time keyword still
              cause the summary to be printed in this case.

       REPLY  This parameter is reserved by convention to pass  string  values
              between  shell  scripts and shell builtins in situations where a
              function call or redirection are impossible or undesirable.  The
              read  builtin  and the select complex command may set REPLY, and
              filename generation both sets and examines its value when evalu-
              ating  certain  expressions.  Some modules also employ REPLY for
              similar purposes.

       reply  As REPLY, but for array values rather than strings.

       RPROMPT <S>
       RPS1 <S>
              This prompt is displayed on the right-hand side  of  the  screen
              when  the  primary  prompt is being displayed on the left.  This
              does not work if the SINGLE_LINE_ZLE option is set.  It  is  ex-
              panded in the same way as PS1.

       RPROMPT2 <S>
       RPS2 <S>
              This  prompt  is  displayed on the right-hand side of the screen
              when the secondary prompt is being displayed on the left.   This
              does  not  work if the SINGLE_LINE_ZLE option is set.  It is ex-
              panded in the same way as PS2.

       SAVEHIST
              The maximum number of history events  to  save  in  the  history
              file.

              If this is made local, it is not implicitly set to 0, but may be
              explicitly set locally.

       SPROMPT <S>
              The prompt used for spelling correction.  The sequence `%R'  ex-
              pands  to the string which presumably needs spelling correction,
              and `%r' expands to the proposed correction.  All  other  prompt
              escapes are also allowed.

              The actions available at the prompt are [nyae]:
              n (`no') (default)
                     Discard the correction and run the command.
              y (`yes')
                     Make the correction and run the command.
              a (`abort')
                     Discard the entire command line without running it.
              e (`edit')
                     Resume editing the command line.

       STTY   If  this  parameter is set in a command's environment, the shell
              runs the stty command with the value of this parameter as  argu-
              ments  in order to set up the terminal before executing the com-
              mand. The modes apply only to the command, and are reset when it
              finishes  or  is suspended. If the command is suspended and con-
              tinued later with the fg or wait builtins it will see the  modes
              specified  by  STTY,  as if it were not suspended.  This (inten-
              tionally) does not apply if the command is continued  via  `kill
              -CONT'.   STTY  is  ignored  if  the command is run in the back-
              ground, or if it is in the environment of the shell but not  ex-
              plicitly assigned to in the input line. This avoids running stty
              at every external command by  accidentally  exporting  it.  Also
              note  that  STTY  should  not be used for window size specifica-
              tions; these will not be local to the command.

       TERM <S>
              The type of terminal in use.  This is used when looking up term-
              cap  sequences.  An assignment to TERM causes zsh to re-initial-
              ize the terminal, even if  the  value  does  not  change  (e.g.,
              `TERM=$TERM').   It is necessary to make such an assignment upon
              any change to the terminal definition database or terminal  type
              in order for the new settings to take effect.

       TERMINFO <S>
              A  reference  to  your terminfo database, used by the `terminfo'
              library when the system has it; see terminfo(5).  If  set,  this
              causes  the shell to reinitialise the terminal, making the work-
              around `TERM=$TERM' unnecessary.

       TERMINFO_DIRS <S>
              A colon-seprarated list of terminfo databases, used by the `ter-
              minfo'  library  when  the  system has it; see terminfo(5). This
              variable is only used by certain terminal libraries, in particu-
              lar  ncurses;  see  terminfo(5) to check support on your system.
              If set, this causes the shell to reinitialise the terminal, mak-
              ing  the  workaround `TERM=$TERM' unnecessary.  Note that unlike
              other colon-separated arrays this is not tied to a zsh array.

       TIMEFMT
              The format of process time reports with the time  keyword.   The
              default is `%J  %U user %S system %P cpu %*E total'.  Recognizes
              the following escape sequences, although not all may  be  avail-
              able on all systems, and some that are available may not be use-
              ful:

              %%     A `%'.
              %U     CPU seconds spent in user mode.
              %S     CPU seconds spent in kernel mode.
              %E     Elapsed time in seconds.
              %P     The CPU percentage, computed as 100*(%U+%S)/%E.
              %W     Number of times the process was swapped.
              %X     The average amount in (shared) text space used  in  kilo-
                     bytes.
              %D     The average amount in (unshared) data/stack space used in
                     kilobytes.
              %K     The total space used (%X+%D) in kilobytes.
              %M     The  maximum memory the process had in use at any time in
                     kilobytes.
              %F     The  number  of  major  page  faults  (page  needed to be
                     brought from disk).
              %R     The number of minor page faults.
              %I     The number of input operations.
              %O     The number of output operations.
              %r     The number of socket messages received.
              %s     The number of socket messages sent.
              %k     The number of signals received.
              %w     Number of voluntary context switches (waits).
              %c     Number of involuntary context switches.
              %J     The name of this job.

              A star may be inserted between the percent sign and flags print-
              ing  time  (e.g.,  `%*E'); this causes the time to be printed in
              `hh:mm:ss.ttt' format (hours and minutes  are  only  printed  if
              they  are  not  zero).   Alternatively,  `m'  or `u' may be used
              (e.g., `%mE') to produce time  output  in  milliseconds  or  mi-
              croseconds, respectively.

       TMOUT  If  this  parameter  is  nonzero, the shell will receive an ALRM
              signal if a command is not entered within the  specified  number
              of  seconds  after  issuing  a  prompt.  If  there  is a trap on
              SIGALRM, it will be executed and a new alarm is scheduled  using
              the  value  of the TMOUT parameter after executing the trap.  If
              no trap is set, and the idle time of the terminal  is  not  less
              than  the  value of the TMOUT parameter, zsh terminates.  Other-
              wise a new alarm is scheduled to TMOUT seconds  after  the  last
              keypress.

       TMPPREFIX
              A  pathname  prefix  which  the shell will use for all temporary
              files.  Note that this should include an initial  part  for  the
              file  name  as  well  as  any  directory  names.  The default is
              `/tmp/zsh'.

       TMPSUFFIX
              A filename suffix which the shell will use for  temporary  files
              created  by  process substitutions (e.g., `=(list)').  Note that
              the value should include a leading dot `.' if intended to be in-
              terpreted as a file extension.  The default is not to append any
              suffix, thus this parameter should be assigned only when  needed
              and then unset again.

       watch _S_ _Z_ (WATCH _S_)
              An  array  (colon-separated  list) of login/logout events to re-
              port.

              If it contains the single  word  `all',  then  all  login/logout
              events  are  reported.   If it contains the single word `notme',
              then all events are reported as with `all' except $USERNAME.

              An entry in this list may consist of a username, an `@' followed
              by  a  remote hostname, and a `%' followed by a line (tty).  Any
              of these may be a pattern (be sure to quote this during the  as-
              signment  to  watch so that it does not immediately perform file
              generation); the setting of  the  EXTENDED_GLOB  option  is  re-
              spected.   Any  or  all of these components may be present in an
              entry; if a login/logout event matches all of them,  it  is  re-
              ported.

              For example, with the EXTENDED_GLOB option set, the following:

                     watch=('^(pws|barts)')

              causes  reports for activity associated with any user other than
              pws or barts.

       WATCHFMT
              The format of login/logout reports if  the  watch  parameter  is
              set.  Default is `%n has %a %l from %m'.  Recognizes the follow-
              ing escape sequences:

              %n     The name of the user that logged in/out.

              %a     The observed action, i.e. "logged on" or "logged off".

              %l     The line (tty) the user is logged in on.

              %M     The full hostname of the remote host.

              %m     The hostname up to the first `.'.  If only the IP address
                     is  available  or  the utmp field contains the name of an
                     X-windows display, the whole name is printed.

                     NOTE: The `%m' and `%M' escapes will work only  if  there
                     is a host name field in the utmp on your machine.  Other-
                     wise they are treated as ordinary strings.

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

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

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

              %t
              %@     The time, in 12-hour, am/pm format.

              %T     The time, in 24-hour format.

              %w     The date in `day-dd' format.

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

              %D     The date in `yy-mm-dd' format.

              %D{string}
                     The date formatted as string using the strftime function,
                     with  zsh  extensions as described by EXPANSION OF PROMPT
                     SEQUENCES in zshmisc(1).

              %(x:true-text:false-text)
                     Specifies a ternary expression.  The character  following
                     the  x  is arbitrary; the same character is used to sepa-
                     rate the text for the "true" result  from  that  for  the
                     "false"  result.  Both the separator and the right paren-
                     thesis may be escaped with a backslash.  Ternary  expres-
                     sions may be nested.

                     The  test  character x may be any one of `l', `n', `m' or
                     `M', which indicate a `true' result if the  corresponding
                     escape sequence would return a non-empty value; or it may
                     be `a', which indicates a `true' result  if  the  watched
                     user  has  logged  in,  or  `false' if he has logged out.
                     Other characters evaluate to neither true nor false;  the
                     entire expression is omitted in this case.

                     If  the result is `true', then the true-text is formatted
                     according  to  the  rules  above  and  printed,  and  the
                     false-text  is  skipped.   If  `false',  the true-text is
                     skipped and the false-text is formatted and printed.  Ei-
                     ther or both of the branches may be empty, but both sepa-
                     rators must be present in any case.

       WORDCHARS <S>
              A list of non-alphanumeric characters considered part of a  word
              by the line editor.

       ZBEEP  If set, this gives a string of characters, which can use all the
              same codes as the bindkey command as described  in  the  zsh/zle
              module entry in zshmodules(1), that will be output to the termi-
              nal instead of beeping.  This may have a visible instead  of  an
              audible  effect;  for  example,  the  string `\e[?5h\e[?5l' on a
              vt100 or xterm will have the effect of flashing reverse video on
              and  off  (if  you usually use reverse video, you should use the
              string `\e[?5l\e[?5h' instead).  This takes precedence over  the
              NOBEEP option.

       ZDOTDIR
              The  directory  to search for shell startup files (.zshrc, etc),
              if not $HOME.

       zle_bracketed_paste
              Many terminal emulators have a feature that allows  applications
              to  identify  when  text is pasted into the terminal rather than
              being typed normally. For ZLE, this means that  special  charac-
              ters such as tabs and newlines can be inserted instead of invok-
              ing editor commands.  Furthermore, pasted text  forms  a  single
              undo event and if the region is active, pasted text will replace
              the region.

              This two-element array contains the  terminal  escape  sequences
              for  enabling  and disabling the feature. These escape sequences
              are used to enable bracketed paste when ZLE is active  and  dis-
              able  it at other times.  Unsetting the parameter has the effect
              of ensuring that bracketed paste remains disabled.

       zle_highlight
              An array describing contexts in which ZLE should  highlight  the
              input text.  See Character Highlighting in zshzle(1).

       ZLE_LINE_ABORTED
              This  parameter  is set by the line editor when an error occurs.
              It contains the line that was being edited at the point  of  the
              error.   `print -zr -- $ZLE_LINE_ABORTED' can be used to recover
              the line.  Only the most recent line of this kind is remembered.

       ZLE_REMOVE_SUFFIX_CHARS
       ZLE_SPACE_SUFFIX_CHARS
              These parameters are used by the line editor.  In  certain  cir-
              cumstances suffixes (typically space or slash) added by the com-
              pletion system will be removed automatically, either because the
              next editing command was not an insertable character, or because
              the character was marked as requiring the suffix to be removed.

              These variables can contain the sets  of  characters  that  will
              cause  the  suffix to be removed.  If ZLE_REMOVE_SUFFIX_CHARS is
              set, those characters will cause the suffix to  be  removed;  if
              ZLE_SPACE_SUFFIX_CHARS  is  set, those characters will cause the
              suffix to be removed and replaced by a space.

              If ZLE_REMOVE_SUFFIX_CHARS is not set, the default behaviour  is
              equivalent to:

                     ZLE_REMOVE_SUFFIX_CHARS=$' \t\n;&|'

              If  ZLE_REMOVE_SUFFIX_CHARS  is  set but is empty, no characters
              have this behaviour.  ZLE_SPACE_SUFFIX_CHARS  takes  precedence,
              so that the following:

                     ZLE_SPACE_SUFFIX_CHARS=$'&|'

              causes  the  characters  `&' and `|' to remove the suffix but to
              replace it with a space.

              To illustrate the difference, suppose that the  option  AUTO_RE-
              MOVE_SLASH is in effect and the directory DIR has just been com-
              pleted, with an appended /, following which the user types  `&'.
              The  default result is `DIR&'.  With ZLE_REMOVE_SUFFIX_CHARS set
              but  without  including  `&'  the  result  is   `DIR/&'.    With
              ZLE_SPACE_SUFFIX_CHARS set to include `&' the result is `DIR &'.

              Note  that  certain completions may provide their own suffix re-
              moval or replacement behaviour which overrides  the  values  de-
              scribed  here.   See the completion system documentation in zsh-
              compsys(1).

       ZLE_RPROMPT_INDENT <S>
              If set, used to give the indentation between the right hand side
              of  the  right  prompt  in  the  line editor as given by RPS1 or
              RPROMPT and the right hand side of the screen.  If not set,  the
              value 1 is used.

              Typically  this  will  be used to set the value to 0 so that the
              prompt appears flush with the right hand  side  of  the  screen.
              This  is  not  the  default as many terminals do not handle this
              correctly, in particular when the prompt appears at the  extreme
              bottom  right  of the screen.  Recent virtual terminals are more
              likely to handle this case correctly.  Some  experimentation  is
              necessary.

ZSHOPTIONS(1)               General Commands Manual              ZSHOPTIONS(1)

NAME
       zshoptions - zsh options

SPECIFYING OPTIONS
       Options are primarily referred to by name.  These names are case insen-
       sitive and underscores are ignored.  For example, `allexport' is equiv-
       alent to `A__lleXP_ort'.

       The  sense of an option name may be inverted by preceding it with `no',
       so `setopt No_Beep' is equivalent to `unsetopt beep'.   This  inversion
       can only be done once, so `nonobeep' is not a synonym for `beep'.  Sim-
       ilarly, `tify' is not a synonym for `nonotify' (the inversion  of  `no-
       tify').

       Some  options also have one or more single letter names.  There are two
       sets of single letter options: one used by default, and another used to
       emulate  sh/ksh  (used  when the SH_OPTION_LETTERS option is set).  The
       single letter options can be used on the shell command  line,  or  with
       the  set, setopt and unsetopt builtins, as normal Unix options preceded
       by `-'.

       The sense of the single letter options may be inverted by using `+' in-
       stead  of  `-'.  Some of the single letter option names refer to an op-
       tion being off, in which case the inversion of that name refers to  the
       option  being  on.   For example, `+n' is the short name of `exec', and
       `-n' is the short name of its inversion, `noexec'.

       In strings of single letter options supplied to the shell  at  startup,
       trailing  whitespace  will  be ignored; for example the string `-f    '
       will be treated just as `-f', but the string `-f i' is an error.   This
       is  because many systems which implement the `#!' mechanism for calling
       scripts do not strip trailing whitespace.

DESCRIPTION OF OPTIONS
       In the following list, options set by default  in  all  emulations  are
       marked  <D>;  those  set by default only in csh, ksh, sh, or zsh emula-
       tions are marked <C>, <K>, <S>, <Z> as appropriate.  When  listing  op-
       tions  (by `setopt', `unsetopt', `set -o' or `set +o'), those turned on
       by default appear in  the  list  prefixed  with  `no'.   Hence  (unless
       KSH_OPTION_PRINT is set), `setopt' shows all options whose settings are
       changed from the default.

   Changing Directories
       AUTO_CD (-J)
              If a command is issued that can't be executed as a  normal  com-
              mand, and the command is the name of a directory, perform the cd
              command to that directory.  This option is  only  applicable  if
              the  option  SHIN_STDIN  is set, i.e. if commands are being read
              from standard input.  The option  is  designed  for  interactive
              use;  it is recommended that cd be used explicitly in scripts to
              avoid ambiguity.

       AUTO_PUSHD (-N)
              Make cd push the old directory onto the directory stack.

       CDABLE_VARS (-T)
              If the argument to a cd command  (or  an  implied  cd  with  the
              AUTO_CD  option set) is not a directory, and does not begin with
              a slash, try to expand the expression as if it were preceded  by
              a `~' (see the section `Filename Expansion').

       CD_SILENT
              Never  print  the working directory after a cd (whether explicit
              or implied with the AUTO_CD option set). cd normally prints  the
              working  directory  when the argument given to it was -, a stack
              entry, or the name of a directory found under CDPATH. Note  that
              this is distinct from pushd's stack-printing behaviour, which is
              controlled by PUSHD_SILENT. This  option  overrides  the  print-
              ing-related effects of POSIX_CD.

       CHASE_DOTS
              When  changing  to  a  directory  containing a path segment `..'
              which would otherwise be treated as canceling the previous  seg-
              ment in the path (in other words, `foo/..' would be removed from
              the path, or if `..' is the first part of  the  path,  the  last
              part of the current working directory would be removed), instead
              resolve the path to the  physical  directory.   This  option  is
              overridden by CHASE_LINKS.

              For  example,  suppose  /foo/bar  is  a  link  to  the directory
              /alt/rod.  Without this option set, `cd /foo/bar/..' changes  to
              /foo;  with it set, it changes to /alt.  The same applies if the
              current directory is /foo/bar and `cd ..' is  used.   Note  that
              all other symbolic links in the path will also be resolved.

       CHASE_LINKS (-w)
              Resolve symbolic links to their true values when changing direc-
              tory.  This also has the effect of CHASE_DOTS, i.e. a `..'  path
              segment  will  be  treated  as referring to the physical parent,
              even if the preceding path segment is a symbolic link.

       POSIX_CD <K> <S>
              Modifies the behaviour of cd, chdir and pushd commands  to  make
              them more compatible with the POSIX standard. The behaviour with
              the option unset is described in the documentation  for  the  cd
              builtin in zshbuiltins(1).  If the option is set, the shell does
              not test for directories beneath the local directory (`.') until
              after all directories in cdpath have been tested, and the cd and
              chdir commands do not recognise arguments of the  form  `{+|-}n'
              as directory stack entries.

              Also, if the option is set, the conditions under which the shell
              prints the new directory after changing to it are modified.   It
              is no longer restricted to interactive shells (although printing
              of the directory stack with pushd is still limited  to  interac-
              tive  shells); and any use of a component of CDPATH, including a
              `.' but excluding an empty component that is  otherwise  treated
              as `.', causes the directory to be printed.

       PUSHD_IGNORE_DUPS
              Don't push multiple copies of the same directory onto the direc-
              tory stack.

       PUSHD_MINUS
              Exchanges the meanings of `+' and `-' when used with a number to
              specify a directory in the stack.

       PUSHD_SILENT (-E)
              Do not print the directory stack after pushd or popd.

       PUSHD_TO_HOME (-D)
              Have pushd with no arguments act like `pushd $HOME'.

   Completion
       ALWAYS_LAST_PROMPT <D>
              If  unset,  key functions that list completions try to return to
              the last prompt if given a numeric argument. If set these  func-
              tions try to return to the last prompt if given no numeric argu-
              ment.

       ALWAYS_TO_END
              If a completion is performed with the cursor within a word,  and
              a full completion is inserted, the cursor is moved to the end of
              the word.  That is, the cursor is moved to the end of  the  word
              if  either a single match is inserted or menu completion is per-
              formed.

       AUTO_LIST (-9) <D>
              Automatically list choices on an ambiguous completion.

       AUTO_MENU <D>
              Automatically use menu completion after the  second  consecutive
              request  for completion, for example by pressing the tab key re-
              peatedly. This option is overridden by MENU_COMPLETE.

       AUTO_NAME_DIRS
              Any parameter that is set to the absolute name  of  a  directory
              immediately becomes a name for that directory, that will be used
              by the `%~' and related prompt sequences, and will be  available
              when completion is performed on a word starting with `~'.  (Oth-
              erwise, the parameter must be used in the form `~param' first.)

       AUTO_PARAM_KEYS <D>
              If a parameter name was  completed  and  a  following  character
              (normally  a space) automatically inserted, and the next charac-
              ter typed is one of those that have to come directly  after  the
              name (like `}', `:', etc.), the automatically added character is
              deleted, so that the character typed comes immediately after the
              parameter  name.   Completion  in  a brace expansion is affected
              similarly: the added character is a `,', which will  be  removed
              if `}' is typed next.

       AUTO_PARAM_SLASH <D>
              If  a  parameter is completed whose content is the name of a di-
              rectory, then add a trailing slash instead of a space.

       AUTO_REMOVE_SLASH <D>
              When the last character resulting from a completion is  a  slash
              and  the next character typed is a word delimiter, a slash, or a
              character that ends a command (such as a semicolon or an  amper-
              sand), remove the slash.

       BASH_AUTO_LIST
              On  an ambiguous completion, automatically list choices when the
              completion function is called twice in succession.   This  takes
              precedence over AUTO_LIST.  The setting of LIST_AMBIGUOUS is re-
              spected.  If AUTO_MENU is set,  the  menu  behaviour  will  then
              start  with  the third press.  Note that this will not work with
              MENU_COMPLETE, since repeated completion calls immediately cycle
              through the list in that case.

       COMPLETE_ALIASES
              Prevents  aliases on the command line from being internally sub-
              stituted before completion is attempted.  The effect is to  make
              the alias a distinct command for completion purposes.

       COMPLETE_IN_WORD
              If unset, the cursor is set to the end of the word if completion
              is started. Otherwise it stays there and completion is done from
              both ends.

       GLOB_COMPLETE
              When  the current word has a glob pattern, do not insert all the
              words resulting from the expansion but generate matches  as  for
              completion  and  cycle  through  them  like  MENU_COMPLETE.  The
              matches are generated as if a `*' was added to the  end  of  the
              word,  or  inserted  at the cursor when COMPLETE_IN_WORD is set.
              This actually uses pattern matching, not globbing, so  it  works
              not only for files but for any completion, such as options, user
              names, etc.

              Note that when the pattern matcher  is  used,  matching  control
              (for  example,  case-insensitive or anchored matching) cannot be
              used.  This limitation only applies when the current  word  con-
              tains a pattern; simply turning on the GLOB_COMPLETE option does
              not have this effect.

       HASH_LIST_ALL <D>
              Whenever a command completion  or  spelling  correction  is  at-
              tempted,  make  sure  the  entire  command path is hashed first.
              This makes the first completion slower but avoids false  reports
              of spelling errors.

       LIST_AMBIGUOUS <D>
              This  option works when AUTO_LIST or BASH_AUTO_LIST is also set.
              If there is an unambiguous prefix to insert on the command line,
              that is done without a completion list being displayed; in other
              words, auto-listing behaviour  only  takes  place  when  nothing
              would  be  inserted.   In the case of BASH_AUTO_LIST, this means
              that the list will be delayed to the third call of the function.

       LIST_BEEP <D>
              Beep on an ambiguous completion.  More accurately,  this  forces
              the  completion  widgets to return status 1 on an ambiguous com-
              pletion, which causes the shell to beep if the  option  BEEP  is
              also  set;  this  may be modified if completion is called from a
              user-defined widget.

       LIST_PACKED
              Try to make the completion list smaller (occupying  less  lines)
              by printing the matches in columns with different widths.

       LIST_ROWS_FIRST
              Lay  out  the  matches  in completion lists sorted horizontally,
              that is, the second match is to the right of the first one,  not
              under it as usual.

       LIST_TYPES (-X) <D>
              When  listing files that are possible completions, show the type
              of each file with a trailing identifying mark.

       MENU_COMPLETE (-Y)
              On an ambiguous completion, instead of listing possibilities  or
              beeping,  insert the first match immediately.  Then when comple-
              tion is requested again, remove the first match and  insert  the
              second  match,  etc.  When there are no more matches, go back to
              the first one again.  reverse-menu-complete may be used to  loop
              through  the  list in the other direction. This option overrides
              AUTO_MENU.

       REC_EXACT (-S)
              If the string on the command line exactly  matches  one  of  the
              possible  completions,  it is accepted, even if there is another
              completion (i.e. that string with  something  else  added)  that
              also matches.

   Expansion and Globbing
       BAD_PATTERN (+2) <C> <Z>
              If  a  pattern for filename generation is badly formed, print an
              error message.  (If this option is unset, the  pattern  will  be
              left unchanged.)

       BARE_GLOB_QUAL <Z>
              In  a  glob  pattern,  treat  a trailing set of parentheses as a
              qualifier list, if it contains no `|', `(' or (if  special)  `~'
              characters.  See the section `Filename Generation'.

       BRACE_CCL
              Expand  expressions  in braces which would not otherwise undergo
              brace expansion to a lexically ordered list of all  the  charac-
              ters.  See the section `Brace Expansion'.

       CASE_GLOB <D>
              Make  globbing  (filename  generation)  sensitive to case.  Note
              that other uses of patterns are always sensitive  to  case.   If
              the option is unset, the presence of any character which is spe-
              cial to filename generation will cause  case-insensitive  match-
              ing.   For  example, cvs(/) can match the directory CVS owing to
              the  presence  of  the  globbing   flag   (unless   the   option
              BARE_GLOB_QUAL is unset).

       CASE_MATCH <D>
              Make  regular  expressions using the zsh/regex module (including
              matches with =~) sensitive to case.

       CSH_NULL_GLOB <C>
              If a pattern for filename generation has no matches, delete  the
              pattern  from  the  argument list; do not report an error unless
              all the patterns in a command have no  matches.   Overrides  NO-
              MATCH.

       EQUALS <Z>
              Perform = filename expansion.  (See the section `Filename Expan-
              sion'.)

       EXTENDED_GLOB
              Treat the `#', `~' and `^' characters as part  of  patterns  for
              filename  generation, etc.  (An initial unquoted `~' always pro-
              duces named directory expansion.)

       FORCE_FLOAT
              Constants in arithmetic evaluation will be treated  as  floating
              point even without the use of a decimal point; the values of in-
              teger variables will be converted to floating point when used in
              arithmetic expressions.  Integers in any base will be converted.

       GLOB (+F, ksh: +f) <D>
              Perform filename generation (globbing).  (See the section `File-
              name Generation'.)

       GLOB_ASSIGN <C>
              If this option is set, filename generation  (globbing)  is  per-
              formed on the right hand side of scalar parameter assignments of
              the form `name=pattern (e.g. `foo=*').  If the result  has  more
              than  one  word  the  parameter  will become an array with those
              words as arguments. This option is provided for  backwards  com-
              patibility  only: globbing is always performed on the right hand
              side of array  assignments  of  the  form  `name=(value)'  (e.g.
              `foo=(*)')  and  this form is recommended for clarity; with this
              option set, it is not possible to  predict  whether  the  result
              will be an array or a scalar.

       GLOB_DOTS (-4)
              Do not require a leading `.' in a filename to be matched explic-
              itly.

       GLOB_STAR_SHORT
              When this option is set and the default zsh-style globbing is in
              effect,  the  pattern  `**/*' can be abbreviated to `**' and the
              pattern `***/*' can be abbreviated to ***.  Hence `**.c' finds a
              file ending in .c in any subdirectory, and `***.c' does the same
              while also following symbolic links.  A / immediately after  the
              `**' or `***' forces the pattern to be treated as the unabbrevi-
              ated form.

       GLOB_SUBST <C> <K> <S>
              Treat any characters resulting from parameter expansion as being
              eligible for filename expansion and filename generation, and any
              characters resulting from command substitution as being eligible
              for  filename generation.  Braces (and commas in between) do not
              become eligible for expansion.

       HIST_SUBST_PATTERN
              Substitutions using the :s and :&  history  modifiers  are  per-
              formed  with  pattern matching instead of string matching.  This
              occurs wherever history  modifiers  are  valid,  including  glob
              qualifiers  and  parameters.   See the section Modifiers in zsh-
              expn(1).

       IGNORE_BRACES (-I) <S>
              Do not perform brace expansion.   For  historical  reasons  this
              also includes the effect of the IGNORE_CLOSE_BRACES option.

       IGNORE_CLOSE_BRACES
              When  neither this option nor IGNORE_BRACES is set, a sole close
              brace character `}' is syntactically significant at any point on
              a  command  line.  This has the effect that no semicolon or new-
              line is necessary before the brace  terminating  a  function  or
              current  shell  construct.  When either option is set, a closing
              brace is syntactically significant  only  in  command  position.
              Unlike  IGNORE_BRACES, this option does not disable brace expan-
              sion.

              For example, with both options unset a function may  be  defined
              in the following fashion:

                     args() { echo $# }

              while  if either option is set, this does not work and something
              equivalent to the following is required:

                     args() { echo $#; }

       KSH_GLOB <K>
              In pattern matching, the interpretation of  parentheses  is  af-
              fected  by  a preceding `@', `*', `+', `?' or `!'.  See the sec-
              tion `Filename Generation'.

       MAGIC_EQUAL_SUBST
              All unquoted arguments of the form `anything=expression' appear-
              ing  after  the  command  name have filename expansion (that is,
              where expression has a leading `~' or `=') performed on  expres-
              sion  as if it were a parameter assignment.  The argument is not
              otherwise treated specially; it is passed to the  command  as  a
              single argument, and not used as an actual parameter assignment.
              For example, in echo  foo=~/bar:~/rod,  both  occurrences  of  ~
              would  be  replaced.  Note that this happens anyway with typeset
              and similar statements.

              This option respects the setting of the KSH_TYPESET option.   In
              other  words,  if  both options are in effect, arguments looking
              like assignments will not undergo word splitting.

       MARK_DIRS (-8, ksh: -X)
              Append a trailing `/' to  all  directory  names  resulting  from
              filename generation (globbing).

       MULTIBYTE <D>
              Respect  multibyte  characters when found in strings.  When this
              option is set, strings are examined using the system library  to
              determine how many bytes form a character, depending on the cur-
              rent locale.  This affects the way  characters  are  counted  in
              pattern matching, parameter values and various delimiters.

              The  option  is  on  by  default  if the shell was compiled with
              MULTIBYTE_SUPPORT; otherwise it is off by default and has no ef-
              fect if turned on.

              If the option is off a single byte is always treated as a single
              character.   This  setting  is  designed  purely  for  examining
              strings  known to contain raw bytes or other values that may not
              be characters in the current locale.  It is not necessary to un-
              set  the option merely because the character set for the current
              locale does not contain multibyte characters.

              The option does not affect the  shell's  editor,   which  always
              uses  the locale to determine multibyte characters.  This is be-
              cause the character set displayed by the  terminal  emulator  is
              independent of shell settings.

       NOMATCH (+3) <C> <Z>
              If  a  pattern  for filename generation has no matches, print an
              error, instead of leaving it unchanged  in  the  argument  list.
              This also applies to file expansion of an initial `~' or `='.

       NULL_GLOB (-G)
              If  a pattern for filename generation has no matches, delete the
              pattern from the argument list instead of  reporting  an  error.
              Overrides NOMATCH.

       NUMERIC_GLOB_SORT
              If  numeric  filenames are matched by a filename generation pat-
              tern, sort the filenames numerically rather  than  lexicographi-
              cally.

       RC_EXPAND_PARAM (-P)
              Array  expansions of the form `foo${xx}bar', where the parameter
              xx is set to (a b c),  are  substituted  with  `fooabar  foobbar
              foocbar'  instead  of  the  default `fooa b cbar'.  Note that an
              empty array will therefore cause all arguments to be removed.

       REMATCH_PCRE
              If set, regular expression matching with the  =~  operator  will
              use  Perl-Compatible  Regular Expressions from the PCRE library.
              (The zsh/pcre module must be available.)  If  not  set,  regular
              expressions  will use the extended regexp syntax provided by the
              system libraries.

       SH_GLOB <K> <S>
              Disables the special meaning of `(', `|', `)' and '<' for  glob-
              bing  the  result of parameter and command substitutions, and in
              some other places where the shell accepts patterns.  If  SH_GLOB
              is  set but KSH_GLOB is not, the shell allows the interpretation
              of subshell expressions enclosed in parentheses  in  some  cases
              where  there  is  no  space before the opening parenthesis, e.g.
              !(true) is interpreted as if there were a  space  after  the  !.
              This option is set by default if zsh is invoked as sh or ksh.

       UNSET (+u, ksh: +u) <K> <S> <Z>
              Treat  unset parameters as if they were empty when substituting,
              and as if they were zero when reading their values in arithmetic
              expansion  and  arithmetic commands.  Otherwise they are treated
              as an error.

       WARN_CREATE_GLOBAL
              Print a warning message when a global parameter is created in  a
              function  by an assignment or in math context.  This often indi-
              cates that a parameter has  not  been  declared  local  when  it
              should  have  been.   Parameters explicitly declared global from
              within a function using typeset -g do not cause a warning.  Note
              that  there  is no warning when a local parameter is assigned to
              in a nested function, which may also indicate an error.

       WARN_NESTED_VAR
              Print a warning message when an existing parameter from  an  en-
              closing  function  scope,  or global, is set in a function by an
              assignment or in math context.  Assignment to shell special  pa-
              rameters  does  not  cause  a warning.  This is the companion to
              WARN_CREATE_GLOBAL as in this case the warning is  only  printed
              when a parameter is not created.  Where possible, use of typeset
              -g to set the parameter suppresses the error, but note that this
              needs  to  be used every time the parameter is set.  To restrict
              the effect of this option to a single function scope, use `func-
              tions -W'.

              For  example,  the following code produces a warning for the as-
              signment inside the function nested as that overrides the  value
              within toplevel

                     toplevel() {
                       local foo="in fn"
                       nested
                     }
                     nested() {
                          foo="in nested"
                     }
                     setopt warn_nested_var
                     toplevel

   History
       APPEND_HISTORY <D>
              If  this  is set, zsh sessions will append their history list to
              the history file, rather than replace it. Thus, multiple  paral-
              lel  zsh  sessions will all have the new entries from their his-
              tory lists added to the history file, in  the  order  that  they
              exit.  The file will still be periodically re-written to trim it
              when the number of lines grows 20% beyond the value specified by
              $SAVEHIST (see also the HIST_SAVE_BY_COPY option).

       BANG_HIST (+K) <C> <Z>
              Perform textual history expansion, csh-style, treating the char-
              acter `!' specially.

       EXTENDED_HISTORY <C>
              Save each command's beginning timestamp (in  seconds  since  the
              epoch)  and  the duration (in seconds) to the history file.  The
              format of this prefixed data is:

              `: _beginning time_:_elapsed seconds_;_command_'.

       HIST_ALLOW_CLOBBER
              Add `|' to output redirections in the history.  This allows his-
              tory references to clobber files even when CLOBBER is unset.

       HIST_BEEP <D>
              Beep  in  ZLE  when  a widget attempts to access a history entry
              which isn't there.

       HIST_EXPIRE_DUPS_FIRST
              If the internal history needs to be trimmed to add  the  current
              command  line, setting this option will cause the oldest history
              event that has a duplicate to be lost  before  losing  a  unique
              event  from  the  list.   You should be sure to set the value of
              HISTSIZE to a larger number than SAVEHIST in order to  give  you
              some  room for the duplicated events, otherwise this option will
              behave just like HIST_IGNORE_ALL_DUPS once the history fills  up
              with unique events.

       HIST_FCNTL_LOCK
              When  writing  out  the history file, by default zsh uses ad-hoc
              file locking to avoid known problems with locking on some  oper-
              ating systems.  With this option locking is done by means of the
              system's fcntl call, where this method is available.  On  recent
              operating  systems  this may provide better performance, in par-
              ticular avoiding history corruption when  files  are  stored  on
              NFS.

       HIST_FIND_NO_DUPS
              When  searching  for  history entries in the line editor, do not
              display duplicates of a line previously found, even if  the  du-
              plicates are not contiguous.

       HIST_IGNORE_ALL_DUPS
              If a new command line being added to the history list duplicates
              an older one, the older command is removed from the  list  (even
              if it is not the previous event).

       HIST_IGNORE_DUPS (-h)
              Do not enter command lines into the history list if they are du-
              plicates of the previous event.

       HIST_IGNORE_SPACE (-g)
              Remove command lines from the history list when the first  char-
              acter  on  the  line  is  a  space,  or when one of the expanded
              aliases contains a leading  space.   Only  normal  aliases  (not
              global  or  suffix  aliases) have this behaviour.  Note that the
              command lingers in the internal history until the  next  command
              is  entered before it vanishes, allowing you to briefly reuse or
              edit the line.  If you want to make it vanish right away without
              entering another command, type a space and press return.

       HIST_LEX_WORDS
              By  default,  shell  history that is read in from files is split
              into words on all white space.  This means that  arguments  with
              quoted  whitespace  are  not  correctly handled, with the conse-
              quence that references to words in history lines that have  been
              read  from  a  file may be inaccurate.  When this option is set,
              words read in from a history file are divided up  in  a  similar
              fashion  to  normal  shell command line handling.  Although this
              produces more accurately delimited words, if  the  size  of  the
              history file is large this can be slow.  Trial and error is nec-
              essary to decide.

       HIST_NO_FUNCTIONS
              Remove function definitions from the history  list.   Note  that
              the function lingers in the internal history until the next com-
              mand is entered before it vanishes, allowing you to briefly  re-
              use or edit the definition.

       HIST_NO_STORE
              Remove  the  history  (fc -l) command from the history list when
              invoked.  Note that the command lingers in the internal  history
              until  the  next command is entered before it vanishes, allowing
              you to briefly reuse or edit the line.

       HIST_REDUCE_BLANKS
              Remove superfluous blanks from each command line being added  to
              the history list.

       HIST_SAVE_BY_COPY <D>
              When  the  history  file  is re-written, we normally write out a
              copy of the file named $HISTFILE.new and then rename it over the
              old  one.  However, if this option is unset, we instead truncate
              the old history file and write out the new version in-place.  If
              one  of  the  history-appending  options is enabled, this option
              only has an effect when the enlarged history file  needs  to  be
              re-written  to  trim  it down to size.  Disable this only if you
              have special needs, as doing so makes it possible to  lose  his-
              tory entries if zsh gets interrupted during the save.

              When  writing  out a copy of the history file, zsh preserves the
              old file's permissions and group information, but will refuse to
              write  out  a  new  file  if  it would change the history file's
              owner.

       HIST_SAVE_NO_DUPS
              When writing out the history file, older commands that duplicate
              newer ones are omitted.

       HIST_VERIFY
              Whenever  the  user  enters a line with history expansion, don't
              execute the line directly; instead,  perform  history  expansion
              and reload the line into the editing buffer.

       INC_APPEND_HISTORY
              This  option  works  like APPEND_HISTORY except that new history
              lines are added to the $HISTFILE incrementally (as soon as  they
              are  entered),  rather  than waiting until the shell exits.  The
              file will still be periodically re-written to trim it  when  the
              number  of  lines grows 20% beyond the value specified by $SAVE-
              HIST (see also the HIST_SAVE_BY_COPY option).

       INC_APPEND_HISTORY_TIME
              This option is a variant of INC_APPEND_HISTORY in  which,  where
              possible, the history entry is written out to the file after the
              command is finished, so that the time taken by  the  command  is
              recorded  correctly in the history file in EXTENDED_HISTORY for-
              mat.  This means that the history entry will  not  be  available
              immediately from other instances of the shell that are using the
              same history file.

              This option is only useful if INC_APPEND_HISTORY and  SHARE_HIS-
              TORY are turned off.  The three options should be considered mu-
              tually exclusive.

       SHARE_HISTORY <K>

              This option both imports new commands from the history file, and
              also  causes  your  typed commands to be appended to the history
              file (the latter is like  specifying  INC_APPEND_HISTORY,  which
              should  be turned off if this option is in effect).  The history
              lines are  also  output  with  timestamps  ala  EXTENDED_HISTORY
              (which  makes it easier to find the spot where we left off read-
              ing the file after it gets re-written).

              By default, history movement commands visit the  imported  lines
              as  well  as the local lines, but you can toggle this on and off
              with the set-local-history zle binding.  It is also possible  to
              create a zle widget that will make some commands ignore imported
              commands, and some include them.

              If you find that you want more control over  when  commands  get
              imported,  you  may  wish  to  turn  SHARE_HISTORY  off, INC_AP-
              PEND_HISTORY or INC_APPEND_HISTORY_TIME (see above) on, and then
              manually import commands whenever you need them using `fc -RI'.

   Initialisation
       ALL_EXPORT (-a, ksh: -a)
              All parameters subsequently defined are automatically exported.

       GLOBAL_EXPORT <Z>
              If  this  option is set, passing the -x flag to the builtins de-
              clare, float, integer, readonly and typeset (but not local) will
              also set the -g flag;  hence parameters exported to the environ-
              ment will not be made local to the  enclosing  function,  unless
              they  were  already  or the flag +g is given explicitly.  If the
              option is unset, exported parameters will be made local in  just
              the same way as any other parameter.

              This  option is set by default for backward compatibility; it is
              not recommended that its behaviour be relied  upon.   Note  that
              the  builtin  export  always  sets both the -x and -g flags, and
              hence its effect extends beyond the scope of the enclosing func-
              tion; this is the most portable way to achieve this behaviour.

       GLOBAL_RCS (-d) <D>
              If  this  option  is unset, the startup files /etc/zsh/zprofile,
              /etc/zsh/zshrc, /etc/zsh/zlogin and /etc/zsh/zlogout will not be
              run.   It  can be disabled and re-enabled at any time, including
              inside local startup files (.zshrc, etc.).

       RCS (+f) <D>
              After /etc/zsh/zshenv is sourced on startup, source the .zshenv,
              /etc/zsh/zprofile,     .zprofile,     /etc/zsh/zshrc,    .zshrc,
              /etc/zsh/zlogin, .zlogin, and .zlogout files,  as  described  in
              the   section   `Files'.    If   this   option   is  unset,  the
              /etc/zsh/zshenv file is still sourced, but  any  of  the  others
              will  not be; it can be set at any time to prevent the remaining
              startup files after  the  currently  executing  one  from  being
              sourced.

   Input/Output
       ALIASES <D>
              Expand aliases.

       CLOBBER (+C, ksh: +C) <D>
              Allows  `>'  redirection  to truncate existing files.  Otherwise
              `>!' or `>|' must be used to truncate a file.

              If the option is not set, and the option APPEND_CREATE  is  also
              not  set,  `>>!' or `>>|' must be used to create a file.  If ei-
              ther option is set, `>>' may be used.

       CORRECT (-0)
              Try to correct the spelling of commands.  Note  that,  when  the
              HASH_LIST_ALL  option is not set or when some directories in the
              path are not readable, this may falsely report  spelling  errors
              the first time some commands are used.

              The  shell  variable  CORRECT_IGNORE  may be set to a pattern to
              match words that will never be offered as corrections.

       CORRECT_ALL (-O)
              Try to correct the spelling of all arguments in a line.

              The shell variable CORRECT_IGNORE_FILE may be set to  a  pattern
              to match file names that will never be offered as corrections.

       DVORAK Use  the Dvorak keyboard instead of the standard qwerty keyboard
              as a basis for examining spelling mistakes for the  CORRECT  and
              CORRECT_ALL options and the spell-word editor command.

       FLOW_CONTROL <D>
              If  this  option  is  unset,  output flow control via start/stop
              characters (usually  assigned  to  ^S/^Q)  is  disabled  in  the
              shell's editor.

       IGNORE_EOF (-7)
              Do  not  exit on end-of-file.  Require the use of exit or logout
              instead.  However, ten consecutive EOFs will cause the shell  to
              exit anyway, to avoid the shell hanging if its tty goes away.

              Also,  if  this  option  is set and the Zsh Line Editor is used,
              widgets implemented by shell functions can be bound to EOF (nor-
              mally  Control-D)  without  printing the normal warning message.
              This works only for normal widgets, not for completion widgets.

       INTERACTIVE_COMMENTS (-k) <K> <S>
              Allow comments even in interactive shells.

       HASH_CMDS <D>
              Note the location of each command the first time it is executed.
              Subsequent  invocations  of  the same command will use the saved
              location, avoiding a path search.  If this option is  unset,  no
              path hashing is done at all.  However, when CORRECT is set, com-
              mands whose names do not appear in the functions or aliases hash
              tables  are  hashed in order to avoid reporting them as spelling
              errors.

       HASH_DIRS <D>
              Whenever a command name is hashed, hash the directory containing
              it,  as  well as all directories that occur earlier in the path.
              Has no effect if neither HASH_CMDS nor CORRECT is set.

       HASH_EXECUTABLES_ONLY
              When hashing commands because of HASH_CMDS, check that the  file
              to be hashed is actually an executable.  This option is unset by
              default as if the path contains a large number of  commands,  or
              consists  of  many remote files, the additional tests can take a
              long time.  Trial and error is needed to show if this option  is
              beneficial.

       MAIL_WARNING (-U)
              Print  a  warning message if a mail file has been accessed since
              the shell last checked.

       PATH_DIRS (-Q)
              Perform a path search even on  command  names  with  slashes  in
              them.  Thus if `/usr/local/bin' is in the user's path, and he or
              she types `X11/xinit',  the  command  `/usr/local/bin/X11/xinit'
              will  be executed (assuming it exists).  Commands explicitly be-
              ginning with `/', `./' or `../' are  not  subject  to  the  path
              search.  This also applies to the `.' and source builtins.

              Note  that  subdirectories  of  the current directory are always
              searched for executables specified in  this  form.   This  takes
              place before any search indicated by this option, and regardless
              of whether `.' or the current directory appear  in  the  command
              search path.

       PATH_SCRIPT <K> <S>
              If  this option is not set, a script passed as the first non-op-
              tion argument to the shell must contain the name of the file  to
              open.   If this option is set, and the script does not specify a
              directory path, the script is looked for first  in  the  current
              directory, then in the command path.  See the section INVOCATION
              in zsh(1).

       PRINT_EIGHT_BIT
              Print eight bit characters literally in completion  lists,  etc.
              This  option  is  not necessary if your system correctly returns
              the printability of eight bit characters (see ctype(3)).

       PRINT_EXIT_VALUE (-1)
              Print the exit value of  programs  with  non-zero  exit  status.
              This  is  only  available  at  the  command  line in interactive
              shells.

       RC_QUOTES
              Allow the character sequence `'''  to  signify  a  single  quote
              within  singly  quoted  strings.   Note  this  does not apply in
              quoted strings using the format $'...', where a backslashed sin-
              gle quote can be used.

       RM_STAR_SILENT (-H) <K> <S>
              Do not query the user before executing `rm *' or `rm path/*'.

       RM_STAR_WAIT
              If  querying  the  user  before executing `rm *' or `rm path/*',
              first wait ten seconds and ignore anything typed in  that  time.
              This  avoids  the  problem of reflexively answering `yes' to the
              query when one didn't really mean it.  The wait  and  query  can
              always be avoided by expanding the `*' in ZLE (with tab).

       SHORT_LOOPS <C> <Z>
              Allow  the  short forms of for, repeat, select, if, and function
              constructs.

       SUN_KEYBOARD_HACK (-L)
              If a line ends with a backquote, and there are an odd number  of
              backquotes  on the line, ignore the trailing backquote.  This is
              useful on some keyboards where the return key is too small,  and
              the  backquote  key lies annoyingly close to it.  As an alterna-
              tive the variable KEYBOARD_HACK lets you choose the character to
              be removed.

   Job Control
       AUTO_CONTINUE
              With this option set, stopped jobs that are removed from the job
              table with the disown builtin command are automatically  sent  a
              CONT signal to make them running.

       AUTO_RESUME (-W)
              Treat  single word simple commands without redirection as candi-
              dates for resumption of an existing job.

       BG_NICE (-6) <C> <Z>
              Run all background jobs at a lower priority.  This option is set
              by default.

       CHECK_JOBS <Z>
              Report  the status of background and suspended jobs before exit-
              ing a shell with job control; a second attempt to exit the shell
              will  succeed.   NO_CHECK_JOBS  is best used only in combination
              with NO_HUP, else such jobs will be killed automatically.

              The check is omitted if the commands run from the previous  com-
              mand  line  included  a  `jobs' command, since it is assumed the
              user is aware that there are background or  suspended  jobs.   A
              `jobs' command run from one of the hook functions defined in the
              section SPECIAL FUNCTIONS in zshmisc(1) is not counted for  this
              purpose.

       CHECK_RUNNING_JOBS <Z>
              Check for both running and suspended jobs when CHECK_JOBS is en-
              abled.  When this option is disabled, zsh checks only  for  sus-
              pended jobs, which matches the default behavior of bash.

              This option has no effect unless CHECK_JOBS is set.

       HUP <Z>
              Send the HUP signal to running jobs when the shell exits.

       LONG_LIST_JOBS (-R)
              Print job notifications in the long format by default.

       MONITOR (-m, ksh: -m)
              Allow job control.  Set by default in interactive shells.

       NOTIFY (-5, ksh: -b) <Z>
              Report  the  status  of background jobs immediately, rather than
              waiting until just before printing a prompt.

       POSIX_JOBS <K> <S>
              This option makes job control  more  compliant  with  the  POSIX
              standard.

              When the option is not set, the MONITOR option is unset on entry
              to subshells, so that job control is no longer active.  When the
              option  is set, the MONITOR option and job control remain active
              in the subshell, but note that the subshell  has  no  access  to
              jobs in the parent shell.

              When  the option is not set, jobs put in the background or fore-
              ground with bg or fg are displayed  with  the  same  information
              that  would  be  reported by jobs.  When the option is set, only
              the text is printed.  The output from jobs  itself  is  not  af-
              fected by the option.

              When  the  option  is  not  set, job information from the parent
              shell is saved for output within a subshell (for example, within
              a  pipeline).   When  the  option  is set, the output of jobs is
              empty until a job is started within the subshell.

              In previous versions of the shell, it was  necessary  to  enable
              POSIX_JOBS  in  order for the builtin command wait to return the
              status of background jobs that had already exited.  This  is  no
              longer the case.

   Prompting
       PROMPT_BANG <K>
              If  set,  `!' is treated specially in prompt expansion.  See EX-
              PANSION OF PROMPT SEQUENCES in zshmisc(1).

       PROMPT_CR (+V) <D>
              Print a carriage return just before printing  a  prompt  in  the
              line  editor.   This  is  on by default as multi-line editing is
              only possible if the editor knows where the start  of  the  line
              appears.

       PROMPT_SP <D>
              Attempt to preserve a partial line (i.e. a line that did not end
              with a newline) that would otherwise be covered up by  the  com-
              mand  prompt  due  to  the PROMPT_CR option.  This works by out-
              putting some cursor-control characters, including  a  series  of
              spaces, that should make the terminal wrap to the next line when
              a partial line is present (note that this is only successful  if
              your terminal has automatic margins, which is typical).

              When a partial line is preserved, by default you will see an in-
              verse+bold character at the end of the partial line:  a `%'  for
              a  normal  user  or a `#' for root.  If set, the shell parameter
              PROMPT_EOL_MARK can be used to customize how the end of  partial
              lines are shown.

              NOTE:  if  the PROMPT_CR option is not set, enabling this option
              will have no effect.  This option is on by default.

       PROMPT_PERCENT <C> <Z>
              If set, `%' is treated specially in prompt expansion.   See  EX-
              PANSION OF PROMPT SEQUENCES in zshmisc(1).

       PROMPT_SUBST <K> <S>
              If set, parameter expansion, command substitution and arithmetic
              expansion  are  performed  in  prompts.   Substitutions   within
              prompts do not affect the command status.

       TRANSIENT_RPROMPT
              Remove  any  right  prompt from display when accepting a command
              line.  This may be useful with terminals  with  other  cut/paste
              methods.

   Scripts and Functions
       ALIAS_FUNC_DEF <S>
              By default, zsh does not allow the definition of functions using
              the `name ()' syntax if name was  expanded  as  an  alias:  this
              causes an error.  This is usually the desired behaviour, as oth-
              erwise the combination of an alias and a function based  on  the
              same definition can easily cause problems.

              When  this option is set, aliases can be used for defining func-
              tions.

              For example, consider the following definitions  as  they  might
              occur in a startup file.

                     alias foo=bar
                     foo() {
                       print This probably does not do what you expect.
                     }

              Here,  foo  is  expanded as an alias to bar before the () is en-
              countered, so the function defined would be named bar.   By  de-
              fault  this is instead an error in native mode.  Note that quot-
              ing any part of the function name, or using  the  keyword  func-
              tion,  avoids  the  problem, so is recommended when the function
              name can also be an alias.

       C_BASES
              Output hexadecimal numbers 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 choice of the output base,  nor
              on  the  output of bases other than hexadecimal and octal.  Note
              that these formats will be understood on input  irrespective  of
              the setting of C_BASES.

       C_PRECEDENCES
              This  alters  the  precedence of arithmetic operators to be more
              like C and other programming languages; the  section  ARITHMETIC
              EVALUATION in zshmisc(1) has an explicit list.

       DEBUG_BEFORE_CMD <D>
              Run  the DEBUG trap before each command; otherwise it is run af-
              ter each command.  Setting this option mimics the  behaviour  of
              ksh 93; with the option unset the behaviour is that of ksh 88.

       ERR_EXIT (-e, ksh: -e)
              If  a command has a non-zero exit status, execute the ZERR trap,
              if set, and exit.  This is disabled while running initialization
              scripts.

              The behaviour is also disabled inside DEBUG traps.  In this case
              the option is handled specially: it is unset  on  entry  to  the
              trap.   If  the  option DEBUG_BEFORE_CMD is set, as it is by de-
              fault, and the option ERR_EXIT is found  to  have  been  set  on
              exit,  then  the  command for which the DEBUG trap is being exe-
              cuted is skipped.  The option is restored after the trap exits.

              Non-zero status in a command list containing && or || is ignored
              for commands not at the end of the list.  Hence

                     false && true

              does not trigger exit.

              Exiting  due to ERR_EXIT has certain interactions with asynchro-
              nous jobs noted in the section JOBS in zshmisc(1).

       ERR_RETURN
              If a command has a non-zero exit status, return immediately from
              the  enclosing  function.   The  logic  is  similar  to that for
              ERR_EXIT, except that an implicit return statement  is  executed
              instead  of an exit.  This will trigger an exit at the outermost
              level of a non-interactive script.

              Normally this option inherits the  behaviour  of  ERR_EXIT  that
              code  followed by `&&' `||' does not trigger a return.  Hence in
              the following:

                     summit || true

              no return is forced as the combined effect always has a zero re-
              turn status.

              Note.  however,  that if summit in the above example is itself a
              function, code inside it is considered separately: it may  force
              a  return  from  summit  (assuming the option remains set within
              summit), but not from the enclosing context.  This behaviour  is
              different from ERR_EXIT which is unaffected by function scope.

       EVAL_LINENO <Z>
              If  set, line numbers of expressions evaluated using the builtin
              eval are tracked separately of the enclosing environment.   This
              applies  both to the parameter LINENO and the line number output
              by the prompt escape %i.  If the option is set, the  prompt  es-
              cape %N will output the string `(eval)' instead of the script or
              function name as an indication.   (The two  prompt  escapes  are
              typically used in the parameter PS4 to be output when the option
              XTRACE is set.)  If EVAL_LINENO is unset, the line number of the
              surrounding  script  or  function is retained during the evalua-
              tion.

       EXEC (+n, ksh: +n) <D>
              Do execute commands.  Without this option, commands are read and
              checked for syntax errors, but not executed.  This option cannot
              be turned off in an interactive shell, except when `-n' is  sup-
              plied to the shell at startup.

       FUNCTION_ARGZERO <C> <Z>
              When  executing  a  shell  function or sourcing a script, set $0
              temporarily to the name of the function/script.  Note that  tog-
              gling  FUNCTION_ARGZERO  from  on to off (or off to on) does not
              change the current value of $0.  Only the state  upon  entry  to
              the function or script has an effect.  Compare POSIX_ARGZERO.

       LOCAL_LOOPS
              When  this  option  is not set, the effect of break and continue
              commands may propagate outside function scope,  affecting  loops
              in calling functions.  When the option is set in a calling func-
              tion, a break or a continue that is not caught within  a  called
              function  (regardless  of  the setting of the option within that
              function) produces a warning and the effect is cancelled.

       LOCAL_OPTIONS <K>
              If this option is set at the point of return from a shell  func-
              tion, most options (including this one) which were in force upon
              entry to the function are restored; options  that  are  not  re-
              stored  are PRIVILEGED and RESTRICTED.  Otherwise, only this op-
              tion, and the LOCAL_LOOPS, XTRACE and  PRINT_EXIT_VALUE  options
              are  restored.   Hence  if  this  is explicitly unset by a shell
              function the other options in force at the point of return  will
              remain  so.   A shell function can also guarantee itself a known
              shell configuration with a formulation like  `emulate  -L  zsh';
              the -L activates LOCAL_OPTIONS.

       LOCAL_PATTERNS
              If  this option is set at the point of return from a shell func-
              tion, the state of pattern disables, as  set  with  the  builtin
              command  `disable -p', is restored to what it was when the func-
              tion was entered.  The behaviour of this option  is  similar  to
              the  effect  of  LOCAL_OPTIONS on options; hence `emulate -L sh'
              (or indeed any other emulation with the -L option) activates LO-
              CAL_PATTERNS.

       LOCAL_TRAPS <K>
              If  this  option is set when a signal trap is set inside a func-
              tion, then the previous status of the trap for that signal  will
              be restored when the function exits.  Note that this option must
              be set prior to altering the trap behaviour in a  function;  un-
              like  LOCAL_OPTIONS,  the value on exit from the function is ir-
              relevant.  However, it does not need to be set before any global
              trap for that to be correctly restored by a function.  For exam-
              ple,

                     unsetopt localtraps
                     trap - INT
                     fn() { setopt localtraps; trap '' INT; sleep 3; }

              will restore normal handling of SIGINT after the function exits.

       MULTI_FUNC_DEF <Z>
              Allow definitions of multiple functions at once in the form `fn1
              fn2...()';  if the option is not set, this causes a parse error.
              Definition of multiple functions with the  function  keyword  is
              always  allowed.   Multiple  function  definitions are not often
              used and can cause obscure errors.

       MULTIOS <Z>
              Perform implicit tees or cats when multiple redirections are at-
              tempted (see the section `Redirection').

       OCTAL_ZEROES <S>
              Interpret  any integer constant beginning with a 0 as octal, per
              IEEE Std 1003.2-1992 (ISO 9945-2:1993).  This is not enabled  by
              default as it causes problems with parsing of, for example, date
              and time strings with leading zeroes.

              Sequences of digits indicating a numeric base such as  the  `08'
              component  in `08#77' are always interpreted as decimal, regard-
              less of leading zeroes.

       PIPE_FAIL
              By default, when a pipeline exits the exit  status  recorded  by
              the shell and returned by the shell variable $? reflects that of
              the rightmost element of a pipeline.  If this option is set, the
              exit status instead reflects the status of the rightmost element
              of the pipeline that was non-zero, or zero if all  elements  ex-
              ited with zero status.

       SOURCE_TRACE
              If  set,  zsh will print an informational message announcing the
              name of each file it loads.  The format of the output is similar
              to  that  for the XTRACE option, with the message <sourcetrace>.
              A file may be loaded by the shell itself when it starts  up  and
              shuts  down  (Startup/Shutdown  Files)  or  by  the  use  of the
              `source' and `dot' builtin commands.

       TYPESET_SILENT
              If this is unset, executing any of the `typeset' family of  com-
              mands with no options and a list of parameters that have no val-
              ues to be assigned but already exist will display the  value  of
              the  parameter.   If  the option is set, they will only be shown
              when parameters are selected with the `-m' option.   The  option
              `-p' is available whether or not the option is set.

       VERBOSE (-v, ksh: -v)
              Print shell input lines as they are read.

       XTRACE (-x, ksh: -x)
              Print  commands  and  their arguments as they are executed.  The
              output is preceded by the value of $PS4, formatted as  described
              in the section EXPANSION OF PROMPT SEQUENCES in zshmisc(1).

   Shell Emulation
       APPEND_CREATE <K> <S>
              This option only applies when NO_CLOBBER (-C) is in effect.

              If this option is not set, the shell will report an error when a
              append redirection (>>) is used on a file that does not  already
              exists  (the  traditional  zsh behaviour of NO_CLOBBER).  If the
              option is set, no error is reported (POSIX behaviour).

       BASH_REMATCH
              When set, matches performed with the =~ operator  will  set  the
              BASH_REMATCH  array  variable,  instead of the default MATCH and
              match variables.  The first element of  the  BASH_REMATCH  array
              will  contain  the  entire  matched text and subsequent elements
              will contain extracted substrings.  This option makes more sense
              when  KSH_ARRAYS is also set, so that the entire matched portion
              is stored at index 0 and the first  substring  is  at  index  1.
              Without  this  option,  the  MATCH  variable contains the entire
              matched text and the match array variable contains substrings.

       BSD_ECHO <S>
              Make the echo builtin compatible with the BSD  echo(1)  command.
              This  disables  backslashed escape sequences in echo strings un-
              less the -e option is specified.

       CONTINUE_ON_ERROR
              If a fatal error is encountered (see the section ERRORS in  zsh-
              misc(1)),  and  the  code is running in a script, the shell will
              resume execution at the next statement in the script at the  top
              level,  in other words outside all functions or shell constructs
              such as loops and conditions.  This mimics the behaviour of  in-
              teractive  shells, where the shell returns to the line editor to
              read a new command; it was the normal behaviour in  versions  of
              zsh before 5.0.1.

       CSH_JUNKIE_HISTORY <C>
              A history reference without an event specifier will always refer
              to the previous command.  Without this option,  such  a  history
              reference  refers to the same event as the previous history ref-
              erence on the current command line, defaulting to  the  previous
              command.

       CSH_JUNKIE_LOOPS <C>
              Allow  loop  bodies  to take the form `list; end' instead of `do
              list; done'.

       CSH_JUNKIE_QUOTES <C>
              Changes the rules for single- and double-quoted  text  to  match
              that  of  csh.  These require that embedded newlines be preceded
              by a backslash; unescaped newlines will cause an error  message.
              In  double-quoted  strings, it is made impossible to escape `$',
              ``' or `"' (and `\' itself no longer needs  escaping).   Command
              substitutions are only expanded once, and cannot be nested.

       CSH_NULLCMD <C>
              Do  not  use  the values of NULLCMD and READNULLCMD when running
              redirections with no command.  This make such redirections  fail
              (see the section `Redirection').

       KSH_ARRAYS <K> <S>
              Emulate  ksh array handling as closely as possible.  If this op-
              tion is set, array elements are numbered from zero, an array pa-
              rameter without subscript refers to the first element instead of
              the whole array, and braces are required to delimit a  subscript
              (`${path[2]}' rather than just `$path[2]') or to apply modifiers
              to any parameter (`${PWD:h}' rather than `$PWD:h').

       KSH_AUTOLOAD <K> <S>
              Emulate ksh function autoloading.  This means that when a  func-
              tion  is  autoloaded, the corresponding file is merely executed,
              and must define the function itself.  (By default, the  function
              is  defined to the contents of the file.  However, the most com-
              mon ksh-style case - of the file containing only a simple  defi-
              nition of the function - is always handled in the ksh-compatible
              manner.)

       KSH_OPTION_PRINT <K>
              Alters the way options settings are printed: instead of separate
              lists  of  set  and unset options, all options are shown, marked
              `on' if they are in the non-default state, `off' otherwise.

       KSH_TYPESET
              This option is now obsolete: a better appropximation to the  be-
              haviour  of  other shells is obtained with the reserved word in-
              terface to declare, export, float, integer, local, readonly  and
              typeset.  Note that the option is only applied when the reserved
              word interface is not in use.

              Alters the way arguments to the typeset family of commands,  in-
              cluding declare, export, float, integer, local and readonly, are
              processed.  Without this option, zsh will  perform  normal  word
              splitting  after command and parameter expansion in arguments of
              an assignment; with it, word splitting does not  take  place  in
              those cases.

       KSH_ZERO_SUBSCRIPT
              Treat  use  of  a subscript of value zero in array or string ex-
              pressions as a reference to the first element, i.e. the  element
              that usually has the subscript 1.  Ignored if KSH_ARRAYS is also
              set.

              If neither this option nor KSH_ARRAYS is set, accesses to an el-
              ement  of an array or string with subscript zero return an empty
              element or string, while attempts to set element zero of an  ar-
              ray or string are treated as an error.  However, attempts to set
              an otherwise valid subscript range that includes zero will  suc-
              ceed.  For example, if KSH_ZERO_SUBSCRIPT is not set,

                     array[0]=(element)

              is an error, while

                     array[0,1]=(element)

              is not and will replace the first element of the array.

              This  option  is  for  compatibility  with older versions of the
              shell and is not recommended in new code.

       POSIX_ALIASES <K> <S>
              When this option is set, reserved words are not  candidates  for
              alias expansion:  it is still possible to declare any of them as
              an alias, but the alias will never be expanded.  Reserved  words
              are described in the section RESERVED WORDS in zshmisc(1).

              Alias expansion takes place while text is being read; hence when
              this option is set it does not take effect until the end of  any
              function  or other piece of shell code parsed as one unit.  Note
              this may cause differences from other shells even when  the  op-
              tion  is  in  effect.   For example, when running a command with
              `zsh -c', or even `zsh -o posixaliases -c', the  entire  command
              argument  is  parsed  as one unit, so aliases defined within the
              argument are not available even in later lines.   If  in  doubt,
              avoid use of aliases in non-interactive code.

       POSIX_ARGZERO
              This  option may be used to temporarily disable FUNCTION_ARGZERO
              and thereby restore the value of $0 to the name used  to  invoke
              the  shell  (or as set by the -c command line option).  For com-
              patibility with previous versions of the shell,  emulations  use
              NO_FUNCTION_ARGZERO  instead  of POSIX_ARGZERO, which may result
              in unexpected scoping of $0 if the emulation mode is changed in-
              side  a  function  or  script.  To avoid this, explicitly enable
              POSIX_ARGZERO in the emulate command:

                     emulate sh -o POSIX_ARGZERO

              Note that NO_POSIX_ARGZERO has no effect unless FUNCTION_ARGZERO
              was already enabled upon entry to the function or script.

       POSIX_BUILTINS <K> <S>
              When  this option is set the command builtin can be used to exe-
              cute shell builtin commands.   Parameter  assignments  specified
              before  shell  functions and special builtins are kept after the
              command completes unless the special builtin  is  prefixed  with
              the  command  builtin.   Special  builtins are ., :, break, con-
              tinue, declare, eval, exit, export,  integer,  local,  readonly,
              return, set, shift, source, times, trap and unset.

              In  addition, various error conditions associated with the above
              builtins or exec cause a non-interactive shell to  exit  and  an
              interactive shell to return to its top-level processing.

              Furthermore, functions and shell builtins are not executed after
              an exec prefix; the command to be executed must be  an  external
              command found in the path.

              Furthermore,  the  getopts builtin behaves in a POSIX-compatible
              fashion in that the associated variable OPTIND is not made local
              to functions.

              Moreover, the warning and special exit code from [[ -o non_exis-
              tent_option ]] are suppressed.

       POSIX_IDENTIFIERS <K> <S>
              When this option is set, only the ASCII characters a to z, A  to
              Z,  0  to 9 and _ may be used in identifiers (names of shell pa-
              rameters and modules).

              In addition, setting this option limits the effect of  parameter
              substitution  with  no  braces,  so  that  the  expression $# is
              treated as the parameter $# even if followed by a valid  parame-
              ter  name.  When it is unset, zsh allows expressions of the form
              $#name to refer to the length of $name, even for  special  vari-
              ables, for example in expressions such as $#- and $#*.

              Another  difference is that with the option set assignment to an
              unset variable in arithmetic context causes the variable  to  be
              created as a scalar rather than a numeric type.  So after `unset
              t; (( t = 3 ))'. without POSIX_IDENTIFIERS  set  t  has  integer
              type, while with it set it has scalar type.

              When  the option is unset and multibyte character support is en-
              abled (i.e. it is compiled in and the option MULTIBYTE is  set),
              then additionally any alphanumeric characters in the local char-
              acter set may be used in identifiers.   Note  that  scripts  and
              functions  written  with this feature are not portable, and also
              that both options must be set before the script or  function  is
              parsed;  setting  them during execution is not sufficient as the
              syntax variable=value has  already  been  parsed  as  a  command
              rather than an assignment.

              If  multibyte  character  support is not compiled into the shell
              this option is ignored; all octets with the top bit set  may  be
              used  in  identifiers.   This  is non-standard but is the tradi-
              tional zsh behaviour.

       POSIX_STRINGS <K> <S>
              This option affects processing of quoted strings.  Currently  it
              only  affects the behaviour of null characters, i.e. character 0
              in the portable character set corresponding to US ASCII.

              When this option is not set,  null  characters  embedded  within
              strings  of  the form $'...' are treated as ordinary characters.
              The entire string is maintained within the shell and  output  to
              files where necessary, although owing to restrictions of the li-
              brary interface the string is truncated at the null character in
              file  names,  environment variables, or in arguments to external
              programs.

              When this option is set, the $'...' expression is  truncated  at
              the  null  character.   Note  that  remaining  parts of the same
              string beyond the termination of the quotes are not truncated.

              For example, the command line argument a$'b\0c'd is treated with
              the  option off as the characters a, b, null, c, d, and with the
              option on as the characters a, b, d.

       POSIX_TRAPS <K> <S>
              When this option is set, the usual zsh  behaviour  of  executing
              traps  for  EXIT on exit from shell functions is suppressed.  In
              that case, manipulating EXIT traps always alters the global trap
              for exiting the shell; the LOCAL_TRAPS option is ignored for the
              EXIT trap.  Furthermore, a return statement executed in  a  trap
              with  no  argument  passes back from the function the value from
              the surrounding context, not from code executed within the trap.

       SH_FILE_EXPANSION <K> <S>
              Perform filename expansion (e.g., ~ expansion) before  parameter
              expansion,  command substitution, arithmetic expansion and brace
              expansion.  If this option is unset, it is performed after brace
              expansion, so things like `~$USERNAME' and `~{pfalstad,rc}' will
              work.

       SH_NULLCMD <K> <S>
              Do not use the values of  NULLCMD  and  READNULLCMD  when  doing
              redirections, use `:' instead (see the section `Redirection').

       SH_OPTION_LETTERS <K> <S>
              If this option is set the shell tries to interpret single letter
              options (which are used with set  and  setopt)  like  ksh  does.
              This also affects the value of the - special parameter.

       SH_WORD_SPLIT (-y) <K> <S>
              Causes field splitting to be performed on unquoted parameter ex-
              pansions.  Note that this option has nothing  to  do  with  word
              splitting.  (See zshexpn(1).)

       TRAPS_ASYNC
              While  waiting  for  a  program  to exit, handle signals and run
              traps immediately.  Otherwise the trap  is  run  after  a  child
              process  has  exited.   Note  this  does not affect the point at
              which traps are run for any case other than when  the  shell  is
              waiting for a child process.

   Shell State
       INTERACTIVE (-i, ksh: -i)
              This is an interactive shell.  This option is set upon initiali-
              sation if the standard input is a tty  and  commands  are  being
              read  from  standard input.  (See the discussion of SHIN_STDIN.)
              This heuristic may be overridden by specifying a state for  this
              option  on  the command line.  The value of this option can only
              be changed via flags supplied at invocation of  the  shell.   It
              cannot be changed once zsh is running.

       LOGIN (-l, ksh: -l)
              This  is  a  login shell.  If this option is not explicitly set,
              the shell becomes a login shell if the first  character  of  the
              argv[0] passed to the shell is a `-'.

       PRIVILEGED (-p, ksh: -p)
              Turn  on  privileged mode. Typically this is used when script is
              to be run with elevated privileges. This should be done as  fol-
              lows  directly with the -p option to zsh so that it takes effect
              during startup.

                     #!/bin/zsh -p

              The option is enabled automatically on startup if the  effective
              user  (group)  ID  is  not equal to the real user (group) ID. In
              this case, turning the option off causes the effective user  and
              group  IDs  to  be  set to the real user and group IDs. Be aware
              that if that fails the shell may be running with  different  IDs
              than  was  intended so a script should check for failure and act
              accordingly, for example:

                     unsetopt privileged || exit

              The PRIVILEGED option disables sourcing user startup files.   If
              zsh   is  invoked  as  `sh'  or  `ksh'  with  this  option  set,
              /etc/suid_profile is sourced (after /etc/profile on  interactive
              shells). Sourcing ~/.profile is disabled and the contents of the
              ENV variable is ignored. This option cannot be changed using the
              -m option of setopt and unsetopt, and changing it inside a func-
              tion always changes it globally regardless of the  LOCAL_OPTIONS
              option.

       RESTRICTED (-r)
              Enables  restricted  mode.   This option cannot be changed using
              unsetopt, and setting it inside a  function  always  changes  it
              globally  regardless  of the LOCAL_OPTIONS option.  See the sec-
              tion `Restricted Shell'.

       SHIN_STDIN (-s, ksh: -s)
              Commands are being read from the standard input.   Commands  are
              read  from standard input if no command is specified with -c and
              no file of commands is specified.  If SHIN_STDIN is set  explic-
              itly on the command line, any argument that would otherwise have
              been taken as a file to run will instead be treated as a  normal
              positional  parameter.   Note that setting or unsetting this op-
              tion on the command line does not necessarily affect  the  state
              the option will have while the shell is running - that is purely
              an indicator of whether or not commands are actually being  read
              from  standard  input.   The  value  of  this option can only be
              changed via flags supplied at invocation of the shell.  It  can-
              not be changed once zsh is running.

       SINGLE_COMMAND (-t, ksh: -t)
              If  the  shell  is reading from standard input, it exits after a
              single command has been executed.  This  also  makes  the  shell
              non-interactive, unless the INTERACTIVE option is explicitly set
              on the command line.  The value  of  this  option  can  only  be
              changed  via flags supplied at invocation of the shell.  It can-
              not be changed once zsh is running.

   Zle
       BEEP (+B) <D>
              Beep on error in ZLE.

       COMBINING_CHARS
              Assume that the  terminal  displays  combining  characters  cor-
              rectly.   Specifically, if a base alphanumeric character is fol-
              lowed by one or more zero-width punctuation  characters,  assume
              that  the  zero-width  characters will be displayed as modifica-
              tions to the base character within the same width.  Not all ter-
              minals handle this.  If this option is not set, zero-width char-
              acters are displayed separately with special mark-up.

              If this option is set, the pattern  test  [[:WORD:]]  matches  a
              zero-width  punctuation character on the assumption that it will
              be used as part of a word in combination with a word  character.
              Otherwise  the  base  shell does not handle combining characters
              specially.

       EMACS  If ZLE is loaded, turning on this option has the equivalent  ef-
              fect  of  `bindkey  -e'.   In  addition, the VI option is unset.
              Turning it off has no effect.  The option setting is not guaran-
              teed to reflect the current keymap.  This option is provided for
              compatibility; bindkey is the recommended interface.

       OVERSTRIKE
              Start up the line editor in overstrike mode.

       SINGLE_LINE_ZLE (-M) <K>
              Use single-line command line editing instead of multi-line.

              Note that although this is on by default  in  ksh  emulation  it
              only provides superficial compatibility with the ksh line editor
              and reduces the effectiveness of the zsh line editor.  As it has
              no  effect  on shell syntax, many users may wish to disable this
              option when using ksh emulation interactively.

       VI     If ZLE is loaded, turning on this option has the equivalent  ef-
              fect  of  `bindkey -v'.  In addition, the EMACS option is unset.
              Turning it off has no effect.  The option setting is not guaran-
              teed to reflect the current keymap.  This option is provided for
              compatibility; bindkey is the recommended interface.

       ZLE (-Z)
              Use the zsh line editor.  Set by default in  interactive  shells
              connected to a terminal.

OPTION ALIASES
       Some  options have alternative names.  These aliases are never used for
       output, but can be used just like normal option names  when  specifying
       options to the shell.

       BRACE_EXPAND
              NO_IGNORE_BRACES (ksh and bash compatibility)

       DOT_GLOB
              GLOB_DOTS (bash compatibility)

       HASH_ALL
              HASH_CMDS (bash compatibility)

       HIST_APPEND
              APPEND_HISTORY (bash compatibility)

       HIST_EXPAND
              BANG_HIST (bash compatibility)

       LOG    NO_HIST_NO_FUNCTIONS (ksh compatibility)

       MAIL_WARN
              MAIL_WARNING (bash compatibility)

       ONE_CMD
              SINGLE_COMMAND (bash compatibility)

       PHYSICAL
              CHASE_LINKS (ksh and bash compatibility)

       PROMPT_VARS
              PROMPT_SUBST (bash compatibility)

       STDIN  SHIN_STDIN (ksh compatibility)

       TRACK_ALL
              HASH_CMDS (ksh compatibility)

SINGLE LETTER OPTIONS
   Default set
       -0     CORRECT
       -1     PRINT_EXIT_VALUE
       -2     NO_BAD_PATTERN
       -3     NO_NOMATCH
       -4     GLOB_DOTS
       -5     NOTIFY
       -6     BG_NICE
       -7     IGNORE_EOF
       -8     MARK_DIRS
       -9     AUTO_LIST
       -B     NO_BEEP
       -C     NO_CLOBBER
       -D     PUSHD_TO_HOME
       -E     PUSHD_SILENT
       -F     NO_GLOB
       -G     NULL_GLOB
       -H     RM_STAR_SILENT
       -I     IGNORE_BRACES
       -J     AUTO_CD
       -K     NO_BANG_HIST
       -L     SUN_KEYBOARD_HACK
       -M     SINGLE_LINE_ZLE
       -N     AUTO_PUSHD
       -O     CORRECT_ALL
       -P     RC_EXPAND_PARAM
       -Q     PATH_DIRS
       -R     LONG_LIST_JOBS
       -S     REC_EXACT
       -T     CDABLE_VARS
       -U     MAIL_WARNING
       -V     NO_PROMPT_CR
       -W     AUTO_RESUME
       -X     LIST_TYPES
       -Y     MENU_COMPLETE
       -Z     ZLE
       -a     ALL_EXPORT
       -e     ERR_EXIT
       -f     NO_RCS
       -g     HIST_IGNORE_SPACE
       -h     HIST_IGNORE_DUPS
       -i     INTERACTIVE
       -k     INTERACTIVE_COMMENTS
       -l     LOGIN
       -m     MONITOR
       -n     NO_EXEC
       -p     PRIVILEGED
       -r     RESTRICTED
       -s     SHIN_STDIN
       -t     SINGLE_COMMAND
       -u     NO_UNSET
       -v     VERBOSE
       -w     CHASE_LINKS
       -x     XTRACE
       -y     SH_WORD_SPLIT

   sh/ksh emulation set
       -C     NO_CLOBBER
       -T     TRAPS_ASYNC
       -X     MARK_DIRS
       -a     ALL_EXPORT
       -b     NOTIFY
       -e     ERR_EXIT
       -f     NO_GLOB
       -i     INTERACTIVE
       -l     LOGIN
       -m     MONITOR
       -n     NO_EXEC
       -p     PRIVILEGED
       -r     RESTRICTED
       -s     SHIN_STDIN
       -t     SINGLE_COMMAND
       -u     NO_UNSET
       -v     VERBOSE
       -x     XTRACE

   Also note
       -A     Used by set for setting arrays
       -b     Used on the command line to specify end of option processing
       -c     Used on the command line to specify a single command
       -m     Used by setopt for pattern-matching option setting
       -o     Used in all places to allow use of long option names
       -s     Used by set to sort positional parameters

ZSHBUILTINS(1)              General Commands Manual             ZSHBUILTINS(1)

NAME
       zshbuiltins - zsh built-in commands

SHELL BUILTIN COMMANDS
       Some shell builtin commands take options as described in individual en-
       tries; these are often referred to in the  list  below  as  `flags'  to
       avoid  confusion  with  shell options, which may also have an effect on
       the behaviour of builtin commands.  In this introductory section,  `op-
       tion'  always  has the meaning of an option to a command that should be
       familiar to most command line users.

       Typically, options are single letters preceded by a  hyphen  (-).   Op-
       tions  that take an argument accept it either immediately following the
       option letter or after white space, for example `print -C3  {1..9}'  or
       `print  -C  3 {1..9}' are equivalent.  Arguments to options are not the
       same as arguments to the command; the documentation indicates which  is
       which.   Options that do not take an argument may be combined in a sin-
       gle word, for example `print -rca -- *' and `print -r -c -a --  *'  are
       equivalent.

       Some  shell  builtin commands also take options that begin with `+' in-
       stead of `-'.  The list below makes clear which commands these are.

       Options (together with their individual arguments, if any) must  appear
       in  a  group before any non-option arguments; once the first non-option
       argument has been found, option processing is terminated.

       All builtin commands other than `echo' and precommand  modifiers,  even
       those that have no options, can be given the argument `--' to terminate
       option processing.  This indicates that the following words are non-op-
       tion  arguments,  but  is  otherwise  ignored.  This is useful in cases
       where arguments to the command may begin with `-'.  For historical rea-
       sons,  most builtin commands (including `echo') also recognize a single
       `-' in a separate word for this purpose; note that this is  less  stan-
       dard and use of `--' is recommended.

       - simple command
              See the section `Precommand Modifiers' in zshmisc(1).

       . file [ arg ... ]
              Read  commands  from  file and execute them in the current shell
              environment.

              If file does not contain a slash, or if PATH_DIRS  is  set,  the
              shell  looks  in  the  components of $path to find the directory
              containing file.  Files in the current directory  are  not  read
              unless  `.'  appears  somewhere  in  $path.   If  a  file  named
              `file.zwc' is found, is newer than file,  and  is  the  compiled
              form  (created with the zcompile builtin) of file, then commands
              are read from that file instead of file.

              If any arguments arg are given, they become the  positional  pa-
              rameters;  the  old  positional parameters are restored when the
              file is done executing.  However, if no arguments are given, the
              positional  parameters  remain those of the calling context, and
              no restoring is done.

              If file was not found the return status  is  127;  if  file  was
              found  but  contained  a  syntax error the return status is 126;
              else the return status is the exit status of  the  last  command
              executed.

       : [ arg ... ]
              This  command  does nothing, although normal argument expansions
              is performed which may have effects on shell parameters.  A zero
              exit status is returned.

       alias [ {+|-}gmrsL ] [ name[=value] ... ]
              For  each  name with a corresponding value, define an alias with
              that value.  A trailing space in value causes the next  word  to
              be  checked for alias expansion.  If the -g flag is present, de-
              fine a global alias; global aliases are expanded even if they do
              not occur in command position.

              If the -s flag is present, define a suffix alias: if the command
              word on a command line is in the form `text.name', where text is
              any  non-empty  string,  it  is  replaced  by  the  text  `value
              text.name'.  Note that name is treated as a literal string,  not
              a  pattern.   A  trailing  space in value is not special in this
              case.  For example,

                     alias -s ps='gv --'

              will cause the command `*.ps' to be expanded to  `gv  --  *.ps'.
              As  alias  expansion  is  carried out earlier than globbing, the
              `*.ps' will then be expanded.  Suffix aliases constitute a  dif-
              ferent name space from other aliases (so in the above example it
              is still possible to create an alias for the command ps) and the
              two sets are never listed together.

              For  each  name  with no value, print the value of name, if any.
              With no arguments, print all  currently  defined  aliases  other
              than  suffix aliases.  If the -m flag is given the arguments are
              taken as patterns (they should be quoted to preserve  them  from
              being  interpreted  as  glob patterns), and the aliases matching
              these patterns are printed.  When printing aliases  and  one  of
              the  -g,  -r  or  -s  flags is present, restrict the printing to
              global, regular or suffix aliases, respectively; a regular alias
              is one which is neither a global nor a suffix alias.   Using `+'
              instead of `-', or ending the option list  with  a  single  `+',
              prevents the values of the aliases from being printed.

              If  the  -L  flag  is present, then print each alias in a manner
              suitable for putting in a startup script.  The  exit  status  is
              nonzero  if  a  name (with no value) is given for which no alias
              has been defined.

              For more on aliases, include common problems,  see  the  section
              ALIASING in zshmisc(1).

       autoload [ {+|-}RTUXdkmrtWz ] [ -w ] [ name ... ]
              See  the  section `Autoloading Functions' in zshmisc(1) for full
              details.  The fpath parameter will be searched to find the func-
              tion definition when the function is first referenced.

              If name consists of an absolute path, the function is defined to
              load from the file given (searching as usual for dump  files  in
              the  given  location).  The name of the function is the basename
              (non-directory part) of the file.  It is normally  an  error  if
              the function is not found in the given location; however, if the
              option -d is given,  searching  for  the  function  defaults  to
              $fpath.  If a function is loaded by absolute path, any functions
              loaded from it that are marked for autoload without an  absolute
              path  have  the  load  path  of  the parent function temporarily
              prepended to $fpath.

              If the option -r or -R is given, the function  is  searched  for
              immediately and the location is recorded internally for use when
              the function is executed; a relative path is expanded using  the
              value  of  $PWD.  This protects against a change to $fpath after
              the call to autoload.  With -r, if the function is not found, it
              is  silently  left unresolved until execution; with -R, an error
              message is printed and command  processing  aborted  immediately
              the  search  fails,  i.e. at the autoload command rather than at
              function execution..

              The flag -X may be used only inside a shell function.  It causes
              the calling function to be marked for autoloading and then imme-
              diately loaded and executed, with the  current  array  of  posi-
              tional parameters as arguments.  This replaces the previous def-
              inition of the function.  If no function definition is found, an
              error  is  printed and the function remains undefined and marked
              for autoloading.  If an argument is given, it is used as  a  di-
              rectory  (i.e.  it does not include the name of the function) in
              which the function is to be found; this may be combined with the
              -d  option  to allow the function search to default to $fpath if
              it is not in the given location.

              The flag +X attempts to load each name as  an  autoloaded  func-
              tion,  but  does  not execute it.  The exit status is zero (suc-
              cess) if the function was not previously defined and  a  defini-
              tion for it was found.  This does not replace any existing defi-
              nition of the function.  The exit status is nonzero (failure) if
              the  function  was  already  defined  or  when no definition was
              found.  In the latter case the function  remains  undefined  and
              marked  for  autoloading.   If ksh-style autoloading is enabled,
              the function created will contain the contents of the file  plus
              a call to the function itself appended to it, thus giving normal
              ksh autoloading behaviour on the first call to the function.  If
              the  -m flag is also given each name is treated as a pattern and
              all functions already marked for autoload that match the pattern
              are loaded.

              With  the  -t  flag, turn on execution tracing; with -T, turn on
              execution tracing only for the current function, turning it  off
              on  entry  to any called functions that do not also have tracing
              enabled.

              With the -U flag, alias expansion is suppressed when  the  func-
              tion is loaded.

              With the -w flag, the names are taken as names of files compiled
              with the zcompile builtin, and all functions defined in them are
              marked for autoloading.

              The flags -z and -k mark the function to be autoloaded using the
              zsh or ksh style, as if the option KSH_AUTOLOAD  were  unset  or
              were  set,  respectively.  The flags override the setting of the
              option at the time the function is loaded.

              Note that the autoload command makes no attempt  to  ensure  the
              shell  options  set  during the loading or execution of the file
              have any particular value.  For this, the emulate command can be
              used:

                     emulate zsh -c 'autoload -Uz func'

              arranges that when func is loaded the shell is in native zsh em-
              ulation, and this emulation is also applied when func is run.

              Some of the functions of autoload are also provided by functions
              -u  or functions -U, but autoload is a more comprehensive inter-
              face.

       bg [ job ... ]
       job ... &
              Put each specified job in the background, or the current job  if
              none is specified.

       bindkey
              See the section `Zle Builtins' in zshzle(1).

       break [ n ]
              Exit from an enclosing for, while, until, select or repeat loop.
              If an arithmetic expression n is specified, then break n  levels
              instead of just one.

       builtin name [ args ... ]
              Executes the builtin name, with the given args.

       bye    Same as exit.

       cap    See the section `The zsh/cap Module' in zshmodules(1).

       cd [ -qsLP ] [ arg ]
       cd [ -qsLP ] old new
       cd [ -qsLP ] {+|-}n
              Change  the  current  directory.   In the first form, change the
              current directory to arg, or to the value of $HOME if arg is not
              specified.  If arg is `-', change to the previous directory.

              Otherwise,  if arg begins with a slash, attempt to change to the
              directory given by arg.

              If arg does not begin with a slash,  the  behaviour  depends  on
              whether the current directory `.' occurs in the list of directo-
              ries contained in the shell parameter cdpath.  If it  does  not,
              first  attempt  to change to the directory arg under the current
              directory, and if that fails but cdpath is set and  contains  at
              least  one  element attempt to change to the directory arg under
              each component of cdpath in turn until successful.  If  `.'  oc-
              curs  in  cdpath,  then  cdpath is searched strictly in order so
              that `.' is only tried at the appropriate point.

              The order of testing cdpath is modified if the  option  POSIX_CD
              is set, as described in the documentation for the option.

              If  no  directory is found, the option CDABLE_VARS is set, and a
              parameter named arg exists whose  value  begins  with  a  slash,
              treat  its  value as the directory.  In that case, the parameter
              is added to the named directory hash table.

              The second form of cd substitutes the string new for the  string
              old in the name of the current directory, and tries to change to
              this new directory.

              The third form of cd extracts an entry from the directory stack,
              and  changes  to  that  directory.  An argument of the form `+n'
              identifies a stack entry by counting from the left of  the  list
              shown  by  the dirs command, starting with zero.  An argument of
              the form `-n' counts from the right.  If the PUSHD_MINUS  option
              is set, the meanings of `+' and `-' in this context are swapped.
              If the POSIX_CD option is set, this form of cd is not recognised
              and will be interpreted as the first form.

              If  the  -q (quiet) option is specified, the hook function chpwd
              and the functions in the array chpwd_functions are  not  called.
              This  is  useful for calls to cd that do not change the environ-
              ment seen by an interactive user.

              If the -s option is specified, cd refuses to change the  current
              directory  if  the  given pathname contains symlinks.  If the -P
              option is given or the CHASE_LINKS option is set, symbolic links
              are  resolved  to  their true values.  If the -L option is given
              symbolic links are retained in the directory (and not  resolved)
              regardless of the state of the CHASE_LINKS option.

       chdir  Same as cd.

       clone  See the section `The zsh/clone Module' in zshmodules(1).

       command [ -pvV ] simple command
              The  simple command argument is taken as an external command in-
              stead  of  a  function  or  builtin  and  is  executed.  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.

              See also the section `Precommand Modifiers' in zshmisc(1).

       comparguments
              See the section `The zsh/computil Module' in zshmodules(1).

       compcall
              See the section `The zsh/compctl Module' in zshmodules(1).

       compctl
              See the section `The zsh/compctl Module' in zshmodules(1).

       compdescribe
              See the section `The zsh/computil Module' in zshmodules(1).

       compfiles
              See the section `The zsh/computil Module' in zshmodules(1).

       compgroups
              See the section `The zsh/computil Module' in zshmodules(1).

       compquote
              See the section `The zsh/computil Module' in zshmodules(1).

       comptags
              See the section `The zsh/computil Module' in zshmodules(1).

       comptry
              See the section `The zsh/computil Module' in zshmodules(1).

       compvalues
              See the section `The zsh/computil Module' in zshmodules(1).

       continue [ n ]
              Resume  the  next  iteration of the enclosing for, while, until,
              select or repeat loop. If an arithmetic expression n  is  speci-
              fied,  break  out  of  n-1 loops and resume at the nth enclosing
              loop.

       declare
              Same as typeset.

       dirs [ -c ] [ arg ... ]
       dirs [ -lpv ]
              With no arguments, print the contents of  the  directory  stack.
              Directories  are added to this stack with the pushd command, and
              removed with the cd or popd commands.  If arguments  are  speci-
              fied,  load  them  onto  the directory stack, replacing anything
              that was there, and push the current directory onto the stack.

              -c     clear the directory stack.

              -l     print directory names in full instead of using of using ~
                     expressions  (see Dynamic and Static named directories in
                     zshexpn(1)).

              -p     print directory entries one per line.

              -v     number the directories in the stack when printing.

       disable [ -afmprs ] name ...
              Temporarily disable the named hash table elements  or  patterns.
              The  default is to disable builtin commands.  This allows you to
              use an external command with the same name as a builtin command.
              The  -a  option  causes  disable  to  act  on  regular or global
              aliases.  The -s option causes disable to act on suffix aliases.
              The  -f option causes disable to act on shell functions.  The -r
              options causes disable to act on reserved words.  Without  argu-
              ments  all  disabled  hash table elements from the corresponding
              hash table are printed.  With the  -m  flag  the  arguments  are
              taken  as  patterns (which should be quoted to prevent them from
              undergoing filename expansion), and all hash table elements from
              the  corresponding  hash  table matching these patterns are dis-
              abled.  Disabled objects can be enabled with the enable command.

              With the option -p, name ... refer to elements  of  the  shell's
              pattern  syntax  as  described  in the section `Filename Genera-
              tion'.  Certain elements can be disabled  separately,  as  given
              below.

              Note  that  patterns not allowed by the current settings for the
              options EXTENDED_GLOB, KSH_GLOB and SH_GLOB are  never  enabled,
              regardless  of  the setting here.  For example, if EXTENDED_GLOB
              is not active, the pattern ^ is ineffective even if `disable  -p
              "^"'  has  not been issued.  The list below indicates any option
              settings that restrict the use of the  pattern.   It  should  be
              noted  that  setting SH_GLOB has a wider effect than merely dis-
              abling patterns as certain expressions, in particular those  in-
              volving parentheses, are parsed differently.

              The  following  patterns  may  be disabled; all the strings need
              quoting on the command line to prevent them  from  being  inter-
              preted  immediately as patterns and the patterns are shown below
              in single quotes as a reminder.

              '?'    The pattern character ?  wherever  it  occurs,  including
                     when preceding a parenthesis with KSH_GLOB.

              '*'    The pattern character * wherever it occurs, including re-
                     cursive globbing and when preceding  a  parenthesis  with
                     KSH_GLOB.

              '['    Character classes.

              '<' (NO_SH_GLOB)
                     Numeric ranges.

              '|' (NO_SH_GLOB)
                     Alternation  in  grouped  patterns,  case  statements, or
                     KSH_GLOB parenthesised expressions.

              '(' (NO_SH_GLOB)
                     Grouping using single parentheses.  Disabling  this  does
                     not  disable  the  use  of parentheses for KSH_GLOB where
                     they are introduced by a special character, nor for  glob
                     qualifiers  (use  `setopt  NO_BARE_GLOB_QUAL'  to disable
                     glob qualifiers that use parentheses only).

              '~' (EXTENDED_GLOB)
                     Exclusion in the form A~B.

              '^' (EXTENDED_GLOB)
                     Exclusion in the form A^B.

              '#' (EXTENDED_GLOB)
                     The pattern character # wherever it occurs, both for rep-
                     etition of a previous pattern and for indicating globbing
                     flags.

              '?(' (KSH_GLOB)
                     The grouping form ?(...).  Note this is also disabled  if
                     '?' is disabled.

              '*(' (KSH_GLOB)
                     The  grouping form *(...).  Note this is also disabled if
                     '*' is disabled.

              '+(' (KSH_GLOB)
                     The grouping form +(...).

              '!(' (KSH_GLOB)
                     The grouping form !(...).

              '@(' (KSH_GLOB)
                     The grouping form @(...).

       disown [ job ... ]
       job ... &|
       job ... &!
              Remove the specified jobs from the job table; the shell will  no
              longer  report their status, and will not complain if you try to
              exit an interactive shell with them running or stopped.   If  no
              job is specified, disown the current job.

              If  the  jobs are currently stopped and the AUTO_CONTINUE option
              is not set, a warning is printed  containing  information  about
              how  to make them running after they have been disowned.  If one
              of the latter two forms is used, the jobs will automatically  be
              made  running,  independent  of the setting of the AUTO_CONTINUE
              option.

       echo [ -neE ] [ arg ... ]
              Write each arg on the standard output, with a  space  separating
              each one.  If the -n flag is not present, print a newline at the
              end.  echo recognizes the following escape sequences:

              \a     bell character
              \b     backspace
              \c     suppress subsequent characters and final newline
              \e     escape
              \f     form feed
              \n     linefeed (newline)
              \r     carriage return
              \t     horizontal tab
              \v     vertical tab
              \\     backslash
              \0NNN  character code in octal
              \xNN   character code in hexadecimal
              \uNNNN unicode character code in hexadecimal
              \UNNNNNNNN
                     unicode character code in hexadecimal

              The -E flag, or the BSD_ECHO option,  can  be  used  to  disable
              these escape sequences.  In the latter case, -e flag can be used
              to enable them.

              Note that for standards compliance a double dash does not termi-
              nate  option  processing; instead, it is printed directly.  How-
              ever, a single dash does terminate  option  processing,  so  the
              first  dash, possibly following options, is not printed, but ev-
              erything following it is printed as  an  argument.   The  single
              dash  behaviour is different from other shells.  For a more por-
              table way of printing text, see printf, and for a more  control-
              lable way of printing text within zsh, see print.

       echotc See the section `The zsh/termcap Module' in zshmodules(1).

       echoti See the section `The zsh/terminfo Module' in zshmodules(1).

       emulate [ -lLR ] [ {zsh|sh|ksh|csh} [ flags ... ] ]
              Without any argument print current emulation mode.

              With single argument set up zsh options to emulate the specified
              shell as much as possible.  csh will never  be  fully  emulated.
              If  the argument is not one of the shells listed above, zsh will
              be used as a default; more precisely, the tests performed on the
              argument  are  the same as those used to determine the emulation
              at startup based on the shell name, see the section  COMPATIBIL-
              ITY  in zsh(1) .  In addition to setting shell options, the com-
              mand also restores the pristine state of pattern enables, as  if
              all patterns had been enabled using enable -p.

              If  the  emulate  command occurs inside a function that has been
              marked for execution tracing with functions -t then  the  xtrace
              option  will  be turned on regardless of emulation mode or other
              options.  Note that code executed inside the function by the  .,
              source,  or  eval  commands  is not considered to be running di-
              rectly from the function, hence does not provoke this behaviour.

              If the -R switch is given, all settable  options  are  reset  to
              their  default  value  corresponding  to the specified emulation
              mode, except for certain options describing the interactive  en-
              vironment;  otherwise, only those options likely to cause porta-
              bility problems in scripts and functions are altered.  If the -L
              switch  is  given, the options LOCAL_OPTIONS, LOCAL_PATTERNS and
              LOCAL_TRAPS will be set as well, causing the effects of the emu-
              late  command  and any setopt, disable -p or enable -p, and trap
              commands to be local to the immediately surrounding shell  func-
              tion,  if any; normally these options are turned off in all emu-
              lation modes except ksh. The -L  switch  is  mutually  exclusive
              with the use of -c in flags.

              If  there  is  a single argument and the -l switch is given, the
              options that would be set or unset (the  latter  indicated  with
              the  prefix  `no') are listed.  -l can be combined with -L or -R
              and the list will be modified in the appropriate way.  Note  the
              list  does not depend on the current setting of options, i.e. it
              includes all options that may  in  principle  change,  not  just
              those that would actually change.

              The  flags  may be any of the invocation-time flags described in
              the section INVOCATION in zsh(1), except that `-o EMACS' and `-o
              VI'  may not be used.  Flags such as `+r'/`+o RESTRICTED' may be
              prohibited in some circumstances.

              If -c arg appears in flags, arg is evaluated while the requested
              emulation  is temporarily in effect.  In this case the emulation
              mode and all options are restored to their previous  values  be-
              fore emulate returns.  The -R switch may precede the name of the
              shell to emulate; note this has a meaning distinct from  includ-
              ing -R in flags.

              Use  of -c enables `sticky' emulation mode for functions defined
              within the evaluated expression:  the emulation mode is  associ-
              ated  thereafter with the function so that whenever the function
              is executed the emulation (respecting the -R switch, if present)
              and  all  options  are set (and pattern disables cleared) before
              entry to the function, and the state is restored after exit.  If
              the  function  is called when the sticky emulation is already in
              effect, either within an `emulate shell -c' expression or within
              another  function with the same sticky emulation, entry and exit
              from the function do not cause options to be altered (except due
              to  standard processing such as the LOCAL_OPTIONS option).  This
              also applies to functions marked for autoload within the  sticky
              emulation; the appropriate set of options will be applied at the
              point the function is loaded as well as when it is run.

              For example:

                     emulate sh -c 'fni() { setopt cshnullglob; }
                     fno() { fni; }'
                     fno

              The two functions fni and fno are defined with sticky sh  emula-
              tion.  fno is then executed, causing options associated with em-
              ulations to be set to their values in sh.  fno then  calls  fni;
              because  fni  is  also marked for sticky sh emulation, no option
              changes take place on entry to or exit from it.  Hence  the  op-
              tion  cshnullglob, turned off by sh emulation, will be turned on
              within fni and remain on return to fno.  On exit from  fno,  the
              emulation  mode  and  all  options will be restored to the state
              they were in before entry to the temporary emulation.

              The documentation above is typically sufficient for the intended
              purpose  of  executing code designed for other shells in a suit-
              able environment.  More detailed rules follow.
              1.     The sticky emulation  environment  provided  by  `emulate
                     shell  -c'  is  identical  to that provided by entry to a
                     function marked for sticky emulation as a consequence  of
                     being  defined  in such an environment.  Hence, for exam-
                     ple, the sticky emulation is  inherited  by  subfunctions
                     defined within functions with sticky emulation.
              2.     No change of options takes place on entry to or exit from
                     functions that are not marked for sticky emulation, other
                     than  those that would normally take place, even if those
                     functions are called within sticky emulation.
              3.     No special handling is provided for functions marked  for
                     autoload nor for functions present in wordcode created by
                     the zcompile command.
              4.     The presence or absence of the -R switch to emulate  cor-
                     responds  to different sticky emulation modes, so for ex-
                     ample `emulate sh -c', `emulate -R sh  -c'  and  `emulate
                     csh -c' are treated as three distinct sticky emulations.
              5.     Difference  in  shell options supplied in addition to the
                     basic emulation also mean the sticky emulations are  dif-
                     ferent,  so for example `emulate zsh -c' and `emulate zsh
                     -o cbases -c' are treated as distinct sticky emulations.

       enable [ -afmprs ] name ...
              Enable the named hash table elements, presumably  disabled  ear-
              lier  with  disable.  The default is to enable builtin commands.
              The -a option causes enable to act on regular or global aliases.
              The  -s  option  causes enable to act on suffix aliases.  The -f
              option causes enable to act on shell functions.  The  -r  option
              causes  enable  to act on reserved words.  Without arguments all
              enabled hash table elements from the  corresponding  hash  table
              are  printed.   With the -m flag the arguments are taken as pat-
              terns (should be quoted) and all hash table  elements  from  the
              corresponding  hash  table  matching these patterns are enabled.
              Enabled objects can be disabled with the  disable  builtin  com-
              mand.

              enable  -p  reenables  patterns  disabled with disable -p.  Note
              that it does not override globbing options; for example, `enable
              -p  "~"' does not cause the pattern character ~ to be active un-
              less the EXTENDED_GLOB option is also set.  To enable all possi-
              ble  patterns  (so  that  they may be individually disabled with
              disable -p), use `setopt EXTENDED_GLOB KSH_GLOB NO_SH_GLOB'.

       eval [ arg ... ]
              Read the arguments as input to the shell and execute the result-
              ing  command(s) in the current shell process.  The return status
              is the same as if the commands had been executed directly by the
              shell;  if  there  are no args or they contain no commands (i.e.
              are an empty string or whitespace) the return status is zero.

       exec [ -cl ] [ -a argv0 ] [ command [ arg ... ] ]
              Replace the current shell with command rather than forking.   If
              command  is  a  shell  builtin  command or a shell function, the
              shell executes it, and exits when the command is complete.

              With -c clear the environment; with -l prepend - to the  argv[0]
              string of the command executed (to simulate a login shell); with
              -a argv0 set the argv[0] string of the  command  executed.   See
              the section `Precommand Modifiers' in zshmisc(1).

              If  the  option  POSIX_BUILTINS  is set, command is never inter-
              preted as a shell builtin command or shell function.  This means
              further precommand modifiers such as builtin and noglob are also
              not interpreted within the shell.  Hence command is always found
              by searching the command path.

              If  command  is omitted but any redirections are specified, then
              the redirections will take effect in the current shell.

       exit [ n ]
              Exit the shell with the exit status specified by  an  arithmetic
              expression n; if none is specified, use the exit status from the
              last command executed.  An EOF condition  will  also  cause  the
              shell to exit, unless the IGNORE_EOF option is set.

              See  notes at the end of the section JOBS in zshmisc(1) for some
              possibly unexpected interactions of the exit command with jobs.

       export [ name[=value] ... ]
              The specified names are marked for automatic export to the envi-
              ronment  of subsequently executed commands.  Equivalent to type-
              set -gx.  If a parameter specified does not already exist, it is
              created in the global scope.

       false [ arg ... ]
              Do nothing and return an exit status of 1.

       fc [ -e ename ] [ -LI ] [ -m match ] [ old=new ... ] [ first [ last ] ]
       fc -l [ -LI ] [ -nrdfEiD ] [ -t timefmt ] [ -m match ]
             [ old=new ... ] [ first [ last ] ]
       fc -p [ -a ] [ filename [ histsize [ savehistsize ] ] ]
       fc -P
       fc -ARWI [ filename ]
              The fc command controls the interactive history mechanism.  Note
              that reading and writing of history options is only performed if
              the  shell  is  interactive.  Usually this is detected automati-
              cally, but it can be forced by setting  the  interactive  option
              when starting the shell.

              The  first  two  forms  of this command select a range of events
              from first to last from the history list.  The  arguments  first
              and  last  may be specified as a number or as a string.  A nega-
              tive number is used as an offset to the  current  history  event
              number.  A string specifies the most recent event beginning with
              the given string.  All substitutions old=new, if any,  are  then
              performed on the text of the events.

              In addition to the number range,
              -I     restricts to only internal events (not from $HISTFILE)
              -L     restricts  to  only  local events (not from other shells,
                     see SHARE_HISTORY in zshoptions(1) -- note that $HISTFILE
                     is considered local when read at startup)
              -m     takes  the first argument as a pattern (should be quoted)
                     and only the history events  matching  this  pattern  are
                     considered

              If first is not specified, it will be set to -1 (the most recent
              event), or to -16 if the -l flag is given.  If last is not spec-
              ified,  it  will  be  set  to  first, or to -1 if the -l flag is
              given.  However, if the current event has added entries  to  the
              history with `print -s' or `fc -R', then the default last for -l
              includes all new history entries since the current event began.

              When the -l flag is given, the resulting events  are  listed  on
              standard  output.   Otherwise the editor program specified by -e
              ename is invoked on a file containing these history events.   If
              -e  is  not given, the value of the parameter FCEDIT is used; if
              that is not set the value of the parameter EDITOR  is  used;  if
              that  is  not  set  a builtin default, usually `vi' is used.  If
              ename is `-', no editor is invoked.  When editing  is  complete,
              the edited command is executed.

              The  flag  -r  reverses  the order of the events and the flag -n
              suppresses event numbers when listing.

              Also when listing,
              -d     prints timestamps for each event
              -f     prints full time-date stamps in the US  `MM/DD/YY  hh:mm'
                     format
              -E     prints  full time-date stamps in the European `dd.mm.yyyy
                     hh:mm' format
              -i     prints  full  time-date  stamps  in  ISO8601  `yyyy-mm-dd
                     hh:mm' format
              -t fmt prints  time  and date stamps in the given format; fmt is
                     formatted with the strftime function with the zsh  exten-
                     sions  described  for the %D{string} prompt format in the
                     section EXPANSION OF PROMPT SEQUENCES in zshmisc(1).  The
                     resulting formatted string must be no more than 256 char-
                     acters or will not be printed
              -D     prints elapsed times; may be combined with one of the op-
                     tions above

              `fc  -p'  pushes  the  current  history  list  onto  a stack and
              switches to a new history list.  If the -a option is also speci-
              fied,  this  history  list will be automatically popped when the
              current function scope is exited, which is a much  better  solu-
              tion than creating a trap function to call `fc -P' manually.  If
              no arguments are specified, the  history  list  is  left  empty,
              $HISTFILE  is  unset, and $HISTSIZE & $SAVEHIST are set to their
              default values.  If one argument is given, $HISTFILE is  set  to
              that filename, $HISTSIZE & $SAVEHIST are left unchanged, and the
              history file is read in (if it exists)  to  initialize  the  new
              list.   If a second argument is specified, $HISTSIZE & $SAVEHIST
              are instead set to the single specified numeric value.  Finally,
              if a third argument is specified, $SAVEHIST is set to a separate
              value from $HISTSIZE.  You are free to change these  environment
              values  for  the new history list however you desire in order to
              manipulate the new history list.

              `fc -P' pops the history list back to an older list saved by `fc
              -p'.   The  current  list is saved to its $HISTFILE before it is
              destroyed (assuming that $HISTFILE and $SAVEHIST are set  appro-
              priately,  of  course).  The values of $HISTFILE, $HISTSIZE, and
              $SAVEHIST are restored to the values they had when `fc  -p'  was
              called.   Note  that  this  restoration can conflict with making
              these variables "local", so your best bet is to avoid local dec-
              larations  for  these  variables  in functions that use `fc -p'.
              The one other guaranteed-safe  combination  is  declaring  these
              variables  to be local at the top of your function and using the
              automatic option (-a) with `fc -p'.  Finally, note  that  it  is
              legal to manually pop a push marked for automatic popping if you
              need to do so before the function exits.

              `fc -R' reads the history from the given file,  `fc  -W'  writes
              the  history out to the given file, and `fc -A' appends the his-
              tory out to the given file.  If no filename  is  specified,  the
              $HISTFILE  is  assumed.   If  the -I option is added to -R, only
              those events that are not already contained within the  internal
              history  list are added.  If the -I option is added to -A or -W,
              only those events  that  are  new  since  last  incremental  ap-
              pend/write  to  the  history  file are appended/written.  In any
              case, the created file will have no more than $SAVEHIST entries.

       fg [ job ... ]
       job ...
              Bring each specified job in turn to the foreground.  If  no  job
              is specified, resume the current job.

       float [ {+|-}Hghlprtux ] [ {+|-}EFLRZ [ n ] ] [ name[=value] ... ]
              Equivalent  to  typeset  -E,  except  that options irrelevant to
              floating point numbers are not permitted.

       functions [ {+|-}UkmtTuWz ] [ -x num ] [ name ... ]
       functions -c oldfn newfn
       functions -M [-s] mathfn [ min [ max [ shellfn ] ] ]
       functions -M [ -m pattern ... ]
       functions +M [ -m ] mathfn ...
              Equivalent to typeset -f, with the exception of the -c,  -x,  -M
              and  -W  options.   For  functions  -u and functions -U, see au-
              toload, which provides additional options.

              The -x option indicates that any functions output will have each
              leading  tab for indentation, added by the shell to show syntac-
              tic structure, expanded to the given number num of spaces.   num
              can also be 0 to suppress all indentation.

              The  -W option turns on the option WARN_NESTED_VAR for the named
              function or functions only.  The option is  turned  off  at  the
              start  of nested functions (apart from anonoymous functions) un-
              less the called function also has the -W attribute.

              The -c option causes oldfn to be copied to newfn.  The  copy  is
              efficiently  handled internally by reference counting.  If oldfn
              was marked for autoload it is first loaded and if this fails the
              copy fails.  Either function may subsequently be redefined with-
              out affecting the other.  A typical idiom is that oldfn  is  the
              name of a library shell function which is then redefined to call
              newfn, thereby installing a modified version of the function.

              Use of the -M option may not be combined with any of the options
              handled by typeset -f.

              functions -M mathfn defines mathfn as the name of a mathematical
              function recognised in all forms  of  arithmetical  expressions;
              see  the  section `Arithmetic Evaluation' in zshmisc(1).  By de-
              fault mathfn may take any number of  comma-separated  arguments.
              If  min  is given, it must have exactly min args; if min and max
              are both given, it must have at least min and at most max  args.
              max may be -1 to indicate that there is no upper limit.

              By  default  the  function is implemented by a shell function of
              the same name; if shellfn is specified it gives the name of  the
              corresponding  shell function while mathfn remains the name used
              in arithmetical expressions.  The name of the function in $0  is
              mathfn  (not shellfn as would usually be the case), provided the
              option FUNCTION_ARGZERO is in effect.  The positional parameters
              in  the shell function correspond to the arguments of the mathe-
              matical function call.  The result of the last arithmetical  ex-
              pression  evaluated  inside  the shell function (even if it is a
              form that normally only returns a status) gives  the  result  of
              the mathematical function.

              If  the additional option -s is given to functions -M, the argu-
              ment to the function is a single string:  anything  between  the
              opening  and matching closing parenthesis is passed to the func-
              tion as a single argument, even if it includes commas  or  white
              space.   The minimum and maximum argument specifiers must there-
              fore be 1 if given.  An empty  argument  list  is  passed  as  a
              zero-length string.

              functions -M with no arguments lists all such user-defined func-
              tions in the same form as a definition.  With the additional op-
              tion  -m  and  a  list  of arguments, all functions whose mathfn
              matches one of the pattern arguments are listed.

              function +M removes the list of mathematical functions; with the
              additional  option  -m the arguments are treated as patterns and
              all functions whose mathfn  matches  the  pattern  are  removed.
              Note  that  the shell function implementing the behaviour is not
              removed (regardless of whether its name coincides with mathfn).

              For example, the following prints the cube of 3:

                     zmath_cube() { (( $1 * $1 * $1 )) }
                     functions -M cube 1 1 zmath_cube
                     print $(( cube(3) ))

              The following string function takes a single argument, including
              the commas, so prints 11:

                     stringfn() { (( $#1 )) }
                     functions -Ms stringfn
                     print $(( stringfn(foo,bar,rod) ))

       getcap See the section `The zsh/cap Module' in zshmodules(1).

       getln [ -AclneE ] name ...
              Read the top value from the buffer stack and put it in the shell
              parameter name.  Equivalent to read -zr.

       getopts optstring name [ arg ... ]
              Checks the args for legal options.  If the args are omitted, use
              the  positional parameters.  A valid option argument begins with
              a `+' or a `-'.  An argument not beginning with a `+' or a  `-',
              or  the argument `--', ends the options.  Note that a single `-'
              is not considered a valid option argument.   optstring  contains
              the letters that getopts recognizes.  If a letter is followed by
              a `:', that option requires an argument.   The  options  can  be
              separated from the argument by blanks.

              Each  time  it  is  invoked, getopts places the option letter it
              finds in the shell parameter name, prepended with a `+' when arg
              begins  with  a  `+'.   The  index  of the next arg is stored in
              OPTIND.  The option argument, if any, is stored in OPTARG.

              The first option to be examined may be changed by explicitly as-
              signing  to  OPTIND.   OPTIND  has an initial value of 1, and is
              normally set to 1 upon entry to a shell  function  and  restored
              upon  exit (this is disabled by the POSIX_BUILTINS option).  OP-
              TARG is not reset and retains its value  from  the  most  recent
              call  to  getopts.   If either of OPTIND or OPTARG is explicitly
              unset, it remains unset, and the index or option argument is not
              stored.  The option itself is still stored in name in this case.

              A leading `:' in optstring causes getopts to store the letter of
              any invalid option in OPTARG, and to set name to `?' for an  un-
              known  option  and  to  `:' when a required argument is missing.
              Otherwise, getopts sets name to `?' and prints an error  message
              when  an  option  is  invalid.   The exit status is nonzero when
              there are no more options.

       hash [ -Ldfmrv ] [ name[=value] ] ...
              hash can be used to directly modify the contents of the  command
              hash  table,  and  the named directory hash table.  Normally one
              would modify these tables by modifying one's PATH (for the  com-
              mand  hash  table)  or  by creating appropriate shell parameters
              (for the named directory hash table).  The choice of hash  table
              to  work  on  is determined by the -d option; without the option
              the command hash table is used, and with the  option  the  named
              directory hash table is used.

              A command name starting with a / is never hashed, whether by ex-
              plicit use of the hash command or otherwise.  Such a command  is
              always found by direct look up in the file system.

              Given  no  arguments,  and neither the -r or -f options, the se-
              lected hash table will be listed in full.

              The -r option causes the selected hash table to be emptied.   It
              will  be subsequently rebuilt in the normal fashion.  The -f op-
              tion causes the selected hash table to be fully rebuilt  immedi-
              ately.   For the command hash table this hashes all the absolute
              directories in the PATH, and for the named directory hash  table
              this adds all users' home directories.  These two options cannot
              be used with any arguments.

              The -m option causes the  arguments  to  be  taken  as  patterns
              (which  should  be  quoted)  and  the elements of the hash table
              matching those patterns are printed.  This is the  only  way  to
              display a limited selection of hash table elements.

              For  each name with a corresponding value, put `name' in the se-
              lected hash table, associating it with the pathname `value'.  In
              the  command hash table, this means that whenever `name' is used
              as a command argument, the shell will try to  execute  the  file
              given by `value'.  In the named directory hash table, this means
              that `value' may be referred to as `~name'.

              For each name with no corresponding value, attempt to  add  name
              to the hash table, checking what the appropriate value is in the
              normal manner for that hash  table.   If  an  appropriate  value
              can't be found, then the hash table will be unchanged.

              The -v option causes hash table entries to be listed as they are
              added by explicit specification.  If has no effect if used  with
              -f.

              If the -L flag is present, then each hash table entry is printed
              in the form of a call to hash.

       history
              Same as fc -l.

       integer [ {+|-}Hghlprtux ] [ {+|-}LRZi [ n ] ] [ name[=value] ... ]
              Equivalent to typeset -i, except that options irrelevant to  in-
              tegers are not permitted.

       jobs [ -dlprs ] [ job ... ]
       jobs -Z string
              Lists  information  about  each given job, or all jobs if job is
              omitted.  The -l flag lists process IDs, and the -p  flag  lists
              process  groups.   If the -r flag is specified only running jobs
              will be listed and if the -s flag is given only stopped jobs are
              shown.   If  the  -d flag is given, the directory from which the
              job was started (which may not be the current directory  of  the
              job) will also be shown.

              The  -Z  option  replaces  the  shell's argument and environment
              space with the given string,  truncated  if  necessary  to  fit.
              This will normally be visible in ps (ps(1)) listings.  This fea-
              ture is typically used by daemons, to indicate their state.

       kill [ -s signal_name | -n signal_number | -sig ] job ...
       kill -l [ sig ... ]
              Sends either SIGTERM or the specified signal to the  given  jobs
              or  processes.  Signals are given by number or by names, with or
              without the `SIG' prefix.  If  the  signal  being  sent  is  not
              `KILL'  or  `CONT', then the job will be sent a `CONT' signal if
              it is stopped.  The argument job can be the process ID of a  job
              not in the job list.  In the second form, kill -l, if sig is not
              specified the signal names are listed.  Otherwise, for each  sig
              that  is a name, the corresponding signal number is listed.  For
              each sig that is a signal number or a  number  representing  the
              exit  status  of  a process which was terminated or stopped by a
              signal the name of the signal is printed.

              On some systems, alternative signal names are allowed for a  few
              signals.  Typical examples are SIGCHLD and SIGCLD or SIGPOLL and
              SIGIO, assuming they correspond to the same signal number.  kill
              -l  will  only list the preferred form, however kill -l alt will
              show if the alternative form corresponds  to  a  signal  number.
              For example, under Linux kill -l IO and kill -l POLL both output
              29, hence kill -IO and kill -POLL have the same effect.

              Many systems will allow process IDs to be  negative  to  kill  a
              process group or zero to kill the current process group.

       let arg ...
              Evaluate  each arg as an arithmetic expression.  See the section
              `Arithmetic Evaluation'  in  zshmisc(1)  for  a  description  of
              arithmetic  expressions.   The  exit status is 0 if the value of
              the last expression is nonzero, 1 if it is zero, and 2 if an er-
              ror occurred.

       limit [ -hs ] [ resource [ limit ] ] ...
              Set  or  display  resource limits.  Unless the -s flag is given,
              the limit applies only the children of  the  shell.   If  -s  is
              given  without  other arguments, the resource limits of the cur-
              rent shell is set to the previously set resource limits  of  the
              children.

              If limit is not specified, print the current limit placed on re-
              source, otherwise set the limit to the specified value.  If  the
              -h flag is given, use hard limits instead of soft limits.  If no
              resource is given, print all limits.

              When looping over multiple resources, the shell will abort imme-
              diately  if  it detects a badly formed argument.  However, if it
              fails to set a limit for some other reason it will continue try-
              ing to set the remaining limits.

              resource can be one of:

              addressspace
                     Maximum amount of address space used.
              aiomemorylocked
                     Maximum  amount  of  memory  locked in RAM for AIO opera-
                     tions.
              aiooperations
                     Maximum number of AIO operations.
              cachedthreads
                     Maximum number of cached threads.
              coredumpsize
                     Maximum size of a core dump.
              cputime
                     Maximum CPU seconds per process.
              datasize
                     Maximum data size (including stack) for each process.
              descriptors
                     Maximum value for a file descriptor.
              filesize
                     Largest single file allowed.
              kqueues
                     Maximum number of kqueues allocated.
              maxproc
                     Maximum number of processes.
              maxpthreads
                     Maximum number of threads per process.
              memorylocked
                     Maximum amount of memory locked in RAM.
              memoryuse
                     Maximum resident set size.
              msgqueue
                     Maximum number of bytes in POSIX message queues.
              posixlocks
                     Maximum number of POSIX locks per user.
              pseudoterminals
                     Maximum number of pseudo-terminals.
              resident
                     Maximum resident set size.
              sigpending
                     Maximum number of pending signals.
              sockbufsize
                     Maximum size of all socket buffers.
              stacksize
                     Maximum stack size for each process.
              swapsize
                     Maximum amount of swap used.
              vmemorysize
                     Maximum amount of virtual memory.

              Which of these resource limits are available depends on the sys-
              tem.  resource can be abbreviated to any unambiguous prefix.  It
              can also be an integer, which corresponds to the integer defined
              for the resource by the operating system.

              If argument corresponds to a number which is out of the range of
              the resources configured into the shell, the shell will  try  to
              read or write the limit anyway, and will report an error if this
              fails.  As the shell does not store such  resources  internally,
              an  attempt  to  set the limit will fail unless the -s option is
              present.

              limit is a number, with an optional scaling factor, as follows:

              nh     hours
              nk     kilobytes (default)
              nm     megabytes or minutes
              ng     gigabytes
              [mm:]ss
                     minutes and seconds

              The limit command is not made  available  by  default  when  the
              shell  starts in a mode emulating another shell.  It can be made
              available with the command `zmodload -F zsh/rlimits b:limit'.

       local [ {+|-}AHUahlprtux ] [ {+|-}EFLRZi [ n ] ] [ name[=value] ... ]
              Same as typeset, except that the options -g, and -f are not per-
              mitted.   In  this  case the -x option does not force the use of
              -g, i.e. exported variables will be local to functions.

       log    List all users currently logged in who are affected by the  cur-
              rent setting of the watch parameter.

       logout [ n ]
              Same as exit, except that it only works in a login shell.

       noglob simple command
              See the section `Precommand Modifiers' in zshmisc(1).

       popd [ -q ] [ {+|-}n ]
              Remove  an  entry  from the directory stack, and perform a cd to
              the new top directory.  With no argument, the current top  entry
              is removed.  An argument of the form `+n' identifies a stack en-
              try by counting from the left of the list shown by the dirs com-
              mand,  starting  with  zero.   An argument of the form -n counts
              from the right.  If the PUSHD_MINUS option is set, the  meanings
              of `+' and `-' in this context are swapped.

              If  the  -q (quiet) option is specified, the hook function chpwd
              and the functions in the array $chpwd_functions are not  called,
              and  the new directory stack is not printed.  This is useful for
              calls to popd that do not change the environment seen by an  in-
              teractive user.

       print [ -abcDilmnNoOpPrsSz ] [ -u n ] [ -f format ] [ -C cols ]
             [ -v name ] [ -xX tabstop ] [ -R [ -en ]] [ arg ... ]
              With  the  `-f' option the arguments are printed as described by
              printf.  With no flags or with the flag `-', the  arguments  are
              printed  on  the  standard output as described by echo, with the
              following differences: the escape  sequence  `\M-x'  (or  `\Mx')
              metafies  the  character  x  (sets  the highest bit), `\C-x' (or
              `\Cx') produces a control character (`\C-@' and `\C-?' give  the
              characters NULL and delete), a character code in octal is repre-
              sented by `\NNN' (instead of `\0NNN'), and `\E' is a synonym for
              `\e'.   Finally,  if  not in an escape sequence, `\' escapes the
              following character and is not printed.

              -a     Print arguments with the column incrementing first.  Only
                     useful with the -c and -C options.

              -b     Recognize  all the escape sequences defined for the bind-
                     key command, see the section `Zle Builtins' in zshzle(1).

              -c     Print the arguments in columns.  Unless -a is also given,
                     arguments are printed with the row incrementing first.

              -C cols
                     Print  the  arguments in cols columns.  Unless -a is also
                     given, arguments are printed with  the  row  incrementing
                     first.

              -D     Treat  the  arguments  as paths, replacing directory pre-
                     fixes  with  ~  expressions  corresponding  to  directory
                     names, as appropriate.

              -i     If  given  together  with  -o or -O, sorting is performed
                     case-independently.

              -l     Print the arguments separated by newlines instead of spa-
                     ces.   Note:  if the list of arguments is empty, print -l
                     will still output one  empty  line.  To  print  a  possi-
                     bly-empty  list of arguments one per line, use print -C1,
                     as in `print -rC1 -- "$list[@]"'.

              -m     Take the first argument as a pattern (should be  quoted),
                     and remove it from the argument list together with subse-
                     quent arguments that do not match this pattern.

              -n     Do not add a newline to the output.

              -N     Print the arguments separated and  terminated  by  nulls.
                     Again,  print  -rNC1  -- "$list[@]" is a canonical way to
                     print an arbitrary list as null-delimited records.

              -o     Print the arguments sorted in ascending order.

              -O     Print the arguments sorted in descending order.

              -p     Print the arguments to the input of the coprocess.

              -P     Perform prompt expansion (see  EXPANSION  OF  PROMPT  SE-
                     QUENCES in zshmisc(1)).  In combination with `-f', prompt
                     escape sequences are parsed only within interpolated  ar-
                     guments, not within the format string.

              -r     Ignore the escape conventions of echo.

              -R     Emulate  the BSD echo command, which does not process es-
                     cape sequences unless the -e flag is given.  The -n  flag
                     suppresses  the  trailing  newline.   Only  the -e and -n
                     flags are recognized after -R; all  other  arguments  and
                     options are printed.

              -s     Place  the  results in the history list instead of on the
                     standard output.  Each argument to the print  command  is
                     treated  as  a  single word in the history, regardless of
                     its content.

              -S     Place the results in the history list instead of  on  the
                     standard  output.  In this case only a single argument is
                     allowed; it will be split into words as if it were a full
                     shell command line.  The effect is similar to reading the
                     line from a history file with the  HIST_LEX_WORDS  option
                     active.

              -u n   Print the arguments to file descriptor n.

              -v name
                     Store the printed arguments as the value of the parameter
                     name.

              -x tab-stop
                     Expand leading tabs on each line of output in the printed
                     string  assuming  a  tab  stop every tab-stop characters.
                     This is appropriate for formatting code that may  be  in-
                     dented with tabs.  Note that leading tabs of any argument
                     to print, not just the first, are expanded, even if print
                     is  using  spaces to separate arguments (the column count
                     is maintained across arguments but may  be  incorrect  on
                     output owing to previous unexpanded tabs).

                     The  start of the output of each print command is assumed
                     to be aligned with a tab stop.  Widths of multibyte char-
                     acters  are handled if the option MULTIBYTE is in effect.
                     This option is ignored if other formatting options are in
                     effect,  namely  column  alignment or printf style, or if
                     output is to a special location such as shell history  or
                     the command line editor.

              -X tab-stop
                     This  is  similar  to  -x,  except  that  all tabs in the
                     printed string are expanded.  This is appropriate if tabs
                     in  the  arguments are being used to produce a table for-
                     mat.

              -z     Push the arguments onto the editing buffer  stack,  sepa-
                     rated by spaces.

              If  any  of `-m', `-o' or `-O' are used in combination with `-f'
              and there are no arguments (after the  removal  process  in  the
              case of `-m') then nothing is printed.

       printf [ -v name ] format [ arg ... ]
              Print  the arguments according to the format specification. For-
              matting rules are the same as used in C.  The  same  escape  se-
              quences  as for echo are recognised in the format. All C conver-
              sion specifications ending in one of csdiouxXeEfgGn are handled.
              In  addition  to this, `%b' can be used instead of `%s' to cause
              escape sequences in the argument to be recognised and  `%q'  can
              be used to quote the argument in such a way that allows it to be
              reused as shell input. With the numeric  format  specifiers,  if
              the  corresponding  argument  starts with a quote character, the
              numeric value of the following character is used as  the  number
              to  print;  otherwise the argument is evaluated as an arithmetic
              expression. See the  section  `Arithmetic  Evaluation'  in  zsh-
              misc(1)  for a description of arithmetic expressions. With `%n',
              the corresponding argument is taken as an  identifier  which  is
              created as an integer parameter.

              Normally, conversion specifications are applied to each argument
              in order but they can explicitly specify the nth argument is  to
              be  used by replacing `%' by `%n$' and `*' by `*n$'.  It is rec-
              ommended that you do not mix references of this  explicit  style
              with  the normal style and the handling of such mixed styles may
              be subject to future change.

              If arguments remain unused after formatting, the  format  string
              is reused until all arguments have been consumed. With the print
              builtin, this can be suppressed by using the -r option. If  more
              arguments  are  required by the format than have been specified,
              the behaviour is as if zero or an empty string had  been  speci-
              fied as the argument.

              The -v option causes the output to be stored as the value of the
              parameter name, instead of printed. If name is an array and  the
              format  string is reused when consuming arguments then one array
              element will be used for each use of the format string.

       pushd [ -qsLP ] [ arg ]
       pushd [ -qsLP ] old new
       pushd [ -qsLP ] {+|-}n
              Change the current directory, and push the old current directory
              onto the directory stack.  In the first form, change the current
              directory to arg.  If arg is not specified, change to the second
              directory  on the stack (that is, exchange the top two entries),
              or change to $HOME if the PUSHD_TO_HOME  option  is  set  or  if
              there  is only one entry on the stack.  Otherwise, arg is inter-
              preted as it would be by cd.  The meaning of old and new in  the
              second form is also the same as for cd.

              The third form of pushd changes directory by rotating the direc-
              tory list.  An argument of the form `+n' identifies a stack  en-
              try by counting from the left of the list shown by the dirs com-
              mand, starting with zero.  An argument of the form  `-n'  counts
              from  the right.  If the PUSHD_MINUS option is set, the meanings
              of `+' and `-' in this context are swapped.

              If the -q (quiet) option is specified, the hook  function  chpwd
              and  the functions in the array $chpwd_functions are not called,
              and the new directory stack is not printed.  This is useful  for
              calls to pushd that do not change the environment seen by an in-
              teractive user.

              If  the  option  -q  is  not  specified  and  the  shell  option
              PUSHD_SILENT is not set, the directory stack will be printed af-
              ter a pushd is performed.

              The options -s, -L and -P have the same meanings as for  the  cd
              builtin.

       pushln [ arg ... ]
              Equivalent to print -nz.

       pwd [ -rLP ]
              Print  the  absolute  pathname of the current working directory.
              If the -r or the -P flag is specified, or the CHASE_LINKS option
              is  set  and the -L flag is not given, the printed path will not
              contain symbolic links.

       r      Same as fc -e -.

       read [ -rszpqAclneE ] [ -t [ num ] ] [ -k [ num ] ] [ -d delim ]
            [ -u n ] [ name[?prompt] ] [ name ...  ]
              Read one line and break it into fields using the  characters  in
              $IFS  as  separators, except as noted below.  The first field is
              assigned to the first name, the second field to the second name,
              etc.,  with  leftover fields assigned to the last name.  If name
              is omitted then REPLY is used for scalars and reply for arrays.

              -r     Raw mode: a `\' at the end of a  line  does  not  signify
                     line continuation and backslashes in the line don't quote
                     the following character and are not removed.

              -s     Don't echo back characters if reading from the terminal.

              -q     Read only one character from the terminal and set name to
                     `y'  if  this  character was `y' or `Y' and to `n' other-
                     wise.  With this flag set the return status is zero  only
                     if the character was `y' or `Y'.  This option may be used
                     with a timeout (see -t); if the read times  out,  or  en-
                     counters  end  of  file,  status 2 is returned.  Input is
                     read from the terminal unless one of -u or -p is present.
                     This option may also be used within zle widgets.

              -k [ num ]
                     Read  only  one (or num) characters.  All are assigned to
                     the first name, without word splitting.  This flag is ig-
                     nored  when -q is present.  Input is read from the termi-
                     nal unless one of -u or -p is present.  This  option  may
                     also be used within zle widgets.

                     Note  that  despite  the  mnemonic `key' this option does
                     read full characters, which may consist of multiple bytes
                     if the option MULTIBYTE is set.

              -z     Read one entry from the editor buffer stack and assign it
                     to the first  name,  without  word  splitting.   Text  is
                     pushed  onto  the stack with `print -z' or with push-line
                     from the line editor (see zshzle(1)).  This flag  is  ig-
                     nored when the -k or -q flags are present.

              -e
              -E     The  input  read is printed (echoed) to the standard out-
                     put.  If the -e flag is used, no input is assigned to the
                     parameters.

              -A     The  first  name is taken as the name of an array and all
                     words are assigned to it.

              -c
              -l     These flags are allowed only if called inside a  function
                     used  for  completion (specified with the -K flag to com-
                     pctl).  If the -c flag is given, the words of the current
                     command are read. If the -l flag is given, the whole line
                     is assigned as a scalar.  If both flags are  present,  -l
                     is used and -c is ignored.

              -n     Together with -c, the number of the word the cursor is on
                     is read.  With -l, the index of the character the  cursor
                     is on is read.  Note that the command name is word number
                     1, not word 0, and that when the cursor is at the end  of
                     the  line,  its character index is the length of the line
                     plus one.

              -u n   Input is read from file descriptor n.

              -p     Input is read from the coprocess.

              -d delim
                     Input is terminated by the first character of  delim  in-
                     stead of by newline.

              -t [ num ]
                     Test if input is available before attempting to read.  If
                     num is present, it must begin with a digit  and  will  be
                     evaluated  to  give  a  number of seconds, which may be a
                     floating point number; in this case the read times out if
                     input  is  not available within this time.  If num is not
                     present, it is taken to be zero, so that read returns im-
                     mediately  if  no  input  is  available.   If no input is
                     available, return status 1 and do not set any variables.

                     This option is not available when reading from the editor
                     buffer  with  -z, when called from within completion with
                     -c or -l, with -q which clears  the  input  queue  before
                     reading,  or  within zle where other mechanisms should be
                     used to test for input.

                     Note that read does not attempt to alter the  input  pro-
                     cessing  mode.   The  default mode is canonical input, in
                     which an entire line is read at a time, so usually  `read
                     -t'  will not read anything until an entire line has been
                     typed.  However, when reading from the terminal  with  -k
                     input  is processed one key at a time; in this case, only
                     availability of the first character is  tested,  so  that
                     e.g. `read -t -k 2' can still block on the second charac-
                     ter.  Use two instances of `read -t -k' if  this  is  not
                     what is wanted.

              If the first argument contains a `?', the remainder of this word
              is used as a prompt on standard error when the shell is interac-
              tive.

              The  value (exit status) of read is 1 when an end-of-file is en-
              countered, or when -c or -l is present and the  command  is  not
              called  from a compctl function, or as described for -q.  Other-
              wise the value is 0.

              The behavior of some combinations of the -k, -p, -q, -u  and  -z
              flags  is  undefined.   Presently  -q cancels all the others, -p
              cancels -u, -k cancels -z, and otherwise -z cancels both -p  and
              -u.

              The -c or -l flags cancel any and all of -kpquz.

       readonly
              Same as typeset -r.  With the POSIX_BUILTINS option set, same as
              typeset -gr.

       rehash Same as hash -r.

       return [ n ]
              Causes a shell function or `.' script to return to the  invoking
              script with the return status specified by an arithmetic expres-
              sion n. If n is omitted, the return status is that of  the  last
              command executed.

              If  return  was  executed from a trap in a TRAPNAL function, the
              effect is different for zero and non-zero return  status.   With
              zero  status  (or  after  an  implicit  return at the end of the
              trap), the shell will return to whatever it was previously  pro-
              cessing; with a non-zero status, the shell will behave as inter-
              rupted except that the return status of the  trap  is  retained.
              Note  that the numeric value of the signal which caused the trap
              is passed as  the  first  argument,  so  the  statement  `return
              $((128+$1))'  will  return  the same status as if the signal had
              not been trapped.

       sched  See the section `The zsh/sched Module' in zshmodules(1).

       set [ {+|-}options | {+|-}o [ option_name ] ] ... [ {+|-}A [ name ] ]
           [ arg ... ]
              Set the options for the shell and/or set the positional  parame-
              ters,  or  declare and set an array.  If the -s option is given,
              it causes the specified arguments to be sorted before  assigning
              them to the positional parameters (or to the array name if -A is
              used).  With +s sort arguments in  descending  order.   For  the
              meaning  of  the  other  flags, see zshoptions(1).  Flags may be
              specified by name using the -o option. If no option name is sup-
              plied  with  -o, the current option states are printed:  see the
              description of setopt below for more information on the  format.
              With  +o they are printed in a form that can be used as input to
              the shell.

              If the -A flag is specified, name is set to an array  containing
              the  given args; if no name is specified, all arrays are printed
              together with their values.

              If +A is used and name is an array, the given arguments will re-
              place  the  initial elements of that array; if no name is speci-
              fied, all arrays are printed without their values.

              The behaviour of arguments after -A name or +A name  depends  on
              whether the option KSH_ARRAYS is set.  If it is not set, all ar-
              guments following name are treated as values for the array,  re-
              gardless  of  their  form.   If the option is set, normal option
              processing continues at that point; only regular  arguments  are
              treated as values for the array.  This means that

                     set -A array -x -- foo

              sets array to `-x -- foo' if KSH_ARRAYS is not set, but sets the
              array to foo and turns on the option `-x' if it is set.

              If the -A flag is not present, but there  are  arguments  beyond
              the  options,  the positional parameters are set.  If the option
              list (if any) is terminated by `--', and there  are  no  further
              arguments, the positional parameters will be unset.

              If no arguments and no `--' are given, then the names and values
              of all parameters are printed on the standard  output.   If  the
              only argument is `+', the names of all parameters are printed.

              For historical reasons, `set -' is treated as `set +xv' and `set
              - args' as `set +xv -- args' when in any  other  emulation  mode
              than zsh's native mode.

       setcap See the section `The zsh/cap Module' in zshmodules(1).

       setopt [ {+|-}options | {+|-}o option_name ] [ -m ] [ name ... ]
              Set  the  options  for  the shell.  All options specified either
              with flags or by name are set.

              If no arguments are supplied, the names of all options currently
              set  are printed.  The form is chosen so as to minimize the dif-
              ferences from the default options for the current emulation (the
              default  emulation  being  native  zsh,  shown  as <Z> in zshop-
              tions(1)).  Options that are on by default for the emulation are
              shown  with  the prefix no only if they are off, while other op-
              tions are shown without the prefix no and only if they  are  on.
              In  addition  to  options  changed from the default state by the
              user, any options activated automatically by the shell (for  ex-
              ample,  SHIN_STDIN  or  INTERACTIVE)  will be shown in the list.
              The format is further modified by the  option  KSH_OPTION_PRINT,
              however  the  rationale for choosing options with or without the
              no prefix remains the same in this case.

              If the -m flag is given the  arguments  are  taken  as  patterns
              (which  should  be  quoted  to protect them from filename expan-
              sion), and all options with names matching  these  patterns  are
              set.

              Note  that  a bad option name does not cause execution of subse-
              quent shell code to be aborted; this is behaviour  is  different
              from  that  of  `set  -o'.  This is because set is regarded as a
              special builtin by the POSIX standard, but setopt is not.

       shift [ -p ] [ n ] [ name ... ]
              The positional parameters ${n+1} ...  are  renamed  to  $1  ...,
              where  n is an arithmetic expression that defaults to 1.  If any
              names are given then the arrays with these names are shifted in-
              stead of the positional parameters.

              If the option -p is given arguments are instead removed (popped)
              from the end rather than the start of the array.

       source file [ arg ... ]
              Same as  `.',  except  that  the  current  directory  is  always
              searched  and  is  always  searched first, before directories in
              $path.

       stat   See the section `The zsh/stat Module' in zshmodules(1).

       suspend [ -f ]
              Suspend the execution of the shell (send it a SIGTSTP) until  it
              receives  a  SIGCONT.   Unless the -f option is given, this will
              refuse to suspend a login shell.

       test [ arg ... ]
       [ [ arg ... ] ]
              Like the system version of test.  Added for  compatibility;  use
              conditional  expressions  instead  (see the section `Conditional
              Expressions').  The main differences between the conditional ex-
              pression syntax and the test and [ builtins are:  these commands
              are not handled syntactically, so for example an empty  variable
              expansion  may  cause  an  argument to be omitted; syntax errors
              cause status 2 to be returned instead  of  a  shell  error;  and
              arithmetic operators expect integer arguments rather than arith-
              metic expressions.

              The command attempts to implement POSIX and its extensions where
              these are specified.  Unfortunately there are intrinsic ambigui-
              ties in the syntax; in particular there is  no  distinction  be-
              tween  test operators and strings that resemble them.  The stan-
              dard attempts to resolve these for small  numbers  of  arguments
              (up to four); for five or more arguments compatibility cannot be
              relied on.  Users are urged wherever possible to  use  the  `[['
              test syntax which does not have these ambiguities.

       times  Print  the  accumulated  user and system times for the shell and
              for processes run from the shell.

       trap [ arg ] [ sig ... ]
              arg is a series of commands (usually quoted to protect  it  from
              immediate  evaluation by the shell) to be read and executed when
              the shell receives any of the signals specified by one  or  more
              sig  args.  Each sig can be given as a number, or as the name of
              a signal either with or without the string SIG in front (e.g. 1,
              HUP, and SIGHUP are all the same signal).

              If arg is `-', then the specified signals are reset to their de-
              faults, or, if no sig args are present, all traps are reset.

              If arg is an empty string, then the specified  signals  are  ig-
              nored by the shell (and by the commands it invokes).

              If  arg  is  omitted but one or more sig args are provided (i.e.
              the first argument is a valid signal number or name), the effect
              is the same as if arg had been specified as `-'.

              The trap command with no arguments prints a list of commands as-
              sociated with each signal.

              If sig is ZERR then arg will be executed after each command with
              a nonzero exit status.  ERR is an alias for ZERR on systems that
              have no SIGERR signal (this is the usual case).

              If sig is DEBUG then arg will be executed before each command if
              the  option  DEBUG_BEFORE_CMD is set (as it is by default), else
              after each command.  Here, a `command' is what is described as a
              `sublist'  in the shell grammar, see the section SIMPLE COMMANDS
              & PIPELINES in zshmisc(1).  If DEBUG_BEFORE_CMD is  set  various
              additional  features  are  available.   First, it is possible to
              skip the next command by setting the option  ERR_EXIT;  see  the
              description  of the ERR_EXIT option in zshoptions(1).  Also, the
              shell parameter ZSH_DEBUG_CMD is set to the string corresponding
              to  the  command  to  be executed following the trap.  Note that
              this string is reconstructed from the internal  format  and  may
              not be formatted the same way as the original text.  The parame-
              ter is unset after the trap is executed.

              If sig is 0 or EXIT and the trap statement  is  executed  inside
              the  body  of a function, then the command arg is executed after
              the function completes.  The value of $? at the start of  execu-
              tion is the exit status of the shell or the return status of the
              function exiting.  If sig is 0 or EXIT and the trap statement is
              not executed inside the body of a function, then the command arg
              is executed when the shell terminates; the trap runs before  any
              zshexit hook functions.

              ZERR, DEBUG, and EXIT traps are not executed inside other traps.
              ZERR and DEBUG traps are  kept  within  subshells,  while  other
              traps are reset.

              Note  that traps defined with the trap builtin are slightly dif-
              ferent from those defined as `TRAPNAL () { ... }', as the latter
              have  their  own function environment (line numbers, local vari-
              ables, etc.) while the former use the environment of the command
              in which they were called.  For example,

                     trap 'print $LINENO' DEBUG

              will  print  the  line number of a command executed after it has
              run, while

                     TRAPDEBUG() { print $LINENO; }

              will always print the number zero.

              Alternative signal names are allowed  as  described  under  kill
              above.   Defining a trap under either name causes any trap under
              an alternative name to be removed.  However, it  is  recommended
              that  for consistency users stick exclusively to one name or an-
              other.

       true [ arg ... ]
              Do nothing and return an exit status of 0.

       ttyctl [ -fu ]
              The -f option freezes the tty (i.e. terminal or terminal  emula-
              tor),  and  -u unfreezes it.  When the tty is frozen, no changes
              made to the tty settings by external programs will be honored by
              the  shell,  except  for  changes in the size of the screen; the
              shell will simply reset the settings to their previous values as
              soon as each command exits or is suspended.  Thus, stty and sim-
              ilar programs have no effect when the tty is  frozen.   Freezing
              the  tty  does not cause the current state to be remembered: in-
              stead, it causes future changes to the state to be blocked.

              Without options it reports whether the  terminal  is  frozen  or
              not.

              Note  that,  regardless of whether the tty is frozen or not, the
              shell needs to change the settings when the line editor  starts,
              so  unfreezing  the  tty does not guarantee settings made on the
              command line are preserved.  Strings  of  commands  run  between
              editing  the  command line will see a consistent tty state.  See
              also the shell variable STTY for a means of initialising the tty
              before running external commands.

       type [ -wfpamsS ] name ...
              Equivalent to whence -v.

       typeset [ {+|-}AHUaghlmrtux ] [ {+|-}EFLRZip [ n ] ]
               [ + ] [ name[=value] ... ]
       typeset -T [ {+|-}Uglrux ] [ {+|-}LRZp [ n ] ]
               [ + | SCALAR[=value] array[=(value ...)] [ sep ] ]
       typeset -f [ {+|-}TUkmtuz ] [ + ] [ name ... ]
              Set or display attributes and values for shell parameters.

              Except  as  noted below for control flags that change the behav-
              ior, a parameter is created for each name that does not  already
              refer  to  one.  When inside a function, a new parameter is cre-
              ated for every name (even those that already exist), and is  un-
              set  again  when the function completes.  See `Local Parameters'
              in zshparam(1).  The same rules apply to special  shell  parame-
              ters, which retain their special attributes when made local.

              For  each  name=value  assignment,  the parameter name is set to
              value.

              If the shell option TYPESET_SILENT is not set, for each  remain-
              ing  name  that  refers  to a parameter that is already set, the
              name and value of the parameter are printed in the  form  of  an
              assignment.  Nothing is printed for newly-created parameters, or
              when any attribute flags listed below are given along  with  the
              name.   Using  `+'  instead  of  minus to introduce an attribute
              turns it off.

              If no name is present, the names and values  of  all  parameters
              are printed.  In this case the attribute flags restrict the dis-
              play to only  those  parameters  that  have  the  specified  at-
              tributes,  and  using  `+' rather than `-' to introduce the flag
              suppresses printing of the values of parameters when there is no
              parameter name.

              All  forms  of  the command handle scalar assignment.  Array as-
              signment is possible if any of the reserved words  declare,  ex-
              port, float, integer, local, readonly or typeset is matched when
              the line is parsed (N.B. not when it is executed).  In this case
              the  arguments  are  parsed as assignments, except that the `+='
              syntax and the GLOB_ASSIGN option are not supported, and  scalar
              values  after  =  are  not split further into words, even if ex-
              panded (regardless of the setting  of  the  KSH_TYPESET  option;
              this option is obsolete).

              Examples  of  the  differences between command and reserved word
              parsing:

                     # Reserved word parsing
                     typeset svar=$(echo one word) avar=(several words)

              The above creates a scalar parameter svar and an array parameter
              avar as if the assignments had been

                     svar="one word"
                     avar=(several words)

              On the other hand:

                     # Normal builtin interface
                     builtin typeset svar=$(echo two words)

              The builtin keyword causes the above to use the standard builtin
              interface to typeset in which argument parsing is  performed  in
              the  same  way  as  for  other commands.  This example creates a
              scalar svar containing the value two and another scalar  parame-
              ter  words with no value.  An array value in this case would ei-
              ther cause an error or be treated as  an  obscure  set  of  glob
              qualifiers.

              Arbitrary arguments are allowed if they take the form of assign-
              ments after command line expansion; however, these only  perform
              scalar assignment:

                     var='svar=val'
                     typeset $var

              The  above  sets  the  scalar  parameter  svar to the value val.
              Parentheses around the value within var would  not  cause  array
              assignment  as  they will be treated as ordinary characters when
              $var is substituted.  Any non-trivial expansion in the name part
              of  the  assignment  causes  the  argument to be treated in this
              fashion:

                     typeset {var1,var2,var3}=name

              The above syntax is valid, and has the expected effect  of  set-
              ting  the  three  parameters  to the same value, but the command
              line is parsed as a set of three normal command  line  arguments
              to  typeset after expansion.  Hence it is not possible to assign
              to multiple arrays by this means.

              Note that each interface to any of the commands my  be  disabled
              separately.   For example, `disable -r typeset' disables the re-
              served word interface to typeset, exposing  the  builtin  inter-
              face,  while  `disable typeset' disables the builtin.  Note that
              disabling the reserved word  interface  for  typeset  may  cause
              problems  with the output of `typeset -p', which assumes the re-
              served word interface is available in order to restore array and
              associative array values.

              Unlike parameter assignment statements, typeset's exit status on
              an assignment that involves a command substitution does not  re-
              flect  the  exit status of the command substitution.  Therefore,
              to test for an error in a  command  substitution,  separate  the
              declaration of the parameter from its initialization:

                     # WRONG
                     typeset var1=$(exit 1) || echo "Trouble with var1"

                     # RIGHT
                     typeset var1 && var1=$(exit 1) || echo "Trouble with var1"

              To  initialize a parameter param to a command output and mark it
              readonly, use typeset -r param or readonly param after  the  pa-
              rameter assignment statement.

              If  no  attribute  flags are given, and either no name arguments
              are present or the flag +m is used,  then  each  parameter  name
              printed  is preceded by a list of the attributes of that parame-
              ter (array, association, exported, float, integer, readonly,  or
              undefined  for  autoloaded parameters not yet loaded).  If +m is
              used with attribute flags, and all those  flags  are  introduced
              with  +, the matching parameter names are printed but their val-
              ues are not.

              The following control flags change the behavior of typeset:

              +      If `+' appears by itself in a separate word as  the  last
                     option,  then the names of all parameters (functions with
                     -f) are printed, but the  values  (function  bodies)  are
                     not.   No  name  arguments may appear, and it is an error
                     for any other options to follow `+'.  The effect  of  `+'
                     is  as if all attribute flags which precede it were given
                     with a `+' prefix.  For example, `typeset -U +' is equiv-
                     alent  to  `typeset +U' and displays the names of all ar-
                     rays having the uniqueness attribute, whereas `typeset -f
                     -U  +'  displays the names of all autoloadable functions.
                     If + is the only option, then  type  information  (array,
                     readonly,  etc.)  is  also printed for each parameter, in
                     the same manner as `typeset +m "*"'.

              -g     The -g (global) means that any resulting  parameter  will
                     not  be  restricted  to local scope.  Note that this does
                     not necessarily mean that the parameter will  be  global,
                     as the flag will apply to any existing parameter (even if
                     unset) from an enclosing function.  This  flag  does  not
                     affect  the parameter after creation, hence it has no ef-
                     fect when listing existing parameters, nor does the  flag
                     +g have any effect except in combination with -m (see be-
                     low).

              -m     If the -m flag is given the name arguments are  taken  as
                     patterns  (use quoting to prevent these from being inter-
                     preted as file patterns).  With no attribute  flags,  all
                     parameters  (or functions with the -f flag) with matching
                     names are printed (the shell option TYPESET_SILENT is not
                     used in this case).

                     If the +g flag is combined with -m, a new local parameter
                     is created for every matching parameter that is  not  al-
                     ready local.  Otherwise -m applies all other flags or as-
                     signments to the existing parameters.

                     Except when assignments are made with  name=value,  using
                     +m forces the matching parameters and their attributes to
                     be printed, even inside a function.  Note that -m is  ig-
                     nored  if no patterns are given, so `typeset -m' displays
                     attributes but `typeset -a +m' does not.

              -p [ n ]
                     If the -p option is  given,  parameters  and  values  are
                     printed  in the form of a typeset command with an assign-
                     ment, regardless of other flags and options.   Note  that
                     the  -H flag on parameters is respected; no value will be
                     shown for these parameters.

                     -p may be followed by an optional integer argument.  Cur-
                     rently  only  the value 1 is supported.  In this case ar-
                     rays and associative arrays are printed with newlines be-
                     tween indented elements for readability.

              -T [ scalar[=value] array[=(value ...)] [ sep ] ]
                     This  flag has a different meaning when used with -f; see
                     below.  Otherwise the -T option requires  zero,  two,  or
                     three  arguments  to  be present.  With no arguments, the
                     list of parameters created  in  this  fashion  is  shown.
                     With  two  or three arguments, the first two are the name
                     of a scalar and of an array  parameter  (in  that  order)
                     that  will  be  tied  together in the manner of $PATH and
                     $path.  The optional third argument is a single-character
                     separator  which will be used to join the elements of the
                     array to form the scalar; if absent, a colon is used,  as
                     with $PATH.  Only the first character of the separator is
                     significant;  any  remaining  characters   are   ignored.
                     Multibyte characters are not yet supported.

                     Only  one  of  the scalar and array parameters may be as-
                     signed an initial value (the restrictions  on  assignment
                     forms described above also apply).

                     Both  the scalar and the array may be manipulated as nor-
                     mal.  If one is unset, the other  will  automatically  be
                     unset  too.   There  is  no  way of untying the variables
                     without unsetting them, nor of converting the type of one
                     of  them  with another typeset command; +T does not work,
                     assigning an array to scalar is an error, and assigning a
                     scalar to array sets it to be a single-element array.

                     Note  that  both  `typeset  -xT ...'  and `export -T ...'
                     work, but only the scalar  will  be  marked  for  export.
                     Setting the value using the scalar version causes a split
                     on all separators (which cannot be quoted).  It is possi-
                     ble to apply -T to two previously tied variables but with
                     a different separator character, in which case the  vari-
                     ables  remain  joined  as  before  but  the  separator is
                     changed.

                     When an existing scalar is tied to a new array, the value
                     of  the  scalar  is preserved but no attribute other than
                     export will be preserved.

              Attribute flags that transform the final value (-L, -R, -Z,  -l,
              -u) are only applied to the expanded value at the point of a pa-
              rameter expansion expression using `$'.  They  are  not  applied
              when  a  parameter  is retrieved internally by the shell for any
              purpose.

              The following attribute flags may be specified:

              -A     The names refer to associative array parameters; see `Ar-
                     ray Parameters' in zshparam(1).

              -L [ n ]
                     Left  justify  and  remove  leading blanks from the value
                     when the parameter is expanded.  If n is nonzero, it  de-
                     fines the width of the field.  If n is zero, the width is
                     determined by the width of the value of the first assign-
                     ment.   In  the case of numeric parameters, the length of
                     the complete value assigned to the parameter is  used  to
                     determine the width, not the value that would be output.

                     The width is the count of characters, which may be multi-
                     byte characters if the MULTIBYTE  option  is  in  effect.
                     Note  that the screen width of the character is not taken
                     into account; if this is required, use padding  with  pa-
                     rameter  expansion  flags  ${(ml...)...}  as described in
                     `Parameter Expansion Flags' in zshexpn(1).

                     When the parameter is expanded, it is filled on the right
                     with  blanks  or truncated if necessary to fit the field.
                     Note truncation can lead to unexpected results  with  nu-
                     meric  parameters.   Leading  zeros are removed if the -Z
                     flag is also set.

              -R [ n ]
                     Similar to -L, except that right justification  is  used;
                     when  the parameter is expanded, the field is left filled
                     with blanks or truncated from the end.  May not  be  com-
                     bined with the -Z flag.

              -U     For  arrays  (but  not for associative arrays), keep only
                     the first occurrence of each duplicated value.  This  may
                     also  be  set for tied parameters (see -T) or colon-sepa-
                     rated special parameters like PATH or FIGNORE, etc.  Note
                     the  flag takes effect on assignment, and the type of the
                     variable being assigned to is  determinative;  for  vari-
                     ables  with  shared values it is therefore recommended to
                     set the flag for all interfaces, e.g.  `typeset  -U  PATH
                     path'.

                     This  flag has a different meaning when used with -f; see
                     below.

              -Z [ n ]
                     Specially handled if set along with the -L flag.   Other-
                     wise,  similar  to -R, except that leading zeros are used
                     for padding instead of  blanks  if  the  first  non-blank
                     character  is  a digit.  Numeric parameters are specially
                     handled: they are always eligible for  padding  with  ze-
                     roes, and the zeroes are inserted at an appropriate place
                     in the output.

              -a     The names refer to array parameters.  An array  parameter
                     may be created this way, but it may be assigned to in the
                     typeset statement only if the reserved word form of type-
                     set  is  enabled (as it is by default).  When displaying,
                     both normal and associative arrays are shown.

              -f     The names refer to functions rather than parameters.   No
                     assignments  can  be made, and the only other valid flags
                     are -t, -T, -k, -u, -U and -z.  The flag -t turns on exe-
                     cution  tracing  for  this function; the flag -T does the
                     same, but turns off tracing for any named (not anonymous)
                     function  called  from the present one, unless that func-
                     tion also has the -t or -T flag.  The  -u  and  -U  flags
                     cause  the function to be marked for autoloading; -U also
                     causes alias expansion to be suppressed when the function
                     is loaded.  See the description of the `autoload' builtin
                     for details.

                     Note that the builtin functions provides the  same  basic
                     capabilities  as typeset -f but gives access to a few ex-
                     tra options; autoload gives  further  additional  options
                     for the case typeset -fu and typeset -fU.

              -h     Hide:  only  useful  for special parameters (those marked
                     `<S>' in the table in zshparam(1)), and for local parame-
                     ters  with  the  same name as a special parameter, though
                     harmless for others.  A special parameter with  this  at-
                     tribute  will not retain its special effect when made lo-
                     cal.  Thus after `typeset -h PATH', a function containing
                     `typeset  PATH'  will  create an ordinary local parameter
                     without the usual behaviour of PATH.  Alternatively,  the
                     local parameter may itself be given this attribute; hence
                     inside a function `typeset -h PATH' creates  an  ordinary
                     local parameter and the special PATH parameter is not al-
                     tered in any way.  It is also possible to create a  local
                     parameter  using  `typeset  +h  special', where the local
                     copy of special will retain its  special  properties  re-
                     gardless  of having the -h attribute.  Global special pa-
                     rameters loaded from shell modules  (currently  those  in
                     zsh/mapfile  and  zsh/parameter)  are automatically given
                     the -h attribute to avoid name clashes.

              -H     Hide value: specifies that typeset will not  display  the
                     value  of the parameter when listing parameters; the dis-
                     play for such parameters is always as if the `+' flag had
                     been  given.   Use  of the parameter is in other respects
                     normal, and the option does not apply if the parameter is
                     specified  by  name,  or  by  pattern with the -m option.
                     This is on by default for the parameters in  the  zsh/pa-
                     rameter and zsh/mapfile modules.  Note, however, that un-
                     like the -h flag this is also useful for non-special  pa-
                     rameters.

              -i [ n ]
                     Use  an internal integer representation.  If n is nonzero
                     it defines the output arithmetic base,  otherwise  it  is
                     determined  by  the first assignment.  Bases from 2 to 36
                     inclusive are allowed.

              -E [ n ]
                     Use an internal double-precision floating point represen-
                     tation.  On output the variable will be converted to sci-
                     entific notation.  If n is nonzero it defines the  number
                     of significant figures to display; the default is ten.

              -F [ n ]
                     Use an internal double-precision floating point represen-
                     tation.  On output the  variable  will  be  converted  to
                     fixed-point decimal notation.  If n is nonzero it defines
                     the number of digits to display after the decimal  point;
                     the default is ten.

              -l     Convert  the  result to lower case whenever the parameter
                     is expanded.  The value is not converted when assigned.

              -r     The given names are marked readonly.  Note that  if  name
                     is  a  special  parameter,  the readonly attribute can be
                     turned on, but cannot then be turned off.

                     If the POSIX_BUILTINS option is set, the readonly  attri-
                     bute  is  more restrictive: unset variables can be marked
                     readonly and cannot then be set; furthermore,  the  read-
                     only attribute cannot be removed from any variable.

                     It  is  still  possible to change other attributes of the
                     variable though, some of which like -U or -Z would affect
                     the  value. More generally, the readonly attribute should
                     not be relied on as a security mechanism.

                     Note that in zsh (like in pdksh  but  unlike  most  other
                     shells)  it  is still possible to create a local variable
                     of the same name as this is considered a different  vari-
                     able (though this variable, too, can be marked readonly).
                     Special variables that have  been  made  readonly  retain
                     their value and readonly attribute when made local.

              -t     Tags  the named parameters.  Tags have no special meaning
                     to the shell.  This flag has  a  different  meaning  when
                     used with -f; see above.

              -u     Convert  the  result to upper case whenever the parameter
                     is expanded.  The value is not converted  when  assigned.
                     This  flag has a different meaning when used with -f; see
                     above.

              -x     Mark for automatic export to the  environment  of  subse-
                     quently  executed  commands.  If the option GLOBAL_EXPORT
                     is set, this implies the option -g, unless +g is also ex-
                     plicitly  given; in other words the parameter is not made
                     local to the enclosing function.  This is for compatibil-
                     ity with previous versions of zsh.

       ulimit [ -HSa ] [ { -bcdfiklmnpqrsTtvwx | -N resource } [ limit ] ... ]
              Set  or  display  resource limits of the shell and the processes
              started by the shell.  The value of limit can be a number in the
              unit specified below or one of the values `unlimited', which re-
              moves the limit on the resource, or `hard', which uses the  cur-
              rent value of the hard limit on the resource.

              By  default, only soft limits are manipulated. If the -H flag is
              given use hard limits instead of soft limits.  If the -S flag is
              given together with the -H flag set both hard and soft limits.

              If no options are used, the file size limit (-f) is assumed.

              If limit is omitted the current value of the specified resources
              are printed.  When more than one resource value is printed,  the
              limit name and unit is printed before each value.

              When looping over multiple resources, the shell will abort imme-
              diately if it detects a badly formed argument.  However,  if  it
              fails to set a limit for some other reason it will continue try-
              ing to set the remaining limits.

              Not all the following resources are supported  on  all  systems.
              Running ulimit -a will show which are supported.

              -a     Lists all of the current resource limits.
              -b     Socket buffer size in bytes (N.B. not kilobytes)
              -c     512-byte blocks on the size of core dumps.
              -d     Kilobytes on the size of the data segment.
              -f     512-byte blocks on the size of files written.
              -i     The number of pending signals.
              -k     The number of kqueues allocated.
              -l     Kilobytes on the size of locked-in memory.
              -m     Kilobytes on the size of physical memory.
              -n     open file descriptors.
              -p     The number of pseudo-terminals.
              -q     Bytes in POSIX message queues.
              -r     Maximum  real  time priority.  On some systems where this
                     is not available, such as NetBSD, this has the  same  ef-
                     fect as -T for compatibility with sh.
              -s     Kilobytes on the size of the stack.
              -T     The number of simultaneous threads available to the user.
              -t     CPU seconds to be used.
              -u     The number of processes available to the user.
              -v     Kilobytes on the size of virtual memory.  On some systems
                     this refers to the limit called `address space'.
              -w     Kilobytes on the size of swapped out memory.
              -x     The number of locks on files.

              A resource may also be specified by integer in the form `-N  re-
              source',  where  resource corresponds to the integer defined for
              the resource by the operating system.  This may be used  to  set
              the  limits for resources known to the shell which do not corre-
              spond to option letters.  Such limits will be shown by number in
              the output of `ulimit -a'.

              The  number may alternatively be out of the range of limits com-
              piled into the shell.  The shell will try to read or  write  the
              limit anyway, and will report an error if this fails.

       umask [ -S ] [ mask ]
              The umask is set to mask.  mask can be either an octal number or
              a symbolic value as described in chmod(1).  If mask is  omitted,
              the  current value is printed.  The -S option causes the mask to
              be printed as a symbolic value.  Otherwise, the mask is  printed
              as  an octal number.  Note that in the symbolic form the permis-
              sions you specify are those which are to be allowed (not denied)
              to the users specified.

       unalias [ -ams ] name ...
              Removes  aliases.  This command works the same as unhash -a, ex-
              cept that the -a option removes all regular or  global  aliases,
              or  with  -s  all suffix aliases: in this case no name arguments
              may appear.  The options -m (remove by pattern) and  -s  without
              -a (remove listed suffix aliases) behave as for unhash -a.  Note
              that the meaning of -a is different between unalias and unhash.

       unfunction
              Same as unhash -f.

       unhash [ -adfms ] name ...
              Remove the element named name from an internal hash table.   The
              default  is remove elements from the command hash table.  The -a
              option causes unhash to remove regular or global  aliases;  note
              when  removing a global aliases that the argument must be quoted
              to prevent it from being expanded before  being  passed  to  the
              command.   The -s option causes unhash to remove suffix aliases.
              The -f option causes unhash to remove shell functions.   The  -d
              options  causes  unhash  to remove named directories.  If the -m
              flag is given the arguments are taken  as  patterns  (should  be
              quoted)  and  all  elements of the corresponding hash table with
              matching names will be removed.

       unlimit [ -hs ] resource ...
              The resource limit for each resource is set to the  hard  limit.
              If  the  -h  flag  is given and the shell has appropriate privi-
              leges, the hard resource limit for  each  resource  is  removed.
              The  resources  of  the shell process are only changed if the -s
              flag is given.

              The unlimit command is not made available by  default  when  the
              shell  starts in a mode emulating another shell.  It can be made
              available with the command `zmodload -F zsh/rlimits b:unlimit'.

       unset [ -fmv ] name ...
              Each named parameter is unset.  Local  parameters  remain  local
              even  if unset; they appear unset within scope, but the previous
              value will still reappear when the scope ends.

              Individual elements of associative array parameters may be unset
              by  using  subscript  syntax on name, which should be quoted (or
              the entire command prefixed with noglob)  to  protect  the  sub-
              script from filename generation.

              If  the -m flag is specified the arguments are taken as patterns
              (should be quoted) and all parameters with  matching  names  are
              unset.  Note that this cannot be used when unsetting associative
              array elements, as the subscript will be treated as part of  the
              pattern.

              The  -v  flag  specifies that name refers to parameters. This is
              the default behaviour.

              unset -f is equivalent to unfunction.

       unsetopt [ {+|-}options | {+|-}o option_name ] [ name ... ]
              Unset the options for the shell.  All options  specified  either
              with  flags or by name are unset.  If no arguments are supplied,
              the names of all options currently unset are printed.  If the -m
              flag  is given the arguments are taken as patterns (which should
              be quoted to preserve them from being interpreted as  glob  pat-
              terns),  and  all options with names matching these patterns are
              unset.

       vared  See the section `Zle Builtins' in zshzle(1).

       wait [ job ... ]
              Wait for the specified jobs or processes.  If job is  not  given
              then  all currently active child processes are waited for.  Each
              job can be either a job specification or the process ID of a job
              in  the job table.  The exit status from this command is that of
              the job waited for.  If job represents an unknown job or process
              ID,  a  warning  is printed (unless the POSIX_BUILTINS option is
              set) and the exit status is 127.

              It is possible  to  wait  for  recent  processes  (specified  by
              process ID, not by job) that were running in the background even
              if the process has exited.  Typically the  process  ID  will  be
              recorded  by  capturing the value of the variable $! immediately
              after the process has been started.  There is  a  limit  on  the
              number  of process IDs remembered by the shell; this is given by
              the value of the system configuration parameter CHILD_MAX.  When
              this  limit  is  reached, older process IDs are discarded, least
              recently started processes first.

              Note there is no protection against  the  process  ID  wrapping,
              i.e.  if  the wait is not executed soon enough there is a chance
              the process waited for is the wrong  one.   A  conflict  implies
              both process IDs have been generated by the shell, as other pro-
              cesses are not recorded, and that the user is potentially inter-
              ested in both, so this problem is intrinsic to process IDs.

       whence [ -vcwfpamsS ] [ -x num ] name ...
              For each name, indicate how it would be interpreted if used as a
              command name.

              If name is not an alias,  built-in  command,  external  command,
              shell  function,  hashed  command,  or a reserved word, the exit
              status shall be non-zero, and -- if -v, -c, or -w was passed  --
              a  message will be written to standard output.  (This is differ-
              ent from other shells that write that message  to  standard  er-
              ror.)

              whence  is most useful when name is only the last path component
              of a command, i.e. does not include a `/'; in  particular,  pat-
              tern  matching only succeeds if just the non-directory component
              of the command is passed.

              -v     Produce a more verbose report.

              -c     Print the results  in  a  csh-like  format.   This  takes
                     precedence over -v.

              -w     For  each  name,  print `name: word' where word is one of
                     alias, builtin, command, function,  hashed,  reserved  or
                     none,  according  as  name  corresponds  to  an  alias, a
                     built-in command, an external command, a shell  function,
                     a command defined with the hash builtin, a reserved word,
                     or is not recognised.  This takes precedence over -v  and
                     -c.

              -f     Causes  the contents of a shell function to be displayed,
                     which would otherwise not happen unless the -c flag  were
                     used.

              -p     Do  a  path  search  for name even if it is an alias, re-
                     served word, shell function or builtin.

              -a     Do a search for all occurrences of  name  throughout  the
                     command  path.   Normally  only  the  first occurrence is
                     printed.

              -m     The arguments are taken as patterns  (pattern  characters
                     should  be  quoted), and the information is displayed for
                     each command matching one of these patterns.

              -s     If a pathname contains symlinks, print  the  symlink-free
                     pathname as well.

              -S     As  -s, but if the pathname had to be resolved by follow-
                     ing  multiple  symlinks,  the  intermediate   steps   are
                     printed, too.  The symlink resolved at each step might be
                     anywhere in the path.

              -x num Expand tabs when outputting shell functions using the  -c
                     option.  This has the same effect as the -x option to the
                     functions builtin.

       where [ -wpmsS ] [ -x num ] name ...
              Equivalent to whence -ca.

       which [ -wpamsS ] [ -x num ] name ...
              Equivalent to whence -c.

       zcompile [ -U ] [ -z | -k ] [ -R | -M ] file [ name ... ]
       zcompile -ca [ -m ] [ -R | -M ] file [ name ... ]
       zcompile -t file [ name ... ]
              This builtin  command  can  be  used  to  compile  functions  or
              scripts,  storing  the  compiled  form in a file, and to examine
              files containing the compiled  form.   This  allows  faster  au-
              toloading of functions and sourcing of scripts by avoiding pars-
              ing of the text when the files are read.

              The first form (without the -c, -a or -t options) creates a com-
              piled file.  If only the file argument is given, the output file
              has the name `file.zwc' and will be placed in the same directory
              as  the  file.  The shell will load the compiled file instead of
              the normal function file when the function  is  autoloaded;  see
              the section `Autoloading Functions' in zshmisc(1) for a descrip-
              tion of how autoloaded functions are  searched.   The  extension
              .zwc stands for `zsh word code'.

              If  there is at least one name argument, all the named files are
              compiled into the output file given as the first  argument.   If
              file  does  not end in .zwc, this extension is automatically ap-
              pended.  Files containing multiple compiled functions are called
              `digest'  files,  and are intended to be used as elements of the
              FPATH/fpath special array.

              The second form, with the -c or -a options, writes the  compiled
              definitions  for all the named functions into file.  For -c, the
              names must be functions currently  defined  in  the  shell,  not
              those  marked  for  autoloading.   Undefined  functions that are
              marked for autoloading may be written by using the -a option, in
              which case the fpath is searched and the contents of the defini-
              tion files for those functions,  if  found,  are  compiled  into
              file.   If both -c and -a are given, names of both defined func-
              tions and functions marked for autoloading may be given.  In ei-
              ther  case, the functions in files written with the -c or -a op-
              tion will be autoloaded as if the KSH_AUTOLOAD option  were  un-
              set.

              The reason for handling loaded and not-yet-loaded functions with
              different options is that some definition files for  autoloading
              define  multiple functions, including the function with the same
              name as the file, and, at the end, call that function.  In  such
              cases  the  output  of  `zcompile -c' does not include the addi-
              tional functions defined in the file, and any other  initializa-
              tion code in the file is lost.  Using `zcompile -a' captures all
              this extra information.

              If the -m option is combined with -c or -a, the names  are  used
              as  patterns  and  all  functions whose names match one of these
              patterns will be written. If no name is given,  the  definitions
              of  all functions currently defined or marked as autoloaded will
              be written.

              Note the second form cannot be used for compiling functions that
              include  redirections  as  part  of  the  definition rather than
              within the body of the function; for example

                     fn1() { { ... } >~/logfile }

              can be compiled but

                     fn1() { ... } >~/logfile

              cannot.  It is possible to use the first  form  of  zcompile  to
              compile  autoloadable  functions  that include the full function
              definition instead of just the body of the function.

              The third form, with the -t option, examines  an  existing  com-
              piled  file.  Without further arguments, the names of the origi-
              nal files compiled into it are listed.  The first line of output
              shows  the  version of the shell which compiled the file and how
              the file will be used (i.e. by reading it directly or by mapping
              it  into memory).  With arguments, nothing is output and the re-
              turn status is set to zero if definitions  for  all  names  were
              found  in  the compiled file, and non-zero if the definition for
              at least one name was not found.

              Other options:

              -U     Aliases are not expanded when compiling the named files.

              -R     When the compiled file is read, its contents  are  copied
                     into  the  shell's memory, rather than memory-mapped (see
                     -M).  This happens automatically on systems that  do  not
                     support memory mapping.

                     When compiling scripts instead of autoloadable functions,
                     it is often desirable to use this option;  otherwise  the
                     whole  file, including the code to define functions which
                     have already been defined,  will  remain  mapped,  conse-
                     quently wasting memory.

              -M     The  compiled file is mapped into the shell's memory when
                     read. This is done in such a way that multiple  instances
                     of  the  shell  running  on the same host will share this
                     mapped file.  If neither -R nor -M is given, the zcompile
                     builtin  decides what to do based on the size of the com-
                     piled file.

              -k
              -z     These options are used when the  compiled  file  contains
                     functions which are to be autoloaded. If -z is given, the
                     function will be autoloaded as if the KSH_AUTOLOAD option
                     is  not  set,  even if it is set at the time the compiled
                     file is read, while if the -k is given, the function will
                     be  loaded as if KSH_AUTOLOAD is set.  These options also
                     take precedence over any -k or -z  options  specified  to
                     the  autoload  builtin.  If  neither  of these options is
                     given, the function will be loaded as determined  by  the
                     setting  of  the KSH_AUTOLOAD option at the time the com-
                     piled file is read.

                     These options may also appear as many times as  necessary
                     between  the listed names to specify the loading style of
                     all following functions, up to the next -k or -z.

                     The created file always contains two versions of the com-
                     piled  format,  one  for  big-endian machines and one for
                     small-endian machines.  The upshot of this  is  that  the
                     compiled file is machine independent and if it is read or
                     mapped, only one half of the file is actually  used  (and
                     mapped).

       zformat
              See the section `The zsh/zutil Module' in zshmodules(1).

       zftp   See the section `The zsh/zftp Module' in zshmodules(1).

       zle    See the section `Zle Builtins' in zshzle(1).

       zmodload [ -dL ] [ -s ] [ ... ]
       zmodload -F [ -alLme -P param ] module [ [+-]feature ... ]
       zmodload -e [ -A ] [ ... ]
       zmodload [ -a [ -bcpf [ -I ] ] ] [ -iL ] ...
       zmodload -u [ -abcdpf [ -I ] ] [ -iL ] ...
       zmodload -A [ -L ] [ modalias[=module] ... ]
       zmodload -R modalias ...
              Performs operations relating to zsh's loadable modules.  Loading
              of modules while the shell is running (`dynamical  loading')  is
              not  available on all operating systems, or on all installations
              on a particular operating system, although the zmodload  command
              itself is always available and can be used to manipulate modules
              built into versions of the shell  executable  without  dynamical
              loading.

              Without  arguments the names of all currently loaded binary mod-
              ules are printed.  The -L option causes this list to be  in  the
              form  of  a  series  of zmodload commands.  Forms with arguments
              are:

              zmodload [ -is ] name ...
              zmodload -u [ -i ] name ...
                     In the simplest case, zmodload  loads  a  binary  module.
                     The  module  must  be in a file with a name consisting of
                     the specified name followed by a standard suffix, usually
                     `.so' (`.sl' on HPUX).  If the module to be loaded is al-
                     ready loaded the duplicate module is ignored.   If  zmod-
                     load  detects an inconsistency, such as an invalid module
                     name or circular dependency list, the current code  block
                     is  aborted.  If it is available, the module is loaded if
                     necessary, while if it is not available, non-zero  status
                     is silently returned.  The option -i is accepted for com-
                     patibility but has no effect.

                     The named module is searched for in the same way  a  com-
                     mand  is,  using $module_path instead of $path.  However,
                     the path search is performed even when  the  module  name
                     contains  a  `/', which it usually does.  There is no way
                     to prevent the path search.

                     If the module supports  features  (see  below),  zmodload
                     tries  to  enable all features when loading a module.  If
                     the module was successfully loaded but not  all  features
                     could be enabled, zmodload returns status 2.

                     If  the  option  -s  is given, no error is printed if the
                     module was not available (though other errors  indicating
                     a  problem with the module are printed).  The return sta-
                     tus indicates if the module was loaded.  This  is  appro-
                     priate if the caller considers the module optional.

                     With -u, zmodload unloads modules.  The same name must be
                     given that was given when the module was loaded,  but  it
                     is not necessary for the module to exist in the file sys-
                     tem.  The -i option suppresses the error if the module is
                     already unloaded (or was never loaded).

                     Each  module has a boot and a cleanup function.  The mod-
                     ule will not be loaded if its boot function fails.  Simi-
                     larly  a module can only be unloaded if its cleanup func-
                     tion runs successfully.

              zmodload -F [ -almLe -P param ] module [ [+-]feature ... ]
                     zmodload -F allows more selective control over  the  fea-
                     tures  provided  by  modules.  With no options apart from
                     -F, the module named module is loaded, if it was not  al-
                     ready  loaded, and the list of features is set to the re-
                     quired state.  If no features are specified,  the  module
                     is loaded, if it was not already loaded, but the state of
                     features is unchanged.  Each feature may be preceded by a
                     +  to  turn the feature on, or - to turn it off; the + is
                     assumed if neither character is present.  Any feature not
                     explicitly mentioned is left in its current state; if the
                     module was not previously loaded this means any such fea-
                     tures will remain disabled.  The return status is zero if
                     all features were set, 1 if the module  failed  to  load,
                     and  2  if some features could not be set (for example, a
                     parameter couldn't be added because there was a different
                     parameter of the same name) but the module was loaded.

                     The  standard  features are builtins, conditions, parame-
                     ters and math functions; these are indicated by the  pre-
                     fix  `b:',  `c:'  (`C:' for an infix condition), `p:' and
                     `f:', respectively, followed by the name that the  corre-
                     sponding  feature  would have in the shell.  For example,
                     `b:strftime'  indicates  a  builtin  named  strftime  and
                     p:EPOCHSECONDS  indicates a parameter named EPOCHSECONDS.
                     The module may provide other (`abstract') features of its
                     own as indicated by its documentation; these have no pre-
                     fix.

                     With -l or  -L,  features  provided  by  the  module  are
                     listed.   With -l alone, a list of features together with
                     their states is shown, one feature  per  line.   With  -L
                     alone,  a  zmodload  -F  command that would cause enabled
                     features of the module to be turned on  is  shown.   With
                     -lL,  a zmodload -F command that would cause all the fea-
                     tures to be set to their current state is shown.  If  one
                     of  these  combinations is given with the option -P param
                     then the parameter param is set to an array of  features,
                     either features together with their state or (if -L alone
                     is given) enabled features.

                     With the option -L the module name may be omitted; then a
                     list  of  all  enabled features for all modules providing
                     features is printed in the form of zmodload -F  commands.
                     If  -l  is also given, the state of both enabled and dis-
                     abled features is output in that form.

                     A set of features may be provided together with -l or  -L
                     and  a  module name; in that case only the state of those
                     features is considered.  Each feature may be preceded  by
                     +  or  -  but  the character has no effect.  If no set of
                     features is provided, all features are considered.

                     With -e, the command  first  tests  that  the  module  is
                     loaded;  if it is not, status 1 is returned.  If the mod-
                     ule is loaded, the list of features given as an  argument
                     is  examined.  Any feature given with no prefix is simply
                     tested to see if the  module  provides  it;  any  feature
                     given  with  a  prefix + or - is tested to see if is pro-
                     vided and in the given state.  If the tests on  all  fea-
                     tures  in  the  list  succeed, status 0 is returned, else
                     status 1.

                     With -m, each entry in the  given  list  of  features  is
                     taken as a pattern to be matched against the list of fea-
                     tures provided by the module.  An initial + or - must  be
                     given  explicitly.   This may not be combined with the -a
                     option as autoloads must be specified explicitly.

                     With -a, the given list of features  is  marked  for  au-
                     toload  from  the  specified module, which may not yet be
                     loaded.  An optional +  may  appear  before  the  feature
                     name.   If  the  feature is prefixed with -, any existing
                     autoload is removed.  The options -l and -L may  be  used
                     to list autoloads.  Autoloading is specific to individual
                     features; when the module is loaded  only  the  requested
                     feature  is  enabled.  Autoload requests are preserved if
                     the module is subsequently  unloaded  until  an  explicit
                     `zmodload  -Fa  module -feature' is issued.  It is not an
                     error to request an autoload for a feature  of  a  module
                     that is already loaded.

                     When  the  module  is  loaded  each  autoload  is checked
                     against the features actually provided by the module;  if
                     the  feature  is  not  provided  the  autoload request is
                     deleted.  A warning message is output; if the  module  is
                     being loaded to provide a different feature, and that au-
                     toload is successful, there is no effect on the status of
                     the  current command.  If the module is already loaded at
                     the time when zmodload -Fa is run, an  error  message  is
                     printed and status 1 returned.

                     zmodload  -Fa  can be used with the -l, -L, -e and -P op-
                     tions for listing and testing the existence of  autoload-
                     able features.  In this case -l is ignored if -L is spec-
                     ified.  zmodload -FaL with no module name lists autoloads
                     for all modules.

                     Note  that  only standard features as described above can
                     be autoloaded; other features require the  module  to  be
                     loaded before enabling.

              zmodload -d [ -L ] [ name ]
              zmodload -d name dep ...
              zmodload -ud name [ dep ... ]
                     The -d option can be used to specify module dependencies.
                     The modules named in the second and subsequent  arguments
                     will be loaded before the module named in the first argu-
                     ment.

                     With -d and one argument, all dependencies for that  mod-
                     ule are listed.  With -d and no arguments, all module de-
                     pendencies are listed.  This listing is by default  in  a
                     Makefile-like  format.  The -L option changes this format
                     to a list of zmodload -d commands.

                     If -d and -u are both used, dependencies are removed.  If
                     only  one  argument  is  given, all dependencies for that
                     module are removed.

              zmodload -ab [ -L ]
              zmodload -ab [ -i ] name [ builtin ... ]
              zmodload -ub [ -i ] builtin ...
                     The -ab option defines autoloaded builtins.   It  defines
                     the  specified  builtins.   When any of those builtins is
                     called, the module specified in  the  first  argument  is
                     loaded  and  all  its features are enabled (for selective
                     control of features use `zmodload  -F  -a'  as  described
                     above).   If  only  the name is given, one builtin is de-
                     fined, with the same name as the module.   -i  suppresses
                     the  error  if  the  builtin  is  already  defined or au-
                     toloaded, but not if another builtin of the same name  is
                     already defined.

                     With  -ab  and  no arguments, all autoloaded builtins are
                     listed, with the module  name  (if  different)  shown  in
                     parentheses  after  the  builtin  name.   The  -L  option
                     changes this format to a list of zmodload -a commands.

                     If -b is used together with the  -u  option,  it  removes
                     builtins  previously defined with -ab.  This is only pos-
                     sible if the builtin is not yet  loaded.   -i  suppresses
                     the error if the builtin is already removed (or never ex-
                     isted).

                     Autoload requests are retained if the  module  is  subse-
                     quently unloaded until an explicit `zmodload -ub builtin'
                     is issued.

              zmodload -ac [ -IL ]
              zmodload -ac [ -iI ] name [ cond ... ]
              zmodload -uc [ -iI ] cond ...
                     The -ac option is used  to  define  autoloaded  condition
                     codes.  The cond strings give the names of the conditions
                     defined by the module. The optional -I option is used  to
                     define  infix condition names. Without this option prefix
                     condition names are defined.

                     If given no condition names, all defined names are listed
                     (as  a  series  of  zmodload commands if the -L option is
                     given).

                     The -uc option removes definitions for autoloaded  condi-
                     tions.

              zmodload -ap [ -L ]
              zmodload -ap [ -i ] name [ parameter ... ]
              zmodload -up [ -i ] parameter ...
                     The  -p  option  is like the -b and -c options, but makes
                     zmodload work on autoloaded parameters instead.

              zmodload -af [ -L ]
              zmodload -af [ -i ] name [ function ... ]
              zmodload -uf [ -i ] function ...
                     The -f option is like the -b, -p,  and  -c  options,  but
                     makes zmodload work on autoloaded math functions instead.

              zmodload -a [ -L ]
              zmodload -a [ -i ] name [ builtin ... ]
              zmodload -ua [ -i ] builtin ...
                     Equivalent to -ab and -ub.

              zmodload -e [ -A ] [ string ... ]
                     The -e option without arguments lists all loaded modules;
                     if the -A option is also  given,  module  aliases  corre-
                     sponding  to loaded modules are also shown.  If arguments
                     are provided, nothing is printed; the  return  status  is
                     set  to  zero if all strings given as arguments are names
                     of loaded modules and to one if at least on string is not
                     the  name  of  a loaded module.  This can be used to test
                     for the availability of things  implemented  by  modules.
                     In  this case, any aliases are automatically resolved and
                     the -A flag is not used.

              zmodload -A [ -L ] [ modalias[=module] ... ]
                     For each argument, if both modalias and module are given,
                     define modalias to be an alias for the module module.  If
                     the module modalias is ever subsequently  requested,  ei-
                     ther via a call to zmodload or implicitly, the shell will
                     attempt to load module instead.  If module is not  given,
                     show  the  definition  of  modalias.  If no arguments are
                     given, list all defined module aliases.  When listing, if
                     the  -L  flag  was  also  given, list the definition as a
                     zmodload command to recreate the alias.

                     The existence of aliases for modules is completely  inde-
                     pendent  of  whether the name resolved is actually loaded
                     as a module: while the alias exists, loading and  unload-
                     ing  the  module under any alias has exactly the same ef-
                     fect as using the resolved name, and does not affect  the
                     connection  between the alias and the resolved name which
                     can be removed either by zmodload -R or by redefining the
                     alias.   Chains of aliases (i.e. where the first resolved
                     name is itself an alias) are valid so long as  these  are
                     not  circular.   As  the  aliases take the same format as
                     module names, they may include path separators:  in  this
                     case,  there  is  no requirement for any part of the path
                     named to exist as the alias will be resolved first.   For
                     example, `any/old/alias' is always a valid alias.

                     Dependencies  added to aliased modules are actually added
                     to the resolved module; these remain if the alias is  re-
                     moved.   It is valid to create an alias whose name is one
                     of the standard shell modules and  which  resolves  to  a
                     different module.  However, if a module has dependencies,
                     it will not be possible to use  the  module  name  as  an
                     alias  as the module will already be marked as a loadable
                     module in its own right.

                     Apart from the above, aliases can be used in the zmodload
                     command  anywhere  module  names  are required.  However,
                     aliases will not be shown in lists of loaded modules with
                     a bare `zmodload'.

              zmodload -R modalias ...
                     For each modalias argument that was previously defined as
                     a module alias via zmodload -A, delete the alias.  If any
                     was  not defined, an error is caused and the remainder of
                     the line is ignored.

              Note that zsh makes no distinction  between  modules  that  were
              linked  into  the shell and modules that are loaded dynamically.
              In both cases this builtin command has to be used to make avail-
              able  the  builtins  and other things defined by modules (unless
              the module is autoloaded on these  definitions).  This  is  true
              even for systems that don't support dynamic loading of modules.

       zparseopts
              See the section `The zsh/zutil Module' in zshmodules(1).

       zprof  See the section `The zsh/zprof Module' in zshmodules(1).

       zpty   See the section `The zsh/zpty Module' in zshmodules(1).

       zregexparse
              See the section `The zsh/zutil Module' in zshmodules(1).

       zsocket
              See the section `The zsh/net/socket Module' in zshmodules(1).

       zstyle See the section `The zsh/zutil Module' in zshmodules(1).

       ztcp   See the section `The zsh/net/tcp Module' in zshmodules(1).

ZSHZLE(1)                   General Commands Manual                  ZSHZLE(1)

NAME
       zshzle - zsh command line editor

DESCRIPTION
       If the ZLE option is set (which it is by default in interactive shells)
       and the shell input is attached to the terminal, the user  is  able  to
       edit command lines.

       There  are  two  display  modes.  The first, multiline mode, is the de-
       fault.  It only works if the TERM parameter is set to a valid  terminal
       type  that  can  move  the cursor up.  The second, single line mode, is
       used if TERM is invalid or incapable of moving the cursor up, or if the
       SINGLE_LINE_ZLE  option  is set.  This mode is similar to ksh, and uses
       no termcap sequences.  If TERM is "emacs", the ZLE option will be unset
       by default.

       The  parameters BAUD, COLUMNS, and LINES are also used by the line edi-
       tor. See Parameters Used By The Shell in zshparam(1).

       The parameter zle_highlight is also used by the line editor; see  Char-
       acter  Highlighting  below.  Highlighting of special characters and the
       region between the cursor and the mark (as set with set-mark-command in
       Emacs  mode,  or by visual-mode in Vi mode) is enabled by default; con-
       sult this reference for more information.  Irascible conservatives will
       wish  to  know  that  all highlighting may be disabled by the following
       setting:

              zle_highlight=(none)

       In many places, references are made to the numeric argument.  This  can
       by default be entered in emacs mode by holding the alt key and typing a
       number, or pressing escape before each digit, and in vi command mode by
       typing the number before entering a command.  Generally the numeric ar-
       gument causes the next command entered to  be  repeated  the  specified
       number  of  times, unless otherwise noted below; this is implemented by
       the digit-argument widget. See also the  Arguments  subsection  of  the
       Widgets  section  for some other ways the numeric argument can be modi-
       fied.

KEYMAPS
       A keymap in ZLE contains a set of bindings between  key  sequences  and
       ZLE commands.  The empty key sequence cannot be bound.

       There can be any number of keymaps at any time, and each keymap has one
       or more names.  If all of a keymap's names are deleted, it  disappears.
       bindkey can be used to manipulate keymap names.

       Initially, there are eight keymaps:

       emacs  EMACS emulation
       viins  vi emulation - insert mode
       vicmd  vi emulation - command mode
       viopp  vi emulation - operator pending
       visual vi emulation - selection active
       isearch
              incremental search mode
       command
              read a command name
       .safe  fallback keymap

       The  `.safe'  keymap is special.  It can never be altered, and the name
       can never be removed.  However, it can be linked to other names,  which
       can  be  removed.   In  the  future other special keymaps may be added;
       users should avoid  using  names  beginning  with  `.'  for  their  own
       keymaps.

       In addition to these names, either `emacs' or `viins' is also linked to
       the name `main'.  If one of the VISUAL or EDITOR environment  variables
       contain  the  string `vi' when the shell starts up then it will be `vi-
       ins', otherwise it will be `emacs'.  bindkey's -e and -v  options  pro-
       vide a convenient way to override this default choice.

       When  the  editor starts up, it will select the `main' keymap.  If that
       keymap doesn't exist, it will use `.safe' instead.

       In the `.safe' keymap, each single key is bound to self-insert,  except
       for  ^J  (line  feed)  and  ^M (return) which are bound to accept-line.
       This is deliberately not pleasant to use; if you are using it, it means
       you deleted the main keymap, and you should put it back.

   Reading Commands
       When ZLE is reading a command from the terminal, it may read a sequence
       that is bound to some command and is also a prefix of  a  longer  bound
       string.  In this case ZLE will wait a certain time to see if more char-
       acters are typed, and if not (or they don't match any longer string) it
       will  execute  the  binding.  This timeout is defined by the KEYTIMEOUT
       parameter; its default is 0.4 sec.  There is no timeout if  the  prefix
       string is not itself bound to a command.

       The  key  timeout  is also applied when ZLE is reading the bytes from a
       multibyte character string when it is in the appropriate  mode.   (This
       requires that the shell was compiled with multibyte mode enabled; typi-
       cally also the locale has characters with the UTF-8 encoding,  although
       any multibyte encoding known to the operating system is supported.)  If
       the second or a subsequent byte is not read within the timeout  period,
       the shell acts as if ? were typed and resets the input state.

       As  well  as ZLE commands, key sequences can be bound to other strings,
       by using `bindkey -s'.  When such a sequence is read,  the  replacement
       string  is pushed back as input, and the command reading process starts
       again using these fake keystrokes.  This input can itself  invoke  fur-
       ther replacement strings, but in order to detect loops the process will
       be stopped if there are twenty such replacements without a real command
       being read.

       A  key sequence typed by the user can be turned into a command name for
       use in user-defined widgets with the read-command widget, described  in
       the subsection `Miscellaneous' of the section `Standard Widgets' below.

   Local Keymaps
       While  for  normal editing a single keymap is used exclusively, in many
       modes a local keymap allows for some keys to be customised.  For  exam-
       ple,  in  an  incremental  search mode, a binding in the isearch keymap
       will override a binding in the main keymap but all keys  that  are  not
       overridden can still be used.

       If  a key sequence is defined in a local keymap, it will hide a key se-
       quence in the global keymap that is a prefix of that sequence. An exam-
       ple  of  this  occurs with the binding of iw in viopp as this hides the
       binding of i in vicmd. However, a longer sequence in the global  keymap
       that  shares the same prefix can still apply so for example the binding
       of ^Xa in the global keymap will be unaffected by the binding of ^Xb in
       the local keymap.

ZLE BUILTINS
       The  ZLE  module  contains  three related builtin commands. The bindkey
       command manipulates keymaps and key bindings; the vared command invokes
       ZLE  on the value of a shell parameter; and the zle command manipulates
       editing widgets and allows command line access  to  ZLE  commands  from
       within shell functions.

       bindkey [ options ] -l [ -L ] [ keymap ... ]
       bindkey [ options ] -d
       bindkey [ options ] -D keymap ...
       bindkey [ options ] -A old-keymap new-keymap
       bindkey [ options ] -N new-keymap [ old-keymap ]
       bindkey [ options ] -m
       bindkey [ options ] -r in-string ...
       bindkey [ options ] -s in-string out-string ...
       bindkey [ options ] in-string command ...
       bindkey [ options ] [ in-string ]
              bindkey's  options  can be divided into three categories: keymap
              selection for the current command, operation selection, and oth-
              ers.  The keymap selection options are:

              -e     Selects  keymap `emacs' for any operations by the current
                     command, and also links `emacs' to `main' so that  it  is
                     selected by default the next time the editor starts.

              -v     Selects  keymap `viins' for any operations by the current
                     command, and also links `viins' to `main' so that  it  is
                     selected by default the next time the editor starts.

              -a     Selects  keymap `vicmd' for any operations by the current
                     command.

              -M keymap
                     The keymap specifies a keymap name that is  selected  for
                     any operations by the current command.

              If  a keymap selection is required and none of the options above
              are used, the `main' keymap is used.   Some  operations  do  not
              permit a keymap to be selected, namely:

              -l     List  all  existing  keymap  names;  if any arguments are
                     given, list just those keymaps.

                     If the -L option is also used, list in the form of  bind-
                     key commands to create or link the keymaps.  `bindkey -lL
                     main' shows which keymap is linked to `main', if any, and
                     hence if the standard emacs or vi emulation is in effect.
                     This option does not show the  .safe  keymap  because  it
                     cannot  be  created  in that fashion; however, neither is
                     `bindkey -lL .safe' reported as an error, it simply  out-
                     puts nothing.

              -d     Delete  all  existing  keymaps  and  reset to the default
                     state.

              -D keymap ...
                     Delete the named keymaps.

              -A old-keymap new-keymap
                     Make the new-keymap name an alias for old-keymap, so that
                     both  names  refer  to  the  same keymap.  The names have
                     equal standing; if either is deleted, the other  remains.
                     If there is already a keymap with the new-keymap name, it
                     is deleted.

              -N new-keymap [ old-keymap ]
                     Create a new keymap, named new-keymap.  If a  keymap  al-
                     ready  has  that  name,  it is deleted.  If an old-keymap
                     name is given, the new keymap is initialized to be a  du-
                     plicate of it, otherwise the new keymap will be empty.

              To  use  a  newly  created  keymap, it should be linked to main.
              Hence the sequence of commands to create and use  a  new  keymap
              `mymap'  initialized  from  the  emacs keymap (which remains un-
              changed) is:

                     bindkey -N mymap emacs
                     bindkey -A mymap main

              Note that while `bindkey -A newmap main' will work  when  newmap
              is emacs or viins, it will not work for vicmd, as switching from
              vi insert to command mode becomes impossible.

              The following operations act on the `main' keymap if  no  keymap
              selection option was given:

              -m     Add the built-in set of meta-key bindings to the selected
                     keymap.  Only keys that are unbound or bound to  self-in-
                     sert are affected.

              -r in-string ...
                     Unbind  the  specified in-strings in the selected keymap.
                     This is exactly equivalent to binding the strings to  un-
                     defined-key.

                     When -R is also used, interpret the in-strings as ranges.

                     When  -p  is  also used, the in-strings specify prefixes.
                     Any binding that has the given in-string as a prefix, not
                     including  the  binding for the in-string itself, if any,
                     will be removed.  For example,

                            bindkey -rpM viins '^['

                     will remove all bindings in the vi-insert  keymap  begin-
                     ning with an escape character (probably cursor keys), but
                     leave the binding for the escape character itself (proba-
                     bly  vi-cmd-mode).   This is incompatible with the option
                     -R.

              -s in-string out-string ...
                     Bind each in-string to each out-string.   When  in-string
                     is  typed,  out-string will be pushed back and treated as
                     input to the line editor.  When -R is also  used,  inter-
                     pret the in-strings as ranges.

                     Note  that  both  in-string and out-string are subject to
                     the same form of interpretation, as described below.

              in-string command ...
                     Bind each in-string to each command.  When  -R  is  used,
                     interpret the in-strings as ranges.

              [ in-string ]
                     List  key  bindings.   If  an in-string is specified, the
                     binding of that string in the  selected  keymap  is  dis-
                     played.   Otherwise,  all  key  bindings  in the selected
                     keymap are displayed.  (As a special case, if the  -e  or
                     -v  option  is  used alone, the keymap is not displayed -
                     the implicit linking of keymaps is the  only  thing  that
                     happens.)

                     When  the  option  -p  is  used,  the  in-string  must be
                     present.  The listing shows all bindings which  have  the
                     given  key  sequence as a prefix, not including any bind-
                     ings for the key sequence itself.

                     When the -L option is used, the list is in  the  form  of
                     bindkey commands to create the key bindings.

              When  the  -R  option is used as noted above, a valid range con-
              sists of two characters, with an optional `-' between them.  All
              characters  between  the  two specified, inclusive, are bound as
              specified.

              For either in-string or out-string,  the  following  escape  se-
              quences are recognised:

              \a     bell character
              \b     backspace
              \e, \E escape
              \f     form feed
              \n     linefeed (newline)
              \r     carriage return
              \t     horizontal tab
              \v     vertical tab
              \NNN   character code in octal
              \xNN   character code in hexadecimal
              \uNNNN unicode character code in hexadecimal
              \UNNNNNNNN
                     unicode character code in hexadecimal
              \M[-]X character with meta bit set
              \C[-]X control character
              ^X     control character

              In all other cases, `\' escapes the following character.  Delete
              is written as `^?'.  Note that `\M^?' and  `^\M?'  are  not  the
              same, and that (unlike emacs), the bindings `\M-X' and `\eX' are
              entirely distinct, although they are  initialized  to  the  same
              bindings by `bindkey -m'.

       vared [ -Aacghe ] [ -p prompt ] [ -r rprompt ]
             [ -M main-keymap ] [ -m vicmd-keymap ]
             [ -i init-widget ] [ -f finish-widget ]
             [ -t tty ] name
              The  value of the parameter name is loaded into the edit buffer,
              and the line editor is invoked.  When the editor exits, name  is
              set  to  the  string  value returned by the editor.  When the -c
              flag is given, the parameter is created if  it  doesn't  already
              exist.   The -a flag may be given with -c to create an array pa-
              rameter, or the -A flag to create an associative array.  If  the
              type of an existing parameter does not match the type to be cre-
              ated, the parameter is unset and recreated.  The -g flag may  be
              given  to  suppress  warnings  from  the  WARN_CREATE_GLOBAL and
              WARN_NESTED_VAR options.

              If an array or array slice is being edited, separator characters
              as  defined  in  $IFS  will be shown quoted with a backslash, as
              will backslashes themselves.  Conversely, when the  edited  text
              is  split  into an array, a backslash quotes an immediately fol-
              lowing separator character or backslash; no other  special  han-
              dling of backslashes, or any handling of quotes, is performed.

              Individual  elements  of existing array or associative array pa-
              rameters may be edited by using subscript syntax on  name.   New
              elements are created automatically, even without -c.

              If  the  -p flag is given, the following string will be taken as
              the prompt to display at the left.  If the -r flag is given, the
              following  string  gives the prompt to display at the right.  If
              the -h flag is specified, the history can be accessed from  ZLE.
              If  the -e flag is given, typing ^D (Control-D) on an empty line
              causes vared to exit immediately with a non-zero return value.

              The -M option gives a keymap to link to the main  keymap  during
              editing,  and  the -m option gives a keymap to link to the vicmd
              keymap during editing.  For vi-style editing, this allows a pair
              of  keymaps  to override viins and vicmd.  For emacs-style edit-
              ing, only -M is normally needed but the -m option may  still  be
              used.  On exit, the previous keymaps will be restored.

              Vared  calls  the  usual  `zle-line-init'  and `zle-line-finish'
              hooks before and after it takes control. Using the -i and -f op-
              tions,  it  is  possible to replace these with other custom wid-
              gets.

              If `-t tty' is given, tty is the name of a terminal device to be
              used  instead of the default /dev/tty.  If tty does not refer to
              a terminal an error is reported.

       zle
       zle -l [ -L | -a ] [ string ... ]
       zle -D widget ...
       zle -A old-widget new-widget
       zle -N widget [ function ]
       zle -f flag [ flag... ]
       zle -C widget completion-widget function
       zle -R [ -c ] [ display-string ] [ string ... ]
       zle -M string
       zle -U string
       zle -K keymap
       zle -F [ -L | -w ] [ fd [ handler ] ]
       zle -I
       zle -T [ tc function | -r tc | -L ]
       zle widget [ -n num ] [ -Nw ] [ -K keymap ] args ...
              The zle builtin performs a number of different actions  concern-
              ing ZLE.

              With no options and no arguments, only the return status will be
              set.  It is zero if ZLE is currently active and widgets could be
              invoked using this builtin command and non-zero otherwise.  Note
              that even if non-zero status is returned, zle may still  be  ac-
              tive  as  part of the completion system; this does not allow di-
              rect calls to ZLE widgets.

              Otherwise, which operation it performs depends on its options:

              -l [ -L | -a ] [ string ]
                     List all existing user-defined widgets.  If the -L option
                     is  used,  list in the form of zle commands to create the
                     widgets.

                     When combined with the -a option, all  widget  names  are
                     listed,  including  the builtin ones. In this case the -L
                     option is ignored.

                     If at least one string is given, and -a is present or  -L
                     is  not used, nothing will be printed.  The return status
                     will be zero if all strings are names of existing widgets
                     and  non-zero  if  at least one string is not a name of a
                     defined widget.  If -a is also present, all widget  names
                     are  used  for  the comparison including builtin widgets,
                     else only user-defined widgets are used.

                     If at least one string is present and the  -L  option  is
                     used, user-defined widgets matching any string are listed
                     in the form of zle commands to create the widgets.

              -D widget ...
                     Delete the named widgets.

              -A old-widget new-widget
                     Make the new-widget name an alias for old-widget, so that
                     both  names  refer  to  the  same widget.  The names have
                     equal standing; if either is deleted, the other  remains.
                     If there is already a widget with the new-widget name, it
                     is deleted.

              -N widget [ function ]
                     Create a user-defined widget.  If there is already a wid-
                     get with the specified name, it is overwritten.  When the
                     new widget is invoked from within the editor, the  speci-
                     fied  shell  function  is called.  If no function name is
                     specified, it defaults to the same name  as  the  widget.
                     For further information, see the section `Widgets' below.

              -f flag [ flag... ]
                     Set various flags on the running widget.  Possible values
                     for flag are:

                     yank for indicating that the widget has yanked text  into
                     the buffer.  If the widget is wrapping an existing inter-
                     nal widget, no further action is necessary, but if it has
                     inserted the text manually, then it should also take care
                     to set YANK_START  and  YANK_END  correctly.   yankbefore
                     does  the  same  but is used when the yanked text appears
                     after the cursor.

                     kill for indicating that text has been  killed  into  the
                     cutbuffer.   When repeatedly invoking a kill widget, text
                     is appended to the cutbuffer instead of replacing it, but
                     when  wrapping such widgets, it is necessary to call `zle
                     -f kill' to retain this effect.

                     vichange for indicating that the widget represents  a  vi
                     change  that  can  be  repeated  as  a whole with `vi-re-
                     peat-change'. The flag should be set early in  the  func-
                     tion  before  inspecting the value of NUMERIC or invoking
                     other widgets. This has no effect for  a  widget  invoked
                     from  insert mode. If insert mode is active when the wid-
                     get finishes, the change extends until next returning  to
                     command mode.

              -C widget completion-widget function
                     Create a user-defined completion widget named widget. The
                     completion widget will behave like the  built-in  comple-
                     tion-widget  whose name is given as completion-widget. To
                     generate the completions,  the  shell  function  function
                     will  be  called.   For further information, see zshcomp-
                     wid(1).

              -R [ -c ] [ display-string ] [ string ... ]
                     Redisplay the command line; this is  to  be  called  from
                     within  a  user-defined widget to allow changes to become
                     visible.  If a display-string is  given  and  not  empty,
                     this  is  shown in the status line (immediately below the
                     line being edited).

                     If the optional strings are given they are  listed  below
                     the  prompt  in  the  same  way  as  completion lists are
                     printed. If no strings are given but  the  -c  option  is
                     used such a list is cleared.

                     Note  that this option is only useful for widgets that do
                     not exit immediately after using it because  the  strings
                     displayed  will  be  erased immediately after return from
                     the widget.

                     This command can safely be called  outside  user  defined
                     widgets; if zle is active, the display will be refreshed,
                     while if zle is not active, the command  has  no  effect.
                     In this case there will usually be no other arguments.

                     The status is zero if zle was active, else one.

              -M string
                     As with the -R option, the string will be displayed below
                     the command line; unlike the -R option, the  string  will
                     not  be  put  into  the  status  line but will instead be
                     printed normally below the prompt.  This means  that  the
                     string  will  still be displayed after the widget returns
                     (until it is overwritten by subsequent commands).

              -U string
                     This pushes the characters in the string onto  the  input
                     stack  of  ZLE.  After the widget currently executed fin-
                     ishes ZLE will behave as if the characters in the  string
                     were typed by the user.

                     As  ZLE  uses  a stack, if this option is used repeatedly
                     the last string pushed onto the stack will  be  processed
                     first.   However,  the  characters in each string will be
                     processed in the  order  in  which  they  appear  in  the
                     string.

              -K keymap
                     Selects  the  keymap named keymap.  An error message will
                     be displayed if there is no such keymap.

                     This keymap selection affects the interpretation of  fol-
                     lowing  keystrokes  within  this  invocation of ZLE.  Any
                     following invocation (e.g., the next command  line)  will
                     start as usual with the `main' keymap selected.

              -F [ -L | -w ] [ fd [ handler ] ]
                     Only  available if your system supports one of the `poll'
                     or `select' system calls; most modern systems do.

                     Installs handler (the name of a shell function) to handle
                     input  from file descriptor fd.  Installing a handler for
                     an fd which is already handled causes the  existing  han-
                     dler to be replaced.  Any number of handlers for any num-
                     ber of readable file descriptors may be installed.   Note
                     that zle makes no attempt to check whether this fd is ac-
                     tually readable when installing the  handler.   The  user
                     must  make  their  own arrangements for handling the file
                     descriptor when zle is not active.

                     When zle is attempting to read data, it will examine both
                     the  terminal  and the list of handled fd's.  If data be-
                     comes available on a handled fd, zle calls  handler  with
                     the  fd which is ready for reading as the first argument.
                     Under normal circumstances this is the only argument, but
                     if  an error was detected, a second argument provides de-
                     tails: `hup' for a disconnect, `nval'  for  a  closed  or
                     otherwise invalid descriptor, or `err' for any other con-
                     dition.  Systems that support only  the  `select'  system
                     call always use `err'.

                     If  the option -w is also given, the handler is instead a
                     line editor widget, typically a shell function made  into
                     a  widget  using  `zle -N'.  In that case handler can use
                     all the facilities of zle to update the  current  editing
                     line.   Note, however, that as handling fd takes place at
                     a low level changes to the display will not automatically
                     appear;  the  widget should call `zle -R' to force redis-
                     play.  As of this writing, widget handlers only support a
                     single  argument  and  thus are never passed a string for
                     error state, so widgets must be prepared to test the  de-
                     scriptor themselves.

                     If  either  type of handler produces output to the termi-
                     nal, it should call `zle -I' before doing so (see below).
                     Handlers should not attempt to read from the terminal.

                     If no handler is given, but an fd is present, any handler
                     for that fd is removed.  If there is none, an error  mes-
                     sage is printed and status 1 is returned.

                     If  no arguments are given, or the -L option is supplied,
                     a list of handlers is printed in  a  form  which  can  be
                     stored for later execution.

                     An  fd  (but  not a handler) may optionally be given with
                     the -L option; in this case, the function will  list  the
                     handler if any, else silently return status 1.

                     Note  that this feature should be used with care.  Activ-
                     ity on one of the fd's which is not properly handled  can
                     cause  the  terminal  to become unusable.  Removing an fd
                     handler from within a signal trap may cause unpredictable
                     behavior.

                     Here  is  a simple example of using this feature.  A con-
                     nection to a remote TCP port is created  using  the  ztcp
                     command; see the description of the zsh/net/tcp module in
                     zshmodules(1).  Then a handler is installed which  simply
                     prints  out  any  data  which arrives on this connection.
                     Note that `select' will indicate that the file descriptor
                     needs  handling if the remote side has closed the connec-
                     tion; we handle that by testing for a failed read.

                            if ztcp pwspc 2811; then
                              tcpfd=$REPLY
                              handler() {
                                zle -I
                                local line
                                if ! read -r line <&$1; then
                                  # select marks this fd if we reach EOF,
                                  # so handle this specially.
                                  print "[Read on fd $1 failed, removing.]" >&2
                                  zle -F $1
                                  return 1
                                fi
                                print -r - $line
                              }
                              zle -F $tcpfd handler
                            fi

              -I     Unusually, this option is most  useful  outside  ordinary
                     widget  functions, though it may be used within if normal
                     output to the terminal is required.  It  invalidates  the
                     current  zle display in preparation for output; typically
                     this will be from a trap function.  It has no  effect  if
                     zle  is  not active.  When a trap exits, the shell checks
                     to see if the display needs restoring, hence the  follow-
                     ing will print output in such a way as not to disturb the
                     line being edited:

                            TRAPUSR1() {
                              # Invalidate zle display
                              [[ -o zle ]] && zle -I
                              # Show output
                              print Hello
                            }

                     In general, the trap function may need  to  test  whether
                     zle  is  active before using this method (as shown in the
                     example), since  the  zsh/zle  module  may  not  even  be
                     loaded; if it is not, the command can be skipped.

                     It is possible to call `zle -I' several times before con-
                     trol is returned to the editor; the display will only  be
                     invalidated the first time to minimise disruption.

                     Note  that there are normally better ways of manipulating
                     the display from within zle widgets;  see,  for  example,
                     `zle -R' above.

                     The  returned status is zero if zle was invalidated, even
                     though this may have been by a previous call to `zle  -I'
                     or by a system notification.  To test if a zle widget may
                     be called at this point, execute zle  with  no  arguments
                     and examine the return status.

              -T     This  is used to add, list or remove internal transforma-
                     tions on the processing performed by the line editor.  It
                     is  typically  used  only for debugging or testing and is
                     therefore of little interest to the general user.

                     `zle -T transformation func'  specifies  that  the  given
                     transformation  (see below) is effected by shell function
                     func.

                     `zle -Tr transformation' removes the given transformation
                     if it was present (it is not an error if none was).

                     `zle  -TL'  can  be used to list all transformations cur-
                     rently in operation.

                     Currently the only transformation is tc.   This  is  used
                     instead  of  outputting  termcap  codes  to the terminal.
                     When the transformation is in operation the  shell  func-
                     tion  is  passed the termcap code that would be output as
                     its first argument; if the operation required  a  numeric
                     argument, that is passed as a second argument.  The func-
                     tion should set the shell variable REPLY  to  the  trans-
                     formed  termcap  code.  Typically this is used to produce
                     some simply formatted version of the  code  and  optional
                     argument for debugging or testing.  Note that this trans-
                     formation is not applied to other non-printing characters
                     such as carriage returns and newlines.

              widget [ -n num ] [ -Nw ] [ -K keymap ] args ...
                     Invoke  the specified widget.  This can only be done when
                     ZLE is active; normally this will be  within  a  user-de-
                     fined widget.

                     With  the options -n and -N, the current numeric argument
                     will be saved and then restored after the call to widget;
                     `-n  num'  sets  the numeric argument temporarily to num,
                     while `-N' sets it to the default, i.e. as if there  were
                     none.

                     With  the  option  -K, keymap will be used as the current
                     keymap during the execution of the widget.  The  previous
                     keymap will be restored when the widget exits.

                     Normally,  calling  a widget in this way does not set the
                     special parameter WIDGET and related parameters, so  that
                     the environment appears as if the top-level widget called
                     by the user were still active.  With the option -w,  WID-
                     GET  and related parameters are set to reflect the widget
                     being executed by the zle call.

                     Any further arguments will be passed to the widget;  note
                     that as standard argument handling is performed, any gen-
                     eral argument list should be preceded by --.  If it is  a
                     shell  function,  these are passed down as positional pa-
                     rameters; for builtin widgets it is up to the  widget  in
                     question what it does with them.  Currently arguments are
                     only handled by the incremental-search commands, the his-
                     tory-search-forward  and  -backward and the corresponding
                     functions prefixed by vi-, and by universal-argument.  No
                     error  is  flagged  if the command does not use the argu-
                     ments, or only uses some of them.

                     The return status reflects the success or failure of  the
                     operation  carried  out  by  the  widget,  or  if it is a
                     user-defined widget the return status of the shell  func-
                     tion.

                     A  non-zero  return  status causes the shell to beep when
                     the widget exits, unless the BEEP options  was  unset  or
                     the  widget  was  called  via the zle command.  Thus if a
                     user defined widget requires an immediate beep, it should
                     call the beep widget directly.

WIDGETS
       All  actions  in the editor are performed by `widgets'.  A widget's job
       is simply to perform some small action.  The ZLE commands that key  se-
       quences  in  keymaps  are bound to are in fact widgets.  Widgets can be
       user-defined or built in.

       The standard widgets built into ZLE are listed in Standard Widgets  be-
       low.   Other built-in widgets can be defined by other modules (see zsh-
       modules(1)).  Each built-in widget has two names: its normal  canonical
       name, and the same name preceded by a `.'.  The `.' name is special: it
       can't be rebound to a different widget.  This makes the  widget  avail-
       able even when its usual name has been redefined.

       User-defined  widgets  are  defined  using `zle -N', and implemented as
       shell functions.  When the widget is executed, the corresponding  shell
       function  is  executed, and can perform editing (or other) actions.  It
       is recommended that user-defined widgets should not have names starting
       with `.'.

USER-DEFINED WIDGETS
       User-defined widgets, being implemented as shell functions, can execute
       any normal shell command.  They can also  run  other  widgets  (whether
       built-in  or  user-defined) using the zle builtin command. The standard
       input of the function is redirected from /dev/null to prevent  external
       commands  from  unintentionally blocking ZLE by reading from the termi-
       nal, but read -k or read -q can be used to read  characters.   Finally,
       they  can  examine  and edit the ZLE buffer being edited by reading and
       setting the special parameters described below.

       These special parameters are always available in widget functions,  but
       are not in any way special outside ZLE.  If they have some normal value
       outside ZLE, that value is temporarily inaccessible,  but  will  return
       when  the widget function exits.  These special parameters in fact have
       local scope, like parameters created in a function using local.

       Inside completion widgets and traps called while ZLE is  active,  these
       parameters are available read-only.

       Note  that  the  parameters  appear as local to any ZLE widget in which
       they appear.  Hence if it is desired to override them this needs to  be
       done within a nested function:

              widget-function() {
                # $WIDGET here refers to the special variable
                # that is local inside widget-function
                () {
                   # This anonymous nested function allows WIDGET
                   # to be used as a local variable.  The -h
                   # removes the special status of the variable.
                   local -h WIDGET
                }
              }

       BUFFER (scalar)
              The  entire  contents  of the edit buffer.  If it is written to,
              the cursor remains at the same offset, unless that would put  it
              outside the buffer.

       BUFFERLINES (integer)
              The  number of screen lines needed for the edit buffer currently
              displayed on screen (i.e. without any changes to  the  preceding
              parameters done after the last redisplay); read-only.

       CONTEXT (scalar)
              The  context  in which zle was called to read a line; read-only.
              One of the values:

              start  The start of a command line (at prompt PS1).

              cont   A continuation to a command line (at prompt PS2).

              select In a select loop (at prompt PS3).

              vared  Editing a variable in vared.

       CURSOR (integer)
              The offset of the cursor, within the edit buffer.   This  is  in
              the  range  0  to  $#BUFFER,  and  is  by  definition  equal  to
              $#LBUFFER.  Attempts to move the cursor outside the buffer  will
              result  in  the cursor being moved to the appropriate end of the
              buffer.

       CUTBUFFER (scalar)
              The last item cut using one of the `kill-' commands; the  string
              which  the next yank would insert in the line.  Later entries in
              the kill ring are in the array killring.  Note that the  command
              `zle  copy-region-as-kill string' can be used to set the text of
              the cut buffer from a shell function and cycle the kill ring  in
              the same way as interactively killing text.

       HISTNO (integer)
              The current history number.  Setting this has the same effect as
              moving up or down in the history to  the  corresponding  history
              line.  An attempt to set it is ignored if the line is not stored
              in the history.  Note this is not  the  same  as  the  parameter
              HISTCMD, which always gives the number of the history line being
              added to the main shell's history.  HISTNO refers  to  the  line
              being retrieved within zle.

       ISEARCHMATCH_ACTIVE (integer)
       ISEARCHMATCH_START (integer)
       ISEARCHMATCH_END (integer)
              ISEARCHMATCH_ACTIVE  indicates  whether  a part of the BUFFER is
              currently matched by an  incremental  search  pattern.  ISEARCH-
              MATCH_START  and  ISEARCHMATCH_END  give  the  location  of  the
              matched part and are in the same units as CURSOR. They are  only
              valid for reading when ISEARCHMATCH_ACTIVE is non-zero.

              All parameters are read-only.

       KEYMAP (scalar)
              The name of the currently selected keymap; read-only.

       KEYS (scalar)
              The  keys  typed  to  invoke  this  widget, as a literal string;
              read-only.

       KEYS_QUEUED_COUNT (integer)
              The number of bytes pushed back to the input queue and therefore
              available  for  reading  immediately  before  any  I/O  is done;
              read-only.  See also PENDING; the two values are distinct.

       killring (array)
              The array of previously killed items,  with  the  most  recently
              killed first.  This gives the items that would be retrieved by a
              yank-pop in the same order.  Note, however, that  the  most  re-
              cently  killed  item is in $CUTBUFFER; $killring shows the array
              of previous entries.

              The default size for the kill ring is eight, however the  length
              may  be changed by normal array operations.  Any empty string in
              the kill ring is ignored by the yank-pop command, hence the size
              of  the  array  effectively  sets the maximum length of the kill
              ring, while the number of non-zero  strings  gives  the  current
              length, both as seen by the user at the command line.

       LASTABORTEDSEARCH (scalar)
              The  last  search  string used by an interactive search that was
              aborted by the user (status 3 returned by the search widget).

       LASTSEARCH (scalar)
              The last search string used by an interactive search; read-only.
              This is set even if the search failed (status 0, 1 or 2 returned
              by the search widget), but not if it was aborted by the user.

       LASTWIDGET (scalar)
              The name of the last widget that was executed; read-only.

       LBUFFER (scalar)
              The part of the buffer that lies to the left of the cursor posi-
              tion.  If it is assigned to, only that part of the buffer is re-
              placed, and the cursor remains between the new $LBUFFER and  the
              old $RBUFFER.

       MARK (integer)
              Like  CURSOR, but for the mark. With vi-mode operators that wait
              for a movement command to select a region of text, setting  MARK
              allows  the selection to extend in both directions from the ini-
              tial cursor position.

       NUMERIC (integer)
              The numeric argument. If no numeric argument was given, this pa-
              rameter  is  unset.  When  this is set inside a widget function,
              builtin widgets called with the zle builtin command will use the
              value assigned. If it is unset inside a widget function, builtin
              widgets called behave as if no numeric argument was given.

       PENDING (integer)
              The number of bytes pending for input, i.e. the number of  bytes
              which  have  already  been typed and can immediately be read. On
              systems where the shell is not able  to  get  this  information,
              this  parameter  will  always  have a value of zero.  Read-only.
              See also KEYS_QUEUED_COUNT; the two values are distinct.

       PREBUFFER (scalar)
              In a multi-line input at the secondary  prompt,  this  read-only
              parameter  contains the contents of the lines before the one the
              cursor is currently in.

       PREDISPLAY (scalar)
              Text to be displayed before the start of the editable text  buf-
              fer.   This  does  not  have to be a complete line; to display a
              complete line, a newline must be appended explicitly.  The  text
              is  reset  on each new invocation (but not recursive invocation)
              of zle.

       POSTDISPLAY (scalar)
              Text to be displayed after the end of the editable text  buffer.
              This  does not have to be a complete line; to display a complete
              line, a newline must be prepended explicitly.  The text is reset
              on each new invocation (but not recursive invocation) of zle.

       RBUFFER (scalar)
              The  part of the buffer that lies to the right of the cursor po-
              sition.  If it is assigned to, only that part of the  buffer  is
              replaced,  and  the  cursor remains between the old $LBUFFER and
              the new $RBUFFER.

       REGION_ACTIVE (integer)
              Indicates if the region is currently active.  It can be assigned
              0  or  1  to  deactivate and activate the region respectively. A
              value of 2 activates the region in line-wise mode with the high-
              lighted text extending for whole lines only; see Character High-
              lighting below.

       region_highlight (array)
              Each element of this array may be set to a string that describes
              highlighting  for  an  arbitrary region of the command line that
              will take effect the next time the command line is  redisplayed.
              Highlighting  of  the  non-editable parts of the command line in
              PREDISPLAY and POSTDISPLAY are possible, but  note  that  the  P
              flag is needed for character indexing to include PREDISPLAY.

              Each string consists of the following parts:

              o      Optionally,  a `P' to signify that the start and end off-
                     set that follow include any string set by the  PREDISPLAY
                     special  parameter;  this  is  needed  if  the predisplay
                     string itself is to be highlighted.  Whitespace may  fol-
                     low the `P'.

              o      A start offset in the same units as CURSOR, terminated by
                     whitespace.

              o      An end offset in the same units as CURSOR, terminated  by
                     whitespace.

              o      A  highlight specification in the same format as used for
                     contexts in the parameter zle_highlight, see the  section
                     `Character  Highlighting' below; for example, standout or
                     fg=red,bold

              For example,

                     region_highlight=("P0 20 bold")

              specifies that the first twenty characters of the text including
              any predisplay string should be highlighted in bold.

              Note that the effect of region_highlight is not saved and disap-
              pears as soon as the line is accepted.

              The final highlighting on the command line depends on  both  re-
              gion_highlight  and  zle_highlight;  see  the  section CHARACTER
              HIGHLIGHTING below for details.

       registers (associative array)
              The contents of each of the vi register buffers. These are typi-
              cally  set  using  vi-set-buffer followed by a delete, change or
              yank command.

       SUFFIX_ACTIVE (integer)
       SUFFIX_START (integer)
       SUFFIX_END (integer)
              SUFFIX_ACTIVE indicates  whether  an  auto-removable  completion
              suffix is currently active. SUFFIX_START and SUFFIX_END give the
              location of the suffix and are in the same units as CURSOR. They
              are only valid for reading when SUFFIX_ACTIVE is non-zero.

              All parameters are read-only.

       UNDO_CHANGE_NO (integer)
              A  number  representing the state of the undo history.  The only
              use of this is passing as an argument to the undo widget in  or-
              der to undo back to the recorded point.  Read-only.

       UNDO_LIMIT_NO (integer)
              A  number  corresponding  to an existing change in the undo his-
              tory; compare UNDO_CHANGE_NO.  If this is set to a value greater
              than zero, the undo command will not allow the line to be undone
              beyond the given change number.  It is  still  possible  to  use
              `zle undo change' in a widget to undo beyond that point; in that
              case, it will not be possible to undo at all until UNDO_LIMIT_NO
              is reduced.  Set to 0 to disable the limit.

              A  typical  use of this variable in a widget function is as fol-
              lows (note the additional function scope is required):

                     () {
                       local UNDO_LIMIT_NO=$UNDO_CHANGE_NO
                       # Perform some form of recursive edit.
                     }

       WIDGET (scalar)
              The name of the widget currently being executed; read-only.

       WIDGETFUNC (scalar)
              The name of the shell function that implements a widget  defined
              with  either  zle -N or zle -C.  In the former case, this is the
              second argument to the zle -N command that defined  the  widget,
              or  the  first argument if there was no second argument.  In the
              latter case this is the third argument to  the  zle  -C  command
              that defined the widget.  Read-only.

       WIDGETSTYLE (scalar)
              Describes  the  implementation behind the completion widget cur-
              rently being executed; the second argument that followed zle  -C
              when the widget was defined.  This is the name of a builtin com-
              pletion widget.  For widgets defined with zle -N this is set  to
              the empty string.  Read-only.

       YANK_ACTIVE (integer)
       YANK_START (integer)
       YANK_END (integer)
              YANK_ACTIVE indicates whether text has just been yanked (pasted)
              into the buffer.  YANK_START and YANK_END give the  location  of
              the  pasted  text and are in the same units as CURSOR.  They are
              only valid for reading when YANK_ACTIVE is non-zero.   They  can
              also  be  assigned  by  widgets  that insert text in a yank-like
              fashion, for example wrappers of bracketed-paste.  See also  zle
              -f.

              YANK_ACTIVE is read-only.

       ZLE_RECURSIVE (integer)
              Usually  zero,  but  incremented  inside  any instance of recur-
              sive-edit.  Hence indicates the current recursion level.

              ZLE_RECURSIVE is read-only.

       ZLE_STATE (scalar)
              Contains a set of space-separated words that describe  the  cur-
              rent zle state.

              Currently,  the  states  shown are the insert mode as set by the
              overwrite-mode or vi-replace widgets and  whether  history  com-
              mands  will  visit imported entries as controlled by the set-lo-
              cal-history widget.  The string contains `insert' if  characters
              to  be  inserted on the command line move existing characters to
              the right or `overwrite' if characters to be inserted  overwrite
              existing  characters.  It  contains `localhistory' if only local
              history commands will be visited or `globalhistory' if  imported
              history commands will also be visited.

              The  substrings  are sorted in alphabetical order so that if you
              want to test for two specific substrings in a future-proof  way,
              you can do match by doing:

                     if [[ $ZLE_STATE == *globalhistory*insert* ]]; then ...; fi

   Special Widgets
       There  are  a  few user-defined widgets which are special to the shell.
       If they do not exist, no special action is taken.  The environment pro-
       vided is identical to that for any other editing widget.

       zle-isearch-exit
              Executed at the end of incremental search at the point where the
              isearch prompt is removed from the display.  See zle-isearch-up-
              date for an example.

       zle-isearch-update
              Executed  within incremental search when the display is about to
              be redrawn.  Additional  output  below  the  incremental  search
              prompt  can  be  generated  by using `zle -M' within the widget.
              For example,

                     zle-isearch-update() { zle -M "Line $HISTNO"; }
                     zle -N zle-isearch-update

              Note the line output by `zle -M' is not deleted on exit from in-
              cremental search.  This can be done from a zle-isearch-exit wid-
              get:

                     zle-isearch-exit() { zle -M ""; }
                     zle -N zle-isearch-exit

       zle-line-pre-redraw
              Executed whenever the input line is about to be redrawn, provid-
              ing an opportunity to update the region_highlight array.

       zle-line-init
              Executed  every  time  the  line editor is started to read a new
              line of input.  The following example puts the line editor  into
              vi command mode when it starts up.

                     zle-line-init() { zle -K vicmd; }
                     zle -N zle-line-init

              (The command inside the function sets the keymap directly; it is
              equivalent to zle vi-cmd-mode.)

       zle-line-finish
              This is similar to zle-line-init but is executed every time  the
              line editor has finished reading a line of input.

       zle-history-line-set
              Executed when the history line changes.

       zle-keymap-select
              Executed every time the keymap changes, i.e. the special parame-
              ter KEYMAP is set to a different value, while the line editor is
              active.   Initialising  the  keymap  when the line editor starts
              does not cause the widget to be called.

              The value $KEYMAP within the function reflects the  new  keymap.
              The old keymap is passed as the sole argument.

              This  can  be used for detecting switches between the vi command
              (vicmd) and insert (usually main) keymaps.

STANDARD WIDGETS
       The following is a list of all the standard widgets, and their  default
       bindings  in  emacs  mode,  vi  command  mode  and  vi insert mode (the
       `emacs', `vicmd' and `viins' keymaps, respectively).

       Note that cursor keys are bound to movement keys in all three  keymaps;
       the  shell assumes that the cursor keys send the key sequences reported
       by the terminal-handling library (termcap or terminfo).   The  key  se-
       quences  shown in the list are those based on the VT100, common on many
       modern terminals, but in fact these are not necessarily bound.  In  the
       case of the viins keymap, the initial escape character of the sequences
       serves also to return to the vicmd keymap: whether this happens is  de-
       termined by the KEYTIMEOUT parameter, see zshparam(1).

   Movement
       vi-backward-blank-word (unbound) (B) (unbound)
              Move  backward  one word, where a word is defined as a series of
              non-blank characters.

       vi-backward-blank-word-end (unbound) (gE) (unbound)
              Move to the end of the previous word, where a word is defined as
              a series of non-blank characters.

       backward-char (^B ESC-[D) (unbound) (unbound)
              Move backward one character.

       vi-backward-char (unbound) (^H h ^?) (ESC-[D)
              Move backward one character, without changing lines.

       backward-word (ESC-B ESC-b) (unbound) (unbound)
              Move to the beginning of the previous word.

       emacs-backward-word
              Move to the beginning of the previous word.

       vi-backward-word (unbound) (b) (unbound)
              Move to the beginning of the previous word, vi-style.

       vi-backward-word-end (unbound) (ge) (unbound)
              Move to the end of the previous word, vi-style.

       beginning-of-line (^A) (unbound) (unbound)
              Move  to the beginning of the line.  If already at the beginning
              of the line, move to the beginning of the previous line, if any.

       vi-beginning-of-line
              Move to the beginning of the line, without changing lines.

       down-line (unbound) (unbound) (unbound)
              Move down a line in the buffer.

       end-of-line (^E) (unbound) (unbound)
              Move to the end of the line.  If already at the end of the line,
              move to the end of the next line, if any.

       vi-end-of-line (unbound) ($) (unbound)
              Move  to  the  end of the line.  If an argument is given to this
              command, the cursor will be moved to the end of the line  (argu-
              ment - 1) lines down.

       vi-forward-blank-word (unbound) (W) (unbound)
              Move  forward  one  word, where a word is defined as a series of
              non-blank characters.

       vi-forward-blank-word-end (unbound) (E) (unbound)
              Move to the end of the current word, or, if at the  end  of  the
              current  word,  to the end of the next word, where a word is de-
              fined as a series of non-blank characters.

       forward-char (^F ESC-[C) (unbound) (unbound)
              Move forward one character.

       vi-forward-char (unbound) (space l) (ESC-[C)
              Move forward one character.

       vi-find-next-char (^X^F) (f) (unbound)
              Read a character from the keyboard, and move to the next  occur-
              rence of it in the line.

       vi-find-next-char-skip (unbound) (t) (unbound)
              Read  a  character  from  the keyboard, and move to the position
              just before the next occurrence of it in the line.

       vi-find-prev-char (unbound) (F) (unbound)
              Read a character from the keyboard, and move to the previous oc-
              currence of it in the line.

       vi-find-prev-char-skip (unbound) (T) (unbound)
              Read  a  character  from  the keyboard, and move to the position
              just after the previous occurrence of it in the line.

       vi-first-non-blank (unbound) (^) (unbound)
              Move to the first non-blank character in the line.

       vi-forward-word (unbound) (w) (unbound)
              Move forward one word, vi-style.

       forward-word (ESC-F ESC-f) (unbound) (unbound)
              Move to the beginning of the next word.  The editor's idea of  a
              word is specified with the WORDCHARS parameter.

       emacs-forward-word
              Move to the end of the next word.

       vi-forward-word-end (unbound) (e) (unbound)
              Move to the end of the next word.

       vi-goto-column (ESC-|) (|) (unbound)
              Move to the column specified by the numeric argument.

       vi-goto-mark (unbound) (`) (unbound)
              Move to the specified mark.

       vi-goto-mark-line (unbound) (') (unbound)
              Move to beginning of the line containing the specified mark.

       vi-repeat-find (unbound) (;) (unbound)
              Repeat the last vi-find command.

       vi-rev-repeat-find (unbound) (,) (unbound)
              Repeat the last vi-find command in the opposite direction.

       up-line (unbound) (unbound) (unbound)
              Move up a line in the buffer.

   History Control
       beginning-of-buffer-or-history (ESC-<) (gg) (unbound)
              Move  to  the beginning of the buffer, or if already there, move
              to the first event in the history list.

       beginning-of-line-hist
              Move to the beginning of the line.  If already at the  beginning
              of the buffer, move to the previous history line.

       beginning-of-history
              Move to the first event in the history list.

       down-line-or-history (^N ESC-[B) (j) (ESC-[B)
              Move  down  a  line  in  the buffer, or if already at the bottom
              line, move to the next event in the history list.

       vi-down-line-or-history (unbound) (+) (unbound)
              Move down a line in the buffer, or  if  already  at  the  bottom
              line,  move to the next event in the history list.  Then move to
              the first non-blank character on the line.

       down-line-or-search
              Move down a line in the buffer, or  if  already  at  the  bottom
              line,  search  forward  in the history for a line beginning with
              the first word in the buffer.

              If called from a function by the zle command with arguments, the
              first  argument  is  taken  as  the  string for which to search,
              rather than the first word in the buffer.

       down-history (unbound) (^N) (unbound)
              Move to the next event in the history list.

       history-beginning-search-backward
              Search backward in the history for a  line  beginning  with  the
              current  line  up  to the cursor.  This leaves the cursor in its
              original position.

       end-of-buffer-or-history (ESC->) (unbound) (unbound)
              Move to the end of the buffer, or if already there, move to  the
              last event in the history list.

       end-of-line-hist
              Move  to the end of the line.  If already at the end of the buf-
              fer, move to the next history line.

       end-of-history
              Move to the last event in the history list.

       vi-fetch-history (unbound) (G) (unbound)
              Fetch the history line specified by the numeric argument.   This
              defaults  to  the  current history line (i.e. the one that isn't
              history yet).

       history-incremental-search-backward (^R ^Xr) (unbound) (unbound)
              Search backward  incrementally  for  a  specified  string.   The
              search  is  case-insensitive  if the search string does not have
              uppercase letters and no numeric argument was given.  The string
              may  begin with `^' to anchor the search to the beginning of the
              line.  When called from a user-defined function returns the fol-
              lowing  statuses:  0,  if the search succeeded; 1, if the search
              failed; 2, if the search term was  a  bad  pattern;  3,  if  the
              search was aborted by the send-break command.

              A  restricted  set  of  editing  functions  is  available in the
              mini-buffer.  Keys are looked up in the special isearch  keymap,
              and  if not found there in the main keymap (note that by default
              the isearch keymap is empty).  An interrupt signal,  as  defined
              by  the  stty  setting,  will stop the search and go back to the
              original line.  An undefined key  will  have  the  same  effect.
              Note  that the following always perform the same task within in-
              cremental searches and cannot be replaced by user  defined  wid-
              gets,  nor  can the set of functions be extended.  The supported
              functions are:

              accept-and-hold
              accept-and-infer-next-history
              accept-line
              accept-line-and-down-history
                     Perform the  usual  function  after  exiting  incremental
                     search.  The command line displayed is executed.

              backward-delete-char
              vi-backward-delete-char
                     Back  up  one place in the search history.  If the search
                     has been repeated this does not immediately erase a char-
                     acter in the minibuffer.

              accept-search
                     Exit  incremental  search, retaining the command line but
                     performing no further action.  Note that this function is
                     not  bound by default and has no effect outside incremen-
                     tal search.

              backward-delete-word
              backward-kill-word
              vi-backward-kill-word
                     Back up one character  in  the  minibuffer;  if  multiple
                     searches  have been performed since the character was in-
                     serted the search history is rewound to  the  point  just
                     before the character was entered.  Hence this has the ef-
                     fect of repeating backward-delete-char.

              clear-screen
                     Clear the screen, remaining in incremental search mode.

              history-incremental-search-backward
                     Find the next occurrence of the contents of the mini-buf-
                     fer.  If the mini-buffer is empty, the most recent previ-
                     ously used search string is reinstated.

              history-incremental-search-forward
                     Invert the sense of the search.

              magic-space
                     Inserts a non-magical space.

              quoted-insert
              vi-quoted-insert
                     Quote the character to insert into the minibuffer.

              redisplay
                     Redisplay the  command  line,  remaining  in  incremental
                     search mode.

              vi-cmd-mode
                     Select  the  `vicmd'  keymap;  the  `main' keymap (insert
                     mode) will be selected initially.

                     In addition, the modifications that were made while in vi
                     insert mode are merged to form a single undo event.

              vi-repeat-search
              vi-rev-repeat-search
                     Repeat  the search.  The direction of the search is indi-
                     cated in the mini-buffer.

              Any character that is not bound to one of the  above  functions,
              or  self-insert or self-insert-unmeta, will cause the mode to be
              exited.  The character is then looked up  and  executed  in  the
              keymap in effect at that point.

              When  called  from a widget function by the zle command, the in-
              cremental search commands can take a string argument.  This will
              be  treated as a string of keys, as for arguments to the bindkey
              command, and used as initial input for the command.  Any charac-
              ters  in  the  string which are unused by the incremental search
              will be silently ignored.  For example,

                     zle history-incremental-search-backward forceps

              will search backwards for forceps, leaving the  minibuffer  con-
              taining the string `forceps'.

       history-incremental-search-forward (^S ^Xs) (unbound) (unbound)
              Search forward incrementally for a specified string.  The search
              is case-insensitive if the search string does not have uppercase
              letters and no numeric argument was given.  The string may begin
              with `^' to anchor the search to the beginning of the line.  The
              functions  available in the mini-buffer are the same as for his-
              tory-incremental-search-backward.

       history-incremental-pattern-search-backward
       history-incremental-pattern-search-forward
              These widgets behave similarly to the corresponding widgets with
              no  -pattern, but the search string typed by the user is treated
              as a pattern, respecting the current settings of the various op-
              tions  affecting  pattern  matching.  See FILENAME GENERATION in
              zshexpn(1) for a description of patterns.  If no  numeric  argu-
              ment  was given lowercase letters in the search string may match
              uppercase letters in the history.  The string may begin with `^'
              to anchor the search to the beginning of the line.

              The prompt changes to indicate an invalid pattern; this may sim-
              ply indicate the pattern is not yet complete.

              Note that only non-overlapping matches are reported, so  an  ex-
              pression  with wildcards may return fewer matches on a line than
              are visible by inspection.

       history-search-backward (ESC-P ESC-p) (unbound) (unbound)
              Search backward in the history for a  line  beginning  with  the
              first word in the buffer.

              If called from a function by the zle command with arguments, the
              first argument is taken as  the  string  for  which  to  search,
              rather than the first word in the buffer.

       vi-history-search-backward (unbound) (/) (unbound)
              Search  backward  in  the  history  for a specified string.  The
              string may begin with `^' to anchor the search to the  beginning
              of the line.

              A  restricted  set  of  editing  functions  is  available in the
              mini-buffer.  An interrupt signal, as defined by the  stty  set-
              ting,   will  stop  the  search.  The functions available in the
              mini-buffer  are:  accept-line,  backward-delete-char,  vi-back-
              ward-delete-char,   backward-kill-word,   vi-backward-kill-word,
              clear-screen, redisplay, quoted-insert and vi-quoted-insert.

              vi-cmd-mode is treated the same as accept-line, and  magic-space
              is treated as a space.  Any other character that is not bound to
              self-insert or self-insert-unmeta will beep and be  ignored.  If
              the function is called from vi command mode, the bindings of the
              current insert mode will be used.

              If called from a function by the zle command with arguments, the
              first  argument  is  taken  as  the  string for which to search,
              rather than the first word in the buffer.

       history-search-forward (ESC-N ESC-n) (unbound) (unbound)
              Search forward in the history for  a  line  beginning  with  the
              first word in the buffer.

              If called from a function by the zle command with arguments, the
              first argument is taken as  the  string  for  which  to  search,
              rather than the first word in the buffer.

       vi-history-search-forward (unbound) (?) (unbound)
              Search  forward  in  the  history  for  a specified string.  The
              string may begin with `^' to anchor the search to the  beginning
              of  the line. The functions available in the mini-buffer are the
              same as for vi-history-search-backward.   Argument  handling  is
              also the same as for that command.

       infer-next-history (^X^N) (unbound) (unbound)
              Search  in  the history list for a line matching the current one
              and fetch the event following it.

       insert-last-word (ESC-_ ESC-.) (unbound) (unbound)
              Insert the last word from the previous history event at the cur-
              sor  position.   If a positive numeric argument is given, insert
              that word from the end of the previous history  event.   If  the
              argument  is  zero  or  negative  insert that word from the left
              (zero inserts the previous command word).  Repeating  this  com-
              mand replaces the word just inserted with the last word from the
              history event prior to the one just used; numeric arguments  can
              be used in the same way to pick a word from that event.

              When  called  from  a shell function invoked from a user-defined
              widget, the command can take one to three arguments.  The  first
              argument  specifies a history offset which applies to successive
              calls to this widget: if it is  -1,  the  default  behaviour  is
              used,  while  if  it  is  1, successive calls will move forwards
              through the history.  The value 0 can be used to  indicate  that
              the  history line examined by the previous execution of the com-
              mand will be reexamined.  Note that negative numbers  should  be
              preceded  by  a  `--'  argument to avoid confusing them with op-
              tions.

              If two arguments are given, the second specifies the word on the
              command  line  in normal array index notation (as a more natural
              alternative to the numeric argument).   Hence  1  is  the  first
              word, and -1 (the default) is the last word.

              If  a  third  argument is given, its value is ignored, but it is
              used to signify that the history offset is relative to the  cur-
              rent history line, rather than the one remembered after the pre-
              vious invocations of insert-last-word.

              For example, the default behaviour of the command corresponds to

                     zle insert-last-word -- -1 -1

              while the command

                     zle insert-last-word -- -1 1 -

              always copies the first word of the line in the history  immedi-
              ately  before  the  line being edited.  This has the side effect
              that later invocations of the widget will be  relative  to  that
              line.

       vi-repeat-search (unbound) (n) (unbound)
              Repeat the last vi history search.

       vi-rev-repeat-search (unbound) (N) (unbound)
              Repeat the last vi history search, but in reverse.

       up-line-or-history (^P ESC-[A) (k) (ESC-[A)
              Move  up  a  line  in the buffer, or if already at the top line,
              move to the previous event in the history list.

       vi-up-line-or-history (unbound) (-) (unbound)
              Move up a line in the buffer, or if already  at  the  top  line,
              move  to  the  previous event in the history list.  Then move to
              the first non-blank character on the line.

       up-line-or-search
              Move up a line in the buffer, or if already  at  the  top  line,
              search  backward  in  the  history for a line beginning with the
              first word in the buffer.

              If called from a function by the zle command with arguments, the
              first  argument  is  taken  as  the  string for which to search,
              rather than the first word in the buffer.

       up-history (unbound) (^P) (unbound)
              Move to the previous event in the history list.

       history-beginning-search-forward
              Search forward in the history for a line beginning with the cur-
              rent line up to the cursor.  This leaves the cursor in its orig-
              inal position.

       set-local-history
              By default, history movement commands visit the  imported  lines
              as  well as the local lines. This widget lets you toggle this on
              and off, or set it with the numeric argument. Zero for both  lo-
              cal and imported lines and nonzero for only local lines.

   Modifying Text
       vi-add-eol (unbound) (A) (unbound)
              Move to the end of the line and enter insert mode.

       vi-add-next (unbound) (a) (unbound)
              Enter  insert  mode  after  the current cursor position, without
              changing lines.

       backward-delete-char (^H ^?) (unbound) (unbound)
              Delete the character behind the cursor.

       vi-backward-delete-char (unbound) (X) (^H)
              Delete the character behind the cursor, without changing  lines.
              If in insert mode, this won't delete past the point where insert
              mode was last entered.

       backward-delete-word
              Delete the word behind the cursor.

       backward-kill-line
              Kill from the beginning of the line to the cursor position.

       backward-kill-word (^W ESC-^H ESC-^?) (unbound) (unbound)
              Kill the word behind the cursor.

       vi-backward-kill-word (unbound) (unbound) (^W)
              Kill the word behind the cursor, without going  past  the  point
              where insert mode was last entered.

       capitalize-word (ESC-C ESC-c) (unbound) (unbound)
              Capitalize the current word and move past it.

       vi-change (unbound) (c) (unbound)
              Read  a  movement  command  from the keyboard, and kill from the
              cursor position to the endpoint of the movement.  Then enter in-
              sert  mode.   If  the  command  is vi-change, change the current
              line.

              For compatibility with vi, if the command is vi-forward-word  or
              vi-forward-blank-word,  the whitespace after the word is not in-
              cluded. If you prefer the more  consistent  behaviour  with  the
              whitespace included use the following key binding:

                     bindkey -a -s cw dwi

       vi-change-eol (unbound) (C) (unbound)
              Kill to the end of the line and enter insert mode.

       vi-change-whole-line (unbound) (S) (unbound)
              Kill the current line and enter insert mode.

       copy-region-as-kill (ESC-W ESC-w) (unbound) (unbound)
              Copy the area from the cursor to the mark to the kill buffer.

              If  called  from a ZLE widget function in the form `zle copy-re-
              gion-as-kill string' then string will be taken as  the  text  to
              copy  to  the kill buffer.  The cursor, the mark and the text on
              the command line are not used in this case.

       copy-prev-word (ESC-^_) (unbound) (unbound)
              Duplicate the word to the left of the cursor.

       copy-prev-shell-word
              Like copy-prev-word, but the word is found by using shell  pars-
              ing,  whereas copy-prev-word looks for blanks. This makes a dif-
              ference when the word is quoted and contains spaces.

       vi-delete (unbound) (d) (unbound)
              Read a movement command from the keyboard,  and  kill  from  the
              cursor position to the endpoint of the movement.  If the command
              is vi-delete, kill the current line.

       delete-char
              Delete the character under the cursor.

       vi-delete-char (unbound) (x) (unbound)
              Delete the character under the cursor, without  going  past  the
              end of the line.

       delete-word
              Delete the current word.

       down-case-word (ESC-L ESC-l) (unbound) (unbound)
              Convert the current word to all lowercase and move past it.

       vi-down-case (unbound) (gu) (unbound)
              Read a movement command from the keyboard, and convert all char-
              acters from the cursor position to the endpoint of the  movement
              to lowercase.  If the movement command is vi-down-case, swap the
              case of all characters on the current line.

       kill-word (ESC-D ESC-d) (unbound) (unbound)
              Kill the current word.

       gosmacs-transpose-chars
              Exchange the two characters behind the cursor.

       vi-indent (unbound) (>) (unbound)
              Indent a number of lines.

       vi-insert (unbound) (i) (unbound)
              Enter insert mode.

       vi-insert-bol (unbound) (I) (unbound)
              Move to the first non-blank character on the line and enter  in-
              sert mode.

       vi-join (^X^J) (J) (unbound)
              Join the current line with the next one.

       kill-line (^K) (unbound) (unbound)
              Kill  from the cursor to the end of the line.  If already on the
              end of the line, kill the newline character.

       vi-kill-line (unbound) (unbound) (^U)
              Kill from the cursor back to wherever insert mode was  last  en-
              tered.

       vi-kill-eol (unbound) (D) (unbound)
              Kill from the cursor to the end of the line.

       kill-region
              Kill from the cursor to the mark.

       kill-buffer (^X^K) (unbound) (unbound)
              Kill the entire buffer.

       kill-whole-line (^U) (unbound) (unbound)
              Kill the current line.

       vi-match-bracket (^X^B) (%) (unbound)
              Move to the bracket character (one of {}, () or []) that matches
              the one under the cursor.  If the cursor is  not  on  a  bracket
              character,  move  forward without going past the end of the line
              to find one, and then go to the matching bracket.

       vi-open-line-above (unbound) (O) (unbound)
              Open a line above the cursor and enter insert mode.

       vi-open-line-below (unbound) (o) (unbound)
              Open a line below the cursor and enter insert mode.

       vi-oper-swap-case (unbound) (g~) (unbound)
              Read a movement command from the keyboard, and swap the case  of
              all  characters  from the cursor position to the endpoint of the
              movement.  If the movement command  is  vi-oper-swap-case,  swap
              the case of all characters on the current line.

       overwrite-mode (^X^O) (unbound) (unbound)
              Toggle between overwrite mode and insert mode.

       vi-put-before (unbound) (P) (unbound)
              Insert  the  contents  of the kill buffer before the cursor.  If
              the kill buffer contains a sequence  of  lines  (as  opposed  to
              characters), paste it above the current line.

       vi-put-after (unbound) (p) (unbound)
              Insert the contents of the kill buffer after the cursor.  If the
              kill buffer contains a sequence of lines (as opposed to  charac-
              ters), paste it below the current line.

       put-replace-selection (unbound) (unbound) (unbound)
              Replace the contents of the current region or selection with the
              contents of the kill buffer. If the kill buffer contains  a  se-
              quence  of  lines  (as  opposed to characters), the current line
              will be split by the pasted lines.

       quoted-insert (^V) (unbound) (unbound)
              Insert the next character typed into the buffer  literally.   An
              interrupt character will not be inserted.

       vi-quoted-insert (unbound) (unbound) (^Q ^V)
              Display  a `^' at the cursor position, and insert the next char-
              acter typed into the buffer literally.  An  interrupt  character
              will not be inserted.

       quote-line (ESC-') (unbound) (unbound)
              Quote  the current line; that is, put a `'' character at the be-
              ginning and the end, and convert all `'' characters to `'\'''.

       quote-region (ESC-") (unbound) (unbound)
              Quote the region from the cursor to the mark.

       vi-replace (unbound) (R) (unbound)
              Enter overwrite mode.

       vi-repeat-change (unbound) (.) (unbound)
              Repeat the last vi mode text modification.  If a count was  used
              with the modification, it is remembered.  If a count is given to
              this command, it overrides the remembered count, and  is  remem-
              bered  for future uses of this command.  The cut buffer specifi-
              cation is similarly remembered.

       vi-replace-chars (unbound) (r) (unbound)
              Replace the character under the cursor  with  a  character  read
              from the keyboard.

       self-insert  (printable characters) (unbound) (printable characters and
       some control characters)
              Insert a character into the buffer at the cursor position.

       self-insert-unmeta (ESC-^I ESC-^J ESC-^M) (unbound) (unbound)
              Insert a character into the buffer after stripping the meta  bit
              and converting ^M to ^J.

       vi-substitute (unbound) (s) (unbound)
              Substitute the next character(s).

       vi-swap-case (unbound) (~) (unbound)
              Swap  the  case  of the character under the cursor and move past
              it.

       transpose-chars (^T) (unbound) (unbound)
              Exchange the two characters to the left of the cursor if at  end
              of  line,  else exchange the character under the cursor with the
              character to the left.

       transpose-words (ESC-T ESC-t) (unbound) (unbound)
              Exchange the current word with the one before it.

              With a positive numeric argument N, the word around the  cursor,
              or  following  it  if the cursor is between words, is transposed
              with the preceding N words.  The cursor is put at the end of the
              resulting group of words.

              With  a  negative numeric argument -N, the effect is the same as
              using a positive argument N except that the original cursor  po-
              sition is retained, regardless of how the words are rearranged.

       vi-unindent (unbound) (<) (unbound)
              Unindent a number of lines.

       vi-up-case (unbound) (gU) (unbound)
              Read a movement command from the keyboard, and convert all char-
              acters from the cursor position to the endpoint of the  movement
              to  lowercase.   If the movement command is vi-up-case, swap the
              case of all characters on the current line.

       up-case-word (ESC-U ESC-u) (unbound) (unbound)
              Convert the current word to all caps and move past it.

       yank (^Y) (unbound) (unbound)
              Insert the contents of the kill buffer at the cursor position.

       yank-pop (ESC-y) (unbound) (unbound)
              Remove the text just yanked, rotate the kill-ring  (the  history
              of  previously  killed  text)  and yank the new top.  Only works
              following yank, vi-put-before, vi-put-after or yank-pop.

       vi-yank (unbound) (y) (unbound)
              Read a movement command from the keyboard, and copy  the  region
              from  the  cursor  position to the endpoint of the movement into
              the kill buffer.  If the command is vi-yank,  copy  the  current
              line.

       vi-yank-whole-line (unbound) (Y) (unbound)
              Copy the current line into the kill buffer.

       vi-yank-eol
              Copy  the region from the cursor position to the end of the line
              into the kill buffer.  Arguably, this is what Y should do in vi,
              but it isn't what it actually does.

   Arguments
       digit-argument (ESC-0..ESC-9) (1-9) (unbound)
              Start  a  new  numeric argument, or add to the current one.  See
              also vi-digit-or-beginning-of-line.  This only works if bound to
              a key sequence ending in a decimal digit.

              Inside  a  widget  function,  a call to this function treats the
              last key of the key sequence which  called  the  widget  as  the
              digit.

       neg-argument (ESC--) (unbound) (unbound)
              Changes the sign of the following argument.

       universal-argument
              Multiply  the argument of the next command by 4.  Alternatively,
              if this command is followed by an  integer  (positive  or  nega-
              tive), use that as the argument for the next command.  Thus dig-
              its cannot be repeated using this command.  For example, if this
              command occurs twice, followed immediately by forward-char, move
              forward sixteen spaces; if instead it is followed  by  -2,  then
              forward-char, move backward two spaces.

              Inside  a widget function, if passed an argument, i.e. `zle uni-
              versal-argument num', the numeric argument will be set  to  num;
              this is equivalent to `NUMERIC=num'.

       argument-base
              Use  the existing numeric argument as a numeric base, which must
              be in the range 2 to 36 inclusive.  Subsequent use of  digit-ar-
              gument  and universal-argument will input a new numeric argument
              in the given base.  The usual hexadecimal  convention  is  used:
              the  letter  a  or A corresponds to 10, and so on.  Arguments in
              bases requiring digits from 10 upwards are more conveniently in-
              put  with  universal-argument,  since ESC-a etc. are not usually
              bound to digit-argument.

              The function can be  used  with  a  command  argument  inside  a
              user-defined widget.  The following code sets the base to 16 and
              lets the user input a hexadecimal argument until a  key  out  of
              the digit range is typed:

                     zle argument-base 16
                     zle universal-argument

   Completion
       accept-and-menu-complete
              In  a  menu  completion,  insert the current completion into the
              buffer, and advance to the next possible completion.

       complete-word
              Attempt completion on the current word.

       delete-char-or-list (^D) (unbound) (unbound)
              Delete the character under the cursor.  If the cursor is at  the
              end of the line, list possible completions for the current word.

       expand-cmd-path
              Expand the current command to its full pathname.

       expand-or-complete (TAB) (unbound) (TAB)
              Attempt shell expansion on the current word.  If that fails, at-
              tempt completion.

       expand-or-complete-prefix
              Attempt shell expansion on the current word up to cursor.

       expand-history (ESC-space ESC-!) (unbound) (unbound)
              Perform history expansion on the edit buffer.

       expand-word (^X*) (unbound) (unbound)
              Attempt shell expansion on the current word.

       list-choices (ESC-^D) (^D =) (^D)
              List possible completions for the current word.

       list-expand (^Xg ^XG) (^G) (^G)
              List the expansion of the current word.

       magic-space
              Perform history expansion and insert a space  into  the  buffer.
              This is intended to be bound to space.

       menu-complete
              Like  complete-word,  except  that menu completion is used.  See
              the MENU_COMPLETE option.

       menu-expand-or-complete
              Like expand-or-complete, except that menu completion is used.

       reverse-menu-complete
              Perform menu completion, like menu-complete, except  that  if  a
              menu  completion  is  already  in progress, move to the previous
              completion rather than the next.

       end-of-list
              When a previous completion displayed a list  below  the  prompt,
              this widget can be used to move the prompt below the list.

   Miscellaneous
       accept-and-hold (ESC-A ESC-a) (unbound) (unbound)
              Push  the contents of the buffer on the buffer stack and execute
              it.

       accept-and-infer-next-history
              Execute the contents of the buffer.   Then  search  the  history
              list for a line matching the current one and push the event fol-
              lowing onto the buffer stack.

       accept-line (^J ^M) (^J ^M) (^J ^M)
              Finish editing the buffer.  Normally this causes the  buffer  to
              be executed as a shell command.

       accept-line-and-down-history (^O) (unbound) (unbound)
              Execute the current line, and push the next history event on the
              buffer stack.

       auto-suffix-remove
              If the previous action added a suffix (space,  slash,  etc.)  to
              the  word on the command line, remove it.  Otherwise do nothing.
              Removing the suffix ends any active menu completion or menu  se-
              lection.

              This  widget  is intended to be called from user-defined widgets
              to enforce a desired suffix-removal behavior.

       auto-suffix-retain
              If the previous action added a suffix (space,  slash,  etc.)  to
              the  word on the command line, force it to be preserved.  Other-
              wise do nothing.  Retaining the suffix ends any active menu com-
              pletion or menu selection.

              This  widget  is intended to be called from user-defined widgets
              to enforce a desired suffix-preservation behavior.

       beep   Beep, unless the BEEP option is unset.

       bracketed-paste
              This widget is invoked when text is pasted to the terminal  emu-
              lator. It is not intended to be bound to actual keys but instead
              to the special sequence generated by the terminal emulator  when
              text is pasted.

              When  invoked  interactively, the pasted text is inserted to the
              buffer and placed in the cutbuffer.  If a  numeric  argument  is
              given,  shell  quoting will be applied to the pasted text before
              it is inserted.

              When a named buffer is specified with  vi-set-buffer  ("x),  the
              pasted text is stored in that named buffer but not inserted.

              When  called  from  a widget function as `bracketed-paste name`,
              the pasted text is assigned to the variable name  and  no  other
              processing is done.

              See also the zle_bracketed_paste parameter.

       vi-cmd-mode (^X^V) (unbound) (^[)
              Enter  command  mode;  that is, select the `vicmd' keymap.  Yes,
              this is bound by default in emacs mode.

       vi-caps-lock-panic
              Hang until any lowercase key is pressed.  This is for  vi  users
              without the mental capacity to keep track of their caps lock key
              (like the author).

       clear-screen (^L ESC-^L) (^L) (^L)
              Clear the screen and redraw the prompt.

       deactivate-region
              Make the current region inactive. This disables vim-style visual
              selection mode if it is active.

       describe-key-briefly
              Reads a key sequence, then prints the function bound to that se-
              quence.

       exchange-point-and-mark (^X^X) (unbound) (unbound)
              Exchange the cursor position (point) with the  position  of  the
              mark.   Unless  a negative numeric argument is given, the region
              between point and mark is activated so  that  it  can  be  high-
              lighted.  If a zero numeric argument is given, the region is ac-
              tivated but point and mark are not swapped.

       execute-named-cmd (ESC-x) (:) (unbound)
              Read the name of an editor command  and  execute  it.   Aliasing
              this  widget  with `zle -A' or replacing it with `zle -N' has no
              effect  when  interpreting   key   bindings,   but   `zle   exe-
              cute-named-cmd' will invoke such an alias or replacement.

              A  restricted  set  of  editing  functions  is  available in the
              mini-buffer.  Keys are looked up in the special command  keymap,
              and if not found there in the main keymap.  An interrupt signal,
              as defined by the stty setting, will abort the  function.   Note
              that  the following always perform the same task within the exe-
              cuted-named-cmd environment and cannot be replaced by  user  de-
              fined  widgets,  nor  can the set of functions be extended.  The
              allowed   functions    are:    backward-delete-char,    vi-back-
              ward-delete-char,    clear-screen,   redisplay,   quoted-insert,
              vi-quoted-insert,   backward-kill-word,   vi-backward-kill-word,
              kill-whole-line, vi-kill-line, backward-kill-line, list-choices,
              delete-char-or-list, complete-word, accept-line,  expand-or-com-
              plete and expand-or-complete-prefix.

              kill-region  kills the last word, and vi-cmd-mode is treated the
              same as accept-line.  The space and tab characters, if not bound
              to  one of these functions, will complete the name and then list
              the possibilities if the AUTO_LIST option  is  set.   Any  other
              character that is not bound to self-insert or self-insert-unmeta
              will beep and be ignored.  The bindings of  the  current  insert
              mode will be used.

              Currently this command may not be redefined or called by name.

       execute-last-named-cmd (ESC-z) (unbound) (unbound)
              Redo the last function executed with execute-named-cmd.

              Like  execute-named-cmd,  this command may not be redefined, but
              it may be called by name.

       get-line (ESC-G ESC-g) (unbound) (unbound)
              Pop the top line off the buffer stack and insert it at the  cur-
              sor position.

       pound-insert (unbound) (#) (unbound)
              If  there  is no # character at the beginning of the buffer, add
              one to the beginning of each line.  If there is one, remove a  #
              from each line that has one.  In either case, accept the current
              line.  The INTERACTIVE_COMMENTS option must be set for  this  to
              have any usefulness.

       vi-pound-insert
              If there is no # character at the beginning of the current line,
              add one.  If there is one, remove it.  The  INTERACTIVE_COMMENTS
              option must be set for this to have any usefulness.

       push-input
              Push  the  entire  current  multiline  construct onto the buffer
              stack and return to the top-level (PS1) prompt.  If the  current
              parser  construct  is  only  a single line, this is exactly like
              push-line.  Next time the editor starts up  or  is  popped  with
              get-line, the construct will be popped off the top of the buffer
              stack and loaded into the editing buffer.

       push-line (^Q ESC-Q ESC-q) (unbound) (unbound)
              Push the current buffer onto the buffer stack and clear the buf-
              fer.   Next time the editor starts up, the buffer will be popped
              off the top of the buffer stack and loaded into the editing buf-
              fer.

       push-line-or-edit
              At  the  top-level  (PS1) prompt, equivalent to push-line.  At a
              secondary (PS2) prompt, move the entire current  multiline  con-
              struct  into  the  editor  buffer.   The latter is equivalent to
              push-input followed by get-line.

       read-command
              Only useful from a user-defined widget.   A  keystroke  is  read
              just  as  in  normal operation, but instead of the command being
              executed the name of the  command  that  would  be  executed  is
              stored  in  the  shell parameter REPLY.  This can be used as the
              argument of a future zle command.  If the key  sequence  is  not
              bound, status 1 is returned; typically, however, REPLY is set to
              undefined-key to indicate a useless key sequence.

       recursive-edit
              Only useful from a user-defined widget.  At this  point  in  the
              function,  the  editor regains control until one of the standard
              widgets which would normally cause zle to exit (typically an ac-
              cept-line  caused  by  hitting the return key) is executed.  In-
              stead, control returns to the user-defined widget.   The  status
              returned  is  non-zero if the return was caused by an error, but
              the function still continues executing and hence  may  tidy  up.
              This makes it safe for the user-defined widget to alter the com-
              mand line or key bindings temporarily.

              The following widget, caps-lock, serves as an example.

                     self-insert-ucase() {
                       LBUFFER+=${(U)KEYS[-1]}
                     }

                     integer stat

                     zle -N self-insert self-insert-ucase
                     zle -A caps-lock save-caps-lock
                     zle -A accept-line caps-lock

                     zle recursive-edit
                     stat=$?

                     zle -A .self-insert self-insert
                     zle -A save-caps-lock caps-lock
                     zle -D save-caps-lock

                     (( stat )) && zle send-break

                     return $stat

              This causes typed letters to be inserted capitalised  until  ei-
              ther accept-line (i.e. typically the return key) is typed or the
              caps-lock widget is invoked again; the later is handled by  sav-
              ing  the  old definition of caps-lock as save-caps-lock and then
              rebinding it to invoke accept-line.  Note that an error from the
              recursive edit is detected as a non-zero return status and prop-
              agated by using the send-break widget.

       redisplay (unbound) (^R) (^R)
              Redisplays the edit buffer.

       reset-prompt (unbound) (unbound) (unbound)
              Force the prompts on both the left and right of the screen to be
              re-expanded,  then  redisplay  the  edit  buffer.  This reflects
              changes both to the prompt variables themselves and  changes  in
              the expansion of the values (for example, changes in time or di-
              rectory, or changes to the value of variables referred to by the
              prompt).

              Otherwise, the prompt is only expanded each time zle starts, and
              when the display has been interrupted  by  output  from  another
              part  of the shell (such as a job notification) which causes the
              command line to be reprinted.

              reset-prompt doesn't alter the special parameter LASTWIDGET.

       send-break (^G ESC-^G) (unbound) (unbound)
              Abort the current editor function,  e.g.  execute-named-command,
              or  the editor itself, e.g. if you are in vared. Otherwise abort
              the parsing of the current line; in this case the  aborted  line
              is available in the shell variable ZLE_LINE_ABORTED.  If the ed-
              itor   is   aborted   from   within    vared,    the    variable
              ZLE_VARED_ABORTED is set.

       run-help (ESC-H ESC-h) (unbound) (unbound)
              Push  the  buffer onto the buffer stack, and execute the command
              `run-help cmd', where cmd is the current command.   run-help  is
              normally aliased to man.

       vi-set-buffer (unbound) (") (unbound)
              Specify a buffer to be used in the following command.  There are
              37 buffers that can be specified: the 26 `named' buffers  "a  to
              "z, the `yank' buffer "0, the nine `queued' buffers "1 to "9 and
              the `black hole' buffer "_.  The named buffers can also be spec-
              ified as "A to "Z.

              When  a  buffer  is specified for a cut, change or yank command,
              the text concerned replaces the previous contents of the  speci-
              fied buffer. If a named buffer is specified using a capital, the
              newly cut text is appended to the buffer instead of  overwriting
              it.  When using the "_ buffer, nothing happens. This can be use-
              ful for deleting text without affecting any buffers.

              If no buffer is specified for a cut or  change  command,  "1  is
              used,  and  the  contents of "1 to "8 are each shifted along one
              buffer; the contents of "9 is lost. If no  buffer  is  specified
              for a yank command, "0 is used. Finally, a paste command without
              a specified buffer will paste the text from the most recent com-
              mand  regardless  of  any  buffer that might have been used with
              that command.

              When called from a widget function by the zle command, the  buf-
              fer can optionally be specified with an argument. For example,

                     zle vi-set-buffer A

       vi-set-mark (unbound) (m) (unbound)
              Set the specified mark at the cursor position.

       set-mark-command (^@) (unbound) (unbound)
              Set  the mark at the cursor position.  If called with a negative
              numeric argument, do not set the mark but deactivate the  region
              so  that  it  is  no  longer highlighted (it is still usable for
              other purposes).  Otherwise the region is marked as active.

       spell-word (ESC-$ ESC-S ESC-s) (unbound) (unbound)
              Attempt spelling correction on the current word.

       split-undo
              Breaks the undo sequence at the current change.  This is  useful
              in  vi  mode as changes made in insert mode are coalesced on en-
              tering command mode.  Similarly, undo will  normally  revert  as
              one all the changes made by a user-defined widget.

       undefined-key
              This  command  is executed when a key sequence that is not bound
              to any command is typed.  By default it beeps.

       undo (^_ ^Xu ^X^U) (u) (unbound)
              Incrementally undo the last text modification.  When called from
              a  user-defined  widget, takes an optional argument indicating a
              previous  state  of  the  undo  history  as  returned   by   the
              UNDO_CHANGE_NO  variable;  modifications  are  undone until that
              state  is  reached,  subject  to  any  limit  imposed   by   the
              UNDO_LIMIT_NO variable.

              Note  that  when  invoked  from  vi command mode, the full prior
              change made in insert mode is reverted, the changes having  been
              merged when command mode was selected.

       redo (unbound) (^R) (unbound)
              Incrementally redo undone text modifications.

       vi-undo-change (unbound) (unbound) (unbound)
              Undo  the last text modification.  If repeated, redo the modifi-
              cation.

       visual-mode (unbound) (v) (unbound)
              Toggle vim-style visual selection mode. If line-wise visual mode
              is currently enabled then it is changed to being character-wise.
              If used following an operator, it forces the subsequent movement
              command to be treated as a character-wise movement.

       visual-line-mode (unbound) (V) (unbound)
              Toggle  vim-style  line-wise  visual  selection mode. If charac-
              ter-wise visual mode is currently enabled then it is changed  to
              being  line-wise.  If  used following an operator, it forces the
              subsequent movement command to be treated as a  line-wise  move-
              ment.

       what-cursor-position (^X=) (ga) (unbound)
              Print the character under the cursor, its code as an octal, dec-
              imal and hexadecimal number, the current cursor position  within
              the buffer and the column of the cursor in the current line.

       where-is
              Read  the name of an editor command and print the listing of key
              sequences that invoke the specified command.  A  restricted  set
              of  editing functions is available in the mini-buffer.  Keys are
              looked up in the special command keymap, and if not found  there
              in the main keymap.

       which-command (ESC-?) (unbound) (unbound)
              Push  the  buffer onto the buffer stack, and execute the command
              `which-command  cmd'.  where  cmd  is   the   current   command.
              which-command is normally aliased to whence.

       vi-digit-or-beginning-of-line (unbound) (0) (unbound)
              If the last command executed was a digit as part of an argument,
              continue the argument.  Otherwise, execute vi-beginning-of-line.

   Text Objects
       Text objects are commands that can be used to select a  block  of  text
       according  to  some criteria. They are a feature of the vim text editor
       and so are primarily intended for use with vi operators or from  visual
       selection  mode. However, they can also be used from vi-insert or emacs
       mode. Key bindings listed below apply to the viopp and visual keymaps.

       select-a-blank-word (aW)
              Select a word including adjacent blanks, where a word is defined
              as  a  series  of non-blank characters. With a numeric argument,
              multiple words will be selected.

       select-a-shell-word (aa)
              Select the current command argument applying  the  normal  rules
              for quoting.

       select-a-word (aw)
              Select  a  word  including  adjacent  blanks,  using  the normal
              vi-style word definition.  With  a  numeric  argument,  multiple
              words will be selected.

       select-in-blank-word (iW)
              Select  a word, where a word is defined as a series of non-blank
              characters. With a numeric argument, multiple words will be  se-
              lected.

       select-in-shell-word (ia)
              Select  the  current  command argument applying the normal rules
              for quoting. If the argument begins and ends with matching quote
              characters, these are not included in the selection.

       select-in-word (iw)
              Select a word, using the normal vi-style word definition. With a
              numeric argument, multiple words will be selected.

CHARACTER HIGHLIGHTING
       The line editor has the ability to highlight characters or  regions  of
       the  line  that  have a particular significance.  This is controlled by
       the array parameter zle_highlight, if it has been set by the user.

       If the parameter contains the single entry  none  all  highlighting  is
       turned off.  Note the parameter is still expected to be an array.

       Otherwise each entry of the array should consist of a word indicating a
       context for highlighting, then a colon, then a comma-separated list  of
       the types of highlighting to apply in that context.

       The contexts available for highlighting are the following:

       default
              Any text within the command line not affected by any other high-
              lighting.  Text outside the editable area of the command line is
              not affected.

       isearch
              When  one  of  the incremental history search widgets is active,
              the area of the command line matched by  the  search  string  or
              pattern.

       region The  currently  selected text. In emacs terminology, this is re-
              ferred to as the region and is bounded by the cursor (point) and
              the  mark. The region is only highlighted if it is active, which
              is the case after the mark is modified with set-mark-command  or
              exchange-point-and-mark.  Note that whether or not the region is
              active has no effect on its use within emacs style  widgets,  it
              simply determines whether it is highlighted. In vi mode, the re-
              gion corresponds to selected text in visual mode.

       special
              Individual characters that have no direct printable  representa-
              tion  but  are  shown  in  a  special manner by the line editor.
              These characters are described below.

       suffix This context is used  in  completion  for  characters  that  are
              marked  as  suffixes that will be removed if the completion ends
              at that point, the most obvious example being a slash (/)  after
              a directory name.  Note that suffix removal is configurable; the
              circumstances under which the suffix will be removed may  differ
              for different completions.

       paste  Following  a command to paste text, the characters that were in-
              serted.

       When region_highlight is set, the contexts that describe  a  region  --
       isearch,  region,  suffix,  and  paste  --  are applied first, then re-
       gion_highlight is applied, then the  remaining  zle_highlight  contexts
       are  applied.  If a particular character is affected by multiple speci-
       fications, the last specification wins.

       zle_highlight may contain additional fields for controlling how  termi-
       nal  sequences  to change colours are output.  Each of the following is
       followed by a colon and a string in the same form as for key  bindings.
       This  will  not  be necessary for the vast majority of terminals as the
       defaults shown in parentheses are widely used.

       fg_start_code (\e[3)
              The start of the escape  sequence  for  the  foreground  colour.
              This  is  followed by one to three ASCII digits representing the
              colour.  Only used for palette colors, i.e.  not  24-bit  colors
              specified via a color triplet.

       fg_default_code (9)
              The  number  to  use  instead of the colour to reset the default
              foreground colour.

       fg_end_code (m)
              The end of the escape sequence for the foreground colour.

       bg_start_code (\e[4)
              The start of the escape sequence for the background colour.  See
              fg_start_code above.

       bg_default_code (9)
              The  number  to  use  instead of the colour to reset the default
              background colour.

       bg_end_code (m)
              The end of the escape sequence for the background colour.

       The available types of highlighting are the following.  Note  that  not
       all types of highlighting are available on all terminals:

       none   No highlighting is applied to the given context.  It is not use-
              ful for this to appear with other types of highlighting;  it  is
              used to override a default.

       fg=colour
              The  foreground  colour should be set to colour, a decimal inte-
              ger, the name of one of the eight most widely-supported  colours
              or as a `#' followed by an RGB triplet in hexadecimal format.

              Not  all  terminals  support this and, of those that do, not all
              provide facilities to test the support, hence  the  user  should
              decide  based  on the terminal type.  Most terminals support the
              colours black, red,  green,  yellow,  blue,  magenta,  cyan  and
              white,  which  can  be set by name.  In addition. default may be
              used to set the terminal's default foreground colour.  Abbrevia-
              tions  are  allowed;  b or bl selects black.  Some terminals may
              generate additional  colours  if  the  bold  attribute  is  also
              present.

              On  recent  terminals and on systems with an up-to-date terminal
              database the number of colours supported may be  tested  by  the
              command  `echotc  Co'; if this succeeds, it indicates a limit on
              the number of colours which will be enforced by the line editor.
              The  number  of  colours is in any case limited to 256 (i.e. the
              range 0 to 255).

              Some modern terminal emulators  have  support  for  24-bit  true
              colour  (16 million colours). In this case, the hex triplet for-
              mat can be used. This consists of a `#'  followed  by  either  a
              three  or six digit hexadecimal number describing the red, green
              and blue components of the colour. Hex triplets can also be used
              with  88  and  256 colour terminals via the zsh/nearcolor module
              (see zshmodules(1)).

              Colour is also known as color.

       bg=colour
              The background colour should be set to colour.  This works simi-
              larly  to  the  foreground  colour, except the background is not
              usually affected by the bold attribute.

       bold   The characters in the given context are shown in  a  bold  font.
              Not all terminals distinguish bold fonts.

       standout
              The  characters in the given context are shown in the terminal's
              standout mode.  The actual effect is specific to  the  terminal;
              on  many terminals it is inverse video.  On some such terminals,
              where the cursor does not blink it appears  with  standout  mode
              negated, making it less than clear where the cursor actually is.
              On such terminals one of the other effects may be preferable for
              highlighting the region and matched search string.

       underline
              The  characters in the given context are shown underlined.  Some
              terminals show the foreground in a different colour instead;  in
              this case whitespace will not be highlighted.

       The  characters  described above as `special' are as follows.  The for-
       matting described here is used irrespective of whether  the  characters
       are highlighted:

       ASCII control characters
              Control  characters in the ASCII range are shown as `^' followed
              by the base character.

       Unprintable multibyte characters
              This item applies to control characters not in the ASCII  range,
              plus other characters as follows.  If the MULTIBYTE option is in
              effect, multibyte characters not in the ASCII character set that
              are reported as having zero width are treated as combining char-
              acters when the option COMBINING_CHARS is on.  If the option  is
              off,  or  if  a character appears where a combining character is
              not valid, the character is treated as unprintable.

              Unprintable multibyte characters are shown as a hexadecimal num-
              ber between angle brackets.  The number is the code point of the
              character in the wide character set; this may or may not be Uni-
              code, depending on the operating system.

       Invalid multibyte characters
              If  the  MULTIBYTE  option  is in effect, any sequence of one or
              more bytes that does not form a valid character in  the  current
              character  set  is  treated as a series of bytes each shown as a
              special character.  This case can be  distinguished  from  other
              unprintable characters as the bytes are represented as two hexa-
              decimal digits between angle brackets, as distinct from the four
              or  eight  digits  that are used for unprintable characters that
              are nonetheless valid in the current character set.

              Not all systems support this: for it to work, the system's  rep-
              resentation of wide characters must be code values from the Uni-
              versal Character Set, as defined by IS0  10646  (also  known  as
              Unicode).

       Wrapped double-width characters
              When  a  double-width character appears in the final column of a
              line, it is instead shown on the next line. The empty space left
              in the original position is highlighted as a special character.

       If  zle_highlight  is  not set or no value applies to a particular con-
       text, the defaults applied are equivalent to

              zle_highlight=(region:standout special:standout
              suffix:bold isearch:underline paste:standout)

       i.e. both the region and special characters are shown in standout mode.

       Within widgets, arbitrary regions may be  highlighted  by  setting  the
       special array parameter region_highlight; see above.

ZSHCOMPWID(1)               General Commands Manual              ZSHCOMPWID(1)

NAME
       zshcompwid - zsh completion widgets

DESCRIPTION
       The shell's programmable completion mechanism can be manipulated in two
       ways; here the low-level features supporting the newer,  function-based
       mechanism  are  defined.   A  complete  set of shell functions based on
       these features is described in zshcompsys(1), and users with no  inter-
       est in adding to that system (or, potentially, writing their own -- see
       dictionary entry for `hubris') should skip the  current  section.   The
       older  system based on the compctl builtin command is described in zsh-
       compctl(1).

       Completion widgets are defined by the -C option to the zle builtin com-
       mand provided by the zsh/zle module (see zshzle(1)). For example,

              zle -C complete expand-or-complete completer

       defines  a widget named `complete'.  The second argument is the name of
       any of the builtin widgets that handle completions: complete-word,  ex-
       pand-or-complete,  expand-or-complete-prefix,  menu-complete,  menu-ex-
       pand-or-complete,     reverse-menu-complete,      list-choices,      or
       delete-char-or-list.  Note that this will still work even if the widget
       in question has been re-bound.

       When this newly defined widget is bound to  a  key  using  the  bindkey
       builtin  command  defined in the zsh/zle module (see zshzle(1)), typing
       that key will call the shell function `completer'. This function is re-
       sponsible  for  generating  the possible matches using the builtins de-
       scribed below.  As with other ZLE widgets, the function is called  with
       its standard input closed.

       Once the function returns, the completion code takes over control again
       and treats the matches in the same manner as the specified builtin wid-
       get, in this case expand-or-complete.

COMPLETION SPECIAL PARAMETERS
       The  parameters  ZLE_REMOVE_SUFFIX_CHARS and ZLE_SPACE_SUFFIX_CHARS are
       used by the completion mechanism, but are not special.  See  Parameters
       Used By The Shell in zshparam(1).

       Inside completion widgets, and any functions called from them, some pa-
       rameters have special meaning; outside these  functions  they  are  not
       special to the shell in any way.  These parameters are used to pass in-
       formation between the completion code and the completion  widget.  Some
       of  the builtin commands and the condition codes use or change the cur-
       rent values of these parameters.  Any existing values  will  be  hidden
       during  execution  of completion widgets; except for compstate, the pa-
       rameters are reset on each function  exit  (including  nested  function
       calls  from  within  the completion widget) to the values they had when
       the function was entered.

       CURRENT
              This is the number of the current word, i.e. the word the cursor
              is  currently  on  in  the words array.  Note that this value is
              only correct if the ksharrays option is not set.

       IPREFIX
              Initially this will be set to the empty string.  This  parameter
              functions  like  PREFIX; it contains a string which precedes the
              one in PREFIX and is not considered part of the list of matches.
              Typically,  a string is transferred from the beginning of PREFIX
              to the end of IPREFIX, for example:

                     IPREFIX=${PREFIX%%\=*}=
                     PREFIX=${PREFIX#*=}

              causes the part of the prefix up  to  and  including  the  first
              equal  sign not to be treated as part of a matched string.  This
              can be done automatically by the compset builtin, see below.

       ISUFFIX
              As IPREFIX, but for a suffix that should not be considered  part
              of  the matches; note that the ISUFFIX string follows the SUFFIX
              string.

       PREFIX Initially this will be set to the part of the current word  from
              the  beginning  of the word up to the position of the cursor; it
              may be altered to give a common prefix for all matches.

       QIPREFIX
              This parameter is read-only and contains the quoted string up to
              the  word being completed. E.g. when completing `"foo', this pa-
              rameter contains the double quote. If the -q option  of  compset
              is used (see below), and the original string was `"foo bar' with
              the cursor on the `bar', this parameter contains `"foo '.

       QISUFFIX
              Like QIPREFIX, but containing the suffix.

       SUFFIX Initially this will be set to the part of the current word  from
              the cursor position to the end; it may be altered to give a com-
              mon suffix for all matches.  It is most useful when  the  option
              COMPLETE_IN_WORD is set, as otherwise the whole word on the com-
              mand line is treated as a prefix.

       compstate
              This is an associative array with various keys and  values  that
              the  completion  code uses to exchange information with the com-
              pletion widget.  The keys are:

              all_quotes
                     The -q option of the compset builtin command (see  below)
                     allows  a quoted string to be broken into separate words;
                     if the cursor is on one of those words, that word will be
                     completed,  possibly  invoking  `compset -q' recursively.
                     With this key it is possible to test the types of  quoted
                     strings  which  are  currently  broken into parts in this
                     fashion.  Its value contains one character for each quot-
                     ing level.  The characters are a single quote or a double
                     quote for strings quoted with these characters, a dollars
                     sign  for  strings quoted with $'...' and a backslash for
                     strings not starting with a quote character.   The  first
                     character  in  the value always corresponds to the inner-
                     most quoting level.

              context
                     This will be set by the completion code  to  the  overall
                     context in which completion is attempted. Possible values
                     are:

                     array_value
                            when completing inside the value of an  array  pa-
                            rameter  assignment;  in this case the words array
                            contains the words inside the parentheses.

                     brace_parameter
                            when completing the name of a parameter in  a  pa-
                            rameter expansion beginning with ${.  This context
                            will also be set when completing  parameter  flags
                            following  ${(;  the full command line argument is
                            presented and the handler must test the  value  to
                            be completed to ascertain that this is the case.

                     assign_parameter
                            when  completing  the name of a parameter in a pa-
                            rameter assignment.

                     command
                            when completing for a normal  command  (either  in
                            command  position  or  for an argument of the com-
                            mand).

                     condition
                            when completing inside a `[[...]]' conditional ex-
                            pression;  in  this  case the words array contains
                            only the words inside the conditional expression.

                     math   when completing in a mathematical environment such
                            as a `((...))' construct.

                     parameter
                            when  completing  the name of a parameter in a pa-
                            rameter expansion beginning with $ but not ${.

                     redirect
                            when completing after a redirection operator.

                     subscript
                            when completing inside a parameter subscript.

                     value  when completing the value of a  parameter  assign-
                            ment.

              exact  Controls  the behaviour when the REC_EXACT option is set.
                     It will be set to accept if an exact match would  be  ac-
                     cepted, and will be unset otherwise.

                     If it was set when at least one match equal to the string
                     on the line was generated, the match is accepted.

              exact_string
                     The string of an exact match if one was found,  otherwise
                     unset.

              ignored
                     The  number  of  words  that  were  ignored  because they
                     matched one of the patterns given with the -F  option  to
                     the compadd builtin command.

              insert This  controls  the  manner  in which a match is inserted
                     into the command line.  On entry to the widget  function,
                     if  it is unset the command line is not to be changed; if
                     set to unambiguous, any prefix common to all  matches  is
                     to  be inserted; if set to automenu-unambiguous, the com-
                     mon prefix is to be inserted and the next  invocation  of
                     the completion code may start menu completion (due to the
                     AUTO_MENU option being set); if set to menu  or  automenu
                     menu completion will be started for the matches currently
                     generated (in the latter case this  will  happen  because
                     the  AUTO_MENU  is  set).  The value may also contain the
                     string `tab' when the completion code would normally  not
                     really do completion, but only insert the TAB character.

                     On  exit  it may be set to any of the values above (where
                     setting it to the empty string is the same  as  unsetting
                     it), or to a number, in which case the match whose number
                     is given will be inserted into the command  line.   Nega-
                     tive  numbers  count  backward  from the last match (with
                     `-1' selecting the last match)  and  out-of-range  values
                     are  wrapped  around, so that a value of zero selects the
                     last match and a value one more than the maximum  selects
                     the  first. Unless the value of this key ends in a space,
                     the match is inserted as in a menu completion, i.e. with-
                     out automatically appending a space.

                     Both menu and automenu may also specify the number of the
                     match to insert,  given  after  a  colon.   For  example,
                     `menu:2'  says  to  start menu completion, beginning with
                     the second match.

                     Note that a value containing the  substring  `tab'  makes
                     the  matches generated be ignored and only the TAB be in-
                     serted.

                     Finally, it may also be  set  to  all,  which  makes  all
                     matches generated be inserted into the line.

              insert_positions
                     When  the completion system inserts an unambiguous string
                     into the line, there may be multiple places where charac-
                     ters  are missing or where the character inserted differs
                     from at least one match.  The value of this key  contains
                     a colon separated list of all these positions, as indexes
                     into the command line.

              last_prompt
                     If this is set to a  non-empty  string  for  every  match
                     added,  the  completion code will move the cursor back to
                     the previous prompt after the  list  of  completions  has
                     been displayed.  Initially this is set or unset according
                     to the ALWAYS_LAST_PROMPT option.

              list   This controls whether or how the list of matches will  be
                     displayed.   If  it  is unset or empty they will never be
                     listed; if its value begins with list, they  will  always
                     be  listed; if it begins with autolist or ambiguous, they
                     will be listed when the AUTO_LIST or  LIST_AMBIGUOUS  op-
                     tions respectively would normally cause them to be.

                     If  the  substring force appears in the value, this makes
                     the list be shown even if there is only one  match.  Nor-
                     mally, the list would be shown only if there are at least
                     two matches.

                     The  value  contains  the   substring   packed   if   the
                     LIST_PACKED option is set. If this substring is given for
                     all matches added to a group, this group  will  show  the
                     LIST_PACKED   behavior.   The   same   is  done  for  the
                     LIST_ROWS_FIRST option with the substring rows.

                     Finally, if the value contains the  string  explanations,
                     only  the explanation strings, if any, will be listed and
                     if it contains messages, only the  messages  (added  with
                     the -x option of compadd) will be listed.  If it contains
                     both explanations and messages both kinds of  explanation
                     strings  will be listed.  It will be set appropriately on
                     entry to a completion widget and may be changed there.

              list_lines
                     This gives the number of lines that are needed to display
                     the full list of completions.  Note that to calculate the
                     total number of lines to display you need to add the num-
                     ber  of  lines needed for the command line to this value,
                     this is available as the value of the BUFFERLINES special
                     parameter.

              list_max
                     Initially this is set to the value of the LISTMAX parame-
                     ter.  It may be set to any other value; when  the  widget
                     exits  this  value  will  be  used in the same way as the
                     value of LISTMAX.

              nmatches
                     The number of matches generated and accepted by the  com-
                     pletion code so far.

              old_insert
                     On  entry to the widget this will be set to the number of
                     the match of an old list of completions that is currently
                     inserted  into the command line. If no match has been in-
                     serted, this is unset.

                     As with old_list, the value of this key will only be used
                     if  it is the string keep. If it was set to this value by
                     the widget and there was an old match inserted  into  the
                     command line, this match will be kept and if the value of
                     the insert key specifies that another match should be in-
                     serted, this will be inserted after the old one.

              old_list
                     This is set to yes if there is still a valid list of com-
                     pletions from a previous completion at the time the  wid-
                     get  is  invoked.   This  will usually be the case if and
                     only if the previous editing operation was  a  completion
                     widget  or  one  of the builtin completion functions.  If
                     there is a valid list and it is also currently  shown  on
                     the screen, the value of this key is shown.

                     After the widget has exited the value of this key is only
                     used if it was set to keep.  In this case the  completion
                     code  will  continue to use this old list.  If the widget
                     generated new matches, they will not be used.

              parameter
                     The name of the parameter when completing in a  subscript
                     or in the value of a parameter assignment.

              pattern_insert
                     Normally  this  is set to menu, which specifies that menu
                     completion will be used whenever a  set  of  matches  was
                     generated  using  pattern  matching.  If it is set to any
                     other non-empty string by the user and menu completion is
                     not  selected by other option settings, the code will in-
                     stead insert any common prefix for the generated  matches
                     as with normal completion.

              pattern_match
                     Locally controls the behaviour given by the GLOB_COMPLETE
                     option.  Initially it is set to `*' if and  only  if  the
                     option  is set.  The completion widget may set it to this
                     value, to an empty string (which has the same  effect  as
                     unsetting  it),  or to any other non-empty string.  If it
                     is non-empty, unquoted metacharacters on the command line
                     will be treated as patterns; if it is `*', then addition-
                     ally a wildcard `*' is assumed at the cursor position; if
                     it is empty or unset, metacharacters will be treated lit-
                     erally.

                     Note that the matcher specifications given to the compadd
                     builtin  command  are  not  used  if  this  is  set  to a
                     non-empty string.

              quote  When completing inside quotes, this contains  the  quota-
                     tion  character  (i.e.  either  a  single quote, a double
                     quote, or a backtick).  Otherwise it is unset.

              quoting
                     When completing inside single quotes, this is set to  the
                     string  single;  inside double quotes, the string double;
                     inside backticks, the string backtick.  Otherwise  it  is
                     unset.

              redirect
                     The redirection operator when completing in a redirection
                     position, i.e. one of <, >, etc.

              restore
                     This is set to auto before a function is  entered,  which
                     forces  the  special  parameters  mentioned above (words,
                     CURRENT, PREFIX, IPREFIX, SUFFIX, and ISUFFIX) to be  re-
                     stored  to their previous values when the function exits.
                     If a function unsets it or sets it to any  other  string,
                     they will not be restored.

              to_end Specifies  the  occasions on which the cursor is moved to
                     the end of a string when a match is inserted.   On  entry
                     to  a widget function, it may be single if this will hap-
                     pen when a single unambiguous match was inserted or match
                     if it will happen any time a match is inserted (for exam-
                     ple, by menu completion; this is likely to be the  effect
                     of the ALWAYS_TO_END option).

                     On  exit,  it may be set to single as above.  It may also
                     be set to always, or to the empty  string  or  unset;  in
                     those  cases  the  cursor will be moved to the end of the
                     string always or never respectively.  Any other string is
                     treated as match.

              unambiguous
                     This  key is read-only and will always be set to the com-
                     mon (unambiguous) prefix the completion code  has  gener-
                     ated for all matches added so far.

              unambiguous_cursor
                     This  gives the position the cursor would be placed at if
                     the common prefix in the unambiguous key  were  inserted,
                     relative  to  the  value of that key. The cursor would be
                     placed before the character whose index is given by  this
                     key.

              unambiguous_positions
                     This contains all positions where characters in the unam-
                     biguous string are missing or  where  the  character  in-
                     serted differs from at least one of the matches.  The po-
                     sitions are given as indexes into the string given by the
                     value of the unambiguous key.

              vared  If  completion  is  called while editing a line using the
                     vared builtin, the value of this key is set to  the  name
                     of the parameter given as an argument to vared.  This key
                     is only set while a vared command is active.

       words  This array contains the words present on the command  line  cur-
              rently being edited.

COMPLETION BUILTIN COMMANDS
       compadd [ -akqQfenUl12C ] [ -F array ]
               [-P prefix ] [ -S suffix ]
               [-p hidden-prefix ] [ -s hidden-suffix ]
               [-i ignored-prefix ] [ -I ignored-suffix ]
               [-W file-prefix ] [ -d array ]
               [-J group-name ] [ -X explanation ] [ -x message ]
               [-V group-name ] [ -o [ order ] ]
               [-r remove-chars ] [ -R remove-func ]
               [-D array ] [ -O array ] [ -A array ]
               [-E number ]
               [-M match-spec ] [ -- ] [ words ... ]

              This  builtin  command  can  be used to add matches directly and
              control all the information the completion code stores with each
              possible  match. The return status is zero if at least one match
              was added and non-zero if no matches were added.

              The completion code breaks the string  to  complete  into  seven
              fields in the order:

                     _ipre__apre__hpre__word__hsuf__asuf__isuf_

              The  first  field  is  an  ignored prefix taken from the command
              line, the contents of the  IPREFIX  parameter  plus  the  string
              given  with  the  -i option. With the -U option, only the string
              from the -i option is used. The field _apre_ is an optional pre-
              fix  string  given  with  the  -P option.  The _hpre_ field is a
              string that is considered part of the match but that should  not
              be shown when listing completions, given with the -p option; for
              example, functions that do filename generation might  specify  a
              common  path  prefix  this way.  _word_ is the part of the match
              that should appear in the list of completions, i.e. one  of  the
              words given at the end of the compadd command line. The suffixes
              _hsuf_, _asuf_ and _isuf_ correspond  to  the  prefixes  _hpre_,
              _apre_  and  _ipre_  and are given by the options -s, -S and -I,
              respectively.

              The supported flags are:

              -P prefix
                     This gives a string  to  be  inserted  before  the  given
                     words.  The string given is not considered as part of the
                     match and any shell metacharacters  in  it  will  not  be
                     quoted when the string is inserted.

              -S suffix
                     Like  -P,  but  gives  a  string to be inserted after the
                     match.

              -p hidden-prefix
                     This gives a string that should be inserted into the com-
                     mand  line before the match but that should not appear in
                     the list of matches. Unless the -U option is given,  this
                     string  must be matched as part of the string on the com-
                     mand line.

              -s hidden-suffix
                     Like `-p', but gives a string to insert after the match.

              -i ignored-prefix
                     This gives a string to insert into the command line  just
                     before  any  string  given with the `-P' option.  Without
                     `-P' the string is inserted before the string given  with
                     `-p' or directly before the match.

              -I ignored-suffix
                     Like -i, but gives an ignored suffix.

              -a     With this flag the words are taken as names of arrays and
                     the possible matches are their values.  If only some ele-
                     ments  of  the arrays are needed, the words may also con-
                     tain subscripts, as in `foo[2,-1]'.

              -k     With this flag the words are taken as names  of  associa-
                     tive  arrays and the possible matches are their keys.  As
                     for -a, the words may  also  contain  subscripts,  as  in
                     `foo[(R)*bar*]'.

              -d array
                     This  adds  per-match  display  strings. The array should
                     contain one element per word given. The  completion  code
                     will  then display the first element instead of the first
                     word, and so on. The array may be given as the name of an
                     array  parameter or directly as a space-separated list of
                     words in parentheses.

                     If there are fewer display strings than words, the  left-
                     over  words  will be displayed unchanged and if there are
                     more display strings than  words,  the  leftover  display
                     strings will be silently ignored.

              -l     This  option only has an effect if used together with the
                     -d option. If it is given, the display strings are listed
                     one per line, not arrayed in columns.

              -o [ order ]
                     This  controls the order in which matches are sorted. or-
                     der is a comma-separated list  comprising  the  following
                     possible  values.   These  values  can  be abbreviated to
                     their initial two or three characters.  Note that the or-
                     der  forms  part  of the group name space so matches with
                     different orderings will not be in the same group.

                     match  If given, the order of the output is determined by
                            the  match  strings; otherwise it is determined by
                            the display strings (i.e. the strings given by the
                            -d  option). This is the default if `-o' is speci-
                            fied but the order argument is omitted.

                     nosort This specifies that the matches are pre-sorted and
                            their  order should be preserved.  This value only
                            makes sense alone and cannot be combined with  any
                            others.

                     numeric
                            If  the matches include numbers, sort them numeri-
                            cally rather than lexicographically.

                     reverse
                            Arrange the matches  backwards  by  reversing  the
                            sort ordering.

              -J group-name
                     Gives  the  name of the group of matches the words should
                     be stored in.

              -V group-name
                     Like -J but naming an  unsorted  group.  This  option  is
                     identical to the combination of -J and -o nosort.

              -1     If given together with the -V option, makes only consecu-
                     tive duplicates in the group be removed. If combined with
                     the  -J  option,  this  has  no visible effect. Note that
                     groups with and without this flag are in  different  name
                     spaces.

              -2     If given together with the -J or -V option, makes all du-
                     plicates be kept. Again, groups  with  and  without  this
                     flag are in different name spaces.

              -X explanation
                     The  explanation  string will be printed with the list of
                     matches, above the group currently selected.

                     Within the explanation, the following  sequences  may  be
                     used  to  specify  output  attributes as described in the
                     section EXPANSION  OF  PROMPT  SEQUENCES  in  zshmisc(1):
                     `%B',  `%S',  `%U', `%F', `%K' and their lower case coun-
                     terparts, as well as `%{...%}'.  `%F', `%K' and `%{...%}'
                     take  arguments  in  the  same  form as prompt expansion.
                     (Note that the sequence `%G' is not available;  an  argu-
                     ment  to `%{' should be used instead.)  The sequence `%%'
                     produces a literal `%'.

                     These sequences are most often  employed  by  users  when
                     customising  the  format  style  (see zshcompsys(1)), but
                     they must also be taken into account when writing comple-
                     tion  functions,  as  passing descriptions with unescaped
                     `%' characters to utility functions  such  as  _arguments
                     and _message may produce unexpected results. If arbitrary
                     text is to be passed in a description, it can be  escaped
                     using e.g. ${my_str//\%/%%}.

              -x message
                     Like  -X,  but  the message will be printed even if there
                     are no matches in the group.

              -q     The suffix given with -S will be automatically removed if
                     the  next  character  typed is a blank or does not insert
                     anything, or if the suffix consists of only one character
                     and the next character typed is the same character.

              -r remove-chars
                     This is a more versatile form of the -q option.  The suf-
                     fix given with -S or the slash automatically added  after
                     completing  directories  will be automatically removed if
                     the next character typed inserts one  of  the  characters
                     given  in  the  remove-chars.  This string is parsed as a
                     characters class and understands the backslash  sequences
                     used by the print command.  For example, `-r "a-z\t"' re-
                     moves the suffix if the next character  typed  inserts  a
                     lower  case  character  or a TAB, and `-r "^0-9"' removes
                     the suffix if the next character typed  inserts  anything
                     but  a  digit. One extra backslash sequence is understood
                     in this string: `\-' stands for all characters  that  in-
                     sert  nothing. Thus `-S "=" -q' is the same as `-S "=" -r
                     "= \t\n\-"'.

                     This option may also be used without the -S option;  then
                     any automatically added space will be removed when one of
                     the characters in the list is typed.

              -R remove-func
                     This is another form of the -r option. When a suffix  has
                     been  inserted  and the completion accepted, the function
                     remove-func will  be  called  after  the  next  character
                     typed.  It is passed the length of the suffix as an argu-
                     ment and can use the special parameters available in  or-
                     dinary  (non-completion)  zle  widgets (see zshzle(1)) to
                     analyse and modify the command line.

              -f     If this flag is given, all  of  the  matches  built  from
                     words  are  marked as being the names of files.  They are
                     not required to be actual filenames, but if they are, and
                     the  option  LIST_TYPES is set, the characters describing
                     the types of the files in the completion  lists  will  be
                     shown. This also forces a slash to be added when the name
                     of a directory is completed.

              -e     This flag can be used to tell the  completion  code  that
                     the matches added are parameter names for a parameter ex-
                     pansion.  This  will  make   the   AUTO_PARAM_SLASH   and
                     AUTO_PARAM_KEYS options be used for the matches.

              -W file-prefix
                     This  string is a pathname that will be prepended to each
                     of the matches formed by the given  words  together  with
                     any  prefix specified by the -p option to form a complete
                     filename for testing.  Hence it is only  useful  if  com-
                     bined  with  the -f flag, as the tests will not otherwise
                     be performed.

              -F array
                     Specifies an array containing  patterns.  Words  matching
                     one of these patterns are ignored, i.e. not considered to
                     be possible matches.

                     The array may be the name of an array parameter or a list
                     of  literal  patterns enclosed in parentheses and quoted,
                     as in `-F "(*?.o *?.h)"'. If the  name  of  an  array  is
                     given,  the  elements  of the array are taken as the pat-
                     terns.

              -Q     This flag instructs the completion code not to quote  any
                     metacharacters  in the words when inserting them into the
                     command line.

              -M match-spec
                     This gives local match specifications as described  below
                     in the section `Completion Matching Control'. This option
                     may  be  given  more  than  once.   In  this   case   all
                     match-specs  given  are  concatenated with spaces between
                     them to form the specification string to use.  Note  that
                     they will only be used if the -U option is not given.

              -n     Specifies that the words added are to be used as possible
                     matches, but are not to appear in the completion listing.

              -U     If this flag is given, all words given will  be  accepted
                     and no matching will be done by the completion code. Nor-
                     mally this is used in  functions  that  do  the  matching
                     themselves.

              -O array
                     If  this  option is given, the words are not added to the
                     set of possible completions.  Instead, matching  is  done
                     as  usual  and  all  of the words given as arguments that
                     match the string on the command line will  be  stored  in
                     the array parameter whose name is given as array.

              -A array
                     As  the  -O  option,  except that instead of those of the
                     words which match being stored in array, the strings gen-
                     erated  internally by the completion code are stored. For
                     example, with a matching specification of `-M  "L:|no="',
                     the string `nof' on the command line and the string `foo'
                     as one of the words, this option stores the  string  `no-
                     foo' in the array, whereas the -O option stores the `foo'
                     originally given.

              -D array
                     As with -O, the words are not added to the set of  possi-
                     ble  completions.   Instead,  the  completion  code tests
                     whether each word in turn matches what is  on  the  line.
                     If  the  nth  word does not match, the nth element of the
                     array is removed.  Elements for which  the  corresponding
                     word is matched are retained.

              -C     This  option  adds  a  special match which expands to all
                     other matches when inserted into  the  line,  even  those
                     that  are added after this option is used.  Together with
                     the -d option it is possible to  specify  a  string  that
                     should  be  displayed in the list for this special match.
                     If no string is given, it will be shown as a string  con-
                     taining  the strings that would be inserted for the other
                     matches, truncated to the width of the screen.

              -E number
                     This option adds number empty  matches  after  the  words
                     have  been  added.  An empty match takes up space in com-
                     pletion listings but will never be inserted in  the  line
                     and can't be selected with menu completion or menu selec-
                     tion.  This makes empty matches  only  useful  to  format
                     completion  lists and to make explanatory string be shown
                     in completion lists (since empty  matches  can  be  given
                     display strings with the -d option).  And because all but
                     one empty string would otherwise be removed, this  option
                     implies the -V and -2 options (even if an explicit -J op-
                     tion is given).  This can be important to note as it  af-
                     fects the name space into which matches are added.

              -
              --     This  flag  ends the list of flags and options. All argu-
                     ments after it will be taken  as  the  words  to  use  as
                     matches even if they begin with hyphens.

              Except for the -M flag, if any of these flags is given more than
              once, the first one (and its argument) will be used.

       compset -p number
       compset -P [ number ] pattern
       compset -s number
       compset -S [ number ] pattern
       compset -n begin [ end ]
       compset -N beg-pat [ end-pat ]
       compset -q
              This command simplifies modification of the special  parameters,
              while its return status allows tests on them to be carried out.

              The options are:

              -p number
                     If  the  value of the PREFIX parameter is at least number
                     characters long, the first number characters are  removed
                     from  it  and appended to the contents of the IPREFIX pa-
                     rameter.

              -P [ number ] pattern
                     If the value of the PREFIX parameter begins with anything
                     that  matches the pattern, the matched portion is removed
                     from PREFIX and appended to IPREFIX.

                     Without the optional number, the longest match is  taken,
                     but if number is given, anything up to the numberth match
                     is moved.  If the number is negative, the numberth  long-
                     est  match  is moved. For example, if PREFIX contains the
                     string `a=b=c', then  compset  -P  '*\='  will  move  the
                     string  `a=b=' into the IPREFIX parameter, but compset -P
                     1 '*\=' will move only the string `a='.

              -s number
                     As -p, but transfer the last number characters  from  the
                     value of SUFFIX to the front of the value of ISUFFIX.

              -S [ number ] pattern
                     As  -P, but match the last portion of SUFFIX and transfer
                     the matched portion to the front of the value of ISUFFIX.

              -n begin [ end ]
                     If the current word position as specified by the  parame-
                     ter  CURRENT  is greater than or equal to begin, anything
                     up to the beginth word is removed from  the  words  array
                     and  the value of the parameter CURRENT is decremented by
                     begin.

                     If the optional end is given, the  modification  is  done
                     only  if  the  current word position is also less than or
                     equal to end. In this case, the words from  position  end
                     onwards are also removed from the words array.

                     Both  begin  and  end  may be negative to count backwards
                     from the last element of the words array.

              -N beg-pat [ end-pat ]
                     If one of the elements of the words array before the  one
                     at  the index given by the value of the parameter CURRENT
                     matches the pattern beg-pat, all elements up to  and  in-
                     cluding the matching one are removed from the words array
                     and the value of CURRENT is changed to point to the  same
                     word in the changed array.

                     If  the optional pattern end-pat is also given, and there
                     is an element in the words array matching  this  pattern,
                     the  parameters  are  modified  only if the index of this
                     word is higher than the one given by the CURRENT  parame-
                     ter  (so  that the matching word has to be after the cur-
                     sor). In this case,  the  words  starting  with  the  one
                     matching  end-pat  are also removed from the words array.
                     If words contains no word matching end-pat,  the  testing
                     and modification is performed as if it were not given.

              -q     The  word  currently  being  completed is split on spaces
                     into separate words, respecting the usual  shell  quoting
                     conventions.  The resulting words are stored in the words
                     array, and CURRENT, PREFIX, SUFFIX, QIPREFIX, and  QISUF-
                     FIX  are  modified  to reflect the word part that is com-
                     pleted.

              In all the above cases the return status is  zero  if  the  test
              succeeded  and  the parameters were modified and non-zero other-
              wise. This allows one to use this builtin in tests such as:

                     if compset -P '*\='; then ...

              This forces anything up to and including the last equal sign  to
              be ignored by the completion code.

       compcall [ -TD ]
              This  allows  the  use  of  completions defined with the compctl
              builtin from within completion widgets.   The  list  of  matches
              will  be  generated as if one of the non-widget completion func-
              tions (complete-word, etc.)  had been called, except  that  only
              compctls given for specific commands are used. To force the code
              to try completions defined with the -T option of compctl  and/or
              the  default  completion  (whether  defined by compctl -D or the
              builtin default) in the appropriate places,  the  -T  and/or  -D
              flags can be passed to compcall.

              The return status can be used to test if a matching compctl def-
              inition was found. It is non-zero if a  compctl  was  found  and
              zero otherwise.

              Note that this builtin is defined by the zsh/compctl module.

COMPLETION CONDITION CODES
       The  following  additional condition codes for use within the [[ ... ]]
       construct are available in completion widgets.  These work on the  spe-
       cial  parameters.   All  of  these  tests  can also be performed by the
       compset builtin, but in the case of the condition codes the contents of
       the special parameters are not modified.

       -prefix [ number ] pattern
              true if the test for the -P option of compset would succeed.

       -suffix [ number ] pattern
              true if the test for the -S option of compset would succeed.

       -after beg-pat
              true  if  the  test of the -N option with only the beg-pat given
              would succeed.

       -between beg-pat end-pat
              true if the test for the -N option with both patterns would suc-
              ceed.

COMPLETION MATCHING CONTROL
       It  is  possible by use of the -M option of the compadd builtin command
       to specify how the characters in the string to be  completed  (referred
       to  here  as  the  command line) map onto the characters in the list of
       matches produced by the completion code (referred to here as the  trial
       completions). Note that this is not used if the command line contains a
       glob pattern and the GLOB_COMPLETE option is set or  the  pattern_match
       of the compstate special association is set to a non-empty string.

       The  match-spec given as the argument to the -M option (see `Completion
       Builtin Commands' above) consists of one or more matching  descriptions
       separated  by  whitespace.   Each description consists of a letter fol-
       lowed by a colon and then the patterns describing which  character  se-
       quences  on  the line match which character sequences in the trial com-
       pletion.  Any sequence of characters not handled in this  fashion  must
       match exactly, as usual.

       The  forms  of  match-spec understood are as follows. In each case, the
       form with an upper case initial character retains  the  string  already
       typed on the command line as the final result of completion, while with
       a lower case initial character  the  string  on  the  command  line  is
       changed into the corresponding part of the trial completion.

       m:lpat=tpat
       M:lpat=tpat
              Here, lpat is a pattern that matches on the command line, corre-
              sponding to tpat which matches in the trial completion.

       l:lanchor|lpat=tpat
       L:lanchor|lpat=tpat
       l:lanchor||ranchor=tpat
       L:lanchor||ranchor=tpat
       b:lpat=tpat
       B:lpat=tpat
              These letters are for patterns that are anchored by another pat-
              tern  on  the  left side. Matching for lpat and tpat is as for m
              and M, but the pattern lpat matched on the command line must  be
              preceded  by  the  pattern lanchor.  The lanchor can be blank to
              anchor the match to the start of the command line string; other-
              wise  the  anchor can occur anywhere, but must match in both the
              command line and trial completion strings.

              If no lpat is given but a ranchor is, this matches the  gap  be-
              tween substrings matched by lanchor and ranchor. Unlike lanchor,
              the ranchor only needs to match the trial completion string.

              The b and B forms are similar to l and L with an  empty  anchor,
              but  need to match only the beginning of the word on the command
              line or trial completion, respectively.

       r:lpat|ranchor=tpat
       R:lpat|ranchor=tpat
       r:lanchor||ranchor=tpat
       R:lanchor||ranchor=tpat
       e:lpat=tpat
       E:lpat=tpat
              As l, L, b and B, with the difference that the command line  and
              trial  completion patterns are anchored on the right side.  Here
              an empty ranchor and the e and E forms force the  match  to  the
              end of the command line or trial completion string.

       x:     This  form  is  used to mark the end of matching specifications:
              subsequent specifications are ignored. In  a  single  standalone
              list of specifications this has no use but where matching speci-
              fications are accumulated, such as from nested  function  calls,
              it can allow one function to override another.

       Each  lpat,  tpat  or anchor is either an empty string or consists of a
       sequence of literal characters (which may be quoted with a  backslash),
       question marks, character classes, and correspondence classes; ordinary
       shell patterns are not used.  Literal characters match only themselves,
       question marks match any character, and character classes are formed as
       for globbing and match any character in the given set.

       Correspondence classes are defined like character classes, but with two
       differences:  they  are  delimited  by  a  pair  of braces, and negated
       classes are not allowed, so the characters !  and  ^  have  no  special
       meaning  directly  after the opening brace.  They indicate that a range
       of characters on the line match a range of characters in the trial com-
       pletion,  but  (unlike  ordinary character classes) paired according to
       the corresponding position in the sequence.  For example, to  make  any
       ASCII  lower case letter on the line match the corresponding upper case
       letter in the trial completion, you can use  `m:{a-z}={A-Z}'  (however,
       see  below  for  the recommended form for this).  More than one pair of
       classes can occur, in which case the first class before  the  =  corre-
       sponds  to  the  first  after it, and so on.  If one side has more such
       classes than the other side, the superfluous classes behave like normal
       character  classes.  In anchor patterns correspondence classes also be-
       have like normal character classes.

       The standard `[:name:]' forms described  for  standard  shell  patterns
       (see  the section FILENAME GENERATION in zshexpn(1)) may appear in cor-
       respondence classes as well as normal character classes.  The only spe-
       cial behaviour in correspondence classes is if the form on the left and
       the form on the right are each one of [:upper:], [:lower:].   In  these
       cases  the  character in the word and the character on the line must be
       the same up to a difference in case.  Hence  to  make  any  lower  case
       character  on  the line match the corresponding upper case character in
       the trial completion you can use `m:{[:lower:]}={[:upper:]}'.  Although
       the  matching  system does not yet handle multibyte characters, this is
       likely to be a future extension, at which point this syntax will handle
       arbitrary  alphabets;  hence this form, rather than the use of explicit
       ranges, is the recommended form.  In other cases `[:name:]'  forms  are
       allowed.   If  the  two  forms  on the left and right are the same, the
       characters must match exactly.  In remaining cases,  the  corresponding
       tests  are  applied to both characters, but they are not otherwise con-
       strained; any matching character in one  set  goes  with  any  matching
       character in the other set:  this is equivalent to the behaviour of or-
       dinary character classes.

       The pattern tpat may also be one or two stars, `*' or `**'. This  means
       that the pattern on the command line can match any number of characters
       in the trial completion. In this case the pattern must be anchored  (on
       either  side); in the case of a single star, the anchor then determines
       how much of the trial completion is to be included -- only the  charac-
       ters  up to the next appearance of the anchor will be matched. With two
       stars, substrings matched by the anchor can be matched, too.

       Examples:

       The keys of the options association defined by the parameter module are
       the option names in all-lower-case form, without underscores, and with-
       out the optional no at the beginning even though  the  builtins  setopt
       and  unsetopt  understand  option names with upper case letters, under-
       scores, and the optional no.  The following alters the  matching  rules
       so  that  the  prefix  no and any underscore are ignored when trying to
       match the trial completions generated and upper  case  letters  on  the
       line match the corresponding lower case letters in the words:

              compadd -M 'L:|[nN][oO]= M:_= M:{[:upper:]}={[:lower:]}' - \
                ${(k)options}

       The  first  part says that the pattern `[nN][oO]' at the beginning (the
       empty anchor before the pipe symbol) of the string on the line  matches
       the  empty  string  in the list of words generated by completion, so it
       will be ignored if present. The second part does the same for an under-
       score anywhere in the command line string, and the third part uses cor-
       respondence classes so that any upper case letter on the  line  matches
       the  corresponding  lower case letter in the word. The use of the upper
       case forms of the specification characters (L and  M)  guarantees  that
       what has already been typed on the command line (in particular the pre-
       fix no) will not be deleted.

       Note that the use of L in the first part means  that  it  matches  only
       when  at  the  beginning  of both the command line string and the trial
       completion.  I.e.,  the  string  `_NO_f'  would  not  be  completed  to
       `_NO_foo', nor would `NONO_f' be completed to `NONO_foo' because of the
       leading underscore or the second `NO' on the line which makes the  pat-
       tern  fail  even  though  they  are otherwise ignored. To fix this, one
       would use `B:[nN][oO]=' instead of the first part. As described  above,
       this  matches  at the beginning of the trial completion, independent of
       other characters or substrings at the beginning  of  the  command  line
       word which are ignored by the same or other match-specs.

       The second example makes completion case insensitive.  This is just the
       same as in the option example, except here we wish to retain the  char-
       acters in the list of completions:

              compadd -M 'm:{[:lower:]}={[:upper:]}' ...

       This  makes lower case letters match their upper case counterparts.  To
       make upper case letters match the lower case forms as well:

              compadd -M 'm:{[:lower:][:upper:]}={[:upper:][:lower:]}' ...

       A nice example for the use of * patterns is  partial  word  completion.
       Sometimes  you  would  like  to  make  strings like `c.s.u' complete to
       strings like `comp.source.unix', i.e. the word on the command line con-
       sists of multiple parts, separated by a dot in this example, where each
       part should be completed separately -- note,  however,  that  the  case
       where  each  part of the word, i.e. `comp', `source' and `unix' in this
       example, is to be completed from separate sets of matches is a  differ-
       ent  problem  to be solved by the implementation of the completion wid-
       get.  The example can be handled by:

              compadd -M 'r:|.=* r:|=*' \
                - comp.sources.unix comp.sources.misc ...

       The first specification says that lpat is the empty string,  while  an-
       chor is a dot; tpat is *, so this can match anything except for the `.'
       from the anchor in the trial  completion  word.   So  in  `c.s.u',  the
       matcher  sees `c', followed by the empty string, followed by the anchor
       `.', and likewise for the second dot, and replaces  the  empty  strings
       before  the  anchors,  giving `c[omp].s[ources].u[nix]', where the last
       part of the completion is just as normal.

       With the pattern shown above, the string `c.u' could not  be  completed
       to  `comp.sources.unix'  because  the  single  star  means  that no dot
       (matched by the anchor) can be  skipped.  By  using  two  stars  as  in
       `r:|.=**',  however,  `c.u'  could be completed to `comp.sources.unix'.
       This also shows that in some cases, especially if the anchor is a  real
       pattern,  like a character class, the form with two stars may result in
       more matches than one would like.

       The second specification is needed to make this work when the cursor is
       in  the  middle  of  the string on the command line and the option COM-
       PLETE_IN_WORD is set. In this case the completion code  would  normally
       try  to  match  trial  completions that end with the string as typed so
       far, i.e. it will only insert new characters  at  the  cursor  position
       rather  than at the end.  However in our example we would like the code
       to recognise matches which contain extra characters after the string on
       the  line  (the  `nix'  in  the  example).  Hence we say that the empty
       string at the end of the string on the line matches any  characters  at
       the end of the trial completion.

       More generally, the specification

              compadd -M 'r:|[.,_-]=* r:|=*' ...

       allows one to complete words with abbreviations before any of the char-
       acters in the square brackets.  For example, to complete  veryverylong-
       file.c  rather  than veryverylongheader.h with the above in effect, you
       can just type very.c before attempting completion.

       The specifications with both a left and a right anchor  are  useful  to
       complete  partial  words  whose parts are not separated by some special
       character. For example, in some places strings  have  to  be  completed
       that are formed `LikeThis' (i.e. the separate parts are determined by a
       leading upper case letter) or maybe one has to  complete  strings  with
       trailing  numbers. Here one could use the simple form with only one an-
       chor as in:

              compadd -M 'r:|[[:upper:]0-9]=* r:|=*' LikeTHIS FooHoo 5foo123 5bar234

       But with this, the string `H' would neither complete to `FooHoo' nor to
       `LikeTHIS'  because  in  each case there is an upper case letter before
       the `H' and that is matched by the anchor. Likewise, a `2' would not be
       completed.  In  both  cases  this  could be changed by using `r:|[[:up-
       per:]0-9]=**', but then `H' completes to both `LikeTHIS'  and  `FooHoo'
       and  a `2' matches the other strings because characters can be inserted
       before every upper case letter and digit. To avoid this one would use:

              compadd -M 'r:[^[:upper:]0-9]||[[:upper:]0-9]=** r:|=*' \
                  LikeTHIS FooHoo foo123 bar234

       By using these two anchors, a `H' matches only upper case `H's that are
       immediately  preceded  by  something  matching the left anchor `[^[:up-
       per:]0-9]'. The effect is, of course, that `H' matches only the  string
       `FooHoo', a `2' matches only `bar234' and so on.

       When  using the completion system (see zshcompsys(1)), users can define
       match specifications that are to be used for specific contexts by using
       the  matcher and matcher-list styles. The values for the latter will be
       used everywhere.

COMPLETION WIDGET EXAMPLE
       The first step is to define the widget:

              zle -C complete complete-word complete-files

       Then the widget can be bound to a key using the  bindkey  builtin  com-
       mand:

              bindkey '^X\t' complete

       After that the shell function complete-files will be invoked after typ-
       ing control-X and TAB. The function should then generate  the  matches,
       e.g.:

              complete-files () { compadd - * }

       This function will complete files in the current directory matching the
       current word.

ZSHCOMPSYS(1)               General Commands Manual              ZSHCOMPSYS(1)

NAME
       zshcompsys - zsh completion system

DESCRIPTION
       This describes the shell code for the `new' completion system, referred
       to  as compsys.  It is written in shell functions based on the features
       described in zshcompwid(1).

       The features are contextual, sensitive to the point at which completion
       is started.  Many completions are already provided.  For this reason, a
       user can perform a great many tasks without knowing any details  beyond
       how  to  initialize the system, which is described below in INITIALIZA-
       TION.

       The context that decides what completion is to be performed may be
       o      an argument or option position: these describe the  position  on
              the  command line at which completion is requested.  For example
              `first argument to rmdir, the word being completed names  a  di-
              rectory';

       o      a  special  context,  denoting an element in the shell's syntax.
              For example `a word in  command  position'  or  `an  array  sub-
              script'.

       A  full  context specification contains other elements, as we shall de-
       scribe.

       Besides commands names and contexts, the system employs two  more  con-
       cepts,  styles  and tags.  These provide ways for the user to configure
       the system's behaviour.

       Tags play a dual role.  They serve as a classification system  for  the
       matches,  typically indicating a class of object that the user may need
       to distinguish.  For example, when completing arguments of the ls  com-
       mand  the  user  may prefer to try files before directories, so both of
       these are tags.  They also appear as the rightmost element in a context
       specification.

       Styles modify various operations of the completion system, such as out-
       put formatting, but also what kinds of completers are used (and in what
       order),  or  which  tags are examined.  Styles may accept arguments and
       are manipulated using the  zstyle  command  described  in  see  zshmod-
       ules(1).

       In  summary,  tags  describe what the completion objects are, and style
       how they are to be completed.  At various points of execution, the com-
       pletion  system checks what styles and/or tags are defined for the cur-
       rent context, and uses that to modify its behavior.  The full  descrip-
       tion  of context handling, which determines how tags and other elements
       of the context influence the behaviour of styles, is described below in
       COMPLETION SYSTEM CONFIGURATION.

       When  a  completion  is requested, a dispatcher function is called; see
       the description of _main_complete in the list of control functions  be-
       low. This dispatcher decides which function should be called to produce
       the completions, and calls it. The result is passed to one or more com-
       pleters,  functions  that  implement  individual completion strategies:
       simple completion, error correction, completion with error  correction,
       menu selection, etc.

       More  generally, the shell functions contained in the completion system
       are of two types:
       o      those beginning `comp' are to be called directly; there are only
              a few of these;

       o      those  beginning  `_'  are  called  by the completion code.  The
              shell functions of this set, which implement  completion  behav-
              iour  and  may  be bound to keystrokes, are referred to as `wid-
              gets'.  These proliferate as new completions are required.

INITIALIZATION
       If the system was installed completely, it should be enough to call the
       shell  function  compinit  from  your initialization file; see the next
       section.  However, the function compinstall can be run  by  a  user  to
       configure various aspects of the completion system.

       Usually,  compinstall will insert code into .zshrc, although if that is
       not writable it will save it in another file and tell you  that  file's
       location.   Note that it is up to you to make sure that the lines added
       to .zshrc are actually run; you may, for example, need to move them  to
       an  earlier place in the file if .zshrc usually returns early.  So long
       as you keep them all together (including the comment lines at the start
       and finish), you can rerun compinstall and it will correctly locate and
       modify these lines.  Note, however, that any code you add to this  sec-
       tion  by  hand  is likely to be lost if you rerun compinstall, although
       lines using the command `zstyle' should be gracefully handled.

       The new code will take effect next time you start  the  shell,  or  run
       .zshrc  by hand; there is also an option to make them take effect imme-
       diately.  However, if compinstall has  removed  definitions,  you  will
       need to restart the shell to see the changes.

       To run compinstall you will need to make sure it is in a directory men-
       tioned in your fpath parameter, which should already be the case if zsh
       was properly configured as long as your startup files do not remove the
       appropriate directories from fpath.  Then it must be  autoloaded  (`au-
       toload -U compinstall' is recommended).  You can abort the installation
       any time you are being prompted for information, and your  .zshrc  will
       not  be altered at all; changes only take place right at the end, where
       you are specifically asked for confirmation.

   Use of compinit
       This section describes the use of compinit to initialize completion for
       the  current  session when called directly; if you have run compinstall
       it will be called automatically from your .zshrc.

       To initialize the system, the function compinit should be in  a  direc-
       tory  mentioned  in the fpath parameter, and should be autoloaded (`au-
       toload -U compinit' is recommended), and then run simply as `compinit'.
       This will define a few utility functions, arrange for all the necessary
       shell functions to be autoloaded, and will then re-define  all  widgets
       that  do  completion to use the new system.  If you use the menu-select
       widget, which is part of the zsh/complist module, you should make  sure
       that  that  module  is  loaded before the call to compinit so that that
       widget is also re-defined.  If completion styles (see below) are set up
       to  perform expansion as well as completion by default, and the TAB key
       is bound  to  expand-or-complete,  compinit  will  rebind  it  to  com-
       plete-word; this is necessary to use the correct form of expansion.

       Should  you need to use the original completion commands, you can still
       bind keys to the old widgets by putting a `.' in front  of  the  widget
       name, e.g. `.expand-or-complete'.

       To speed up the running of compinit, it can be made to produce a dumped
       configuration that will be read in on future invocations; this  is  the
       default,  but can be turned off by calling compinit with the option -D.
       The dumped file is .zcompdump in the  same  directory  as  the  startup
       files  (i.e.  $ZDOTDIR  or $HOME); alternatively, an explicit file name
       can be given  by  `compinit  -d  dumpfile'.   The  next  invocation  of
       compinit  will  read  the dumped file instead of performing a full ini-
       tialization.

       If the number of completion files changes, compinit will recognise this
       and produce a new dump file.  However, if the name of a function or the
       arguments in the first line of a #compdef function (as described below)
       change,  it is easiest to delete the dump file by hand so that compinit
       will re-create it the next time it is run.  The check performed to  see
       if  there are new functions can be omitted by giving the option -C.  In
       this case the dump file will only be created if  there  isn't  one  al-
       ready.

       The  dumping  is  actually  done by another function, compdump, but you
       will only need to run this yourself if  you  change  the  configuration
       (e.g.  using  compdef)  and then want to dump the new one.  The name of
       the old dumped file will be remembered for this purpose.

       If the parameter _compdir is set, compinit uses it as a directory where
       completion  functions  can be found; this is only necessary if they are
       not already in the function search path.

       For security reasons compinit also  checks  if  the  completion  system
       would  use  files not owned by root or by the current user, or files in
       directories that are world- or group-writable or that are not owned  by
       root  or  by the current user.  If such files or directories are found,
       compinit will ask if the completion system should really be  used.   To
       avoid  these tests and make all files found be used without asking, use
       the option -u, and to make compinit silently ignore all insecure  files
       and  directories use the option -i.  This security check is skipped en-
       tirely when the -C option is given.

       The security check can be retried at any time by running  the  function
       compaudit.  This is the same check used by compinit, but when it is ex-
       ecuted directly any changes to fpath are made local to the function  so
       they  do  not  persist.  The directories to be checked may be passed as
       arguments; if none are given, compaudit uses fpath and _compdir to find
       completion  system  directories, adding missing ones to fpath as neces-
       sary.  To force a check of exactly the directories currently  named  in
       fpath,  set  _compdir  to  an  empty string before calling compaudit or
       compinit.

       The function bashcompinit provides compatibility with  bash's  program-
       mable  completion system.  When run it will define the functions, comp-
       gen and complete which correspond to the bash builtins  with  the  same
       names.   It  will then be possible to use completion specifications and
       functions written for bash.

   Autoloaded files
       The convention for autoloaded functions used in completion is that they
       start with an underscore; as already mentioned, the fpath/FPATH parame-
       ter must contain the directory in which they are stored.   If  zsh  was
       properly  installed on your system, then fpath/FPATH automatically con-
       tains the required directories for the standard functions.

       For incomplete installations, if compinit does not  find  enough  files
       beginning with an underscore (fewer than twenty) in the search path, it
       will try to find more by adding the directory _compdir  to  the  search
       path.  If that directory has a subdirectory named Base, all subdirecto-
       ries will be added to the path.  Furthermore, if the subdirectory  Base
       has  a subdirectory named Core, compinit will add all subdirectories of
       the subdirectories to the path: this allows the functions to be in  the
       same format as in the zsh source distribution.

       When  compinit  is  run,  it  searches  all  such  files accessible via
       fpath/FPATH and reads the first line of each of them.  This line should
       contain  one  of the tags described below.  Files whose first line does
       not start with one of these tags are not considered to be part  of  the
       completion system and will not be treated specially.

       The tags are:

       #compdef name ... [ -{p|P} pattern ... [ -N name ... ] ]
              The  file  will be made autoloadable and the function defined in
              it will be called when completing names, each of which is either
              the name of a command whose arguments are to be completed or one
              of a number of special contexts in the form -context-  described
              below.

              Each  name may also be of the form `cmd=service'.  When complet-
              ing the command cmd, the function typically behaves  as  if  the
              command  (or  special  context)  service was being completed in-
              stead.  This provides a way of altering the behaviour  of  func-
              tions that can perform many different completions.  It is imple-
              mented by setting the parameter $service when calling the  func-
              tion;  the  function may choose to interpret this how it wishes,
              and simpler functions will probably ignore it.

              If the #compdef line contains one of the options -p or  -P,  the
              words  following are taken to be patterns.  The function will be
              called when completion is attempted for  a  command  or  context
              that  matches  one  of  the patterns.  The options -p and -P are
              used to specify patterns to be tried before or after other  com-
              pletions  respectively.  Hence -P may be used to specify default
              actions.

              The option -N is used after a list following -p or -P; it speci-
              fies that remaining words no longer define patterns.  It is pos-
              sible to toggle between the three options as many times as  nec-
              essary.

       #compdef -k style key-sequence ...
              This  option  creates  a widget behaving like the builtin widget
              style and binds it to the  given  key-sequences,  if  any.   The
              style  must  be  one of the builtin widgets that perform comple-
              tion, namely complete-word, delete-char-or-list,  expand-or-com-
              plete,  expand-or-complete-prefix,  list-choices, menu-complete,
              menu-expand-or-complete,  or  reverse-menu-complete.    If   the
              zsh/complist  module  is  loaded  (see zshmodules(1)) the widget
              menu-select is also available.

              When one of the key-sequences is typed, the function in the file
              will  be  invoked to generate the matches.  Note that a key will
              not be re-bound if it already was (that is, was bound  to  some-
              thing  other  than  undefined-key).   The widget created has the
              same name as the file and can be bound to any other  keys  using
              bindkey as usual.

       #compdef -K widget-name style key-sequence [ name style seq ... ]
              This is similar to -k except that only one key-sequence argument
              may be given for each widget-name style pair.  However, the  en-
              tire set of three arguments may be repeated with a different set
              of arguments.  Note in particular that the widget-name  must  be
              distinct  in  each set.  If it does not begin with `_' this will
              be added.  The widget-name should not clash with the name of any
              existing  widget:  names  based  on the name of the function are
              most useful.  For example,

                     #compdef -K _foo_complete complete-word "^X^C" \
                       _foo_list list-choices "^X^D"

              (all on one line) defines a widget _foo_complete for completion,
              bound  to  `^X^C',  and a widget _foo_list for listing, bound to
              `^X^D'.

       #autoload [ options ]
              Functions with the #autoload tag are marked for autoloading  but
              are  not  otherwise treated specially.  Typically they are to be
              called from within one of the completion functions.  Any options
              supplied  will  be passed to the autoload builtin; a typical use
              is +X to force the function to be loaded immediately.  Note that
              the -U and -z flags are always added implicitly.

       The  #  is part of the tag name and no white space is allowed after it.
       The #compdef tags use the compdef function described  below;  the  main
       difference is that the name of the function is supplied implicitly.

       The special contexts for which completion functions can be defined are:

       -array-value-
              The right hand side of an array-assignment (`name=(...)')

       -brace-parameter-
              The name of a parameter expansion within braces (`${...}')

       -assign-parameter-
              The  name of a parameter in an assignment, i.e. on the left hand
              side of an `='

       -command-
              A word in command position

       -condition-
              A word inside a condition (`[[...]]')

       -default-
              Any word for which no other completion is defined

       -equal-
              A word beginning with an equals sign

       -first-
              This is tried before any other completion function.   The  func-
              tion  called  may  set the _compskip parameter to one of various
              values: all: no further completion is attempted; a  string  con-
              taining  the substring patterns: no pattern completion functions
              will be called; a string containing default:  the  function  for
              the  `-default-'  context  will not be called, but functions de-
              fined for commands will be.

       -math- Inside mathematical contexts, such as `((...))'

       -parameter-
              The name of a parameter expansion (`$...')

       -redirect-
              The word after a redirection operator.

       -subscript-
              The contents of a parameter subscript.

       -tilde-
              After an initial tilde (`~'), but before the first slash in  the
              word.

       -value-
              On the right hand side of an assignment.

       Default  implementations  are  supplied for each of these contexts.  In
       most cases the context -context-  is  implemented  by  a  corresponding
       function  _context,  for example the context `-tilde-' and the function
       `_tilde').

       The contexts -redirect- and -value- allow extra context-specific infor-
       mation.  (Internally, this is handled by the functions for each context
       calling the function _dispatch.)  The extra information is added  sepa-
       rated by commas.

       For  the -redirect- context, the extra information is in the form `-re-
       direct-,op,command', where op is the redirection operator  and  command
       is  the name of the command on the line.  If there is no command on the
       line yet, the command field will be empty.

       For the -value- context, the form is `-value-,name,command', where name
       is  the  name of the parameter on the left hand side of the assignment.
       In the case of elements of  an  associative  array,  for  example  `as-
       soc=(key  <TAB>',  name  is expanded to `name-key'.  In certain special
       contexts, such as completing after `make  CFLAGS=',  the  command  part
       gives the name of the command, here make; otherwise it is empty.

       It  is  not necessary to define fully specific completions as the func-
       tions provided will try to generate completions  by  progressively  re-
       placing  the  elements  with `-default-'.  For example, when completing
       after `foo=<TAB>', _value will try the names `-value-,foo,'  (note  the
       empty command part), `-value-,foo,-default-' and`-value-,-default-,-de-
       fault-', in that order, until it finds a function to  handle  the  con-
       text.

       As an example:

              compdef '_files -g "*.log"' '-redirect-,2>,-default-'

       completes  files matching `*.log' after `2> <TAB>' for any command with
       no more specific handler defined.

       Also:

              compdef _foo -value-,-default-,-default-

       specifies that _foo provides completions for the values  of  parameters
       for  which  no special function has been defined.  This is usually han-
       dled by the function _value itself.

       The same lookup rules are used when looking up styles (as described be-
       low); for example

              zstyle ':completion:*:*:-redirect-,2>,*:*' file-patterns '*.log'

       is  another  way  to  make  completion  after `2> <TAB>' complete files
       matching `*.log'.

   Functions
       The following function is defined by compinit and  may  be  called  di-
       rectly.

       compdef [ -ane ] function name ... [ -{p|P} pattern ... [ -N name ...]]
       compdef -d name ...
       compdef -k [ -an ] function style key-sequence [ key-sequence ... ]
       compdef -K [ -an ] function name style key-seq [ name style seq ... ]
              The  first  form  defines the function to call for completion in
              the given contexts as described for the #compdef tag above.

              Alternatively, all the arguments may  have  the  form  `cmd=ser-
              vice'.   Here  service  should  already  have  been  defined  by
              `cmd1=service' lines in #compdef files, as described above.  The
              argument for cmd will be completed in the same way as service.

              The  function  argument may alternatively be a string containing
              almost any shell code.  If the string contains  an  equal  sign,
              the  above  will  take precedence.  The option -e may be used to
              specify the first argument is to be evaluated as shell code even
              if it contains an equal sign.  The string will be executed using
              the eval builtin command to generate completions.  This provides
              a  way  of  avoiding having to define a new completion function.
              For example, to complete files ending in `.h'  as  arguments  to
              the command foo:

                     compdef '_files -g "*.h"' foo

              The  option  -n prevents any completions already defined for the
              command or context from being overwritten.

              The option -d deletes any completion defined for the command  or
              contexts listed.

              The  names  may  also contain -p, -P and -N options as described
              for the #compdef tag.  The effect on the argument list is  iden-
              tical,  switching  between  definitions  of  patterns tried ini-
              tially, patterns tried finally, and  normal  commands  and  con-
              texts.

              The  parameter $_compskip may be set by any function defined for
              a pattern context.  If it is set to a value containing the  sub-
              string  `patterns' none of the pattern-functions will be called;
              if it is set to a value containing the substring `all', no other
              function  will  be called.  Setting $_compskip in this manner is
              of particular utility when using the -p option, as otherwise the
              dispatcher  will move on to additional functions (likely the de-
              fault one) after calling the pattern-context one, which can man-
              gle the display of completion possibilities if not handled prop-
              erly.

              The form with -k defines a widget with  the  same  name  as  the
              function that will be called for each of the key-sequences; this
              is like the #compdef -k tag.  The function should  generate  the
              completions  needed  and  will otherwise behave like the builtin
              widget whose name is given as the style argument.   The  widgets
              usable  for  this  are:  complete-word, delete-char-or-list, ex-
              pand-or-complete,    expand-or-complete-prefix,    list-choices,
              menu-complete,  menu-expand-or-complete,  and  reverse-menu-com-
              plete, as well as menu-select  if  the  zsh/complist  module  is
              loaded.  The option -n prevents the key being bound if it is al-
              ready to bound to something other than undefined-key.

              The form with -K is similar and defines multiple  widgets  based
              on  the  same  function, each of which requires the set of three
              arguments name, style and key-sequence, where the latter two are
              as  for  -k and the first must be a unique widget name beginning
              with an underscore.

              Wherever applicable, the -a option makes the function  autoload-
              able, equivalent to autoload -U function.

       The function compdef can be used to associate existing completion func-
       tions with new commands.  For example,

              compdef _pids foo

       uses the function _pids to complete process IDs for the command foo.

       Note also the _gnu_generic function described below, which can be  used
       to complete options for commands that understand the `--help' option.

COMPLETION SYSTEM CONFIGURATION
       This section gives a short overview of how the completion system works,
       and then more detail on how users can configure how  and  when  matches
       are generated.

   Overview
       When  completion is attempted somewhere on the command line the comple-
       tion system begins building the context.  The context represents every-
       thing  that  the  shell knows about the meaning of the command line and
       the significance of the cursor position.  This takes account of a  num-
       ber  of things including the command word (such as `grep' or `zsh') and
       options to which the current word may be an argument (such as the  `-o'
       option to zsh which takes a shell option as an argument).

       The  context  starts out very generic ("we are beginning a completion")
       and becomes more specific as more is learned ("the current word is in a
       position  that is usually a command name" or "the current word might be
       a variable name" and so on).  Therefore the context  will  vary  during
       the same call to the completion system.

       This  context information is condensed into a string consisting of mul-
       tiple fields separated by colons, referred to simply as  `the  context'
       in the remainder of the documentation.  Note that a user of the comple-
       tion system rarely needs to compose a context string, unless for  exam-
       ple  a  new  function  is being written to perform completion for a new
       command.  What a user may need to do is compose a style pattern,  which
       is  matched  against a context when needed to look up context-sensitive
       options that configure the completion system.

       The next few paragraphs explain how a context is  composed  within  the
       completion  function suite.  Following that is discussion of how styles
       are defined.  Styles determine such things as how the matches are  gen-
       erated,  similarly  to  shell options but with much more control.  They
       are defined with the zstyle builtin command (see zshmodules(1)).

       The context string always consists of a fixed set of fields,  separated
       by  colons and with a leading colon before the first.  Fields which are
       not yet known are left empty, but the surrounding colons appear anyway.
       The  fields are always in the order :completion:function:completer:com-
       mand:argument:tag.  These have the following meaning:

       o      The literal string completion, saying that this style is used by
              the  completion  system.   This  distinguishes  the context from
              those used by, for example, zle widgets and ZFTP functions.

       o      The function, if completion is called from a named widget rather
              than  through  the  normal completion system.  Typically this is
              blank, but it is set by special widgets such as  predict-on  and
              the  various  functions in the Widget directory of the distribu-
              tion to the name of that function, often in an abbreviated form.

       o      The completer currently active, the name of the function without
              the  leading  underscore and with other underscores converted to
              hyphens.  A `completer' is in overall control of how  completion
              is  to  be performed; `complete' is the simplest, but other com-
              pleters exist to perform related tasks such as correction, or to
              modify  the  behaviour  of  a  later completer.  See the section
              `Control Functions' below for more information.

       o      The command or a special -context-, just at it appears following
              the  #compdef tag or the compdef function.  Completion functions
              for commands that have sub-commands usually modify this field to
              contain the name of the command followed by a minus sign and the
              sub-command.  For example, the completion function for  the  cvs
              command  sets this field to cvs-add when completing arguments to
              the add subcommand.

       o      The argument; this indicates which command line or option  argu-
              ment  we  are  completing.  For command arguments this generally
              takes the form argument-n, where n is the number  of  the  argu-
              ment, and for arguments to options the form option-opt-n where n
              is the number of the argument to option opt.  However,  this  is
              only  the  case  if  the  command  line  is parsed with standard
              UNIX-style options and arguments, so many completions do not set
              this.

       o      The tag.  As described previously, tags are used to discriminate
              between the types of matches a completion function can  generate
              in  a  certain context.  Any completion function may use any tag
              name it likes, but a list of the more common ones is  given  be-
              low.

       The  context  is  gradually put together as the functions are executed,
       starting with the main entry point, which  adds  :completion:  and  the
       function  element  if necessary.  The completer then adds the completer
       element.  The contextual completion adds the command and  argument  op-
       tions.   Finally,  the  tag  is  added when the types of completion are
       known.  For example, the context name

              :completion::complete:dvips:option-o-1:files

       says that normal completion was attempted as the first argument to  the
       option -o of the command dvips:

              dvips -o ...

       and the completion function will generate filenames.

       Usually  completion  will  be  tried  for all possible tags in an order
       given by the completion function.  However, this can be altered by  us-
       ing  the tag-order style.  Completion is then restricted to the list of
       given tags in the given order.

       The _complete_help bindable command shows all  the  contexts  and  tags
       available  for completion at a particular point.  This provides an easy
       way of finding information for tag-order and other styles.  It  is  de-
       scribed in the section `Bindable Commands' below.

       When  looking  up styles the completion system uses full context names,
       including the tag.  Looking up the value of a style therefore  consists
       of two things: the context, which is matched to the most specific (best
       fitting) style pattern, and the name of the style itself, which must be
       matched  exactly.   The  following examples demonstrate that style pat-
       terns may be loosely defined for  styles  that  apply  broadly,  or  as
       tightly  defined  as  desired for styles that apply in narrower circum-
       stances.

       For example, many completion functions can generate matches in a simple
       and  a  verbose  form  and  use  the verbose style to decide which form
       should be used.  To make all such functions use the verbose form, put

              zstyle ':completion:*' verbose yes

       in a startup file (probably .zshrc).  This gives the verbose style  the
       value  yes  in  every context inside the completion system, unless that
       context has a more specific definition.  It is best to avoid giving the
       context  as  `*' in case the style has some meaning outside the comple-
       tion system.

       Many such general purpose styles can be configured simply by using  the
       compinstall function.

       A  more specific example of the use of the verbose style is by the com-
       pletion for the kill builtin.  If the style is set, the  builtin  lists
       full  job  texts and process command lines; otherwise it shows the bare
       job numbers and PIDs.  To turn the style off for this use only:

              zstyle ':completion:*:*:kill:*:*' verbose no

       For even more control, the style can use one  of  the  tags  `jobs'  or
       `processes'.  To turn off verbose display only for jobs:

              zstyle ':completion:*:*:kill:*:jobs' verbose no

       The  -e option to zstyle even allows completion function code to appear
       as the argument to a style; this requires some understanding of the in-
       ternals of completion functions (see see zshcompwid(1))).  For example,

              zstyle -e ':completion:*' hosts 'reply=($myhosts)'

       This  forces  the value of the hosts style to be read from the variable
       myhosts each time a host name is needed; this is useful if the value of
       myhosts  can  change  dynamically.  For another useful example, see the
       example in the description of the file-list style below.  This form can
       be slow and should be avoided for commonly examined styles such as menu
       and list-rows-first.

       Note that the order in which styles are defined does  not  matter;  the
       style  mechanism uses the most specific possible match for a particular
       style to determine the set of values.  More precisely, strings are pre-
       ferred  over  patterns  (for  example, `:completion::complete:::foo' is
       more specific than `:completion::complete:::*'),  and  longer  patterns
       are preferred over shorter patterns.

       A good rule of thumb is that any completion style pattern that needs to
       include more than one wildcard (*) and that does not end in a tag name,
       should  include  all  six  colons  (:), possibly surrounding additional
       wildcards.

       Style names like those of tags are arbitrary and depend on the  comple-
       tion  function.   However,  the following two sections list some of the
       most common tags and styles.

   Standard Tags
       Some of the following are only used when looking up  particular  styles
       and do not refer to a type of match.

       accounts
              used to look up the users-hosts style

       all-expansions
              used by the _expand completer when adding the single string con-
              taining all possible expansions

       all-files
              for the names of all files (as distinct from a  particular  sub-
              set, see the globbed-files tag).

       arguments
              for arguments to a command

       arrays for names of array parameters

       association-keys
              for  keys  of  associative arrays; used when completing inside a
              subscript to a parameter of this type

       bookmarks
              when completing bookmarks (e.g. for URLs and the  zftp  function
              suite)

       builtins
              for names of builtin commands

       characters
              for  single  characters  in  arguments of commands such as stty.
              Also used when completing character  classes  after  an  opening
              bracket

       colormapids
              for X colormap ids

       colors for color names

       commands
              for  names  of external commands.  Also used by complex commands
              such as cvs when completing names subcommands.

       contexts
              for contexts in arguments to the zstyle builtin command

       corrections
              used by the _approximate and _correct  completers  for  possible
              corrections

       cursors
              for cursor names used by X programs

       default
              used  in  some  contexts to provide a way of supplying a default
              when more specific tags are also valid.  Note that this  tag  is
              used when only the function field of the context name is set

       descriptions
              used  when  looking up the value of the format style to generate
              descriptions for types of matches

       devices
              for names of device special files

       directories
              for names of directories -- local-directories  is  used  instead
              when  completing  arguments  of  cd and related builtin commands
              when the cdpath array is set

       directory-stack
              for entries in the directory stack

       displays
              for X display names

       domains
              for network domains

       email-plugin
              for  email  addresses  from  the  `_email-plugin'   backend   of
              _email_addresses

       expansions
              used  by  the _expand completer for individual words (as opposed
              to the complete set of expansions) resulting from the  expansion
              of a word on the command line

       extensions
              for X server extensions

       file-descriptors
              for numbers of open file descriptors

       files  the generic file-matching tag used by functions completing file-
              names

       fonts  for X font names

       fstypes
              for file system types (e.g. for the mount command)

       functions
              names of functions -- normally shell functions, although certain
              commands may understand other kinds of function

       globbed-files
              for filenames when the name has been generated by pattern match-
              ing

       groups for names of user groups

       history-words
              for words from the history

       hosts  for hostnames

       indexes
              for array indexes

       jobs   for jobs (as listed by the `jobs' builtin)

       interfaces
              for network interfaces

       keymaps
              for names of zsh keymaps

       keysyms
              for names of X keysyms

       libraries
              for names of system libraries

       limits for system limits

       local-directories
              for names of directories that are subdirectories of the  current
              working  directory  when  completing arguments of cd and related
              builtin commands (compare path-directories) -- when  the  cdpath
              array is unset, directories is used instead

       manuals
              for names of manual pages

       mailboxes
              for e-mail folders

       maps   for map names (e.g. NIS maps)

       messages
              used to look up the format style for messages

       modifiers
              for names of X modifiers

       modules
              for modules (e.g. zsh modules)

       my-accounts
              used to look up the users-hosts style

       named-directories
              for  named  directories  (you  wouldn't have guessed that, would
              you?)

       names  for all kinds of names

       newsgroups
              for USENET groups

       nicknames
              for nicknames of NIS maps

       options
              for command options

       original
              used by the _approximate, _correct and _expand  completers  when
              offering the original string as a match

       other-accounts
              used to look up the users-hosts style

       other-files
              for  the names of any non-directory files.  This is used instead
              of all-files when the list-dirs-first style is in effect.

       packages
              for packages (e.g. rpm or installed Debian packages)

       parameters
              for names of parameters

       path-directories
              for names of directories found by  searching  the  cdpath  array
              when  completing  arguments  of  cd and related builtin commands
              (compare local-directories)

       paths  used to look up the values of the  expand,  ambiguous  and  spe-
              cial-dirs styles

       pods   for perl pods (documentation files)

       ports  for communication ports

       prefixes
              for prefixes (like those of a URL)

       printers
              for print queue names

       processes
              for process identifiers

       processes-names
              used  to  look up the command style when generating the names of
              processes for killall

       sequences
              for sequences (e.g. mh sequences)

       sessions
              for sessions in the zftp function suite

       signals
              for signal names

       strings
              for strings (e.g. the replacement strings  for  the  cd  builtin
              command)

       styles for styles used by the zstyle builtin command

       suffixes
              for filename extensions

       tags   for tags (e.g. rpm tags)

       targets
              for makefile targets

       time-zones
              for time zones (e.g. when setting the TZ parameter)

       types  for types of whatever (e.g. address types for the xhost command)

       urls   used to look up the urls and local styles when completing URLs

       users  for usernames

       values for one of a set of values in certain lists

       variant
              used  by _pick_variant to look up the command to run when deter-
              mining what program is installed for a particular command name.

       visuals
              for X visuals

       warnings
              used to look up the format style for warnings

       widgets
              for zsh widget names

       windows
              for IDs of X windows

       zsh-options
              for shell options

   Standard Styles
       Note that the values of several of these styles represent boolean  val-
       ues.   Any  of the strings `true', `on', `yes', and `1' can be used for
       the value `true' and any of the strings `false', `off', `no',  and  `0'
       for  the  value `false'.  The behavior for any other value is undefined
       except where explicitly mentioned.  The default  value  may  be  either
       `true' or `false' if the style is not set.

       Some  of  these  styles  are tested first for every possible tag corre-
       sponding to a type of match, and if no style was found, for the default
       tag.   The  most  notable styles of this type are menu, list-colors and
       styles  controlling  completion  listing  such   as   list-packed   and
       last-prompt.   When tested for the default tag, only the function field
       of the context will be set so that a style using the default  tag  will
       normally be defined along the lines of:

              zstyle ':completion:*:default' menu ...

       accept-exact
              This is tested for the default tag in addition to the tags valid
              for the current context.  If it is set to `true' and any of  the
              trial  matches  is  the  same as the string on the command line,
              this match will immediately be accepted (even if it would other-
              wise be considered ambiguous).

              When  completing  pathnames (where the tag used is `paths') this
              style accepts any number of patterns as the value in addition to
              the  boolean  values.   Pathnames matching one of these patterns
              will be accepted immediately even if the command  line  contains
              some more partially typed pathname components and these match no
              file under the directory accepted.

              This style is also used by the _expand completer  to  decide  if
              words  beginning  with  a tilde or parameter expansion should be
              expanded.  For example, if there are parameters foo and  foobar,
              the  string  `$foo' will only be expanded if accept-exact is set
              to `true'; otherwise the completion system will  be  allowed  to
              complete  $foo  to  $foobar.  If the style is set to `continue',
              _expand will add the expansion as a  match  and  the  completion
              system will also be allowed to continue.

       accept-exact-dirs
              This  is used by filename completion.  Unlike accept-exact it is
              a boolean.  By default, filename completion examines all  compo-
              nents  of  a path to see if there are completions of that compo-
              nent, even if the component matches an existing directory.   For
              example,  when completion after /usr/bin/, the function examines
              possible completions to /usr.

              When this style is `true', any prefix of a path that matches  an
              existing  directory  is accepted without any attempt to complete
              it further.  Hence, in the given example, the path /usr/bin/  is
              accepted immediately and completion tried in that directory.

              This style is also useful when completing after directories that
              magically appear when referenced, such as ZFS  .zfs  directories
              or  NetApp  .snapshot  directories.   When  the style is set the
              shell does not check for the existence of the  directory  within
              the parent directory.

              If  you  wish  to  inhibit  this  behaviour  entirely,  set  the
              path-completion style (see below) to `false'.

       add-space
              This style is used by the _expand completer.  If  it  is  `true'
              (the  default), a space will be inserted after all words result-
              ing from the expansion, or a slash  in  the  case  of  directory
              names.   If  the  value is `file', the completer will only add a
              space to names of existing files.  Either a  boolean  `true'  or
              the value `file' may be combined with `subst', in which case the
              completer will not add a space to words generated from  the  ex-
              pansion of a substitution of the form `$(...)' or `${...}'.

              The  _prefix completer uses this style as a simple boolean value
              to decide if a space should be inserted before the suffix.

       ambiguous
              This applies when completing non-final  components  of  filename
              paths,  in  other  words  those with a trailing slash.  If it is
              set, the cursor is left after  the  first  ambiguous  component,
              even  if  menu completion is in use.  The style is always tested
              with the paths tag.

       assign-list
              When completing after an equals sign that is being treated as an
              assignment,  the  completion  system normally completes only one
              filename.  In some cases the value  may be a list  of  filenames
              separated  by colons, as with PATH and similar parameters.  This
              style can be set to a list of patterns  matching  the  names  of
              such parameters.

              The  default  is to complete lists when the word on the line al-
              ready contains a colon.

       auto-description
              If set, this style's value will be used as the  description  for
              options  that are not described by the completion functions, but
              that have exactly one argument.  The sequence `%d' in the  value
              will  be replaced by the description for this argument.  Depend-
              ing on personal preferences, it may be useful to set this  style
              to  something  like  `specify: %d'.  Note that this may not work
              for some commands.

       avoid-completer
              This is used by the _all_matches  completer  to  decide  if  the
              string  consisting  of  all  matches should be added to the list
              currently being generated.  Its value is a list of names of com-
              pleters.  If any of these is the name of the completer that gen-
              erated the matches in this completion, the string  will  not  be
              added.

              The  default value for this style is `_expand _old_list _correct
              _approximate', i.e. it  contains  the  completers  for  which  a
              string with all matches will almost never be wanted.

       cache-path
              This  style  defines  the  path where any cache files containing
              dumped completion data  are  stored.   It  defaults  to  `$ZDOT-
              DIR/.zcompcache',  or `$HOME/.zcompcache' if $ZDOTDIR is not de-
              fined.  The  completion  cache  will  not  be  used  unless  the
              use-cache style is set.

       cache-policy
              This  style  defines the function that will be used to determine
              whether a cache  needs  rebuilding.   See  the  section  on  the
              _cache_invalid function below.

       call-command
              This style is used in the function for commands such as make and
              ant where calling the command directly to generate matches  suf-
              fers  problems such as being slow or, as in the case of make can
              potentially cause actions in the makefile to be executed. If  it
              is  set to `true' the command is called to generate matches. The
              default value of this style is `false'.

       command
              In many places, completion functions need to call external  com-
              mands  to  generate  the list of completions.  This style can be
              used to override the command that is called in some such  cases.
              The  elements of the value are joined with spaces to form a com-
              mand line to execute.  The value can also start with  a  hyphen,
              in  which  case the usual command will be added to the end; this
              is most useful for putting `builtin' or `command'  in  front  to
              make  sure  the  appropriate version of a command is called, for
              example to avoid calling a shell function with the same name  as
              an external command.

              As an example, the completion function for process IDs uses this
              style with the processes tag to generate the IDs to complete and
              the  list  of  processes  to  display  (if  the verbose style is
              `true').  The list produced by the command should look like  the
              output  of the ps command.  The first line is not displayed, but
              is searched for the string `PID' (or `pid') to find the position
              of the process IDs in the following lines.  If the line does not
              contain `PID', the first numbers in each of the other lines  are
              taken as the process IDs to complete.

              Note  that  the  completion  function  generally has to call the
              specified command for each attempt to  generate  the  completion
              list.   Hence care should be taken to specify only commands that
              take a short time to run, and in particular to  avoid  any  that
              may never terminate.

       command-path
              This  is  a  list  of directories to search for commands to com-
              plete.  The default for this style is the value of  the  special
              parameter path.

       commands
              This  is  used  by  the function completing sub-commands for the
              system initialisation scripts (residing in /etc/init.d or  some-
              where  not too far away from that).  Its values give the default
              commands to complete for those commands for which the completion
              function isn't able to find them out automatically.  The default
              for this style are the two strings `start' and `stop'.

       complete
              This is used by the _expand_alias function  when  invoked  as  a
              bindable  command.  If set to `true' and the word on the command
              line is not the name of an alias, matching alias names  will  be
              completed.

       complete-options
              This  is  used  by  the  completer for cd, chdir and pushd.  For
              these commands a - is used to introduce a directory stack  entry
              and  completion  of these is far more common than completing op-
              tions.  Hence unless the value of this style is  `true'  options
              will  not  be  completed,  even  after  an  initial -.  If it is
              `true', options will be completed  after  an  initial  -  unless
              there is a preceding -- on the command line.

       completer
              The  strings  given as the value of this style provide the names
              of the completer functions to use. The available completer func-
              tions are described in the section `Control Functions' below.

              Each  string may be either the name of a completer function or a
              string of the form `function:name'.  In the first case the  com-
              pleter  field  of  the context will contain the name of the com-
              pleter without the leading underscore and with all other  under-
              scores  replaced by hyphens.  In the second case the function is
              the name of the completer to call, but the context will  contain
              the user-defined name in the completer field of the context.  If
              the name starts with a hyphen, the string for the  context  will
              be build from the name of the completer function as in the first
              case with the name appended to it.  For example:

                     zstyle ':completion:*' completer _complete _complete:-foo

              Here, completion will call the _complete completer  twice,  once
              using  `complete' and once using `complete-foo' in the completer
              field of the context.  Normally, using the same  completer  more
              than  once  only makes sense when used with the `functions:name'
              form, because otherwise the context name will be the same in all
              calls to the completer; possible exceptions to this rule are the
              _ignored and _prefix completers.

              The default value for this style is `_complete  _ignored':  only
              completion  will be done, first using the ignored-patterns style
              and the $fignore array and then without ignoring matches.

       condition
              This style is used by the _list completer function to decide  if
              insertion  of matches should be delayed unconditionally. The de-
              fault is `true'.

       delimiters
              This style is used when adding a delimiter for use with  history
              modifiers  or glob qualifiers that have delimited arguments.  It
              is an array of preferred delimiters to add.  Non-special charac-
              ters are preferred as the completion system may otherwise become
              confused.  The default list is :, +, /, -, %.  The list  may  be
              empty to force a delimiter to be typed.

       disabled
              If  this is set to `true', the _expand_alias completer and bind-
              able command will try to expand disabled aliases, too.  The  de-
              fault is `false'.

       domains
              A  list  of names of network domains for completion.  If this is
              not set, domain names will  be  taken  from  the  file  /etc/re-
              solv.conf.

       environ
              The environ style is used when completing for `sudo'.  It is set
              to an array of `VAR=value' assignments to be exported  into  the
              local  environment  before the completion for the target command
              is invoked.
              zstyle ':completion:*:sudo::' environ \
                PATH="/sbin:/usr/sbin:$PATH" HOME="/root"

       expand This style is used when completing strings consisting of  multi-
              ple parts, such as path names.

              If one of its values is the string `prefix', the partially typed
              word from the line will be expanded as far as possible  even  if
              trailing parts cannot be completed.

              If  one of its values is the string `suffix', matching names for
              components after the first ambiguous one  will  also  be  added.
              This  means that the resulting string is the longest unambiguous
              string possible.  However, menu completion can be used to  cycle
              through all matches.

       fake   This  style may be set for any completion context.  It specifies
              additional strings that will always be completed  in  that  con-
              text.  The form of each string is `value:description'; the colon
              and description may be omitted, but any literal colons in  value
              must  be  quoted  with a backslash.  Any description provided is
              shown alongside the value in completion listings.

              It is important to use a sufficiently restrictive  context  when
              specifying  fake  strings.   Note that the styles fake-files and
              fake-parameters  provide  additional  features  when  completing
              files or parameters.

       fake-always
              This  works  identically  to  the fake style except that the ig-
              nored-patterns style is not applied to it.  This makes it possi-
              ble  to  override a set of matches completely by setting the ig-
              nored patterns to `*'.

              The following shows a way of supplementing any  tag  with  arbi-
              trary  data,  but  having  it behave for display purposes like a
              separate tag.  In this  example  we  use  the  features  of  the
              tag-order  style  to  divide  the named-directories tag into two
              when performing completion with the standard completer  complete
              for  arguments  of cd.  The tag named-directories-normal behaves
              as normal, but the tag named-directories-mine contains  a  fixed
              set  of  directories.   This  has the effect of adding the match
              group `extra directories' with the given completions.

                     zstyle ':completion::complete:cd:*' tag-order \
                       'named-directories:-mine:extra\ directories
                       named-directories:-normal:named\ directories *'
                     zstyle ':completion::complete:cd:*:named-directories-mine' \
                       fake-always mydir1 mydir2
                     zstyle ':completion::complete:cd:*:named-directories-mine' \
                       ignored-patterns '*'

       fake-files
              This style is used when completing files and looked up without a
              tag.   Its values are of the form `dir:names...'.  This will add
              the names (strings separated by spaces) as possible matches when
              completing  in  the  directory dir, even if no such files really
              exist.  The dir may be a pattern; pattern characters  or  colons
              in  dir  should  be quoted with a backslash to be treated liter-
              ally.

              This can be useful on systems that support special file  systems
              whose  top-level  pathnames  can not be listed or generated with
              glob patterns (but see accept-exact-dirs for a more general  way
              of dealing with this problem).  It can also be used for directo-
              ries for which one does not have read permission.

              The pattern form can be used to add a certain `magic'  entry  to
              all directories on a particular file system.

       fake-parameters
              This  is  used  by  the completion function for parameter names.
              Its values are names of parameters that might not yet be set but
              should be completed nonetheless.  Each name may also be followed
              by a colon and a string specifying the  type  of  the  parameter
              (like  `scalar',  `array'  or `integer').  If the type is given,
              the name will only be completed if parameters of that  type  are
              required  in the particular context.  Names for which no type is
              specified will always be completed.

       file-list
              This style controls whether files completed using  the  standard
              builtin  mechanism  are to be listed with a long list similar to
              ls -l.  Note that this feature uses the  shell  module  zsh/stat
              for file information; this loads the builtin stat which will re-
              place any external stat executable.  To avoid this the following
              code can be included in an initialization file:

                     zmodload -i zsh/stat
                     disable stat

              The style may either be set to a `true' value (or `all'), or one
              of the values `insert' or `list', indicating that files  are  to
              be  listed in long format in all circumstances, or when attempt-
              ing to insert a file name, or when listing  file  names  without
              attempting to insert one.

              More  generally,  the  value may be an array of any of the above
              values, optionally followed by =num.  If num is present it gives
              the  maximum number of matches for which long listing style will
              be used.  For example,

                     zstyle ':completion:*' file-list list=20 insert=10

              specifies that long format will be used when listing  up  to  20
              files  or  inserting  a  file  with up to 10 matches (assuming a
              listing is to be shown at all, for example on an ambiguous  com-
              pletion), else short format will be used.

                     zstyle -e ':completion:*' file-list \
                            '(( ${+NUMERIC} )) && reply=(true)'

              specifies that long format will be used any time a numeric argu-
              ment is supplied, else short format.

       file-patterns
              This is used by the standard function for completing  filenames,
              _files.   If  the  style  is unset up to three tags are offered,
              `globbed-files',`directories' and `all-files', depending on  the
              types of files  expected by the caller of _files.  The first two
              (`globbed-files' and `directories')  are  normally  offered  to-
              gether to make it easier to complete files in sub-directories.

              The  file-patterns  style  provides  alternatives to the default
              tags, which are not used.  Its value consists of elements of the
              form  `pattern:tag';  each string may contain any number of such
              specifications separated by spaces.

              The pattern is a pattern that is to be used  to  generate  file-
              names.   Any  occurrence of the sequence `%p' is replaced by any
              pattern(s) passed by the function calling _files.  Colons in the
              pattern  must  be  preceded  by a backslash to make them distin-
              guishable from the colon before the tag.  If more than one  pat-
              tern  is  needed, the patterns can be given inside braces, sepa-
              rated by commas.

              The tags of all strings in the value will be offered  by  _files
              and  used  when  looking  up other styles.  Any tags in the same
              word will be offered at the same time and  before  later  words.
              If no `:tag' is given the `files' tag will be used.

              The  tag  may also be followed by an optional second colon and a
              description, which will be used for the `%d' in the value of the
              format style (if that is set) instead of the default description
              supplied by the completion function.  If the  description  given
              here  contains itself a `%d', that is replaced with the descrip-
              tion supplied by the completion function.

              For example, to make the rm command first complete only names of
              object  files  and  then  the  names of all files if there is no
              matching object file:

                     zstyle ':completion:*:*:rm:*:*' file-patterns \
                         '*.o:object-files' '%p:all-files'

              To alter the default behaviour of file completion -- offer files
              matching  a  pattern  and directories on the first attempt, then
              all files -- to offer only matching files on the first  attempt,
              then directories, and finally all files:

                     zstyle ':completion:*' file-patterns \
                         '%p:globbed-files' '*(-/):directories' '*:all-files'

              This  works  even  where  there  is  no  special pattern: _files
              matches all files using the pattern `*' at the  first  step  and
              stops  when it sees this pattern.  Note also it will never try a
              pattern more than once for a single completion attempt.

              During the execution of completion functions, the  EXTENDED_GLOB
              option  is  in  effect,  so the characters `#', `~' and `^' have
              special meanings in the patterns.

       file-sort
              The standard filename completion function uses this style  with-
              out  a  tag  to  determine  in  which  order the names should be
              listed; menu completion will cycle through them in the same  or-
              der.  The possible values are: `size' to sort by the size of the
              file; `links' to sort by the number of links to the file; `modi-
              fication' (or `time' or `date') to sort by the last modification
              time; `access' to sort by the last access time; and `inode'  (or
              `change')  to  sort by the last inode change time.  If the style
              is set to any other value, or is unset, files will be sorted al-
              phabetically  by  name.   If  the value contains the string `re-
              verse', sorting is done in the opposite  order.   If  the  value
              contains the string `follow', timestamps are associated with the
              targets of symbolic links; the default is to use the  timestamps
              of the links themselves.

       file-split-chars
              A set of characters that will cause all file completions for the
              given context to be split at the point where any of the  charac-
              ters  occurs.   A typical use is to set the style to :; then ev-
              erything up to and including the last : in the string so far  is
              ignored  when  completing files.  As this is quite heavy-handed,
              it is usually preferable to update completion functions for con-
              texts where this behaviour is useful.

       filter The  ldap  plugin  of  email  address completion (see _email_ad-
              dresses) uses this style to  specify  the  attributes  to  match
              against when filtering entries.  So for example, if the style is
              set to `sn', matching is done against surnames.   Standard  LDAP
              filtering is used so normal completion matching is bypassed.  If
              this style is not set, the LDAP plugin is skipped.  You may also
              need  to set the command style to specify how to connect to your
              LDAP server.

       force-list
              This forces a list of completions to be shown at any point where
              listing  is  done, even in cases where the list would usually be
              suppressed.  For example, normally the list  is  only  shown  if
              there are at least two different matches.  By setting this style
              to `always', the list will always be shown,  even  if  there  is
              only  a  single  match  that  will immediately be accepted.  The
              style may also be set to a number.  In this case the  list  will
              be  shown  if there are at least that many matches, even if they
              would all insert the same string.

              This style is tested for the default tag as well as for each tag
              valid  for  the  current  completion.   Hence the listing can be
              forced only for certain types of match.

       format If this is set for the descriptions tag, its value is used as  a
              string  to  display  above matches in completion lists.  The se-
              quence `%d' in this string will be replaced  with  a  short  de-
              scription  of what these matches are.  This string may also con-
              tain the output attribute sequences  understood  by  compadd  -X
              (see zshcompwid(1)).

              The  style is tested with each tag valid for the current comple-
              tion before it is tested for the descriptions tag.   Hence  dif-
              ferent  format  strings  can  be  defined for different types of
              match.

              Note  also  that  some  completer  functions  define  additional
              `%'-sequences.   These are described for the completer functions
              that make use of them.

              Some completion functions display  messages  that  may  be  cus-
              tomised  by  setting this style for the messages tag.  Here, the
              `%d' is replaced with a message given by  the  completion  func-
              tion.

              Finally,  the  format string is looked up with the warnings tag,
              for use when no matches could be generated at all.  In this case
              the  `%d' is replaced with the descriptions for the matches that
              were expected separated by spaces.  The  sequence  `%D'  is  re-
              placed with the same descriptions separated by newlines.

              It  is  possible to use printf-style field width specifiers with
              `%d' and similar escape sequences.  This is handled by the zfor-
              mat  builtin  command  from  the  zsh/zutil  module, see zshmod-
              ules(1).

       glob   This is used by the _expand completer.  If it is set  to  `true'
              (the default), globbing will be attempted on the words resulting
              from a previous substitution (see the substitute style) or  else
              the original string from the line.

       global If  this  is set to `true' (the default), the _expand_alias com-
              pleter and bindable command will try to expand global aliases.

       group-name
              The completion system can  group  different  types  of  matches,
              which  appear in separate lists.  This style can be used to give
              the names of groups for particular tags.  For example,  in  com-
              mand  position  the completion system generates names of builtin
              and external commands, names of aliases, shell functions and pa-
              rameters  and  reserved  words as possible completions.  To have
              the external commands and shell functions listed separately:

                     zstyle ':completion:*:*:-command-:*:commands' \
                            group-name commands
                     zstyle ':completion:*:*:-command-:*:functions' \
                            group-name functions

              As a consequence, any match with the same tag will be  displayed
              in the same group.

              If  the  name  given is the empty string the name of the tag for
              the matches will be used as the name of the group.  So, to  have
              all  different  types  of  matches displayed separately, one can
              just set:

                     zstyle ':completion:*' group-name ''

              All matches for which no group name is defined will be put in  a
              group named -default-.

       group-order
              This  style is additional to the group-name style to specify the
              order for display of the groups defined by that  style  (compare
              tag-order,  which  determines  which completions appear at all).
              The groups named are shown in the given order; any other  groups
              are shown in the order defined by the completion function.

              For  example, to have names of builtin commands, shell functions
              and external commands appear in that order  when  completing  in
              command position:

                     zstyle ':completion:*:*:-command-:*:*' group-order \
                            builtins functions commands

       groups A list of names of UNIX groups.  If this is not set, group names
              are taken from the YP database or the file `/etc/group'.

       hidden If this is set to `true', matches for the given context will not
              be listed, although any description for the matches set with the
              format style will be shown.  If it is set to `all', not even the
              description will be displayed.

              Note that the matches will still be completed; they are just not
              shown in the list.  To avoid having matches considered as possi-
              ble  completions  at all, the tag-order style can be modified as
              described below.

       hosts  A list of names of hosts that should be completed.  If  this  is
              not set, hostnames are taken from the file `/etc/hosts'.

       hosts-ports
              This style is used by commands that need or accept hostnames and
              network ports.  The strings in the value should be of  the  form
              `host:port'.   Valid  ports  are  determined  by the presence of
              hostnames; multiple ports for the same host may appear.

       ignore-line
              This is tested for each tag valid for  the  current  completion.
              If  it  is  set to `true', none of the words that are already on
              the line will be considered as possible completions.  If  it  is
              set  to `current', the word the cursor is on will not be consid-
              ered as a possible completion.   The  value  `current-shown'  is
              similar but only applies if the list of completions is currently
              shown on the screen.  Finally, if the style is set  to  `other',
              all  words  on  the  line except for the current one will be ex-
              cluded from the possible completions.

              The values `current' and `current-shown' are a bit like the  op-
              posite  of  the  accept-exact  style:  only strings with missing
              characters will be completed.

              Note that you almost certainly don't want to set this to  `true'
              or  `other' for a general context such as `:completion:*'.  This
              is because it would disallow completion of, for example, options
              multiple  times  even if the command in question accepts the op-
              tion more than once.

       ignore-parents
              The style is tested without a tag  by  the  function  completing
              pathnames  in  order to determine whether to ignore the names of
              directories already mentioned in the current word, or  the  name
              of the current working directory.  The value must include one or
              both of the following strings:

              parent The name of any directory whose path is already contained
                     in  the  word  on the line is ignored.  For example, when
                     completing after foo/../, the directory foo will  not  be
                     considered a valid completion.

              pwd    The  name  of  the  current working directory will not be
                     completed; hence, for example, completion after ../  will
                     not use the name of the current directory.

              In addition, the value may include one or both of:

              ..     Ignore  the  specified  directories only when the word on
                     the line contains the substring `../'.

              directory
                     Ignore the specified directories only when names  of  di-
                     rectories  are  completed,  not  when completing names of
                     files.

              Excluded values act in a similar fashion to values  of  the  ig-
              nored-patterns  style,  so they can be restored to consideration
              by the _ignored completer.

       extra-verbose
              If set, the completion listing is more verbose at the cost of  a
              probable  decrease  in completion speed.  Completion performance
              will suffer if this style is set to `true'.

       ignored-patterns
              A list of patterns; any trial completion  matching  one  of  the
              patterns will be excluded from consideration.  The _ignored com-
              pleter can appear in the list of completers to restore  the  ig-
              nored matches.  This is a more configurable version of the shell
              parameter $fignore.

              Note that the EXTENDED_GLOB option is set during  the  execution
              of completion functions, so the characters `#', `~' and `^' have
              special meanings in the patterns.

       insert This style is used  by  the  _all_matches  completer  to  decide
              whether  to  insert  the list of all matches unconditionally in-
              stead of adding the list as another match.

       insert-ids
              When completing process IDs, for example  as  arguments  to  the
              kill and wait builtins the name of a command may be converted to
              the appropriate process ID.  A problem arises when  the  process
              name  typed  is not unique.  By default (or if this style is set
              explicitly to `menu') the name will be converted immediately  to
              a  set  of  possible IDs, and menu completion will be started to
              cycle through them.

              If the value of the style is `single', the shell will wait until
              the user has typed enough to make the command unique before con-
              verting the name to an ID; attempts at completion will be unsuc-
              cessful  until  that  point.   If the value is any other string,
              menu completion will be started when the  string  typed  by  the
              user is longer than the common prefix to the corresponding IDs.

       insert-tab
              If  this  is  set to `true', the completion system will insert a
              TAB character (assuming that was used to start  completion)  in-
              stead  of performing completion when there is no non-blank char-
              acter to the left of the cursor.  If it is set to `false',  com-
              pletion will be done even there.

              The  value  may  also contain the substrings `pending' or `pend-
              ing=val'.  In this case, the typed character  will  be  inserted
              instead  of  starting completion when there is unprocessed input
              pending.  If a val is given, completion  will  not  be  done  if
              there  are  at  least that many characters of unprocessed input.
              This is often useful when pasting characters  into  a  terminal.
              Note  however,  that it relies on the $PENDING special parameter
              from the zsh/zle module being set properly which is not  guaran-
              teed on all platforms.

              The  default value of this style is `true' except for completion
              within vared builtin command where it is `false'.

       insert-unambiguous
              This is used by the _match and _approximate  completers.   These
              completers  are  often  used with menu completion since the word
              typed may bear little resemblance to the final completion.  How-
              ever,  if  this  style  is `true', the completer will start menu
              completion only if it could find no unambiguous  initial  string
              at least as long as the original string typed by the user.

              In  the  case of the _approximate completer, the completer field
              in the context will already have been set to one of  correct-num
              or  approximate-num, where num is the number of errors that were
              accepted.

              In the case of the _match completer, the style may also  be  set
              to  the  string `pattern'.  Then the pattern on the line is left
              unchanged if it does not match unambiguously.

       gain-privileges
              If set to true, this style enables the use of commands like sudo
              or doas to gain extra privileges when retrieving information for
              completion. This is only done when a command such  as  sudo  ap-
              pears  on the command-line. To force the use of, e.g. sudo or to
              override any prefix that might be added due to  gain-privileges,
              the  command  style  can be used with a value that begins with a
              hyphen.

       keep-prefix
              This style is used by the _expand completer.  If it  is  `true',
              the  completer  will  try to keep a prefix containing a tilde or
              parameter expansion.  Hence,  for  example,  the  string  `~/f*'
              would  be  expanded  to `~/foo' instead of `/home/user/foo'.  If
              the style is set to `changed' (the  default),  the  prefix  will
              only  be  left unchanged if there were other changes between the
              expanded words and the original word from the command line.  Any
              other value forces the prefix to be expanded unconditionally.

              The  behaviour  of _expand when this style is `true' is to cause
              _expand to give up when a single  expansion  with  the  restored
              prefix  is  the  same  as the original; hence any remaining com-
              pleters may be called.

       last-prompt
              This is a more flexible form of the  ALWAYS_LAST_PROMPT  option.
              If  it  is  `true', the completion system will try to return the
              cursor to the previous command line after displaying  a  comple-
              tion list.  It is tested for all tags valid for the current com-
              pletion, then the default tag.  The cursor will be moved back to
              the  previous  line  if  this  style  is `true' for all types of
              match.  Note that unlike the ALWAYS_LAST_PROMPT option  this  is
              independent of the numeric argument.

       known-hosts-files
              This  style  should  contain  a list of files to search for host
              names and (if the use-ip style is set) IP addresses in a  format
              compatible  with  ssh  known_hosts files.  If it is not set, the
              files /etc/ssh/ssh_known_hosts and ~/.ssh/known_hosts are used.

       list   This style is used by the _history_complete_word  bindable  com-
              mand.  If it is set to `true' it has no effect.  If it is set to
              `false' matches will not be listed.  This overrides the  setting
              of  the  options  controlling  listing  behaviour, in particular
              AUTO_LIST.  The context  always  starts  with  `:completion:his-
              tory-words'.

       list-colors
              If  the zsh/complist module is loaded, this style can be used to
              set color specifications.  This mechanism replaces  the  use  of
              the  ZLS_COLORS and ZLS_COLOURS parameters described in the sec-
              tion `The zsh/complist Module' in zshmodules(1), but the  syntax
              is the same.

              If  this  style  is  set for the default tag, the strings in the
              value are taken as specifications that are  to  be  used  every-
              where.  If it is set for other tags, the specifications are used
              only for matches of the type described by the tag.  For this  to
              work best, the group-name style must be set to an empty string.

              In addition to setting styles for specific tags, it is also pos-
              sible to use group names specified explicitly by the  group-name
              tag together with the `(group)' syntax allowed by the ZLS_COLORS
              and ZLS_COLOURS parameters and simply using the default tag.

              It is possible to use any color specifications  already  set  up
              for the GNU version of the ls command:

                     zstyle ':completion:*:default' list-colors \
                            ${(s.:.)LS_COLORS}

              The  default  colors  are the same as for the GNU ls command and
              can be obtained by setting the style to an  empty  string  (i.e.
              '').

       list-dirs-first
              This is used by file completion.  If set, directories to be com-
              pleted are listed separately  from  and  before  completion  for
              other  files,  regardless of tag ordering.  In addition, the tag
              other-files is used in place  of  all-files  for  the  remaining
              files,  to  indicate that no directories are presented with that
              tag.

       list-grouped
              If this style is `true' (the  default),  the  completion  system
              will  try  to  make  certain completion listings more compact by
              grouping matches.  For example, options for commands  that  have
              the  same  description  (shown  when the verbose style is set to
              `true') will appear as a single entry.  However, menu  selection
              can be used to cycle through all the matches.

       list-packed
              This is tested for each tag valid in the current context as well
              as the default tag.  If it is set to `true',  the  corresponding
              matches  appear  in  listings  as if the LIST_PACKED option were
              set.  If it is set to `false', they are listed normally.

       list-prompt
              If this style is set for the default tag, completion lists  that
              don't  fit on the screen can be scrolled (see the description of
              the zsh/complist module in zshmodules(1)).  The  value,  if  not
              the  empty  string,  will be displayed after every screenful and
              the shell will prompt for a key press; if the style  is  set  to
              the empty string, a default prompt will be used.

              The  value may contain the escape sequences: `%l' or `%L', which
              will be replaced by the number of the last  line  displayed  and
              the total number of lines; `%m' or `%M', the number of the  last
              match shown and the total number of matches; and `%p' and  `%P',
              `Top'  when  at  the beginning of the list, `Bottom' when at the
              end and the position shown as a percentage of the  total  length
              otherwise.  In each case the form with the uppercase letter will
              be replaced by a string of fixed width,  padded  to  the   right
              with  spaces,  while  the  lowercase  form will be replaced by a
              variable width string.  As in other prompt strings,  the  escape
              sequences  `%S',  `%s',  `%B', `%b', `%U', `%u' for entering and
              leaving the display modes  standout,  bold  and  underline,  and
              `%F',  `%f',  `%K',  `%k' for changing the foreground background
              colour, are also available, as is the form `%{...%}' for enclos-
              ing escape sequences which display with zero (or, with a numeric
              argument, some other) width.

              After deleting this prompt the variable LISTPROMPT should be un-
              set for the removal to take effect.

       list-rows-first
              This  style  is  tested in the same way as the list-packed style
              and determines whether matches are to be listed in a  rows-first
              fashion as if the LIST_ROWS_FIRST option were set.

       list-suffixes
              This style is used by the function that completes filenames.  If
              it is `true', and completion is attempted on a string containing
              multiple partially typed pathname components, all ambiguous com-
              ponents will be shown.  Otherwise, completion stops at the first
              ambiguous component.

       list-separator
              The  value  of this style is used in completion listing to sepa-
              rate the string to complete from  a  description  when  possible
              (e.g.  when  completing  options).  It defaults to `--' (two hy-
              phens).

       local  This is for use with functions that complete URLs for which  the
              corresponding files are available directly from the file system.
              Its value should consist of three strings: a hostname, the  path
              to  the default web pages for the server, and the directory name
              used by a user placing web pages within their home area.

              For example:

                     zstyle ':completion:*' local toast \
                         /var/http/public/toast public_html

              Completion after `http://toast/stuff/' will look  for  files  in
              the  directory  /var/http/public/toast/stuff,   while completion
              after `http://toast/~yousir/' will look for files in the  direc-
              tory ~yousir/public_html.

       mail-directory
              If  set,  zsh will assume that mailbox files can be found in the
              directory specified.  It defaults to `~/Mail'.

       match-original
              This is used by the _match completer.  If it  is  set  to  only,
              _match  will  try to generate matches without inserting a `*' at
              the cursor position.  If set to any other  non-empty  value,  it
              will first try to generate matches without inserting the `*' and
              if that yields no matches, it will try again with  the  `*'  in-
              serted.   If  it  is  unset or set to the empty string, matching
              will only be performed with the `*' inserted.

       matcher
              This style is tested separately for each tag valid in  the  cur-
              rent  context.   Its value is placed before any match specifica-
              tions given by the matcher-list style so can override  them  via
              the use of an x: specification.  The value should be in the form
              described in the section `Completion Matching Control'  in  zsh-
              compwid(1).   For  examples  of this, see the description of the
              tag-order style.

              For notes comparing the use of this and the matcher-list  style,
              see under the description of the tag-order style.

       matcher-list
              This style can be set to a list of match specifications that are
              to be applied everywhere. Match specifications are described  in
              the section `Completion Matching Control' in zshcompwid(1).  The
              completion system will try them one after another for each  com-
              pleter  selected.   For  example, to try first simple completion
              and, if that generates no matches, case-insensitive completion:

                     zstyle ':completion:*' matcher-list '' 'm:{a-zA-Z}={A-Za-z}'

              By default each specification replaces the  previous  one;  how-
              ever,  if a specification is prefixed with +, it is added to the
              existing list.  Hence it is possible to create increasingly gen-
              eral specifications without repetition:

                     zstyle ':completion:*' matcher-list \
                            '' '+m:{a-z}={A-Z}' '+m:{A-Z}={a-z}'

              It is possible to create match specifications valid for particu-
              lar completers by using the third field of  the  context.   This
              applies   only   to   completers   that   override   the  global
              matcher-list, which as of this writing includes only _prefix and
              _ignored.   For  example,  to  use  the completers _complete and
              _prefix but allow case-insensitive completion  only  with  _com-
              plete:

                     zstyle ':completion:*' completer _complete _prefix
                     zstyle ':completion:*:complete:*:*:*' matcher-list \
                            '' 'm:{a-zA-Z}={A-Za-z}'

              User-defined  names,  as  explained for the completer style, are
              available.  This makes it possible to  try  the  same  completer
              more  than  once  with different match specifications each time.
              For example, to try normal completion without a match specifica-
              tion,  then  normal  completion  with case-insensitive matching,
              then correction, and finally partial-word completion:

                     zstyle ':completion:*' completer \
                         _complete _correct _complete:foo
                     zstyle ':completion:*:complete:*:*:*' matcher-list \
                         '' 'm:{a-zA-Z}={A-Za-z}'
                     zstyle ':completion:*:foo:*:*:*' matcher-list \
                         'm:{a-zA-Z}={A-Za-z} r:|[-_./]=* r:|=*'

              If the style is unset in any context no match  specification  is
              applied.   Note  also  that some completers such as _correct and
              _approximate do not use the match specifications at all,  though
              these  completers  will  only  ever  be  called once even if the
              matcher-list contains more than one element.

              Where multiple specifications are useful, note that  the  entire
              completion  is  done for each element of matcher-list, which can
              quickly reduce the shell's performance.   As  a  rough  rule  of
              thumb,  one  to  three strings will give acceptable performance.
              On the other hand, putting multiple space-separated values  into
              the  same  string does not have an appreciable impact on perfor-
              mance.

              If there is no current matcher or it is empty,  and  the  option
              NO_CASE_GLOB  is  in effect, the matching for files is performed
              case-insensitively in any case.  However, any matcher  must  ex-
              plicitly specify case-insensitive matching if that is required.

              For  notes  comparing the use of this and the matcher style, see
              under the description of the tag-order style.

       max-errors
              This is used by the _approximate and  _correct  completer  func-
              tions  to  determine the maximum number of errors to allow.  The
              completer will try to generate completions by first allowing one
              error,  then  two  errors,  and  so  on, until either a match or
              matches were found or the maximum number of errors given by this
              style has been reached.

              If  the  value for this style contains the string `numeric', the
              completer function will take any numeric argument as the maximum
              number of errors allowed. For example, with

                     zstyle ':completion:*:approximate:::' max-errors 2 numeric

              two errors are allowed if no numeric argument is given, but with
              a numeric argument of six (as in `ESC-6 TAB'), up to six  errors
              are  accepted.  Hence with a value of `0 numeric', no correcting
              completion will be attempted unless a numeric argument is given.

              If the value contains the string  `not-numeric',  the  completer
              will  not try to generate corrected completions when given a nu-
              meric argument, so in this  case  the  number  given  should  be
              greater  than zero.  For example, `2 not-numeric' specifies that
              correcting completion with two errors will usually be performed,
              but  if  a numeric argument is given, correcting completion will
              not be performed.

              The default value for this style is `2 numeric'.

       max-matches-width
              This style is used to determine the trade off between the  width
              of the display used for matches and the width used for their de-
              scriptions when the verbose style is in effect.  The value gives
              the  number  of display columns to reserve for the matches.  The
              default is half the width of the screen.

              This has the most impact when several matches have the same  de-
              scription and so will be grouped together.  Increasing the style
              will allow more matches to be grouped  together;  decreasing  it
              will allow more of the description to be visible.

       menu   If  this is `true' in the context of any of the tags defined for
              the current completion menu completion will be used.  The  value
              for  a  specific tag will take precedence over that for the `de-
              fault' tag.

              If none of the values found in this way is `true' but  at  least
              one  is set to `auto', the shell behaves as if the AUTO_MENU op-
              tion is set.

              If one of the values is explicitly set to `false', menu  comple-
              tion will be explicitly turned off, overriding the MENU_COMPLETE
              option and other settings.

              In the form `yes=num', where `yes' may be any of the `true' val-
              ues  (`yes',  `true',  `on'  and  `1'),  menu completion will be
              turned on if there are  at  least  num  matches.   In  the  form
              `yes=long',  menu  completion will be turned on if the list does
              not fit on the screen.  This does not activate  menu  completion
              if  the widget normally only lists completions, but menu comple-
              tion  can  be  activated   in   that   case   with   the   value
              `yes=long-list'  (Typically,  the  value  `select=long-list' de-
              scribed later  is  more  useful  as  it  provides  control  over
              scrolling.)

              Similarly,  with any of the `false' values (as in `no=10'), menu
              completion will not be used if there are num or more matches.

              The value of this widget also controls menu selection, as imple-
              mented by the zsh/complist module.  The following values may ap-
              pear either alongside or instead of the values above.

              If the value contains the string `select', menu  selection  will
              be started unconditionally.

              In the form `select=num', menu selection will only be started if
              there are at least num matches.  If the values for more than one
              tag provide a number, the smallest number is taken.

              Menu  selection can be turned off explicitly by defining a value
              containing the string`no-select'.

              It is also possible to start menu selection only if the list  of
              matches  does  not  fit  on  the  screen by using the value `se-
              lect=long'.  To start menu selection even if the current  widget
              only performs listing, use the value `select=long-list'.

              To  turn  on  menu completion or menu selection when there are a
              certain number of matches or the list of matches does not fit on
              the  screen,  both  of  `yes=' and `select=' may be given twice,
              once with a number and once with `long' or `long-list'.

              Finally, it is possible to activate two special  modes  of  menu
              selection.   The word `interactive' in the value causes interac-
              tive mode to be  entered  immediately  when  menu  selection  is
              started;  see the description of the zsh/complist module in zsh-
              modules(1) for a description of interactive mode.  Including the
              string  `search'  does the same for incremental search mode.  To
              select  backward  incremental   search,   include   the   string
              `search-backward'.

       muttrc If  set,  gives the location of the mutt configuration file.  It
              defaults to `~/.muttrc'.

       numbers
              This is used with the jobs tag.  If it is `true', the shell will
              complete  job numbers instead of the shortest unambiguous prefix
              of the job command text.  If the value is a number, job  numbers
              will  only  be used if that many words from the job descriptions
              are required to resolve ambiguities.  For example, if the  value
              is  `1',  strings  will  only  be used if all jobs differ in the
              first word on their command lines.

       old-list
              This is used by the _oldlist completer.  If it is  set  to  `al-
              ways',  then  standard widgets which perform listing will retain
              the current list of matches, however they were  generated;  this
              can  be turned off explicitly with the value `never', giving the
              behaviour without the _oldlist completer.  If the style  is  un-
              set,  or  any other value, then the existing list of completions
              is displayed if it is not already; otherwise, the standard  com-
              pletion  list  is  generated;  this  is the default behaviour of
              _oldlist.  However, if there is an old list and this style  con-
              tains  the  name  of  the  completer function that generated the
              list, then the old list will be used even if it was generated by
              a widget which does not do listing.

              For  example, suppose you type ^Xc to use the _correct_word wid-
              get, which generates a list of corrections for  the  word  under
              the  cursor.   Usually, typing ^D would generate a standard list
              of completions for the word on the command line, and show  that.
              With  _oldlist, it will instead show the list of corrections al-
              ready generated.

              As another example consider the _match completer: with  the  in-
              sert-unambiguous  style  set  to `true' it inserts only a common
              prefix string, if there is any.  However, this may remove  parts
              of  the  original pattern, so that further completion could pro-
              duce more matches than on  the  first  attempt.   By  using  the
              _oldlist completer and setting this style to _match, the list of
              matches generated on the first attempt will be used again.

       old-matches
              This is used by the _all_matches completer to decide if  an  old
              list  of matches should be used if one exists.  This is selected
              by one of the `true' values or by the  string  `only'.   If  the
              value  is  `only',  _all_matches  will  only use an old list and
              won't have any effect on the list  of  matches  currently  being
              generated.

              If  this  style  is  set  it  is  generally  unwise  to call the
              _all_matches completer unconditionally.  One possible use is for
              either  this style or the completer style to be defined with the
              -e option to zstyle to make the style conditional.

       old-menu
              This is used by the _oldlist completer.  It  controls  how  menu
              completion  behaves  when a completion has already been inserted
              and the user types a standard completion key such as  TAB.   The
              default  behaviour  of  _oldlist  is that menu completion always
              continues with the existing list of completions.  If this  style
              is  set  to `false', however, a new completion is started if the
              old list was generated by a different completion  command;  this
              is the behaviour without the _oldlist completer.

              For  example, suppose you type ^Xc to generate a list of correc-
              tions, and menu completion is started in one of the usual  ways.
              Usually,  or  with this style set to `false', typing TAB at this
              point would start trying to complete the line as it now appears.
              With _oldlist, it instead continues to cycle through the list of
              corrections.

       original
              This is used by the _approximate and _correct completers to  de-
              cide  if  the original string should be added as a possible com-
              pletion.  Normally, this is done only if there are at least  two
              possible  corrections, but if this style is set to `true', it is
              always added.  Note that the style will  be  examined  with  the
              completer  field  in  the context name set to correct-num or ap-
              proximate-num, where num is the number of errors that  were  ac-
              cepted.

       packageset
              This  style  is  used  when  completing  arguments of the Debian
              `dpkg' program.  It contains an override for the default package
              set for a given context.  For example,

                     zstyle ':completion:*:complete:dpkg:option--status-1:*' \
                                    packageset avail

              causes  available packages, rather than only installed packages,
              to be completed for `dpkg --status'.

       path   The function that completes color names uses this style with the
              colors tag.  The value should be the pathname of a file contain-
              ing color names in the format of an X11 rgb.txt  file.   If  the
              style  is not set but this file is found in one of various stan-
              dard locations it will be used as the default.

       path-completion
              This is used by filename completion.  By default, filename  com-
              pletion  examines  all  components of a path to see if there are
              completions of that component.  For example, /u/b/z can be  com-
              pleted  to  /usr/bin/zsh.   Explicitly  setting  this  style  to
              `false' inhibits this behaviour for path components up to the  /
              before  the  cursor;  this  overrides  the setting of accept-ex-
              act-dirs.

              Even with the style set to `false', it is still possible to com-
              plete  multiple paths by setting the option COMPLETE_IN_WORD and
              moving the cursor back to the first component in the path to  be
              completed.  For example, /u/b/z can be completed to /usr/bin/zsh
              if the cursor is after the /u.

       pine-directory
              If set, specifies the directory containing PINE  mailbox  files.
              There  is no default, since recursively searching this directory
              is inconvenient for anyone who doesn't use PINE.

       ports  A list of Internet service names (network  ports)  to  complete.
              If  this  is  not  set,  service  names  are taken from the file
              `/etc/services'.

       prefix-hidden
              This is used for certain completions which share a  common  pre-
              fix,  for  example command options beginning with dashes.  If it
              is `true', the prefix will not be shown in the list of matches.

              The default value for this style is `false'.

       prefix-needed
              This style is also relevant for matches with  a  common  prefix.
              If  it  is set to `true' this common prefix must be typed by the
              user to generate the matches.

              The style is applicable to the  options,  signals,  jobs,  func-
              tions, and parameters completion tags.

              For  command  options,  this means that the initial `-', `+', or
              `--' must be typed explicitly before option names will  be  com-
              pleted.

              For signals, an initial `-' is required before signal names will
              be completed.

              For jobs, an initial `%' is required before job  names  will  be
              completed.

              For  function  and parameter names, an initial `_' or `.' is re-
              quired before function or parameter names  starting  with  those
              characters will be completed.

              The default value for this style is `false' for function and pa-
              rameter completions, and  `true' otherwise.

       preserve-prefix
              This style is used when completing path names.  Its value should
              be  a pattern matching an initial prefix of the word to complete
              that should be left unchanged under all circumstances.  For  ex-
              ample,  on some Unices an initial `//' (double slash) has a spe-
              cial meaning; setting this style to the string  `//'  will  pre-
              serve it.  As another example, setting this style to `?:/' under
              Cygwin would allow completion after `a:/...' and so on.

       range  This is used by the _history  completer  and  the  _history_com-
              plete_word bindable command to decide which words should be com-
              pleted.

              If it is a single number, only the last N words from the history
              will be completed.

              If  it  is a range of the form `max:slice', the last slice words
              will be completed; then if that yields  no  matches,  the  slice
              words  before those will be tried and so on.  This process stops
              either when at least one match has been found, or max words have
              been tried.

              The default is to complete all words from the history at once.

       recursive-files
              If  this  style  is set, its value is an array of patterns to be
              tested against `$PWD/': note the trailing  slash,  which  allows
              directories  in the pattern to be delimited unambiguously by in-
              cluding slashes on both sides.  If an ordinary  file  completion
              fails  and  the word on the command line does not yet have a di-
              rectory part to its name, the style is retrieved using the  same
              tag  as  for  the  completion  just attempted, then the elements
              tested against $PWD/ in turn.  If one matches,  then  the  shell
              reattempts completion by prepending the word on the command line
              with each directory in the expansion of **/*(/) in turn.   Typi-
              cally the elements of the style will be set to restrict the num-
              ber of directories beneath the current one to a manageable  num-
              ber, for example `*/.git/*'.

              For example,

                     zstyle ':completion:*' recursive-files '*/zsh/*'

              If  the  current  directory is /home/pws/zsh/Src, then zle_trTAB
              can be completed to Zle/zle_tricky.c.

       regular
              This style is used by the _expand_alias completer  and  bindable
              command.   If  set to `true' (the default), regular aliases will
              be expanded but only in command  position.   If  it  is  set  to
              `false',  regular aliases will never be expanded.   If it is set
              to `always', regular aliases will be expanded  even  if  not  in
              command position.

       rehash If  this  is set when completing external commands, the internal
              list (hash) of commands will be updated for each search by issu-
              ing the rehash command.  There is a speed penalty for this which
              is only likely to be noticeable when  directories  in  the  path
              have slow file access.

       remote-access
              If  set to `false', certain commands will be prevented from mak-
              ing Internet connections to retrieve remote  information.   This
              includes the completion for the CVS command.

              It  is not always possible to know if connections are in fact to
              a remote site, so some may be prevented unnecessarily.

       remove-all-dups
              The _history_complete_word bindable  command  and  the  _history
              completer  use this to decide if all duplicate matches should be
              removed, rather than just consecutive duplicates.

       select-prompt
              If this is set for the default tag, its value will be  displayed
              during  menu  selection (see the menu style above) when the com-
              pletion list does not fit on the screen as a  whole.   The  same
              escapes as for the list-prompt style are understood, except that
              the numbers refer to the match or line the mark is  on.   A  de-
              fault prompt is used when the value is the empty string.

       select-scroll
              This  style  is  tested for the default tag and determines how a
              completion list is scrolled during a  menu  selection  (see  the
              menu  style  above) when the completion list does not fit on the
              screen as a whole.  If the value is  `0'  (zero),  the  list  is
              scrolled  by  half-screenfuls;  if it is a positive integer, the
              list is scrolled by the given number of lines; if it is a  nega-
              tive number, the list is scrolled by a screenful minus the abso-
              lute value of the given number of  lines.   The  default  is  to
              scroll by single lines.

       separate-sections
              This style is used with the manuals tag when completing names of
              manual pages.  If it is `true', entries for  different  sections
              are  added  separately  using  tag names of the form `manual.X',
              where X is the section number.  When  the  group-name  style  is
              also  in effect, pages from different sections will appear sepa-
              rately.  This style is also used similarly with the words  style
              when completing words for the dict command. It allows words from
              different dictionary databases to be added separately.  The  de-
              fault for this style is `false'.

       show-ambiguity
              If  the zsh/complist module is loaded, this style can be used to
              highlight the first ambiguous character in completion lists. The
              value  is  either  a color indication such as those supported by
              the list-colors style or, with a value of `true', a  default  of
              underlining is selected. The highlighting is only applied if the
              completion display strings correspond to the actual matches.

       show-completer
              Tested whenever a new completer is tried.  If it is `true',  the
              completion system outputs a progress message in the listing area
              showing what completer is being  tried.   The  message  will  be
              overwritten  by any output when completions are found and is re-
              moved after completion is finished.

       single-ignored
              This is used by the _ignored completer when there  is  only  one
              match.   If  its  value is `show', the single match will be dis-
              played but not inserted.  If the value is `menu', then the  sin-
              gle  match and the original string are both added as matches and
              menu completion is started, making it easy to select  either  of
              them.

       sort   This allows the standard ordering of matches to be overridden.

              If  its  value  is `true' or `false', sorting is enabled or dis-
              abled.  Additionally the values associated with the `-o'  option
              to  compadd can also be listed: match, nosort, numeric, reverse.
              If it is not set for the context, the standard behaviour of  the
              calling widget is used.

              The style is tested first against the full context including the
              tag, and if that fails to produce a value  against  the  context
              without the tag.

              In  many  cases where a calling widget explicitly selects a par-
              ticular ordering in lieu of the default, a value  of  `true'  is
              not  honoured.   An example of where this is not the case is for
              command history where the default of sorting matches chronologi-
              cally may be overridden by setting the style to `true'.

              In the _expand completer, if it is set to `true', the expansions
              generated will always be sorted.  If it is set to  `menu',  then
              the  expansions  are only sorted when they are offered as single
              strings but not in the string  containing  all  possible  expan-
              sions.

       special-dirs
              Normally,  the  completion  code  will not produce the directory
              names `.' and `..' as possible completions.  If  this  style  is
              set to `true', it will add both `.' and `..' as possible comple-
              tions; if it is set to `..', only `..' will be added.

              The following example sets special-dirs to `..' when the current
              prefix is empty, is a single `.', or consists only of a path be-
              ginning with `../'.  Otherwise the value is `false'.

                     zstyle -e ':completion:*' special-dirs \
                        '[[ $PREFIX = (../)#(|.|..) ]] && reply=(..)'

       squeeze-slashes
              If set to `true', sequences of slashes in  filename  paths  (for
              example  in `foo//bar') will be treated as a single slash.  This
              is the usual behaviour of UNIX paths.  However, by  default  the
              file  completion function behaves as if there were a `*' between
              the slashes.

       stop   If set to `true', the  _history_complete_word  bindable  command
              will  stop  once  when reaching the beginning or end of the his-
              tory.  Invoking _history_complete_word will then wrap around  to
              the  opposite  end  of  the  history.   If  this style is set to
              `false' (the default), _history_complete_word will loop  immedi-
              ately as in a menu completion.

       strip-comments
              If  set  to `true', this style causes non-essential comment text
              to be removed from completion matches.   Currently  it  is  only
              used  when completing e-mail addresses where it removes any dis-
              play name  from  the  addresses,  cutting  them  down  to  plain
              user@host form.

       subst-globs-only
              This  is used by the _expand completer.  If it is set to `true',
              the expansion will only be used if it  resulted  from  globbing;
              hence,  if  expansions  resulted  from the use of the substitute
              style described below, but these were  not  further  changed  by
              globbing, the expansions will be rejected.

              The default for this style is `false'.

       substitute
              This  boolean  style controls whether the _expand completer will
              first try to expand all substitutions in  the  string  (such  as
              `$(...)' and `${...}').

              The default is `true'.

       suffix This  is used by the _expand completer if the word starts with a
              tilde or contains a  parameter  expansion.   If  it  is  set  to
              `true', the word will only be expanded if it doesn't have a suf-
              fix, i.e. if it is something like `~foo' or `$foo'  rather  than
              `~foo/'  or `$foo/bar', unless that suffix itself contains char-
              acters eligible for expansion.  The default for  this  style  is
              `true'.

       tag-order
              This  provides a mechanism for sorting how the tags available in
              a particular context will be used.

              The values for the style are sets of  space-separated  lists  of
              tags.  The tags in each value will be tried at the same time; if
              no match is found, the next value is used.  (See  the  file-pat-
              terns style for an exception to this behavior.)

              For example:

                     zstyle ':completion:*:complete:-command-:*:*' tag-order \
                         'commands functions'

              specifies  that  completion in command position first offers ex-
              ternal commands and shell functions.   Remaining  tags  will  be
              tried if no completions are found.

              In  addition to tag names, each string in the value may take one
              of the following forms:

              -      If any value consists of only a  hyphen,  then  only  the
                     tags  specified  in the other values are generated.  Nor-
                     mally all tags not explicitly selected are tried last  if
                     the  specified  tags  fail to generate any matches.  This
                     means that a single value consisting only of a single hy-
                     phen turns off completion.

              ! tags...
                     A  string  starting  with  an  exclamation mark specifies
                     names of tags that are not to be used.  The effect is the
                     same  as  if  all other possible tags for the context had
                     been listed.

              tag:label ...
                     Here, tag is one of the standard tags and label is an ar-
                     bitrary  name.   Matches  are generated as normal but the
                     name label is used in contexts instead of tag.   This  is
                     not useful in words starting with !.

                     If  the  label starts with a hyphen, the tag is prepended
                     to the label to form the name used for lookup.  This  can
                     be  used  to make the completion system try a certain tag
                     more than once, supplying different  style  settings  for
                     each attempt; see below for an example.

              tag:label:description
                     As  before,  but description will replace the `%d' in the
                     value of the format style instead of the default descrip-
                     tion  supplied by the completion function.  Spaces in the
                     description must be quoted with a backslash.  A `%d'  ap-
                     pearing  in  description is replaced with the description
                     given by the completion function.

              In any of the forms above the tag may be a  pattern  or  several
              patterns  in the form `{pat1,pat2...}'.  In this case all match-
              ing tags will be used except for any  given  explicitly  in  the
              same string.

              One use of these features is to try one tag more than once, set-
              ting other styles differently on each attempt, but still to  use
              all the other tags without having to repeat them all.  For exam-
              ple, to make completion of function names  in  command  position
              ignore  all the completion functions starting with an underscore
              the first time completion is tried:

                     zstyle ':completion:*:*:-command-:*:*' tag-order \
                         'functions:-non-comp *' functions
                     zstyle ':completion:*:functions-non-comp' \
                         ignored-patterns '_*'

              On the first attempt, all tags will be offered but the functions
              tag  will  be  replaced by functions-non-comp.  The ignored-pat-
              terns style is set for this tag to  exclude  functions  starting
              with  an  underscore.  If there are no matches, the second value
              of the tag-order style is used which completes  functions  using
              the  default  tag,  this  time presumably including all function
              names.

              The matches for one tag can be split into different groups.  For
              example:

                     zstyle ':completion:*' tag-order \
                         'options:-long:long\ options
                          options:-short:short\ options
                          options:-single-letter:single\ letter\ options'
                     zstyle ':completion:*:options-long' \
                          ignored-patterns '[-+](|-|[^-]*)'
                     zstyle ':completion:*:options-short' \
                          ignored-patterns '--*' '[-+]?'
                     zstyle ':completion:*:options-single-letter' \
                          ignored-patterns '???*'

              With the group-names style set, options beginning with `--', op-
              tions beginning with a single `-' or `+' but containing multiple
              characters, and single-letter options will be displayed in sepa-
              rate groups with different descriptions.

              Another use of patterns is to try multiple match  specifications
              one after another.  The matcher-list style offers something sim-
              ilar, but it is tested very early in the completion  system  and
              hence  can't  be  set  for single commands nor for more specific
              contexts.  Here is how to  try  normal  completion  without  any
              match specification and, if that generates no matches, try again
              with case-insensitive matching, restricting the effect to  argu-
              ments of the command foo:

                     zstyle ':completion:*:*:foo:*:*' tag-order '*' '*:-case'
                     zstyle ':completion:*-case' matcher 'm:{a-z}={A-Z}'

              First,  all the tags offered when completing after foo are tried
              using the normal tag name.  If that generates  no  matches,  the
              second  value  of  tag-order is used, which tries all tags again
              except that this time each has -case appended to  its  name  for
              lookup  of  styles.   Hence  this time the value for the matcher
              style from the second call to zstyle in the example is  used  to
              make completion case-insensitive.

              It  is  possible to use the -e option of the zstyle builtin com-
              mand to specify conditions for the use of particular tags.   For
              example:

                     zstyle -e '*:-command-:*' tag-order '
                         if [[ -n $PREFIX$SUFFIX ]]; then
                           reply=( )
                         else
                           reply=( - )
                         fi'

              Completion  in  command  position  will be attempted only if the
              string typed so far is not empty.  This is tested using the PRE-
              FIX  special  parameter; see zshcompwid for a description of pa-
              rameters which are special inside completion  widgets.   Setting
              reply to an empty array provides the default behaviour of trying
              all tags at once; setting it to an array containing only  a  hy-
              phen disables the use of all tags and hence of all completions.

              If  no  tag-order  style  has  been  defined  for a context, the
              strings `(|*-)argument-*  (|*-)option-*  values'  and  `options'
              plus all tags offered by the completion function will be used to
              provide  a  sensible  default  behavior  that  causes  arguments
              (whether normal command arguments or arguments of options) to be
              completed before option names for most commands.

       urls   This is used together with the urls tag by functions  completing
              URLs.

              If  the  value  consists of more than one string, or if the only
              string does not name a file or directory, the strings  are  used
              as the URLs to complete.

              If  the  value  contains  only one string which is the name of a
              normal file the URLs are taken from that file  (where  the  URLs
              may be separated by white space or newlines).

              Finally,  if the only string in the value names a directory, the
              directory hierarchy rooted at this directory gives  the  comple-
              tions.   The  top  level  directory  should  be  the file access
              method, such as `http', `ftp', `bookmark' and so  on.   In  many
              cases the next level of directories will be a filename.  The di-
              rectory hierarchy can descend as deep as necessary.

              For example,

                     zstyle ':completion:*' urls ~/.urls
                     mkdir -p ~/.urls/ftp/ftp.zsh.org/pub

              allows  completion  of   all   the   components   of   the   URL
              ftp://ftp.zsh.org/pub after suitable commands such as `netscape'
              or `lynx'.  Note, however, that access  methods  and  files  are
              completed  separately, so if the hosts style is set hosts can be
              completed without reference to the urls style.

              See the description in the function _urls itself for more infor-
              mation (e.g. `more $^fpath/_urls(N)').

       use-cache
              If  this  is  set, the completion caching layer is activated for
              any  completions  which  use  it  (via  the  _store_cache,  _re-
              trieve_cache, and _cache_invalid functions).  The directory con-
              taining the cache files  can  be  changed  with  the  cache-path
              style.

       use-compctl
              If  this style is set to a string not equal to false, 0, no, and
              off, the completion system may use any completion specifications
              defined  with  the compctl builtin command.  If the style is un-
              set, this is done only if the zsh/compctl module is loaded.  The
              string may also contain the substring `first' to use completions
              defined with `compctl -T', and the substring  `default'  to  use
              the completion defined with `compctl -D'.

              Note  that  this  is only intended to smooth the transition from
              compctl to the new completion system and may  disappear  in  the
              future.

              Note also that the definitions from compctl will only be used if
              there is no specific completion  function  for  the  command  in
              question.   For example, if there is a function _foo to complete
              arguments to the command foo, compctl will never be invoked  for
              foo.   However,  the  compctl  version will be tried if foo only
              uses default completion.

       use-ip By default, the function _hosts that completes host names strips
              IP  addresses  from entries read from host databases such as NIS
              and ssh files.  If this style is `true',  the  corresponding  IP
              addresses  can  be  completed as well.  This style is not use in
              any context where the hosts style is set; note also it  must  be
              set  before  the cache of host names is generated (typically the
              first completion attempt).

       users  This may be set to a list of usernames to be completed.   If  it
              is  not set all usernames will be completed.  Note that if it is
              set only that list of users will be completed; this  is  because
              on some systems querying all users can take a prohibitive amount
              of time.

       users-hosts
              The values of this style should be of the  form  `user@host'  or
              `user:host'.  It  is  used for commands that need pairs of user-
              and hostnames.  These commands will complete usernames from this
              style  (only),  and will restrict subsequent hostname completion
              to hosts paired with that user in  one  of  the  values  of  the
              style.

              It  is possible to group values for sets of commands which allow
              a remote login, such as rlogin and ssh, by using the my-accounts
              tag.  Similarly, values for sets of commands which usually refer
              to the accounts of other people, such as talk and finger, can be
              grouped  by  using the other-accounts tag.  More ambivalent com-
              mands may use the accounts tag.

       users-hosts-ports
              Like users-hosts but used for commands like telnet and  contain-
              ing strings of the form `user@host:port'.

       verbose
              If set, as it is by default, the completion listing is more ver-
              bose.  In particular many commands show descriptions for options
              if this style is `true'.

       word   This  is  used by the _list completer, which prevents the inser-
              tion of completions until a second completion attempt  when  the
              line has not changed.  The normal way of finding out if the line
              has changed is to compare its entire contents  between  the  two
              occasions.   If  this style is `true', the comparison is instead
              performed only on the current word.  Hence if completion is per-
              formed  on  another word with the same contents, completion will
              not be delayed.

CONTROL FUNCTIONS
       The initialization script compinit redefines all the widgets which per-
       form  completion  to  call the supplied widget function _main_complete.
       This function acts as a wrapper calling the so-called `completer' func-
       tions  that  generate  matches.  If _main_complete is called with argu-
       ments, these are taken as the names of completer functions to be called
       in the order given.  If no arguments are given, the set of functions to
       try is taken from the completer style.  For example, to use normal com-
       pletion and correction if that doesn't generate any matches:

              zstyle ':completion:*' completer _complete _correct

       after  calling compinit. The default value for this style is `_complete
       _ignored', i.e. normally only ordinary completion is tried, first  with
       the  effect  of  the  ignored-patterns  style and then without it.  The
       _main_complete function uses the return status of the  completer  func-
       tions  to  decide  if other completers should be called.  If the return
       status is zero, no other completers are tried  and  the  _main_complete
       function returns.

       If  the  first argument to _main_complete is a single hyphen, the argu-
       ments will not be taken as names of completers.   Instead,  the  second
       argument  gives a name to use in the completer field of the context and
       the other arguments give a command name and arguments to call to gener-
       ate the matches.

       The  following  completer  functions are contained in the distribution,
       although users may write their own.  Note that in contexts the  leading
       underscore  is  stripped,  for example basic completion is performed in
       the context `:completion::complete:...'.

       _all_matches
              This completer can be used to add a  string  consisting  of  all
              other matches.  As it influences later completers it must appear
              as the first completer in the list.  The list of all matches  is
              affected by the avoid-completer and old-matches styles described
              above.

              It may be useful to use the _generic function described below to
              bind _all_matches to its own keystroke, for example:

                     zle -C all-matches complete-word _generic
                     bindkey '^Xa' all-matches
                     zstyle ':completion:all-matches:*' old-matches only
                     zstyle ':completion:all-matches::::' completer _all_matches

              Note  that  this does not generate completions by itself:  first
              use any of the standard ways of generating  a  list  of  comple-
              tions, then use ^Xa to show all matches.  It is possible instead
              to add a standard completer to the list  and  request  that  the
              list of all matches should be directly inserted:

                     zstyle ':completion:all-matches::::' completer \
                            _all_matches _complete
                     zstyle ':completion:all-matches:*' insert true

              In this case the old-matches style should not be set.

       _approximate
              This  is similar to the basic _complete completer but allows the
              completions to undergo corrections.  The maximum number  of  er-
              rors  can be specified by the max-errors style; see the descrip-
              tion of approximate matching in zshexpn(1) for  how  errors  are
              counted.   Normally  this completer will only be tried after the
              normal _complete completer:

                     zstyle ':completion:*' completer _complete _approximate

              This will give correcting completion if and only if normal  com-
              pletion  yields no possible completions.  When corrected comple-
              tions are found, the completer will normally start menu  comple-
              tion allowing you to cycle through these strings.

              This  completer uses the tags corrections and original when gen-
              erating the possible corrections and the original  string.   The
              format style for the former may contain the additional sequences
              `%e' and `%o' which will be replaced by the number of errors ac-
              cepted  to generate the corrections and the original string, re-
              spectively.

              The completer progressively increases the number of  errors  al-
              lowed  up  to the limit by the max-errors style, hence if a com-
              pletion is found with one error, no completions with two  errors
              will be shown, and so on.  It modifies the completer name in the
              context to indicate the number of errors  being  tried:  on  the
              first  try  the completer field contains `approximate-1', on the
              second try `approximate-2', and so on.

              When _approximate is called from another function, the number of
              errors to accept may be passed with the -a option.  The argument
              is in the same format  as  the  max-errors  style,  all  in  one
              string.

              Note  that  this completer (and the _correct completer mentioned
              below) can be quite expensive to call, especially when  a  large
              number  of  errors are allowed.  One way to avoid this is to set
              up the completer style using the -e option  to  zstyle  so  that
              some  completers  are  only  used when completion is attempted a
              second time on the same string, e.g.:

                     zstyle -e ':completion:*' completer '
                       if [[ $_last_try != "$HISTNO$BUFFER$CURSOR" ]]; then
                         _last_try="$HISTNO$BUFFER$CURSOR"
                         reply=(_complete _match _prefix)
                       else
                         reply=(_ignored _correct _approximate)
                       fi'

              This uses the HISTNO parameter and the BUFFER and CURSOR special
              parameters  that are available inside zle and completion widgets
              to find out if the command line hasn't changed  since  the  last
              time completion was tried.  Only then are the _ignored, _correct
              and _approximate completers called.

       _canonical_paths [ -A var ] [ -N ] [ -MJV12nfX ] tag descr [ paths  ...
       ]
              This  completion  function  completes all paths given to it, and
              also tries to offer completions which point to the same file  as
              one  of  the paths given (relative path when an absolute path is
              given, and vice versa; when ..'s are present in the word  to  be
              completed; and some paths got from symlinks).

              -A, if specified, takes the paths from the array variable speci-
              fied. Paths can also be specified on the command line  as  shown
              above.   -N,  if  specified,  prevents  canonicalizing the paths
              given before using them for completion, in case they are already
              so.  The  options  -M,  -J, -V, -1, -2, -n, -F, -X are passed to
              compadd.

              See _description for a description of tag and descr.

       _cmdambivalent
              Completes the remaining positional arguments as an external com-
              mand.   The  external command and its arguments are completed as
              separate arguments  (in  a  manner  appropriate  for  completing
              /usr/bin/env)  if there are two or more remaining positional ar-
              guments on the command line, and as a quoted command string  (in
              the  manner  of system(...)) otherwise.  See also _cmdstring and
              _precommand.

              This function takes no arguments.

       _cmdstring
              Completes an external command as a single argument, as for  sys-
              tem(...).

       _complete
              This  completer  generates  all  possible  completions in a con-
              text-sensitive manner, i.e. using the settings defined with  the
              compdef function explained above and the current settings of all
              special parameters.  This gives the normal completion behaviour.

              To complete arguments of commands, _complete  uses  the  utility
              function  _normal,  which is in turn responsible for finding the
              particular function; it is described below.  Various contexts of
              the  form -context- are handled specifically. These are all men-
              tioned above as possible arguments to the #compdef tag.

              Before trying to find a function for a specific  context,  _com-
              plete  checks  if  the  parameter  `compcontext' is set. Setting
              `compcontext' allows the  usual  completion  dispatching  to  be
              overridden  which  is  useful  in places such as a function that
              uses vared for input. If it is set to an array, the elements are
              taken  to  be the possible matches which will be completed using
              the tag `values' and the description `value'. If it is set to an
              associative array, the keys are used as the possible completions
              and the values (if non-empty) are used as descriptions  for  the
              matches.  If `compcontext' is set to a string containing colons,
              it should be of the form `tag:descr:action'.  In this  case  the
              tag and descr give the tag and description to use and the action
              indicates what should be completed in one of the forms  accepted
              by the _arguments utility function described below.

              Finally, if `compcontext' is set to a string without colons, the
              value is taken as the name of the context to use and  the  func-
              tion defined for that context will be called.  For this purpose,
              there is a special context named -command-line-  that  completes
              whole command lines (commands and their arguments).  This is not
              used by the completion system itself but is nonetheless  handled
              when explicitly called.

       _correct
              Generate corrections, but not completions, for the current word;
              this is similar to _approximate but will not allow any number of
              extra  characters at the cursor as that completer does.  The ef-
              fect is similar to spell-checking.  It is based on _approximate,
              but the completer field in the context name is correct.

              For example, with:

                     zstyle ':completion:::::' completer \
                            _complete _correct _approximate
                     zstyle ':completion:*:correct:::' max-errors 2 not-numeric
                     zstyle ':completion:*:approximate:::' max-errors 3 numeric

              correction  will accept up to two errors.  If a numeric argument
              is given, correction will not be performed, but correcting  com-
              pletion  will be, and will accept as many errors as given by the
              numeric argument.  Without a numeric argument, first  correction
              and then correcting completion will be tried, with the first one
              accepting two errors and the second one accepting three errors.

              When _correct is called as a function, the number of  errors  to
              accept may be given following the -a option.  The argument is in
              the same form a values to the accept style, all in one string.

              This completer function is intended to be used without the  _ap-
              proximate  completer or, as in the example, just before it.  Us-
              ing it after the _approximate completer is  useless  since  _ap-
              proximate will at least generate the corrected strings generated
              by the _correct completer -- and probably more.

       _expand
              This completer function does not really perform completion,  but
              instead  checks  if the word on the command line is eligible for
              expansion and, if it is, gives detailed control  over  how  this
              expansion  is  done.   For this to happen, the completion system
              needs to be invoked with complete-word,  not  expand-or-complete
              (the  default  binding for TAB), as otherwise the string will be
              expanded by the shell's internal mechanism before the completion
              system  is  started.   Note also this completer should be called
              before the _complete completer function.

              The tags used when generating expansions are all-expansions  for
              the  string  containing all possible expansions, expansions when
              adding the possible expansions as single  matches  and  original
              when  adding  the  original  string from the line.  The order in
              which these strings are generated, if at all, can be  controlled
              by the group-order and tag-order styles, as usual.

              The format string for all-expansions and for expansions may con-
              tain the sequence `%o' which will be replaced  by  the  original
              string from the line.

              The  kind  of expansion to be tried is controlled by the substi-
              tute, glob and subst-globs-only styles.

              It is also possible to call _expand as a function, in which case
              the different modes may be selected with options: -s for substi-
              tute, -g for glob and -o for subst-globs-only.

       _expand_alias
              If the word the cursor is on is an alias, it is expanded and  no
              other  completers are called.  The types of aliases which are to
              be expanded can be controlled with the  styles  regular,  global
              and disabled.

              This function is also a bindable command, see the section `Bind-
              able Commands' below.

       _extensions
              If the cursor follows the string `*.', filename  extensions  are
              completed. The extensions are taken from files in current direc-
              tory or a directory specified at the beginning  of  the  current
              word.  For  exact  matches,  completion continues to allow other
              completers such as _expand to expand the pattern.  The  standard
              add-space and prefix-hidden styles are observed.

       _external_pwds
              Completes  current  directories of other zsh processes belonging
              to the current user.

              This is intended to be used via _generic, bound to a custom  key
              combination.  Note  that pattern matching is enabled so matching
              is performed similar to how it works with the _match completer.

       _history
              Complete words from the shell's  command   history.   This  com-
              pleter can be controlled by the remove-all-dups, and sort styles
              as for the _history_complete_word bindable command, see the sec-
              tion  `Bindable Commands' below and the section `Completion Sys-
              tem Configuration' above.

       _ignored
              The ignored-patterns style can be set  to  a  list  of  patterns
              which  are  compared against possible completions; matching ones
              are removed.  With this completer those  matches  can  be  rein-
              stated, as if no ignored-patterns style were set.  The completer
              actually generates its own list of matches; which completers are
              invoked  is  determined  in the same way as for the _prefix com-
              pleter.  The single-ignored style is also available as described
              above.

       _list  This completer allows the insertion of matches to be delayed un-
              til completion is attempted a second time without  the  word  on
              the  line being changed.  On the first attempt, only the list of
              matches will be shown.  It is affected by the  styles  condition
              and  word,  see  the  section  `Completion System Configuration'
              above.

       _match This completer is intended to be used after the  _complete  com-
              pleter.  It behaves similarly but the string on the command line
              may be a pattern to match against trial completions.  This gives
              the effect of the GLOB_COMPLETE option.

              Normally completion will be performed by taking the pattern from
              the line, inserting a `*' at the cursor position  and  comparing
              the  resulting  pattern with the possible completions generated.
              This can be modified with  the  match-original  style  described
              above.

              The  generated  matches will be offered in a menu completion un-
              less the insert-unambiguous style is set to `true'; see the  de-
              scription above for other options for this style.

              Note that matcher specifications defined globally or used by the
              completion functions (the styles matcher-list and matcher)  will
              not be used.

       _menu  This  completer  was  written as simple example function to show
              how menu completion can be enabled in shell  code.  However,  it
              has  the notable effect of disabling menu selection which can be
              useful with _generic based widgets. It should  be  used  as  the
              first  completer  in the list.  Note that this is independent of
              the setting of the MENU_COMPLETE option and does not  work  with
              the other menu completion widgets such as reverse-menu-complete,
              or accept-and-menu-complete.

       _oldlist
              This completer controls how the standard completion widgets  be-
              have  when  there  is  an existing list of completions which may
              have been generated  by  a  special  completion  (i.e.  a  sepa-
              rately-bound  completion  command).  It allows the ordinary com-
              pletion keys to continue to use the  list  of  completions  thus
              generated,  instead  of producing a new list of ordinary contex-
              tual completions.  It should appear in the  list  of  completers
              before  any  of the widgets which generate matches.  It uses two
              styles: old-list and old-menu, see the section `Completion  Sys-
              tem Configuration' above.

       _precommand
              Complete an external command in word-separated arguments, as for
              exec and /usr/bin/env.

       _prefix
              This completer can be used to try  completion  with  the  suffix
              (everything after the cursor) ignored.  In other words, the suf-
              fix will not be considered to be part of the word  to  complete.
              The effect is similar to the expand-or-complete-prefix command.

              The completer style is used to decide which other completers are
              to be called to generate matches.  If this style is  unset,  the
              list  of  completers  set for the current context is used -- ex-
              cept, of course, the _prefix completer itself.  Furthermore,  if
              this  completer appears more than once in the list of completers
              only those completers not already tried by the  last  invocation
              of _prefix will be called.

              For example, consider this global completer style:

                     zstyle ':completion:*' completer \
                         _complete _prefix _correct _prefix:foo

              Here, the _prefix completer tries normal completion but ignoring
              the suffix.  If that doesn't generate any matches,  and  neither
              does  the  call to the _correct completer after it, _prefix will
              be called a second time and, now only trying correction with the
              suffix  ignored.  On the second invocation the completer part of
              the context appears as `foo'.

              To use _prefix as the last resort and try only normal completion
              when it is invoked:

                     zstyle ':completion:*' completer _complete ... _prefix
                     zstyle ':completion::prefix:*' completer _complete

              The  add-space  style is also respected.  If it is set to `true'
              then _prefix will insert a space between the  matches  generated
              (if any) and the suffix.

              Note  that this completer is only useful if the COMPLETE_IN_WORD
              option is set; otherwise, the cursor will be moved to the end of
              the  current word before the completion code is called and hence
              there will be no suffix.

       _user_expand
              This completer behaves similarly to the  _expand  completer  but
              instead  performs  expansions  defined  by  users.   The  styles
              add-space and sort styles specific to the _expand completer  are
              usable  with  _user_expand  in  addition to other styles handled
              more generally by the completion system.  The tag all-expansions
              is also available.

              The  expansion  depends on the array style user-expand being de-
              fined for the current context; remember  that  the  context  for
              completers  is less specific than that for contextual completion
              as the full context has not yet been  determined.   Elements  of
              the array may have one of the following forms:

              $hash

                     hash  is  the name of an associative array.  Note this is
                     not a full parameter expression,  merely  a  $,  suitably
                     quoted  to  prevent  immediate expansion, followed by the
                     name of an associative array.   If  the  trial  expansion
                     word  matches  a  key in hash, the resulting expansion is
                     the corresponding value.
              _func

                     _func is the name of a shell function whose name must be-
                     gin with _ but is not otherwise special to the completion
                     system.  The function is called with the trial word as an
                     argument.   If  the  word is to be expanded, the function
                     should set the array reply to a list of expansions.   Op-
                     tionally, it can set REPLY to a word that will be used as
                     a description for the set of expansions.  The return sta-
                     tus of the function is irrelevant.
BINDABLE COMMANDS
       In  addition  to  the context-dependent completions provided, which are
       expected to work in an intuitively obvious way, there are a few widgets
       implementing  special  behaviour which can be bound separately to keys.
       The following is a list of these and their default bindings.

       _bash_completions
              This function is used by two  widgets,  _bash_complete-word  and
              _bash_list-choices.   It  exists  to  provide compatibility with
              completion bindings in bash.  The last character of the  binding
              determines  what is completed: `!', command names; `$', environ-
              ment variables; `@', host  names;  `/',  file  names;  `~'  user
              names.   In bash, the binding preceded by `\e' gives completion,
              and preceded by `^X' lists options.  As some of  these  bindings
              clash with standard zsh bindings, only `\e~' and `^X~' are bound
              by default.  To add the rest, the following should be  added  to
              .zshrc after compinit has been run:

                     for key in '!' '$' '@' '/' '~'; do
                       bindkey "\e$key" _bash_complete-word
                       bindkey "^X$key" _bash_list-choices
                     done

              This  includes  the  bindings  for `~' in case they were already
              bound to something else; the completion code does  not  override
              user bindings.

       _correct_filename (^XC)
              Correct  the filename path at the cursor position.  Allows up to
              six errors in the name.  Can also be called with an argument  to
              correct a filename path, independently of zle; the correction is
              printed on standard output.

       _correct_word (^Xc)
              Performs correction of the current argument using the usual con-
              textual  completions as possible choices. This stores the string
              `correct-word' in the function field of  the  context  name  and
              then calls the _correct completer.

       _expand_alias (^Xa)
              This  function can be used as a completer and as a bindable com-
              mand.  It expands the word the cursor is on if it is  an  alias.
              The  types  of  alias expanded can be controlled with the styles
              regular, global and disabled.

              When used as a bindable command there is one additional  feature
              that  can  be  selected by setting the complete style to `true'.
              In this case, if the word is not the  name  of  an  alias,  _ex-
              pand_alias tries to complete the word to a full alias name with-
              out expanding it.  It leaves the cursor directly after the  com-
              pleted word so that invoking _expand_alias once more will expand
              the now-complete alias name.

       _expand_word (^Xe)
              Performs expansion on the current word:  equivalent to the stan-
              dard  expand-word command, but using the _expand completer.  Be-
              fore calling it, the function field of the  context  is  set  to
              `expand-word'.

       _generic
              This  function  is  not defined as a widget and not bound by de-
              fault.  However, it can be used to define a widget and will then
              store  the  name of the widget in the function field of the con-
              text and call the completion system.  This allows custom comple-
              tion  widgets with their own set of style settings to be defined
              easily.  For example, to define a widget  that  performs  normal
              completion and starts menu selection:

                     zle -C foo complete-word _generic
                     bindkey '...' foo
                     zstyle ':completion:foo:*' menu yes select=1

              Note  in  particular that the completer style may be set for the
              context in order to change the set of functions used to generate
              possible  matches.   If _generic is called with arguments, those
              are passed through to _main_complete as the list  of  completers
              in place of those defined by the completer style.

       _history_complete_word (\e/)
              Complete  words  from the shell's command history. This uses the
              list, remove-all-dups, sort, and stop styles.

       _most_recent_file (^Xm)
              Complete the name of the most recently  modified  file  matching
              the  pattern on the command line (which may be blank).  If given
              a numeric argument N, complete the Nth  most  recently  modified
              file.  Note the completion, if any, is always unique.

       _next_tags (^Xn)
              This command alters the set of matches used to that for the next
              tag, or set of tags, either as given by the tag-order  style  or
              as  set  by default; these matches would otherwise not be avail-
              able.  Successive invocations of the command cycle  through  all
              possible sets of tags.

       _read_comp (^X^R)
              Prompt the user for a string, and use that to perform completion
              on the current  word.   There  are  two  possibilities  for  the
              string.   First, it can be a set of words beginning `_', for ex-
              ample `_files -/', in which case the function with any arguments
              will  be  called to generate the completions.  Unambiguous parts
              of the function name will  be  completed  automatically  (normal
              completion  is  not  available  at  this point) until a space is
              typed.

              Second, any other string will be passed as a set of arguments to
              compadd and should hence be an expression specifying what should
              be completed.

              A very restricted set of  editing  commands  is  available  when
              reading  the  string:  `DEL' and `^H' delete the last character;
              `^U' deletes the line, and `^C' and  `^G'  abort  the  function,
              while  `RET'  accepts  the  completion.  Note the string is used
              verbatim as a command line, so arguments must be quoted  in  ac-
              cordance with standard shell rules.

              Once  a  string  has been read, the next call to _read_comp will
              use the existing string instead of reading a new one.  To  force
              a  new  string  to be read, call _read_comp with a numeric argu-
              ment.

       _complete_debug (^X?)
              This widget performs ordinary completion, but captures in a tem-
              porary  file  a trace of the shell commands executed by the com-
              pletion system.  Each completion attempt gets its own  file.   A
              command  to  view  each of these files is pushed onto the editor
              buffer stack.

       _complete_help (^Xh)
              This widget displays information about the  context  names,  the
              tags,  and  the completion functions used when completing at the
              current cursor position. If given a numeric argument other  than
              1 (as in `ESC-2 ^Xh'), then the styles used and the contexts for
              which they are used will be shown, too.

              Note that the information about styles may be incomplete; it de-
              pends on the information available from the completion functions
              called, which in turn is determined by the user's own styles and
              other settings.

       _complete_help_generic
              Unlike  other  commands  listed  here, this must be created as a
              normal ZLE widget rather than a completion widget (i.e. with zle
              -N).   It is used for generating help with a widget bound to the
              _generic widget that is described above.

              If this widget is created using the name of the function, as  it
              is  by  default, then when executed it will read a key sequence.
              This is expected to be bound to a call to a completion  function
              that  uses  the  _generic widget.  That widget will be executed,
              and information provided in  the  same  format  that  the  _com-
              plete_help widget displays for contextual completion.

              If  the  widget's name contains debug, for example if it is cre-
              ated as `zle -N _complete_debug_generic _complete_help_generic',
              it  will  read and execute the keystring for a generic widget as
              before, but then generate debugging information as done by _com-
              plete_debug for contextual completion.

              If  the  widget's  name  contains  noread,  it  will  not read a
              keystring but instead arrange that the next  use  of  a  generic
              widget  run  in the same shell will have the effect as described
              above.

              The   widget   works   by   setting    the    shell    parameter
              ZSH_TRACE_GENERIC_WIDGET  which  is read by _generic.  Unsetting
              the parameter cancels any pending effect of the noread form.

              For example, after executing the following:

                     zle -N _complete_debug_generic _complete_help_generic
                     bindkey '^x:' _complete_debug_generic

              typing `C-x :' followed by the key sequence for a generic widget
              will cause trace output for that widget to be saved to a file.

       _complete_tag (^Xt)
              This  widget completes symbol tags created by the etags or ctags
              programmes (note there is no connection with the completion sys-
              tem's  tags) stored in a file TAGS, in the format used by etags,
              or tags, in the format created by ctags.  It will look  back  up
              the  path  hierarchy for the first occurrence of either file; if
              both exist, the file TAGS is preferred.   You  can  specify  the
              full path to a TAGS or tags file by setting the parameter $TAGS-
              FILE or $tagsfile respectively.   The  corresponding  completion
              tags used are etags and vtags, after emacs and vi respectively.

UTILITY FUNCTIONS
       Descriptions follow for utility functions that may be useful when writ-
       ing completion functions.  If functions are  installed  in  subdirecto-
       ries,  most of these reside in the Base subdirectory.  Like the example
       functions for commands in the distribution, the utility functions  gen-
       erating  matches  all follow the convention of returning status zero if
       they generated completions and  non-zero  if  no  matching  completions
       could be added.

       _absolute_command_paths
              This function completes external commands as absolute paths (un-
              like _command_names -e which  completes  their  basenames).   It
              takes no arguments.

       _all_labels [ -x ] [ -12VJ ] tag name descr [ command arg ... ]
              This  is  a convenient interface to the _next_label function be-
              low, implementing the loop shown  in  the  _next_label  example.
              The  command  and  its  arguments  are  called  to  generate the
              matches.  The options stored in the parameter name will automat-
              ically  be  inserted  into the args passed to the command.  Nor-
              mally, they are put directly after the command, but  if  one  of
              the  args  is a single hyphen, they are inserted directly before
              that.  If the hyphen is the last argument, it  will  be  removed
              from  the  argument list before the command is called.  This al-
              lows _all_labels to be  used  in  almost  all  cases  where  the
              matches can be generated by a single call to the compadd builtin
              command or by a call to one of the utility functions.

              For example:

                     local expl
                     ...
                     if _requested foo; then
                       ...
                       _all_labels foo expl '...' compadd ... - $matches
                     fi

              Will complete the strings from the matches parameter, using com-
              padd  with  additional  options  which will take precedence over
              those generated by _all_labels.

       _alternative [ -O name ] [ -C name ] spec ...
              This function is useful in simple cases where multiple tags  are
              available.   Essentially  it  implements a loop like the one de-
              scribed for the _tags function below.

              The tags to use and the action to perform if a tag is  requested
              are  described  using  the specs which are of the form: `tag:de-
              scr:action'.  The tags are offered using _tags and if the tag is
              requested, the action is executed with the given description de-
              scr.  The actions are those accepted by the _arguments  function
              (described below), excluding the `->state' and `=...' forms.

              For example, the action may be a simple function call:

                     _alternative \
                         'users:user:_users' \
                         'hosts:host:_hosts'

              offers usernames and hostnames as possible matches, generated by
              the _users and _hosts functions respectively.

              Like _arguments, this function uses _all_labels to  execute  the
              actions,  which  will  loop over all sets of tags.  Special han-
              dling is only required if there is an additional valid tag,  for
              example inside a function called from _alternative.

              The  option  `-O  name' is used in the same way as by the _argu-
              ments function.  In other words, the elements of the name  array
              will be passed to compadd when executing an action.

              Like  _tags  this function supports the -C option to give a dif-
              ferent name for the argument context field.

       _arguments [ -nswWCRS ] [ -A pat ] [ -O name ] [ -M matchspec ]
                  [ : ] spec ...
       _arguments [ opt ... ] -- [ -l ] [ -i pats ] [ -s pair ]
                  [ helpspec ...]
              This function can be used to give a complete  specification  for
              completion  for  a  command whose arguments follow standard UNIX
              option and argument conventions.

              Options Overview

              Options to _arguments itself must be in separate words, i.e.  -s
              -w,  not  -sw.   The options are followed by specs that describe
              options and arguments of the analyzed command.  To avoid ambigu-
              ity,  all options to _arguments itself may be separated from the
              spec forms by a single colon.

              The `--' form is used to intuit spec forms from the help  output
              of the command being analyzed, and is described in detail below.
              The opts for the `--' form are otherwise the same options as the
              first  form.  Note that `-s' following `--' has a distinct mean-
              ing from `-s' preceding `--', and both may appear.

              The option switches -s, -S, -A, -w, and -W affect how _arguments
              parses  the analyzed command line's options.  These switches are
              useful for commands with standard argument parsing.

              The options of _arguments have the following meanings:

              -n     With this option, _arguments sets the  parameter  NORMARG
                     to  the  position  of  the  first  normal argument in the
                     $words array, i.e. the position after the end of the  op-
                     tions.  If that argument has not been reached, NORMARG is
                     set to -1.  The caller should declare  `integer  NORMARG'
                     if  the  -n  option is passed; otherwise the parameter is
                     not used.

              -s     Enable option stacking for single-letter options, whereby
                     multiple  single-letter  options  may  be combined into a
                     single word.  For example, the two options `-x' and  `-y'
                     may  be  combined  into a single word `-xy'.  By default,
                     every word corresponds to a single option name (`-xy'  is
                     a single option named `xy').

                     Options  beginning  with a single hyphen or plus sign are
                     eligible for stacking; words beginning with  two  hyphens
                     are not.

                     Note  that  -s after -- has a different meaning, which is
                     documented in the segment entitled `Deriving  spec  forms
                     from the help output'.

              -w     In combination with -s, allow option stacking even if one
                     or more of the options take arguments.  For  example,  if
                     -x  takes an argument, with no -s, `-xy' is considered as
                     a single (unhandled) option; with -s, -xy  is  an  option
                     with  the  argument  `y'; with both -s and -w, -xy is the
                     option -x and the option -y with arguments to -x (and  to
                     -y,  if  it  takes arguments) still to come in subsequent
                     words.

              -W     This option takes -w a stage further:  it is possible  to
                     complete  single-letter  options  even  after an argument
                     that occurs in the same word.  However, it depends on the
                     action performed whether options will really be completed
                     at this point.  For more control, use a utility  function
                     like _guard as part of the action.

              -C     Modify the curcontext parameter for an action of the form
                     `->state'.  This is discussed in detail below.

              -R     Return status 300 instead of zero when a $state is to  be
                     handled, in the `->string' syntax.

              -S     Do  not  complete  options  after a `--' appearing on the
                     line, and ignore the `--'.  For example, with -S, in  the
                     line

                            foobar -x -- -y

                     the  `-x' is considered an option, the `-y' is considered
                     an argument, and the `--' is considered to be neither.

              -A pat Do not complete options after the first non-option  argu-
                     ment  on the line.  pat is a pattern matching all strings
                     which are not to be taken as arguments.  For example,  to
                     make  _arguments  stop completing options after the first
                     normal argument, but ignoring all strings starting with a
                     hyphen  even if they are not described by one of the opt-
                     specs, the form is `-A "-*"'.

              -O name
                     Pass the elements of the array name as arguments to func-
                     tions  called  to  execute actions.  This is discussed in
                     detail below.

              -M matchspec
                     Use the match specification matchspec for completing  op-
                     tion names and values.  The default matchspec allows par-
                     tial word completion after `_' and `-', such as  complet-
                     ing `-f-b' to `-foo-bar'.  The default matchspec is:
                     r:|[_-]=* r:|=*

              specs: overview

              Each of the following forms is a spec describing individual sets
              of options or arguments on the command line being analyzed.

              n:message:action
              n::message:action
                     This describes the n'th  normal  argument.   The  message
                     will  be  printed above the matches generated and the ac-
                     tion indicates what can be  completed  in  this  position
                     (see  below).  If there are two colons before the message
                     the argument is optional.  If the message  contains  only
                     white  space,  nothing  will be printed above the matches
                     unless the action adds an explanation string itself.

              :message:action
              ::message:action
                     Similar, but describes the next argument, whatever number
                     that  happens  to  be.  If all arguments are specified in
                     this form in the correct order the numbers  are  unneces-
                     sary.

              *:message:action
              *::message:action
              *:::message:action
                     This  describes  how  arguments (usually non-option argu-
                     ments, those not beginning with - or +) are  to  be  com-
                     pleted  when neither of the first two forms was provided.
                     Any number of arguments can be completed in this fashion.

                     With two colons before the message, the words special ar-
                     ray and the CURRENT special parameter are modified to re-
                     fer only to the normal arguments when the action is  exe-
                     cuted or evaluated.  With three colons before the message
                     they are modified to refer only to the  normal  arguments
                     covered by this description.

              optspec
              optspec:...
                     This  describes  an option.  The colon indicates handling
                     for one or more arguments to the option;  if  it  is  not
                     present, the option is assumed to take no arguments.

                     The  following  forms  are available for the initial opt-
                     spec, whether or not the option has arguments.

                     *optspec
                            Here optspec is one of the remaining forms  below.
                            This  indicates  the  following optspec may be re-
                            peated.  Otherwise if the corresponding option  is
                            already present on the command line to the left of
                            the cursor it will not be offered again.

                     -optname
                     +optname
                            In the simplest form the optspec is just  the  op-
                            tion  name  beginning with a minus or a plus sign,
                            such as `-foo'.  The first argument for the option
                            (if  any)  must follow as a separate word directly
                            after the option.

                            Either of `-+optname' and `+-optname' can be  used
                            to  specify  that  -optname  and +optname are both
                            valid.

                            In all the remaining forms, the leading `-' may be
                            replaced by or paired with `+' in this way.

                     -optname-
                            The  first  argument  of  the option must come di-
                            rectly after the option name  in  the  same  word.
                            For  example,  `-foo-:...' specifies that the com-
                            pleted  option  and  argument   will   look   like
                            `-fooarg'.

                     -optname+
                            The  first  argument  may appear immediately after
                            optname in the same word, or may appear as a sepa-
                            rate   word   after   the  option.   For  example,
                            `-foo+:...' specifies that  the  completed  option
                            and  argument  will  look like either `-fooarg' or
                            `-foo arg'.

                     -optname=
                            The argument may appear as the next  word,  or  in
                            same  word  as the option name provided that it is
                            separated from it by an equals sign,  for  example
                            `-foo=arg' or `-foo arg'.

                     -optname=-
                            The  argument  to  the option must appear after an
                            equals sign in the same word, and may not be given
                            in the next argument.

                     optspec[explanation]
                            An  explanation  string  may be appended to any of
                            the preceding forms of optspec by enclosing it  in
                            brackets, as in `-q[query operation]'.

                            The  verbose  style  is used to decide whether the
                            explanation strings are displayed with the  option
                            in a completion listing.

                            If  no  bracketed  explanation string is given but
                            the auto-description style is set and only one ar-
                            gument is described for this optspec, the value of
                            the style is displayed, with any appearance of the
                            sequence `%d' in it replaced by the message of the
                            first optarg that follows the optspec; see below.

                     It is possible for options with a literal `+' or  `='  to
                     appear,  but  that  character must be quoted, for example
                     `-\+'.

                     Each optarg following an optspec must  take  one  of  the
                     following forms:

                     :message:action
                     ::message:action
                            An  argument to the option; message and action are
                            treated as for ordinary arguments.  In  the  first
                            form, the argument is mandatory, and in the second
                            form it is optional.

                            This group may be repeated for options which  take
                            multiple arguments.  In other words, :message1:ac-
                            tion1:message2:action2 specifies that  the  option
                            takes two arguments.

                     :*pattern:message:action
                     :*pattern::message:action
                     :*pattern:::message:action
                            This  describes multiple arguments.  Only the last
                            optarg for an option taking multiple arguments may
                            be  given  in  this form.  If the pattern is empty
                            (i.e. :*:), all the remaining words  on  the  line
                            are  to  be  completed as described by the action;
                            otherwise, all the words up  to  and  including  a
                            word  matching the pattern are to be completed us-
                            ing the action.

                            Multiple colons are treated  as  for  the  `*:...'
                            forms for ordinary arguments:  when the message is
                            preceded by two colons, the  words  special  array
                            and  the  CURRENT  special  parameter are modified
                            during the execution or evaluation of  the  action
                            to refer only to the words after the option.  When
                            preceded by three colons, they are modified to re-
                            fer only to the words covered by this description.

              Any literal colon in an optname, message, or action must be pre-
              ceded by a backslash, `\:'.

              Each of the forms above may be preceded by a list in parentheses
              of option names and argument numbers.  If the given option is on
              the command line, the options and arguments indicated in  paren-
              theses   will  not  be  offered.   For  example,  `(-two  -three
              1)-one:...' completes the option `-one'; if this appears on  the
              command line, the options -two and -three and the first ordinary
              argument will not be completed after it.  `(-foo):...' specifies
              an  ordinary  argument completion; -foo will not be completed if
              that argument is already present.

              Other items may appear in the list of excluded options to  indi-
              cate  various  other  items  that should not be applied when the
              current specification is matched: a single star (*) for the rest
              arguments  (i.e.  a  specification of the form `*:...'); a colon
              (:) for all normal (non-option-) arguments; and a hyphen (-) for
              all options.  For example, if `(*)' appears before an option and
              the option appears on the command line, the  list  of  remaining
              arguments  (those  shown in the above table beginning with `*:')
              will not be completed.

              To aid in reuse of specifications, it is possible to precede any
              of  the  forms  above  with `!'; then the form will no longer be
              completed, although if the option or  argument  appears  on  the
              command  line  they will be skipped as normal.  The main use for
              this is when the arguments are given by an array, and _arguments
              is  called  repeatedly  for more specific contexts: on the first
              call `_arguments $global_options' is  used,  and  on  subsequent
              calls `_arguments !$^global_options'.

              specs: actions

              In each of the forms above the action determines how completions
              should be generated.  Except for the `->string' form below,  the
              action  will  be executed by calling the _all_labels function to
              process all tag labels.  No special handling of tags  is  needed
              unless a function call introduces a new one.

              The  functions called to execute actions will be called with the
              elements of the array named by the `-O  name'  option  as  argu-
              ments.   This  can be used, for example, to pass the same set of
              options for the compadd builtin to all actions.

              The forms for action are as follows.

               (single unquoted space)
                     This is useful where an argument is required  but  it  is
                     not  possible  or  desirable  to generate matches for it.
                     The message will be displayed but no completions  listed.
                     Note  that  even in this case the colon at the end of the
                     message is needed; it may only be omitted when neither  a
                     message nor an action is given.

              (item1 item2 ...)
                     One of a list of possible matches, for example:

                            :foo:(foo bar baz)

              ((item1\:desc1 ...))
                     Similar to the above, but with descriptions for each pos-
                     sible match.  Note the backslash before the  colon.   For
                     example,

                            :foo:((a\:bar b\:baz))

                     The  matches  will be listed together with their descrip-
                     tions if the description style is set with the values tag
                     in the context.

              ->string
                     In  this form, _arguments processes the arguments and op-
                     tions and then returns control to  the  calling  function
                     with  parameters set to indicate the state of processing;
                     the calling function then makes its own arrangements  for
                     generating  completions.  For example, functions that im-
                     plement a state machine can use this type of action.

                     Where _arguments encounters action in the `->string' for-
                     mat,  it  will  strip all leading and trailing whitespace
                     from string and set the array state to  the  set  of  all
                     strings for which an action is to be performed.  The ele-
                     ments of the array state_descr are  assigned  the  corre-
                     sponding  message  field from each optarg containing such
                     an action.

                     By default and in common with all other well behaved com-
                     pletion  functions,  _arguments returns status zero if it
                     was able to add matches and non-zero otherwise.  However,
                     if the -R option is given, _arguments will instead return
                     a status of 300 to indicate that $state is to be handled.

                     In addition to $state and $state_descr,  _arguments  also
                     sets   the   global   parameters  `context',  `line'  and
                     `opt_args' as described below, and  does  not  reset  any
                     changes made to the special parameters such as PREFIX and
                     words.  This gives the calling function the choice of re-
                     setting these parameters or propagating changes in them.

                     A  function  calling  _arguments with at least one action
                     containing a `->string' must therefore declare  appropri-
                     ate local parameters:

                            local context state state_descr line
                            typeset -A opt_args

                     to  prevent  _arguments from altering the global environ-
                     ment.

              {eval-string}
                     A string in braces is evaluated as shell code to generate
                     matches.   If  the eval-string itself does not begin with
                     an opening parenthesis or brace it is split into separate
                     words before execution.

              = action
                     If  the  action starts with `= ' (an equals sign followed
                     by a space), _arguments will insert the contents  of  the
                     argument  field  of  the current context as the new first
                     element in the words  special  array  and  increment  the
                     value of the CURRENT special parameter.  This has the ef-
                     fect of inserting a dummy word onto the  completion  com-
                     mand  line  while not changing the point at which comple-
                     tion is taking place.

                     This is most useful with one of the specifiers  that  re-
                     strict  the words on the command line on which the action
                     is to operate (the two-  and  three-colon  forms  above).
                     One particular use is when an action itself causes _argu-
                     ments on a restricted range; it is necessary to use  this
                     trick  to  insert  an  appropriate  command name into the
                     range for the second call to _arguments  to  be  able  to
                     parse the line.

               word...
              word...
                     This covers all forms other than those above.  If the ac-
                     tion starts with a space, the  remaining  list  of  words
                     will be invoked unchanged.

                     Otherwise  it  will  be  invoked  with some extra strings
                     placed after the first word; these are to be passed  down
                     as  options to the compadd builtin.  They ensure that the
                     state specified by _arguments, in particular the descrip-
                     tions  of  options  and arguments, is correctly passed to
                     the completion command.  These additional  arguments  are
                     taken  from  the array parameter `expl'; this will be set
                     up before executing the action and hence may be  referred
                     to  inside  it,  typically  in  an  expansion of the form
                     `$expl[@]' which preserves empty elements of the array.

              During the performance of the action the array  `line'  will  be
              set  to  the  normal  arguments  from the command line, i.e. the
              words from the command line after the command name excluding all
              options and their arguments.  Options are stored in the associa-
              tive array `opt_args' with option names as keys and their  argu-
              ments  as the values.  For options that have more than one argu-
              ment these are given as one string, separated  by  colons.   All
              colons  and  backslashes  in the original arguments are preceded
              with backslashes.

              The parameter `context' is set when  returning  to  the  calling
              function to perform an action of the form `->string'.  It is set
              to an array of elements corresponding to the elements of $state.
              Each  element  is  a suitable name for the argument field of the
              context: either a string of the form `option-opt-n' for the n'th
              argument  of  the  option  -opt,  or a string of the form `argu-
              ment-n' for the n'th argument.  For `rest'  arguments,  that  is
              those  in  the list at the end not handled by position, n is the
              string `rest'.  For example, when completing the argument of the
              -o option, the name is `option-o-1', while for the second normal
              (non-option-) argument it is `argument-2'.

              Furthermore, during the evaluation of  the  action  the  context
              name  in  the curcontext parameter is altered to append the same
              string that is stored in the context parameter.

              The option -C tells _arguments to modify the curcontext  parame-
              ter  for  an action of the form `->state'.  This is the standard
              parameter used to keep track of the current  context.   Here  it
              (and  not the context array) should be made local to the calling
              function to avoid passing back the modified value and should  be
              initialised to the current value at the start of the function:

                     local curcontext="$curcontext"

              This  is  useful where it is not possible for multiple states to
              be valid together.

              Grouping Options

              Options can be grouped to simplify exclusion lists. A  group  is
              introduced with `+' followed by a name for the group in the sub-
              sequent word. Whole groups can then be referenced in  an  exclu-
              sion  list  or  a group name can be used to disambiguate between
              two forms of the same option. For example:

                     _arguments \
                         '(group2--x)-a' \
                       + group1 \
                         -m \
                         '(group2)-n' \
                       + group2 \
                         -x -y

              If the name of a group is specified in the  form  `(name)'  then
              only one value from that group will ever be completed; more for-
              mally, all specifications are mutually exclusive  to  all  other
              specifications  in  that  group. This is useful for defining op-
              tions that are aliases for each other. For example:

                     _arguments \
                         -a -b \
                       + '(operation)' \
                         {-c,--compress}'[compress]' \
                         {-d,--decompress}'[decompress]' \
                         {-l,--list}'[list]'

              If an option in a group appears  on  the  command  line,  it  is
              stored  in  the associative array `opt_args' with 'group-option'
              as a key.  In the example above, a key `operation--c' is used if
              the option `-c' is present on the command line.

              Specifying Multiple Sets of Arguments

              It is possible to specify multiple sets of options and arguments
              with the sets separated by single  hyphens.  This  differs  from
              groups  in  that sets are considered to be mutually exclusive of
              each other.

              Specifications before the first set and from any group are  com-
              mon to all sets. For example:

                     _arguments \
                         -a \
                       - set1 \
                         -c \
                       - set2 \
                         -d \
                         ':arg:(x2 y2)'

              This  defines  two sets.  When the command line contains the op-
              tion `-c', the `-d' option and the argument will not be  consid-
              ered  possible  completions.   When it contains `-d' or an argu-
              ment, the option `-c' will not be  considered.   However,  after
              `-a' both sets will still be considered valid.

              As  for groups, the name of a set may appear in exclusion lists,
              either alone or preceding a normal option or argument specifica-
              tion.

              The completion code has to parse the command line separately for
              each set. This can be slow so sets should only be used when nec-
              essary.   A  useful alternative is often an option specification
              with rest-arguments (as in `-foo:*:...'); here the  option  -foo
              swallows  up  all remaining arguments as described by the optarg
              definitions.

              Deriving spec forms from the help output

              The option `--' allows _arguments to work out the names of  long
              options  that  support  the `--help' option which is standard in
              many GNU commands.  The command word is called with the argument
              `--help'  and the output examined for option names.  Clearly, it
              can be dangerous to pass this to commands which may not  support
              this option as the behaviour of the command is unspecified.

              In  addition  to options, `_arguments --' will try to deduce the
              types  of  arguments  available  for  options  when   the   form
              `--opt=val'  is  valid.  It is also possible to provide hints by
              examining the help text of the command and  adding  helpspec  of
              the  form  `pattern:message:action';  note that other _arguments
              spec forms are not used.  The pattern  is  matched  against  the
              help  text  for an option, and if it matches the message and ac-
              tion are used as for other  argument  specifiers.   The  special
              case  of `*:' means both message and action are empty, which has
              the effect of causing options having no description in the  help
              output  to  be  ordered in listings ahead of options that have a
              description.

              For example:

                     _arguments -- '*\*:toggle:(yes no)' \
                                   '*=FILE*:file:_files' \
                                   '*=DIR*:directory:_files -/' \
                                   '*=PATH*:directory:_files -/'

              Here, `yes' and `no' will be completed as the  argument  of  op-
              tions  whose description ends in a star; file names will be com-
              pleted for options that contain the substring `=FILE' in the de-
              scription;  and  directories will be completed for options whose
              description contains `=DIR' or `=PATH'.  The last three  are  in
              fact  the  default and so need not be given explicitly, although
              it is possible to override the use of these patterns.  A typical
              help text which uses this feature is:

                       -C, --directory=DIR          change to directory DIR

              so  that  the  above specifications will cause directories to be
              completed after `--directory', though not after `-C'.

              Note also that _arguments tries to find out automatically if the
              argument  for  an option is optional.  This can be specified ex-
              plicitly by doubling the colon before the message.

              If the pattern ends in `(-)', this will be removed from the pat-
              tern  and  the  action will be used only directly after the `=',
              not in the next word.  This is the behaviour of a normal  speci-
              fication defined with the form `=-'.

              By  default, the command (with the option `--help') is run after
              resetting all the locale categories  (except  for  LC_CTYPE)  to
              `C'.   If the localized help output is known to work, the option
              `-l' can be specified after the `_arguments --' so that the com-
              mand is run in the current locale.

              The  `_arguments --' can be followed by the option `-i patterns'
              to give patterns for options which are not to be completed.  The
              patterns  can be given as the name of an array parameter or as a
              literal list in parentheses.  For example,

                     _arguments -- -i \
                         "(--(en|dis)able-FEATURE*)"

              will cause completion to ignore the  options  `--enable-FEATURE'
              and `--disable-FEATURE' (this example is useful with GNU config-
              ure).

              The `_arguments --' form can also be followed by the option  `-s
              pair'  to  describe option aliases.  The pair consists of a list
              of alternating patterns and corresponding replacements, enclosed
              in  parens and quoted so that it forms a single argument word in
              the _arguments call.

              For example, some configure-script help output describes options
              only  as `--enable-foo', but the script also accepts the negated
              form `--disable-foo'.  To allow completion of the second form:

                     _arguments -- -s "((#s)--enable- --disable-)"

              Miscellaneous notes

              Finally, note that _arguments generally expects to be  the  pri-
              mary  function handling any completion for which it is used.  It
              may have side effects which change the treatment of any  matches
              added by other functions called after it.  To combine _arguments
              with other functions, those functions should  be  called  either
              before  _arguments,  as  an action within a spec, or in handlers
              for `->state' actions.

              Here is a more general example of the use of _arguments:

                     _arguments '-l+:left border:' \
                                '-format:paper size:(letter A4)' \
                                '*-copy:output file:_files::resolution:(300 600)' \
                                ':postscript file:_files -g \*.\(ps\|eps\)' \
                                '*:page number:'

              This describes three options: `-l', `-format', and `-copy'.  The
              first takes one argument described as `left border' for which no
              completion will be offered because of the empty action.  Its ar-
              gument  may  come  directly after the `-l' or it may be given as
              the next word on the line.

              The `-format' option takes one argument in the  next  word,  de-
              scribed  as `paper size' for which only the strings `letter' and
              `A4' will be completed.

              The `-copy' option may appear more than once on the command line
              and  takes  two  arguments.   The first is mandatory and will be
              completed as a filename.  The second is optional (because of the
              second  colon  before  the description `resolution') and will be
              completed from the strings `300' and `600'.

              The last two descriptions say what should be completed as  argu-
              ments.   The first describes the first argument as a `postscript
              file' and makes files ending in `ps' or `eps' be completed.  The
              last description gives all other arguments the description `page
              numbers' but does not offer completions.

       _cache_invalid cache_identifier
              This function returns status zero if the completions cache  cor-
              responding  to  the given cache identifier needs rebuilding.  It
              determines this by looking up the  cache-policy  style  for  the
              current  context.   This should provide a function name which is
              run with the full path to the relevant cache file  as  the  only
              argument.

              Example:

                     _example_caching_policy () {
                         # rebuild if cache is more than a week old
                         local -a oldp
                         oldp=( "$1"(Nm+7) )
                         (( $#oldp ))
                     }

       _call_function return name [ arg ... ]
              If a function name exists, it is called with the arguments args.
              The return argument gives the name of a parameter in  which  the
              return status from the function name should be stored; if return
              is empty or a single hyphen it is ignored.

              The return status of _call_function itself is zero if the  func-
              tion name exists and was called and non-zero otherwise.

       _call_program [ -l ] [ -p ] tag string ...
              This  function provides a mechanism for the user to override the
              use of an external command.  It looks up the command style  with
              the supplied tag.  If the style is set, its value is used as the
              command to execute.  The strings from the call to _call_program,
              or  from  the style if set, are concatenated with spaces between
              them and the resulting string is evaluated.  The  return  status
              is the return status of the command called.

              By  default,  the command is run in an environment where all the
              locale categories (except for LC_CTYPE)  are  reset  to  `C'  by
              calling  the  utility  function _comp_locale (see below). If the
              option `-l' is given, the command is run with  the  current  lo-
              cale.

              If  the  option  `-p'  is supplied it indicates that the command
              output is influenced by the permissions it is run with.  If  the
              gain-privileges  style  is  set to true, _call_program will make
              use of commands such as sudo, if present on the command-line, to
              match the permissions to whatever the final command is likely to
              run under. When  looking  up  the  gain-privileges  and  command
              styles,  the  command  component  of the zstyle context will end
              with a slash (`/') followed by the command that would be used to
              gain privileges.

       _combination [ -s pattern ] tag style spec ... field opts ...
              This  function  is used to complete combinations of values,  for
              example pairs of hostnames and usernames.   The  style  argument
              gives  the  style  which defines the pairs; it is looked up in a
              context with the tag specified.

              The style name consists of field names separated by hyphens, for
              example  `users-hosts-ports'.  For each field for a value is al-
              ready known, a spec of the form `field=pattern' is  given.   For
              example,  if the command line so far specifies a user `pws', the
              argument `users=pws' should appear.

              The next argument with no equals sign is taken as  the  name  of
              the  field for which completions should be generated (presumably
              not one of the fields for which the value is known).

              The matches generated will be taken from the value of the style.
              These should contain the possible values for the combinations in
              the appropriate  order  (users,  hosts,  ports  in  the  example
              above).   The  values  for the different fields are separated by
              colons.  This can be altered with the option -s to  _combination
              which specifies a pattern.  Typically this is a character class,
              as for example `-s "[:@]"' in the case of the users-hosts style.
              Each  `field=pattern'  specification  restricts  the completions
              which apply to elements of the style with appropriately matching
              fields.

              If no style with the given name is defined for the given tag, or
              if none of the strings in style's value match,  but  a  function
              name of the required field preceded by an underscore is defined,
              that function will be called to generate the matches.  For exam-
              ple,  if there is no `users-hosts-ports' or no matching hostname
              when a host is required, the function  `_hosts'  will  automati-
              cally be called.

              If  the  same  name is used for more than one field, in both the
              `field=pattern' and the argument that  gives  the  name  of  the
              field  to  be  completed, the number of the field (starting with
              one) may be given after the fieldname, separated from  it  by  a
              colon.

              All  arguments  after the required field name are passed to com-
              padd when generating matches from the style  value,  or  to  the
              functions for the fields if they are called.

       _command_names [ -e | - ]
              This  function  completes  words that are valid at command posi-
              tion: names of aliases, builtins,  hashed  commands,  functions,
              and  so  on.   With  the  -e flag, only hashed commands are com-
              pleted.  The - flag is ignored.

       _comp_locale
              This function  resets  all  the  locale  categories  other  than
              LC_CTYPE to `C' so that the output from external commands can be
              easily analyzed by the completion system. LC_CTYPE  retains  the
              current  value  (taking  LC_ALL and LANG into account), ensuring
              that non-ASCII characters in file names are still handled  prop-
              erly.

              This function should normally be run only in a subshell, because
              the new locale is exported to  the  environment.  Typical  usage
              would be `$(_comp_locale; command ...)'.

       _completers [ -p ]
              This function completes names of completers.

              -p     Include the leading underscore (`_') in the matches.

       _describe [-12JVx] [ -oO | -t tag ] descr name1 [ name2 ] [ opt ... ]
                 [ -- name1 [ name2 ] [ opt ... ] ... ]
              This  function associates completions with descriptions.  Multi-
              ple groups separated by -- can  be  supplied,  potentially  with
              different completion options opts.

              The  descr  is taken as a string to display above the matches if
              the format style for the descriptions tag is set.  This is  fol-
              lowed  by one or two names of arrays followed by options to pass
              to compadd.  The array name1 contains the  possible  completions
              with  their  descriptions  in the form `completion:description'.
              Any literal colons in completion must be  quoted  with  a  back-
              slash.   If  a name2 is given, it should have the same number of
              elements as name1; in this case the corresponding  elements  are
              added  as possible completions instead of the completion strings
              from name1.  The completion list will  retain  the  descriptions
              from name1.  Finally, a set of completion options can appear.

              If  the  option  `-o'  appears  before  the  first argument, the
              matches added will be treated as names of command options  (N.B.
              not  shell  options),  typically following a `-', `--' or `+' on
              the command line.  In this case _describe uses  the  prefix-hid-
              den, prefix-needed and verbose styles to find out if the strings
              should be added as completions and if the descriptions should be
              shown.   Without the `-o' option, only the verbose style is used
              to decide how descriptions are shown.  If `-O' is  used  instead
              of  `-o',  command  options are completed as above but _describe
              will not handle the prefix-needed style.

              With the -t option a tag can be specified.  The default is `val-
              ues' or, if the -o option is given, `options'.

              The options -1, -2, -J, -V, -x are passed to _next_label.

              If selected by the list-grouped style, strings with the same de-
              scription will appear together in the list.

              _describe uses the _all_labels function to generate the matches,
              so it does not need to appear inside a loop over tag labels.

       _description [ -x ] [ -12VJ ] tag name descr [ spec ... ]
              This function is not to be confused with the previous one; it is
              used as a helper function for creating options to  compadd.   It
              is  buried  inside many of the higher level completion functions
              and so often does not need to be called directly.

              The styles listed below are tested in the current context  using
              the  given  tag.  The resulting options for compadd are put into
              the array named name (this is  traditionally  `expl',  but  this
              convention  is  not  enforced).   The description for the corre-
              sponding set of matches is passed to the function in descr.

              The styles tested are: format, hidden, matcher, ignore-line, ig-
              nored-patterns,  group-name and sort.  The format style is first
              tested for the given tag and then for the descriptions tag if no
              value was found, while the remainder are only tested for the tag
              given as the first argument.  The  function  also  calls  _setup
              which tests some more styles.

              The  string  returned by the format style (if any) will be modi-
              fied so that the sequence `%d' is replaced by the descr given as
              the  third argument without any leading or trailing white space.
              If, after removing the white  space,  the  descr  is  the  empty
              string,  the  format  style will not be used and the options put
              into the name array will not contain an explanation string to be
              displayed above the matches.

              If  _description  is  called with more than three arguments, the
              additional specs should be of the form `char:str'.  These supply
              escape sequence replacements for the format style: every appear-
              ance of `%char' will be replaced by string.

              If the -x option is given, the description  will  be  passed  to
              compadd  using  the  -x  option instead of the default -X.  This
              means that the description will be displayed even if  there  are
              no corresponding matches.

              The  options  placed  in  the  array  name  take  account of the
              group-name style, so matches are  placed  in  a  separate  group
              where necessary.  The group normally has its elements sorted (by
              passing the option -J to compadd), but  if  an  option  starting
              with  `-V',  `-J', `-1', or `-2' is passed to _description, that
              option will be included in the array.  Hence it is possible  for
              the  completion  group to be unsorted by giving the option `-V',
              `-1V', or `-2V'.

              In most cases, the function will be used like this:

                     local expl
                     _description files expl file
                     compadd "$expl[@]" - "$files[@]"

              Note the use of the parameter expl, the hyphen, and the list  of
              matches.  Almost all calls to compadd within the completion sys-
              tem use a  similar  format;  this  ensures  that  user-specified
              styles are correctly passed down to the builtins which implement
              the internals of completion.

       _dir_list [ -s sep ] [ -S ]
              Complete a list of directory names separated by colons (the same
              format as $PATH).

              -s sep Use  sep  as  separator between items.  sep defaults to a
                     colon (`:').

              -S     Add sep instead of slash (`/') as an autoremoveable  suf-
                     fix.

       _dispatch context string ...
              This  sets  the current context to context and looks for comple-
              tion functions to handle this context  by  hunting  through  the
              list  of  command  names or special contexts (as described above
              for compdef) given as strings.  The first completion function to
              be defined for one of the contexts in the list is used to gener-
              ate matches.  Typically, the last string is -default-  to  cause
              the function for default completion to be used as a fallback.

              The  function  sets  the  parameter $service to the string being
              tried, and sets the context/command field (the  fourth)  of  the
              $curcontext  parameter  to  the context given as the first argu-
              ment.

       _email_addresses [ -c ] [ -n plugin ]
              Complete email addresses.  Addresses are provided by plugins.

              -c     Complete bare localhost@domain.tld addresses,  without  a
                     name  part  or  a  comment.   Without this option, RFC822
                     `Firstname Lastname <address>' strings are completed.

              -n plugin
                     Complete aliases from plugin.

              The following plugins are available by default: _email-ldap (see
              the  filter  style),  _email-local (completes user@hostname Unix
              addresses),  _email-mail  (completes  aliases  from  ~/.mailrc),
              _email-mush, _email-mutt, and _email-pine.

              Addresses  from  the  _email-foo  plugin are added under the tag
              `email-foo'.

              Writing plugins

              Plugins are written as separate functions  with  names  starting
              with `_email-'.  They are invoked with the -c option and compadd
              options.  They should either do their own completion or set  the
              $reply  array  to  a list of `alias:address' elements and return
              300.  New plugins will be picked up and run automatically.

       _files The function _files is a wrapper around _path_files. It supports
              all  of  the  same  functionality, with some enhancements -- no-
              tably, it respects the  list-dirs-first  style,  and  it  allows
              users  to  override  the behaviour of the -g and -/ options with
              the file-patterns style. _files should  therefore  be  preferred
              over _path_files in most cases.

              This  function  accepts  the  full  set  of  options  allowed by
              _path_files, described below.

       _gnu_generic
              This function is a simple wrapper around the _arguments function
              described  above.  It can be used to determine automatically the
              long options understood by commands that  produce  a  list  when
              passed  the  option  `--help'.   It  is intended to be used as a
              top-level completion function in its own right.  For example, to
              enable option completion for the commands foo and bar, use

                     compdef _gnu_generic foo bar

              after the call to compinit.

              The  completion system as supplied is conservative in its use of
              this function, since it is important to be sure the command  un-
              derstands the option `--help'.

       _guard [ options ] pattern descr
              This function displays descr if pattern matches the string to be
              completed.  It is intended to be used  in  the  action  for  the
              specifications passed to _arguments and similar functions.

              The  return  status is zero if the message was displayed and the
              word to complete is not empty, and non-zero otherwise.

              The pattern may be preceded by any of the options understood  by
              compadd  that  are passed down from _description, namely -M, -J,
              -V, -1, -2, -n, -F and -X.  All of these  options  will  be  ig-
              nored.  This fits in conveniently with the argument-passing con-
              ventions of actions for _arguments.

              As an example, consider a command  taking  the  options  -n  and
              -none,  where -n must be followed by a numeric value in the same
              word.  By using:

                     _arguments '-n-: :_guard "[0-9]#" "numeric value"' '-none'

              _arguments can be made to  both  display  the  message  `numeric
              value' and complete options after `-n<TAB>'.  If the `-n' is al-
              ready followed by one or more  digits  (the  pattern  passed  to
              _guard)  only the message will be displayed; if the `-n' is fol-
              lowed by another character, only options are completed.

       _message [ -r12 ] [ -VJ group ] descr
       _message -e [ tag ] descr
              The descr is used in the same way as the third argument  to  the
              _description function, except that the resulting string will al-
              ways be shown whether or not matches were  generated.   This  is
              useful  for displaying a help message in places where no comple-
              tions can be generated.

              The format style is examined with the messages  tag  to  find  a
              message;  the usual tag, descriptions, is used only if the style
              is not set with the former.

              If the -r option is given, no style is used; the descr is  taken
              literally  as  the  string to display.  This is most useful when
              the descr comes from a pre-processed argument list which already
              contains  an  expanded  description.  Note that this option does
              not disable the `%'-sequence parsing done by compadd.

              The -12VJ options and the group are passed to compadd and  hence
              determine the group the message string is added to.

              The  second -e form gives a description for completions with the
              tag tag to be shown even if there are no matches for  that  tag.
              This  form is called by _arguments in the event that there is no
              action for an option specification.  The tag can be omitted  and
              if so the tag is taken from the parameter $curtag; this is main-
              tained by the completion system and so is usually correct.  Note
              that  if  there  are  no  matches  at  the time this function is
              called, compstate[insert] is cleared, so additional matches gen-
              erated later are not inserted on the command line.

       _multi_parts [ -i ] sep array
              The argument sep is a separator character.  The array may be ei-
              ther the name of an array parameter or a literal  array  in  the
              form  `(foo  bar)',  a  parenthesised list of words separated by
              whitespace.  The possible completions are the strings  from  the
              array.   However,  each chunk delimited by sep will be completed
              separately.  For example, the _tar function uses `_multi_parts /
              patharray'  to  complete partial file paths from the given array
              of complete file paths.

              The -i option causes _multi_parts to insert a unique match  even
              if  that  requires  multiple separators to be inserted.  This is
              not usually the expected behaviour with filenames,  but  certain
              other types of completion, for example those with a fixed set of
              possibilities, may be more suited to this form.

              Like other utility functions, this function  accepts  the  `-V',
              `-J',  `-1',  `-2',  `-n',  `-f',  `-X', `-M', `-P', `-S', `-r',
              `-R', and `-q' options and passes them to the compadd builtin.

       _next_label [ -x ] [ -12VJ ] tag name descr [ option ... ]
              This function is used to implement the loop over  different  tag
              labels for a particular tag as described above for the tag-order
              style.  On each call it checks to see if there are any more  tag
              labels;  if there is it returns status zero, otherwise non-zero.
              As this function requires a current tag to be set, it  must  al-
              ways follow a call to _tags or _requested.

              The  -x12VJ  options and the first three arguments are passed to
              the _description function.  Where appropriate the  tag  will  be
              replaced  by a tag label in this call.  Any description given in
              the  tag-order  style  is  preferred  to  the  descr  passed  to
              _next_label.

              The options given after the descr are set in the parameter given
              by name, and hence are to be passed to compadd or whatever func-
              tion is called to add the matches.

              Here  is  a  typical  use of this function for the tag foo.  The
              call to _requested determines if tag foo is required at all; the
              loop  over _next_label handles any labels defined for the tag in
              the tag-order style.

                     local expl ret=1
                     ...
                     if _requested foo; then
                       ...
                       while _next_label foo expl '...'; do
                         compadd "$expl[@]" ... && ret=0
                       done
                       ...
                     fi
                     return ret

       _normal [ -P | -p precommand ]
              This is the standard function called to handle  completion  out-
              side  any  special -context-.  It is called both to complete the
              command word and also the arguments for a command.  In the  sec-
              ond  case,  _normal looks for a special completion for that com-
              mand, and if there is none it uses the completion for  the  -de-
              fault- context.

              A  second  use is to reexamine the command line specified by the
              $words array and the $CURRENT parameter after  those  have  been
              modified.   For  example,  the  function _precommand, which com-
              pletes after precommand specifiers such as  nohup,  removes  the
              first  word from the words array, decrements the CURRENT parame-
              ter, then calls `_normal -p $service'.  The effect is that  `no-
              hup cmd ...' is treated in the same way as `cmd ...'.

              -P     Reset the list of precommands. This option should be used
                     if completing a command line which allows  internal  com-
                     mands  (e.g.  builtins and functions) regardless of prior
                     precommands (e.g. `zsh -c').

              -p precommand
                     Append precommand to the list of precommands. This option
                     should be used in nearly all cases in which -P is not ap-
                     plicable.

              If the command name matches one of the patterns given by one  of
              the  options  -p  or -P to compdef, the corresponding completion
              function is called and then the parameter _compskip is  checked.
              If  it  is set completion is terminated at that point even if no
              matches have been found.  This is the  same  effect  as  in  the
              -first- context.

       _options
              This  can  be  used  to complete the names of shell options.  It
              provides a matcher specification that ignores  a  leading  `no',
              ignores underscores and allows upper-case letters to match their
              lower-case  counterparts   (for   example,   `glob',   `noglob',
              `NO_GLOB'  are  all completed).  Any arguments are propagated to
              the compadd builtin.

       _options_set and _options_unset
              These functions complete only set or  unset  options,  with  the
              same matching specification used in the _options function.

              Note  that  you  need to uncomment a few lines in the _main_com-
              plete function for these functions to work properly.  The  lines
              in  question are used to store the option settings in effect be-
              fore the completion widget locally sets the  options  it  needs.
              Hence  these  functions are not generally used by the completion
              system.

       _parameters
              This is used to complete the names of shell parameters.

              The option `-g pattern'  limits  the  completion  to  parameters
              whose type matches the pattern.  The type of a parameter is that
              shown by `print ${(t)param}', hence judicious use of `*' in pat-
              tern is probably necessary.

              All other arguments are passed to the compadd builtin.

       _path_files
              This  function  is used throughout the completion system to com-
              plete filenames.  It allows completion of  partial  paths.   For
              example,  the  string `/u/i/s/sig' may be completed to `/usr/in-
              clude/sys/signal.h'.

              The options accepted by both _path_files and _files are:

              -f     Complete all filenames.  This is the default.

              -/     Specifies that only directories should be completed.

              -g pattern
                     Specifies that only files matching the pattern should  be
                     completed.

              -W paths
                     Specifies  path  prefixes that are to be prepended to the
                     string from the command line to  generate  the  filenames
                     but  that should not be inserted as completions nor shown
                     in completion listings.  Here, paths may be the  name  of
                     an  array  parameter, a literal list of paths enclosed in
                     parentheses or an absolute pathname.

              -F ignored-files
                     This behaves as for the corresponding option to the  com-
                     padd  builtin.   It gives direct control over which file-
                     names should be ignored.  If the option is  not  present,
                     the ignored-patterns style is used.

              Both  _path_files  and  _files also accept the following options
              which are passed to compadd: `-J', `-V', `-1', `-2', `-n', `-X',
              `-M', `-P', `-S', `-q', `-r', and `-R'.

              Finally,  the  _path_files function  uses the styles expand, am-
              biguous, special-dirs,  list-suffixes  and  file-sort  described
              above.

       _pick_variant [ -b builtin-label ] [ -c command ] [ -r name ]
                     label=pattern ... label [ arg ... ]
              This  function is used to resolve situations where a single com-
              mand name requires more than one type of  handling,  either  be-
              cause  it  has  more than one variant or because there is a name
              clash between two different commands.

              The command to run is taken from the first element of the  array
              words  unless this is overridden by the option -c.  This command
              is run and its output is compared with  a  series  of  patterns.
              Arguments  to  be  passed to the command can be specified at the
              end after all the other arguments.  The patterns to try in order
              are given by the arguments label=pattern; if the output of `com-
              mand arg ...' contains pattern, then label is  selected  as  the
              label  for  the command variant.  If none of the patterns match,
              the final command label is selected and status 1 is returned.

              If the `-b builtin-label' is given, the command is tested to see
              if  it  is  provided as a shell builtin, possibly autoloaded; if
              so, the label builtin-label is selected as  the  label  for  the
              variant.

              If the `-r name' is given, the label picked is stored in the pa-
              rameter named name.

              The results are also cached in the _cmd_variant associative  ar-
              ray indexed by the name of the command run.

       _regex_arguments name spec ...
              This function generates a completion function name which matches
              the specifications specs, a set of regular  expressions  as  de-
              scribed  below.   After  running  _regex_arguments, the function
              name should be called as a normal completion function.  The pat-
              tern  to  be matched is given by the contents of the words array
              up to the current cursor  position  joined  together  with  null
              characters; no quotation is applied.

              The  arguments  are grouped as sets of alternatives separated by
              `|', which are tried one after  the  other  until  one  matches.
              Each  alternative consists of a one or more specifications which
              are tried  left  to  right,  with  each  pattern  matched  being
              stripped  in  turn from the command line being tested, until all
              of the group succeeds or until one fails; in  the  latter  case,
              the  next  alternative is tried.  This structure can be repeated
              to arbitrary depth by using parentheses; matching proceeds  from
              inside to outside.

              A  special  procedure is applied if no test succeeds but the re-
              maining command line string contains no null character (implying
              the  remaining  word  is the one for which completions are to be
              generated).  The completion target is restricted to the  remain-
              ing word and any actions for the corresponding patterns are exe-
              cuted.  In this case, nothing is stripped from the command  line
              string.   The  order  of evaluation of the actions can be deter-
              mined by the tag-order style; the various formats  supported  by
              _alternative  can be used in action.  The descr is used for set-
              ting up the array parameter expl.

              Specification arguments take one of following  forms,  in  which
              metacharacters such as `(', `)', `#' and `|' should be quoted.

              /pattern/ [%lookahead%] [-guard] [:tag:descr:action]
                     This is a single primitive component.  The function tests
                     whether  the  combined  pattern   `(#b)((#B)pattern)look-
                     ahead*'  matches the command line string.  If so, `guard'
                     is evaluated and its return status is examined to  deter-
                     mine  if the test has succeeded.  The pattern string `[]'
                     is guaranteed never  to  match.   The  lookahead  is  not
                     stripped from the command line before the next pattern is
                     examined.

                     The argument starting with : is used in the  same  manner
                     as an argument to _alternative.

                     A  component is used as follows: pattern is tested to see
                     if the component already exists on the command line.   If
                     it  does,  any  following  specifications are examined to
                     find something to complete.  If a  component  is  reached
                     but  no  such pattern exists yet on the command line, the
                     string containing the action is used to generate  matches
                     to insert at that point.

              /pattern/+ [%lookahead%] [-guard] [:tag:descr:action]
                     This  is  similar to `/pattern/ ...' but the left part of
                     the command line string (i.e. the part already matched by
                     previous patterns) is also considered part of the comple-
                     tion target.

              /pattern/- [%lookahead%] [-guard] [:tag:descr:action]
                     This is similar to `/pattern/ ...' but the actions of the
                     current  and previously matched patterns are ignored even
                     if the following `pattern' matches the empty string.

              ( spec )
                     Parentheses may be used to groups specs; note each paren-
                     thesis is a single argument to _regex_arguments.

              spec # This allows any number of repetitions of spec.

              spec spec
                     The  two  specs  are to be matched one after the other as
                     described above.

              spec | spec
                     Either of the two specs can be matched.

              The function _regex_words can be used as a  helper  function  to
              generate  matches  for  a set of alternative words possibly with
              their own arguments as a command line argument.

              Examples:

                     _regex_arguments _tst /$'[^\0]#\0'/ \
                         /$'[^\0]#\0'/ :'compadd aaa'

              This generates a function _tst that completes aaa  as  its  only
              argument.   The  tag  and  description  for the action have been
              omitted for brevity (this works but is not recommended in normal
              use).   The  first  component matches the command word, which is
              arbitrary; the second matches  any argument.  As the argument is
              also  arbitrary, any following component would not depend on aaa
              being present.

                     _regex_arguments _tst /$'[^\0]#\0'/ \
                         /$'aaa\0'/ :'compadd aaa'

              This is a more typical use; it is  similar,  but  any  following
              patterns  would only match if aaa was present as the first argu-
              ment.

                     _regex_arguments _tst /$'[^\0]#\0'/ \( \
                         /$'aaa\0'/ :'compadd aaa' \
                         /$'bbb\0'/ :'compadd bbb' \) \#

              In this example, an indefinite number of command  arguments  may
              be completed.  Odd arguments are completed as aaa and even argu-
              ments as bbb.  Completion fails unless the set of  aaa  and  bbb
              arguments before the current one is matched correctly.

                     _regex_arguments _tst /$'[^\0]#\0'/ \
                         \( /$'aaa\0'/ :'compadd aaa' \| \
                         /$'bbb\0'/ :'compadd bbb' \) \#

              This  is similar, but either aaa or bbb may be completed for any
              argument.  In this case _regex_words could be used to generate a
              suitable expression for the arguments.

       _regex_words tag description spec ...
              This  function  can  be  used  to  generate  arguments  for  the
              _regex_arguments command which may  be  inserted  at  any  point
              where  a set of rules is expected.  The tag and description give
              a standard tag and description pertaining to  the  current  con-
              text.   Each spec contains two or three arguments separated by a
              colon: note that there is no leading colon in this case.

              Each spec gives one of a set of words that may be  completed  at
              this point, together with arguments.  It is thus roughly equiva-
              lent to the _arguments function when used in normal  (non-regex)
              completion.

              The  part  of  the spec before the first colon is the word to be
              completed.  This may contain a *; the entire  word,  before  and
              after  the * is completed, but only the text before the * is re-
              quired for the context to be matched, so that further  arguments
              may be completed after the abbreviated form.

              The second part of spec is a description for the word being com-
              pleted.

              The optional third part of the spec describes how words  follow-
              ing  the one being completed are themselves to be completed.  It
              will be evaluated in order to avoid problems with quoting.  This
              means  that  typically  it contains a reference to an array con-
              taining previously generated regex arguments.

              The option -t term specifies a terminator for the  word  instead
              of the usual space.  This is handled as an auto-removable suffix
              in the manner of the option -s sep to _values.

              The result of the processing by _regex_words is  placed  in  the
              array reply, which should be made local to the calling function.
              If the set of words and arguments may be matched repeatedly, a #
              should be appended to the generated array at that point.

              For example:

                     local -a reply
                     _regex_words mydb-commands 'mydb commands' \
                       'add:add an entry to mydb:$mydb_add_cmds' \
                       'show:show entries in mydb'
                     _regex_arguments _mydb "$reply[@]"
                     _mydb "$@"

              This  shows a completion function for a command mydb which takes
              two command arguments, add and show.  show takes  no  arguments,
              while the arguments for add have already been prepared in an ar-
              ray  mydb_add_cmds,  quite  possibly  by  a  previous  call   to
              _regex_words.

       _requested [ -x ] [ -12VJ ] tag [ name descr [ command [ arg ... ] ]
              This  function  is called to decide whether a tag already regis-
              tered by a call to _tags (see below) has been requested  by  the
              user  and  hence  completion should be performed for it.  It re-
              turns status zero if the tag is requested  and  non-zero  other-
              wise.   The  function  is  typically used as part of a loop over
              different tags as follows:

                     _tags foo bar baz
                     while _tags; do
                       if _requested foo; then
                         ... # perform completion for foo
                       fi
                       ... # test the tags bar and baz in the same way
                       ... # exit loop if matches were generated
                     done

              Note that the test for whether matches  were  generated  is  not
              performed  until the end of the _tags loop.  This is so that the
              user can set the tag-order style to specify a set of tags to  be
              completed at the same time.

              If  name  and descr are given, _requested calls the _description
              function with these arguments together with the  options  passed
              to _requested.

              If command is given, the _all_labels function will be called im-
              mediately with the same arguments.  In simple cases  this  makes
              it  possible to perform the test for the tag and the matching in
              one go.  For example:

                     local expl ret=1
                     _tags foo bar baz
                     while _tags; do
                       _requested foo expl 'description' \
                           compadd foobar foobaz && ret=0
                       ...
                       (( ret )) || break
                     done

              If the command is not compadd, it must nevertheless be  prepared
              to handle the same options.

       _retrieve_cache cache_identifier
              This  function  retrieves  completion  information from the file
              given by cache_identifier, stored in a  directory  specified  by
              the  cache-path  style which defaults to ~/.zcompcache.  The re-
              turn status is zero if retrieval was successful.  It  will  only
              attempt retrieval if the use-cache style is set, so you can call
              this function without worrying about whether the user wanted  to
              use the caching layer.

              See _store_cache below for more details.

       _sep_parts
              This function is passed alternating arrays and separators as ar-
              guments.  The arrays specify completions for parts of strings to
              be  separated by the separators.  The arrays may be the names of
              array parameters or a quoted list of words in parentheses.   For
              example,  with the array `hosts=(ftp news)' the call `_sep_parts
              '(foo bar)' @ hosts' will complete the string  `f' to `foo'  and
              the string `b@n' to `bar@news'.

              This  function  accepts  the  compadd  options `-V', `-J', `-1',
              `-2', `-n', `-X', `-M', `-P', `-S', `-r',  `-R',  and  `-q'  and
              passes them on to the compadd builtin used to add the matches.

       _sequence [ -s sep ] [ -n max ] [ -d ] function [ - ] ...
              This  function  is  a  wrapper to other functions for completing
              items in a separated list. The same function is used to complete
              each  item  in  the list. The separator is specified with the -s
              option. If -s is omitted it will use `,'. Duplicate  values  are
              not matched unless -d is specified. If there is a fixed or maxi-
              mum number of items in the list, this can be specified with  the
              -n option.

              Common compadd options are passed on to the function. It is pos-
              sible to use compadd directly with _sequence, though _values may
              be more appropriate in this situation.

       _setup tag [ group ]
              This function sets up the special parameters used by the comple-
              tion system appropriately for the tag given as the  first  argu-
              ment.     It   uses   the   styles   list-colors,   list-packed,
              list-rows-first, last-prompt, accept-exact, menu and force-list.

              The optional group supplies the name of the group in  which  the
              matches  will be placed.  If it is not given, the tag is used as
              the group name.

              This function is  called  automatically  from  _description  and
              hence is not normally called explicitly.

       _store_cache cache_identifier param ...
              This function, together with _retrieve_cache and _cache_invalid,
              implements a caching layer which can be used in  any  completion
              function.   Data obtained by costly operations are stored in pa-
              rameters; this function then dumps the values of  those  parame-
              ters  to  a  file.   The data can then be retrieved quickly from
              that file via _retrieve_cache, even in  different  instances  of
              the shell.

              The cache_identifier specifies the file which the data should be
              dumped to.  The file is stored in a directory specified  by  the
              cache-path style which defaults to ~/.zcompcache.  The remaining
              params arguments are the parameters to dump to the file.

              The return status is zero if storage was successful.  The  func-
              tion will only attempt storage if the use-cache style is set, so
              you can call this function without worrying  about  whether  the
              user wanted to use the caching layer.

              The  completion  function may avoid calling _retrieve_cache when
              it already has the  completion  data  available  as  parameters.
              However,  in  that  case  it should call _cache_invalid to check
              whether the data in the parameters and in the  cache  are  still
              valid.

              See  the  _perl_modules completion function for a simple example
              of the usage of the caching layer.

       _tags [ [ -C name ] tag ... ]
              If called with arguments, these are taken to  be  the  names  of
              tags  valid  for completions in the current context.  These tags
              are stored internally and sorted by using the tag-order style.

              Next, _tags is called repeatedly without arguments from the same
              completion  function.  This successively selects the first, sec-
              ond, etc. set of tags requested by the user.  The return  status
              is  zero  if  at least one of the tags is requested and non-zero
              otherwise.  To test if a particular tag is to be tried, the _re-
              quested function should be called (see above).

              If  `-C  name' is given, name is temporarily stored in the argu-
              ment field (the fifth) of the context in the curcontext  parame-
              ter  during  the  call  to _tags; the field is restored on exit.
              This allows _tags to use a more specific context without  having
              to change and reset the curcontext parameter (which has the same
              effect).

       _tilde_files
              Like _files, but resolve leading tildes according to  the  rules
              of  filename expansion, so the suggested completions don't start
              with a `~' even if the filename on the command-line does.

       _values [ -O name ] [ -s sep ] [ -S sep ] [ -wC ] desc spec ...
              This is used to complete arbitrary keywords (values)  and  their
              arguments, or lists of such combinations.

              If  the  first argument is the option `-O name', it will be used
              in the same way as by the _arguments function.  In other  words,
              the  elements  of  the name array will be passed to compadd when
              executing an action.

              If the first argument (or the first argument after `-O name') is
              `-s',  the next argument is used as the character that separates
              multiple values.  This character is  automatically  added  after
              each  value in an auto-removable fashion (see below); all values
              completed by `_values -s' appear in the same word on the command
              line, unlike completion using _arguments.  If this option is not
              present, only a single value will be completed per word.

              Normally, _values will only use the current  word  to  determine
              which  values  are already present on the command line and hence
              are not to be completed again.  If the -w option is given, other
              arguments are examined as well.

              The  first  non-option  argument,  desc,  is used as a string to
              print as a description before listing the values.

              All other arguments describe the possible values and their argu-
              ments  in the same format used for the description of options by
              the _arguments function (see above).  The only  differences  are
              that  no minus or plus sign is required at the beginning, values
              can have only one argument, and the forms  of  action  beginning
              with an equal sign are not supported.

              The  character  separating  a value from its argument can be set
              using the option -S (like -s, followed by the character  to  use
              as  the  separator in the next argument).  By default the equals
              sign will be used as the separator between values and arguments.

              Example:

                     _values -s , 'description' \
                             '*foo[bar]' \
                             '(two)*one[number]:first count:' \
                             'two[another number]::second count:(1 2 3)'

              This describes three possible values: `foo', `one',  and  `two'.
              The  first  is described as `bar', takes no argument and may ap-
              pear more than once.  The second is described as  `number',  may
              appear  more  than  once,  and  takes one mandatory argument de-
              scribed as `first count'; no action is specified, so it will not
              be  completed.   The  `(two)'  at the beginning says that if the
              value `one' is on the line, the value `two' will  no  longer  be
              considered  a  possible  completion.   Finally,  the  last value
              (`two') is described as `another number' and takes  an  optional
              argument  described  as `second count' for which the completions
              (to appear after an `=') are `1', `2',  and  `3'.   The  _values
              function  will  complete lists of these values separated by com-
              mas.

              Like _arguments, this function temporarily adds another  context
              name  component to the arguments element (the fifth) of the cur-
              rent context while executing the action.  Here this name is just
              the name of the value for which the argument is completed.

              The  style verbose is used to decide if the descriptions for the
              values (but not those for the arguments) should be printed.

              The associative array val_args is  used  to  report  values  and
              their  arguments;  this works similarly to the opt_args associa-
              tive array used by _arguments.  Hence the function calling _val-
              ues  should  declare  the  local  parameters state, state_descr,
              line, context and val_args:

                     local context state state_descr line
                     typeset -A val_args

              when using an action of the form `->string'.  With this function
              the context parameter will be set to the name of the value whose
              argument is to be completed.  Note that for _values,  the  state
              and  state_descr  are scalars rather than arrays.  Only a single
              matching state is returned.

              Note also that _values normally adds the character used  as  the
              separator between values as an auto-removable suffix (similar to
              a `/' after a directory).  However, this is not possible  for  a
              `->string'  action as the matches for the argument are generated
              by the calling function.  To get the usual behaviour, the  call-
              ing  function can add the separator x as a suffix by passing the
              options `-qS x' either directly or indirectly to compadd.

              The option -C is treated in the same way as it is by _arguments.
              In  that  case the parameter curcontext should be made local in-
              stead of context (as described above).

       _wanted [ -x ] [ -C name ]  [ -12VJ ] tag name descr command [ arg ...]
              In many contexts, completion can only  generate  one  particular
              set of matches, usually corresponding to a single tag.  However,
              it is still  necessary  to  decide  whether  the  user  requires
              matches of this type.  This function is useful in such a case.

              The  arguments  to  _wanted are the same as those to _requested,
              i.e. arguments to be passed to _description.  However,  in  this
              case  the  command is not optional;  all the processing of tags,
              including the loop over both tags and tag labels and the genera-
              tion of matches, is carried out automatically by _wanted.

              Hence  to offer only one tag and immediately add the correspond-
              ing matches with the given description:

                     local expl
                     _wanted tag expl 'description' \
                         compadd matches...

              Note that, as for _requested, the command must be able to accept
              options to be passed down to compadd.

              Like  _tags  this function supports the -C option to give a dif-
              ferent name for the argument context field.  The -x  option  has
              the same meaning as for _description.

       _widgets [ -g pattern ]
              This  function  completes  names of zle widgets (see the section
              `Widgets' in zshzle(1)).  The pattern, if  present,  is  matched
              against  values of the $widgets special parameter, documented in
              the section `The zsh/zleparameter Module' in zshmodules(1).

COMPLETION SYSTEM VARIABLES
       There are some standard variables, initialised  by  the  _main_complete
       function and then used from other functions.

       The standard variables are:

       _comp_caller_options
              The  completion  system  uses setopt to set a number of options.
              This allows functions to be written without concern for compati-
              bility with every possible combination of user options. However,
              sometimes completion needs to know what the user's option  pref-
              erences  are.  These are saved in the _comp_caller_options asso-
              ciative array. Option names, spelled in lowercase without under-
              scores,  are  mapped  to  one  or  other of the strings `on' and
              `off'.

              _comp_priv_prefix
                     Completion  functions  such  as   _sudo   can   set   the
                     _comp_priv_prefix array to a command prefix that may then
                     be used by _call_program to  match  the  privileges  when
                     calling programs to generate matches.

              Two  more  features  are offered by the _main_complete function.
              The arrays compprefuncs and comppostfuncs may contain  names  of
              functions that are to be called immediately before or after com-
              pletion has been tried.  A function will only be called once un-
              less it explicitly reinserts itself into the array.

COMPLETION DIRECTORIES
       In  the  source distribution, the files are contained in various subdi-
       rectories of the Completion directory.  They may have been installed in
       the same structure, or into one single function directory.  The follow-
       ing is a description of the  files  found  in  the  original  directory
       structure.   If  you  wish to alter an installed file, you will need to
       copy it to some directory which appears earlier in your fpath than  the
       standard directory where it appears.

       Base   The  core functions and special completion widgets automatically
              bound to keys.  You will certainly need most  of  these,  though
              will  probably  not need to alter them.  Many of these are docu-
              mented above.

       Zsh    Functions for completing arguments of shell builtin commands and
              utility  functions  for  this.   Some  of these are also used by
              functions from the Unix directory.

       Unix   Functions for completing  arguments  of  external  commands  and
              suites  of  commands.   They may need modifying for your system,
              although in many cases some attempt is made to decide which ver-
              sion  of  a command is present.  For example, completion for the
              mount command tries to determine the system it  is  running  on,
              while  completion for many other utilities try to decide whether
              the GNU version of the command is in use, and hence whether  the
              --help option is supported.

       X, AIX, BSD, ...
              Completion  and  utility function for commands available only on
              some systems.  These are not arranged  hierarchically,  so,  for
              example, both the Linux and Debian directories, as well as the X
              directory, may be useful on your system.

ZSHCOMPCTL(1)               General Commands Manual              ZSHCOMPCTL(1)

NAME
       zshcompctl - zsh programmable completion

DESCRIPTION
       This version of zsh has two ways of performing completion of  words  on
       the  command  line.  New users of the shell may prefer to use the newer
       and more powerful system based on shell functions; this is described in
       zshcompsys(1),  and the basic shell mechanisms which support it are de-
       scribed in zshcompwid(1).  This manual entry describes the  older  com-
       pctl command.

       compctl [ -CDT ] options [ command ... ]
       compctl [ -CDT ] options [ -x pattern options - ... -- ]
               [ + options [ -x ... -- ] ... [+] ] [ command ... ]
       compctl -M match-specs ...
       compctl -L [ -CDTM ] [ command ... ]
       compctl + command ...

       Control  the editor's completion behavior according to the supplied set
       of options.  Various editing commands, notably expand-or-complete-word,
       usually  bound  to  tab,  will  attempt to complete a word typed by the
       user, while others, notably delete-char-or-list, usually bound to ^D in
       EMACS editing mode, list the possibilities; compctl controls what those
       possibilities are.  They may for example be filenames (the most  common
       case,  and  hence  the  default),  shell  variables,  or  words  from a
       user-specified list.

COMMAND FLAGS
       Completion of the arguments of a command may be different for each com-
       mand  or may use the default.  The behavior when completing the command
       word itself may also be separately specified.  These correspond to  the
       following flags and arguments, all of which (except for -L) may be com-
       bined with any combination of the options described subsequently in the
       section `Option Flags':

       command ...
              controls completion for the named commands, which must be listed
              last on the command line.  If completion is attempted for a com-
              mand  with a pathname containing slashes and no completion defi-
              nition is found, the search is retried with  the  last  pathname
              component.  If  the command starts with a =, completion is tried
              with the pathname of the command.

              Any of the command strings may be patterns of the form  normally
              used for filename generation.  These should be quoted to protect
              them from immediate expansion; for example  the  command  string
              'foo*'  arranges  for completion of the words of any command be-
              ginning with foo.  When completion  is  attempted,  all  pattern
              completions  are  tried in the reverse order of their definition
              until one matches.  By default, completion then proceeds as nor-
              mal,  i.e.  the  shell will try to generate more matches for the
              specific command on the command line; this can be overridden  by
              including -tn in the flags for the pattern completion.

              Note that aliases are expanded before the command name is deter-
              mined unless the COMPLETE_ALIASES option is set.   Commands  may
              not be combined with the -C, -D or -T flags.

       -C     controls  completion  when the command word itself is being com-
              pleted.  If no compctl -C command has been issued,  the names of
              any  executable  command (whether in the path or specific to the
              shell, such as aliases or functions) are completed.

       -D     controls default completion behavior for the arguments  of  com-
              mands  not assigned any special behavior.  If no compctl -D com-
              mand has been issued, filenames are completed.

       -T     supplies completion flags to be used before any other processing
              is  done,  even  before processing for compctls defined for spe-
              cific commands.  This is especially useful  when  combined  with
              extended completion (the -x flag, see the section `Extended Com-
              pletion' below).  Using this flag you can define default  behav-
              ior  which  will apply to all commands without exception, or you
              can alter the standard behavior for all commands.  For  example,
              if  your  access to the user database is too slow and/or it con-
              tains too many users (so that completion after `~' is  too  slow
              to be usable), you can use

                     compctl -T -x 's[~] C[0,[^/]#]' -k friends -S/ -tn

              to  complete  the strings in the array friends after a `~'.  The
              C[...] argument is necessary so that this form  of  ~-completion
              is not tried after the directory name is finished.

       -L     lists  the existing completion behavior in a manner suitable for
              putting into a start-up script; the  existing  behavior  is  not
              changed.   Any  combination  of  the above forms, or the -M flag
              (which must follow the -L flag), may be specified, otherwise all
              defined  completions  are  listed.  Any other flags supplied are
              ignored.

       no argument
              If no argument is given, compctl lists all  defined  completions
              in an abbreviated form;  with a list of options, all completions
              with those flags set  (not  counting  extended  completion)  are
              listed.

       If  the  +  flag is alone and followed immediately by the command list,
       the completion behavior for all the commands in the list  is  reset  to
       the  default.  In other words, completion will subsequently use the op-
       tions specified by the -D flag.

       The form with -M as the first and only option defines  global  matching
       specifications (see zshcompwid). The match specifications given will be
       used for every completion attempt (only when using  compctl,  not  with
       the new completion system) and are tried in the order in which they are
       defined until one generates at least one match. E.g.:

              compctl -M '' 'm:{a-zA-Z}={A-Za-z}'

       This will first try completion without any global match  specifications
       (the empty string) and, if that generates no matches, will try case in-
       sensitive completion.

OPTION FLAGS
       [ -fcFBdeaRGovNAIOPZEnbjrzu/12 ]
       [ -k array ] [ -g globstring ] [ -s subststring ]
       [ -K function ]
       [ -Q ] [ -P prefix ] [ -S suffix ]
       [ -W file-prefix ] [ -H num pattern ]
       [ -q ] [ -X explanation ] [ -Y explanation ]
       [ -y func-or-var ] [ -l cmd ] [ -h cmd ] [ -U ]
       [ -t continue ] [ -J name ] [ -V name ]
       [ -M match-spec ]

       The remaining options specify the type of command arguments to look for
       during  completion.   Any  combination of these flags may be specified;
       the result is a sorted list of all the possibilities.  The options  are
       as follows.

   Simple Flags
       These produce completion lists made up by the shell itself:

       -f     Filenames and file system paths.

       -/     Just file system paths.

       -c     Command  names, including aliases, shell functions, builtins and
              reserved words.

       -F     Function names.

       -B     Names of builtin commands.

       -m     Names of external commands.

       -w     Reserved words.

       -a     Alias names.

       -R     Names of regular (non-global) aliases.

       -G     Names of global aliases.

       -d     This can be combined with -F, -B, -w, -a, -R and -G to get names
              of disabled functions, builtins, reserved words or aliases.

       -e     This  option (to show enabled commands) is in effect by default,
              but may be combined with -d; -de in combination with -F, -B, -w,
              -a,  -R  and  -G will complete names of functions, builtins, re-
              served words or aliases whether or not they are disabled.

       -o     Names of shell options (see zshoptions(1)).

       -v     Names of any variable defined in the shell.

       -N     Names of scalar (non-array) parameters.

       -A     Array names.

       -I     Names of integer variables.

       -O     Names of read-only variables.

       -p     Names of parameters used by the shell (including special parame-
              ters).

       -Z     Names of shell special parameters.

       -E     Names of environment variables.

       -n     Named directories.

       -b     Key binding names.

       -j     Job  names:   the  first  word of the job leader's command line.
              This is useful with the kill builtin.

       -r     Names of running jobs.

       -z     Names of suspended jobs.

       -u     User names.

   Flags with Arguments
       These have user supplied arguments to determine how the list of comple-
       tions is to be made up:

       -k array
              Names  taken from the elements of $array (note that the `$' does
              not appear on the command line).   Alternatively,  the  argument
              array itself may be a set of space- or comma-separated values in
              parentheses, in which any delimiter may be escaped with a  back-
              slash; in this case the argument should be quoted.  For example,

                     compctl -k "(cputime filesize datasize stacksize
                                 coredumpsize resident descriptors)" limit

       -g globstring
              The globstring is expanded using filename globbing; it should be
              quoted to protect it from  immediate  expansion.  The  resulting
              filenames are taken as the possible completions.  Use `*(/)' in-
              stead of `*/' for directories.  The fignore special parameter is
              not  applied  to the resulting files.  More than one pattern may
              be given separated by blanks. (Note that brace expansion is  not
              part  of globbing.  Use the syntax `(either|or)' to match alter-
              natives.)

       -s subststring
              The subststring is split into words and these words are than ex-
              panded  using  all  shell expansion mechanisms (see zshexpn(1)).
              The resulting words are taken as possible completions.  The fig-
              nore  special  parameter  is not applied to the resulting files.
              Note that -g is faster for filenames.

       -K function
              Call the given function to get the completions.  Unless the name
              starts with an underscore, the function is passed two arguments:
              the prefix and the suffix of the word on which completion is  to
              be  attempted, in other words those characters before the cursor
              position, and those from the cursor position onwards.  The whole
              command  line  can  be  accessed with the -c and -l flags of the
              read builtin. The function should set the variable reply  to  an
              array  containing  the completions (one completion per element);
              note that reply should not be made local to the function.   From
              such a function the command line can be accessed with the -c and
              -l flags to the read builtin.  For example,

                     function whoson { reply=(`users`); }
                     compctl -K whoson talk

              completes only logged-on users after `talk'.  Note that `whoson'
              must return an array, so `reply=`users`' would be incorrect.

       -H num pattern
              The  possible  completions  are  taken from the last num history
              lines.  Only words matching pattern are taken.  If num  is  zero
              or  negative the whole history is searched and if pattern is the
              empty string all words are taken (as with `*').  A  typical  use
              is

                     compctl -D -f + -H 0 ''

              which  forces  completion to look back in the history list for a
              word if no filename matches.

   Control Flags
       These do not directly specify types of name to be completed, but manip-
       ulate the options that do:

       -Q     This  instructs the shell not to quote any metacharacters in the
              possible completions.  Normally the results of a completion  are
              inserted into the command line with any metacharacters quoted so
              that they are interpreted as normal characters.  This is  appro-
              priate for filenames and ordinary strings.  However, for special
              effects, such as inserting a backquoted expression from  a  com-
              pletion  array (-k) so that the expression will not be evaluated
              until the complete line is executed, this option must be used.

       -P prefix
              The prefix is inserted just before  the  completed  string;  any
              initial  part already typed will be completed and the whole pre-
              fix ignored for completion purposes.  For example,

                     compctl -j -P "%" kill

              inserts a `%' after the kill  command  and  then  completes  job
              names.

       -S suffix
              When a completion is found the suffix is inserted after the com-
              pleted string.  In the case of menu completion the suffix is in-
              serted  immediately,  but  it is still possible to cycle through
              the list of completions by repeatedly hitting the same key.

       -W file-prefix
              With directory file-prefix:  for command,  file,  directory  and
              globbing completion (options -c, -f, -/, -g), the file prefix is
              implicitly added in front of the completion.  For example,

                     compctl -/ -W ~/Mail maildirs

              completes any subdirectories to any depth beneath the  directory
              ~/Mail,  although  that  prefix  does  not appear on the command
              line.  The file-prefix may also be of the form accepted  by  the
              -k  flag,  i.e. the name of an array or a literal list in paren-
              thesis. In this case all the directories in  the  list  will  be
              searched for possible completions.

       -q     If used with a suffix as specified by the -S option, this causes
              the suffix to be removed if the next character typed is a  blank
              or  does  not  insert anything or if the suffix consists of only
              one character and the next character typed is the  same  charac-
              ter;  this  the same rule used for the AUTO_REMOVE_SLASH option.
              The option is most useful for  list  separators  (comma,  colon,
              etc.).

       -l cmd This  option  restricts the range of command line words that are
              considered to be arguments.  If combined with  one  of  the  ex-
              tended completion patterns `p[...]', `r[...]', or `R[...]'  (see
              the section `Extended Completion' below) the range is restricted
              to the range of arguments specified in the brackets.  Completion
              is then performed as if these had been given as arguments to the
              cmd  supplied  with  the  option. If the cmd string is empty the
              first word in the range is instead taken as  the  command  name,
              and  command  name completion performed on the first word in the
              range.  For example,

                     compctl -x 'r[-exec,;]' -l '' -- find

              completes arguments between `-exec' and the  following  `;'  (or
              the  end  of  the command line if there is no such string) as if
              they were a separate command line.

       -h cmd Normally zsh completes quoted strings as a whole. With this  op-
              tion,  completion  can  be done separately on different parts of
              such strings. It works like the -l option but makes the  comple-
              tion  code  work on the parts of the current word that are sepa-
              rated by spaces. These parts are completed as if they were argu-
              ments  to  the  given cmd. If cmd is the empty string, the first
              part is completed as a command name, as with -l.

       -U     Use the whole list of possible completions, whether or not  they
              actually  match the word on the command line.  The word typed so
              far will be deleted.  This is most useful with a function (given
              by  the  -K option) which can examine the word components passed
              to it (or via the read builtin's -c and -l flags)  and  use  its
              own criteria to decide what matches.  If there is no completion,
              the original word is retained.  Since the produced possible com-
              pletions  seldom  have interesting common prefixes and suffixes,
              menu completion is started immediately if AUTO_MENU is  set  and
              this flag is used.

       -y func-or-var
              The  list  provided  by  func-or-var is displayed instead of the
              list of completions whenever a listing is required;  the  actual
              completions to be inserted are not affected.  It can be provided
              in two ways. Firstly, if func-or-var begins with a $ it  defines
              a  variable,  or  if it begins with a left parenthesis a literal
              array, which contains the list.  A variable may have been set by
              a call to a function using the -K option.  Otherwise it contains
              the name of a function which will  be  executed  to  create  the
              list.   The  function  will  be  passed  as an argument list all
              matching completions, including prefixes and  suffixes  expanded
              in  full, and should set the array reply to the result.  In both
              cases, the display list will only be retrieved after a  complete
              list of matches has been created.

              Note that the returned list does not have to correspond, even in
              length, to the original set of matches, and may be passed  as  a
              scalar instead of an array.  No special formatting of characters
              is performed on the output in this case; in particular, newlines
              are  printed  literally  and if they appear output in columns is
              suppressed.

       -X explanation
              Print explanation when trying completion on the current  set  of
              options.  A  `%n'  in  this  string is replaced by the number of
              matches that were added for this explanation string.  The expla-
              nation  only  appears  if  completion was tried and there was no
              unique match, or when listing completions.  Explanation  strings
              will  be listed together with the matches of the group specified
              together with the -X option (using the -J or -V option). If  the
              same  explanation  string  is  given to multiple -X options, the
              string appears only once (for each  group)  and  the  number  of
              matches  shown  for  the `%n' is the total number of all matches
              for each of these uses. In any case, the explanation string will
              only  be shown if there was at least one match added for the ex-
              planation string.

              The sequences %B, %b, %S, %s, %U,  and  %u  specify  output  at-
              tributes (bold, standout, and underline), %F, %f, %K, %k specify
              foreground and background colours, and %{...%} can  be  used  to
              include literal escape sequences as in prompts.

       -Y explanation
              Identical to -X, except that the explanation first undergoes ex-
              pansion following the usual rules for strings in double  quotes.
              The expansion will be carried out after any functions are called
              for the -K or -y options, allowing them to set variables.

       -t continue
              The continue-string contains a character  that  specifies  which
              set of completion flags should be used next.  It is useful:

              (i)  With -T, or when trying a list of pattern completions, when
              compctl would usually continue with  ordinary  processing  after
              finding matches; this can be suppressed with `-tn'.

              (ii)  With  a  list of alternatives separated by +, when compctl
              would normally stop  when  one  of  the  alternatives  generates
              matches.   It  can be forced to consider the next set of comple-
              tions by adding `-t+' to the flags of the alternative before the
              `+'.

              (iii)  In  an extended completion list (see below), when compctl
              would normally continue until a  set  of  conditions  succeeded,
              then use only the immediately following flags.  With `-t-', com-
              pctl will continue trying extended completions  after  the  next
              `-';  with  `-tx'  it  will  attempt completion with the default
              flags, in other words those before the `-x'.

       -J name
              This gives the name of the group the matches  should  be  placed
              in. Groups are listed and sorted separately; likewise, menu com-
              pletion will offer the matches in the groups  in  the  order  in
              which  the  groups  were defined. If no group name is explicitly
              given, the matches are stored in  a  group  named  default.  The
              first  time  a group name is encountered, a group with that name
              is created. After that all matches with the same group name  are
              stored in that group.

              This  can  be useful with non-exclusive alternative completions.
              For example, in

                     compctl -f -J files -t+ + -v -J variables foo

              both files and variables are possible completions,  as  the  -t+
              forces  both  sets  of alternatives before and after the + to be
              considered at once.  Because of the  -J  options,  however,  all
              files are listed before all variables.

       -V name
              Like  -J,  but  matches  within  the group will not be sorted in
              listings nor in menu completion. These unsorted groups are in  a
              different  name space from the sorted ones, so groups defined as
              -J files and -V files are distinct.

       -1     If given together with the -V option, makes only consecutive du-
              plicates  in  the  group  be  removed. Note that groups with and
              without this flag are in different name spaces.

       -2     If given together with the -J or -V option, makes all duplicates
              be kept. Again, groups with and without this flag are in differ-
              ent name spaces.

       -M match-spec
              This defines additional  matching  control  specifications  that
              should  be  used  only  when testing words for the list of flags
              this flag appears in. The format of the match-spec string is de-
              scribed in zshcompwid.

ALTERNATIVE COMPLETION
       compctl [ -CDT ] options + options [ + ... ] [ + ] command ...

       The  form  with  `+' specifies alternative options. Completion is tried
       with the options before the first `+'. If this produces no matches com-
       pletion  is  tried with the flags after the `+' and so on. If there are
       no flags after the last `+' and a match has not been found up  to  that
       point, default completion is tried.  If the list of flags contains a -t
       with a + character, the next list of flags is used even if the  current
       list produced matches.

       Additional  options are available that restrict completion to some part
       of the command line; this is referred to as `extended completion'.

EXTENDED COMPLETION
       compctl [ -CDT ] options -x pattern options - ... --
               [ command ... ]
       compctl [ -CDT ] options [ -x pattern options - ... -- ]
               [ + options [ -x ... -- ] ... [+] ] [ command ... ]

       The form with `-x'  specifies  extended  completion  for  the  commands
       given;  as  shown, it may be combined with alternative completion using
       `+'.  Each pattern is examined in turn; when a match is found, the cor-
       responding  options,  as described in the section `Option Flags' above,
       are used to generate possible completions.  If no pattern matches,  the
       options given before the -x are used.

       Note  that  each  pattern  should  be supplied as a single argument and
       should be quoted to prevent expansion of metacharacters by the shell.

       A pattern is built of sub-patterns separated by commas; it  matches  if
       at  least  one  of  these sub-patterns matches (they are `or'ed). These
       sub-patterns are in turn composed of other  sub-patterns  separated  by
       white  spaces  which  match  if all of the sub-patterns match (they are
       `and'ed).  An element of the sub-patterns is of the form `c[...][...]',
       where  the pairs of brackets may be repeated as often as necessary, and
       matches if any of the sets of brackets match (an  `or').   The  example
       below makes this clearer.

       The elements may be any of the following:

       s[string]...
              Matches  if the current word on the command line starts with one
              of the strings given in brackets.  The string is not removed and
              is not part of the completion.

       S[string]...
              Like s[string] except that the string is part of the completion.

       p[from,to]...
              Matches  if the number of the current word is between one of the
              from and to pairs inclusive. The comma and to are  optional;  to
              defaults  to  the  same value as from.  The numbers may be nega-
              tive: -n refers to the n'th last word on the line.

       c[offset,string]...
              Matches if the string matches the word offset by offset from the
              current word position.  Usually offset will be negative.

       C[offset,pattern]...
              Like c but using pattern matching instead.

       w[index,string]...
              Matches  if  the  word  in position index is equal to the corre-
              sponding string.  Note that the word count  is  made  after  any
              alias expansion.

       W[index,pattern]...
              Like w but using pattern matching instead.

       n[index,string]...
              Matches if the current word contains string.  Anything up to and
              including the indexth occurrence of this string will not be con-
              sidered part of the completion, but the rest will.  index may be
              negative to count from the end: in most cases, index will  be  1
              or -1.  For example,

                     compctl -s '`users`' -x 'n[1,@]' -k hosts -- talk

              will  usually  complete  usernames, but if you insert an @ after
              the name, names from the array hosts (assumed to  contain  host-
              names,  though  you  must  make the array yourself) will be com-
              pleted.  Other commands such as rcp can be handled similarly.

       N[index,string]...
              Like n except that the string  will  be  taken  as  a  character
              class.   Anything  up to and including the indexth occurrence of
              any of the characters in string will not be considered  part  of
              the completion.

       m[min,max]...
              Matches  if  the  total number of words lies between min and max
              inclusive.

       r[str1,str2]...
              Matches if the cursor is after a  word  with  prefix  str1.   If
              there  is also a word with prefix str2 on the command line after
              the one matched by str1 it matches only if the cursor is  before
              this  word. If the comma and str2 are omitted, it matches if the
              cursor is after a word with prefix str1.

       R[str1,str2]...
              Like r but using pattern matching instead.

       q[str]...
              Matches the word currently being completed is in  single  quotes
              and the str begins with the letter `s', or if completion is done
              in double quotes and str starts with the letter `d', or if  com-
              pletion is done in backticks and str starts with a `b'.

EXAMPLE
              compctl -u -x 's[+] c[-1,-f],s[-f+]' \
                -g '~/Mail/*(:t)' - 's[-f],c[-1,-f]' -f -- mail

       This is to be interpreted as follows:

       If the current command is mail, then

              if ((the current word begins with + and the previous word is -f)
              or (the current word begins with -f+)), then complete the
              non-directory part (the `:t' glob modifier) of files in the directory
              ~/Mail; else

              if the current word begins with -f or the previous word was -f, then
              complete any file; else

              complete user names.

ZSHMODULES(1)               General Commands Manual              ZSHMODULES(1)

NAME
       zshmodules - zsh loadable modules

DESCRIPTION
       Some  optional  parts  of zsh are in modules, separate from the core of
       the shell.  Each of these modules may be linked  in  to  the  shell  at
       build  time, or can be dynamically linked while the shell is running if
       the installation supports this feature.  Modules are linked at  runtime
       with the zmodload command, see zshbuiltins(1).

       The modules that are bundled with the zsh distribution are:

       zsh/attr
              Builtins for manipulating extended attributes (xattr).

       zsh/cap
              Builtins  for manipulating POSIX.1e (POSIX.6) capability (privi-
              lege) sets.

       zsh/clone
              A builtin that can clone a running shell onto another terminal.

       zsh/compctl
              The compctl builtin for controlling completion.

       zsh/complete
              The basic completion code.

       zsh/complist
              Completion listing extensions.

       zsh/computil
              A module with utility builtins needed  for  the  shell  function
              based completion system.

       zsh/curses
              curses windowing commands

       zsh/datetime
              Some date/time commands and parameters.

       zsh/db/gdbm
              Builtins  for managing associative array parameters tied to GDBM
              databases.

       zsh/deltochar
              A ZLE function duplicating EMACS' zap-to-char.

       zsh/example
              An example of how to write a module.

       zsh/files
              Some basic file manipulation commands as builtins.

       zsh/langinfo
              Interface to locale information.

       zsh/mapfile
              Access to external files via a special associative array.

       zsh/mathfunc
              Standard scientific functions for use  in  mathematical  evalua-
              tions.

       zsh/nearcolor
              Map colours to the nearest colour in the available palette.

       zsh/newuser
              Arrange for files for new users to be installed.

       zsh/parameter
              Access to internal hash tables via special associative arrays.

       zsh/pcre
              Interface to the PCRE library.

       zsh/param/private
              Builtins for managing private-scoped parameters in function con-
              text.

       zsh/regex
              Interface to the POSIX regex library.

       zsh/sched
              A builtin that provides a timed execution  facility  within  the
              shell.

       zsh/net/socket
              Manipulation of Unix domain sockets

       zsh/stat
              A builtin command interface to the stat system call.

       zsh/system
              A builtin interface to various low-level system features.

       zsh/net/tcp
              Manipulation of TCP sockets

       zsh/termcap
              Interface to the termcap database.

       zsh/terminfo
              Interface to the terminfo database.

       zsh/zftp
              A builtin FTP client.

       zsh/zle
              The Zsh Line Editor, including the bindkey and vared builtins.

       zsh/zleparameter
              Access to internals of the Zsh Line Editor via parameters.

       zsh/zprof
              A module allowing profiling for shell functions.

       zsh/zpty
              A builtin for starting a command in a pseudo-terminal.

       zsh/zselect
              Block and return when file descriptors are ready.

       zsh/zutil
              Some utility builtins, e.g. the one for supporting configuration
              via styles.

THE ZSH/ATTR MODULE
       The zsh/attr module is used for manipulating extended attributes.   The
       -h  option  causes all commands to operate on symbolic links instead of
       their targets.  The builtins in this module are:

       zgetattr [ -h ] filename attribute [ parameter ]
              Get the extended attribute attribute from  the  specified  file-
              name. If the optional argument parameter is given, the attribute
              is set on that parameter instead of being printed to stdout.

       zsetattr [ -h ] filename attribute value
              Set the extended attribute attribute on the  specified  filename
              to value.

       zdelattr [ -h ] filename attribute
              Remove the extended attribute attribute from the specified file-
              name.

       zlistattr [ -h ] filename [ parameter ]
              List the extended attributes  currently  set  on  the  specified
              filename.  If the optional argument parameter is given, the list
              of attributes is set on that parameter instead of being  printed
              to stdout.

       zgetattr  and  zlistattr allocate memory dynamically.  If the attribute
       or list of attributes grows between the allocation and the call to  get
       them,  they return 2.  On all other errors, 1 is returned.  This allows
       the calling function to check for this case and retry.

THE ZSH/CAP MODULE
       The zsh/cap module is used for manipulating POSIX.1e (POSIX.6) capabil-
       ity sets.  If the operating system does not support this interface, the
       builtins defined by this module will do nothing.  The builtins in  this
       module are:

       cap [ capabilities ]
              Change  the shell's process capability sets to the specified ca-
              pabilities, otherwise display the shell's current capabilities.

       getcap filename ...
              This is a built-in implementation of the POSIX standard utility.
              It displays the capability sets on each specified filename.

       setcap capabilities filename ...
              This is a built-in implementation of the POSIX standard utility.
              It sets the capability sets on each specified  filename  to  the
              specified capabilities.

THE ZSH/CLONE MODULE
       The zsh/clone module makes available one builtin command:

       clone tty
              Creates  a forked instance of the current shell, attached to the
              specified tty.  In the new shell, the PID, PPID and TTY  special
              parameters  are changed appropriately.  $! is set to zero in the
              new shell, and to the new shell's PID in the original shell.

              The return status of the builtin is zero in both shells if  suc-
              cessful, and non-zero on error.

              The target of clone should be an unused terminal, such as an un-
              used virtual console or a virtual terminal created by

                     xterm -e sh -c 'trap : INT QUIT TSTP; tty;
                             while :; do sleep 100000000; done'

              Some words of explanation are warranted about  this  long  xterm
              command  line: when doing clone on a pseudo-terminal, some other
              session ("session" meant as a unix session group, or SID) is al-
              ready  owning  the terminal. Hence the cloned zsh cannot acquire
              the pseudo-terminal as a controlling tty. That means two things:

              o      the   job   control    signals    will    go    to    the
                     sh-started-by-xterm  process group (that's why we disable
                     INT QUIT and TSTP with trap;  otherwise  the  while  loop
                     could get suspended or killed)

              o      the  cloned shell will have job control disabled, and the
                     job control keys  (control-C,  control-\  and  control-Z)
                     will not work.

              This does not apply when cloning to an unused vc.

              Cloning  to  a used (and unprepared) terminal will result in two
              processes reading simultaneously from the  same  terminal,  with
              input bytes going randomly to either process.

              clone  is  mostly  useful  as  a  shell built-in replacement for
              openvt.

THE ZSH/COMPCTL MODULE
       The zsh/compctl module makes available two builtin  commands.  compctl,
       is the old, deprecated way to control completions for ZLE.  See zshcom-
       pctl(1).  The other builtin command, compcall can be used  in  user-de-
       fined completion widgets, see zshcompwid(1).

THE ZSH/COMPLETE MODULE
       The  zsh/complete module makes available several builtin commands which
       can be used in user-defined completion widgets, see zshcompwid(1).

THE ZSH/COMPLIST MODULE
       The zsh/complist module offers three extensions to completion listings:
       the  ability to highlight matches in such a list, the ability to scroll
       through long lists and a different style of menu completion.

   Colored completion listings
       Whenever one of the parameters ZLS_COLORS or ZLS_COLOURS is set and the
       zsh/complist  module  is  loaded  or  linked into the shell, completion
       lists will be colored.  Note, however, that complist will not automati-
       cally  be loaded if it is not linked in:  on systems with dynamic load-
       ing, `zmodload zsh/complist' is required.

       The parameters ZLS_COLORS and  ZLS_COLOURS  describe  how  matches  are
       highlighted.  To turn on highlighting an empty value suffices, in which
       case all the default values given below will be used.   The  format  of
       the value of these parameters is the same as used by the GNU version of
       the ls command: a colon-separated list of specifications  of  the  form
       `name=value'.   The  name  may be one of the following strings, most of
       which specify file types for which the value will be used.  The strings
       and their default values are:

       no 0   for  normal  text  (i.e.  when displaying something other than a
              matched file)

       fi 0   for regular files

       di 32  for directories

       ln 36  for symbolic links.  If this has the special value target,  sym-
              bolic  links are dereferenced and the target file used to deter-
              mine the display format.

       pi 31  for named pipes (FIFOs)

       so 33  for sockets

       bd 44;37
              for block devices

       cd 44;37
              for character devices

       or none
              for a symlink to nonexistent file (default is the value  defined
              for ln)

       mi none
              for  a  non-existent file (default is the value defined for fi);
              this code is currently not used

       su 37;41
              for files with setuid bit set

       sg 30;43
              for files with setgid bit set

       tw 30;42
              for world writable directories with sticky bit set

       ow 34;43
              for world writable directories without sticky bit set

       sa none
              for files with an associated suffix alias; this is  only  tested
              after specific suffixes, as described below

       st 37;44
              for directories with sticky bit set but not world writable

       ex 35  for executable files

       lc \e[ for the left code (see below)

       rc m   for the right code

       tc 0   for  the character indicating the file type  printed after file-
              names if the LIST_TYPES option is set

       sp 0   for the spaces printed after matches to align the next column

       ec none
              for the end code

       Apart from these strings, the name may also be an asterisk  (`*')  fol-
       lowed by any string. The value given for such a string will be used for
       all files whose name ends with the string.  The name  may  also  be  an
       equals  sign (`=') followed by a pattern; the EXTENDED_GLOB option will
       be turned on for evaluation of the pattern.  The value given  for  this
       pattern will be used for all matches (not just filenames) whose display
       string are matched by the pattern.  Definitions for the form  with  the
       leading  equal  sign  take  precedence over the values defined for file
       types, which in turn take precedence over the form with the leading as-
       terisk (file extensions).

       The  leading-equals  form  also allows different parts of the displayed
       strings to be colored differently.  For this, the pattern  has  to  use
       the `(#b)' globbing flag and pairs of parentheses surrounding the parts
       of the strings that are to be colored differently.  In  this  case  the
       value may consist of more than one color code separated by equal signs.
       The first code will be used for all parts for which no explicit code is
       specified and the following codes will be used for the parts matched by
       the  sub-patterns  in  parentheses.   For  example,  the  specification
       `=(#b)(?)*(?)=0=3=7'  will  be  used for all matches which are at least
       two characters long and will use the code `3' for the first  character,
       `7' for the last character and `0' for the rest.

       All  three  forms  of name may be preceded by a pattern in parentheses.
       If this is given, the value will be used only  for  matches  in  groups
       whose  names  are matched by the pattern given in the parentheses.  For
       example, `(g*)m*=43' highlights  all  matches  beginning  with  `m'  in
       groups  whose names  begin with `g' using the color code `43'.  In case
       of the `lc', `rc', and `ec' codes, the group pattern is ignored.

       Note also that all patterns are tried in the order in which they appear
       in  the parameter value until the first one matches which is then used.
       Patterns may be matched  against  completions,  descriptions  (possibly
       with  spaces appended for padding), or lines consisting of a completion
       followed by a description.  For consistent coloring it may be necessary
       to use more than one pattern or a pattern with backreferences.

       When  printing  a match, the code prints the value of lc, the value for
       the file-type or the last matching specification with a `*', the  value
       of  rc,  the string to display for the match itself, and then the value
       of ec if that is defined or the values of lc, no, and rc if ec  is  not
       defined.

       The  default  values  are  ISO 6429 (ANSI) compliant and can be used on
       vt100 compatible terminals such as xterms.  On monochrome terminals the
       default  values  will have no visible effect.  The colors function from
       the contribution can be used to get associative arrays  containing  the
       codes  for ANSI terminals (see the section `Other Functions' in zshcon-
       trib(1)).   For  example,  after  loading   colors,   one   could   use
       `$color[red]'   to   get   the   code  for  foreground  color  red  and
       `$color[bg-green]' for the code for background color green.

       If the completion system invoked by compinit is used, these  parameters
       should  not  be  set  directly because the system controls them itself.
       Instead, the list-colors style should be used (see the section `Comple-
       tion System Configuration' in zshcompsys(1)).

   Scrolling in completion listings
       To enable scrolling through a completion list, the LISTPROMPT parameter
       must be set.  Its value will be used as the prompt; if it is the  empty
       string,  a  default prompt will be used.  The value may contain escapes
       of the form `%x'.  It supports the  escapes  `%B',  `%b',  `%S',  `%s',
       `%U',  `%u',  `%F',  `%f',  `%K', `%k' and `%{...%}' used also in shell
       prompts as well as three pairs of additional sequences: a `%l' or  `%L'
       is  replaced  by the number of the last line shown and the total number
       of lines in the form `number/total'; a `%m' or `%M'  is  replaced  with
       the number of the last match shown and the total number of matches; and
       `%p' or `%P' is replaced with `Top', `Bottom' or the  position  of  the
       first line shown in percent of the total number of lines, respectively.
       In each of these cases the form with the uppercase letter will  be  re-
       placed  with  a string of fixed width, padded to the right with spaces,
       while the lowercase form will not be padded.

       If the parameter LISTPROMPT is set, the completion code will not ask if
       the list should be shown.  Instead it immediately starts displaying the
       list, stopping after the first screenful, showing  the  prompt  at  the
       bottom,  waiting  for  a  keypress  after  temporarily switching to the
       listscroll keymap.  Some of the zle functions have  a  special  meaning
       while scrolling lists:

       send-break
              stops listing discarding the key pressed

       accept-line, down-history, down-line-or-history
       down-line-or-search, vi-down-line-or-history
              scrolls forward one line

       complete-word, menu-complete, expand-or-complete
       expand-or-complete-prefix, menu-complete-or-expand
              scrolls forward one screenful

       accept-search
              stop listing but take no other action

       Every  other  character stops listing and immediately processes the key
       as usual.  Any key that is not bound in the listscroll keymap  or  that
       is  bound  to  undefined-key  is  looked up in the keymap currently se-
       lected.

       As for the ZLS_COLORS and ZLS_COLOURS parameters, LISTPROMPT should not
       be  set directly when using the shell function based completion system.
       Instead, the list-prompt style should be used.

   Menu selection
       The zsh/complist module also offers an alternative style  of  selecting
       matches  from  a  list, called menu selection, which can be used if the
       shell is set up to return to the last prompt after showing a completion
       list (see the ALWAYS_LAST_PROMPT option in zshoptions(1)).

       Menu  selection  can  be invoked directly by the widget menu-select de-
       fined by this module.  This is a standard ZLE widget that can be  bound
       to a key in the usual way as described in zshzle(1).

       Alternatively, the parameter MENUSELECT can be set to an integer, which
       gives the minimum number of matches that must be  present  before  menu
       selection is automatically turned on.  This second method requires that
       menu completion be started, either  directly  from  a  widget  such  as
       menu-complete,  or due to one of the options MENU_COMPLETE or AUTO_MENU
       being set.  If MENUSELECT is set, but is 0, 1 or empty, menu  selection
       will always be started during an ambiguous menu completion.

       When  using the completion system based on shell functions, the MENUSE-
       LECT parameter should not be used (like the ZLS_COLORS and  ZLS_COLOURS
       parameters  described  above).   Instead, the menu style should be used
       with the select=... keyword.

       After menu selection is started, the matches will be listed.  If  there
       are  more  matches  than fit on the screen, only the first screenful is
       shown.  The matches to insert into the command  line  can  be  selected
       from  this  list.  In the list one match is highlighted using the value
       for ma from the ZLS_COLORS or ZLS_COLOURS parameter.  The default value
       for this is `7' which forces the selected match to be highlighted using
       standout mode on a vt100-compatible terminal.   If  neither  ZLS_COLORS
       nor  ZLS_COLOURS  is set, the same terminal control sequence as for the
       `%S' escape in prompts is used.

       If there are more matches than fit on  the  screen  and  the  parameter
       MENUPROMPT  is set, its value will be shown below the matches.  It sup-
       ports the same escape sequences as LISTPROMPT, but the  number  of  the
       match  or  line shown will be that of the one where the mark is placed.
       If its value is the empty string, a default prompt will be used.

       The MENUSCROLL parameter can  be  used  to  specify  how  the  list  is
       scrolled.   If the parameter is unset, this is done line by line, if it
       is set to `0' (zero), the list will scroll half the number of lines  of
       the  screen.  If the value is positive, it gives the number of lines to
       scroll and if it is negative, the list will be scrolled the  number  of
       lines of the screen minus the (absolute) value.

       As  for  the ZLS_COLORS, ZLS_COLOURS and LISTPROMPT parameters, neither
       MENUPROMPT nor MENUSCROLL should be set directly when using  the  shell
       function  based  completion system.  Instead, the select-prompt and se-
       lect-scroll styles should be used.

       The completion code sometimes decides not to show all of the matches in
       the  list.   These hidden matches are either matches for which the com-
       pletion function which added them explicitly requested  that  they  not
       appear in the list (using the -n option of the compadd builtin command)
       or they are matches which duplicate a string already in the  list  (be-
       cause they differ only in things like prefixes or suffixes that are not
       displayed).  In the list used for menu selection, however,  even  these
       matches  are shown so that it is possible to select them.  To highlight
       such  matches  the  hi  and  du  capabilities  in  the  ZLS_COLORS  and
       ZLS_COLOURS  parameters  are  supported for hidden matches of the first
       and second kind, respectively.

       Selecting matches is done by moving the mark around using the zle move-
       ment functions.  When not all matches can be shown on the screen at the
       same time, the list will scroll up and down when crossing  the  top  or
       bottom  line.   The following zle functions have special meaning during
       menu selection.  Note that the following always perform the  same  task
       within  the  menu  selection map and cannot be replaced by user defined
       widgets, nor can the set of functions be extended:

       accept-line, accept-search
              accept the current match and leave menu selection  (but  do  not
              cause the command line to be accepted)

       send-break
              leaves  menu selection and restores the previous contents of the
              command line

       redisplay, clear-screen
              execute their normal function without leaving menu selection

       accept-and-hold, accept-and-menu-complete
              accept the currently inserted match and continue  selection  al-
              lowing to select the next match to insert into the line

       accept-and-infer-next-history
              accepts  the  current  match and then tries completion with menu
              selection again;  in the case of files this allows one to select
              a directory and immediately attempt to complete files in it;  if
              there are no matches, a message is shown and one can use undo to
              go  back  to  completion  on the previous level, every other key
              leaves menu selection (including the other zle  functions  which
              are otherwise special during menu selection)

       undo   removes matches inserted during the menu selection by one of the
              three functions before

       down-history, down-line-or-history
       vi-down-line-or-history,  down-line-or-search
              moves the mark one line down

       up-history, up-line-or-history
       vi-up-line-or-history, up-line-or-search
              moves the mark one line up

       forward-char, vi-forward-char
              moves the mark one column right

       backward-char, vi-backward-char
              moves the mark one column left

       forward-word, vi-forward-word
       vi-forward-word-end, emacs-forward-word
              moves the mark one screenful down

       backward-word, vi-backward-word, emacs-backward-word
              moves the mark one screenful up

       vi-forward-blank-word, vi-forward-blank-word-end
              moves the mark to the first line of the next group of matches

       vi-backward-blank-word
              moves the mark to the last line of the previous group of matches

       beginning-of-history
              moves the mark to the first line

       end-of-history
              moves the mark to the last line

       beginning-of-buffer-or-history, beginning-of-line
       beginning-of-line-hist, vi-beginning-of-line
              moves the mark to the leftmost column

       end-of-buffer-or-history, end-of-line
       end-of-line-hist, vi-end-of-line
              moves the mark to the rightmost column

       complete-word, menu-complete, expand-or-complete
       expand-or-complete-prefix, menu-expand-or-complete
              moves the mark to the next match

       reverse-menu-complete
              moves the mark to the previous match

       vi-insert
              this toggles between normal and interactive mode; in interactive
              mode the keys bound to self-insert and self-insert-unmeta insert
              into the command line as in  normal  editing  mode  but  without
              leaving menu selection; after each character completion is tried
              again and the list changes to contain only the new matches;  the
              completion  widgets  make  the longest unambiguous string be in-
              serted in the command line and undo and backward-delete-char  go
              back to the previous set of matches

       history-incremental-search-forward
       history-incremental-search-backward
              this starts incremental searches in the list of completions dis-
              played;  in  this  mode,  accept-line  only  leaves  incremental
              search, going back to the normal menu selection mode

       All movement functions wrap around at the edges; any other zle function
       not listed leaves menu selection and executes  that  function.   It  is
       possible  to  make  widgets  in the above list do the same by using the
       form of the widget with a `.' in front.  For example, the widget  `.ac-
       cept-line'  has  the effect of leaving menu selection and accepting the
       entire command line.

       During this selection the widget uses the keymap menuselect.   Any  key
       that is not defined in this keymap or that is bound to undefined-key is
       looked up in the keymap currently selected.  This  is  used  to  ensure
       that  the  most important keys used during selection (namely the cursor
       keys, return, and TAB) have sensible defaults.  However,  keys  in  the
       menuselect  keymap  can  be modified directly using the bindkey builtin
       command (see zshmodules(1)). For example, to make the return key  leave
       menu selection without accepting the match currently selected one could
       call

              bindkey -M menuselect '^M' send-break

       after loading the zsh/complist module.

THE ZSH/COMPUTIL MODULE
       The zsh/computil module adds several builtin commands that are used  by
       some  of  the  completion  functions  in the completion system based on
       shell functions (see  zshcompsys(1)  ).   Except  for  compquote  these
       builtin  commands  are  very  specialised and thus not very interesting
       when writing your own completion functions.  In summary, these  builtin
       commands are:

       comparguments
              This  is  used by the _arguments function to do the argument and
              command line parsing.  Like compdescribe it has an option -i  to
              do  the  parsing  and initialize some internal state and various
              options to access the state information to decide what should be
              completed.

       compdescribe
              This is used by the _describe function to build the displays for
              the matches and to get the strings to add as matches with  their
              options.   On  the first call one of the options -i or -I should
              be supplied as the first argument.  In the first  case,  display
              strings  without the descriptions will be generated, in the sec-
              ond case, the string used to separate the matches from their de-
              scriptions must be given as the second argument and the descrip-
              tions (if any) will be shown.  All other arguments are like  the
              definition arguments to _describe itself.

              Once  compdescribe  has been called with either the -i or the -I
              option, it can be repeatedly called with the -g option  and  the
              names  of  four  parameters  as  its  arguments.  This will step
              through the different sets of matches and  store  the  value  of
              compstate[list]  in the first scalar, the options for compadd in
              the second array, the  matches  in  the  third  array,  and  the
              strings  to be displayed in the completion listing in the fourth
              array.  The arrays may then be directly given to compadd to reg-
              ister the matches with the completion code.

       compfiles
              Used  by  the _path_files function to optimize complex recursive
              filename generation (globbing).  It does three things.  With the
              -p  and -P options it builds the glob patterns to use, including
              the paths already handled and trying to  optimize  the  patterns
              with  respect  to  the  prefix  and suffix from the line and the
              match specification currently used.  The -i option does the  di-
              rectory  tests  for  the  ignore-parents style and the -r option
              tests if a component for some of the matches are  equal  to  the
              string  on  the  line  and  removes all other matches if that is
              true.

       compgroups
              Used by the _tags function to implement  the  internals  of  the
              group-order  style.   This  only takes its arguments as names of
              completion groups and creates the groups for it (all six  types:
              sorted  and unsorted, both without removing duplicates, with re-
              moving all duplicates and with removing consecutive duplicates).

       compquote [ -p ] names ...
              There may be reasons to write completion functions that have  to
              add the matches using the -Q option to compadd and perform quot-
              ing themselves.  Instead of interpreting the first character  of
              the  all_quotes key of the compstate special association and us-
              ing the q flag  for  parameter  expansions,  one  can  use  this
              builtin command.  The arguments are the names of scalar or array
              parameters and the values of  these  parameters  are  quoted  as
              needed  for  the  innermost  quoting level.  If the -p option is
              given, quoting is done as if there is  some  prefix  before  the
              values  of the parameters, so that a leading equal sign will not
              be quoted.

              The return status is non-zero in case of an error and zero  oth-
              erwise.

       comptags
       comptry
              These implement the internals of the tags mechanism.

       compvalues
              Like comparguments, but for the _values function.

THE ZSH/CURSES MODULE
       The  zsh/curses  module makes available one builtin command and various
       parameters.

   Builtin
       zcurses init
       zcurses end
       zcurses addwin targetwin nlines ncols begin_y begin_x [ parentwin ]
       zcurses delwin targetwin
       zcurses refresh [ targetwin ... ]
       zcurses touch targetwin ...
       zcurses move targetwin new_y new_x
       zcurses clear targetwin [ redraw | eol | bot ]
       zcurses position targetwin array
       zcurses char targetwin character
       zcurses string targetwin string
       zcurses border targetwin border
       zcurses attr targetwin [ [+|-]attribute | fg_col/bg_col ] [...]
       zcurses bg targetwin [ [+|-]attribute | fg_col/bg_col | @char ] [...]
       zcurses scroll targetwin [ on | off | [+|-]lines ]
       zcurses input targetwin [ param [ kparam [ mparam ] ] ]
       zcurses mouse [ delay num | [+|-]motion ]
       zcurses timeout targetwin intval
       zcurses querychar targetwin [ param ]
       zcurses resize height width [ endwin | nosave | endwin_nosave ]
              Manipulate curses windows.  All uses of this command  should  be
              bracketed  by  `zcurses  init'  to initialise use of curses, and
              `zcurses end' to end it; omitting `zcurses end'  can  cause  the
              terminal to be in an unwanted state.

              The  subcommand  addwin  creates  a window with nlines lines and
              ncols columns.  Its upper left corner will be placed at row  be-
              gin_y  and  column begin_x of the screen.  targetwin is a string
              and refers to the name of a window that  is  not  currently  as-
              signed.   Note in particular the curses convention that vertical
              values appear before horizontal values.

              If addwin is given an existing window as the final argument, the
              new window is created as a subwindow of parentwin.  This differs
              from an ordinary new window in that the  memory  of  the  window
              contents is shared with the parent's memory.  Subwindows must be
              deleted before their parent.  Note that the coordinates of  sub-
              windows  are  relative  to  the  screen, not the parent, as with
              other windows.

              Use the subcommand delwin to delete a window  created  with  ad-
              dwin.   Note  that  end  does not implicitly delete windows, and
              that delwin does not erase the screen image of the window.

              The window corresponding to the full visible  screen  is  called
              stdscr;  it  always  exists  after  `zcurses init' and cannot be
              delete with delwin.

              The subcommand refresh will refresh window  targetwin;  this  is
              necessary  to  make  any pending changes (such as characters you
              have prepared for output with char) visible on the screen.   re-
              fresh  without  an  argument causes the screen to be cleared and
              redrawn.  If multiple windows are given, the screen  is  updated
              once at the end.

              The  subcommand  touch  marks  the targetwins listed as changed.
              This is necessary before refreshing windows if a window that was
              in front of another window (which may be stdscr) is deleted.

              The  subcommand  move  moves the cursor position in targetwin to
              new coordinates new_y  and  new_x.   Note  that  the  subcommand
              string  (but  not the subcommand char) advances the cursor posi-
              tion over the characters added.

              The subcommand clear erases the contents of targetwin.  One (and
              no  more  than one) of three options may be specified.  With the
              option redraw, in addition the next refresh  of  targetwin  will
              cause  the  screen to be cleared and repainted.  With the option
              eol, targetwin is only cleared to the end of the current  cursor
              line.   With  the option bot, targetwin is cleared to the end of
              the window, i.e everything to the right and below the cursor  is
              cleared.

              The subcommand position writes various positions associated with
              targetwin into the array named array.  These are, in order:
              -      The y and x coordinates of the cursor relative to the top
                     left of targetwin
              -      The  y  and x coordinates of the top left of targetwin on
                     the screen
              -      The size of targetwin in y and x dimensions.

              Outputting characters and  strings  are  achieved  by  char  and
              string respectively.

              To draw a border around window targetwin, use border.  Note that
              the border is not  subsequently  handled  specially:   in  other
              words,  the  border  is simply a set of characters output at the
              edge of the window.  Hence it can be overwritten, can scroll off
              the window, etc.

              The  subcommand  attr  will  set targetwin's attributes or fore-
              ground/background color pair for any successive  character  out-
              put.   Each  attribute given on the line may be prepended by a +
              to set or a - to unset that attribute; + is assumed  if  absent.
              The  attributes  supported are blink, bold, dim, reverse, stand-
              out, and underline.

              Each fg_col/bg_col attribute (to be read as `fg_col on  bg_col')
              sets  the  foreground and background color for character output.
              The color default is sometimes available (in particular  if  the
              library  is  ncurses),  specifying  the foreground or background
              color with which the  terminal  started.   The  color  pair  de-
              fault/default  is always available. To use more than the 8 named
              colors (red, green,  etc.)  construct  the  fg_col/bg_col  pairs
              where  fg_col and bg_col are decimal integers, e.g 128/200.  The
              maximum color value is 254 if the terminal supports 256 colors.

              bg overrides the color and other attributes of all characters in
              the  window.   Its usual use is to set the background initially,
              but it will overwrite the attributes of any  characters  at  the
              time  when  it  is called.  In addition to the arguments allowed
              with attr, an argument @char specifies a character to  be  shown
              in otherwise blank areas of the window.  Owing to limitations of
              curses this cannot be a multibyte character (use of ASCII  char-
              acters only is recommended).  As the specified set of attributes
              override the existing background, turning attributes off in  the
              arguments is not useful, though this does not cause an error.

              The  subcommand  scroll can be used with on or off to enabled or
              disable scrolling of a window when the  cursor  would  otherwise
              move  below  the window due to typing or output.  It can also be
              used with a positive or negative integer to scroll the window up
              or  down  the given number of lines without changing the current
              cursor position (which therefore appears to move in the opposite
              direction  relative  to  the  window).   In  the second case, if
              scrolling is off it is temporarily turned on to allow the window
              to be scrolled.

              The  subcommand  input  reads a single character from the window
              without echoing it back.  If param is supplied the character  is
              assigned  to the parameter param, else it is assigned to the pa-
              rameter REPLY.

              If both param and kparam are supplied, the key is read in  `key-
              pad'  mode.  In this mode special keys such as function keys and
              arrow keys return the name of the key in the  parameter  kparam.
              The  key  names  are  the  macros  defined  in  the  curses.h or
              ncurses.h with the prefix `KEY_' removed; see also the  descrip-
              tion  of the parameter zcurses_keycodes below.  Other keys cause
              a value to be set in param as before.  On  a  successful  return
              only  one  of  param  or kparam contains a non-empty string; the
              other is set to an empty string.

              If mparam is also supplied, input attempts to handle  mouse  in-
              put.   This  is  only  available with the ncurses library; mouse
              handling can be detected by checking  for  the  exit  status  of
              `zcurses mouse' with no arguments.  If a mouse button is clicked
              (or double- or triple-clicked, or pressed  or  released  with  a
              configurable delay from being clicked) then kparam is set to the
              string MOUSE, and mparam is set to an array  consisting  of  the
              following elements:
              -      An  identifier  to  discriminate different input devices;
                     this is only rarely useful.
              -      The x, y and z coordinates of the mouse click relative to
                     the  full  screen,  as three elements in that order (i.e.
                     the y coordinate is, unusually, after the x  coordinate).
                     The  z coordinate is only available for a few unusual in-
                     put devices and is otherwise set to zero.
              -      Any events that occurred as separate items; usually there
                     will  be  just  one.   An  event consists of PRESSED, RE-
                     LEASED, CLICKED, DOUBLE_CLICKED  or  TRIPLE_CLICKED  fol-
                     lowed  immediately (in the same element) by the number of
                     the button.
              -      If the shift key was pressed, the string SHIFT.
              -      If the control key was pressed, the string CTRL.
              -      If the alt key was pressed, the string ALT.

              Not all mouse events may be passed through to the terminal  win-
              dow;  most  terminal  emulators  handle  some mouse events them-
              selves.  Note that the ncurses manual implies that  using  input
              both  with and without mouse handling may cause the mouse cursor
              to appear and disappear.

              The subcommand mouse can be used to configure  the  use  of  the
              mouse.   There  is no window argument; mouse options are global.
              `zcurses mouse' with no arguments returns status 0 if mouse han-
              dling is possible, else status 1.  Otherwise, the possible argu-
              ments (which may be combined on the same command  line)  are  as
              follows.   delay  num sets the maximum delay in milliseconds be-
              tween press and release events to be considered as a click;  the
              value  0 disables click resolution, and the default is one sixth
              of a second.  motion proceeded by an optional `+' (the  default)
              or  -  turns  on or off reporting of mouse motion in addition to
              clicks, presses and releases, which are always  reported.   How-
              ever,  it appears reports for mouse motion are not currently im-
              plemented.

              The subcommand timeout specifies a timeout value for input  from
              targetwin.  If intval is negative, `zcurses input' waits indefi-
              nitely for a character to be typed; this  is  the  default.   If
              intval is zero, `zcurses input' returns immediately; if there is
              typeahead it is returned, else no input is done and status 1  is
              returned.   If  intval is positive, `zcurses input' waits intval
              milliseconds for input and if there is none at the end  of  that
              period returns status 1.

              The  subcommand  querychar  queries the character at the current
              cursor position.  The return values  are  stored  in  the  array
              named  param  if  supplied,  else in the array reply.  The first
              value is the character (which may be a  multibyte  character  if
              the  system  supports them); the second is the color pair in the
              usual fg_col/bg_col notation, or 0 if color  is  not  supported.
              Any  attributes other than color that apply to the character, as
              set with the subcommand attr, appear as additional elements.

              The subcommand resize resizes stdscr and all  windows  to  given
              dimensions  (windows  that stick out from the new dimensions are
              resized down).  The  underlying  curses  extension  (resize_term
              call)  can  be  unavailable.  To  verify, zeroes can be used for
              height and width. If the result of  the  subcommand  is  0,  re-
              size_term  is  available (2 otherwise). Tests show that resizing
              can be normally accomplished by calling zcurses end and  zcurses
              refresh. The resize subcommand is provided for versatility. Mul-
              tiple system configurations have been checked  and  zcurses  end
              and  zcurses refresh are still needed for correct terminal state
              after resize. To invoke them with resize, use  endwin  argument.
              Using  nosave  argument  will cause new terminal state to not be
              saved internally by zcurses. This is also provided for versatil-
              ity and should normally be not needed.

   Parameters
       ZCURSES_COLORS
              Readonly  integer.   The  maximum  number of colors the terminal
              supports.  This value is initialised by the curses  library  and
              is not available until the first time zcurses init is run.

       ZCURSES_COLOR_PAIRS
              Readonly   integer.    The   maximum   number   of  color  pairs
              fg_col/bg_col that may be defined in  `zcurses  attr'  commands;
              note  this  limit applies to all color pairs that have been used
              whether or not they are currently active.  This  value  is  ini-
              tialised  by  the  curses library and is not available until the
              first time zcurses init is run.

       zcurses_attrs
              Readonly array.  The attributes supported by zsh/curses;  avail-
              able as soon as the module is loaded.

       zcurses_colors
              Readonly  array.   The colors supported by zsh/curses; available
              as soon as the module is loaded.

       zcurses_keycodes
              Readonly array.  The values that may be returned in  the  second
              parameter supplied to `zcurses input' in the order in which they
              are defined internally by curses.  Not  all  function  keys  are
              listed, only F0; curses reserves space for F0 up to F63.

       zcurses_windows
              Readonly  array.   The current list of windows, i.e. all windows
              that have been created with `zcurses  addwin'  and  not  removed
              with `zcurses delwin'.

THE ZSH/DATETIME MODULE
       The zsh/datetime module makes available one builtin command:

       strftime [ -s scalar ] format [ epochtime [ nanoseconds ] ]
       strftime -r [ -q ] [ -s scalar ] format timestring
              Output the date in the format specified.  With no epochtime, the
              current system date/time is used; optionally, epochtime  may  be
              used  to  specify  the  number  of  seconds since the epoch, and
              nanoseconds may additionally be used to specify  the  number  of
              nanoseconds past the second (otherwise that number is assumed to
              be 0).  See strftime(3) for details.   The  zsh  extensions  de-
              scribed  in  the  section  EXPANSION OF PROMPT SEQUENCES in zsh-
              misc(1) are also available.

              -q     Run quietly; suppress printing of all error messages  de-
                     scribed  below.   Errors for invalid epochtime values are
                     always printed.

              -r     With the option -r (reverse), use format to parse the in-
                     put  string  timestring  and output the number of seconds
                     since the epoch at which the time occurred.  The  parsing
                     is implemented by the system function strptime; see strp-
                     time(3).  This means that zsh format extensions  are  not
                     available, but for reverse lookup they are not required.

                     In  most  implementations of strftime any timezone in the
                     timestring is ignored and the local timezone declared  by
                     the TZ environment variable is used; other parameters are
                     set to zero if not present.

                     If timestring does not match format the  command  returns
                     status  1  and  prints  an  error message.  If timestring
                     matches format but not all characters in timestring  were
                     used,  the  conversion  succeeds but also prints an error
                     message.

                     If either of the system functions strptime or  mktime  is
                     not  available, status 2 is returned and an error message
                     is printed.

              -s scalar
                     Assign the date string (or epoch time in seconds if -r is
                     given) to scalar instead of printing it.

              Note that depending on the system's declared integral time type,
              strftime may produce incorrect results for epoch  times  greater
              than 2147483647 which corresponds to 2038-01-19 03:14:07 +0000.

       The  zsh/datetime  module  makes  available several parameters; all are
       readonly:

       EPOCHREALTIME
              A floating point value representing the number of seconds  since
              the  epoch.   The  notional  accuracy  is  to nanoseconds if the
              clock_gettime call is available and to  microseconds  otherwise,
              but in practice the range of double precision floating point and
              shell scheduling latencies may be significant effects.

       EPOCHSECONDS
              An integer value representing the number of  seconds  since  the
              epoch.

       epochtime
              An  array value containing the number of seconds since the epoch
              in the first element and the remainder of  the  time  since  the
              epoch  in  nanoseconds in the second element.  To ensure the two
              elements are consistent the array should be copied or  otherwise
              referenced  as a single substitution before the values are used.
              The following idiom may be used:

                     for secs nsecs in $epochtime; do
                       ...
                     done

THE ZSH/DB/GDBM MODULE
       The zsh/db/gdbm module is used to create "tied" associative arrays that
       interface  to  database files.  If the GDBM interface is not available,
       the builtins defined by this module will report an error.  This  module
       is also intended as a prototype for creating additional database inter-
       faces, so the ztie builtin may move to a more generic module in the fu-
       ture.

       The builtins in this module are:

       ztie -d db/gdbm -f filename [ -r ] arrayname
              Open  the  GDBM database identified by filename and, if success-
              ful, create the associative array arrayname linked to the  file.
              To  create  a  local tied array, the parameter must first be de-
              clared, so commands similar to the following would  be  executed
              inside a function scope:

                     local -A sampledb
                     ztie -d db/gdbm -f sample.gdbm sampledb

              The -r option opens the database file for reading only, creating
              a parameter with the readonly attribute.  Without  this  option,
              using  `ztie'  on  a file for which the user does not have write
              permission is an error.  If writable,  the  database  is  opened
              synchronously  so  fields  changed  in arrayname are immediately
              written to filename.

              Changes to the file modes filename after it has been  opened  do
              not  alter  the  state  of arrayname, but `typeset -r arrayname'
              works as expected.

       zuntie [ -u ] arrayname ...
              Close the GDBM database associated with each arrayname and  then
              unset  the  parameter.  The -u option forces an unset of parame-
              ters made readonly with `ztie -r'.

              This happens automatically if the parameter is explicitly  unset
              or its local scope (function) ends.  Note that a readonly param-
              eter may not be explicitly unset, so the only  way  to  unset  a
              global parameter created with `ztie -r' is to use `zuntie -u'.

       zgdbmpath parametername
              Put  path  to database file assigned to parametername into REPLY
              scalar.

       zgdbm_tied
              Array holding names of all tied parameters.

       The fields of an associative array tied to GDBM are neither cached  nor
       otherwise  stored in memory, they are read from or written to the data-
       base on each reference.  Thus, for example, the values  in  a  readonly
       array may be changed by a second writer of the same database file.

THE ZSH/DELTOCHAR MODULE
       The zsh/deltochar module makes available two ZLE functions:

       delete-to-char
              Read  a  character from the keyboard, and delete from the cursor
              position up to and including the next (or, with repeat count  n,
              the  nth)  instance  of  that character.  Negative repeat counts
              mean delete backwards.

       zap-to-char
              This behaves like delete-to-char, except that the  final  occur-
              rence of the character itself is not deleted.

THE ZSH/EXAMPLE MODULE
       The zsh/example module makes available one builtin command:

       example [ -flags ] [ args ... ]
              Displays the flags and arguments it is invoked with.

       The  purpose  of the module is to serve as an example of how to write a
       module.

THE ZSH/FILES MODULE
       The zsh/files module makes available some common commands for file  ma-
       nipulation as builtins; these commands are probably not needed for many
       normal situations but can be useful in  emergency  recovery  situations
       with constrained resources.  The commands do not implement all features
       now required by relevant standards committees.

       For all commands, a variant beginning zf_ is also available and  loaded
       automatically.   Using the features capability of zmodload will let you
       load only those names you want.  Note that it's possible to  load  only
       the builtins with zsh-specific names using the following command:

              zmodload -m -F zsh/files b:zf_\*

       The commands loaded by default are:

       chgrp [ -hRs ] group filename ...
              Changes  group  of files specified.  This is equivalent to chown
              with a user-spec argument of `:group'.

       chmod [ -Rs ] mode filename ...
              Changes mode of files specified.

              The specified mode must be in octal.

              The -R option causes chmod to recursively descend into  directo-
              ries,  changing  the  mode  of  all files in the directory after
              changing the mode of the directory itself.

              The -s option is a zsh extension to chmod functionality.  It en-
              ables  paranoid  behaviour,  intended to avoid security problems
              involving a chmod being tricked into affecting files other  than
              the  ones intended.  It will refuse to follow symbolic links, so
              that (for example) ``chmod 600 /tmp/foo/passwd'' can't  acciden-
              tally  chmod  /etc/passwd  if  /tmp/foo  happens to be a link to
              /etc.  It will also check where it is after leaving directories,
              so  that a recursive chmod of a deep directory tree can't end up
              recursively chmoding /usr as a result of directories being moved
              up the tree.

       chown [ -hRs ] user-spec filename ...
              Changes ownership and group of files specified.

              The user-spec can be in four forms:

              user   change owner to user; do not change group
              user:: change owner to user; do not change group
              user:  change  owner  to  user;  change  group to user's primary
                     group
              user:group
                     change owner to user; change group to group
              :group do not change owner; change group to group

              In each case, the `:' may instead be a `.'.  The rule is that if
              there  is a `:' then the separator is `:', otherwise if there is
              a `.' then the separator is `.', otherwise there is  no  separa-
              tor.

              Each  of user and group may be either a username (or group name,
              as appropriate) or a decimal user ID (group ID).  Interpretation
              as  a name takes precedence, if there is an all-numeric username
              (or group name).

              If the target is a symbolic link, the -h option causes chown  to
              set the ownership of the link instead of its target.

              The  -R option causes chown to recursively descend into directo-
              ries, changing the ownership of all files in the directory after
              changing the ownership of the directory itself.

              The -s option is a zsh extension to chown functionality.  It en-
              ables paranoid behaviour, intended to  avoid  security  problems
              involving  a chown being tricked into affecting files other than
              the ones intended.  It will refuse to follow symbolic links,  so
              that  (for  example) ``chown luser /tmp/foo/passwd'' can't acci-
              dentally chown /etc/passwd if /tmp/foo happens to be a  link  to
              /etc.  It will also check where it is after leaving directories,
              so that a recursive chown of a deep directory tree can't end  up
              recursively chowning /usr as a result of directories being moved
              up the tree.

       ln [ -dfhins ] filename dest
       ln [ -dfhins ] filename ... dir
              Creates hard (or, with -s, symbolic) links.  In the first  form,
              the specified destination is created, as a link to the specified
              filename.  In the second form, each of the filenames is taken in
              turn,  and  linked to a pathname in the specified directory that
              has the same last pathname component.

              Normally, ln will not attempt to create hard links  to  directo-
              ries.   This check can be overridden using the -d option.  Typi-
              cally only the super-user can actually succeed in creating  hard
              links  to directories.  This does not apply to symbolic links in
              any case.

              By default, existing files cannot be replaced by links.  The  -i
              option  causes  the  user to be queried about replacing existing
              files.  The -f option  causes  existing  files  to  be  silently
              deleted, without querying.  -f takes precedence.

              The  -h and -n options are identical and both exist for compati-
              bility; either one indicates that if the  target  is  a  symlink
              then  it  should not be dereferenced.  Typically this is used in
              combination with -sf so that if an existing link points to a di-
              rectory  then  it will be removed, instead of followed.  If this
              option is used with multiple filenames and the target is a  sym-
              bolic link pointing to a directory then the result is an error.

       mkdir [ -p ] [ -m mode ] dir ...
              Creates  directories.   With  the -p option, non-existing parent
              directories are first created if necessary, and there will be no
              complaint if the directory already exists.  The -m option can be
              used to specify (in octal) a set of  file  permissions  for  the
              created  directories, otherwise mode 777 modified by the current
              umask (see umask(2)) is used.

       mv [ -fi ] filename dest
       mv [ -fi ] filename ... dir
              Moves files.  In the first form, the specified filename is moved
              to  the  specified destination.  In the second form, each of the
              filenames is taken in turn, and moved to a pathname in the spec-
              ified directory that has the same last pathname component.

              By  default,  the user will be queried before replacing any file
              that the user cannot  write  to,  but  writable  files  will  be
              silently  removed.   The -i option causes the user to be queried
              about replacing any existing files.  The -f  option  causes  any
              existing  files  to  be  silently deleted, without querying.  -f
              takes precedence.

              Note that this mv will not move files across devices.   Histori-
              cal  versions  of  mv,  when actual renaming is impossible, fall
              back on copying and removing files; if  this  behaviour  is  de-
              sired, use cp and rm manually.  This may change in a future ver-
              sion.

       rm [ -dfiRrs ] filename ...
              Removes files and directories specified.

              Normally, rm will not remove directories (except with the -R  or
              -r  options).   The -d option causes rm to try removing directo-
              ries with unlink (see  unlink(2)),  the  same  method  used  for
              files.   Typically  only  the super-user can actually succeed in
              unlinking directories in this way.  -d takes precedence over  -R
              and -r.

              By  default,  the  user will be queried before removing any file
              that the user cannot  write  to,  but  writable  files  will  be
              silently  removed.   The -i option causes the user to be queried
              about removing any files.  The -f  option  causes  files  to  be
              silently deleted, without querying, and suppresses all error in-
              dications.  -f takes precedence.

              The -R and -r options cause rm to recursively descend  into  di-
              rectories,  deleting  all files in the directory before removing
              the directory with the rmdir system call (see rmdir(2)).

              The -s option is a zsh extension to rm  functionality.   It  en-
              ables  paranoid  behaviour,  intended  to  avoid common security
              problems involving a root-run rm  being  tricked  into  removing
              files  other  than  the ones intended.  It will refuse to follow
              symbolic links, so that  (for  example)  ``rm  /tmp/foo/passwd''
              can't  accidentally remove /etc/passwd if /tmp/foo happens to be
              a link to /etc.  It will also check where it  is  after  leaving
              directories,  so  that  a  recursive removal of a deep directory
              tree can't end up recursively removing /usr as a result  of  di-
              rectories being moved up the tree.

       rmdir dir ...
              Removes empty directories specified.

       sync   Calls  the  system  call  of  the same name (see sync(2)), which
              flushes dirty buffers to disk.  It might return before  the  I/O
              has actually been completed.

THE ZSH/LANGINFO MODULE
       The zsh/langinfo module makes available one parameter:

       langinfo
              An  associative  array that maps langinfo elements to their val-
              ues.

              Your implementation may support a number of the following keys:

              CODESET, D_T_FMT, D_FMT, T_FMT, RADIXCHAR, THOUSEP, YESEXPR, NO-
              EXPR,   CRNCYSTR,   ABDAY_{1..7},   DAY_{1..7},   ABMON_{1..12},
              MON_{1..12},  T_FMT_AMPM,  AM_STR,   PM_STR,   ERA,   ERA_D_FMT,
              ERA_D_T_FMT, ERA_T_FMT, ALT_DIGITS

THE ZSH/MAPFILE MODULE
       The zsh/mapfile module provides one special associative array parameter
       of the same name.

       mapfile
              This associative array takes as keys the names of files; the re-
              sulting  value is the content of the file.  The value is treated
              identically to any other text  coming  from  a  parameter.   The
              value  may  also be assigned to, in which case the file in ques-
              tion is written (whether or not it originally  existed);  or  an
              element  may  be  unset, which will delete the file in question.
              For example, `vared mapfile[myfile]' works as expected,  editing
              the file `myfile'.

              When the array is accessed as a whole, the keys are the names of
              files in the current directory, and the  values  are  empty  (to
              save  a  huge  overhead  in memory).  Thus ${(k)mapfile} has the
              same effect as the glob operator  *(D),  since  files  beginning
              with a dot are not special.  Care must be taken with expressions
              such as rm ${(k)mapfile}, which will delete every  file  in  the
              current directory without the usual `rm *' test.

              The parameter mapfile may be made read-only; in that case, files
              referenced may not be written or deleted.

              A file may conveniently be read into an array as  one  line  per
              element with the form `array=("${(f@)mapfile[filename]}")'.  The
              double quotes and the `@' are necessary to prevent  empty  lines
              from  being removed.  Note that if the file ends with a newline,
              the shell will split on the final newline, generating  an  addi-
              tional  empty  field;  this  can  be  suppressed  by  using `ar-
              ray=("${(f@)${mapfile[filename]%$'\n'}}")'.

   Limitations
       Although reading and writing of the file  in  question  is  efficiently
       handled,  zsh's  internal memory management may be arbitrarily baroque;
       however, mapfile is usually very much more efficient than anything  in-
       volving a loop.  Note in particular that the whole contents of the file
       will always reside physically in memory when accessed (possibly  multi-
       ple times, due to standard parameter substitution operations).  In par-
       ticular, this means handling of sufficiently long files  (greater  than
       the  machine's  swap space, or than the range of the pointer type) will
       be incorrect.

       No errors are printed or flagged for non-existent, unreadable,  or  un-
       writable files, as the parameter mechanism is too low in the shell exe-
       cution hierarchy to make this convenient.

       It is unfortunate that the mechanism for loading modules does  not  yet
       allow  the  user to specify the name of the shell parameter to be given
       the special behaviour.

THE ZSH/MATHFUNC MODULE
       The zsh/mathfunc module provides standard  mathematical  functions  for
       use when evaluating mathematical formulae.  The syntax agrees with nor-
       mal C and FORTRAN conventions, for example,

              (( f = sin(0.3) ))

       assigns the sine of 0.3 to the parameter f.

       Most functions take floating point  arguments  and  return  a  floating
       point  value.   However,  any  necessary conversions from or to integer
       type will be performed automatically by the  shell.   Apart  from  atan
       with  a second argument and the abs, int and float functions, all func-
       tions behave as noted in the manual page for the corresponding C  func-
       tion,  except that any arguments out of range for the function in ques-
       tion will be detected by the shell and an error reported.

       The following functions take a single floating  point  argument:  acos,
       acosh, asin, asinh, atan, atanh, cbrt, ceil, cos, cosh, erf, erfc, exp,
       expm1, fabs, floor, gamma, j0, j1, lgamma,  log,  log10,  log1p,  log2,
       logb,  sin,  sinh,  sqrt, tan, tanh, y0, y1.  The atan function can op-
       tionally take a second argument, in which case it behaves  like  the  C
       function atan2.  The ilogb function takes a single floating point argu-
       ment, but returns an integer.

       The function signgam takes no arguments, and returns an integer,  which
       is  the  C  variable  of the same name, as described in gamma(3).  Note
       that it is therefore only useful immediately after a call to  gamma  or
       lgamma.   Note also that `signgam()' and `signgam' are distinct expres-
       sions.

       The functions min, max, and sum are defined not in this module  but  in
       the  zmathfunc  autoloadable function, described in the section `Mathe-
       matical Functions' in zshcontrib(1).

       The following functions take two floating  point  arguments:  copysign,
       fmod, hypot, nextafter.

       The  following take an integer first argument and a floating point sec-
       ond argument: jn, yn.

       The following take a floating point first argument and an integer  sec-
       ond argument: ldexp, scalb.

       The  function  abs does not convert the type of its single argument; it
       returns the absolute value of either a floating point number or an  in-
       teger.   The  functions  float  and  int convert their arguments into a
       floating point or integer value (by truncation) respectively.

       Note that the C pow function is available in ordinary  math  evaluation
       as the `**' operator and is not provided here.

       The  function rand48 is available if your system's mathematical library
       has the function erand48(3).  It returns a pseudo-random floating point
       number between 0 and 1.  It takes a single string optional argument.

       If  the  argument is not present, the random number seed is initialised
       by three calls to the rand(3) function --- this produces the same  ran-
       dom numbers as the next three values of $RANDOM.

       If  the  argument  is  present, it gives the name of a scalar parameter
       where the current random number seed will  be  stored.   On  the  first
       call,  the  value  must contain at least twelve hexadecimal digits (the
       remainder of the string is ignored), or the seed will be initialised in
       the  same  manner as for a call to rand48 with no argument.  Subsequent
       calls to rand48(param) will then maintain the  seed  in  the  parameter
       param as a string of twelve hexadecimal digits, with no base signifier.
       The random number sequences for different parameters are completely in-
       dependent,  and  are also independent from that used by calls to rand48
       with no argument.

       For example, consider

              print $(( rand48(seed) ))
              print $(( rand48() ))
              print $(( rand48(seed) ))

       Assuming $seed does not exist, it will  be  initialised  by  the  first
       call.   In the second call, the default seed is initialised; note, how-
       ever, that because of the properties of rand() there is  a  correlation
       between  the seeds used for the two initialisations, so for more secure
       uses, you should generate your own 12-byte seed.  The  third  call  re-
       turns  to  the  same sequence of random numbers used in the first call,
       unaffected by the intervening rand48().

THE ZSH/NEARCOLOR MODULE
       The zsh/nearcolor module replaces colours  specified  as  hex  triplets
       with  the  nearest  colour  in  the  88 or 256 colour palettes that are
       widely used by terminal emulators.  By default, 24-bit true colour  es-
       cape codes are generated when colours are specified using hex triplets.
       These are not supported by all terminals.  The purpose of  this  module
       is  to  make  it easier to define colour preferences in a form that can
       work across a range of terminal emulators.

       Aside from the default colour, the ANSI standard  for  terminal  escape
       codes  provides  for eight colours. The bright attribute brings this to
       sixteen. These basic colours are commonly used in terminal applications
       due  to being widely supported. Expanded 88 and 256 colour palettes are
       also common and, while the first sixteen colours vary somewhat  between
       terminals and configurations, these add a generally consistent and pre-
       dictable set of colours.

       In order to use the zsh/nearcolor module, it only needs to  be  loaded.
       Thereafter, whenever a colour is specified using a hex triplet, it will
       be compared against each of the available colours and the closest  will
       be  selected.  The  first  sixteen  colours  are  never matched in this
       process due to being unpredictable.

       It isn't possible to reliably detect support for  true  colour  in  the
       terminal emulator. It is therefore recommended to be selective in load-
       ing the zsh/nearcolor module. For example,  the  following  checks  the
       COLORTERM environment variable:

              [[ $COLORTERM = *(24bit|truecolor)* ]] || zmodload zsh/nearcolor

       Note  that  some  terminals  accept the true color escape codes but map
       them internally to a more limited palette in a similar  manner  to  the
       zsh/nearcolor module.

THE ZSH/NEWUSER MODULE
       The  zsh/newuser  module  is loaded at boot if it is available, the RCS
       option is set, and the PRIVILEGED option is not set (all three are true
       by default).  This takes place immediately after commands in the global
       zshenv file (typically /etc/zsh/zshenv), if any,  have  been  executed.
       If the module is not available it is silently ignored by the shell; the
       module may safely be removed from $MODULE_PATH by the administrator  if
       it is not required.

       On  loading,  the  module  tests  if any of the start-up files .zshenv,
       .zprofile, .zshrc or .zlogin exist in the directory given by the  envi-
       ronment  variable  ZDOTDIR, or the user's home directory if that is not
       set.  The test is not performed and the module halts processing if  the
       shell  was  in  an  emulation mode (i.e. had been invoked as some other
       shell than zsh).

       If none of the start-up files were found, the module then looks for the
       file  newuser  first in a sitewide directory, usually the parent direc-
       tory of the site-functions directory, and if that is not found the mod-
       ule searches in a version-specific directory, usually the parent of the
       functions directory containing version-specific functions.  (These  di-
       rectories  can  be  configured  when  zsh  is  built  using  the  --en-
       able-site-scriptdir=dir and --enable-scriptdir=dir flags to  configure,
       respectively;    the    defaults    are   prefix/share/zsh   and   pre-
       fix/share/zsh/$ZSH_VERSION where the default prefix is /usr/local.)

       If the file newuser is found, it is then sourced in the same manner  as
       a  start-up  file.   The  file  is  expected to contain code to install
       start-up files for the user, however any valid shell code will be  exe-
       cuted.

       The zsh/newuser module is then unconditionally unloaded.

       Note  that  it  is  possible  to achieve exactly the same effect as the
       zsh/newuser module by adding code to /etc/zsh/zshenv.  The  module  ex-
       ists simply to allow the shell to make arrangements for new users with-
       out the need for intervention by package maintainers and system  admin-
       istrators.

       The  script  supplied  with  the  module  invokes  the  shell  function
       zsh-newuser-install.  This may be invoked directly by the user even  if
       the  zsh/newuser module is disabled.  Note, however, that if the module
       is not installed the function will not be installed either.  The  func-
       tion  is documented in the section User Configuration Functions in zsh-
       contrib(1).

THE ZSH/PARAMETER MODULE
       The zsh/parameter module gives access to some of the internal hash  ta-
       bles used by the shell by defining some special parameters.

       options
              The keys for this associative array are the names of the options
              that can  be  set  and  unset  using  the  setopt  and  unsetopt
              builtins.  The  value of each key is either the string on if the
              option is currently set, or the string off if the option is  un-
              set.   Setting  a key to one of these strings is like setting or
              unsetting the option, respectively. Unsetting a key in this  ar-
              ray is like setting it to the value off.

       commands
              This  array gives access to the command hash table. The keys are
              the names of external commands, the values are the pathnames  of
              the  files  that would be executed when the command would be in-
              voked. Setting a key in this array defines a new entry  in  this
              table  in the same way as with the hash builtin. Unsetting a key
              as in `unset "commands[foo]"' removes the entry  for  the  given
              key from the command hash table.

       functions
              This  associative array maps names of enabled functions to their
              definitions. Setting a key in it is  like  defining  a  function
              with  the name given by the key and the body given by the value.
              Unsetting a key removes the definition for the function named by
              the key.

       dis_functions
              Like functions but for disabled functions.

       functions_source
              This  readonly associative array maps names of enabled functions
              to the name of the file containing the source of the function.

              For an autoloaded function that  has  already  been  loaded,  or
              marked  for  autoload with an absolute path, or that has had its
              path resolved with `functions -r', this is the  file  found  for
              autoloading, resolved to an absolute path.

              For  a  function  defined within the body of a script or sourced
              file, this is the name of that file.  In this case, this is  the
              exact path originally used to that file, which may be a relative
              path.

              For any other function, including any defined at an  interactive
              prompt  or  an autoload function whose path has not yet been re-
              solved, this is the empty string.  However, the hash element  is
              reported  as  defined  just  so long as the function is present:
              the keys to this hash are the same as those to $functions.

       dis_functions_source
              Like functions_source but for disabled functions.

       builtins
              This associative array gives information about the builtin  com-
              mands  currently  enabled. The keys are the names of the builtin
              commands and the values are either `undefined' for builtin  com-
              mands that will automatically be loaded from a module if invoked
              or `defined' for builtin commands that are already loaded.

       dis_builtins
              Like builtins but for disabled builtin commands.

       reswords
              This array contains the enabled reserved words.

       dis_reswords
              Like reswords but for disabled reserved words.

       patchars
              This array contains the enabled pattern characters.

       dis_patchars
              Like patchars but for disabled pattern characters.

       aliases
              This maps the names of the regular aliases currently enabled  to
              their expansions.

       dis_aliases
              Like aliases but for disabled regular aliases.

       galiases
              Like aliases, but for global aliases.

       dis_galiases
              Like galiases but for disabled global aliases.

       saliases
              Like raliases, but for suffix aliases.

       dis_saliases
              Like saliases but for disabled suffix aliases.

       parameters
              The  keys in this associative array are the names of the parame-
              ters currently defined. The values are  strings  describing  the
              type  of the parameter, in the same format used by the t parame-
              ter flag, see zshexpn(1) .  Setting or unsetting  keys  in  this
              array is not possible.

       modules
              An  associative array giving information about modules. The keys
              are the names of  the  modules  loaded,  registered  to  be  au-
              toloaded,  or aliased. The value says which state the named mod-
              ule is in and is one of the strings `loaded',  `autoloaded',  or
              `alias:name', where name is the name the module is aliased to.

              Setting or unsetting keys in this array is not possible.

       dirstack
              A normal array holding the elements of the directory stack. Note
              that the output of the dirs builtin command  includes  one  more
              directory, the current working directory.

       history
              This  associative  array  maps history event numbers to the full
              history lines.  Although it is presented as an  associative  ar-
              ray, the array of all values (${history[@]}) is guaranteed to be
              returned in order from most recent to oldest history event, that
              is, by decreasing history event number.

       historywords
              A  special  array  containing  the  words stored in the history.
              These also appear in most to least recent order.

       jobdirs
              This associative array maps job numbers to the directories  from
              which  the  job was started (which may not be the current direc-
              tory of the job).

              The keys of the associative arrays are usually  valid  job  num-
              bers,  and  these  are  the  values  output  with,  for example,
              ${(k)jobdirs}.  Non-numeric job  references  may  be  used  when
              looking  up  a  value; for example, ${jobdirs[%+]} refers to the
              current job.

       jobtexts
              This associative array maps job numbers to the texts of the com-
              mand lines that were used to start the jobs.

              Handling  of  the  keys of the associative array is as described
              for jobdirs above.

       jobstates
              This associative array gives information about the states of the
              jobs  currently known. The keys are the job numbers and the val-
              ues are strings of the form  `job-state:mark:pid=state...'.  The
              job-state  gives the state the whole job is currently in, one of
              `running', `suspended', or `done'. The mark is `+' for the  cur-
              rent  job, `-' for the previous job and empty otherwise. This is
              followed by one `:pid=state' for every process in the  job.  The
              pids are, of course, the process IDs and the state describes the
              state of that process.

              Handling of the keys of the associative array  is  as  described
              for jobdirs above.

       nameddirs
              This  associative  array  maps the names of named directories to
              the pathnames they stand for.

       userdirs
              This associative array maps user names to the pathnames of their
              home directories.

       usergroups
              This  associative array maps names of system groups of which the
              current user is a member to the corresponding group identifiers.
              The  contents  are  the same as the groups output by the id com-
              mand.

       funcfiletrace
              This array contains the absolute line numbers and  corresponding
              file  names  for  the  point where the current function, sourced
              file, or (if EVAL_LINENO is set) eval command was  called.   The
              array  is  of  the same length as funcsourcetrace and functrace,
              but differs from funcsourcetrace in that the line and  file  are
              the point of call, not the point of definition, and differs from
              functrace in that all values are absolute line numbers in files,
              rather than relative to the start of a function, if any.

       funcsourcetrace
              This  array  contains  the  file  names  and line numbers of the
              points where the functions, sourced files, and  (if  EVAL_LINENO
              is  set)  eval  commands  currently being executed were defined.
              The line number is the line where the `function name'  or  `name
              ()'  started.   In  the case of an autoloaded function  the line
              number is reported as zero.  The format of each element is file-
              name:lineno.

              For functions autoloaded from a file in native zsh format, where
              only the body of the function occurs in the file, or  for  files
              that have been executed by the source or `.' builtins, the trace
              information is shown as filename:0, since the entire file is the
              definition.   The  source  file  name is resolved to an absolute
              path when the function is loaded or the path to it otherwise re-
              solved.

              Most  users  will  be interested in the information in the func-
              filetrace array instead.

       funcstack
              This array contains the names of the functions,  sourced  files,
              and  (if EVAL_LINENO is set) eval commands. currently being exe-
              cuted. The first element is the name of the function  using  the
              parameter.

              The  standard shell array zsh_eval_context can be used to deter-
              mine the type of shell construct being executed at  each  depth:
              note,  however, that is in the opposite order, with the most re-
              cent item last, and it is more detailed, for  example  including
              an entry for toplevel, the main shell code being executed either
              interactively or from a script, which is not present  in  $func-
              stack.

       functrace
              This  array  contains  the names and line numbers of the callers
              corresponding to the functions currently  being  executed.   The
              format  of  each element is name:lineno.  Callers are also shown
              for sourced files; the caller is the point where the  source  or
              `.' command was executed.

THE ZSH/PCRE MODULE
       The zsh/pcre module makes some commands available as builtins:

       pcre_compile [ -aimxs ] PCRE
              Compiles a perl-compatible regular expression.

              Option -a will force the pattern to be anchored.  Option -i will
              compile a case-insensitive pattern.  Option -m  will  compile  a
              multi-line  pattern; that is, ^ and $ will match newlines within
              the pattern.   Option  -x  will  compile  an  extended  pattern,
              wherein  whitespace and # comments are ignored.  Option -s makes
              the dot metacharacter match all characters, including those that
              indicate newline.

       pcre_study
              Studies  the previously-compiled PCRE which may result in faster
              matching.

       pcre_match [ -v var ] [ -a arr ] [ -n offset ] [ -b ] string
              Returns successfully if string matches  the  previously-compiled
              PCRE.

              Upon  successful  match,  if  the expression captures substrings
              within parentheses, pcre_match will set the array match to those
              substrings, unless the -a option is given, in which case it will
              set the array arr.  Similarly, the variable MATCH will be set to
              the  entire  matched portion of the string, unless the -v option
              is given, in which case the variable var will be set.  No  vari-
              ables  are altered if there is no successful match.  A -n option
              starts searching for a match from the byte  offset  position  in
              string.   If  the -b option is given, the variable ZPCRE_OP will
              be set to an offset pair string, representing  the  byte  offset
              positions  of the entire matched portion within the string.  For
              example, a ZPCRE_OP set to "32 45" indicates  that  the  matched
              portion  began  on  byte  offset 32 and ended on byte offset 44.
              Here, byte offset position 45 is the position directly after the
              matched portion.  Keep in mind that the byte position isn't nec-
              essarily the same as the character position when  UTF-8  charac-
              ters  are involved.  Consequently, the byte offset positions are
              only to be relied on in the context of using them for subsequent
              searches  on  string, using an offset position as an argument to
              the -n option.  This is mostly used to implement the  "find  all
              non-overlapping matches" functionality.

              A simple example of "find all non-overlapping matches":

                     string="The following zip codes: 78884 90210 99513"
                     pcre_compile -m "\d{5}"
                     accum=()
                     pcre_match -b -- $string
                     while [[ $? -eq 0 ]] do
                         b=($=ZPCRE_OP)
                         accum+=$MATCH
                         pcre_match -b -n $b[2] -- $string
                     done
                     print -l $accum

       The zsh/pcre module makes available the following test condition:

       expr -pcre-match pcre
              Matches a string against a perl-compatible regular expression.

              For example,

                     [[ "$text" -pcre-match ^d+$ ]] &&
                     print text variable contains only "d's".

              If the REMATCH_PCRE option is set, the =~ operator is equivalent
              to -pcre-match, and the NO_CASE_MATCH option may be used.   Note
              that  NO_CASE_MATCH never applies to the pcre_match builtin, in-
              stead use the -i switch of pcre_compile.

THE ZSH/PARAM/PRIVATE MODULE
       The zsh/param/private module is used to create parameters  whose  scope
       is  limited  to  the  current function body, and not to other functions
       called by the current function.

       This module provides a single autoloaded builtin:

       private [ {+|-}AHUahlprtux ] [ {+|-}EFLRZi [ n ] ] [ name[=value] ... ]
              The private builtin accepts all the same options  and  arguments
              as  local (zshbuiltins(1)) except for the `-T' option.  Tied pa-
              rameters may not be made private.

              If used at the top level (outside  a  function  scope),  private
              creates  a  normal  parameter  in  the same manner as declare or
              typeset.  A warning about this is printed if  WARN_CREATE_GLOBAL
              is  set  (zshoptions(1)).  Used inside a function scope, private
              creates a local parameter similar to one  declared  with  local,
              except having special properties noted below.

              Special  parameters  which  expose  or manipulate internal shell
              state, such as ARGC,  argv,  COLUMNS,  LINES,  UID,  EUID,  IFS,
              PROMPT, RANDOM, SECONDS, etc., cannot be made private unless the
              `-h' option is used to hide the special meaning of  the  parame-
              ter.  This may change in the future.

       As  with other typeset equivalents, private is both a builtin and a re-
       served word, so arrays may be assigned  with  parenthesized  word  list
       name=(value...)  syntax.   However,  the reserved word `private' is not
       available until zsh/param/private is loaded, so care must be taken with
       order  of execution and parsing for function definitions which use pri-
       vate.  To compensate for this, the module also adds the option `-P'  to
       the `local' builtin to declare private parameters.

       For  example,  this construction fails if zsh/param/private has not yet
       been loaded when `bad_declaration' is defined:
              bad_declaration() {
                zmodload zsh/param/private
                private array=( one two three )
              }

       This construction works because local is already  a  keyword,  and  the
       module is loaded before the statement is executed:
              good_declaration() {
                zmodload zsh/param/private
                local -P array=( one two three )
              }

       The following is usable in scripts but may have trouble with autoload:
              zmodload zsh/param/private
              iffy_declaration() {
                private array=( one two three )
              }

       The  private builtin may always be used with scalar assignments and for
       declarations without assignments.

       Parameters declared with private have the following properties:

       o      Within the function body where it is declared, the parameter be-
              haves  as a local, except as noted above for tied or special pa-
              rameters.

       o      The type of a parameter declared private cannot  be  changed  in
              the scope where it was declared, even if the parameter is unset.
              Thus an array cannot be assigned to a private scalar, etc.

       o      Within any other function called by the declaring function,  the
              private  parameter  does  NOT  hide other parameters of the same
              name, so for example a global parameter of the same name is vis-
              ible  and  may  be  assigned  or  unset.  This includes calls to
              anonymous functions, although that may also change  in  the  fu-
              ture.

       o      An  exported  private remains in the environment of inner scopes
              but appears unset for the current shell in those scopes.  Gener-
              ally, exporting private parameters should be avoided.

       Note  that  this differs from the static scope defined by compiled lan-
       guages derived from C, in that the a new call to the same function cre-
       ates a new scope, i.e., the parameter is still associated with the call
       stack rather than with the function definition.  It  differs  from  ksh
       `typeset  -S'  because  the  syntax  used to define the function has no
       bearing on whether the parameter scope is respected.

THE ZSH/REGEX MODULE
       The zsh/regex module makes available the following test condition:

       expr -regex-match regex
              Matches a string against a POSIX  extended  regular  expression.
              On successful match, matched portion of the string will normally
              be placed in the MATCH variable.  If  there  are  any  capturing
              parentheses within the regex, then the match array variable will
              contain those.  If the match is not successful, then  the  vari-
              ables will not be altered.

              For example,

                     [[ alphabetical -regex-match ^a([^a]+)a([^a]+)a ]] &&
                     print -l $MATCH X $match

              If the option REMATCH_PCRE is not set, then the =~ operator will
              automatically load this module as needed  and  will  invoke  the
              -regex-match operator.

              If  BASH_REMATCH is set, then the array BASH_REMATCH will be set
              instead of MATCH and match.

THE ZSH/SCHED MODULE
       The zsh/sched module makes available one builtin command and one param-
       eter.

       sched [-o] [+]hh:mm[:ss] command ...
       sched [-o] [+]seconds command ...
       sched [ -item ]
              Make an entry in the scheduled list of commands to execute.  The
              time may be specified in either absolute or relative  time,  and
              either as hours, minutes and (optionally) seconds separated by a
              colon, or seconds alone.  An absolute number  of  seconds  indi-
              cates  the time since the epoch (1970/01/01 00:00); this is use-
              ful in combination with the features in the zsh/datetime module,
              see the zsh/datetime module entry in zshmodules(1).

              With  no  arguments,  prints the list of scheduled commands.  If
              the scheduled command has the -o flag set, this is shown at  the
              start of the command.

              With the argument `-item', removes the given item from the list.
              The numbering of the list is continuous and entries are in  time
              order,  so  the  numbering  can change when entries are added or
              deleted.

              Commands are executed either immediately  before  a  prompt,  or
              while the shell's line editor is waiting for input.  In the lat-
              ter case it is useful to be able to produce output that does not
              interfere  with  the line being edited.  Providing the option -o
              causes the shell to clear the command line before the event  and
              redraw  it  afterwards.   This should be used with any scheduled
              event that produces visible output to the terminal;  it  is  not
              needed,  for example, with output that updates a terminal emula-
              tor's title bar.

              To effect changes to the editor buffer when an  event  executes,
              use the `zle' command with no arguments to test whether the edi-
              tor is active, and if it is, then use `zle widget' to access the
              editor via the named widget.

              The  sched  builtin  is  not  made available by default when the
              shell starts in a mode emulating another shell.  It can be  made
              available with the command `zmodload -F zsh/sched b:sched'.

       zsh_scheduled_events
              A  readonly  array  corresponding to the events scheduled by the
              sched builtin.  The indices of the array correspond to the  num-
              bers  shown  when  sched is run with no arguments (provided that
              the KSH_ARRAYS option is not set).  The value of the array  con-
              sists  of the scheduled time in seconds since the epoch (see the
              section `The zsh/datetime Module' for facilities for using  this
              number), followed by a colon, followed by any options (which may
              be empty but will be preceded by a `-' otherwise), followed by a
              colon, followed by the command to be executed.

              The  sched  builtin  should be used for manipulating the events.
              Note that this will have an immediate effect on the contents  of
              the array, so that indices may become invalid.

THE ZSH/NET/SOCKET MODULE
       The zsh/net/socket module makes available one builtin command:

       zsocket [ -altv ] [ -d fd ] [ args ]
              zsocket  is  implemented as a builtin to allow full use of shell
              command line editing, file I/O, and job control mechanisms.

   Outbound Connections
       zsocket [ -v ] [ -d fd ] filename
              Open a new Unix domain connection to filename.  The shell param-
              eter  REPLY  will  be set to the file descriptor associated with
              that connection.  Currently, only stream  connections  are  sup-
              ported.

              If  -d  is  specified,  its argument will be taken as the target
              file descriptor for the connection.

              In order to elicit more verbose output, use -v.

              File descriptors can be closed with normal shell syntax when  no
              longer needed, for example:

                     exec {REPLY}>&-

   Inbound Connections
       zsocket -l [ -v ] [ -d fd ] filename
              zsocket  -l will open a socket listening on filename.  The shell
              parameter REPLY will be set to the  file  descriptor  associated
              with  that  listener.   The file descriptor remains open in sub-
              shells and forked external executables.

              If -d is specified, its argument will be  taken  as  the  target
              file descriptor for the connection.

              In order to elicit more verbose output, use -v.

       zsocket -a [ -tv ] [ -d targetfd ] listenfd
              zsocket  -a will accept an incoming connection to the socket as-
              sociated with listenfd.  The shell parameter REPLY will  be  set
              to  the  file descriptor associated with the inbound connection.
              The file descriptor remains open in subshells and forked  exter-
              nal executables.

              If  -d  is  specified,  its argument will be taken as the target
              file descriptor for the connection.

              If -t is specified, zsocket will return if no  incoming  connec-
              tion is pending.  Otherwise it will wait for one.

              In order to elicit more verbose output, use -v.

THE ZSH/STAT MODULE
       The  zsh/stat module makes available one builtin command under two pos-
       sible names:

       zstat [ -gnNolLtTrs ] [ -f fd ] [ -H hash ] [ -A array ] [ -F fmt ]
             [ +element ] [ file ... ]
       stat ...
              The command acts as a front end to the  stat  system  call  (see
              stat(2)).   The  same command is provided with two names; as the
              name stat is often used by an external command it is recommended
              that  only  the  zstat form of the command is used.  This can be
              arranged by loading the module with  the  command  `zmodload  -F
              zsh/stat b:zstat'.

              If  the  stat  call  fails, the appropriate system error message
              printed and status 1 is returned.  The  fields  of  struct  stat
              give  information  about  the files provided as arguments to the
              command.  In addition to those available from the stat call,  an
              extra element `link' is provided.  These elements are:

              device The number of the device on which the file resides.

              inode  The  unique  number  of  the file on this device (`inode'
                     number).

              mode   The mode of the file; that is, the file's type and access
                     permissions.   With  the -s option, this will be returned
                     as a string corresponding to the first column in the dis-
                     play of the ls -l command.

              nlink  The number of hard links to the file.

              uid    The  user  ID  of the owner of the file.  With the -s op-
                     tion, this is displayed as a user name.

              gid    The group ID of the file.  With the -s  option,  this  is
                     displayed as a group name.

              rdev   The  raw  device number.  This is only useful for special
                     devices.

              size   The size of the file in bytes.

              atime
              mtime
              ctime  The last access, modification and inode change  times  of
                     the  file,  respectively,  as the number of seconds since
                     midnight GMT on 1st January, 1970.  With the  -s  option,
                     these are printed as strings for the local time zone; the
                     format can be altered with the -F option, and with the -g
                     option the times are in GMT.

              blksize
                     The number of bytes in one allocation block on the device
                     on which the file resides.

              block  The number of disk blocks used by the file.

              link   If the file is a link and the -L  option  is  in  effect,
                     this  contains  the name of the file linked to, otherwise
                     it is empty.  Note  that  if  this  element  is  selected
                     (``zstat  +link'')  then  the  -L option is automatically
                     used.

              A particular element may be selected by including its name  pre-
              ceded  by a `+' in the option list; only one element is allowed.
              The element may be shortened to any unique set of leading  char-
              acters.  Otherwise, all elements will be shown for all files.

              Options:

              -A array
                     Instead of displaying the results on standard output, as-
                     sign them to an array, one struct stat element per  array
                     element for each file in order.  In this case neither the
                     name of the element nor the name of the files appears  in
                     array  unless  the  -t  or -n options were given, respec-
                     tively.  If -t is given, the element name  appears  as  a
                     prefix  to the appropriate array element; if -n is given,
                     the file name appears as a separate array element preced-
                     ing  all  the  others.   Other formatting options are re-
                     spected.

              -H hash
                     Similar to -A, but instead assign  the  values  to  hash.
                     The keys are the elements listed above.  If the -n option
                     is provided then the name of the file is included in  the
                     hash with key name.

              -f fd  Use  the  file  on  file  descriptor  fd instead of named
                     files; no list of file names is allowed in this case.

              -F fmt Supplies a strftime (see strftime(3)) string for the for-
                     matting of the time elements.  The format string supports
                     all of the zsh extensions described in the section EXPAN-
                     SION OF PROMPT SEQUENCES in zshmisc(1).  The -s option is
                     implied.

              -g     Show the time elements in the GMT time zone.  The -s  op-
                     tion is implied.

              -l     List  the  names of the type elements (to standard output
                     or an array as appropriate) and return immediately; argu-
                     ments, and options other than -A, are ignored.

              -L     Perform an lstat (see lstat(2)) rather than a stat system
                     call.  In this case, if the file is a  link,  information
                     about  the link itself rather than the target file is re-
                     turned.  This option is required to make the link element
                     useful.   It's  important  to note that this is the exact
                     opposite from ls(1), etc.

              -n     Always show the names of files.  Usually these  are  only
                     shown when output is to standard output and there is more
                     than one file in the list.

              -N     Never show the names of files.

              -o     If a raw file mode is printed, show it in octal, which is
                     more  useful  for  human  consumption than the default of
                     decimal.  A leading zero will be printed  in  this  case.
                     Note that this does not affect whether a raw or formatted
                     file mode is shown, which is controlled by the -r and  -s
                     options, nor whether a mode is shown at all.

              -r     Print raw data (the default format) alongside string data
                     (the -s format); the string data appears  in  parentheses
                     after the raw data.

              -s     Print  mode,  uid,  gid  and  the  three time elements as
                     strings instead of numbers.  In each case the  format  is
                     like that of ls -l.

              -t     Always  show  the  type  names for the elements of struct
                     stat.  Usually these are only shown  when  output  is  to
                     standard  output  and  no individual element has been se-
                     lected.

              -T     Never show the type names of the struct stat elements.

THE ZSH/SYSTEM MODULE
       The zsh/system module makes available various builtin commands and  pa-
       rameters.

   Builtins
       syserror [ -e errvar ] [ -p prefix ] [ errno | errname ]
              This command prints out the error message associated with errno,
              a system error number, followed by a newline to standard error.

              Instead of the error number, a name errname, for example ENOENT,
              may  be  used.   The set of names is the same as the contents of
              the array errnos, see below.

              If the string prefix is given, it is printed in front of the er-
              ror message, with no intervening space.

              If errvar is supplied, the entire message, without a newline, is
              assigned to the parameter names errvar and nothing is output.

              A return status of 0  indicates  the  message  was  successfully
              printed  (although  it may not be useful if the error number was
              out of the system's range), a return status of  1  indicates  an
              error  in the parameters, and a return status of 2 indicates the
              error name was not recognised (no message is printed for this).

       sysopen [ -arw ] [ -m permissions ] [ -o options ]
               -u fd file
              This command opens a file. The -r,  -w  and  -a  flags  indicate
              whether  the  file should be opened for reading, writing and ap-
              pending, respectively. The -m option allows the initial  permis-
              sions to use when creating a file to be specified in octal form.
              The file descriptor is specified with  -u.  Either  an  explicit
              file  descriptor in the range 0 to 9 can be specified or a vari-
              able name can be given to which the file descriptor number  will
              be assigned.

              The -o option allows various system specific options to be spec-
              ified as a comma-separated list. The following is a list of pos-
              sible  options. Note that, depending on the system, some may not
              be available.
              cloexec
                     mark file to be closed when other programs  are  executed
                     (else  the  file descriptor remains open in subshells and
                     forked external executables)

              create
              creat  create file if it does not exist

              excl   create file, error if it already exists

              noatime
                     suppress updating of the file atime

              nofollow
                     fail if file is a symbolic link

              sync   request that writes wait until data has  been  physically
                     written

              truncate
              trunc  truncate file to size 0

              To close the file, use one of the following:

                     exec {fd}<&-
                     exec {fd}>&-

       sysread [ -c countvar ] [ -i infd ] [ -o outfd ]
               [ -s bufsize ] [ -t timeout ] [ param ]
              Perform  a single system read from file descriptor infd, or zero
              if that is not given.  The result of the read is stored in param
              or REPLY if that is not given.  If countvar is given, the number
              of bytes read is assigned to the parameter named by countvar.

              The maximum number of bytes read is bufsize or 8192 if  that  is
              not  given, however the command returns as soon as any number of
              bytes was successfully read.

              If timeout is given, it specifies a timeout  in  seconds,  which
              may be zero to poll the file descriptor.  This is handled by the
              poll system call if available, otherwise the select system  call
              if available.

              If  outfd  is  given,  an attempt is made to write all the bytes
              just read to the file descriptor outfd.  If this fails,  because
              of a system error other than EINTR or because of an internal zsh
              error during an interrupt, the bytes read but  not  written  are
              stored  in  the parameter named by param if supplied (no default
              is used in this case), and the number  of  bytes  read  but  not
              written  is stored in the parameter named by countvar if that is
              supplied.  If it was successful, countvar contains the full num-
              ber of bytes transferred, as usual, and param is not set.

              The  error EINTR (interrupted system call) is handled internally
              so that shell interrupts are transparent  to  the  caller.   Any
              other error causes a return.

              The possible return statuses are
              0      At  least  one byte of data was successfully read and, if
                     appropriate, written.

              1      There was an error in  the  parameters  to  the  command.
                     This  is the only error for which a message is printed to
                     standard error.

              2      There was an error on the read, or on polling  the  input
                     file descriptor for a timeout.  The parameter ERRNO gives
                     the error.

              3      Data were successfully read, but there was an error writ-
                     ing them to outfd.  The parameter ERRNO gives the error.

              4      The  attempt  to  read timed out.  Note this does not set
                     ERRNO as this is not a system error.

              5      No system error occurred, but zero bytes were read.  This
                     usually  indicates  end  of file.  The parameters are set
                     according to the usual rules; no write to  outfd  is  at-
                     tempted.

       sysseek [ -u fd ] [ -w start|end|current ] offset
              The  current file position at which future reads and writes will
              take place is adjusted to the specified byte offset. The  offset
              is evaluated as a math expression. The -u option allows the file
              descriptor to be specified. By default the offset  is  specified
              relative to the start or the file but, with the -w option, it is
              possible to specify that the offset should be  relative  to  the
              current position or the end of the file.

       syswrite [ -c countvar ] [ -o outfd ] data
              The  data (a single string of bytes) are written to the file de-
              scriptor outfd, or 1 if that is not given, using the write  sys-
              tem  call.   Multiple  write operations may be used if the first
              does not write all the data.

              If countvar is given, the number of byte written  is  stored  in
              the parameter named by countvar; this may not be the full length
              of data if an error occurred.

              The error EINTR (interrupted system call) is handled  internally
              by  retrying;  otherwise  an error causes the command to return.
              For example, if the file descriptor is set to non-blocking  out-
              put,  an  error EAGAIN (on some systems, EWOULDBLOCK) may result
              in the command returning early.

              The return status may be 0 for success, 1 for an  error  in  the
              parameters  to  the  command, or 2 for an error on the write; no
              error message is printed in the last case, but the parameter ER-
              RNO will reflect the error that occurred.

       zsystem flock [ -t timeout ] [ -f var ] [-er] file
       zsystem flock -u fd_expr
              The  builtin  zsystem's  subcommand flock performs advisory file
              locking (via the fcntl(2) system call) over the entire  contents
              of  the given file.  This form of locking requires the processes
              accessing the file to cooperate; its most obvious use is between
              two instances of the shell itself.

              In  the  first form the named file, which must already exist, is
              locked by opening a file descriptor to the file and  applying  a
              lock to the file descriptor.  The lock terminates when the shell
              process that created the lock exits; it is therefore often  con-
              venient to create file locks within subshells, since the lock is
              automatically released when the subshell exits.  Note  that  use
              of  the print builtin with the -u option will, as a side effect,
              release the lock, as will redirection to the file in  the  shell
              holding  the  lock.   To  work  around this use a subshell, e.g.
              `(print message) >> file'.  Status 0 is  returned  if  the  lock
              succeeds, else status 1.

              In  the  second form the file descriptor given by the arithmetic
              expression fd_expr is closed, releasing a lock.   The  file  de-
              scriptor  can  be  queried by using the `-f var' form during the
              lock; on a successful lock, the shell variable var is set to the
              file  descriptor used for locking.  The lock will be released if
              the file descriptor is closed by any other  means,  for  example
              using `exec {var}>&-'; however, the form described here performs
              a safety check that the file descriptor is in use for file lock-
              ing.

              By default the shell waits indefinitely for the lock to succeed.
              The option -t timeout specifies a timeout for the lock  in  sec-
              onds; currently this must be an integer.  The shell will attempt
              to lock the file once a second during this period.  If  the  at-
              tempt times out, status 2 is returned.

              If  the  option -e is given, the file descriptor for the lock is
              preserved when the shell uses exec to start a new process;  oth-
              erwise it is closed at that point and the lock released.

              If  the option -r is given, the lock is only for reading, other-
              wise it is for reading and  writing.   The  file  descriptor  is
              opened accordingly.

       zsystem supports subcommand
              The  builtin zsystem's subcommand supports tests whether a given
              subcommand is supported.  It returns status 0 if so, else status
              1.   It  operates silently unless there was a syntax error (i.e.
              the wrong number of arguments), in which case status 255 is  re-
              turned.  Status 1 can indicate one of two things:  subcommand is
              known but not supported by the current operating system, or sub-
              command  is not known (possibly because this is an older version
              of the shell before it was implemented).

   Math Functions
       systell(fd)
              The systell math function returns the current file position  for
              the file descriptor passed as an argument.

   Parameters
       errnos A  readonly  array of the names of errors defined on the system.
              These are typically macros defined in C by including the  system
              header  file  errno.h.  The index of each name (assuming the op-
              tion KSH_ARRAYS is unset) corresponds to the error number.   Er-
              ror  numbers  num before the last known error which have no name
              are given the name Enum in the array.

              Note that aliases for errors are not handled; only the canonical
              name is used.

       sysparams
              A readonly associative array.  The keys are:

              pid    Returns  the  process  ID of the current process, even in
                     subshells.  Compare $$, which returns the process  ID  of
                     the main shell process.

              ppid   Returns  the  process  ID  of  the  parent of the current
                     process, even in subshells.  Compare $PPID, which returns
                     the process ID of the parent of the main shell process.

              procsubstpid
                     Returns  the  process  ID of the last process started for
                     process substitution, i.e. the <(...) and  >(...)  expan-
                     sions.

THE ZSH/NET/TCP MODULE
       The zsh/net/tcp module makes available one builtin command:

       ztcp [ -acflLtv ] [ -d fd ] [ args ]
              ztcp is implemented as a builtin to allow full use of shell com-
              mand line editing, file I/O, and job control mechanisms.

              If ztcp is run with no options, it will output the  contents  of
              its session table.

              If  it  is  run with only the option -L, it will output the con-
              tents of the session table in a format  suitable  for  automatic
              parsing.   The option is ignored if given with a command to open
              or close a session.  The output consists of a set of lines,  one
              per session, each containing the following elements separated by
              spaces:

              File descriptor
                     The file descriptor in use for the connection.  For  nor-
                     mal  inbound (I) and outbound (O) connections this may be
                     read and written by the usual shell mechanisms.  However,
                     it should only be close with `ztcp -c'.

              Connection type
                     A letter indicating how the session was created:

                     Z      A session created with the zftp command.

                     L      A connection opened for listening with `ztcp -l'.

                     I      An inbound connection accepted with `ztcp -a'.

                     O      An  outbound  connection  created  with `ztcp host
                            ...'.

              The local host
                     This is usually set to an all-zero IP address as the  ad-
                     dress of the localhost is irrelevant.

              The local port
                     This  is  likely  to be zero unless the connection is for
                     listening.

              The remote host
                     This is the fully qualified domain name of the  peer,  if
                     available,  else an IP address.  It is an all-zero IP ad-
                     dress for a session opened for listening.

              The remote port
                     This is zero for a connection opened for listening.

   Outbound Connections
       ztcp [ -v ] [ -d fd ] host [ port ]
              Open a new TCP connection to host.  If the port is  omitted,  it
              will  default  to  port 23.  The connection will be added to the
              session table and the shell parameter REPLY will be set  to  the
              file descriptor associated with that connection.

              If  -d  is  specified,  its argument will be taken as the target
              file descriptor for the connection.

              In order to elicit more verbose output, use -v.

   Inbound Connections
       ztcp -l [ -v ] [ -d fd ] port
              ztcp -l will open a socket listening on TCP  port.   The  socket
              will be added to the session table and the shell parameter REPLY
              will be set to the file descriptor  associated  with  that  lis-
              tener.

              If  -d  is  specified,  its argument will be taken as the target
              file descriptor for the connection.

              In order to elicit more verbose output, use -v.

       ztcp -a [ -tv ] [ -d targetfd ] listenfd
              ztcp -a will accept an incoming connection to the  port  associ-
              ated with listenfd.  The connection will be added to the session
              table and the shell parameter REPLY will be set to the file  de-
              scriptor associated with the inbound connection.

              If  -d  is  specified,  its argument will be taken as the target
              file descriptor for the connection.

              If -t is specified, ztcp will return if no  incoming  connection
              is pending.  Otherwise it will wait for one.

              In order to elicit more verbose output, use -v.

   Closing Connections
       ztcp -cf [ -v ] [ fd ]
       ztcp -c [ -v ] [ fd ]
              ztcp  -c  will  close the socket associated with fd.  The socket
              will be removed from the session table.  If fd is not specified,
              ztcp will close everything in the session table.

              Normally, sockets registered by zftp (see zshmodules(1) ) cannot
              be closed this way.  In order to force such a socket closed, use
              -f.

              In order to elicit more verbose output, use -v.

   Example
       Here  is  how  to create a TCP connection between two instances of zsh.
       We need to pick an unassigned port; here we  use  the  randomly  chosen
       5123.

       On host1,
              zmodload zsh/net/tcp
              ztcp -l 5123
              listenfd=$REPLY
              ztcp -a $listenfd
              fd=$REPLY
       The  second from last command blocks until there is an incoming connec-
       tion.

       Now create a connection from host2 (which may, of course, be  the  same
       machine):
              zmodload zsh/net/tcp
              ztcp host1 5123
              fd=$REPLY

       Now  on  each  host,  $fd contains a file descriptor for talking to the
       other.  For example, on host1:
              print This is a message >&$fd
       and on host2:
              read -r line <&$fd; print -r - $line
       prints `This is a message'.

       To tidy up, on host1:
              ztcp -c $listenfd
              ztcp -c $fd
       and on host2
              ztcp -c $fd

THE ZSH/TERMCAP MODULE
       The zsh/termcap module makes available one builtin command:

       echotc cap [ arg ... ]
              Output the termcap value corresponding to  the  capability  cap,
              with optional arguments.

       The zsh/termcap module makes available one parameter:

       termcap
              An associative array that maps termcap capability codes to their
              values.

THE ZSH/TERMINFO MODULE
       The zsh/terminfo module makes available one builtin command:

       echoti cap [ arg ]
              Output the terminfo value corresponding to the  capability  cap,
              instantiated with arg if applicable.

       The zsh/terminfo module makes available one parameter:

       terminfo
              An  associative  array  that  maps  terminfo capability names to
              their values.

THE ZSH/ZFTP MODULE
       The zsh/zftp module makes available one builtin command:

       zftp subcommand [ args ]
              The zsh/zftp module is a client for FTP  (file  transfer  proto-
              col).  It is implemented as a builtin to allow full use of shell
              command line editing, file I/O, and job control mechanisms.  Of-
              ten,  users  will access it via shell functions providing a more
              powerful interface; a set is provided with the zsh  distribution
              and is described in zshzftpsys(1).  However, the zftp command is
              entirely usable in its own right.

              All commands consist of the command name zftp  followed  by  the
              name  of a subcommand.  These are listed below.  The return sta-
              tus of each subcommand is supposed to  reflect  the  success  or
              failure of the remote operation.  See a description of the vari-
              able ZFTP_VERBOSE for more information on how responses from the
              server may be printed.

   Subcommands
       open host[:port] [ user [ password [ account ] ] ]
              Open  a  new  FTP  session  to  host, which may be the name of a
              TCP/IP connected host or an IP number in the standard dot  nota-
              tion.   If the argument is in the form host:port, open a connec-
              tion to TCP port port instead of the standard FTP port 21.  This
              may  be the name of a TCP service or a number:  see the descrip-
              tion of ZFTP_PORT below for more information.

              If IPv6 addresses in colon format are used, the host  should  be
              surrounded  by quoted square brackets to distinguish it from the
              port, for example '[fe80::203:baff:fe02:8b56]'.  For consistency
              this is allowed with all forms of host.

              Remaining  arguments  are  passed to the login subcommand.  Note
              that if no arguments beyond host are supplied, open will not au-
              tomatically  call  login.   If no arguments at all are supplied,
              open will use the parameters set by the params subcommand.

              After  a  successful  open,  the  shell   variables   ZFTP_HOST,
              ZFTP_PORT,  ZFTP_IP  and  ZFTP_SYSTEM  are available; see `Vari-
              ables' below.

       login [ name [ password [ account ] ] ]
       user [ name [ password [ account ] ] ]
              Login the user name with parameters password and  account.   Any
              of the parameters can be omitted, and will be read from standard
              input if needed (name is always needed).  If standard input is a
              terminal,  a prompt for each one will be printed on standard er-
              ror and password will not be echoed.  If any of  the  parameters
              are not used, a warning message is printed.

              After   a  successful  login,  the  shell  variables  ZFTP_USER,
              ZFTP_ACCOUNT and ZFTP_PWD are available; see `Variables' below.

              This command may be re-issued when a user is already logged  in,
              and the server will first be reinitialized for a new user.

       params [ host [ user [ password [ account ] ] ] ]
       params -
              Store  the given parameters for a later open command with no ar-
              guments.  Only those given on the command line  will  be  remem-
              bered.   If no arguments are given, the parameters currently set
              are printed, although the password will  appear  as  a  line  of
              stars;  the return status is one if no parameters were set, zero
              otherwise.

              Any of the parameters may be specified as a `?', which may  need
              to  be quoted to protect it from shell expansion.  In this case,
              the appropriate parameter will be read from stdin  as  with  the
              login  subcommand,  including  special handling of password.  If
              the `?' is followed by a string, that is used as the prompt  for
              reading the parameter instead of the default message (any neces-
              sary punctuation and whitespace should be included at the end of
              the  prompt).   The  first letter of the parameter (only) may be
              quoted with a `\'; hence an argument "\\$word"  guarantees  that
              the string from the shell parameter $word will be treated liter-
              ally, whether or not it begins with a `?'.

              If instead a single `-' is given, the  existing  parameters,  if
              any,  are deleted.  In that case, calling open with no arguments
              will cause an error.

              The list of parameters is not deleted after a close, however  it
              will be deleted if the zsh/zftp module is unloaded.

              For example,

                     zftp params ftp.elsewhere.xx juser '?Password for juser: '

              will store the host ftp.elsewhere.xx and the user juser and then
              prompt the user for the corresponding password  with  the  given
              prompt.

       test   Test  the  connection;  if  the  server has reported that it has
              closed the connection (maybe due to a timeout), return status 2;
              if  no  connection was open anyway, return status 1; else return
              status 0.  The test subcommand is silent,  apart  from  messages
              printed by the $ZFTP_VERBOSE mechanism, or error messages if the
              connection closes.  There is no network overhead for this test.

              The test is only supported on systems with either the  select(2)
              or poll(2) system calls; otherwise the message `not supported on
              this system' is printed instead.

              The test subcommand will automatically be called at the start of
              any  other  subcommand for the current session when a connection
              is open.

       cd directory
              Change the remote directory to directory.  Also alters the shell
              variable ZFTP_PWD.

       cdup   Change  the  remote directory to the one higher in the directory
              tree.  Note that cd .. will also work correctly on non-UNIX sys-
              tems.

       dir [ arg ... ]
              Give  a (verbose) listing of the remote directory.  The args are
              passed directly to the server. The command's behaviour is imple-
              mentation  dependent, but a UNIX server will typically interpret
              args as arguments to the ls command and with no arguments return
              the  result of `ls -l'. The directory is listed to standard out-
              put.

       ls [ arg ... ]
              Give a (short) listing of the remote directory.   With  no  arg,
              produces a raw list of the files in the directory, one per line.
              Otherwise, up to vagaries of the server implementation,  behaves
              similar to dir.

       type [ type ]
              Change  the  type for the transfer to type, or print the current
              type if type is absent.  The allowed values are `A' (ASCII), `I'
              (Image, i.e. binary), or `B' (a synonym for `I').

              The FTP default for a transfer is ASCII.  However, if zftp finds
              that the remote host is a UNIX machine with 8-bit byes, it  will
              automatically  switch  to  using  binary for file transfers upon
              open.  This can subsequently be overridden.

              The transfer type is only passed to the remote host when a  data
              connection  is  established;  this  command  involves no network
              overhead.

       ascii  The same as type A.

       binary The same as type I.

       mode [ S | B ]
              Set the mode type to stream (S) or block (B).   Stream  mode  is
              the default; block mode is not widely supported.

       remote file ...
       local [ file ... ]
              Print the size and last modification time of the remote or local
              files.  If there is more than one item on the list, the name  of
              the  file  is printed first.  The first number is the file size,
              the second is the last modification time of the file in the for-
              mat  CCYYMMDDhhmmSS  consisting of year, month, date, hour, min-
              utes and seconds in GMT.  Note that this format,  including  the
              length, is guaranteed, so that time strings can be directly com-
              pared via the [[ builtin's < and > operators, even if  they  are
              too long to be represented as integers.

              Not  all servers support the commands for retrieving this infor-
              mation.  In that case, the remote command will print nothing and
              return status 2, compared with status 1 for a file not found.

              The  local  command  (but  not remote) may be used with no argu-
              ments, in which case the information comes from  examining  file
              descriptor zero.  This is the same file as seen by a put command
              with no further redirection.

       get file ...
              Retrieve all files from the server, concatenating them and send-
              ing them to standard output.

       put file ...
              For  each file, read a file from standard input and send that to
              the remote host with the given name.

       append file ...
              As put, but if the remote file already exists, data is  appended
              to it instead of overwriting it.

       getat file point
       putat file point
       appendat file point
              Versions of get, put and append which will start the transfer at
              the given point in the remote file.  This is useful for  append-
              ing  to an incomplete local file.  However, note that this abil-
              ity is not universally supported by servers (and  is  not  quite
              the behaviour specified by the standard).

       delete file ...
              Delete the list of files on the server.

       mkdir directory
              Create a new directory directory on the server.

       rmdir directory
              Delete the directory directory  on the server.

       rename old-name new-name
              Rename file old-name to new-name on the server.

       site arg ...
              Send  a  host-specific command to the server.  You will probably
              only need this if instructed by the server to use it.

       quote arg ...
              Send the raw FTP command sequence to the server.  You should  be
              familiar  with  the  FTP command set as defined in RFC959 before
              doing this.  Useful commands may include STAT  and  HELP.   Note
              also  the  mechanism for returning messages as described for the
              variable ZFTP_VERBOSE below, in  particular  that  all  messages
              from the control connection are sent to standard error.

       close
       quit   Close the current data connection.  This unsets the shell param-
              eters ZFTP_HOST,  ZFTP_PORT,  ZFTP_IP,  ZFTP_SYSTEM,  ZFTP_USER,
              ZFTP_ACCOUNT, ZFTP_PWD, ZFTP_TYPE and ZFTP_MODE.

       session [ sessname ]
              Allows  multiple  FTP  sessions to be used at once.  The name of
              the session is an arbitrary string of  characters;  the  default
              session  is called `default'.  If this command is called without
              an argument, it will list all the current sessions; with an  ar-
              gument,  it  will  either  switch to the existing session called
              sessname, or create a new session of that name.

              Each session remembers the status of the connection, the set  of
              connection-specific  shell parameters (the same set as are unset
              when a connection closes, as given in the description of close),
              and  any  user  parameters specified with the params subcommand.
              Changing to a previous session restores those  values;  changing
              to a new session initialises them in the same way as if zftp had
              just been loaded.  The name of the current session is  given  by
              the parameter ZFTP_SESSION.

       rmsession [ sessname ]
              Delete a session; if a name is not given, the current session is
              deleted.  If the current session is deleted, the earliest exist-
              ing  session becomes the new current session, otherwise the cur-
              rent session is not changed.  If the session  being  deleted  is
              the  only one, a new session called `default' is created and be-
              comes the current session; note that this is a new session  even
              if  the  session  being  deleted is also called `default'. It is
              recommended that sessions not be deleted while  background  com-
              mands which use zftp are still active.

   Parameters
       The  following  shell  parameters  are used by zftp.  Currently none of
       them are special.

       ZFTP_TMOUT
              Integer.  The time in seconds to wait for a network operation to
              complete before returning an error.  If this is not set when the
              module is loaded, it will be given  the  default  value  60.   A
              value  of  zero  turns off timeouts.  If a timeout occurs on the
              control connection it will be closed.  Use  a  larger  value  if
              this occurs too frequently.

       ZFTP_IP
              Readonly.  The IP address of the current connection in dot nota-
              tion.

       ZFTP_HOST
              Readonly.  The hostname of the current remote  server.   If  the
              host  was  opened  as  an IP number, ZFTP_HOST contains that in-
              stead; this saves the overhead for a name lookup, as IP  numbers
              are most commonly used when a nameserver is unavailable.

       ZFTP_PORT
              Readonly.   The  number of the remote TCP port to which the con-
              nection is open (even if the port was originally specified as  a
              named service).  Usually this is the standard FTP port, 21.

              In  the unlikely event that your system does not have the appro-
              priate conversion functions, this appears in network byte order.
              If  your  system is little-endian, the port then consists of two
              swapped bytes and the standard port will be  reported  as  5376.
              In  that  case, numeric ports passed to zftp open will also need
              to be in this format.

       ZFTP_SYSTEM
              Readonly.  The system type string returned by the server in  re-
              sponse  to  an FTP SYST request.  The most interesting case is a
              string beginning "UNIX Type: L8", which ensures maximum compati-
              bility with a local UNIX host.

       ZFTP_TYPE
              Readonly.   The  type to be used for data transfers , either `A'
              or `I'.   Use the type subcommand to change this.

       ZFTP_USER
              Readonly.  The username currently logged in, if any.

       ZFTP_ACCOUNT
              Readonly.  The account name of the current user, if  any.   Most
              servers do not require an account name.

       ZFTP_PWD
              Readonly.  The current directory on the server.

       ZFTP_CODE
              Readonly.   The  three digit code of the last FTP reply from the
              server as a string.  This can still be read after the connection
              is closed, and is not changed when the current session changes.

       ZFTP_REPLY
              Readonly.   The  last line of the last reply sent by the server.
              This can still be read after the connection is  closed,  and  is
              not changed when the current session changes.

       ZFTP_SESSION
              Readonly.  The name of the current FTP session; see the descrip-
              tion of the session subcommand.

       ZFTP_PREFS
              A string of preferences for altering aspects  of  zftp's  behav-
              iour.  Each preference is a single character.  The following are
              defined:

              P      Passive:  attempt to make the remote server initiate data
                     transfers.  This is slightly more efficient than sendport
                     mode.  If the letter S occurs later in the  string,  zftp
                     will use sendport mode if passive mode is not available.

              S      Sendport:   initiate  transfers  by the FTP PORT command.
                     If this occurs before any P in the string,  passive  mode
                     will never be attempted.

              D      Dumb:   use  only the bare minimum of FTP commands.  This
                     prevents the variables ZFTP_SYSTEM and ZFTP_PWD from  be-
                     ing  set,  and will mean all connections default to ASCII
                     type.  It may prevent ZFTP_SIZE from being set  during  a
                     transfer  if  the  server  does  not send it anyway (many
                     servers do).

              If ZFTP_PREFS is not set when zftp is loaded, it will be set  to
              a default of `PS', i.e. use passive mode if available, otherwise
              fall back to sendport mode.

       ZFTP_VERBOSE
              A string of digits between 0 and 5 inclusive,  specifying  which
              responses  from  the server should be printed.  All responses go
              to standard error.  If any of the numbers 1 to 5 appear  in  the
              string, raw responses from the server with reply codes beginning
              with that digit will be printed to standard  error.   The  first
              digit of the three digit reply code is defined by RFC959 to cor-
              respond to:

              1.     A positive preliminary reply.

              2.     A positive completion reply.

              3.     A positive intermediate reply.

              4.     A transient negative completion reply.

              5.     A permanent negative completion reply.

              It should be noted that, for unknown reasons, the reply `Service
              not  available',  which  forces  termination of a connection, is
              classified as 421, i.e. `transient negative', an interesting in-
              terpretation of the word `transient'.

              The  code 0 is special:  it indicates that all but the last line
              of multiline replies read from the server  will  be  printed  to
              standard  error  in  a processed format.  By convention, servers
              use this mechanism for sending information for the user to read.
              The  appropriate  reply  code,  if it matches the same response,
              takes priority.

              If ZFTP_VERBOSE is not set when zftp is loaded, it will  be  set
              to  the  default value 450, i.e., messages destined for the user
              and all errors will be printed.  A  null  string  is  valid  and
              specifies that no messages should be printed.

   Functions
       zftp_chpwd
              If this function is set by the user, it is called every time the
              directory changes on the server, including when a user is logged
              in, or when a connection is closed.  In the last case, $ZFTP_PWD
              will be unset; otherwise it will reflect the new directory.

       zftp_progress
              If this function is set by the user, it will be called during  a
              get,  put or append operation each time sufficient data has been
              received from the host.  During a get, the data is sent to stan-
              dard  output,  so it is vital that this function should write to
              standard error or directly to the terminal, not to standard out-
              put.

              When it is called with a transfer in progress, the following ad-
              ditional shell parameters are set:

              ZFTP_FILE
                     The name of the remote file being transferred from or to.

              ZFTP_TRANSFER
                     A G for a get operation and a P for a put operation.

              ZFTP_SIZE
                     The total size of the complete  file  being  transferred:
                     the  same  as  the first value provided by the remote and
                     local subcommands for a particular file.  If  the  server
                     cannot  supply  this  value  for  a remote file being re-
                     trieved, it will not be set.  If input is from a pipe the
                     value  may  be  incorrect and correspond simply to a full
                     pipe buffer.

              ZFTP_COUNT
                     The amount of data so far transferred; a  number  between
                     zero  and $ZFTP_SIZE, if that is set.  This number is al-
                     ways available.

              The function is initially called with ZFTP_TRANSFER  set  appro-
              priately and ZFTP_COUNT set to zero.  After the transfer is fin-
              ished,  the  function  will  be  called  one  more   time   with
              ZFTP_TRANSFER set to GF or PF, in case it wishes to tidy up.  It
              is  otherwise  never  called  twice  with  the  same  value   of
              ZFTP_COUNT.

              Sometimes  the progress meter may cause disruption.  It is up to
              the user to decide whether the function should be defined and to
              use unfunction when necessary.

   Problems
       A  connection may not be opened in the left hand side of a pipe as this
       occurs in a subshell and the file information is  not  updated  in  the
       main shell.  In the case of type or mode changes or closing the connec-
       tion in a subshell, the information is returned but variables  are  not
       updated until the next call to zftp.  Other status changes in subshells
       will not be reflected by changes to the variables (but should be other-
       wise harmless).

       Deleting  sessions while a zftp command is active in the background can
       have unexpected effects, even if it does  not  use  the  session  being
       deleted.   This  is because all shell subprocesses share information on
       the state of all connections, and deleting a session changes the order-
       ing of that information.

       On  some operating systems, the control connection is not valid after a
       fork(), so that operations in subshells, on the left  hand  side  of  a
       pipeline,  or  in  the  background are not possible, as they should be.
       This is presumably a bug in the operating system.

THE ZSH/ZLE MODULE
       The zsh/zle module contains the Zsh Line Editor.  See zshzle(1).

THE ZSH/ZLEPARAMETER MODULE
       The zsh/zleparameter module defines two special parameters that can  be
       used  to  access  internal information of the Zsh Line Editor (see zsh-
       zle(1)).

       keymaps
              This array contains the names of the keymaps currently defined.

       widgets
              This associative array contains one entry per widget.  The  name
              of  the  widget is the key and the value gives information about
              the widget. It is either
                the string `builtin' for builtin widgets,
                a string of the form `user:name' for user-defined widgets,
                  where name is the name of the  shell  function  implementing
              the widget,
                a string of the form `completion:type:name'
                  for completion widgets,
                or  a  null  value if the widget is not yet fully defined.  In
              the penultimate case, type is the name of the builtin widget the
              completion  widget imitates in its behavior and name is the name
              of the shell function implementing the completion widget.

THE ZSH/ZPROF MODULE
       When loaded, the zsh/zprof causes shell functions to be profiled.   The
       profiling  results  can be obtained with the zprof builtin command made
       available by this module.  There is no way to turn profiling off  other
       than unloading the module.

       zprof [ -c ]
              Without the -c option, zprof lists profiling results to standard
              output.  The format is  comparable  to  that  of  commands  like
              gprof.

              At  the  top  there is a summary listing all functions that were
              called at least once.  This summary is sorted in decreasing  or-
              der  of the amount of time spent in each.  The lines contain the
              number of the function in order, which is used in other parts of
              the  list  in  suffixes  of the form `[num]', then the number of
              calls made to the function.  The next  three  columns  list  the
              time  in milliseconds spent in the function and its descendants,
              the average time in milliseconds spent in the function  and  its
              descendants  per  call  and  the percentage of time spent in all
              shell functions used in this function and its descendants.   The
              following  three columns give the same information, but counting
              only the time spent in the function itself.   The  final  column
              shows the name of the function.

              After  the  summary,  detailed  information about every function
              that was invoked is listed, sorted in decreasing  order  of  the
              amount of time spent in each function and its descendants.  Each
              of these entries consists of descriptions for the functions that
              called  the  function  described,  the  function itself, and the
              functions that were called from it.   The  description  for  the
              function itself has the same format as in the summary (and shows
              the same information).  The other lines don't show the number of
              the  function at the beginning and have their function named in-
              dented to make it easier to distinguish  the  line  showing  the
              function described in the section from the surrounding lines.

              The  information shown in this case is almost the same as in the
              summary, but only refers to the call hierarchy being  displayed.
              For example, for a calling function the column showing the total
              running time lists the time spent in the described function  and
              its  descendants only for the times when it was called from that
              particular calling function.  Likewise, for a  called  function,
              this  columns  lists the total time spent in the called function
              and its descendants only for the times when it was  called  from
              the function described.

              Also  in  this case, the column showing the number of calls to a
              function also shows a slash and then the total number of invoca-
              tions made to the called function.

              As  long  as  the  zsh/zprof module is loaded, profiling will be
              done and multiple invocations of the zprof builtin command  will
              show the times and numbers of calls since the module was loaded.
              With the -c option, the zprof builtin command will reset its in-
              ternal counters and will not show the listing.

THE ZSH/ZPTY MODULE
       The zsh/zpty module offers one builtin:

       zpty [ -e ] [ -b ] name [ arg ... ]
              The  arguments  following  name are concatenated with spaces be-
              tween, then executed as a command, as  if  passed  to  the  eval
              builtin.   The command runs under a newly assigned pseudo-termi-
              nal; this is useful for running commands non-interactively which
              expect  an interactive environment.  The name is not part of the
              command, but is used to refer to this command in later calls  to
              zpty.

              With  the -e option, the pseudo-terminal is set up so that input
              characters are echoed.

              With the -b option, input to and output from the pseudo-terminal
              are made non-blocking.

              The shell parameter REPLY is set to the file descriptor assigned
              to the master side of the pseudo-terminal.  This allows the ter-
              minal  to  be  monitored  with ZLE descriptor handlers (see zsh-
              zle(1)) or  manipulated  with  sysread  and  syswrite  (see  THE
              ZSH/SYSTEM  MODULE  in  zshmodules(1)).  Warning: Use of sysread
              and syswrite is not recommended; use zpty -r and zpty -w  unless
              you know exactly what you are doing.

       zpty -d [ name ... ]
              The  second form, with the -d option, is used to delete commands
              previously started, by supplying a list of their names.   If  no
              name  is  given,  all  commands are deleted.  Deleting a command
              causes the HUP signal to be sent to the corresponding process.

       zpty -w [ -n ] name [ string ... ]
              The -w option can be used to send the to command name the  given
              strings as input (separated by spaces).  If the -n option is not
              given, a newline is added at the end.

              If no string is provided, the standard input is  copied  to  the
              pseudo-terminal;  this may stop before copying the full input if
              the pseudo-terminal is non-blocking.  The exact input is  always
              copied: the -n option is not applied.

              Note  that the command under the pseudo-terminal sees this input
              as if it were typed, so beware when sending special  tty  driver
              characters such as word-erase, line-kill, and end-of-file.

       zpty -r [ -mt ] name [ param [ pattern ] ]
              The  -r  option  can  be  used to read the output of the command
              name.  With only a name argument, the output read is  copied  to
              the  standard  output.  Unless the pseudo-terminal is non-block-
              ing, copying continues until the command under the pseudo-termi-
              nal  exits; when non-blocking, only as much output as is immedi-
              ately available is copied.  The return status  is  zero  if  any
              output is copied.

              When  also  given a param argument, at most one line is read and
              stored in the parameter named param.  Less than a full line  may
              be read if the pseudo-terminal is non-blocking.  The return sta-
              tus is zero if at least one character is stored in param.

              If a pattern is given as well, output is read  until  the  whole
              string  read matches the pattern, even in the non-blocking case.
              The return status is zero if the string read  matches  the  pat-
              tern,  or  if  the command has exited but at least one character
              could still be read.  If the option -m is  present,  the  return
              status is zero only if the pattern matches.  As of this writing,
              a maximum of one megabyte of output can be consumed this way; if
              a full megabyte is read without matching the pattern, the return
              status is non-zero.

              In all cases, the return status is non-zero if nothing could  be
              read, and is 2 if this is because the command has finished.

              If  the  -r  option  is  combined with the -t option, zpty tests
              whether output is available before trying to read.  If no output
              is  available, zpty immediately returns the status 1.  When used
              with a pattern, the behaviour on a failed  poll  is  similar  to
              when  the  command  has  exited:  the return value is zero if at
              least one character could still be  read  even  if  the  pattern
              failed to match.

       zpty -t name
              The  -t option without the -r option can be used to test whether
              the command name is still running.  It returns a zero status  if
              the command is running and a non-zero value otherwise.

       zpty [ -L ]
              The  last  form, without any arguments, is used to list the com-
              mands currently defined.  If the -L option  is  given,  this  is
              done in the form of calls to the zpty builtin.

THE ZSH/ZSELECT MODULE
       The zsh/zselect module makes available one builtin command:

       zselect [ -rwe ] [ -t timeout ] [ -a array ] [ -A assoc ] [ fd ... ]
              The  zselect builtin is a front-end to the `select' system call,
              which blocks until a file descriptor is  ready  for  reading  or
              writing,  or  has  an error condition, with an optional timeout.
              If this is not available on your system, the command  prints  an
              error  message and returns status 2 (normal errors return status
              1).  For more information, see your  systems  documentation  for
              select(3).   Note  there is no connection with the shell builtin
              of the same name.

              Arguments and options may be intermingled in any order.  Non-op-
              tion arguments are file descriptors, which must be decimal inte-
              gers.  By default, file descriptors are to be tested  for  read-
              ing,  i.e. zselect will return when data is available to be read
              from the file descriptor, or more precisely, when a read  opera-
              tion  from  the  file descriptor will not block.  After a -r, -w
              and -e, the given file descriptors are to be tested for reading,
              writing,  or  error  conditions.  These options and an arbitrary
              list of file descriptors may be given in any order.

              (The presence of an `error condition' is not well defined in the
              documentation  for  many  implementations  of  the select system
              call.  According to recent versions of the POSIX  specification,
              it  is really an exception condition, of which the only standard
              example is out-of-band data received on a socket.  So zsh  users
              are unlikely to find the -e option useful.)

              The  option  `-t timeout' specifies a timeout in hundredths of a
              second.  This may be zero, in which case  the  file  descriptors
              will  simply  be polled and zselect will return immediately.  It
              is possible to call zselect  with  no  file  descriptors  and  a
              non-zero  timeout  for  use  as  a finer-grained replacement for
              `sleep'; note, however, the return status  is  always  1  for  a
              timeout.

              The  option `-a array' indicates that array should be set to in-
              dicate the file descriptor(s) which are ready.  If the option is
              not  given,  the array reply will be used for this purpose.  The
              array will contain a string similar to the  arguments  for  zse-
              lect.  For example,

                     zselect -t 0 -r 0 -w 1

              might return immediately with status 0 and $reply containing `-r
              0 -w 1' to show that both file descriptors are ready for the re-
              quested operations.

              The option `-A assoc' indicates that the associative array assoc
              should be set to  indicate  the  file  descriptor(s)  which  are
              ready.   This  option overrides the option -a, nor will reply be
              modified.  The keys of assoc are the file descriptors,  and  the
              corresponding values are any of the characters `rwe' to indicate
              the condition.

              The command returns status 0 if some file descriptors are  ready
              for  reading.  If the operation timed out, or a timeout of 0 was
              given and no file descriptors were ready, or there was an error,
              it  returns status 1 and the array will not be set (nor modified
              in any way).  If there was an error in the select operation  the
              appropriate error message is printed.

THE ZSH/ZUTIL MODULE
       The zsh/zutil module only adds some builtins:

       zstyle [ -L [ metapattern [ style ] ] ]
       zstyle [ -e | - | -- ] pattern style string ...
       zstyle -d [ pattern [ style ... ] ]
       zstyle -g name [ pattern [ style ] ]
       zstyle -{a|b|s} context style name [ sep ]
       zstyle -{T|t} context style [ string ... ]
       zstyle -m context style pattern
              This  builtin  command  is  used  to  define  and lookup styles.
              Styles are pairs of names and values, where the  values  consist
              of  any  number  of strings.  They are stored together with pat-
              terns and lookup is done by giving a string,  called  the  `con-
              text',  which  is  matched against the patterns.  The definition
              stored for the most specific pattern that matches  will  be  re-
              turned.

              A  pattern  is considered to be more specific than another if it
              contains more components (substrings separated by colons) or  if
              the  patterns for the components are more specific, where simple
              strings are considered to be more  specific  than  patterns  and
              complex  patterns  are  considered  to be more specific than the
              pattern `*'.  A `*' in the pattern will match zero or more char-
              acters  in the context; colons are not treated specially in this
              regard.  If two patterns are equally specific, the tie is broken
              in favour of the pattern that was defined first.

              Example

              For  example, to define your preferred form of precipitation de-
              pending on which city you're in, you might set the following  in
              your zshrc:

                     zstyle ':weather:europe:*' preferred-precipitation rain
                     zstyle ':weather:europe:germany:* preferred-precipitation none
                     zstyle ':weather:europe:germany:*:munich' preferred-precipitation snow

              Then,  the fictional `weather' plugin might run under the hood a
              command such as

                     zstyle -s ":weather:${continent}:${country}:${county}:${city}" preferred-precipitation REPLY

              in order to retrieve your preference into  the  scalar  variable
              $REPLY.

              Usage

              The forms that operate on patterns are the following.

              zstyle [ -L [ metapattern [ style ] ] ]
                     Without  arguments,  lists style definitions.  Styles are
                     shown in alphabetic order and patterns are shown  in  the
                     order zstyle will test them.

                     If the -L option is given, listing is done in the form of
                     calls to zstyle.  The optional first  argument,  metapat-
                     tern,  is  a  pattern  which  will be matched against the
                     string supplied as pattern when the  style  was  defined.
                     Note:  this  means,  for  example,  `zstyle  -L ":comple-
                     tion:*"' will match any supplied pattern beginning `:com-
                     pletion:',   not  just  ":completion:*":   use  ':comple-
                     tion:\*' to match that.   The  optional  second  argument
                     limits  the  output  to a specific style (not a pattern).
                     -L is not compatible with any other options.

              zstyle [ - | -- | -e ] pattern style string ...
                     Defines the given style for the pattern with the  strings
                     as  the  value.   If  the -e option is given, the strings
                     will be concatenated (separated by spaces)  and  the  re-
                     sulting  string  will be evaluated (in the same way as it
                     is done by the eval builtin command) when  the  style  is
                     looked  up.   In  this case the parameter `reply' must be
                     assigned to set the strings returned  after  the  evalua-
                     tion.   Before  evaluating the value, reply is unset, and
                     if it is still unset after the evaluation, the  style  is
                     treated as if it were not set.

              zstyle -d [ pattern [ style ... ] ]
                     Delete  style  definitions. Without arguments all defini-
                     tions are deleted, with a  pattern  all  definitions  for
                     that  pattern  are  deleted  and if any styles are given,
                     then only those styles are deleted for the pattern.

              zstyle -g name [ pattern [ style ] ]
                     Retrieve a style definition. The name is used as the name
                     of  an array in which the results are stored. Without any
                     further arguments, all  patterns  defined  are  returned.
                     With  a  pattern  the styles defined for that pattern are
                     returned and with both a pattern and a style,  the  value
                     strings of that combination is returned.

              The  other  forms  can  be  used to look up or test styles for a
              given context.

              zstyle -s context style name [ sep ]
                     The parameter name is set to the value of the  style  in-
                     terpreted  as  a  string.   If the value contains several
                     strings they are concatenated with spaces  (or  with  the
                     sep string if that is given) between them.

                     Return 0 if the style is set, 1 otherwise.

              zstyle -b context style name
                     The  value  is  stored  in name as a boolean, i.e. as the
                     string `yes' if the value has only one  string  and  that
                     string is equal to one of `yes', `true', `on', or `1'. If
                     the value is any  other  string  or  has  more  than  one
                     string, the parameter is set to `no'.

                     Return 0 if name is set to `yes', 1 otherwise.

              zstyle -a context style name
                     The  value  is stored in name as an array. If name is de-
                     clared as an associative array,  the first,  third,  etc.
                     strings  are  used  as the keys and the other strings are
                     used as the values.

                     Return 0 if the style is set, 1 otherwise.

              zstyle -t context style [ string ... ]
              zstyle -T context style [ string ... ]
                     Test the value of a style, i.e. the -t  option  only  re-
                     turns  a status (sets $?).  Without any string the return
                     status is zero if the style is defined for at  least  one
                     matching  pattern,  has only one string in its value, and
                     that is equal to one of `true', `yes', `on'  or  `1'.  If
                     any  strings  are given the status is zero if and only if
                     at least one of the strings is equal to at least  one  of
                     the  strings  in  the  value. If the style is defined but
                     doesn't match, the return status is 1. If  the  style  is
                     not defined, the status is 2.

                     The  -T option tests the values of the style like -t, but
                     it returns status zero (rather than 2) if  the  style  is
                     not defined for any matching pattern.

              zstyle -m context style pattern
                     Match a value. Returns status zero if the pattern matches
                     at least one of the strings in the value.

       zformat -f param format spec ...
       zformat -a array sep spec ...
              This builtin provides two different  forms  of  formatting.  The
              first form is selected with the -f option. In this case the for-
              mat string will be modified by replacing sequences starting with
              a  percent  sign  in  it with strings from the specs.  Each spec
              should be of the form `char:string' which will cause  every  ap-
              pearance of the sequence `%char' in format to be replaced by the
              string.  The `%' sequence may also contain optional minimum  and
              maximum  field  width  specifications  between  the  `%' and the
              `char' in the form `%min.maxc', i.e. the minimum field width  is
              given first and if the maximum field width is used, it has to be
              preceded by a dot.  Specifying a minimum field width  makes  the
              result  be  padded  with  spaces  to  the right if the string is
              shorter than the requested width.  Padding to the  left  can  be
              achieved by giving a negative minimum field width.  If a maximum
              field width is specified, the string  will  be  truncated  after
              that  many  characters.   After  all `%' sequences for the given
              specs have been processed, the resulting string is stored in the
              parameter param.

              The  %-escapes  also  understand ternary expressions in the form
              used by prompts.  The % is followed by a `(' and then  an  ordi-
              nary  format  specifier character as described above.  There may
              be a set of digits either before or after the `('; these specify
              a  test  number,  which  defaults to zero.  Negative numbers are
              also allowed.  An arbitrary delimiter character follows the for-
              mat  specifier, which is followed by a piece of `true' text, the
              delimiter character again, a piece of `false' text, and a  clos-
              ing  parenthesis.   The complete expression (without the digits)
              thus looks like `%(X.text1.text2)', except that the `.'  charac-
              ter  is  arbitrary.  The value given for the format specifier in
              the char:string expressions is evaluated as a  mathematical  ex-
              pression,  and  compared  with the test number.  If they are the
              same, text1 is output, else text2 is output.  A parenthesis  may
              be escaped in text2 as %).  Either of text1 or text2 may contain
              nested %-escapes.

              For example:

                     zformat -f REPLY "The answer is '%3(c.yes.no)'." c:3

              outputs "The answer is 'yes'." to REPLY since the value for  the
              format specifier c is 3, agreeing with the digit argument to the
              ternary expression.

              The second form, using the -a option, can be used  for  aligning
              strings.   Here,  the  specs  are of the form `left:right' where
              `left' and `right' are arbitrary  strings.   These  strings  are
              modified  by  replacing the colons by the sep string and padding
              the left strings with spaces  to  the  right  so  that  the  sep
              strings  in  the result (and hence the right strings after them)
              are all aligned if the strings are  printed  below  each  other.
              All  strings  without a colon are left unchanged and all strings
              with an empty right string have the trailing colon removed.   In
              both  cases the lengths of the strings are not used to determine
              how the other strings are to be aligned.  A colon  in  the  left
              string  can  be escaped with a backslash.  The resulting strings
              are stored in the array.

       zregexparse
              This implements some internals of the _regex_arguments function.

       zparseopts [ -D -E -F -K -M ] [ -a array ] [ -A assoc ] [ - ] spec ...
              This builtin simplifies the parsing of options in positional pa-
              rameters,  i.e. the set of arguments given by $*.  Each spec de-
              scribes one option and must be of the form `opt[=array]'.  If an
              option described by opt is found in the positional parameters it
              is copied into the array specified with the -a  option;  if  the
              optional  `=array'  is given, it is instead copied into that ar-
              ray, which should be declared as a normal array and never as  an
              associative array.

              Note  that  it  is an error to give any spec without an `=array'
              unless one of the -a or -A options is used.

              Unless the -E option is given, parsing stops at the first string
              that isn't described by one of the specs.  Even with -E, parsing
              always stops at a positional parameter equal to `-' or `--'. See
              also -F.

              The  opt  description  must be one of the following.  Any of the
              special characters can appear in the option name provided it  is
              preceded by a backslash.

              name
              name+  The  name  is  the name of the option without the leading
                     `-'.  To specify a GNU-style  long  option,  one  of  the
                     usual two leading `-' must be included in name; for exam-
                     ple, a `--file'  option  is  represented  by  a  name  of
                     `-file'.

                     If  a  `+'  appears after name, the option is appended to
                     array each time it is found in the positional parameters;
                     without the `+' only the last occurrence of the option is
                     preserved.

                     If one of these forms is used, the option takes no  argu-
                     ment,  so  parsing stops if the next positional parameter
                     does not also begin with `-' (unless  the  -E  option  is
                     used).

              name:
              name:-
              name:: If one or two colons are given, the option takes an argu-
                     ment; with one colon, the argument is mandatory and  with
                     two  colons  it is optional.  The argument is appended to
                     the array after the option itself.

                     An optional argument is put into the same  array  element
                     as the option name (note that this makes empty strings as
                     arguments indistinguishable).  A  mandatory  argument  is
                     added as a separate element unless the `:-' form is used,
                     in which case the argument is put into the same element.

                     A `+' as described above may appear between the name  and
                     the first colon.

              In  all  cases,  option-arguments must appear either immediately
              following the option in the same positional parameter or in  the
              next  one.  Even an optional argument may appear in the next pa-
              rameter, unless it begins with a `-'.  There is no special  han-
              dling  of `=' as with GNU-style argument parsers; given the spec
              `-foo:', the  positional  parameter  `--foo=bar'  is  parsed  as
              `--foo' with an argument of `=bar'.

              When  the  names  of two options that take no arguments overlap,
              the longest one wins, so that parsing for the specs `-foo  -foo-
              bar' (for example) is unambiguous. However, due to the aforemen-
              tioned handling of option-arguments, ambiguities may arise  when
              at  least  one  overlapping spec takes an argument, as in `-foo:
              -foobar'. In that case, the last matching spec wins.

              The options of zparseopts itself cannot be stacked because,  for
              example,  the  stack `-DEK' is indistinguishable from a spec for
              the GNU-style long option `--DEK'.  The  options  of  zparseopts
              itself are:

              -a array
                     As described above, this names the default array in which
                     to store the recognised options.

              -A assoc
                     If this is given, the options and their values  are  also
                     put  into  an  associative array with the option names as
                     keys and the arguments (if any) as the values.

              -D     If this option is given, all options  found  are  removed
                     from  the  positional  parameters of the calling shell or
                     shell function, up to but not including any not described
                     by  the  specs.   If  the  first such parameter is `-' or
                     `--', it is removed as well.  This is  similar  to  using
                     the shift builtin.

              -E     This  changes  the parsing rules to not stop at the first
                     string that isn't described by one of the specs.  It  can
                     be used to test for or (if used together with -D) extract
                     options and their arguments, ignoring all  other  options
                     and  arguments  that may be in the positional parameters.
                     As indicated above, parsing still stops at the first  `-'
                     or  `--'  not  described by a spec, but it is not removed
                     when used with -D.

              -F     If this option is given, zparseopts immediately stops  at
                     the  first  option-like parameter not described by one of
                     the specs, prints an error message, and returns status 1.
                     Removal  (-D)  and extraction (-E) are not performed, and
                     option arrays are not updated.  This provides basic vali-
                     dation for the given options.

                     Note  that the appearance in the positional parameters of
                     an option without its  required  argument  always  aborts
                     parsing  and  returns an error as described above regard-
                     less of whether this option is used.

              -K     With this option, the arrays specified with the -a option
                     and  with the `=array' forms are kept unchanged when none
                     of the specs for them is used.  Otherwise the entire  ar-
                     ray  is replaced when any of the specs is used.  Individ-
                     ual elements of associative arrays specified with the  -A
                     option  are  preserved  by -K.  This allows assignment of
                     default values to arrays before calling zparseopts.

              -M     This changes the assignment  rules  to  implement  a  map
                     among  equivalent  option  names.   If  any spec uses the
                     `=array' form, the string array  is  interpreted  as  the
                     name  of  another  spec, which is used to choose where to
                     store the values.  If no other spec is found, the  values
                     are  stored as usual.  This changes only the way the val-
                     ues are stored, not the way $* is parsed, so results  may
                     be  unpredictable if the `name+' specifier is used incon-
                     sistently.

              For example,

                     set -- -a -bx -c y -cz baz -cend
                     zparseopts a=foo b:=bar c+:=bar

              will have the effect of

                     foo=(-a)
                     bar=(-b x -c y -c z)

              The arguments from `baz' on will not be used.

              As an example for the -E option, consider:

                     set -- -a x -b y -c z arg1 arg2
                     zparseopts -E -D b:=bar

              will have the effect of

                     bar=(-b y)
                     set -- -a x -c z arg1 arg2

              I.e., the option -b and its arguments are taken from  the  posi-
              tional parameters and put into the array bar.

              The -M option can be used like this:

                     set -- -a -bx -c y -cz baz -cend
                     zparseopts -A bar -M a=foo b+: c:=b

              to have the effect of

                     foo=(-a)
                     bar=(-a '' -b xyz)

ZSHCALSYS(1)                General Commands Manual               ZSHCALSYS(1)

NAME
       zshcalsys - zsh calendar system

DESCRIPTION
       The shell is supplied with a series of functions to replace and enhance
       the traditional Unix calendar programme, which warns the user of  immi-
       nent or future events, details of which are stored in a text file (typ-
       ically calendar in the user's home directory).   The  version  provided
       here includes a mechanism for alerting the user when an event is due.

       In  addition  functions  age, before and after are provided that can be
       used in a glob qualifier; they allow files  to  be  selected  based  on
       their modification times.

       The  format of the calendar file and the dates used there in and in the
       age function are described first, then the functions that can be called
       to examine and modify the calendar file.

       The  functions here depend on the availability of the zsh/datetime mod-
       ule which is usually installed with the shell.   The  library  function
       strptime()  must  be  available; it is present on most recent operating
       systems.

FILE AND DATE FORMATS
   Calendar File Format
       The calendar file is by default ~/calendar.  This can be configured  by
       the  calendar-file style, see the section STYLES below.  The basic for-
       mat consists of a series of separate lines, with no  indentation,  each
       including  a  date  and time specification followed by a description of
       the event.

       Various enhancements to this format are supported, based on the  syntax
       of Emacs calendar mode.  An indented line indicates a continuation line
       that continues the description of the event  from  the  preceding  line
       (note the date may not be continued in this way).  An initial ampersand
       (&) is ignored for compatibility.

       An indented line on which the first non-whitespace character  is  #  is
       not  displayed with the calendar entry, but is still scanned for infor-
       mation.  This can be used to hide information useful  to  the  calendar
       system  but not to the user, such as the unique identifier used by cal-
       endar_add.

       The Emacs extension that a date with no description may refer to a num-
       ber of succeeding events at different times is not supported.

       Unless the done-file style has been altered, any events which have been
       processed are appended to the file with the same name as  the  calendar
       file with the suffix .done, hence ~/calendar.done by default.

       An example is shown below.

   Date Format
       The  format of the date and time is designed to allow flexibility with-
       out admitting ambiguity.  (The words `date' and `time' are both used in
       the documentation below; except where specifically noted this implies a
       string that may include both a date and a  time  specification.)   Note
       that  there  is no localization support; month and day names must be in
       English and separator characters are fixed.  Matching is case  insensi-
       tive,  and  only  the first three letters of the names are significant,
       although as a special case a form  beginning  "month"  does  not  match
       "Monday".   Furthermore,  time zones are not handled; all times are as-
       sumed to be local.

       It is recommended that, rather than exploring the  intricacies  of  the
       system,  users  find a date format that is natural to them and stick to
       it.  This will avoid unexpected effects.  Various key facts  should  be
       noted.

       o      In  particular,  note  the  confusion between month/day/year and
              day/month/year when the month is numeric; these  formats  should
              be avoided if at all possible.  Many alternatives are available.

       o      The  year  must  be  given  in full to avoid confusion, and only
              years from 1900 to 2099 inclusive are matched.

       The following give some obvious examples; users finding here  a  format
       they  like  and  not subject to vagaries of style may skip the full de-
       scription.  As dates and times are matched separately (even though  the
       time  may  be  embedded in the date), any date format may be mixed with
       any format for the time of day provide the separators are clear (white-
       space, colons, commas).

              2007/04/03 13:13
              2007/04/03:13:13
              2007/04/03 1:13 pm
              3rd April 2007, 13:13
              April 3rd 2007 1:13 p.m.
              Apr 3, 2007 13:13
              Tue Apr 03 13:13:00 2007
              13:13 2007/apr/3

       More detailed rules follow.

       Times  are  parsed and extracted before dates.  They must use colons to
       separate hours and minutes, though a dot is allowed before  seconds  if
       they are present.  This limits time formats to the following:

       o      HH:MM[:SS[.FFFFF]] [am|pm|a.m.|p.m.]

       o      HH:MM.SS[.FFFFF] [am|pm|a.m.|p.m.]

       Here,  square brackets indicate optional elements, possibly with alter-
       natives.  Fractions of a second are recognised but ignored.  For  abso-
       lute times (the normal format require by the calendar file and the age,
       before and after functions) a date is mandatory but a time  of  day  is
       not;  the  time returned is at the start of the date.  One variation is
       allowed: if a.m. or p.m. or one of their variants is present,  an  hour
       without a minute is allowed, e.g. 3 p.m..

       Time  zones  are not handled, though if one is matched following a time
       specification it will be removed to allow  a  surrounding  date  to  be
       parsed.  This only happens if the format of the timezone is not too un-
       usual.  The following are examples of forms that are understood:

              +0100
              GMT
              GMT-7
              CET+1CDT

       Any part of the timezone that is not numeric must  have  exactly  three
       capital letters in the name.

       Dates  suffer from the ambiguity between DD/MM/YYYY and MM/DD/YYYY.  It
       is recommended this form is avoided with purely numeric dates, but  use
       of ordinals, eg. 3rd/04/2007, will resolve the ambiguity as the ordinal
       is always parsed as the day of the month.  Years must  be  four  digits
       (and  the  first  two  must  be  19 or 20); 03/04/08 is not recognised.
       Other numbers may have leading zeroes, but they are not required.   The
       following are handled:

       o      YYYY/MM/DD

       o      YYYY-MM-DD

       o      YYYY/MNM/DD

       o      YYYY-MNM-DD

       o      DD[th|st|rd] MNM[,] [ YYYY ]

       o      MNM DD[th|st|rd][,] [ YYYY ]

       o      DD[th|st|rd]/MM[,] YYYY

       o      DD[th|st|rd]/MM/YYYY

       o      MM/DD[th|st|rd][,] YYYY

       o      MM/DD[th|st|rd]/YYYY

       Here,  MNM is at least the first three letters of a month name, matched
       case-insensitively.  The remainder of the month name may appear but its
       contents  are  irrelevant,  so  janissary,  febrile,  martial, apricot,
       maybe, junta, etc. are happily handled.

       Where the year is shown as  optional,  the  current  year  is  assumed.
       There  are  only  two  such cases, the form Jun 20 or 14 September (the
       only two commonly occurring forms, apart from a "the" in some forms  of
       English,  which  isn't currently supported).  Such dates will of course
       become ambiguous in the future, so should ideally be avoided.

       Times may follow dates with a colon, e.g. 1965/07/12:09:45; this is  in
       order  to  provide a format with no whitespace.  A comma and whitespace
       are allowed, e.g. 1965/07/12, 09:45.  Currently the order of these sep-
       arators  is  not  checked,  so  illogical formats such as 1965/07/12, :
       ,09:45 will also be matched.  For simplicity such  variations  are  not
       shown in the list above.  Otherwise, a time is only recognised as being
       associated with a date if there is only whitespace in  between,  or  if
       the time was embedded in the date.

       Days  of the week are not normally scanned, but will be ignored if they
       occur at the start of the date  pattern  only.   However,  in  contexts
       where it is useful to specify dates relative to today, days of the week
       with no other date specification may be given.  The day is  assumed  to
       be  either  today or within the past week.  Likewise, the words yester-
       day, today and tomorrow are handled.  All matches are case-insensitive.
       Hence  if today is Monday, then Sunday is equivalent to yesterday, Mon-
       day is equivalent to today, but Tuesday gives  a  date  six  days  ago.
       This  is  not generally useful within the calendar file.  Dates in this
       format may be combined with a time specification; for example Tomorrow,
       8 p.m..

       For example, the standard date format:

              Fri Aug 18 17:00:48 BST 2006

       is  handled  by  matching  HH:MM:SS  and  removing it together with the
       matched (but unused) time zone.  This leaves the following:

              Fri Aug 18 2006

       Fri is ignored and the rest is matched according to the standard rules.

   Relative Time Format
       In certain places relative times are handled.  Here, a date is not  al-
       lowed;  instead a combination of various supported periods are allowed,
       together with an optional time.  The periods must be in order from most
       to least significant.

       In some cases, a more accurate calculation is possible when there is an
       anchor date:  offsets of months or years pick the correct  day,  rather
       than  being  rounded,  and it is possible to pick a particular day in a
       month as `(1st Friday)', etc., as described in more detail below.

       Anchors are available in the following cases.  If one or two times  are
       passed  to the function calendar, the start time acts an anchor for the
       end time when the end time is relative (even if the start time  is  im-
       plicit).   When examining calendar files, the scheduled event being ex-
       amined anchors the warning time when it is given explicitly by means of
       the  WARN  keyword;  likewise, the scheduled event anchors a repetition
       period when given by the RPT keyword, so that  specifications  such  as
       RPT 2 months, 3rd Thursday are handled properly.  Finally, the -R argu-
       ment to calendar_scandate directly provides an anchor for relative cal-
       culations.

       The periods handled, with possible abbreviations are:

       Years  years,  yrs, ys, year, yr, y, yearly.  A year is 365.25 days un-
              less there is an anchor.

       Months months, mons, mnths, mths, month, mon, mnth, mth, monthly.  Note
              that  m, ms, mn, mns are ambiguous and are not handled.  A month
              is a period of 30 days rather than a calendar month unless there
              is an anchor.

       Weeks  weeks, wks, ws, week, wk, w, weekly

       Days   days, dys, ds, day, dy, d, daily

       Hours  hours, hrs, hs, hour, hr, h, hourly

       Minutes
              minutes, mins, minute, min, but not m, ms, mn or mns

       Seconds
              seconds, secs, ss, second, sec, s

       Spaces  between  the  numbers  are  optional,  but are required between
       items, although a comma may be used (with or without spaces).

       The forms yearly to hourly allow the number to be omitted;  it  is  as-
       sumed  to  be 1.  For example, 1 d and daily are equivalent.  Note that
       using those forms with plurals is confusing; 2 yearly is the same as  2
       years, not twice yearly, so it is recommended they only be used without
       numbers.

       When an anchor time is present, there is an extension to handle regular
       events  in the form of the nth someday of the month.  Such a specifica-
       tion must occur immediately after any year and month specification, but
       before  any  time  of day, and must be in the form n(th|st|rd) day, for
       example 1st Tuesday or 3rd  Monday.   As  in  other  places,  days  are
       matched  case  insensitively,  must  be  in English, and only the first
       three letters are significant except that a form beginning `month' does
       not match `Monday'.  No attempt is made to sanitize the resulting date;
       attempts to squeeze too many occurrences into a month will push the day
       into  the next month (but in the obvious fashion, retaining the correct
       day of the week).

       Here are some examples:

              30 years 3 months 4 days 3:42:41
              14 days 5 hours
              Monthly, 3rd Thursday
              4d,10hr

   Example
       Here is an example calendar file.  It uses a consistent date format, as
       recommended above.

              Feb 1, 2006 14:30 Pointless bureaucratic meeting
              Mar 27, 2006 11:00 Mutual recrimination and finger pointing
                Bring water pistol and waterproofs
              Mar 31, 2006 14:00 Very serious managerial pontification
                # UID 12C7878A9A50
              Apr 10, 2006 13:30 Even more pointless blame assignment exercise WARN 30 mins
              May 18, 2006 16:00 Regular moaning session RPT monthly, 3rd Thursday

       The  second  entry has a continuation line.  The third entry has a con-
       tinuation line that will not be shown when the entry is displayed,  but
       the  unique  identifier  will be used by the calendar_add function when
       updating the event.  The fourth entry will produce a warning 30 minutes
       before  the  event (to allow you to equip yourself appropriately).  The
       fifth entry repeats after a month on the 3rd Thursday,  i.e.  June  15,
       2006, at the same time.

USER FUNCTIONS
       This  section  describes  functions  that are designed to be called di-
       rectly by the user.  The first part describes those  functions  associ-
       ated  with  the  user's  calendar; the second part describes the use in
       glob qualifiers.

   Calendar system functions
       calendar [ -abdDsv ] [ -C calfile ] [ -n num ] [ -S showprog ]
                [ [ start ] end ]
       calendar -r [ -abdDrsv ] [ -C calfile ] [ -n num ] [ -S showprog ]
                [ start ]
              Show events in the calendar.

              With no arguments, show events from the start of today until the
              end of the next working day after today.  In other words, if to-
              day is Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, show up to the  end  of  the
              following Monday, otherwise show today and tomorrow.

              If  end  is given, show events from the start of today up to the
              time and date given, which is in the  format  described  in  the
              previous  section.   Note that if this is a date the time is as-
              sumed to be midnight at the start of the date,  so  that  effec-
              tively this shows all events before the given date.

              end may start with a +, in which case the remainder of the spec-
              ification is a relative time format as described in the previous
              section indicating the range of time from the start time that is
              to be included.

              If start is also given, show events starting from that time  and
              date.  The word now can be used to indicate the current time.

              To  implement  an alert when events are due, include calendar -s
              in your ~/.zshrc file.

              Options:

              -a     Show all items in the calendar, regardless of  the  start
                     and end.

              -b     Brief:   don't  display continuation lines (i.e. indented
                     lines following the line with the  date/time),  just  the
                     first line.

              -B lines
                     Brief:  display at most the first lines lines of the cal-
                     endar entry.  `-B 1' is equivalent to `-b'.

              -C calfile
                     Explicitly specify a calendar file instead of  the  value
                     of the calendar-file style or the default ~/calendar.

              -d     Move  any  events that have passed from the calendar file
                     to the "done" file, as given by the  done-file  style  or
                     the  default  which  is  the calendar file with .done ap-
                     pended.  This option is implied by the -s option.

              -D     Turns off the option -d, even if the -s  option  is  also
                     present.

              -n num, -num
                     Show  at  least  num  events,  if present in the calendar
                     file, regardless of the start and end.

              -r     Show all the remaining options in the calendar,  ignoring
                     the given end time.  The start time is respected; any ar-
                     gument given is treated as a start time.

              -s     Use the shell's sched command to schedule a  timed  event
                     that  will warn the user when an event is due.  Note that
                     the sched command only runs if the shell is at an  inter-
                     active  prompt;  a  foreground  task blocks the scheduled
                     task from running until it is finished.

                     The timed event usually runs the programme  calendar_show
                     to  show  the  event, as described in the section UTILITY
                     FUNCTIONS below.

                     By default, a warning of the event is shown five  minutes
                     before  it  is due.  The warning period can be configured
                     by the style warn-time or for a single calendar entry  by
                     including  WARN  reltime  in the first line of the entry,
                     where reltime is one of the usual relative time formats.

                     A repeated event may be indicated by including  RPT  rel-
                     date in the first line of the entry.  After the scheduled
                     event has been displayed it will be re-entered  into  the
                     calendar file at a time reldate after the existing event.
                     Note that this is currently the only use made of the  re-
                     peat  count,  so  that  it  is  not possible to query the
                     schedule for a recurrence of an event in the calendar un-
                     til the previous event has passed.

                     If  RPT is used, it is also possible to specify that cer-
                     tain recurrences of an  event  are  rescheduled  or  can-
                     celled.   This  is done with the OCCURRENCE keyword, fol-
                     lowed by whitespace and the date and time of  the  occur-
                     rence in the regular sequence, followed by whitespace and
                     either the date and time of the rescheduled event or  the
                     exact  string  CANCELLED.  In this case the date and time
                     must be in exactly the "date with local time" format used
                     by    the    text/calendar    MIME   type   (RFC   2445),
                     _YYYY__MM__DD_T_hh__mm__ss_ (note  the  presence  of  the
                     literal character T).  The first word (the regular recur-
                     rence) may be something other than a proper date/time  to
                     indicate  that  the event is additional to the normal se-
                     quence; a convention that retains the formatting  appear-
                     ance is XXXXXXXXTXXXXXX.

                     Furthermore,  it is useful to record the next regular re-
                     currence (as  then  the  displayed  date  may  be  for  a
                     rescheduled  event  so cannot be used for calculating the
                     regular sequence).  This is specified by RECURRENCE and a
                     time  or date in the same format.  calendar_add adds such
                     an indication when it encounters a recurring  event  that
                     does not include one, based on the headline date/time.

                     If  calendar_add  is  used  to update occurrences the UID
                     keyword described there should be present in both the ex-
                     isting  entry  and the added occurrence in order to iden-
                     tify recurring event sequences.

                     For example,

                            Thu May 6, 2010 11:00 Informal chat RPT 1 week
                              # RECURRENCE 20100506T110000
                              # OCCURRENCE 20100513T110000 20100513T120000
                              # OCCURRENCE 20100520T110000 CANCELLED

                     The event that occurs  at  11:00  on  13th  May  2010  is
                     rescheduled  an hour later.  The event that occurs a week
                     later is cancelled.  The occurrences are given on a  con-
                     tinuation  line  starting  with a # character so will not
                     usually be displayed as part of the event.  As elsewhere,
                     no  account  of time zones is taken with the times. After
                     the next event occurs the headline date/time will be `Thu
                     May  13,  2010 12:00' while the RECURRENCE date/time will
                     be  `20100513T110000'  (note  that  cancelled  and  moved
                     events  are not taken account of in the RECURRENCE, which
                     records what the next regular recurrence is, but they are
                     accounted for in the headline date/time).

                     It  is  safe to run calendar -s to reschedule an existing
                     event (if the calendar file has  changed,  for  example),
                     and also to have it running in multiples instances of the
                     shell since the calendar file is locked when in use.

                     By default, expired events are moved to the "done"  file;
                     see the -d option.  Use -D to prevent this.

              -S showprog
                     Explicitly  specify  a  programme  to be used for showing
                     events instead of the value of the show-prog style or the
                     default calendar_show.

              -v     Verbose:   show more information about stages of process-
                     ing.  This is useful for confirming that the function has
                     successfully parsed the dates in the calendar file.

       calendar_add [ -BL ] event ...
              Adds a single event to the calendar in the appropriate location.
              The event can contain multiple lines, as described in  the  sec-
              tion  Calendar  File  Format above.  Using this function ensures
              that the calendar file is sorted in date  and  time  order.   It
              also makes special arrangements for locking the file while it is
              altered.  The old calendar is left in a  file  with  the  suffix
              .old.

              The  option  -B indicates that backing up the calendar file will
              be handled by the caller and should not be performed  by  calen-
              dar_add.   The  option  -L  indicates that calendar_add does not
              need to lock the calendar file as it is already  locked.   These
              options will not usually be needed by users.

              If the style reformat-date is true, the date and time of the new
              entry will be rewritten into the standard date format:  see  the
              descriptions of this style and the style date-format.

              The  function can use a unique identifier stored with each event
              to ensure that updates to existing events are treated correctly.
              The  entry  should contain the word UID, followed by whitespace,
              followed by a word consisting entirely of hexadecimal digits  of
              arbitrary  length (all digits are significant, including leading
              zeroes).  As the UID is not directly useful to the user,  it  is
              convenient  to hide it on an indented continuation line starting
              with a #, for example:

                     Aug 31, 2007 09:30  Celebrate the end of the holidays
                       # UID 045B78A0

              The second line will not be shown by the calendar function.

              It is possible to specify the RPT keyword followed by  CANCELLED
              instead  of  a  relative time.  This causes any matched event or
              series of events to be cancelled (the original  event  does  not
              have  to be marked as recurring in order to be cancelled by this
              method).  A UID is required in order to match an existing  event
              in the calendar.

              calendar_add  will attempt to manage recurrences and occurrences
              of repeating events as described for event scheduling by  calen-
              dar  -s  above.   To  reschedule or cancel a single event calen-
              dar_add should be called with an entry that includes the correct
              UID  but  does  not  include the RPT keyword as this is taken to
              mean the entry applies to a series of repeating events and hence
              replaces  all  existing  information.   Each rescheduled or can-
              celled occurrence must have an OCCURRENCE keyword in  the  entry
              passed  to  calendar_add  which will be merged into the calendar
              file.  Any existing reference to the occurrence is replaced.  An
              occurrence  that  does  not  refer  to a valid existing event is
              added as a one-off occurrence to the same calendar entry.

       calendar_edit
              This calls the user's editor to  edit  the  calendar  file.   If
              there  are  arguments,  they are taken as the editor to use (the
              file name is appended to the commands); otherwise, the editor is
              given by the variable VISUAL, if set, else the variable EDITOR.

              If  the  calendar  scheduler was running, then after editing the
              file calendar -s is called to update it.

              This function locks out the calendar  system  during  the  edit.
              Hence  it  should  be used to edit the calendar file if there is
              any possibility of a calendar event occurring  meanwhile.   Note
              this  can  lead to another shell with calendar functions enabled
              hanging waiting for a lock, so it is necessary to quit the  edi-
              tor as soon as possible.

       calendar_parse calendar-entry
              This  is the internal function that analyses the parts of a cal-
              endar entry, which is passed as the only argument.  The function
              returns status 1 if the argument could not be parsed as a calen-
              dar entry and status 2 if the wrong  number  of  arguments  were
              passed; it also sets the parameter reply to an empty associative
              array.  Otherwise, it returns status 0 and sets elements of  the
              associative array reply as follows:

              time   The  time  as  a  string  of  digits in the same units as
                     $EPOCHSECONDS
              schedtime
                     The regularly scheduled time.  This may differ  from  the
                     actual  event  time time if this is a recurring event and
                     the next occurrence  has  been  rescheduled.   Then  time
                     gives the actual time and schedtime the time of the regu-
                     lar recurrence before modification.
              text1  The text from the line not including the date and time of
                     the  event,  but  including  any WARN or RPT keywords and
                     values.
              warntime
                     Any warning time given by the WARN keyword as a string of
                     digits  containing  the time at which to warn in the same
                     units as $EPOCHSECONDS.  (Note this is an absolute  time,
                     not the relative time passed down.)  Not set no WARN key-
                     word and value were matched.
              warnstr
                     The raw string matched after the WARN keyword,  else  un-
                     set.
              rpttime
                     Any  recurrence time given by the RPT keyword as a string
                     of digits containing the time of the  recurrence  in  the
                     same  units  as $EPOCHSECONDS.  (Note this is an absolute
                     time.)  Not set if no RPT keyword and value were matched.
              schedrpttime
                     The next regularly scheduled occurrence  of  a  recurring
                     event before modification.  This may differ from rpttime,
                     which is the actual time of the event that may have  been
                     rescheduled from the regular time.
              rptstr The raw string matched after the RPT keyword, else unset.
              text2  The  text from the line after removal of the date and any
                     keywords and values.

       calendar_showdate [ -r ] [ -f fmt ] date-spec ...
              The given date-spec is interpreted and  the  corresponding  date
              and time printed.  If the initial date-spec begins with a + or -
              it is treated as relative to the current time; date-specs  after
              the  first are treated as relative to the date calculated so far
              and a leading + is optional in that case.  This  allows  one  to
              use  the  system  as  a  date  calculator.   For example, calen-
              dar_showdate '+1 month, 1st Friday' shows the date of the  first
              Friday of next month.

              With  the option -r nothing is printed but the value of the date
              and time in seconds since the epoch is stored in  the  parameter
              REPLY.

              With  the option -f fmt the given date/time conversion format is
              passed to strftime; see notes on the date-format style below.

              In order to avoid ambiguity with negative relative date specifi-
              cations,  options  must occur in separate words; in other words,
              -r and -f should not be combined in the same word.

       calendar_sort
              Sorts the calendar file into date and  time  order.     The  old
              calendar is left in a file with the suffix .old.

   Glob qualifiers
       age    The  function  age can be autoloaded and use separately from the
              calendar system, although it uses the function calendar_scandate
              for date formatting.  It requires the zsh/stat builtin, but uses
              only the builtin zstat.

              age selects files having a given modification time for use as  a
              glob  qualifier.  The format of the date is the same as that un-
              derstood by the calendar system, described in the  section  FILE
              AND DATE FORMATS above.

              The  function  can  take one or two arguments, which can be sup-
              plied either directly as command or arguments, or separately  as
              shell parameters.

                     print *(e:age 2006/10/04 2006/10/09:)

              The  example  above matches all files modified between the start
              of those dates.  The second argument may alternatively be a rel-
              ative time introduced by a +:

                     print *(e:age 2006/10/04 +5d:)

              The example above is equivalent to the previous example.

              In  addition  to  the special use of days of the week, today and
              yesterday, times with no date may be specified; these  apply  to
              today.  Obviously such uses become problematic around midnight.

                     print *(e-age 12:00 13:30-)

              The  example  above shows files modified between 12:00 and 13:00
              today.

                     print *(e:age 2006/10/04:)

              The example above matches all files modified on that  date.   If
              the  second  argument  is  omitted  it is taken to be exactly 24
              hours after the first argument (even if the first argument  con-
              tains a time).

                     print *(e-age 2006/10/04:10:15 2006/10/04:10:45-)

              The  example  above supplies times.  Note that whitespace within
              the time and date specification must be quoted to ensure age re-
              ceives  the  correct  arguments, hence the use of the additional
              colon to separate the date and time.

                     AGEREF=2006/10/04:10:15
                     AGEREF2=2006/10/04:10:45
                     print *(+age)

              This shows the same example before using another form  of  argu-
              ment  passing.  The dates and times in the parameters AGEREF and
              AGEREF2 stay in effect until unset, but will  be  overridden  if
              any  argument is passed as an explicit argument to age.  Any ex-
              plicit argument causes both parameters to be ignored.

              Instead of an explicit date and time, it's possible to  use  the
              modification  time of a file as the date and time for either ar-
              gument by introducing the file name with a colon:

                     print *(e-age :file1-)

              matches all files created on the same  day  (24  hours  starting
              from midnight) as file1.

                     print *(e-age :file1 :file2-)

              matches  all  files  modified no earlier than file1 and no later
              than file2; precision here is to the nearest second.

       after
       before The functions after and before are simpler versions of age  that
              take  just one argument.  The argument is parsed similarly to an
              argument of age; if it is not given the variable AGEREF is  con-
              sulted.   As  the names of the functions suggest, a file matches
              if its modification time is after or before the  time  and  date
              specified.  If a time only is given the date is today.

              The two following examples are therefore equivalent:
                     print *(e-after 12:00-)
                     print *(e-after today:12:00-)

STYLES
       The zsh style mechanism using the zstyle command is describe in zshmod-
       ules(1).  This is the same mechanism used in the completion system.

       The styles below are all examined in the  context  :datetime:function:,
       for example :datetime:calendar:.

       calendar-file
              The location of the main calendar.  The default is ~/calendar.

       date-format
              A  strftime  format string (see strftime(3)) with the zsh exten-
              sions providing various numbers with no leading zero or space if
              the  number  is  a  single digit as described for the %D{string}
              prompt format in the section EXPANSION OF  PROMPT  SEQUENCES  in
              zshmisc(1).

              This  is  used for outputting dates in calendar, both to support
              the -v option and when adding recurring events back to the  cal-
              endar file, and in calendar_showdate as the final output format.

              If  the  style is not set, the default used is similar the stan-
              dard system format as output by the date command (also known  as
              `ctime format'): `%a %b %d %H:%M:%S %Z %Y'.

       done-file
              The  location  of the file to which events which have passed are
              appended.  The default is the calendar file  location  with  the
              suffix  .done.  The style may be set to an empty string in which
              case a "done" file will not be maintained.

       reformat-date
              Boolean, used by calendar_add.  If it is true, the date and time
              of  new entries added to the calendar will be reformatted to the
              format given by the style date-format or its default.  Only  the
              date and time of the event itself is reformatted; any subsidiary
              dates and times such as those associated with repeat and warning
              times are left alone.

       show-prog
              The  programme  run  by calendar for showing events.  It will be
              passed the start time and stop time of the events  requested  in
              seconds  since  the epoch followed by the event text.  Note that
              calendar -s uses a start time and stop time equal to one another
              to indicate alerts for specific events.

              The default is the function calendar_show.

       warn-time
              The  time  before an event at which a warning will be displayed,
              if the first line of the event does not include the  text  EVENT
              reltime.  The default is 5 minutes.

UTILITY FUNCTIONS
       calendar_lockfiles
              Attempt  to  lock  the  files given in the argument.  To prevent
              problems with network file locking this is done  in  an  ad  hoc
              fashion by attempting to create a symbolic link to the file with
              the name file.lockfile.  No other  system  level  functions  are
              used  for locking, i.e. the file can be accessed and modified by
              any utility that does not use this  mechanism.   In  particular,
              the  user is not prevented from editing the calendar file at the
              same time unless calendar_edit is used.

              Three attempts are made to lock the file before giving  up.   If
              the  module  zsh/zselect is available, the times of the attempts
              are jittered so that multiple instances of the calling  function
              are unlikely to retry at the same time.

              The  files  locked  are  appended  to the array lockfiles, which
              should be local to the caller.

              If all files were successfully locked, status zero is  returned,
              else status one.

              This  function  may  be used as a general file locking function,
              although this will only work if only this mechanism is  used  to
              lock files.

       calendar_read
              This  is  a backend used by various other functions to parse the
              calendar file, which is passed as the only argument.  The  array
              calendar_entries  is  set  to the list of events in the file; no
              pruning is done except that  ampersands  are  removed  from  the
              start of the line.  Each entry may contain multiple lines.

       calendar_scandate
              This  is a generic function to parse dates and times that may be
              used separately from the calendar system.   The  argument  is  a
              date  or time specification as described in the section FILE AND
              DATE FORMATS above.  The parameter REPLY is set to the number of
              seconds  since the epoch corresponding to that date or time.  By
              default, the date and time may occur anywhere within  the  given
              argument.

              Returns  status  zero  if  the  date  and time were successfully
              parsed, else one.

              Options:
              -a     The date and time are anchored to the start of the  argu-
                     ment;  they  will  not  be  matched if there is preceding
                     text.

              -A     The date and time are anchored to both the start and  end
                     of  the  argument; they will not be matched if the is any
                     other text in the argument.

              -d     Enable additional debugging output.

              -m     Minus.  When -R anchor_time is also  given  the  relative
                     time is calculated backwards from anchor_time.

              -r     The argument passed is to be parsed as a relative time.

              -R anchor_time
                     The  argument  passed is to be parsed as a relative time.
                     The time is relative to anchor_time, a  time  in  seconds
                     since  the  epoch, and the returned value is the absolute
                     time corresponding to advancing anchor_time by the  rela-
                     tive  time  given.   This  allows lengths of months to be
                     correctly taken into account.  If the final day does  not
                     exist in the given month, the last day of the final month
                     is given.  For example, if the anchor time is during 31st
                     January  2007 and the relative time is 1 month, the final
                     time is the same time of day during 28th February 2007.

              -s     In addition to setting REPLY, set REPLY2 to the remainder
                     of  the  argument  after  the  date  and  time  have been
                     stripped.  This is empty if the option -A was given.

              -t     Allow a time with no date specification.  The date is as-
                     sumed  to  be today.  The behaviour is unspecified if the
                     iron tongue of midnight is tolling twelve.

       calendar_show
              The function used by default to display events.   It  accepts  a
              start  time  and end time for events, both in epoch seconds, and
              an event description.

              The event is always printed to standard output.  If the  command
              line  editor is active (which will usually be the case) the com-
              mand line will be redisplayed after the output.

              If the parameter DISPLAY is set and the start and end times  are
              the  same  (indicating a scheduled event), the function uses the
              command xmessage to display a window with the event details.

BUGS
       As the system is based entirely on shell functions (with a little  sup-
       port  from  the zsh/datetime module) the mechanisms used are not as ro-
       bust as those provided by a dedicated calendar  utility.   Consequently
       the user should not rely on the shell for vital alerts.

       There is no calendar_delete function.

       There  is  no localization support for dates and times, nor any support
       for the use of time zones.

       Relative periods of months and years do not take into account the vari-
       able number of days.

       The  calendar_show  function is currently hardwired to use xmessage for
       displaying alerts on X Window System displays.  This should be  config-
       urable and ideally integrate better with the desktop.

       calendar_lockfiles  hangs the shell while waiting for a lock on a file.
       If called from a scheduled task, it should instead reschedule the event
       that caused it.

ZSHTCPSYS(1)                General Commands Manual               ZSHTCPSYS(1)

NAME
       zshtcpsys - zsh tcp system

DESCRIPTION
       A  module  zsh/net/tcp  is  provided to provide network I/O over TCP/IP
       from within the shell; see its description in zshmodules(1).  This man-
       ual page describes a function suite based on the module.  If the module
       is installed, the functions are usually installed at the same time,  in
       which  case they will be available for autoloading in the default func-
       tion search path.  In addition to the zsh/net/tcp module, the  zsh/zse-
       lect  module  is  used  to  implement timeouts on read operations.  For
       troubleshooting tips, consult the corresponding  advice  for  the  zftp
       functions described in zshzftpsys(1).

       There  are  functions  corresponding  to the basic I/O operations open,
       close, read and send, named  tcp_open  etc.,  as  well  as  a  function
       tcp_expect  for pattern match analysis of data read as input.  The sys-
       tem makes it easy to receive data from and send data to multiple  named
       sessions  at once.  In addition, it can be linked with the shell's line
       editor in such a way that input data is automatically shown at the ter-
       minal.   Other  facilities  available  including logging, filtering and
       configurable output prompts.

       To use the system where it is available, it should be  enough  to  `au-
       toload  -U  tcp_open'  and  run tcp_open as documented below to start a
       session.  The tcp_open function will autoload the remaining functions.

TCP USER FUNCTIONS
   Basic I/O
       tcp_open [ -qz ] host port [ sess ]
       tcp_open [ -qz ] [ -s sess | -l sess[,...] ] ...
       tcp_open [ -qz ] [ -a fd | -f fd ] [ sess ]
              Open a new session.  In the first and simplest form, open a  TCP
              connection to host host at port port; numeric and symbolic forms
              are understood for both.

              If sess is given, this becomes the name of the session which can
              be used to refer to multiple different TCP connections.  If sess
              is not given, the function will  invent  a  numeric  name  value
              (note  this  is not the same as the file descriptor to which the
              session is attached).  It is recommended that session names  not
              include  `funny'  characters,  where  funny  characters  are not
              well-defined but certainly do not include alphanumerics  or  un-
              derscores, and certainly do include whitespace.

              In  the second case, one or more sessions to be opened are given
              by name.  A  single  session  name  is  given  after  -s  and  a
              comma-separated  list  after -l; both options may be repeated as
              many times as necessary.  A failure to open any  session  causes
              tcp_open  to  abort.   The  host and port are read from the file
              .ztcp_sessions in the same directory as the user's zsh initiali-
              sation  files,  i.e. usually the home directory, but $ZDOTDIR if
              that is set.  The file consists of lines each giving  a  session
              name  and  the  corresponding host and port, in that order (note
              the session name comes first, not  last),  separated  by  white-
              space.

              The  third form allows passive and fake TCP connections.  If the
              option -a is used, its argument is a file  descriptor  open  for
              listening for connections.  No function front-end is provided to
              open such a file descriptor, but a call to `ztcp -l  port'  will
              create one with the file descriptor stored in the parameter $RE-
              PLY.  The listening port can be closed with  `ztcp  -c  fd'.   A
              call  to  `tcp_open -a fd' will block until a remote TCP connec-
              tion is made to port on the local machine.   At  this  point,  a
              session  is  created  in  the usual way and is largely indistin-
              guishable from an active connection  created  with  one  of  the
              first two forms.

              If  the  option  -f  is  used, its argument is a file descriptor
              which is used directly as if it were a TCP  session.   How  well
              the remainder of the TCP function system copes with this depends
              on what actually underlies this file descriptor.  A regular file
              is  likely  to be unusable; a FIFO (pipe) of some sort will work
              better, but note that it is not a good idea  for  two  different
              sessions to attempt to read from the same FIFO at once.

              If  the option -q is given with any of the three forms, tcp_open
              will not print informational messages, although it will  in  any
              case exit with an appropriate status.

              If  the line editor (zle) is in use, which is typically the case
              if the shell is interactive, tcp_open installs a handler  inside
              zle  which will check for new data at the same time as it checks
              for keyboard input.  This is convenient as the shell consumes no
              CPU  time  while waiting; the test is performed by the operating
              system.  Giving the option -z to any of the  forms  of  tcp_open
              prevents  the handler from being installed, so data must be read
              explicitly.  Note, however, this is not necessary for  executing
              complete  sets of send and read commands from a function, as zle
              is not active at this point.  Generally speaking, the handler is
              only  active  when  the  shell is waiting for input at a command
              prompt or in the vared builtin.  The option has no effect if zle
              is not active; `[[ -o zle]]' will test for this.

              The  first  session to be opened becomes the current session and
              subsequent calls to tcp_open do not change it.  The current ses-
              sion  is  stored  in the parameter $TCP_SESS; see below for more
              detail about the parameters used by the system.

              The function tcp_on_open, if defined, is called when  a  session
              is opened.  See the description below.

       tcp_close [ -qn ] [ -a | -l sess[,...] | sess ... ]
              Close  the  named  sessions,  or  the current session if none is
              given, or all open sessions if -a is given.  The options -l  and
              -s  are both handled for consistency with tcp_open, although the
              latter is redundant.

              If the session being closed is the current one, $TCP_SESS is un-
              set,  leaving  no  current session, even if there are other ses-
              sions still open.

              If the session was opened with tcp_open -f, the file  descriptor
              is  closed  so  long as it is in the range 0 to 9 accessible di-
              rectly from the command line.  If the option -n is given, no at-
              tempt  will be made to close file descriptors in this case.  The
              -n option is not used for genuine ztcp  session;  the  file  de-
              scriptors are always closed with the session.

              If  the  option  -q  is given, no informational messages will be
              printed.

       tcp_read [ -bdq ] [ -t TO ] [ -T TO ]
                [ -a | -u fd[,...] | -l sess[,...] | -s sess ... ]
              Perform a read operation on the current session, or on a list of
              sessions  if  any  are given with -u, -l or -s, or all open ses-
              sions if the option -a is given.  Any of the -u, -l  or  -s  op-
              tions  may  be repeated or mixed together.  The -u option speci-
              fies a file descriptor directly (only those managed by this sys-
              tem are useful), the other two specify sessions as described for
              tcp_open above.

              The function checks for new data available on all  the  sessions
              listed.   Unless the -b option is given, it will not block wait-
              ing for new data.  Any one line of data from any of  the  avail-
              able  sessions  will be read, stored in the parameter $TCP_LINE,
              and displayed to standard output unless $TCP_SILENT  contains  a
              non-empty  string.   When  printed to standard output the string
              $TCP_PROMPT will be shown at the start of the line; the  default
              form  for this includes the name of the session being read.  See
              below for more information on these parameters.  In  this  mode,
              tcp_read  can  be  called  repeatedly  until it returns status 2
              which indicates all pending input from  all  specified  sessions
              has been handled.

              With the option -b, equivalent to an infinite timeout, the func-
              tion will block until a line is available to read  from  one  of
              the  specified  sessions.   However,  only  a single line is re-
              turned.

              The option  -d  indicates  that  all  pending  input  should  be
              drained.   In  this  case tcp_read may process multiple lines in
              the manner given above; only the last is  stored  in  $TCP_LINE,
              but the complete set is stored in the array $tcp_lines.  This is
              cleared at the start of each call to tcp_read.

              The options -t and -T specify a timeout in seconds, which may be
              a  floating  point  number  for increased accuracy.  With -t the
              timeout is applied before each line read.  With -T, the  timeout
              applies  to  the  overall operation, possibly including multiple
              read operations if the option -d is present;  without  this  op-
              tion, there is no distinction between -t and -T.

              The  function  does not print informational messages, but if the
              option -q is given, no error message is printed for a  non-exis-
              tent session.

              A  return  status  of  2 indicates a timeout or no data to read.
              Any other non-zero return status indicates some error condition.

              See tcp_log for how to control where data is sent by tcp_read.

       tcp_send [ -cnq ] [ -s sess | -l sess[,...] ] data ...
       tcp_send [ -cnq ] -a data ...
              Send the supplied data strings to all the specified sessions  in
              turn.  The underlying operation differs little from a `print -r'
              to the session's file descriptor, although it attempts  to  pre-
              vent  the  shell  from dying owing to a SIGPIPE caused by an at-
              tempt to write to a defunct session.

              The option -c causes tcp_send to  behave  like  cat.   It  reads
              lines  from  standard input until end of input and sends them in
              turn to the specified session(s) exactly as if they  were  given
              as data arguments to individual tcp_send commands.

              The  option  -n  prevents tcp_send from putting a newline at the
              end of the data strings.

              The remaining options all behave as for tcp_read.

              The data arguments are not further processed once they have been
              passed to tcp_send; they are simply passed down to print -r.

              If  the  parameter $TCP_OUTPUT is a non-empty string and logging
              is enabled then the data sent to each session will be echoed  to
              the  log  file(s)  with  $TCP_OUTPUT in front where appropriate,
              much in the manner of $TCP_PROMPT.

   Session Management
       tcp_alias [ -q ] alias=sess ...
       tcp_alias [ -q ] [ alias ... ]
       tcp_alias -d [ -q ] alias ...
              This function is not particularly well tested.

              The first form creates an alias for a session  name;  alias  can
              then  be  used  to  refer to the existing session sess.  As many
              aliases may be listed as required.

              The second form lists any aliases specified, or all  aliases  if
              none.

              The  third  form deletes all the aliases listed.  The underlying
              sessions are not affected.

              The option -q suppresses an inconsistently chosen subset of  er-
              ror messages.

       tcp_log [ -asc ] [ -n | -N ] [ logfile ]
              With an argument logfile, all future input from tcp_read will be
              logged to the named file.  Unless -a  (append)  is  given,  this
              file  will  first  be truncated or created empty.  With no argu-
              ments, show the current status of logging.

              With the option -s, per-session logging is enabled.  Input  from
              tcp_read  is output to the file logfile.sess.  As the session is
              automatically discriminated by the filename,  the  contents  are
              raw   (no  $TCP_PROMPT).   The  option   -a  applies  as  above.
              Per-session logging and logging of all data in one file are  not
              mutually exclusive.

              The  option -c closes all logging, both complete and per-session
              logs.

              The options -n and -N respectively turn off or restore output of
              data  read  by  tcp_read to standard output; hence `tcp_log -cn'
              turns off all output by tcp_read.

              The function is purely a convenient front end to setting the pa-
              rameters  $TCP_LOG,  $TCP_LOG_SESS,  $TCP_SILENT,  which are de-
              scribed below.

       tcp_rename old new
              Rename session old to session new.  The  old  name  becomes  in-
              valid.

       tcp_sess [ sess [ command [ arg ... ] ] ]
              With  no  arguments,  list  all the open sessions and associated
              file descriptors.  The current session is marked  with  a  star.
              For   use   in   functions,  direct  access  to  the  parameters
              $tcp_by_name, $tcp_by_fd and $TCP_SESS is probably  more  conve-
              nient; see below.

              With  a sess argument, set the current session to sess.  This is
              equivalent to changing $TCP_SESS directly.

              With additional arguments, temporarily set the  current  session
              while  executing  `command arg ...'.  command is re-evaluated so
              as to expand aliases etc., but the  remaining  args  are  passed
              through as that appear to tcp_sess.  The original session is re-
              stored when tcp_sess exits.

   Advanced I/O
       tcp_command send-option ... send-argument ...
              This is a convenient front-end to tcp_send.  All  arguments  are
              passed  to  tcp_send, then the function pauses waiting for data.
              While data is arriving at least every $TCP_TIMEOUT (default 0.3)
              seconds,  data  is handled and printed out according to the cur-
              rent settings.  Status 0 is always returned.

              This is generally only useful for interactive  use,  to  prevent
              the display becoming fragmented by output returned from the con-
              nection.  Within a programme or function it is generally  better
              to handle reading data by a more explicit method.

       tcp_expect [ -q ] [ -p var | -P var ] [ -t TO | -T TO ]
                  [ -a | -s sess | -l sess[,...] ] pattern ...
              Wait  for  input  matching any of the given patterns from any of
              the specified sessions.  Input is ignored until  an  input  line
              matches  one of the given patterns; at this point status zero is
              returned, the matching line is stored in $TCP_LINE, and the full
              set of lines read during the call to tcp_expect is stored in the
              array $tcp_expect_lines.

              Sessions are specified in the same way as tcp_read: the  default
              is  to use the current session, otherwise the sessions specified
              by -a, -s, or -l are used.

              Each pattern is a standard zsh extended-globbing  pattern;  note
              that  it  needs  to be quoted to avoid it being expanded immedi-
              ately by filename generation.  It must match the full  line,  so
              to  match  a substring there must be a `*' at the start and end.
              The line matched  against  includes  the  $TCP_PROMPT  added  by
              tcp_read.   It is possible to include the globbing flags `#b' or
              `#m' in the patterns to make backreferences available in the pa-
              rameters $MATCH, $match, etc., as described in the base zsh doc-
              umentation on pattern matching.

              Unlike tcp_read, the default behaviour of tcp_expect is to block
              indefinitely  until  the  required  input is found.  This can be
              modified by specifying a timeout with -t or -T;  these  function
              as  in  tcp_read,  specifying a per-read or overall timeout, re-
              spectively, in seconds, as an integer or floating-point  number.
              As tcp_read, the function returns status 2 if a timeout occurs.

              The  function  returns  as soon as any one of the patterns given
              match.  If the caller  needs  to  know  which  of  the  patterns
              matched,  the  option -p var can be used; on return, $var is set
              to the number of the pattern using ordinary zsh  indexing,  i.e.
              the  first  is 1, and so on.  Note the absence of a `$' in front
              of var.  To avoid clashes, the parameter cannot begin with `_ex-
              pect'.   The  index  -1  is  used if there is a timeout and 0 if
              there is no match.

              The option -P var works similarly to -p, but instead of  numeri-
              cal  indexes the regular arguments must begin with a prefix fol-
              lowed by a colon: that prefix is then used as a tag to which var
              is  set  when  the argument matches.  The tag timeout is used if
              there is a timeout and the empty string if there  is  no  match.
              Note  it is acceptable for different arguments to start with the
              same prefix if the matches do not need to be distinguished.

              The option -q is passed directly down to tcp_read.

              As all input is done via tcp_read, all  the  usual  rules  about
              output of lines read apply.  One exception is that the parameter
              $tcp_lines will  only  reflect  the  line  actually  matched  by
              tcp_expect; use $tcp_expect_lines for the full set of lines read
              during the function call.

       tcp_proxy
              This is a simple-minded function to accept a TCP connection  and
              execute  a  command  with I/O redirected to the connection.  Ex-
              treme caution should be taken as there is no security whatsoever
              and this can leave your computer open to the world.  Ideally, it
              should only be used behind a firewall.

              The first argument is a TCP port on which the function will lis-
              ten.

              The remaining arguments give a command and its arguments to exe-
              cute with standard input, standard  output  and  standard  error
              redirected  to  the file descriptor on which the TCP session has
              been accepted.  If no command is given, a new  zsh  is  started.
              This  gives  everyone  on your network direct access to your ac-
              count, which in many cases will be a bad thing.

              The command is run in the background, so tcp_proxy can then  ac-
              cept  new  connections.   It continues to accept new connections
              until interrupted.

       tcp_spam [ -ertv ] [ -a | -s sess | -l sess[,...] ] cmd [ arg ... ]
              Execute `cmd [ arg ... ]' for each session in turn.   Note  this
              executes the command and arguments; it does not send the command
              line as data unless the -t (transmit) option is given.

              The sessions may be selected explicitly with the standard -a, -s
              or  -l  options,  or  may  be chosen implicitly.  If none of the
              three options is given  the  rules  are:  first,  if  the  array
              $tcp_spam_list  is  set,  this is taken as the list of sessions,
              otherwise all sessions are taken.  Second, any sessions given in
              the  array  $tcp_no_spam_list  are removed from the list of ses-
              sions.

              Normally, any sessions added by the `-a' flag or when  all  ses-
              sions  are  chosen  implicitly  are spammed in alphabetic order;
              sessions given by the $tcp_spam_list array  or  on  the  command
              line  are  spammed in the order given.  The -r flag reverses the
              order however it was arrived it.

              The -v flag specifies that a $TCP_PROMPT will be  output  before
              each session.  This is output after any modification to TCP_SESS
              by the user-defined tcp_on_spam function described below.   (Ob-
              viously that function is able to generate its own output.)

              If the option -e is present, the line given as `cmd [ arg ... ]'
              is executed using eval, otherwise it  is  executed  without  any
              further processing.

       tcp_talk
              This  is  a  fairly  simple-minded attempt to force input to the
              line editor to go straight to the default TCP_SESS.

              An escape string, $TCP_TALK_ESCAPE, default `:', is used to  al-
              low  access  to  normal shell operation.  If it is on its own at
              the start of the line, or followed only by whitespace, the  line
              editor  returns  to normal operation.  Otherwise, the string and
              any following whitespace are skipped and the  remainder  of  the
              line executed as shell input without any change of the line edi-
              tor's operating mode.

              The current implementation is somewhat deficient in terms of use
              of the command history.  For this reason, many users will prefer
              to use some form of alternative approach for sending data easily
              to  the  current  session.  One simple approach is to alias some
              special character (such as `%') to `tcp_command --'.

       tcp_wait
              The sole argument is an integer or floating point  number  which
              gives  the seconds to delay.  The shell will do nothing for that
              period except wait for input on  all  TCP  sessions  by  calling
              tcp_read  -a.   This  is similar to the interactive behaviour at
              the command prompt when zle handlers are installed.

   `One-shot' file transfer
       tcp_point port
       tcp_shoot host port
              This pair of functions provide a simple way to transfer  a  file
              between  two  hosts  within the shell.  Note, however, that bulk
              data transfer is currently done using cat.  tcp_point reads  any
              data arriving at port and sends it to standard output; tcp_shoot
              connects to port on host and sends its standard input.  Any  un-
              used port may be used; the standard mechanism for picking a port
              is to think of a random four-digit number above 1024  until  one
              works.

              To  transfer  a  file  from  host  woodcock to host springes, on
              springes:

                     tcp_point 8091 >output_file

              and on woodcock:

                     tcp_shoot springes 8091 <input_file

              As these two functions do not require tcp_open to set up  a  TCP
              connection first, they may need to be autoloaded separately.

TCP USER-DEFINED FUNCTIONS
       Certain  functions, if defined by the user, will be called by the func-
       tion system in certain contexts.  This facility depends on  the  module
       zsh/parameter,  which is usually available in interactive shells as the
       completion system depends on it.  None of the  functions  need  be  de-
       fined; they simply provide convenient hooks when necessary.

       Typically,  these are called after the requested action has been taken,
       so that the various parameters will reflect the new state.

       tcp_on_alias alias fd
              When an alias is defined, this function will be called with  two
              arguments: the name of the alias, and the file descriptor of the
              corresponding session.

       tcp_on_awol sess fd
              If the function tcp_fd_handler is handling input from  the  line
              editor  and  detects that the file descriptor is no longer reus-
              able, by default it removes it from the list of file descriptors
              handled  by  this  method and prints a message.  If the function
              tcp_on_awol is defined it  is  called  immediately  before  this
              point.   It may return status 100, which indicates that the nor-
              mal handling should still be performed; any other return  status
              indicates  that  no  further  action  should  be  taken  and the
              tcp_fd_handler should return immediately with the given  status.
              Typically  the  action  of tcp_on_awol will be to close the ses-
              sion.

              The variable TCP_INVALIDATE_ZLE will be a non-empty string if it
              is  necessary  to  invalidate the line editor display using `zle
              -I' before printing output from the function.

              (`AWOL' is military jargon for `absent without  leave'  or  some
              variation.   It  has  no pre-existing technical meaning known to
              the author.)

       tcp_on_close sess fd
              This is called with the name of a session being closed  and  the
              file  descriptor  which corresponded to that session.  Both will
              be invalid by the time the function is called.

       tcp_on_open sess fd
              This is called after a new session has  been  defined  with  the
              session  name and file descriptor as arguments.  If it returns a
              non-zero status, opening the session is assumed to fail and  the
              session  is closed again; however, tcp_open will continue to at-
              tempt to open any remaining sessions given on the command line.

       tcp_on_rename oldsess fd newsess
              This is called after a session has been renamed with  the  three
              arguments old session name, file descriptor, new session name.

       tcp_on_spam sess command ...
              This is called once for each session spammed, just before a com-
              mand is executed for a session by tcp_spam.  The  arguments  are
              the  session  name  followed by the command list to be executed.
              If tcp_spam was called with the option  -t,  the  first  command
              will be tcp_send.

              This  function  is  called after $TCP_SESS is set to reflect the
              session to be spammed, but before any use of it is made.   Hence
              it is possible to alter the value of $TCP_SESS within this func-
              tion.  For example, the session arguments to tcp_spam could  in-
              clude  extra  information  to  be  stripped off and processed in
              tcp_on_spam.

              If the function sets the parameter $REPLY to `done', the command
              line  is not executed; in addition, no prompt is printed for the
              -v option to tcp_spam.

       tcp_on_unalias alias fd
              This is called with the name of an alias and  the  corresponding
              session's file descriptor after an alias has been deleted.

TCP UTILITY FUNCTIONS
       The  following  functions  are used by the TCP function system but will
       rarely if ever need to be called directly.

       tcp_fd_handler
              This is the function installed by tcp_open  for  handling  input
              from  within the line editor, if that is required.  It is in the
              format documented for the builtin `zle -F' in zshzle(1) .

              While active, the function sets the parameter TCP_HANDLER_ACTIVE
              to 1.  This allows shell code called internally (for example, by
              setting tcp_on_read) to tell if is being called when  the  shell
              is otherwise idle at the editor prompt.

       tcp_output [ -q ] -P prompt -F fd -S sess
              This  function  is  used for both logging and handling output to
              standard output, from within tcp_read  and  (if  $TCP_OUTPUT  is
              set) tcp_send.

              The  prompt  to use is specified by -P; the default is the empty
              string.  It can contain:
              %c     Expands to 1 if the session is the current session,  oth-
                     erwise   0.    Used  with  ternary  expressions  such  as
                     `%(c.-.+)' to output `+' for the current session and  `-'
                     otherwise.

              %f     Replaced by the session's file descriptor.

              %s     Replaced by the session name.

              %%     Replaced by a single `%'.

              The  option  -q suppresses output to standard output, but not to
              any log files which are configured.

              The -S and -F options are used to pass in the session  name  and
              file descriptor for possible replacement in the prompt.

TCP USER PARAMETERS
       Parameters  follow  the  usual  convention  that  uppercase is used for
       scalars and integers, while lowercase is used for normal  and  associa-
       tive  array.  It is always safe for user code to read these parameters.
       Some parameters may also be set; these are  noted  explicitly.   Others
       are  included  in this group as they are set by the function system for
       the user's benefit, i.e. setting them is typically not  useful  but  is
       benign.

       It  is  often  also useful to make settable parameters local to a func-
       tion.  For example, `local TCP_SILENT=1' specifies that data read  dur-
       ing  the  function call will not be printed to standard output, regard-
       less  of  the  setting  outside   the   function.    Likewise,   `local
       TCP_SESS=sess'  sets a session for the duration of a function, and `lo-
       cal TCP_PROMPT=' specifies that no prompt is used for input during  the
       function.

       tcp_expect_lines
              Array.   The  set  of lines read during the last call to tcp_ex-
              pect, including the last ($TCP_LINE).

       tcp_filter
              Array. May be set directly.  A set of extended globbing patterns
              which,  if  matched in tcp_output, will cause the line not to be
              printed to standard output.  The patterns should be  defined  as
              described  for  the  arguments to tcp_expect.  Output of line to
              log files is not affected.

       TCP_HANDLER_ACTIVE
              Scalar.  Set to 1 within tcp_fd_handler to indicate to functions
              called  recursively  that they have been called during an editor
              session.  Otherwise unset.

       TCP_LINE
              The last line read by tcp_read, and hence also tcp_expect.

       TCP_LINE_FD
              The   file   descriptor   from   which   $TCP_LINE   was   read.
              ${tcp_by_fd[$TCP_LINE_FD]}  will  give the corresponding session
              name.

       tcp_lines
              Array. The set of lines read during the last call  to  tcp_read,
              including the last ($TCP_LINE).

       TCP_LOG
              May  be set directly, although it is also controlled by tcp_log.
              The name of a file to which output from  all  sessions  will  be
              sent.   The output is proceeded by the usual $TCP_PROMPT.  If it
              is not an absolute path name, it will follow the user's  current
              directory.

       TCP_LOG_SESS
              May  be set directly, although it is also controlled by tcp_log.
              The prefix for a set of files to which output from each  session
              separately    will    be    sent;    the    full   filename   is
              ${TCP_LOG_SESS}.sess.  Output to each file is raw; no prompt  is
              added.   If  it is not an absolute path name, it will follow the
              user's current directory.

       tcp_no_spam_list
              Array.  May be set directly.  See tcp_spam for how this is used.

       TCP_OUTPUT
              May be set directly.  If a non-empty string, any data sent to  a
              session  by  tcp_send  will be logged.  This parameter gives the
              prompt to be used in a file specified by $TCP_LOG but not  in  a
              file  generated  from  $TCP_LOG_SESS.  The prompt string has the
              same format as TCP_PROMPT and the same rules for its use apply.

       TCP_PROMPT
              May be set directly.  Used  as  the  prefix  for  data  read  by
              tcp_read  which is printed to standard output or to the log file
              given by $TCP_LOG, if any.  Any `%s', `%f' or `%%' occurring  in
              the string will be replaced by the name of the session, the ses-
              sion's underlying file descriptor,  or  a  single  `%',  respec-
              tively.   The  expression `%c' expands to 1 if the session being
              read is the current session, else 0;  this  is  most  useful  in
              ternary  expressions such as `%(c.-.+)' which outputs `+' if the
              session is the current one, else `-'.

              If the prompt starts with %P, this is stripped and the  complete
              result  of  the previous stage is passed through standard prompt
              %-style formatting before being output.

       TCP_READ_DEBUG
              May be set directly.  If this has non-zero length, tcp_read will
              give some limited diagnostics about data being read.

       TCP_SECONDS_START
              This value is created and initialised to zero by tcp_open.

              The  functions  tcp_read  and tcp_expect use the shell's SECONDS
              parameter for their own timing purposes.  If that  parameter  is
              not  of floating point type on entry to one of the functions, it
              will create a local parameter SECONDS which  is  floating  point
              and set the parameter TCP_SECONDS_START to the previous value of
              $SECONDS.  If the parameter is already  floating  point,  it  is
              used without a local copy being created and TCP_SECONDS_START is
              not set.  As the global value is zero, the shell elapsed time is
              guaranteed to be the sum of $SECONDS and $TCP_SECONDS_START.

              This  can  be  avoided by setting SECONDS globally to a floating
              point value using `typeset -F SECONDS'; then the  TCP  functions
              will  never make a local copy and never set TCP_SECONDS_START to
              a non-zero value.

       TCP_SESS
              May be set directly.  The current session; must refer to one  of
              the sessions established by tcp_open.

       TCP_SILENT
              May  be set directly, although it is also controlled by tcp_log.
              If of non-zero length, data read by tcp_read will not be written
              to standard output, though may still be written to a log file.

       tcp_spam_list
              Array.   May  be set directly.  See the description of the func-
              tion tcp_spam for how this is used.

       TCP_TALK_ESCAPE
              May be set  directly.   See  the  description  of  the  function
              tcp_talk for how this is used.

       TCP_TIMEOUT
              May  be  set directly.  Currently this is only used by the func-
              tion tcp_command, see above.

TCP USER-DEFINED PARAMETERS
       The following parameters are not set by the function system, but have a
       special effect if set by the user.

       tcp_on_read
              This should be an associative array; if it is not, the behaviour
              is undefined.  Each key is the name of a shell function or other
              command,  and  the corresponding value is a shell pattern (using
              EXTENDED_GLOB).  Every line read from a TCP session directly  or
              indirectly  using tcp_read (which includes lines read by tcp_ex-
              pect) is compared against the pattern.  If the line matches, the
              command  given in the key is called with two arguments: the name
              of the session from which the line was read, and  the  line  it-
              self.

              If  any function called to handle a line returns a non-zero sta-
              tus, the line is not output.  Thus a  tcp_on_read  handler  con-
              taining  only the instruction `return 1' can be used to suppress
              output of particular lines  (see,  however,  tcp_filter  above).
              However,  the  line  is  still stored in TCP_LINE and tcp_lines;
              this occurs after all tcp_on_read processing.

TCP UTILITY PARAMETERS
       These parameters are controlled by the function  system;  they  may  be
       read directly, but should not usually be set by user code.

       tcp_aliases
              Associative  array.   The  keys are the names of sessions estab-
              lished with tcp_open; each value is a  space-separated  list  of
              aliases which refer to that session.

       tcp_by_fd
              Associative  array.  The keys are session file descriptors; each
              value is the name of that session.

       tcp_by_name
              Associative array.  The keys are the  names  of  sessions;  each
              value is the file descriptor associated with that session.

TCP EXAMPLES
       Here is a trivial example using a remote calculator.

       To  create a calculator server on port 7337 (see the dc manual page for
       quite how infuriating the underlying command is):

              tcp_proxy 7337 dc

       To connect to this from the same host with a session also named `dc':

              tcp_open localhost 7337 dc

       To send a command to the remote session and wait a short while for out-
       put (assuming dc is the current session):

              tcp_command 2 4 + p

       To close the session:

              tcp_close

       The  tcp_proxy  needs  to  be killed to be stopped.  Note this will not
       usually kill any connections which have already been accepted, and also
       that the port is not immediately available for reuse.

       The  following  chunk  of  code  puts  a list of sessions into an xterm
       header, with the current session followed by a star.

              print -n "\033]2;TCP:" ${(k)tcp_by_name:/$TCP_SESS/$TCP_SESS\*} "\a"

TCP BUGS
       The function tcp_read uses the shell's normal read  builtin.   As  this
       reads a complete line at once, data arriving without a terminating new-
       line can cause the function to block indefinitely.

       Though the function suite works well for interactive use and  for  data
       arriving  in  small amounts, the performance when large amounts of data
       are being exchanged is likely to be extremely poor.

ZSHZFTPSYS(1)               General Commands Manual              ZSHZFTPSYS(1)

NAME
       zshzftpsys - zftp function front-end

DESCRIPTION
       This describes the set of shell functions supplied with the source dis-
       tribution  as an interface to the zftp builtin command, allowing you to
       perform FTP operations from the shell command line or within  functions
       or scripts.  The interface is similar to a traditional FTP client (e.g.
       the ftp command itself, see ftp(1)), but as it is entirely done  within
       the  shell  all the familiar completion, editing and globbing features,
       and so on, are present, and macros are particularly simple to write  as
       they are just ordinary shell functions.

       The  prerequisite  is  that  the  zftp command, as described in zshmod-
       ules(1) , must be available in the version of  zsh  installed  at  your
       site.   If the shell is configured to load new commands at run time, it
       probably is: typing `zmodload zsh/zftp' will make sure  (if  that  runs
       silently, it has worked).  If this is not the case, it is possible zftp
       was linked into the shell anyway: to test this, type `which  zftp'  and
       if  zftp  is  available  you will get the message `zftp: shell built-in
       command'.

       Commands given directly with zftp builtin may be  interspersed  between
       the  functions  in  this suite; in a few cases, using zftp directly may
       cause some of the status information stored in shell parameters to  be-
       come  invalid.   Note  in  particular  the description of the variables
       $ZFTP_TMOUT, $ZFTP_PREFS and $ZFTP_VERBOSE for zftp.

INSTALLATION
       You should make sure all the functions from the  Functions/Zftp  direc-
       tory  of the source distribution are available; they all begin with the
       two letters `zf'.  They may already have been installed on your system;
       otherwise,  you  will  need  to find them and copy them.  The directory
       should appear as one of the elements of the $fpath array  (this  should
       already  be the case if they were installed), and at least the function
       zfinit should be autoloaded; it will autoload the  rest.   Finally,  to
       initialize  the use of the system you need to call the zfinit function.
       The following code in your .zshrc will arrange  for  this;  assume  the
       functions are stored in the directory ~/myfns:

              fpath=(~/myfns $fpath)
              autoload -U zfinit
              zfinit

       Note  that zfinit assumes you are using the zmodload method to load the
       zftp command.  If it is already built into the shell, change zfinit  to
       zfinit  -n.  It is helpful (though not essential) if the call to zfinit
       appears after any code to initialize the new  completion  system,  else
       unnecessary compctl commands will be given.

FUNCTIONS
       The sequence of operations in performing a file transfer is essentially
       the same as that in a standard FTP client.  Note that, due to  a  quirk
       of the shell's getopts builtin, for those functions that handle options
       you must use `--' rather than `-' to ensure the remaining arguments are
       treated literally (a single `-' is treated as an argument).

   Opening a connection
       zfparams [ host [ user [ password ... ] ] ]
              Set  or  show  the  parameters for a future zfopen with no argu-
              ments.  If no arguments are given, the  current  parameters  are
              displayed  (the  password will be shown as a line of asterisks).
              If a host is given, and either the user or password is not, they
              will  be  prompted for; also, any parameter given as `?' will be
              prompted for, and if the `?' is followed by a string, that  will
              be  used  as  the prompt.  As zfopen calls zfparams to store the
              parameters, this usually need not be called directly.

              A single argument `-' will delete the stored  parameters.   This
              will  also cause the memory of the last directory (and so on) on
              the other host to be deleted.

       zfopen [ -1 ] [ host [ user [ password [ account ] ] ] ]
              If host is present, open a connection to that host  under  user-
              name  user  with  password  password (and, on the rare occasions
              when it is necessary, account account).  If a necessary  parame-
              ter is missing or given as `?' it will be prompted for.  If host
              is not present, use a previously stored set of parameters.

              If the command was successful, and the  terminal  is  compatible
              with  xterm  or  is  sun-cmd, a summary will appear in the title
              bar, giving the local host:directory and the remote  host:direc-
              tory;  this is handled by the function zftp_chpwd, described be-
              low.

              Normally, the host, user and password  are  internally  recorded
              for  later  re-opening, either by a zfopen with no arguments, or
              automatically (see below).  With the option `-1', no information
              is  stored.  Also, if an open command with arguments failed, the
              parameters will not be retained  (and  any  previous  parameters
              will  also  be  deleted).   A zfopen on its own, or a zfopen -1,
              never alters the stored parameters.

              Both zfopen and zfanon (but not zfparams) understand URLs of the
              form  ftp://host/path... as meaning to connect to the host, then
              change directory to path (which  must  be  a  directory,  not  a
              file).   The `ftp://' can be omitted; the trailing `/' is enough
              to trigger recognition of the path.  Note  prefixes  other  than
              `ftp:'  are  not  recognized,  and that all characters after the
              first slash beyond host are significant in path.

       zfanon [ -1 ] host
              Open a connection host for anonymous FTP.  The username used  is
              `anonymous'.   The  password  (which  will be reported the first
              time) is generated as user@host; this  is  then  stored  in  the
              shell parameter $EMAIL_ADDR which can alternatively be set manu-
              ally to a suitable string.

   Directory management
       zfcd [ dir ]
       zfcd -
       zfcd old new
              Change the current directory on the remote server:  this is  im-
              plemented to have many of the features of the shell builtin cd.

              In the first form with dir present, change to the directory dir.
              The command `zfcd ..' is treated specially, so is guaranteed  to
              work  on  non-UNIX  servers  (note this is handled internally by
              zftp).  If dir is omitted, has the effect of `zfcd ~'.

              The second form changes to the directory previously current.

              The third form attempts to change the current directory  by  re-
              placing  the  first occurrence of the string old with the string
              new in the current directory.

              Note that in this command, and indeed anywhere a remote filename
              is  expected,  the string which on the local host corresponds to
              `~' is converted back to a `~' before being passed to the remote
              machine.   This  is  convenient  because of the way expansion is
              performed on the command line before  zfcd  receives  a  string.
              For  example,  suppose  the  command is `zfcd ~/foo'.  The shell
              will   expand   this   to   a   full   path   such   as    `zfcd
              /home/user2/pws/foo'.   At  this stage, zfcd recognises the ini-
              tial path as corresponding to `~' and will send the directory to
              the  remote  host  as ~/foo, so that the `~' will be expanded by
              the server to the correct remote host  directory.   Other  named
              directories of the form `~name' are not treated in this fashion.

       zfhere Change  directory  on the remote server to the one corresponding
              to the current local directory, with special handling of `~'  as
              in  zfcd.   For  example,  if  the  current  local  directory is
              ~/foo/bar, then zfhere performs the effect of `zfcd ~/foo/bar'.

       zfdir [ -rfd ] [ - ] [ dir-options ] [ dir ]
              Produce a long directory listing.  The arguments dir-options and
              dir are passed directly to the server and their effect is imple-
              mentation dependent, but specifying a particular  remote  direc-
              tory  dir  is  usually possible.  The output is passed through a
              pager given by the environment variable  $PAGER,  or  `more'  if
              that is not set.

              The directory is usually cached for re-use.  In fact, two caches
              are maintained.  One is for use when there is no dir-options  or
              dir,  i.e. a full listing of the current remote directory; it is
              flushed when the current remote directory changes.  The other is
              kept  for repeated use of zfdir with the same arguments; for ex-
              ample, repeated use of `zfdir /pub/gnu' will  only  require  the
              directory  to  be  retrieved  on the first call.  Alternatively,
              this cache can be re-viewed with the -r option.  As relative di-
              rectories will confuse zfdir, the -f option can be used to force
              the cache to be flushed before the directory is listed.  The op-
              tion  -d  will  delete  both  caches without showing a directory
              listing; it will also delete the cache of file names in the cur-
              rent remote directory, if any.

       zfls [ ls-options ] [ dir ]
              List  files  on the remote server.  With no arguments, this will
              produce a simple list of file names for the current  remote  di-
              rectory.   Any  arguments are passed directly to the server.  No
              pager and no caching is used.

   Status commands
       zftype [ type ]
              With no arguments, show the type of data to be transferred, usu-
              ally  ASCII  or  binary.  With an argument, change the type: the
              types `A' or `ASCII' for ASCII data and `B' or `BINARY', `I'  or
              `IMAGE' for binary data are understood case-insensitively.

       zfstat [ -v ]
              Show  the  status  of the current or last connection, as well as
              the status of some of zftp's status variables.  With the -v  op-
              tion,  a more verbose listing is produced by querying the server
              for its version of events, too.

   Retrieving files
       The commands for retrieving files all take at  least  two  options.  -G
       suppresses remote filename expansion which would otherwise be performed
       (see below for a more detailed description of that).   -t  attempts  to
       set the modification time of the local file to that of the remote file:
       see the description of the function zfrtime below for more information.

       zfget [ -Gtc ] file1 ...
              Retrieve all the listed files file1 ... one at a time  from  the
              remote  server.   If  a  file  contains  a `/', the full name is
              passed to the remote server, but the file is stored locally  un-
              der  the name given by the part after the final `/'.  The option
              -c (cat) forces all files to be sent as a single stream to stan-
              dard output; in this case the -t option has no effect.

       zfuget [ -Gvst ] file1 ...
              As  zfget,  but only retrieve files where the version on the re-
              mote server is newer (has a later modification time),  or  where
              the  local file does not exist.  If the remote file is older but
              the files have different sizes, or if the sizes are the same but
              the  remote  file  is  newer,  the user will usually be queried.
              With the option -s, the command runs silently  and  will  always
              retrieve the file in either of those two cases.  With the option
              -v, the command prints more information about the files while it
              is working out whether or not to transfer them.

       zfcget [ -Gt ] file1 ...
              As  zfget,  but if any of the local files exists, and is shorter
              than the corresponding remote file, the command assumes that  it
              is  the result of a partially completed transfer and attempts to
              transfer the rest of the file.  This is useful on a poor connec-
              tion which keeps failing.

              Note  that  this  requires a commonly implemented, but non-stan-
              dard, version of the FTP protocol, so is not guaranteed to  work
              on all servers.

       zfgcp [ -Gt ] remote-file local-file
       zfgcp [ -Gt ] rfile1 ... ldir
              This  retrieves  files from the remote server with arguments be-
              having similarly to the cp command.

              In the first form, copy remote-file from the server to the local
              file local-file.

              In  the  second  form, copy all the remote files rfile1 ... into
              the local directory ldir retaining the same basenames.  This as-
              sumes UNIX directory semantics.

   Sending files
       zfput [ -r ] file1 ...
              Send  all  the  file1 ... given separately to the remote server.
              If a filename contains a `/', the full filename is used  locally
              to  find  the file, but only the basename is used for the remote
              file name.

              With the option -r, if any of the files are directories they are
              sent  recursively with all their subdirectories, including files
              beginning with `.'.  This requires that the remote  machine  un-
              derstand  UNIX  file semantics, since `/' is used as a directory
              separator.

       zfuput [ -vs ] file1 ...
              As zfput, but only send files which are newer than their  remote
              equivalents, or if the remote file does not exist.  The logic is
              the same as for zfuget, but reversed between  local  and  remote
              files.

       zfcput file1 ...
              As  zfput,  but if any remote file already exists and is shorter
              than the local equivalent, assume it is the result of an  incom-
              plete  transfer  and  send the rest of the file to append to the
              existing part.  As the FTP append command is part of  the  stan-
              dard set, this is in principle more likely to work than zfcget.

       zfpcp local-file remote-file
       zfpcp lfile1 ... rdir
              This  sends  files  to the remote server with arguments behaving
              similarly to the cp command.

              With two  arguments,  copy  local-file  to  the  server  as  re-
              mote-file.

              With  more  than  two arguments, copy all the local files lfile1
              ... into the existing remote directory rdir retaining  the  same
              basenames.  This assumes UNIX directory semantics.

              A  problem  arises if you attempt to use zfpcp lfile1 rdir, i.e.
              the second form of copying but with two arguments, as  the  com-
              mand  has  no simple way of knowing if rdir corresponds to a di-
              rectory or a filename.  It attempts to resolve this  in  various
              ways.   First,  if the rdir argument is `.' or `..' or ends in a
              slash, it is assumed to be a directory.  Secondly, if the opera-
              tion  of  copying to a remote file in the first form failed, and
              the remote server sends back the expected failure code 553 and a
              reply  including  the  string  `Is a directory', then zfpcp will
              retry using the second form.

   Closing the connection
       zfclose
              Close the connection.

   Session management
       zfsession [ -lvod ] [ sessname ]
              Allows you to manage multiple FTP sessions at once.  By default,
              connections  take place in a session called `default'; by giving
              the command `zfsession sessname' you can change to a new or  ex-
              isting  session with a name of your choice.  The new session re-
              members its own connection, as well as associated shell  parame-
              ters,  and also the host/user parameters set by zfparams.  Hence
              you can have different sessions set up to connect  to  different
              hosts, each remembering the appropriate host, user and password.

              With no arguments, zfsession prints the name of the current ses-
              sion; with the option -l it lists all sessions  which  currently
              exist,  and  with  the option -v it gives a verbose list showing
              the host and directory for each session, where the current  ses-
              sion is marked with an asterisk.  With -o, it will switch to the
              most recent previous session.

              With -d, the given session (or else the current one) is removed;
              everything to do with it is completely forgotten.  If it was the
              only session, a new session called `default' is created and made
              current.   It  is safest not to delete sessions while background
              commands using zftp are active.

       zftransfer sess1:file1 sess2:file2
              Transfer files between two sessions; no local copy is made.  The
              file is read from the session sess1 as file1 and written to ses-
              sion sess2 as file file2; file1 and file2 may be relative to the
              current  directories  of the session.  Either sess1 or sess2 may
              be omitted (though the colon should be retained if  there  is  a
              possibility  of a colon appearing in the file name) and defaults
              to the current session; file2 may be omitted or may end  with  a
              slash,  in  which case the basename of file1 will be added.  The
              sessions sess1 and sess2 must be distinct.

              The operation is performed using pipes, so it is  required  that
              the  connections  still be valid in a subshell, which is not the
              case under versions of some operating systems, presumably due to
              a system bug.

   Bookmarks
       The two functions zfmark and zfgoto allow you to `bookmark' the present
       location (host, user and directory) of the current FTP  connection  for
       later use.  The file to be used for storing and retrieving bookmarks is
       given by the parameter $ZFTP_BMFILE; if not set when  one  of  the  two
       functions  is  called, it will be set to the file .zfbkmarks in the di-
       rectory where your zsh startup files live (usually ~).

       zfmark [ bookmark ]
              If given an argument, mark the current host, user and  directory
              under the name bookmark for later use by zfgoto.  If there is no
              connection open, use the values for the last connection  immedi-
              ately  before  it  was closed; it is an error if there was none.
              Any existing bookmark under the same name will be  silently  re-
              placed.

              If  not  given  an argument, list the existing bookmarks and the
              points to which they refer in the form user@host:directory; this
              is  the  format  in  which  they are stored, and the file may be
              edited directly.

       zfgoto [ -n ] bookmark
              Return to the location given by bookmark, as previously  set  by
              zfmark.  If the location has user `ftp' or `anonymous', open the
              connection with zfanon, so that no password is required.  If the
              user and host parameters match those stored for the current ses-
              sion, if any, those will be used, and again no password  is  re-
              quired.  Otherwise a password will be prompted for.

              With  the  option  -n,  the  bookmark  is taken to be a nickname
              stored by the ncftp program in its bookmark file, which  is  as-
              sumed  to be ~/.ncftp/bookmarks.  The function works identically
              in other ways.  Note that there is no mechanism  for  adding  or
              modifying ncftp bookmarks from the zftp functions.

   Other functions
       Mostly,  these  functions  will  not  be  called  directly  (apart from
       zfinit), but are described here for completeness.  You may wish to  al-
       ter zftp_chpwd and zftp_progress, in particular.

       zfinit [ -n ]
              As described above, this is used to initialize the zftp function
              system.  The -n option should be used if the zftp command is al-
              ready built into the shell.

       zfautocheck [ -dn ]
              This  function is called to implement automatic reopening behav-
              iour, as described in more detail below.  The options  must  ap-
              pear  in the first argument; -n prevents the command from chang-
              ing to the old directory, while -d prevents it from setting  the
              variable  do_close,  which it otherwise does as a flag for auto-
              matically closing the connection after a transfer.  The host and
              directory  for  the  last  session  are  stored  in the variable
              $zflastsession, but the internal  host/user/password  parameters
              must also be correctly set.

       zfcd_match prefix suffix
              This performs matching for completion of remote directory names.
              If the remote server is UNIX, it will attempt  to  persuade  the
              server  to list the remote directory with subdirectories marked,
              which usually works but is not guaranteed.  On  other  hosts  it
              simply calls zfget_match and hence completes all files, not just
              directories.  On some systems, directories  may  not  even  look
              like filenames.

       zfget_match prefix suffix
              This  performs  matching for completion of remote filenames.  It
              caches files for the current directory (only) in the  shell  pa-
              rameter  $zftp_fcache.  It is in the form to be called by the -K
              option of compctl, but  also  works  when  called  from  a  wid-
              get-style  completion function with prefix and suffix set appro-
              priately.

       zfrglob varname
              Perform remote globbing, as  describes  in  more  detail  below.
              varname  is  the name of a variable containing the pattern to be
              expanded; if there were any matches, the same variable  will  be
              set to the expanded set of filenames on return.

       zfrtime lfile rfile [ time ]
              Set  the  local file lfile to have the same modification time as
              the remote file rfile, or the explicit time time in  FTP  format
              CCYYMMDDhhmmSS  for  the  GMT  timezone.   This uses the shell's
              zsh/datetime module to perform the conversion from GMT to  local
              time.

       zftp_chpwd
              This  function  is  called every time a connection is opened, or
              closed, or the remote directory changes.   This  version  alters
              the  title bar of an xterm-compatible or sun-cmd terminal emula-
              tor to reflect the local and remote hostnames and current direc-
              tories.   It  works  best when combined with the function chpwd.
              In particular, a function of the form

                     chpwd() {
                       if [[ -n $ZFTP_USER ]]; then
                         zftp_chpwd
                       else
                         # usual chpwd e.g put host:directory in title bar
                       fi
                     }

              fits in well.

       zftp_progress
              This function shows the status of the  transfer.   It  will  not
              write  anything  unless  the output is going to a terminal; how-
              ever, if you transfer files in the background, you  should  turn
              off  progress  reports  by hand using `zstyle ':zftp:*' progress
              none'.  Note also that if you alter it, any output  must  be  to
              standard error, as standard output may be a file being received.
              The form of the progress meter, or whether it is  used  at  all,
              can be configured without altering the function, as described in
              the next section.

       zffcache
              This is used to implement caching of files in the current direc-
              tory for each session separately.  It is used by zfget_match and
              zfrglob.

MISCELLANEOUS FEATURES
   Configuration
       Various styles are available using the standard shell style  mechanism,
       described  in  zshmodules(1).  Briefly,  the  command `zstyle ':zftp:*'
       style value ...'.  defines the style to have value value; more than one
       value  may be given, although that is not useful in the cases described
       here.  These values will then be used throughout the zftp function sys-
       tem.   For more precise control, the first argument, which gives a con-
       text in which the style applies, can be modified to include a  particu-
       lar  function,  as  for example `:zftp:zfget': the style will then have
       the given value only in the zfget function.  Values for the same  style
       in  different  contexts  may be set; the most specific function will be
       used, where strings are held to be more  specific  than  patterns,  and
       longer  patterns  and  shorter  patterns.  Note that only the top level
       function name, as called by the user, is used; calling of  lower  level
       functions is transparent to the user.  Hence modifications to the title
       bar in zftp_chpwd use the contexts :zftp:zfopen, :zftp:zfcd, etc.,  de-
       pending where it was called from.  The following styles are understood:

       progress
              Controls the way that zftp_progress reports on the progress of a
              transfer.  If empty, unset, or `none',  no  progress  report  is
              made; if `bar' a growing bar of inverse video is shown; if `per-
              cent' (or any other string, though this may change  in  future),
              the  percentage of the file transferred is shown.  The bar meter
              requires that the width of the terminal  be  available  via  the
              $COLUMNS parameter (normally this is set automatically).  If the
              size of the file being transferred is  not  available,  bar  and
              percent  meters will simply show the number of bytes transferred
              so far.

              When zfinit is run, if this style is not defined for the context
              :zftp:*, it will be set to `bar'.

       update Specifies  the  minimum  time  interval  between  updates of the
              progress meter in seconds.  No update is made  unless  new  data
              has  been  received, so the actual time interval is limited only
              by $ZFTP_TIMEOUT.

              As described for progress, zfinit will force this to default  to
              1.

       remote-glob
              If  set  to `1', `yes' or `true', filename generation (globbing)
              is performed on the remote machine instead of by zsh itself; see
              below.

       titlebar
              If  set  to `1', `yes' or `true', zftp_chpwd will put the remote
              host and remote directory into the titlebar of  terminal  emula-
              tors such as xterm or sun-cmd that allow this.

              As  described for progress, zfinit will force this to default to
              1.

       chpwd  If set to `1' `yes' or `true', zftp_chpwd will call the function
              chpwd when a connection is closed.  This is useful if the remote
              host details were put into the terminal title bar by  zftp_chpwd
              and your usual chpwd also modifies the title bar.

              When  zfinit  is run, it will determine whether chpwd exists and
              if so it will set the default value for the style to 1  if  none
              exists already.

       Note  that  there  is also an associative array zfconfig which contains
       values used by the function system.  This should  not  be  modified  or
       overwritten.

   Remote globbing
       The  commands  for retrieving files usually perform filename generation
       (globbing) on their arguments; this can be turned off  by  passing  the
       option  -G to each of the commands.  Normally this operates by retriev-
       ing a complete list of files for the directory in question, then match-
       ing these locally against the pattern supplied.  This has the advantage
       that the full range of zsh patterns (respecting the setting of the  op-
       tion  EXTENDED_GLOB) can be used.  However, it means that the directory
       part of a filename will not be expanded and must be given exactly.   If
       the remote server does not support the UNIX directory semantics, direc-
       tory handling is problematic and it is recommended that  globbing  only
       be used within the current directory.  The list of files in the current
       directory, if retrieved, will be cached, so that  subsequent  globs  in
       the same directory without an intervening zfcd are much faster.

       If  the  remote-glob style (see above) is set, globbing is instead per-
       formed on the remote host: the server is asked for a list  of  matching
       files.   This  is  highly  dependent  on how the server is implemented,
       though typically UNIX servers will provide support for basic glob  pat-
       terns.   This  may in some cases be faster, as it avoids retrieving the
       entire list of directory contents.

   Automatic and temporary reopening
       As described for the zfopen command, a subsequent zfopen with no param-
       eters  will  reopen the connection to the last host (this includes con-
       nections made with the zfanon command).  Opened in  this  fashion,  the
       connection  starts in the default remote directory and will remain open
       until explicitly closed.

       Automatic re-opening is also available.  If a connection  is  not  cur-
       rently  open  and  a  command requiring a connection is given, the last
       connection is implicitly reopened.  In this case  the  directory  which
       was  current  when  the connection was closed again becomes the current
       directory (unless, of course, the command given changes it).  Automatic
       reopening  will  also take place if the connection was close by the re-
       mote server for whatever reason (e.g. a timeout).  It is not  available
       if the -1 option to zfopen or zfanon was used.

       Furthermore,  if  the command issued is a file transfer, the connection
       will be closed after  the  transfer  is  finished,  hence  providing  a
       one-shot mode for transfers.  This does not apply to directory changing
       or listing commands; for example a zfdir may reopen  a  connection  but
       will  leave  it open.  Also, automatic closure will only ever happen in
       the same command as automatic opening, i.e a zfdir directly followed by
       a zfget will never close the connection automatically.

       Information  about the previous connection is given by the zfstat func-
       tion.  So, for example, if that reports:

              Session:        default
              Not connected.
              Last session:   ftp.bar.com:/pub/textfiles

       then the command zfget file.txt will attempt to reopen a connection  to
       ftp.bar.com, retrieve the file /pub/textfiles/file.txt, and immediately
       close the connection again.  On the other hand, zfcd ..  will open  the
       connection in the directory /pub and leave it open.

       Note  that  all  the above is local to each session; if you return to a
       previous session, the connection for that session is the one which will
       be reopened.

   Completion
       Completion  of  local and remote files, directories, sessions and book-
       marks is supported.  The older,  compctl-style  completion  is  defined
       when zfinit is called; support for the new widget-based completion sys-
       tem is provided in  the  function  Completion/Zsh/Command/_zftp,  which
       should  be  installed with the other functions of the completion system
       and hence should automatically be available.

ZSHCONTRIB(1)               General Commands Manual              ZSHCONTRIB(1)

NAME
       zshcontrib - user contributions to zsh

DESCRIPTION
       The Zsh source distribution includes a number of items  contributed  by
       the  user community.  These are not inherently a part of the shell, and
       some may not be available in every zsh installation.  The most signifi-
       cant of these are documented here.  For documentation on other contrib-
       uted items such as shell functions, look for comments in  the  function
       source files.

UTILITIES
   Accessing On-Line Help
       The key sequence ESC h is normally bound by ZLE to execute the run-help
       widget (see zshzle(1)).  This invokes the  run-help  command  with  the
       command  word from the current input line as its argument.  By default,
       run-help is an alias for the man command, so this often fails when  the
       command  word  is  a  shell builtin or a user-defined function.  By re-
       defining the run-help alias, one can improve the on-line help  provided
       by the shell.

       The helpfiles utility, found in the Util directory of the distribution,
       is a Perl program that can be used to process the zsh manual to produce
       a  separate  help  file for each shell builtin and for many other shell
       features as well.  The autoloadable run-help function, found  in  Func-
       tions/Misc,  searches  for  these  helpfiles and performs several other
       tests to produce the most complete help possible for the command.

       Help files are installed by default to a subdirectory of /usr/share/zsh
       or /usr/local/share/zsh.

       To create your own help files with helpfiles, choose or create a direc-
       tory where the individual command help files will reside.  For example,
       you  might  choose ~/zsh_help.  If you unpacked the zsh distribution in
       your home directory, you would use the commands:

              mkdir ~/zsh_help
              perl ~/zsh-5.8/Util/helpfiles ~/zsh_help

       The HELPDIR parameter tells run-help where to look for the help  files.
       When unset, it uses the default installation path.  To use your own set
       of help files, set this to the appropriate path in one of your  startup
       files:

              HELPDIR=~/zsh_help

       To  use the run-help function, you need to add lines something like the
       following to your .zshrc or equivalent startup file:

              unalias run-help
              autoload run-help

       Note that in order for `autoload run-help' to work, the  run-help  file
       must  be  in one of the directories named in your fpath array (see zsh-
       param(1)).  This should already be the case if you have a standard  zsh
       installation;  if  it is not, copy Functions/Misc/run-help to an appro-
       priate directory.

   Recompiling Functions
       If you frequently edit your zsh functions, or periodically update  your
       zsh  installation  to  track the latest developments, you may find that
       function digests compiled with the zcompile builtin are frequently  out
       of date with respect to the function source files.  This is not usually
       a problem, because zsh always looks for the newest file when loading  a
       function,  but  it may cause slower shell startup and function loading.
       Also, if a digest file is explicitly used as an element of  fpath,  zsh
       won't check whether any of its source files has changed.

       The  zrecompile  autoloadable function, found in Functions/Misc, can be
       used to keep function digests up to date.

       zrecompile [ -qt ] [ name ... ]
       zrecompile [ -qt ] -p arg ... [ -- arg ... ]
              This tries to find *.zwc files and automatically re-compile them
              if at least one of the original files is newer than the compiled
              file.  This works only if the names stored in the compiled files
              are  full  paths  or are relative to the directory that contains
              the .zwc file.

              In the first form, each name is the name of a compiled file or a
              directory  containing *.zwc files that should be checked.  If no
              arguments are given, the directories and *.zwc  files  in  fpath
              are used.

              When -t is given, no compilation is performed, but a return sta-
              tus of zero (true) is set if there are files  that  need  to  be
              re-compiled  and non-zero (false) otherwise.  The -q option qui-
              ets the chatty output that describes what zrecompile is doing.

              Without the -t option, the return status is zero  if  all  files
              that  needed  re-compilation  could  be compiled and non-zero if
              compilation for at least one of the files failed.

              If the -p option is given, the args are interpreted  as  one  or
              more sets of arguments for zcompile, separated by `--'.  For ex-
              ample:

                     zrecompile -p \
                                -R ~/.zshrc -- \
                                -M ~/.zcompdump -- \
                                ~/zsh/comp.zwc ~/zsh/Completion/*/_*

              This compiles ~/.zshrc into ~/.zshrc.zwc if that  doesn't  exist
              or  if  it  is  older  than  ~/.zshrc. The compiled file will be
              marked for reading instead of mapping.  The  same  is  done  for
              ~/.zcompdump  and  ~/.zcompdump.zwc,  but  this compiled file is
              marked  for  mapping.  The  last  line   re-creates   the   file
              ~/zsh/comp.zwc if any of the files matching the given pattern is
              newer than it.

              Without the -p option, zrecompile does not create  function  di-
              gests  that  do not already exist, nor does it add new functions
              to the digest.

       The following shell loop is an example of a method for  creating  func-
       tion  digests  for  all functions in your fpath, assuming that you have
       write permission to the directories:

              for ((i=1; i <= $#fpath; ++i)); do
                dir=$fpath[i]
                zwc=${dir:t}.zwc
                if [[ $dir == (.|..) || $dir == (.|..)/* ]]; then
                  continue
                fi
                files=($dir/*(N-.))
                if [[ -w $dir:h && -n $files ]]; then
                  files=(${${(M)files%/*/*}#/})
                  if ( cd $dir:h &&
                       zrecompile -p -U -z $zwc $files ); then
                    fpath[i]=$fpath[i].zwc
                  fi
                fi
              done

       The -U and -z options are appropriate for functions in the default  zsh
       installation fpath; you may need to use different options for your per-
       sonal function directories.

       Once the digests have been created and your fpath modified to refer  to
       them,  you can keep them up to date by running zrecompile with no argu-
       ments.

   Keyboard Definition
       The large number of possible combinations of  keyboards,  workstations,
       terminals, emulators, and window systems makes it impossible for zsh to
       have built-in key bindings for  every  situation.   The  zkbd  utility,
       found  in  Functions/Misc, can help you quickly create key bindings for
       your configuration.

       Run zkbd either as an autoloaded function, or as a shell script:

              zsh -f ~/zsh-5.8/Functions/Misc/zkbd

       When you run zkbd, it first asks you to enter your  terminal  type;  if
       the  default it offers is correct, just press return.  It then asks you
       to press a number of different keys  to  determine  characteristics  of
       your  keyboard and terminal; zkbd warns you if it finds anything out of
       the ordinary, such as a Delete key that sends neither ^H nor ^?.

       The keystrokes read by zkbd are recorded as a definition for  an  asso-
       ciative  array  named  key, written to a file in the subdirectory .zkbd
       within either your HOME or ZDOTDIR directory.  The name of the file  is
       composed  from  the  TERM,  VENDOR and OSTYPE parameters, joined by hy-
       phens.

       You may read this file into your .zshrc or another  startup  file  with
       the `source' or `.' commands, then reference the key parameter in bind-
       key commands, like this:

              source ${ZDOTDIR:-$HOME}/.zkbd/$TERM-$VENDOR-$OSTYPE
              [[ -n ${key[Left]} ]] && bindkey "${key[Left]}" backward-char
              [[ -n ${key[Right]} ]] && bindkey "${key[Right]}" forward-char
              # etc.

       Note that in order for `autoload zkbd' to work, the zkdb file  must  be
       in  one of the directories named in your fpath array (see zshparam(1)).
       This should already be the case if you have a  standard  zsh  installa-
       tion;  if  it is not, copy Functions/Misc/zkbd to an appropriate direc-
       tory.

   Dumping Shell State
       Occasionally you may encounter what appears to be a bug in  the  shell,
       particularly  if  you  are using a beta version of zsh or a development
       release.  Usually it is sufficient to send a description of the problem
       to  one of the zsh mailing lists (see zsh(1)), but sometimes one of the
       zsh developers will need to recreate your environment in order to track
       the problem down.

       The script named reporter, found in the Util directory of the distribu-
       tion, is provided for this purpose.  (It is also possible  to  autoload
       reporter,  but  reporter  is  not installed in fpath by default.)  This
       script outputs a detailed dump of the shell state, in the form  of  an-
       other script that can be read with `zsh -f' to recreate that state.

       To  use  reporter, read the script into your shell with the `.' command
       and redirect the output into a file:

              . ~/zsh-5.8/Util/reporter > zsh.report

       You should check the zsh.report file for any sensitive information such
       as  passwords  and delete them by hand before sending the script to the
       developers.  Also, as the output can be voluminous, it's best  to  wait
       for the developers to ask for this information before sending it.

       You  can  also  use  reporter to dump only a subset of the shell state.
       This is sometimes useful for creating startup files for the first time.
       Most  of  the output from reporter is far more detailed than usually is
       necessary for a startup file, but the  aliases,  options,  and  zstyles
       states  may  be  useful  because they include only changes from the de-
       faults.  The bindings state may be useful if you have  created  any  of
       your own keymaps, because reporter arranges to dump the keymap creation
       commands as well as the bindings for every keymap.

       As is usual with automated tools, if you create a startup file with re-
       porter,  you  should  edit  the results to remove unnecessary commands.
       Note that if you're using the new completion  system,  you  should  not
       dump  the  functions state to your startup files with reporter; use the
       compdump function instead (see zshcompsys(1)).

       reporter [ state ... ]
              Print to standard output the indicated  subset  of  the  current
              shell state.  The state arguments may be one or more of:

              all    Output everything listed below.
              aliases
                     Output alias definitions.
              bindings
                     Output ZLE key maps and bindings.
              completion
                     Output  old-style  compctl  commands.   New completion is
                     covered by functions and zstyles.
              functions
                     Output autoloads and function definitions.
              limits Output limit commands.
              options
                     Output setopt commands.
              styles Same as zstyles.
              variables
                     Output shell parameter assignments, plus export  commands
                     for any environment variables.
              zstyles
                     Output zstyle commands.

              If the state is omitted, all is assumed.

       With the exception of `all', every state can be abbreviated by any pre-
       fix, even a single letter; thus a is the same as aliases, z is the same
       as zstyles, etc.

   Manipulating Hook Functions
       add-zsh-hook [ -L | -dD ] [ -Uzk ] hook function
              Several  functions are special to the shell, as described in the
              section SPECIAL FUNCTIONS, see zshmisc(1), in that they are  au-
              tomatically  called  at  specific points during shell execution.
              Each has an associated array consisting of names of functions to
              be  called  at  the  same point; these are so-called `hook func-
              tions'.  The shell function add-zsh-hook provides a  simple  way
              of adding or removing functions from the array.

              hook  is one of chpwd, periodic, precmd, preexec, zshaddhistory,
              zshexit, or zsh_directory_name, the special functions  in  ques-
              tion.  Note that zsh_directory_name is called in a different way
              from the other functions, but may  still  be  manipulated  as  a
              hook.

              function  is  name of an ordinary shell function.  If no options
              are given this will be added to the array of functions to be ex-
              ecuted in the given context.  Functions are invoked in the order
              they were added.

              If the option -L is given, the current values for the  hook  ar-
              rays are listed with typeset.

              If  the option -d is given, the function is removed from the ar-
              ray of functions to be executed.

              If the option -D is given, the function is treated as a  pattern
              and  any  matching names of functions are removed from the array
              of functions to be executed.

              The options -U, -z and -k are passed as  arguments  to  autoload
              for  function.   For functions contributed with zsh, the options
              -Uz are appropriate.

       add-zle-hook-widget [ -L | -dD ] [ -Uzk ] hook widgetname
              Several widget names are special to  the  line  editor,  as  de-
              scribed  in  the section Special Widgets, see zshzle(1), in that
              they are automatically called at specific points during editing.
              Unlike  function  hooks,  these do not use a predefined array of
              other names to call  at  the  same  point;  the  shell  function
              add-zle-hook-widget  maintains  a similar array and arranges for
              the special widget to invoke those additional widgets.

              hook is one of  isearch-exit,  isearch-update,  line-pre-redraw,
              line-init, line-finish, history-line-set, or keymap-select, cor-
              responding to each of the special widgets zle-isearch-exit, etc.
              The special widget names are also accepted as the hook argument.

              widgetname is the name of a ZLE widget.  If no options are given
              this is added to the array of widgets to be invoked in the given
              hook context.  Widgets are invoked in the order they were added,
              with
                     zle widgetname -Nw -- "$@"

              Note that this means that the `WIDGET' special parameter  tracks
              the  widgetname  when the widget function is called, rather than
              tracking the name of the corresponding special hook widget.

              If the option -d is given, the widgetname is  removed  from  the
              array of widgets to be executed.

              If  the  option -D is given, the widgetname is treated as a pat-
              tern and any matching names of widgets are removed from the  ar-
              ray.

              If widgetname does not name an existing widget when added to the
              array, it is assumed that a shell function also named widgetname
              is meant to provide the implementation of the widget.  This name
              is therefore marked for autoloading, and the options -U, -z  and
              -k  are  passed  as  arguments to autoload as with add-zsh-hook.
              The widget is also created with `zle -N widgetname' to cause the
              corresponding  function  to be loaded the first time the hook is
              called.

              The arrays of widgetname are currently maintained in zstyle con-
              texts, one for each hook context, with a style of `widgets'.  If
              the -L option is given,  this  set  of  styles  is  listed  with
              `zstyle  -L'.   This  implementation may change, and the special
              widgets  that  refer  to  the  styles  are   created   only   if
              add-zle-hook-widget  is called to add at least one widget, so if
              this function is used for any hooks, then all  hooks  should  be
              managed only via this function.

REMEMBERING RECENT DIRECTORIES
       The function cdr allows you to change the working directory to a previ-
       ous working directory from a list maintained automatically.  It is sim-
       ilar  in  concept  to the directory stack controlled by the pushd, popd
       and dirs builtins, but is more configurable, and as it stores  all  en-
       tries  in  files  it is maintained across sessions and (by default) be-
       tween terminal emulators in the current session.  Duplicates are  auto-
       matically removed, so that the list reflects the single most recent use
       of each directory.

       Note that the pushd directory stack is not actually modified or used by
       cdr  unless you configure it to do so as described in the configuration
       section below.

   Installation
       The system works by means of a hook function that is called every  time
       the  directory  changes.   To install the system, autoload the required
       functions and use the add-zsh-hook function described above:

              autoload -Uz chpwd_recent_dirs cdr add-zsh-hook
              add-zsh-hook chpwd chpwd_recent_dirs

       Now every time you change directly interactively, no matter which  com-
       mand  you  use, the directory to which you change will be remembered in
       most-recent-first order.

   Use
       All direct user interaction is via the cdr function.

       The argument to cdr is a number N corresponding to  the  Nth  most  re-
       cently changed-to directory.  1 is the immediately preceding directory;
       the current directory is remembered but is not offered  as  a  destina-
       tion.  Note that if you have multiple windows open 1 may refer to a di-
       rectory changed to in another window; you  can  avoid  this  by  having
       per-terminal  files  for  storing  directory  as  described for the re-
       cent-dirs-file style below.

       If you set the recent-dirs-default style described below cdr  will  be-
       have  the  same as cd if given a non-numeric argument, or more than one
       argument.  The recent directory list is updated just the  same  however
       you change directory.

       If  the  argument is omitted, 1 is assumed.  This is similar to pushd's
       behaviour of swapping the two most recent directories on the stack.

       Completion for the argument to cdr is available if  compinit  has  been
       run; menu selection is recommended, using:

              zstyle ':completion:*:*:cdr:*:*' menu selection

       to  allow  you  to  cycle through recent directories; the order is pre-
       served, so the first choice is the most  recent  directory  before  the
       current  one.   The verbose style is also recommended to ensure the di-
       rectory is shown; this style is on by default so no action is  required
       unless you have changed it.

   Options
       The behaviour of cdr may be modified by the following options.

       -l     lists  the numbers and the corresponding directories in abbrevi-
              ated form (i.e. with ~ substitution reapplied),  one  per  line.
              The directories here are not quoted (this would only be an issue
              if a directory name contained a newline).  This is used  by  the
              completion system.

       -r     sets  the  variable  reply  to  the  current set of directories.
              Nothing is printed and the directory is not changed.

       -e     allows you to edit the list of directories, one per  line.   The
              list can be edited to any extent you like; no sanity checking is
              performed.  Completion is available.  No  quoting  is  necessary
              (except for newlines, where I have in any case no sympathy); di-
              rectories are in unabbreviated  from  and  contain  an  absolute
              path, i.e. they start with /.  Usually the first entry should be
              left as the current directory.

       -p 'pattern'
              Prunes any items in the directory list that match the given  ex-
              tended glob pattern; the pattern needs to be quoted from immedi-
              ate expansion on the  command  line.   The  pattern  is  matched
              against each completely expanded file name in the list; the full
              string must match, so wildcards at the end  (e.g.  '*removeme*')
              are needed to remove entries with a given substring.

              If output is to a terminal, then the function will print the new
              list after pruning and prompt  for  confirmation  by  the  user.
              This output and confirmation step can be skipped by using -P in-
              stead of -p.

   Configuration
       Configuration is by means of the styles mechanism that should be famil-
       iar  from completion; if not, see the description of the zstyle command
       in see zshmodules(1).  The context for setting styles should  be  ':ch-
       pwd:*'  in  case  the meaning of the context is extended in future, for
       example:

              zstyle ':chpwd:*' recent-dirs-max 0

       sets the value of the recent-dirs-max style  to  0.   In  practice  the
       style name is specific enough that a context of '*' should be fine.

       An  exception  is  recent-dirs-insert, which is used exclusively by the
       completion system and  so  has  the  usual  completion  system  context
       (':completion:*'  if nothing more specific is needed), though again '*'
       should be fine in practice.

       recent-dirs-default
              If true, and the command is expecting a recent directory  index,
              and  either  there  is more than one argument or the argument is
              not an integer, then fall through to "cd".  This allows the lazy
              to  use  only  one  command  for directory changing.  Completion
              recognises this, too; see recent-dirs-insert for how to  control
              completion when this option is in use.

       recent-dirs-file
              The file where the list of directories is saved.  The default is
              ${ZDOTDIR:-$HOME}/.chpwd-recent-dirs, i.e. this is in your  home
              directory  unless  you  have  set  the variable ZDOTDIR to point
              somewhere else.  Directory names  are  saved  in  $'...'  quoted
              form,  so  each line in the file can be supplied directly to the
              shell as an argument.

              The value of this style may be an  array.   In  this  case,  the
              first  file  in the list will always be used for saving directo-
              ries while any other files are left untouched.  When reading the
              recent  directory list, if there are fewer than the maximum num-
              ber of entries in the first file, the contents of later files in
              the array will be appended with duplicates removed from the list
              shown.  The contents of the two files are not  sorted  together,
              i.e.  all  the  entries  in the first file are shown first.  The
              special value + can appear in the list to indicate  the  default
              file should be read at that point.  This allows effects like the
              following:

                     zstyle ':chpwd:*' recent-dirs-file \
                     ~/.chpwd-recent-dirs-${TTY##*/} +

              Recent directories are read from a file  numbered  according  to
              the  terminal.   If  there  are insufficient entries the list is
              supplemented from the default file.

              It is possible to use zstyle -e to make  the  directory  config-
              urable at run time:

                     zstyle -e ':chpwd:*' recent-dirs-file pick-recent-dirs-file
                     pick-recent-dirs-file() {
                       if [[ $PWD = ~/text/writing(|/*) ]]; then
                         reply=(~/.chpwd-recent-dirs-writing)
                       else
                         reply=(+)
                       fi
                     }

              In this example, if the current directory is ~/text/writing or a
              directory under it, then use a special file  for  saving  recent
              directories, else use the default.

       recent-dirs-insert
              Used  by  completion.  If recent-dirs-default is true, then set-
              ting this to true causes the actual directory, rather  than  its
              index, to be inserted on the command line; this has the same ef-
              fect as using the corresponding index,  but  makes  the  history
              clearer and the line easier to edit.  With this setting, if part
              of an argument was already typed,  normal  directory  completion
              rather than recent directory completion is done; this is because
              recent directory completion is expected to be  done  by  cycling
              through entries menu fashion.

              If  the  value of the style is always, then only recent directo-
              ries will be completed; in that case, use the  cd  command  when
              you want to complete other directories.

              If  the  value  is  fallback,  recent  directories will be tried
              first, then normal directory completion is performed  if  recent
              directory completion failed to find a match.

              Finally,  if the value is both then both sets of completions are
              presented; the usual tag mechanism can be  used  to  distinguish
              results,  with  recent  directories tagged as recent-dirs.  Note
              that the recent directories inserted are abbreviated with direc-
              tory names where appropriate.

       recent-dirs-max
              The  maximum number of directories to save to the file.  If this
              is zero or negative there is no maximum.   The  default  is  20.
              Note  this  includes the current directory, which isn't offered,
              so the highest number of directories you will be offered is  one
              less than the maximum.

       recent-dirs-prune
              This  style  is an array determining what directories should (or
              should not) be added to the recent list.  Elements of the  array
              can include:

              parent Prune  parents  (more accurately, ancestors) from the re-
                     cent list.  If present, changing  directly  down  by  any
                     number  of directories causes the current directory to be
                     overwritten.   For  example,  changing   from   ~pws   to
                     ~pws/some/other/dir causes ~pws not to be left on the re-
                     cent  directory  stack.   This  only  applies  to  direct
                     changes to descendant directories; earlier directories on
                     the list are not  pruned.   For  example,  changing  from
                     ~pws/yet/another  to  ~pws/some/other/dir  does not cause
                     ~pws to be pruned.

              pattern:pattern
                     Gives a zsh pattern for directories that  should  not  be
                     added  to  the  recent list (if not already there).  This
                     element can be repeated to add different  patterns.   For
                     example,  'pattern:/tmp(|/*)'  stops  /tmp or its descen-
                     dants from being added.  The EXTENDED_GLOB option is  al-
                     ways turned on for these patterns.

       recent-dirs-pushd
              If  set  to true, cdr will use pushd instead of cd to change the
              directory, so the directory is saved on the directory stack.  As
              the  directory  stack  is  completely  separate from the list of
              files saved by the mechanism used in this file there is no obvi-
              ous reason to do this.

   Use with dynamic directory naming
       It  is possible to refer to recent directories using the dynamic direc-
       tory name syntax by using the supplied function  zsh_directory_name_cdr
       a hook:

              autoload -Uz add-zsh-hook
              add-zsh-hook -Uz zsh_directory_name zsh_directory_name_cdr

       When  this  is done, ~[1] will refer to the most recent directory other
       than $PWD, and so on.  Completion after ~[...  also works.

   Details of directory handling
       This section is for the curious or confused; most users will  not  need
       to know this information.

       Recent  directories  are saved to a file immediately and hence are pre-
       served across sessions.  Note currently no file locking is applied: the
       list  is  updated  immediately on interactive commands and nowhere else
       (unlike history), and it is assumed you are only going to change direc-
       tory  in  one window at once.  This is not safe on shared accounts, but
       in any case the system has limited utility when someone else is  chang-
       ing to a different set of directories behind your back.

       To make this a little safer, only directory changes instituted from the
       command line, either directly  or  indirectly  through  shell  function
       calls  (but  not  through subshells, evals, traps, completion functions
       and the like) are saved.  Shell functions should use cd -q or pushd  -q
       to avoid side effects if the change to the directory is to be invisible
       at the command line.   See  the  contents  of  the  function  chpwd_re-
       cent_dirs for more details.

ABBREVIATED DYNAMIC REFERENCES TO DIRECTORIES
       The  dynamic directory naming system is described in the subsection Dy-
       namic named directories of the section Filename Expansion  in  expn(1).
       In  this,  a reference to ~[...] is expanded by a function found by the
       hooks mechanism.

       The contributed function zsh_directory_name_generic provides  a  system
       allowing the user to refer to directories with only a limited amount of
       new code.  It supports all three of the standard interfaces for  direc-
       tory  naming:  converting from a name to a directory, converting in the
       reverse direction to find a short name, and completion of names.

       The main feature of this function is a path-like syntax, combining  ab-
       breviations  at  multiple  levels  separated  by  ":".   As an example,
       ~[g:p:s] might specify:
       g      The top level directory for your git area.  This first component
              has to match, or the function will return indicating another di-
              rectory name hook function should be tried.

       p      The name of a project within your git area.

       s      The source area within that project.  This allows  you  to  col-
              lapse  references  to  long  hierarchies to a very compact form,
              particularly if the hierarchies are similar across different ar-
              eas of the disk.

       Name  components may be completed: if a description is shown at the top
       of the list of completions, it includes the path to which previous com-
       ponents  expand,  while  the  description  for an individual completion
       shows the path segment it would add.  No  additional  configuration  is
       needed for this as the completion system is aware of the dynamic direc-
       tory name mechanism.

   Usage
       To use the function, first define a wrapper function for your  specific
       case.   We'll assume it's to be autoloaded.  This can have any name but
       we'll refer to it as zdn_mywrapper.  This wrapper function will  define
       various  variables  and then call this function with the same arguments
       that the wrapper function gets.  This configuration is described below.

       Then arrange for the wrapper to be run as a zsh_directory_name hook:

              autoload -Uz add-zsh-hook zsh_diretory_name_generic zdn_mywrapper
              add-zsh-hook -U zsh_directory_name zdn_mywrapper

   Configuration
       The wrapper function should define a local associative  array  zdn_top.
       Alternatively,  this  can be set with a style called mapping.  The con-
       text for the style is :zdn:wrapper-name where wrapper-name is the func-
       tion calling zsh_directory_name_generic; for example:

              zstyle :zdn:zdn_mywrapper: mapping zdn_mywrapper_top

       The keys in this associative array correspond to the first component of
       the name.  The values are matching directories.  They may have  an  op-
       tional  suffix with a slash followed by a colon and the name of a vari-
       able in the same format to give the next component.  (The slash  before
       the  colon  is  to disambiguate the case where a colon is needed in the
       path for a drive.  There is otherwise no syntax for escaping  this,  so
       path  components  whose names start with a colon are not supported.)  A
       special component :default: specifies a variable in the form /:var (the
       path  section is ignored and so is usually empty) that will be used for
       the next component if no variable is given for the path.  Variables re-
       ferred  to  within  zdn_top have the same format as zdn_top itself, but
       contain relative paths.

       For example,

              local -A zdn_top=(
                g   ~/git
                ga  ~/alternate/git
                gs  /scratch/$USER/git/:second2
                :default: /:second1
              )

       This specifies the behaviour of a directory referred to as ~[g:...]  or
       ~[ga:...]  or  ~[gs:...].   Later path components are optional; in that
       case  ~[g]  expands   to   ~/git,   and   so   on.    gs   expands   to
       /scratch/$USER/git  and uses the associative array second2 to match the
       second component; g and ga use the associative array second1  to  match
       the second component.

       When  expanding  a name to a directory, if the first component is not g
       or ga or gs, it is not an error; the function simply returns 1 so  that
       a later hook function can be tried.  However, matching the first compo-
       nent commits the function, so if a later component does not  match,  an
       error  is printed (though this still does not stop later hooks from be-
       ing executed).

       For components after the first, a relative path is expected,  but  note
       that multiple levels may still appear.  Here is an example of second1:

              local -A second1=(
                p   myproject
                s   somproject
                os  otherproject/subproject/:third
              )

       The path as found from zdn_top is extended with the matching directory,
       so ~[g:p] becomes ~/git/myproject.  The slash between is added automat-
       ically  (it's not possible to have a later component modify the name of
       a directory already matched).  Only os specifies a variable for a third
       component,  and  there's  no  :default:, so it's an error to use a name
       like ~[g:p:x] or ~[ga:s:y] because there's nowhere to look up the x  or
       y.

       The  associative  arrays  need  to be visible within this function; the
       generic function therefore uses internal variable names beginning _zdn_
       in  order  to  avoid clashes.  Note that the variable reply needs to be
       passed back to the shell, so should not be local in the  calling  func-
       tion.

       The  function  does not test whether directories assembled by component
       actually exist; this allows the system to work across automounted  file
       systems.   The  error from the command trying to use a non-existent di-
       rectory should be sufficient to indicate the problem.

   Complete example
       Here is a full fictitious but usable autoloadable definition of the ex-
       ample  function  defined  by  the  code above.  So ~[gs:p:s] expands to
       /scratch/$USER/git/myscratchproject/top/srcdir  (with  $USER  also  ex-
       panded).

              local -A zdn_top=(
                g   ~/git
                ga  ~/alternate/git
                gs  /scratch/$USER/git/:second2
                :default: /:second1
              )

              local -A second1=(
                p   myproject
                s   somproject
                os  otherproject/subproject/:third
              )

              local -A second2=(
                p   myscratchproject
                s   somescratchproject
              )

              local -A third=(
                s   top/srcdir
                d   top/documentation
              )

              # autoload not needed if you did this at initialisation...
              autoload -Uz zsh_directory_name_generic
              zsh_directory_name_generic "$@

       It  is  also possible to use global associative arrays, suitably named,
       and set the style for the context of your wrapper function to refer  to
       this.  Then your set up code would contain the following:

              typeset -A zdn_mywrapper_top=(...)
              # ... and so on for other associative arrays ...
              zstyle ':zdn:zdn_mywrapper:' mapping zdn_mywrapper_top
              autoload -Uz add-zsh-hook zsh_directory_name_generic zdn_mywrapper
              add-zsh-hook -U zsh_directory_name zdn_mywrapper

       and the function zdn_mywrapper would contain only the following:

              zsh_directory_name_generic "$@"

GATHERING INFORMATION FROM VERSION CONTROL SYSTEMS
       In  a  lot  of  cases, it is nice to automatically retrieve information
       from version control systems (VCSs), such as subversion, CVS or git, to
       be  able  to  provide it to the user; possibly in the user's prompt. So
       that you can instantly tell which branch you are currently on, for  ex-
       ample.

       In order to do that, you may use the vcs_info function.

       The following VCSs are supported, showing the abbreviated name by which
       they are referred to within the system:
       Bazaar (bzr)
              https://bazaar.canonical.com/
       Codeville (cdv)
              http://freecode.com/projects/codeville/
       Concurrent Versioning System (cvs)
              https://www.nongnu.org/cvs/
       Darcs (darcs)
              http://darcs.net/
       Fossil (fossil)
              https://fossil-scm.org/
       Git (git)
              https://git-scm.com/
       GNU arch (tla)
              https://www.gnu.org/software/gnu-arch/
       Mercurial (hg)
              https://www.mercurial-scm.org/
       Monotone (mtn)
              https://monotone.ca/
       Perforce (p4)
              https://www.perforce.com/
       Subversion (svn)
              https://subversion.apache.org/
       SVK (svk)
              https://svk.bestpractical.com/

       There  is  also  support  for  the  patch   management   system   quilt
       (https://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/quilt).  See  Quilt Support below
       for details.

       To load vcs_info:

              autoload -Uz vcs_info

       It can be used in any existing prompt, because it does not require  any
       specific $psvar entries to be available.

   Quickstart
       To  get this feature working quickly (including colors), you can do the
       following (assuming, you loaded vcs_info properly - see above):

              zstyle ':vcs_info:*' actionformats \
                  '%F{5}(%f%s%F{5})%F{3}-%F{5}[%F{2}%b%F{3}|%F{1}%a%F{5}]%f '
              zstyle ':vcs_info:*' formats       \
                  '%F{5}(%f%s%F{5})%F{3}-%F{5}[%F{2}%b%F{5}]%f '
              zstyle ':vcs_info:(sv[nk]|bzr):*' branchformat '%b%F{1}:%F{3}%r'
              precmd () { vcs_info }
              PS1='%F{5}[%F{2}%n%F{5}] %F{3}%3~ ${vcs_info_msg_0_}%f%# '

       Obviously, the last two lines are there for demonstration. You need  to
       call  vcs_info  from your precmd function. Once that is done you need a
       single quoted '${vcs_info_msg_0_}' in your prompt.

       To be able to use '${vcs_info_msg_0_}' directly  in  your  prompt  like
       this, you will need to have the PROMPT_SUBST option enabled.

       Now call the vcs_info_printsys utility from the command line:

              % vcs_info_printsys
              ## list of supported version control backends:
              ## disabled systems are prefixed by a hash sign (#)
              bzr
              cdv
              cvs
              darcs
              fossil
              git
              hg
              mtn
              p4
              svk
              svn
              tla
              ## flavours (cannot be used in the enable or disable styles; they
              ## are enabled and disabled with their master [git-svn -> git])
              ## they *can* be used in contexts: ':vcs_info:git-svn:*'.
              git-p4
              git-svn
              hg-git
              hg-hgsubversion
              hg-hgsvn

       You  may not want all of these because there is no point in running the
       code to detect systems you do not use.  So there is a  way  to  disable
       some backends altogether:

              zstyle ':vcs_info:*' disable bzr cdv darcs mtn svk tla

       You may also pick a few from that list and enable only those:

              zstyle ':vcs_info:*' enable git cvs svn

       If  you  rerun  vcs_info_printsys after one of these commands, you will
       see the backends listed in the disable style (or backends  not  in  the
       enable  style  -  if  you used that) marked as disabled by a hash sign.
       That means the detection of these systems  is  skipped  completely.  No
       wasted time there.

   Configuration
       The vcs_info feature can be configured via zstyle.

       First, the context in which we are working:
              :vcs_info:vcs-string:user-context:repo-root-name

       vcs-string
              is  one  of:  git, git-svn, git-p4, hg, hg-git, hg-hgsubversion,
              hg-hgsvn, darcs, bzr, cdv, mtn, svn, cvs, svk, tla, p4  or  fos-
              sil.  This is followed by `.quilt-quilt-mode' in Quilt mode (see
              Quilt Support for details) and by `+hook-name' while  hooks  are
              active (see Hooks in vcs_info for details).

              Currently, hooks in quilt mode don't add the `.quilt-quilt-mode'
              information.  This may change in the future.

       user-context
              is a freely configurable string, assignable by the user  as  the
              first argument to vcs_info (see its description below).

       repo-root-name
              is  the name of a repository in which you want a style to match.
              So, if you want a setting specific to  /usr/src/zsh,  with  that
              being  a CVS checkout, you can set repo-root-name to zsh to make
              it so.

       There are three special values  for  vcs-string:  The  first  is  named
       -init-,  that  is  in  effect as long as there was no decision what VCS
       backend to use. The second is -preinit-; it is used before vcs_info  is
       run,  when initializing the data exporting variables. The third special
       value is formats and is used by the vcs_info_lastmsg for looking up its
       styles.

       The  initial  value  of repo-root-name is -all- and it is replaced with
       the actual name, as soon as it is known. Only use this part of the con-
       text for defining the formats, actionformats or branchformat styles, as
       it is guaranteed that repo-root-name is  set  up  correctly  for  these
       only. For all other styles, just use '*' instead.

       There are two pre-defined values for user-context:
       default
              the one used if none is specified
       command
              used by vcs_info_lastmsg to lookup its styles

       You  can of course use ':vcs_info:*' to match all VCSs in all user-con-
       texts at once.

       This is a description of all styles that are looked up.

       formats
              A list of formats, used when actionformats is not used (which is
              most of the time).

       actionformats
              A list of formats, used if there is a special action going on in
              your current repository; like an interactive rebase or  a  merge
              conflict.

       branchformat
              Some backends replace %b in the formats and actionformats styles
              above, not only by a branch name but also by a revision  number.
              This style lets you modify how that string should look.

       nvcsformats
              These  "formats" are set when we didn't detect a version control
              system for the current directory or vcs_info was disabled.  This
              is  useful if you want vcs_info to completely take over the gen-
              eration  of  your  prompt.   You   would   do   something   like
              PS1='${vcs_info_msg_0_}' to accomplish that.

       hgrevformat
              hg  uses  both  a hash and a revision number to reference a spe-
              cific changeset in a repository. With this style you can  format
              the  revision  string  (see  branchformat)  to include either or
              both. It's only useful when get-revision is true. Note, the full
              40-character revision id is not available (except when using the
              use-simple option) because  executing  hg  more  than  once  per
              prompt is too slow; you may customize this behavior using hooks.

       max-exports
              Defines the maximum number of vcs_info_msg_*_ variables vcs_info
              will set.

       enable A list of backends you want to use. Checked in the  -init-  con-
              text.  If  this  list contains an item called NONE no backend is
              used at all and vcs_info will do nothing. If this list  contains
              ALL,  vcs_info will use all known backends. Only with ALL in en-
              able will the disable style have any effect. ALL  and  NONE  are
              case insensitive.

       disable
              A  list of VCSs you don't want vcs_info to test for repositories
              (checked in the -init- context, too). Only used if  enable  con-
              tains ALL.

       disable-patterns
              A  list  of patterns that are checked against $PWD. If a pattern
              matches, vcs_info will be disabled. This style is checked in the
              :vcs_info:-init-:*:-all- context.

              Say,  ~/.zsh  is a directory under version control, in which you
              do not want vcs_info to be active, do:
                     zstyle ':vcs_info:*' disable-patterns "${(b)HOME}/.zsh(|/*)"

       use-quilt
              If enabled, the quilt support code is active  in  `addon'  mode.
              See Quilt Support for details.

       quilt-standalone
              If  enabled,  `standalone' mode detection is attempted if no VCS
              is active in a given directory. See Quilt Support for details.

       quilt-patch-dir
              Overwrite the value of the $QUILT_PATCHES environment  variable.
              See Quilt Support for details.

       quiltcommand
              When  quilt itself is called in quilt support, the value of this
              style is used as the command name.

       check-for-changes
              If enabled, this style causes the %c and %u  format  escapes  to
              show  when  the  working  directory has uncommitted changes. The
              strings displayed by these escapes can  be  controlled  via  the
              stagedstr  and  unstagedstr  styles. The only backends that cur-
              rently support this option are git, hg, and bzr (the latter  two
              only support unstaged).

              For  this style to be evaluated with the hg backend, the get-re-
              vision style needs to be set and the use-simple style  needs  to
              be unset. The latter is the default; the former is not.

              With  the  bzr  backend,  lightweight  checkouts only honor this
              style if the use-server style is set.

              Note, the actions taken if this style is enabled are potentially
              expensive (read: they may be slow, depending on how big the cur-
              rent repository is).  Therefore, it is disabled by default.

       check-for-staged-changes
              This style is like check-for-changes, but it  never  checks  the
              worktree  files,  only  the metadata in the .${vcs} dir.  There-
              fore, this style initializes only the %c escape (with stagedstr)
              but   not   the   %u   escape.    This   style  is  faster  than
              check-for-changes.

              In the git backend, this style checks for changes in the  index.
              Other backends do not currently implement this style.

              This style is disabled by default.

       stagedstr
              This  string  will  be used in the %c escape if there are staged
              changes in the repository.

       unstagedstr
              This string will be used in the %u escape if there are  unstaged
              changes in the repository.

       command
              This  style  causes  vcs_info  to use the supplied string as the
              command to use as the VCS's binary. Note, that setting  this  in
              ':vcs_info:*' is not a good idea.

              If  the value of this style is empty (which is the default), the
              used binary name is the name of the backend in use (e.g. svn  is
              used in an svn repository).

              The  repo-root-name  part  in  the context is always the default
              -all- when this style is looked up.

              For example, this style can be used to use binaries from non-de-
              fault  installation  directories.  Assume,  git  is installed in
              /usr/bin but your sysadmin installed a newer version in /usr/lo-
              cal/bin.  Instead of changing the order of your $PATH parameter,
              you can do this:
                     zstyle ':vcs_info:git:*:-all-' command /usr/local/bin/git

       use-server
              This is used by the Perforce backend (p4) to decide if it should
              contact  the  Perforce server to find out if a directory is man-
              aged by Perforce.  This is the only reliable way of doing  this,
              but runs the risk of a delay if the server name cannot be found.
              If the server (more specifically, the host:port pair  describing
              the  server) cannot be contacted, its name is put into the asso-
              ciative array  vcs_info_p4_dead_servers  and  is  not  contacted
              again during the session until it is removed by hand.  If you do
              not set this style, the p4 backend is only usable  if  you  have
              set  the  environment  variable P4CONFIG to a file name and have
              corresponding files in the root  directories  of  each  Perforce
              client.   See  comments  in  the function VCS_INFO_detect_p4 for
              more detail.

              The Bazaar backend (bzr) uses  this  to  permit  contacting  the
              server  about  lightweight  checkouts, see the check-for-changes
              style.

       use-simple
              If there are two different ways of  gathering  information,  you
              can  select  the  simpler one by setting this style to true; the
              default is to use the not-that-simple code, which is potentially
              a  lot  slower but might be more accurate in all possible cases.
              This style is used by the bzr and hg backends. In the case of hg
              it  will invoke the external hexdump program to parse the binary
              dirstate cache file; this method will not return the local revi-
              sion number.

       get-revision
              If  set  to true, vcs_info goes the extra mile to figure out the
              revision of a repository's work tree (currently for the git  and
              hg  backends,  where  this kind of information is not always vi-
              tal). For git, the hash value of the currently checked out  com-
              mit  is available via the %i expansion. With hg, the local revi-
              sion number and the corresponding global hash are available  via
              %i.

       get-mq If  set  to true, the hg backend will look for a Mercurial Queue
              (mq) patch directory. Information will be available via the `%m'
              replacement.

       get-bookmarks
              If set to true, the hg backend will try to get a list of current
              bookmarks. They will be available via the `%m' replacement.

              The default is to generate a comma-separated list of  all  book-
              mark names that refer to the currently checked out revision.  If
              a bookmark is active, its  name  is  suffixed  an  asterisk  and
              placed first in the list.

       use-prompt-escapes
              Determines  if we assume that the assembled string from vcs_info
              includes prompt escapes. (Used by vcs_info_lastmsg.)

       debug  Enable debugging output to track  possible  problems.  Currently
              this style is only used by vcs_info's hooks system.

       hooks  A  list  style  that  defines  hook-function names. See Hooks in
              vcs_info below for details.

       patch-format
       nopatch-format
              This pair of styles format the patch information used by the  %m
              expando  in  formats  and actionformats for the git and hg back-
              ends.  The value is subject to  certain  %-expansions  described
              below.  The expanded value is made available in the global back-
              end_misc  array   as   ${backend_misc[patches]}   (also   if   a
              set-patch-format hook is used).

       get-unapplied
              This  boolean style controls whether a backend should attempt to
              gather a list of unapplied patches (for example  with  Mercurial
              Queue patches).

              Used by the quilt and hg backends.

       The default values for these styles in all contexts are:

       formats
              " (%s)-[%b]%u%c-"
       actionformats
              " (%s)-[%b|%a]%u%c-"
       branchformat
              "%b:%r" (for bzr, svn, svk and hg)
       nvcsformats
              ""
       hgrevformat
              "%r:%h"
       max-exports
              2
       enable ALL
       disable
              (empty list)
       disable-patterns
              (empty list)
       check-for-changes
              false
       check-for-staged-changes
              false
       stagedstr
              (string: "S")
       unstagedstr
              (string: "U")
       command
              (empty string)
       use-server
              false
       use-simple
              false
       get-revision
              false
       get-mq true
       get-bookmarks
              false
       use-prompt-escapes
              true
       debug  false
       hooks  (empty list)
       use-quilt
              false
       quilt-standalone
              false
       quilt-patch-dir
              empty - use $QUILT_PATCHES
       quiltcommand
              quilt
       patch-format
              backend dependent
       nopatch-format
              backend dependent
       get-unapplied
              false

       In  normal  formats  and  actionformats  the following replacements are
       done:

       %s     The VCS in use (git, hg, svn, etc.).
       %b     Information about the current branch.
       %a     An identifier that describes the action. Only makes sense in ac-
              tionformats.
       %i     The  current revision number or identifier. For hg the hgrevfor-
              mat style may be used to customize the output.
       %c     The string from the stagedstr style if there are staged  changes
              in the repository.
       %u     The  string  from  the  unstagedstr  style if there are unstaged
              changes in the repository.
       %R     The base directory of the repository.
       %r     The repository name. If %R is /foo/bar/repoXY, %r is repoXY.
       %S     A subdirectory within a  repository.  If  $PWD  is  /foo/bar/re-
              poXY/beer/tasty, %S is beer/tasty.
       %m     A  "misc" replacement. It is at the discretion of the backend to
              decide what this replacement expands to.

              The hg and git backends use this expando to display patch infor-
              mation.   hg  sources  patch information from the mq extensions;
              git from in-progress rebase and cherry-pick operations and  from
              the stgit extension.  The patch-format and nopatch-format styles
              control the generated string.  The former is used when at  least
              one  patch from the patch queue has been applied, and the latter
              otherwise.

              The hg backend displays bookmark information in this expando (in
              addition  to  mq information).  See the get-mq and get-bookmarks
              styles.  Both of these styles may be enabled at the  same  time.
              If  both are enabled, both resulting strings will be shown sepa-
              rated by a semicolon (that cannot currently be customized).

              The quilt `standalone' backend sets this  expando  to  the  same
              value as the %Q expando.

       %Q     Quilt series information.  When quilt is used (either in `addon'
              mode or as a `standalone' backend), this expando is set to quilt
              series'  patch-format  string.   The  set-patch-format  hook and
              nopatch-format style are honoured.

              See Quilt Support below for details.

       In branchformat these replacements are done:

       %b     The branch name.
       %r     The current revision number or the hgrevformat style for hg.

       In hgrevformat these replacements are done:

       %r     The current local revision number.
       %h     The current global revision identifier.

       In patch-format and nopatch-format these replacements are done:

       %p     The name of the top-most applied patch; may be overridden by the
              applied-string hook.
       %u     The  number of unapplied patches; may be overridden by the unap-
              plied-string hook.
       %n     The number of applied patches.
       %c     The number of unapplied patches.
       %a     The number of all patches (%a = %n + %c).
       %g     The names of active mq guards (hg backend).
       %G     The number of active mq guards (hg backend).

       Not all VCS backends have to support all replacements. For  nvcsformats
       no replacements are performed at all, it is just a string.

   Oddities
       If you want to use the %b (bold off) prompt expansion in formats, which
       expands %b itself, use %%b. That will cause the vcs_info  expansion  to
       replace  %%b with %b, so that zsh's prompt expansion mechanism can han-
       dle it. Similarly, to hand down %b from branchformat, use %%%%b.  Sorry
       for  this inconvenience, but it cannot be easily avoided. Luckily we do
       not clash with a lot of prompt expansions and this  only  needs  to  be
       done for those.

       When   one   of   the   gen-applied-string,  gen-unapplied-string,  and
       set-patch-format    hooks    is    defined,     applying     %-escaping
       (`foo=${foo//'%'/%%}') to the interpolated values for use in the prompt
       is the responsibility of those hooks (jointly); when neither  of  those
       hooks  is defined, vcs_info handles escaping by itself.  We regret this
       coupling, but it was required for backwards compatibility.

   Quilt Support
       Quilt is not a version control system, therefore  this  is  not  imple-
       mented  as a backend. It can help keeping track of a series of patches.
       People use it to keep a set of changes they want to use on top of soft-
       ware  packages  (which  is  tightly  integrated  into the package build
       process - the Debian project does this for a large number of packages).
       Quilt  can  also  help  individual  developers  keep track of their own
       patches on top of real version control systems.

       The vcs_info integration tries to support both ways of using  quilt  by
       having  two  slightly  different  modes  of operation: `addon' mode and
       `standalone' mode).

       Quilt integration is off by default; to enable it,  set  the  use-quilt
       style, and add %Q to your formats or actionformats style:
              zstyle ':vcs_info:*' use-quilt true

       Styles    looked    up    from   the   Quilt   support   code   include
       `.quilt-quilt-mode' in  the  vcs-string  part  of  the  context,  where
       quilt-mode     is     either    addon    or    standalone.     Example:
       :vcs_info:git.quilt-addon:default:repo-root-name.

       For `addon' mode to become active vcs_info must have already detected a
       real  version  control system controlling the directory. If that is the
       case, a directory that holds quilt's patches needs to  be  found.  That
       directory is configurable via the `QUILT_PATCHES' environment variable.
       If that  variable  exists  its  value  is  used,  otherwise  the  value
       `patches'  is assumed. The value from $QUILT_PATCHES can be overwritten
       using the `quilt-patches' style. (Note: you can use  vcs_info  to  keep
       the  value  of  $QUILT_PATCHES  correct all the time via the post-quilt
       hook).

       When the directory in question is found, quilt is assumed to be active.
       To  gather  more  information,  vcs_info  looks  for a directory called
       `.pc'; Quilt uses that directory to track its current  state.  If  this
       directory  does  not  exist we know that quilt has not done anything to
       the working directory (read: no patches have been applied yet).

       If patches are applied, vcs_info will try to find  out  which.  If  you
       want to know which patches of a series are not yet applied, you need to
       activate the get-unapplied style in the appropriate context.

       vcs_info allows for very detailed control over how the gathered  infor-
       mation  is  presented (see the Configuration and Hooks in vcs_info sec-
       tions), all of which are documented below. Note there are a  number  of
       other patch tracking systems that work on top of a certain version con-
       trol system (like stgit for git, or mq for hg); the  configuration  for
       systems  like  that  are generally configured the same way as the quilt
       support.

       If the quilt support is working in `addon' mode, the produced string is
       available  as a simple format replacement (%Q to be precise), which can
       be used in formats and actionformats; see below for details).

       If, on the other hand, the support  code  is  working  in  `standalone'
       mode,  vcs_info will pretend as if quilt were an actual version control
       system. That means that the version control  system  identifier  (which
       otherwise  would  be  something  like  `svn'  or  `cvs') will be set to
       `-quilt-'. This has implications on the used style context  where  this
       identifier is the second element. vcs_info will have filled in a proper
       value for the "repository's" root directory and the  string  containing
       the information about quilt's state will be available as the `misc' re-
       placement (and %Q for compatibility with `addon' mode).

       What is left to discuss is how `standalone' mode is detected.  The  de-
       tection  itself  is  a series of searches for directories. You can have
       this detection enabled all the time in every directory that is not oth-
       erwise  under  version control. If you know there is only a limited set
       of trees where you would like vcs_info to try and  look  for  Quilt  in
       `standalone'  mode to minimise the amount of searching on every call to
       vcs_info, there are a number of ways to do that:

       Essentially, `standalone' mode  detection  is  controlled  by  a  style
       called  `quilt-standalone'. It is a string style and its value can have
       different effects. The simplest values are: `always' to  run  detection
       every  time  vcs_info is run, and `never' to turn the detection off en-
       tirely.

       If the value of quilt-standalone is something else, it  is  interpreted
       differently. If the value is the name of a scalar variable the value of
       that variable is checked and that  value  is  used  in  the  same  `al-
       ways'/`never' way as described above.

       If  the value of quilt-standalone is an array, the elements of that ar-
       ray are used as directory names under which you want the  detection  to
       be active.

       If  quilt-standalone is an associative array, the keys are taken as di-
       rectory names under which you want the detection to be active, but only
       if the corresponding value is the string `true'.

       Last,  but not least, if the value of quilt-standalone is the name of a
       function, the function is called without arguments and the return value
       decides whether detection should be active. A `0' return value is true;
       a non-zero return value is interpreted as false.

       Note, if there is both a  function  and  a  variable  by  the  name  of
       quilt-standalone, the function will take precedence.

   Function Descriptions (Public API)
       vcs_info [user-context]
              The main function, that runs all backends and assembles all data
              into ${vcs_info_msg_*_}. This is the function you want  to  call
              from  precmd  if  you  want to include up-to-date information in
              your prompt (see Variable Description below).  If an argument is
              given,  that  string  will  be  used  instead  of default in the
              user-context field of the style context.

       vcs_info_hookadd
              Statically registers a number of functions to a given hook.  The
              hook  needs to be given as the first argument; what follows is a
              list of hook-function names to register to the hook. The  `+vi-'
              prefix  needs  to  be left out here. See Hooks in vcs_info below
              for details.

       vcs_info_hookdel
              Remove hook-functions from a given hook. The hook  needs  to  be
              given  as  the first non-option argument; what follows is a list
              of hook-function names to un-register from the hook. If `-a'  is
              used as the first argument, all occurrences of the functions are
              unregistered. Otherwise only the last occurrence is removed  (if
              a  function was registered to a hook more than once). The `+vi-'
              prefix needs to be left out here.  See Hooks in  vcs_info  below
              for details.

       vcs_info_lastmsg
              Outputs  the  last ${vcs_info_msg_*_} value.  Takes into account
              the value of the  use-prompt-escapes  style  in  ':vcs_info:for-
              mats:command:-all-'. It also only prints max-exports values.

       vcs_info_printsys [user-context]
              Prints  a  list of all supported version control systems. Useful
              to find out possible contexts (and which of them are enabled) or
              values for the disable style.

       vcs_info_setsys
              Initializes vcs_info's internal list of available backends. With
              this function, you can add support for new VCSs without restart-
              ing the shell.

       All functions named VCS_INFO_* are for internal use only.

   Variable Description
       ${vcs_info_msg_N_} (Note the trailing underscore)
              Where  N  is  an integer, e.g., vcs_info_msg_0_. These variables
              are the storage for the informational message the last  vcs_info
              call has assembled. These are strongly connected to the formats,
              actionformats and  nvcsformats  styles  described  above.  Those
              styles  are  lists.  The first member of that list gets expanded
              into ${vcs_info_msg_0_}, the second into ${vcs_info_msg_1_}  and
              the  Nth  into  ${vcs_info_msg_N-1_}. (See the max-exports style
              above.)

       All variables named VCS_INFO_* are for internal use only.

   Hooks in vcs_info
       Hooks are places in vcs_info where you can run your own code. That code
       can  communicate  with the code that called it and through that, change
       the system's behaviour.

       For configuration, hooks change the style context:
              :vcs_info:vcs-string+hook-name:user-context:repo-root-name

       To register functions to a hook, you need to list  them  in  the  hooks
       style in the appropriate context.

       Example:
              zstyle ':vcs_info:*+foo:*' hooks bar baz

       This  registers  functions to the hook `foo' for all backends. In order
       to  avoid  namespace  problems,  all  registered  function  names   are
       prepended  by  a  `+vi-',  so the actual functions called for the `foo'
       hook are `+vi-bar' and `+vi-baz'.

       If you would like to register a function to a hook  regardless  of  the
       current context, you may use the vcs_info_hookadd function. To remove a
       function that was added like that, the vcs_info_hookdel function can be
       used.

       If  something  seems weird, you can enable the `debug' boolean style in
       the proper context and the hook-calling code will print what  it  tried
       to execute and whether the function in question existed.

       When  you  register more than one function to a hook, all functions are
       executed one after another until one function returns non-zero or until
       all  functions  have  been called. Context-sensitive hook functions are
       executed  before  statically  registered  ones  (the  ones   added   by
       vcs_info_hookadd).

       You   may  pass  data  between  functions  via  an  associative  array,
       user_data.  For example:
              +vi-git-myfirsthook(){
                  user_data[myval]=$myval
              }
              +vi-git-mysecondhook(){
                  # do something with ${user_data[myval]}
              }

       There are a number of variables that are special in hook contexts:

       ret    The return value that  the  hooks  system  will  return  to  the
              caller.  The  default is an integer `zero'. If and how a changed
              ret value changes the execution of the  caller  depends  on  the
              specific hook. See the hook documentation below for details.

       hook_com
              An  associated  array which is used for bidirectional communica-
              tion from the caller to hook functions. The used keys depend  on
              the specific hook.

       context
              The  active  context  of the hook. Functions that wish to change
              this variable should make it local scope first.

       vcs    The current VCS after it was detected. The same values as in the
              enable/disable  style  are  used.  Available in all hooks except
              start-up.

       Finally, the full list of currently available hooks:

       start-up
              Called after starting vcs_info but before the VCS in this direc-
              tory is determined. It can be used to deactivate vcs_info tempo-
              rarily if necessary. When ret is set to 1, vcs_info  aborts  and
              does  nothing;  when set to 2, vcs_info sets up everything as if
              no version control were active and exits.

       pre-get-data
              Same as start-up but after the VCS was detected.

       gen-hg-bookmark-string
              Called in the Mercurial backend when a bookmark string is gener-
              ated; the get-revision and get-bookmarks styles must be true.

              This  hook  gets  the  names  of  the  Mercurial  bookmarks that
              vcs_info collected from `hg'.

              If a bookmark is active, the key ${hook_com[hg-active-bookmark]}
              is set to its name.  The key is otherwise unset.

              When  setting ret to non-zero, the string in ${hook_com[hg-book-
              mark-string]} will be used in the %m escape in formats  and  ac-
              tionformats and will be available in the global backend_misc ar-
              ray as ${backend_misc[bookmarks]}.

       gen-applied-string
              Called in the git (with stgit or during rebase or merge), and hg
              (with  mq) backends and in quilt support when the applied-string
              is generated; the use-quilt zstyle must be true for  quilt  (the
              mq and stgit backends are active by default).

              This  hook  gets the names of all applied patches which vcs_info
              collected so far in the opposite order,  which  means  that  the
              first argument is the top-most patch and so forth.

              When  setting  ret  to  non-zero,  the  string in ${hook_com[ap-
              plied-string]} will be available as %p in the  patch-format  and
              nopatch-format   styles.    This   hook   is,  in  concert  with
              set-patch-format, responsible for %-escaping that value for  use
              in the prompt.  (See the Oddities section.)

       gen-unapplied-string
              Called  in  the  git (with stgit or during rebase), and hg (with
              mq) backend and in quilt support when  the  unapplied-string  is
              generated; the get-unapplied style must be true.

              This hook gets the names of all unapplied patches which vcs_info
              collected so far in order, which means that the  first  argument
              is the patch next-in-line to be applied and so forth.

              When  setting  ret  to  non-zero, the string in ${hook_com[unap-
              plied-string]} will be available as %u in the  patch-format  and
              nopatch-format   styles.    This   hook   is,  in  concert  with
              set-patch-format, responsible for %-escaping that value for  use
              in the prompt.  (See the Oddities section.)

       gen-mqguards-string
              Called  in  the  hg backend when guards-string is generated; the
              get-mq style must be true (default).

              This hook gets the names of any active mq guards.

              When    setting    ret    to    non-zero,    the    string    in
              ${hook_com[guards-string]}  will be used in the %g escape in the
              patch-format and nopatch-format styles.

       no-vcs This hooks is called when no  version  control  system  was  de-
              tected.

              The `hook_com' parameter is not used.

       post-backend
              Called  as  soon as the backend has finished collecting informa-
              tion.

              The `hook_com' keys available are as for the set-message hook.

       post-quilt
              Called after the quilt support is done. The  following  informa-
              tion  is  passed  as arguments to the hook: 1. the quilt-support
              mode (`addon' or `standalone'); 2. the directory  that  contains
              the patch series; 3. the directory that holds quilt's status in-
              formation (the `.pc' directory) or the string "-nopc-"  if  that
              directory wasn't found.

              The `hook_com' parameter is not used.

       set-branch-format
              Called  before  `branchformat'  is set. The only argument to the
              hook is the format that is configured at this point.

              The `hook_com' keys  considered  are  `branch'  and  `revision'.
              They  are  set  to the values figured out so far by vcs_info and
              any change will be used directly when the actual replacement  is
              done.

              If  ret  is set to non-zero, the string in ${hook_com[branch-re-
              place]} will be used unchanged as the `%b'  replacement  in  the
              variables set by vcs_info.

       set-hgrev-format
              Called  before  a `hgrevformat' is set. The only argument to the
              hook is the format that is configured at this point.

              The `hook_com' keys considered are `hash' and `localrev'.   They
              are  set  to  the  values figured out so far by vcs_info and any
              change will be used directly  when  the  actual  replacement  is
              done.

              If  ret  is  set  to  non-zero, the string in ${hook_com[rev-re-
              place]} will be used unchanged as the `%i'  replacement  in  the
              variables set by vcs_info.

       pre-addon-quilt
              This  hook is used when vcs_info's quilt functionality is active
              in "addon" mode (quilt used on top of  a  real  version  control
              system).  It is activated right before any quilt specific action
              is taken.

              Setting the `ret' variable in this  hook  to  a  non-zero  value
              avoids any quilt specific actions from being run at all.

       set-patch-format
              This  hook is used to control some of the possible expansions in
              patch-format and nopatch-format styles with patch queue  systems
              such as quilt, mqueue and the like.

              This hook is used in the git, hg and quilt backends.

              The hook allows the control of the %p (${hook_com[applied]}) and
              %u (${hook_com[unapplied]}) expansion in all backends  that  use
              the    hook.    With    the    mercurial    backend,    the   %g
              (${hook_com[guards]}) expansion is controllable in  addition  to
              that.

              If  ret  is  set to non-zero, the string in ${hook_com[patch-re-
              place]} will be used unchanged instead  of  an  expanded  format
              from patch-format or nopatch-format.

              This  hook is, in concert with the gen-applied-string or gen-un-
              applied-string hooks if they are defined, responsible for  %-es-
              caping the final patch-format value for use in the prompt.  (See
              the Oddities section.)

       set-message
              Called each time before a `vcs_info_msg_N_' message is set.   It
              takes  two  arguments;  the  first  being the `N' in the message
              variable name, the second is the currently configured formats or
              actionformats.

              There  are a number of `hook_com' keys, that are used here: `ac-
              tion', `branch', `base', `base-name', `subdir',  `staged',  `un-
              staged',  `revision',  `misc',  `vcs'  and one `miscN' entry for
              each backend-specific data field (N starting at zero). They  are
              set  to the values figured out so far by vcs_info and any change
              will be used directly when the actual replacement is done.

              Since this hook is triggered multiple times (once for each  con-
              figured  formats  or actionformats), each of the `hook_com' keys
              mentioned above (except for the miscN entries)  has  an  `_orig'
              counterpart,  so  even if you changed a value to your liking you
              can still get the original value in the next run.  Changing  the
              `_orig' values is probably not a good idea.

              If  ret  is  set to non-zero, the string in ${hook_com[message]}
              will be used unchanged as the message by vcs_info.

       If all of this sounds rather confusing, take a  look  at  the  Examples
       section  below  and  also in the Misc/vcs_info-examples file in the Zsh
       source.  They contain some explanatory code.

   Examples
       Don't use vcs_info at all (even though it's in your prompt):
              zstyle ':vcs_info:*' enable NONE

       Disable the backends for bzr and svk:
              zstyle ':vcs_info:*' disable bzr svk

       Disable everything but bzr and svk:
              zstyle ':vcs_info:*' enable bzr svk

       Provide a special formats for git:
              zstyle ':vcs_info:git:*' formats       ' GIT, BABY! [%b]'
              zstyle ':vcs_info:git:*' actionformats ' GIT ACTION! [%b|%a]'

       All %x expansion in  all  sorts  of  formats  (formats,  actionformats,
       branchformat,  you  name  it) are done using the `zformat' builtin from
       the `zsh/zutil' module. That means you can do everything with these  %x
       items  what zformat supports. In particular, if you want something that
       is really long to have a fixed  width,  like  a  hash  in  a  mercurial
       branchformat, you can do this: %12.12i. That'll shrink the 40 character
       hash to its 12 leading characters. The form  is  actually  `%min.maxx'.
       More  is  possible.   See the section `The zsh/zutil Module' in zshmod-
       ules(1) for details.

       Use the quicker bzr backend
              zstyle ':vcs_info:bzr:*' use-simple true

       If   you   do   use   use-simple,   please   report    if    it    does
       `the-right-thing[tm]'.

       Display the revision number in yellow for bzr and svn:
              zstyle ':vcs_info:(svn|bzr):*' \
                     branchformat '%b%{'${fg[yellow]}'%}:%r'

       If you want colors, make sure you enclose the color codes in %{...%} if
       you want to use the string provided by vcs_info in prompts.

       Here is how to print the  VCS  information  as  a  command  (not  in  a
       prompt):
              alias vcsi='vcs_info command; vcs_info_lastmsg'

       This  way,  you  can  even  define  different  formats  for  output via
       vcs_info_lastmsg in the ':vcs_info:*:command:*' namespace.

       Now as promised, some code that uses hooks: say, you'd like to  replace
       the string `svn' by `subversion' in vcs_info's %s formats replacement.

       First,  we  will  tell  vcs_info to call a function when populating the
       message variables with the gathered information:
              zstyle ':vcs_info:*+set-message:*' hooks svn2subversion

       Nothing happens. Which is reasonable, since we didn't define the actual
       function  yet.  To see what the hooks subsystem is trying to do, enable
       the `debug' style:
              zstyle ':vcs_info:*+*:*' debug true

       That should give you an idea what is going on. Specifically, the  func-
       tion  that we are looking for is `+vi-svn2subversion'. Note, the `+vi-'
       prefix. So, everything is in order, just as documented.  When  you  are
       done checking out the debugging output, disable it again:
              zstyle ':vcs_info:*+*:*' debug false

       Now, let's define the function:
              function +vi-svn2subversion() {
                  [[ ${hook_com[vcs_orig]} == svn ]] && hook_com[vcs]=subversion
              }

       Simple enough. And it could have even been simpler, if only we had reg-
       istered our function in a less generic context. If we do it only in the
       `svn' backend's context, we don't need to test which the active backend
       is:
              zstyle ':vcs_info:svn+set-message:*' hooks svn2subversion
              function +vi-svn2subversion() {
                  hook_com[vcs]=subversion
              }

       And finally a little more elaborate example, that uses a hook to create
       a customised bookmark string for the hg backend.

       Again, we start off by registering a function:
              zstyle ':vcs_info:hg+gen-hg-bookmark-string:*' hooks hgbookmarks

       And then we define the `+vi-hgbookmarks' function:
              function +vi-hgbookmarks() {
                  # The default is to connect all bookmark names by
                  # commas. This mixes things up a little.
                  # Imagine, there's one type of bookmarks that is
                  # special to you. Say, because it's *your* work.
                  # Those bookmarks look always like this: "sh/*"
                  # (because your initials are sh, for example).
                  # This makes the bookmarks string use only those
                  # bookmarks. If there's more than one, it
                  # concatenates them using commas.
                  # The bookmarks returned by `hg' are available in
                  # the function's positional parameters.
                  local s="${(Mj:,:)@:#sh/*}"
                  # Now, the communication with the code that calls
                  # the hook functions is done via the hook_com[]
                  # hash. The key at which the `gen-hg-bookmark-string'
                  # hook looks is `hg-bookmark-string'. So:
                  hook_com[hg-bookmark-string]=$s
                  # And to signal that we want to use the string we
                  # just generated, set the special variable `ret' to
                  # something other than the default zero:
                  ret=1
                  return 0
              }

       Some longer examples and code snippets which might be useful are avail-
       able in the examples file located at Misc/vcs_info-examples in the  Zsh
       source directory.

       This concludes our guided tour through zsh's vcs_info.

PROMPT THEMES
   Installation
       You  should  make sure all the functions from the Functions/Prompts di-
       rectory of the source distribution are available; they all  begin  with
       the  string `prompt_' except for the special function`promptinit'.  You
       also  need  the  `colors'  and  `add-zsh-hook'  functions  from   Func-
       tions/Misc.   All these functions may already be installed on your sys-
       tem; if not, you will need to find them and copy them.   The  directory
       should  appear  as  one of the elements of the fpath array (this should
       already be the case if they were installed), and at least the  function
       promptinit  should  be autoloaded; it will autoload the rest.  Finally,
       to initialize the use of the system you need  to  call  the  promptinit
       function.  The following code in your .zshrc will arrange for this; as-
       sume the functions are stored in the directory ~/myfns:

              fpath=(~/myfns $fpath)
              autoload -U promptinit
              promptinit

   Theme Selection
       Use the prompt command to select your preferred  theme.   This  command
       may  be  added to your .zshrc following the call to promptinit in order
       to start zsh with a theme already selected.

       prompt [ -c | -l ]
       prompt [ -p | -h ] [ theme ... ]
       prompt [ -s ] theme [ arg ... ]
              Set or examine the prompt theme.  With no options  and  a  theme
              argument,  the theme with that name is set as the current theme.
              The available themes are determined at run time; use the -l  op-
              tion  to see a list.  The special theme `random' selects at ran-
              dom one of the available themes and sets your prompt to that.

              In some cases the theme may be modified by  one  or  more  argu-
              ments, which should be given after the theme name.  See the help
              for each theme for descriptions of these arguments.

              Options are:

              -c     Show the currently selected theme and its parameters,  if
                     any.
              -l     List all available prompt themes.
              -p     Preview  the  theme  named  by theme, or all themes if no
                     theme is given.
              -h     Show help for the theme named by theme, or for the prompt
                     function if no theme is given.
              -s     Set theme as the current theme and save state.

       prompt_theme_setup
              Each available theme has a setup function which is called by the
              prompt function to install that theme.  This function may define
              other  functions  as necessary to maintain the prompt, including
              functions used to preview the prompt or  provide  help  for  its
              use.   You should not normally call a theme's setup function di-
              rectly.

   Utility Themes
       prompt off
              The theme `off' sets all the prompt variables to minimal  values
              with no special effects.

       prompt default
              The  theme `default' sets all prompt variables to the same state
              as if an interactive zsh  was  started  with  no  initialization
              files.

       prompt restore
              The  special  theme `restore' erases all theme settings and sets
              prompt variables to  their  state  before  the  first  time  the
              `prompt'  function was run, provided each theme has properly de-
              fined its cleanup (see below).

              Note that you can undo `prompt off' and  `prompt  default'  with
              `prompt restore', but a second restore does not undo the first.

   Writing Themes
       The  first  step  for adding your own theme is to choose a name for it,
       and create a file `prompt_name_setup' in a  directory  in  your  fpath,
       such  as ~/myfns in the example above.  The file should at minimum con-
       tain assignments for the prompt variables that  your  theme  wishes  to
       modify.   By  convention,  themes use PS1, PS2, RPS1, etc., rather than
       the longer PROMPT and RPROMPT.

       The file is autoloaded as a function in the current shell  context,  so
       it  may contain any necessary commands to customize your theme, includ-
       ing defining additional functions.  To make some complex tasks  easier,
       your setup function may also do any of the following:

       Assign prompt_opts
              The array prompt_opts may be assigned any of "bang", "cr", "per-
              cent", "sp", and/or "subst" as values.   The  corresponding  se-
              topts (promptbang, etc.) are turned on, all other prompt-related
              options are turned off.  The prompt_opts array preserves setopts
              even beyond the scope of localoptions, should your function need
              that.

       Modify precmd and preexec
              Use of add-zsh-hook is  recommended.   The  precmd  and  preexec
              hooks  are automatically adjusted if the prompt theme changes or
              is disabled.

       Declare cleanup
              If your function makes any other changes that should  be  undone
              when the theme is disabled, your setup function may call
              prompt_cleanup command
       where  command  should  be suitably quoted.  If your theme is ever dis-
       abled or replaced by another, command is executed with eval.   You  may
       declare more than one such cleanup hook.

       Define preview
              Define  or  autoload a function prompt_name_preview to display a
              simulated version of your prompt.  A simple default previewer is
              defined  by  promptinit for themes that do not define their own.
              This preview function is called by `prompt -p'.

       Provide help
              Define or autoload a function prompt_name_help to display  docu-
              mentation  or  help  text for your theme.  This help function is
              called by `prompt -h'.

ZLE FUNCTIONS
   Widgets
       These functions all implement user-defined ZLE widgets (see  zshzle(1))
       which  can  be bound to keystrokes in interactive shells.  To use them,
       your .zshrc should contain lines of the form

              autoload function
              zle -N function

       followed by an appropriate bindkey command to  associate  the  function
       with a key sequence.  Suggested bindings are described below.

       bash-style word functions
              If  you  are  looking for functions to implement moving over and
              editing words in the manner of  bash,  where  only  alphanumeric
              characters are considered word characters, you can use the func-
              tions described in the next section.  The  following  is  suffi-
              cient:

                     autoload -U select-word-style
                     select-word-style bash

       forward-word-match, backward-word-match
       kill-word-match, backward-kill-word-match
       transpose-words-match, capitalize-word-match
       up-case-word-match, down-case-word-match
       delete-whole-word-match, select-word-match
       select-word-style, match-word-context, match-words-by-style
              The  first eight `-match' functions are drop-in replacements for
              the builtin widgets without the suffix.  By default they  behave
              in  a  similar way.  However, by the use of styles and the func-
              tion select-word-style, the way words are  matched  can  be  al-
              tered. select-word-match is intended to be used as a text object
              in vi mode but with custom word styles. For comparison, the wid-
              gets described in zshzle(1) under Text Objects use fixed defini-
              tions of words, compatible with the vim editor.

              The simplest way of configuring the  functions  is  to  use  se-
              lect-word-style, which can either be called as a normal function
              with the appropriate argument, or invoked as a user-defined wid-
              get  that  will prompt for the first character of the word style
              to be used.  The first time  it  is  invoked,  the  first  eight
              -match  functions  will  automatically  replace the builtin ver-
              sions, so they do not need to be loaded explicitly.

              The word styles available are as follows.  Only the first  char-
              acter is examined.

              bash   Word characters are alphanumeric characters only.

              normal As  in  normal  shell operation:  word characters are al-
                     phanumeric characters plus any characters present in  the
                     string given by the parameter $WORDCHARS.

              shell  Words  are complete shell command arguments, possibly in-
                     cluding complete quoted strings, or any tokens special to
                     the shell.

              whitespace
                     Words are any set of characters delimited by whitespace.

              default
                     Restore the default settings; this is usually the same as
                     `normal'.

              All but `default' can be input as an upper case character, which
              has  the  same  effect  but with subword matching turned on.  In
              this case, words with upper case  characters  are  treated  spe-
              cially:  each separate run of upper case characters, or an upper
              case character followed by any number of  other  characters,  is
              considered a word.  The style subword-range can supply an alter-
              native character range to the default `[:upper:]'; the value  of
              the  style is treated as the contents of a `[...]' pattern (note
              that the outer brackets should not be supplied, only those  sur-
              rounding named ranges).

              More  control  can  be obtained using the zstyle command, as de-
              scribed in zshmodules(1).  Each style is looked up in  the  con-
              text  :zle:widget  where  widget is the name of the user-defined
              widget, not the name of the function implementing it, so in  the
              case of the definitions supplied by select-word-style the appro-
              priate contexts are :zle:forward-word, and so on.  The  function
              select-word-style  itself  always defines styles for the context
              `:zle:*' which can be overridden by more specific (longer)  pat-
              terns as well as explicit contexts.

              The  style word-style specifies the rules to use.  This may have
              the following values.

              normal Use the standard  shell  rules,  i.e.  alphanumerics  and
                     $WORDCHARS, unless overridden by the styles word-chars or
                     word-class.

              specified
                     Similar to normal, but only the specified characters, and
                     not also alphanumerics, are considered word characters.

              unspecified
                     The  negation  of  specified.   The  given characters are
                     those which will not be considered part of a word.

              shell  Words are obtained by using the syntactic rules for  gen-
                     erating  shell  command  arguments.  In addition, special
                     tokens which are never command arguments such as `()' are
                     also treated as words.

              whitespace
                     Words are whitespace-delimited strings of characters.

              The  first  three of those rules usually use $WORDCHARS, but the
              value  in  the  parameter  can  be  overridden  by   the   style
              word-chars,  which  works in exactly the same way as $WORDCHARS.
              In addition, the style word-class uses character class syntax to
              group  characters  and  takes precedence over word-chars if both
              are set.  The word-class style does not include the  surrounding
              brackets of the character class; for example, `-:[:alnum:]' is a
              valid word-class to include all alphanumerics plus  the  charac-
              ters  `-'  and  `:'.   Be  careful including `]', `^' and `-' as
              these are special inside character classes.

              word-style may also have `-subword' appended  to  its  value  to
              turn on subword matching, as described above.

              The  style  skip-chars  is mostly useful for transpose-words and
              similar functions.  If set,  it  gives  a  count  of  characters
              starting  at  the  cursor  position which will not be considered
              part of the word and are treated as space,  regardless  of  what
              they actually are.  For example, if

                     zstyle ':zle:transpose-words' skip-chars 1

              has  been set, and transpose-words-match is called with the cur-
              sor on the X of fooXbar, where X can be any character, then  the
              resulting expression is barXfoo.

              Finer  grained  control  can  be  obtained  by setting the style
              word-context to an array of pairs of entries.  Each pair of  en-
              tries  consists  of a pattern and a subcontext.  The shell argu-
              ment the cursor is on is matched against each  pattern  in  turn
              until  one  matches;  if  it  does, the context is extended by a
              colon and the corresponding subcontext.  Note that the  test  is
              made against the original word on the line, with no stripping of
              quotes.  Special handling is done  between  words:  the  current
              context  is  examined  and if it contains the string between the
              word is set to a single space; else if it is contains the string
              back,  the  word  before the cursor is considered, else the word
              after cursor is considered. Some examples are given below.

              The style skip-whitespace-first  is  only  used  with  the  for-
              ward-word widget.  If it is set to true, then forward-word skips
              any non-word-characters, followed  by  any  non-word-characters:
              this  is  similar to the behaviour of other word-orientated wid-
              gets, and also that used by other editors,  however  it  differs
              from  the  standard zsh behaviour.  When using select-word-style
              the widget is set in the context :zle:*  to  true  if  the  word
              style is bash and false otherwise.  It may be overridden by set-
              ting it in the more specific context :zle:forward-word*.

              It is possible to create  widgets  with  specific  behaviour  by
              defining  a  new  widget  implemented by the appropriate generic
              function, then setting a style for the context of  the  specific
              widget.   For  example,  the  following  defines  a widget back-
              ward-kill-space-word using backward-kill-word-match, the generic
              widget  implementing  backward-kill-word  behaviour, and ensures
              that the new widget always implements space-delimited behaviour.

                     zle -N backward-kill-space-word backward-kill-word-match
                     zstyle :zle:backward-kill-space-word word-style space

              The widget backward-kill-space-word can now be bound to a key.

              Here are some further examples of use of  the  styles,  actually
              taken from the simplified interface in select-word-style:

                     zstyle ':zle:*' word-style standard
                     zstyle ':zle:*' word-chars ''

              Implements  bash-style  word handling for all widgets, i.e. only
              alphanumerics are word characters; equivalent to setting the pa-
              rameter WORDCHARS empty for the given context.

                     style ':zle:*kill*' word-style space

              Uses  space-delimited  words for widgets with the word `kill' in
              the name.  Neither of the styles word-chars  nor  word-class  is
              used in this case.

              Here  are  some examples of use of the word-context style to ex-
              tend the context.

                     zstyle ':zle:*' word-context \
                            "*/*" filename "[[:space:]]" whitespace
                     zstyle ':zle:transpose-words:whitespace' word-style shell
                     zstyle ':zle:transpose-words:filename' word-style normal
                     zstyle ':zle:transpose-words:filename' word-chars ''

              This provides two different ways of  using  transpose-words  de-
              pending  on whether the cursor is on whitespace between words or
              on a filename, here any word containing  a  /.   On  whitespace,
              complete  arguments  as  defined by standard shell rules will be
              transposed.  In a filename, only alphanumerics  will  be  trans-
              posed.   Elsewhere,  words  will be transposed using the default
              style for :zle:transpose-words.

              The word matching and all the handling of zstyle settings is ac-
              tually  implemented  by the function match-words-by-style.  This
              can be used to create new  user-defined  widgets.   The  calling
              function  should set the local parameter curcontext to :zle:wid-
              get,  create  the  local  parameter   matched_words   and   call
              match-words-by-style    with    no    arguments.    On   return,
              matched_words will be set to an array with the elements: (1) the
              start  of  the  line  (2)  the  word  before  the cursor (3) any
              non-word characters between that word and  the  cursor  (4)  any
              non-word  character  at  the  cursor position plus any remaining
              non-word characters before the next word, including all  charac-
              ters  specified by the skip-chars style, (5) the word at or fol-
              lowing the cursor (6) any  non-word  characters  following  that
              word  (7) the remainder of the line.  Any of the elements may be
              an empty string; the calling function should test  for  this  to
              decide whether it can perform its function.

              If  the  variable  matched_words  is  defined  by  the caller to
              match-words-by-style  as  an   associative   array   (local   -A
              matched_words),  then the seven values given above should be re-
              trieved from it as  elements  named  start,  word-before-cursor,
              ws-before-cursor,   ws-after-cursor,  word-after-cursor,  ws-af-
              ter-word, and end.  In addition the element is-word-start  is  1
              if  the cursor is on the start of a word or subword, or on white
              space before it (the cases can be distinguished by  testing  the
              ws-after-cursor  element)  and 0 otherwise.  This form is recom-
              mended for future compatibility.

              It   is   possible   to   pass   options   with   arguments   to
              match-words-by-style to override the use of styles.  The options
              are:
              -w     word-style
              -s     skip-chars
              -c     word-class
              -C     word-chars
              -r     subword-range

              For example, match-words-by-style -w shell -c 0 may be  used  to
              extract the command argument around the cursor.

              The   word-context   style   is   implemented  by  the  function
              match-word-context.  This should not usually need to  be  called
              directly.

       bracketed-paste-magic
              The bracketed-paste widget (see subsection Miscellaneous in zsh-
              zle(1)) inserts pasted text literally  into  the  editor  buffer
              rather than interpret it as keystrokes.  This disables some com-
              mon usages where the self-insert widget is replaced in order  to
              accomplish some extra processing.  An example is the contributed
              url-quote-magic widget described below.

              The bracketed-paste-magic widget  is  meant  to  replace  brack-
              eted-paste  with a wrapper that re-enables these self-insert ac-
              tions, and other actions as selected by zstyles.  Therefore this
              widget is installed with

                     autoload -Uz bracketed-paste-magic
                     zle -N bracketed-paste bracketed-paste-magic

              Other    than    enabling   some   widget   processing,   brack-
              eted-paste-magic attempts to replicate bracketed-paste as faith-
              fully as possible.

              The following zstyles may be set to control processing of pasted
              text.    All   are   looked   up   in   the   context   `:brack-
              eted-paste-magic'.

              active-widgets
                     A  list  of patterns matching widget names that should be
                     activated during the paste.  All other key sequences  are
                     processed as self-insert-unmeta.  The default is `self-*'
                     so any user-defined widgets named with  that  prefix  are
                     active along with the builtin self-insert.

                     If  this  style is not set (explicitly deleted) or set to
                     an empty value, no widgets are active and the pasted text
                     is  inserted  literally.   If  the  value includes `unde-
                     fined-key', any unknown sequences are discarded from  the
                     pasted text.

              inactive-keys
                     The  inverse  of  active-widgets, a list of key sequences
                     that always use self-insert-unmeta even when bound to  an
                     active  widget.   Note that this is a list of literal key
                     sequences, not patterns.

              paste-init
                     A list of function names, called in widget  context  (but
                     not as widgets).  The functions are called in order until
                     one of them returns a  non-zero  status.   The  parameter
                     `PASTED'  contains  the initial state of the pasted text.
                     All other ZLE parameters such as `BUFFER' have their nor-
                     mal  values  and side-effects, and full history is avail-
                     able, so for example paste-init functions may move  words
                     from  BUFFER  into  PASTED to make those words visible to
                     the active-widgets.

                     A non-zero return from a  paste-init  function  does  not
                     prevent the paste itself from proceeding.

                     Loading    bracketed-paste-magic   defines   backward-ex-
                     tend-paste, a helper function for use in paste-init.

                            zstyle :bracketed-paste-magic paste-init \
                                   backward-extend-paste

                     When a paste would insert into the middle of  a  word  or
                     append  text  to a word already on the line, backward-ex-
                     tend-paste moves the prefix from LBUFFER into  PASTED  so
                     that  the  active-widgets see the full word so far.  This
                     may be useful with url-quote-magic.

              paste-finish
                     Another list of function names called in order until  one
                     returns  non-zero.   These functions are called after the
                     pasted text has been processed by the active-widgets, but
                     before it is inserted into `BUFFER'.  ZLE parameters have
                     their normal values and side-effects.

                     A non-zero return from a paste-finish function  does  not
                     prevent the paste itself from proceeding.

                     Loading bracketed-paste-magic also defines quote-paste, a
                     helper function for use in paste-finish.

                            zstyle :bracketed-paste-magic paste-finish \
                                   quote-paste
                            zstyle :bracketed-paste-magic:finish quote-style \
                                   qqq

                     When the pasted text  is  inserted  into  BUFFER,  it  is
                     quoted  per  the quote-style value.  To forcibly turn off
                     the built-in numeric prefix quoting  of  bracketed-paste,
                     use:

                            zstyle :bracketed-paste-magic:finish quote-style \
                                   none

              Important:  During active-widgets processing of the paste (after
              paste-init and before paste-finish),  BUFFER  starts  empty  and
              history  is  restricted,  so  cursor motions, etc., may not pass
              outside of the pasted content.  Text assigned to BUFFER  by  the
              active widgets is copied back into PASTED before paste-finish.

       copy-earlier-word
              This  widget  works  like  a combination of insert-last-word and
              copy-prev-shell-word.  Repeated invocations of  the  widget  re-
              trieve  earlier  words on the relevant history line.  With a nu-
              meric argument N, insert the Nth word from the history  line;  N
              may be negative to count from the end of the line.

              If insert-last-word has been used to retrieve the last word on a
              previous history line, repeated invocations  will  replace  that
              word with earlier words from the same line.

              Otherwise, the widget applies to words on the line currently be-
              ing edited.  The widget style can be set to the name of  another
              widget  that  should  be  called to retrieve words.  This widget
              must accept the same three arguments as insert-last-word.

       cycle-completion-positions
              After inserting an unambiguous string into the command line, the
              new  function  based  completion  system may know about multiple
              places in this string where characters  are  missing  or  differ
              from  at  least one of the possible matches.  It will then place
              the cursor on the position it considers to be the most interest-
              ing one, i.e. the one where one can disambiguate between as many
              matches as possible with as little typing as possible.

              This widget allows the cursor to be easily moved  to  the  other
              interesting  spots.   It  can be invoked repeatedly to cycle be-
              tween all positions reported by the completion system.

       delete-whole-word-match
              This is another function which works like the  -match  functions
              described  immediately  above,  i.e.  using styles to decide the
              word boundaries.  However, it is not a replacement for  any  ex-
              isting function.

              The  basic  behaviour  is  to delete the word around the cursor.
              There is no numeric argument  handling;  only  the  single  word
              around  the  cursor  is  considered.  If the widget contains the
              string kill, the removed text will be placed  in  the  cutbuffer
              for   future   yanking.    This  can  be  obtained  by  defining
              kill-whole-word-match as follows:

                     zle -N kill-whole-word-match delete-whole-word-match

              and then binding the widget kill-whole-word-match.

       up-line-or-beginning-search, down-line-or-beginning-search
              These   widgets   are   similar   to   the   builtin   functions
              up-line-or-search  and  down-line-or-search:   if in a multiline
              buffer they move up or down within the  buffer,  otherwise  they
              search  for  a  history  line  matching the start of the current
              line.  In this case, however,  they  search  for  a  line  which
              matches  the  current line up to the current cursor position, in
              the manner of  history-beginning-search-backward  and  -forward,
              rather than the first word on the line.

       edit-command-line
              Edit the command line using your visual editor, as in ksh.

                     bindkey -M vicmd v edit-command-line

       expand-absolute-path
              Expand  the  file name under the cursor to an absolute path, re-
              solving symbolic links.  Where possible, the initial  path  seg-
              ment  is  turned into a named directory or reference to a user's
              home directory.

       history-search-end
              This   function   implements    the    widgets    history-begin-
              ning-search-backward-end    and    history-beginning-search-for-
              ward-end.  These commands work by first calling the  correspond-
              ing builtin widget (see `History Control' in zshzle(1)) and then
              moving the cursor to the end of the line.  The  original  cursor
              position  is  remembered and restored before calling the builtin
              widget a second time, so that the same  search  is  repeated  to
              look farther through the history.

              Although  you autoload only one function, the commands to use it
              are slightly different because it implements two widgets.

                     zle -N history-beginning-search-backward-end \
                            history-search-end
                     zle -N history-beginning-search-forward-end \
                            history-search-end
                     bindkey '\e^P' history-beginning-search-backward-end
                     bindkey '\e^N' history-beginning-search-forward-end

       history-beginning-search-menu
              This function implements yet another form of history  searching.
              The text before the cursor is used to select lines from the his-
              tory, as for history-beginning-search-backward except  that  all
              matches  are  shown  in a numbered menu.  Typing the appropriate
              digits inserts the full history line.  Note that leading  zeroes
              must  be  typed (they are only shown when necessary for removing
              ambiguity).  The entire history is searched; there  is  no  dis-
              tinction between forwards and backwards.

              With a numeric argument, the search is not anchored to the start
              of the line; the string typed by the use may appear anywhere  in
              the line in the history.

              If  the  widget  name contains `-end' the cursor is moved to the
              end of the line inserted.  If the widget name contains  `-space'
              any  space  in  the  text typed is treated as a wildcard and can
              match anything (hence a leading space is equivalent to giving  a
              numeric argument).  Both forms can be combined, for example:

                     zle -N history-beginning-search-menu-space-end \
                            history-beginning-search-menu

       history-pattern-search
              The  function  history-pattern-search  implements  widgets which
              prompt for a pattern with which to search the history  backwards
              or  forwards.   The  pattern is in the usual zsh format, however
              the first character may be ^ to anchor the search to  the  start
              of  the  line,  and  the  last  character may be $ to anchor the
              search to the end of the line.  If the search was  not  anchored
              to  the  end of the line the cursor is positioned just after the
              pattern found.

              The commands to create bindable widgets are similar to those  in
              the example immediately above:

                     autoload -U history-pattern-search
                     zle -N history-pattern-search-backward history-pattern-search
                     zle -N history-pattern-search-forward history-pattern-search

       incarg Typing  the keystrokes for this widget with the cursor placed on
              or to the left of an integer causes that integer  to  be  incre-
              mented  by  one.   With a numeric argument, the number is incre-
              mented by the amount of the argument (decremented if the numeric
              argument is negative).  The shell parameter incarg may be set to
              change the default increment to something other than one.

                     bindkey '^X+' incarg

       incremental-complete-word
              This allows incremental completion of a  word.   After  starting
              this  command,  a  list of completion choices can be shown after
              every character you type, which you can delete with ^H  or  DEL.
              Pressing return accepts the completion so far and returns you to
              normal editing (that is, the command line is not immediately ex-
              ecuted).   You  can hit TAB to do normal completion, ^G to abort
              back to the state when you started, and ^D to list the matches.

              This works only with the new function based completion system.

                     bindkey '^Xi' incremental-complete-word

       insert-composed-char
              This function allows you to compose characters that don't appear
              on  the keyboard to be inserted into the command line.  The com-
              mand is followed by two keys corresponding to  ASCII  characters
              (there is no prompt).  For accented characters, the two keys are
              a base character followed by a code for the  accent,  while  for
              other special characters the two characters together form a mne-
              monic for the character to be inserted.  The two-character codes
              are  a  subset  of  those  given  by  RFC  1345 (see for example
              http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc1345.html).

              The function may optionally be followed by up to two  characters
              which  replace  one or both of the characters read from the key-
              board; if both characters are supplied, no input is  read.   For
              example,  insert-composed-char a: can be used within a widget to
              insert an a with umlaut into the command line.  This has the ad-
              vantages  over use of a literal character that it is more porta-
              ble.

              For best results zsh should have been  built  with  support  for
              multibyte  characters (configured with --enable-multibyte); how-
              ever, the function works for the  limited  range  of  characters
              available in single-byte character sets such as ISO-8859-1.

              The character is converted into the local representation and in-
              serted into the command line at the cursor position.  (The  con-
              version  is done within the shell, using whatever facilities the
              C library provides.)  With a numeric argument, the character and
              its code are previewed in the status line

              The  function may be run outside zle in which case it prints the
              character (together with a newline) to standard  output.   Input
              is still read from keystrokes.

              See insert-unicode-char for an alternative way of inserting Uni-
              code characters using their hexadecimal character number.

              The set of accented characters is reasonably complete up to Uni-
              code  character  U+0180,  the set of special characters less so.
              However, it is very sporadic from that point.  Adding new  char-
              acters is easy, however; see the function define-composed-chars.
              Please send any additions to zsh-workers@zsh.org.

              The codes for the second character when used to accent the first
              are  as  follows.   Note that not every character can take every
              accent.
              !      Grave.
              '      Acute.
              >      Circumflex.
              ?      Tilde.  (This is not ~ as RFC 1345 does not  assume  that
                     character is present on the keyboard.)
              -      Macron.  (A horizontal bar over the base character.)
              (      Breve.  (A shallow dish shape over the base character.)
              .      Dot above the base character, or in the case of i no dot,
                     or in the case of L and l a centered dot.
              :      Diaeresis (Umlaut).
              c      Cedilla.
              _      Underline, however  there  are  currently  no  underlined
                     characters.
              /      Stroke through the base character.
              "      Double acute (only supported on a few letters).
              ;      Ogonek.   (A  little  forward  facing  hook at the bottom
                     right of the character.)
              <      Caron.  (A little v over the letter.)
              0      Circle over the base character.
              2      Hook over the base character.
              9      Horn over the base character.

              The most common characters from the Arabic, Cyrillic, Greek  and
              Hebrew  alphabets are available; consult RFC 1345 for the appro-
              priate sequences.  In addition, a set of two letter codes not in
              RFC  1345  are  available for the double-width characters corre-
              sponding to ASCII characters from !  to ~ (0x21 to 0x7e) by pre-
              ceding  the  character with ^, for example ^A for a double-width
              A.

              The following other two-character sequences are understood.

              ASCII characters
                     These are already present on most keyboards:
              <(     Left square bracket
              //     Backslash (solidus)
              )>     Right square bracket
              (!     Left brace (curly bracket)
              !!     Vertical bar (pipe symbol)
              !)     Right brace (curly bracket)
              '?     Tilde

              Special letters
                     Characters found in various variants of the Latin  alpha-
                     bet:
              ss     Eszett (scharfes S)
              D-, d- Eth
              TH, th Thorn
              kk     Kra
              'n     'n
              NG, ng Ng
              OI, oi Oi
              yr     yr
              ED     ezh

              Currency symbols
              Ct     Cent
              Pd     Pound sterling (also lira and others)
              Cu     Currency
              Ye     Yen
              Eu     Euro (N.B. not in RFC 1345)

              Punctuation characters
                     References to "right" quotes indicate the shape (like a 9
                     rather than 6) rather than their grammatical  use.   (For
                     example,  a "right" low double quote is used to open quo-
                     tations in German.)
              !I     Inverted exclamation mark
              BB     Broken vertical bar
              SE     Section
              Co     Copyright
              -a     Spanish feminine ordinal indicator
              <<     Left guillemet
              --     Soft hyphen
              Rg     Registered trade mark
              PI     Pilcrow (paragraph)
              -o     Spanish masculine ordinal indicator
              >>     Right guillemet
              ?I     Inverted question mark
              -1     Hyphen
              -N     En dash
              -M     Em dash
              -3     Horizontal bar
              :3     Vertical ellipsis
              .3     Horizontal midline ellipsis
              !2     Double vertical line
              =2     Double low line
              '6     Left single quote
              '9     Right single quote
              .9     "Right" low quote
              9'     Reversed "right" quote
              "6     Left double quote
              "9     Right double quote
              :9     "Right" low double quote
              9"     Reversed "right" double quote
              /-     Dagger
              /=     Double dagger

              Mathematical symbols
              DG     Degree
              -2, +-, -+
                     - sign, +/- sign, -/+ sign
              2S     Superscript 2
              3S     Superscript 3
              1S     Superscript 1
              My     Micro
              .M     Middle dot
              14     Quarter
              12     Half
              34     Three quarters
              *X     Multiplication
              -:     Division
              %0     Per mille
              FA, TE, /0
                     For all, there exists, empty set
              dP, DE, NB
                     Partial derivative, delta (increment), del (nabla)
              (-, -) Element of, contains
              *P, +Z Product, sum
              *-, Ob, Sb
                     Asterisk, ring, bullet
              RT, 0(, 00
                     Root sign, proportional to, infinity

              Other symbols
              cS, cH, cD, cC
                     Card suits: spades, hearts, diamonds, clubs
              Md, M8, M2, Mb, Mx, MX
                     Musical notation: crotchet (quarter note), quaver (eighth
                     note),  semiquavers (sixteenth notes), flag sign, natural
                     sign, sharp sign
              Fm, Ml Female, male

              Accents on their own
              '>     Circumflex (same as caret, ^)
              '!     Grave (same as backtick, `)
              ',     Cedilla
              ':     Diaeresis (Umlaut)
              'm     Macron
              ''     Acute

       insert-files
              This function allows you type a file pattern, and  see  the  re-
              sults  of  the expansion at each step.  When you hit return, all
              expansions are inserted into the command line.

                     bindkey '^Xf' insert-files

       insert-unicode-char
              When first executed, the user inputs a set of  hexadecimal  dig-
              its.   This  is  terminated  with  another  call  to insert-uni-
              code-char.  The digits are then turned  into  the  corresponding
              Unicode  character.  For example, if the widget is bound to ^XU,
              the character sequence `^XU 4 c ^XU' inserts L (Unicode U+004c).

              See insert-composed-char for a way of inserting characters using
              a two-character mnemonic.

       narrow-to-region [ -p pre ] [ -P post ]
                        [  -S statepm | -R statepm | [ -l lbufvar ] [ -r rbuf-
       var ] ]
                        [ -n ] [ start end ]
       narrow-to-region-invisible
              Narrow the editable portion of the buffer to the region  between
              the  cursor and the mark, which may be in either order.  The re-
              gion may not be empty.

              narrow-to-region may be used as a widget or called as a function
              from a user-defined widget; by default, the text outside the ed-
              itable area remains visible.  A recursive-edit is performed  and
              the  original widening status is then restored.  Various options
              and arguments are available when it is called as a function.

              The options -p pretext and -P posttext may be  used  to  replace
              the  text  before  and after the display for the duration of the
              function; either or both may be an empty string.

              If the option -n is also given, pretext or posttext will only be
              inserted  if  there  is  text before or after the region respec-
              tively which will be made invisible.

              Two numeric arguments may be given which will be used instead of
              the cursor and mark positions.

              The  option  -S statepm is used to narrow according to the other
              options while saving the original state in  the  parameter  with
              name statepm, while the option -R statepm is used to restore the
              state from the parameter; note in both cases the name of the pa-
              rameter  is required.  In the second case, other options and ar-
              guments are irrelevant.  When this method  is  used,  no  recur-
              sive-edit  is  performed;  the  calling  widget should call this
              function with the option -S, perform its own editing on the com-
              mand  line or pass control to the user via `zle recursive-edit',
              then call this  function  with  the  option  -R.   The  argument
              statepm  must  be a suitable name for an ordinary parameter, ex-
              cept that parameters beginning with the  prefix  _ntr_  are  re-
              served for use within narrow-to-region.  Typically the parameter
              will be local to the calling function.

              The options -l lbufvar and -r rbufvar may be used to specify pa-
              rameters where the widget will store the resulting text from the
              operation.  The parameter lbufvar will contain LBUFFER and rbuf-
              var  will  contain RBUFFER.  Neither of these two options may be
              used with -S or -R.

              narrow-to-region-invisible is a simple widget which  calls  nar-
              row-to-region  with arguments which replace any text outside the
              region with `...'.  It does not take any arguments.

              The display is restored (and the widget returns)  upon  any  zle
              command  which  would  usually  cause the line to be accepted or
              aborted.  Hence an additional such command is required to accept
              or abort the current line.

              The  return  status  of both widgets is zero if the line was ac-
              cepted, else non-zero.

              Here is a trivial example of a widget using this feature.
                     local state
                     narrow-to-region -p $'Editing restricted region\n' \
                       -P '' -S state
                     zle recursive-edit
                     narrow-to-region -R state

       predict-on
              This set of functions implements predictive typing using history
              search.   After  predict-on, typing characters causes the editor
              to look backward in the history for  the  first  line  beginning
              with what you have typed so far.  After predict-off, editing re-
              turns to normal for the line found.  In fact,  you  often  don't
              even  need to use predict-off, because if the line doesn't match
              something in the history, adding a key performs standard comple-
              tion,  and  then  inserts  itself  if no completions were found.
              However, editing in the middle of a line is  liable  to  confuse
              prediction; see the toggle style below.

              With  the  function based completion system (which is needed for
              this), you should be able to type TAB at almost any point to ad-
              vance  the cursor to the next ``interesting'' character position
              (usually the end of the current word, but sometimes somewhere in
              the  middle  of  the word).  And of course as soon as the entire
              line is what you want, you can accept with return, without need-
              ing to move the cursor to the end first.

              The first time predict-on is used, it creates several additional
              widget functions:

              delete-backward-and-predict
                     Replaces the backward-delete-char  widget.   You  do  not
                     need to bind this yourself.
              insert-and-predict
                     Implements predictive typing by replacing the self-insert
                     widget.  You do not need to bind this yourself.
              predict-off
                     Turns off predictive typing.

              Although you autoload only the predict-on function, it is neces-
              sary to create a keybinding for predict-off as well.

                     zle -N predict-on
                     zle -N predict-off
                     bindkey '^X^Z' predict-on
                     bindkey '^Z' predict-off

       read-from-minibuffer
              This is most useful when called as a function from inside a wid-
              get, but will work correctly as a widget in its own  right.   It
              prompts  for a value below the current command line; a value may
              be input using all of  the  standard  zle  operations  (and  not
              merely the restricted set available when executing, for example,
              execute-named-cmd).  The value is then returned to  the  calling
              function in the parameter $REPLY and the editing buffer restored
              to its previous state.  If the read was aborted  by  a  keyboard
              break  (typically  ^G), the function returns status 1 and $REPLY
              is not set.

              If one argument is supplied to the function it  is  taken  as  a
              prompt,  otherwise `? ' is used.  If two arguments are supplied,
              they are the prompt and the initial value of $LBUFFER, and if  a
              third  argument  is  given  it is the initial value of $RBUFFER.
              This provides a default value  and  starting  cursor  placement.
              Upon return the entire buffer is the value of $REPLY.

              One  option is available: `-k num' specifies that num characters
              are to be read instead of a whole line.  The line editor is  not
              invoked  recursively  in this case, so depending on the terminal
              settings the input may not be visible, and only the  input  keys
              are  placed  in $REPLY, not the entire buffer.  Note that unlike
              the read builtin num must be given; there is no default.

              The name is a slight  misnomer,  as  in  fact  the  shell's  own
              minibuffer is not used.  Hence it is still possible to call exe-
              cuted-named-cmd and similar functions while reading a value.

       replace-argument, replace-argument-edit
              The function replace-argument can be used to replace  a  command
              line  argument  in  the  current command line or, if the current
              command line is empty, in the last command  line  executed  (the
              new  command  line is not executed).  Arguments are as delimited
              by standard shell syntax,

              If a numeric argument is given, that specifies the  argument  to
              be replaced.  0 means the command name, as in history expansion.
              A negative numeric argument counts backward from the last word.

              If no numeric argument is given, the  current  argument  is  re-
              placed;  this  is the last argument if the previous history line
              is being used.

              The function prompts for a replacement argument.

              If the widget contains the string edit, for example  is  defined
              as

                     zle -N replace-argument-edit replace-argument

              then the function presents the current value of the argument for
              editing, otherwise the editing buffer  for  the  replacement  is
              initially empty.

       replace-string, replace-pattern
       replace-string-again, replace-pattern-again
              The  function  replace-string  implements three widgets.  If de-
              fined under the same name as the function, it  prompts  for  two
              strings;  the first (source) string will be replaced by the sec-
              ond everywhere it occurs in the line editing buffer.

              If the widget name contains the word `pattern', for  example  by
              defining  the  widget  using the command `zle -N replace-pattern
              replace-string', then the matching is performed using  zsh  pat-
              terns.   All  zsh  extended globbing patterns can be used in the
              source string; note that unlike filename generation the  pattern
              does  not  need  to match an entire word, nor do glob qualifiers
              have any effect.  In addition, the replacement string  can  con-
              tain  parameter or command substitutions.  Furthermore, a `&' in
              the replacement string will be replaced with the matched  source
              string,  and a backquoted digit `\N' will be replaced by the Nth
              parenthesised expression matched.  The form `\{N}' may  be  used
              to protect the digit from following digits.

              If  the  widget instead contains the word `regex' (or `regexp'),
              then the matching is performed using  regular  expressions,  re-
              specting  the  setting  of the option RE_MATCH_PCRE (see the de-
              scription of the function regexp-replace  below).   The  special
              replacement  facilities described above for pattern matching are
              available.

              By default the previous source or replacement string will not be
              offered  for editing.  However, this feature can be activated by
              setting the style edit-previous in the context :zle:widget  (for
              example,  :zle:replace-string) to true.  In addition, a positive
              numeric argument forces the previous values  to  be  offered,  a
              negative or zero argument forces them not to be.

              The function replace-string-again can be used to repeat the pre-
              vious  replacement;  no  prompting  is  done.    As   with   re-
              place-string,  if the name of the widget contains the word `pat-
              tern' or `regex', pattern or regular expression matching is per-
              formed, else a literal string replacement.  Note that the previ-
              ous source and replacement text are the  same  whether  pattern,
              regular expression or string matching is used.

              In addition, replace-string shows the previous replacement above
              the prompt, so long as there was one during the current session;
              if the source string is empty, that replacement will be repeated
              without the widget prompting for a replacement string.

              For example, starting from the line:

                     print This line contains fan and fond

              and invoking replace-pattern with the source string `f(?)n'  and
              the replacement string `c\1r' produces the not very useful line:

                     print This line contains car and cord

              The  range of the replacement string can be limited by using the
              narrow-to-region-invisible widget.  One limitation of  the  cur-
              rent  version is that undo will cycle through changes to the re-
              placement and source strings before undoing the replacement  it-
              self.

       send-invisible
              This is similar to read-from-minibuffer in that it may be called
              as a function from a widget or as a widget of its own,  and  in-
              teractively  reads  input from the keyboard.  However, the input
              being typed is concealed and a  string  of  asterisks  (`*')  is
              shown  instead.   The value is saved in the parameter $INVISIBLE
              to which a reference is inserted into the editing buffer at  the
              restored cursor position.  If the read was aborted by a keyboard
              break (typically ^G) or another  escape  from  editing  such  as
              push-line, $INVISIBLE is set to empty and the original buffer is
              restored unchanged.

              If one argument is supplied to the function it  is  taken  as  a
              prompt, otherwise `Non-echoed text: ' is used (as in emacs).  If
              a second and third argument are supplied they are used to  begin
              and  end  the  reference to $INVISIBLE that is inserted into the
              buffer.  The default is to open with  ${,  then  INVISIBLE,  and
              close with }, but many other effects are possible.

       smart-insert-last-word
              This function may replace the insert-last-word widget, like so:

                     zle -N insert-last-word smart-insert-last-word

              With  a  numeric argument, or when passed command line arguments
              in a call from another widget, it behaves like insert-last-word,
              except  that words in comments are ignored when INTERACTIVE_COM-
              MENTS is set.

              Otherwise, the rightmost ``interesting'' word from the  previous
              command  is found and inserted.  The default definition of ``in-
              teresting'' is that the word contains at  least  one  alphabetic
              character, slash, or backslash.  This definition may be overrid-
              den by use of the match style.  The context used to look up  the
              style  is  the  widget  name,  so  usually  the  context is :in-
              sert-last-word.  However, you can bind this function to  differ-
              ent widgets to use different patterns:

                     zle -N insert-last-assignment smart-insert-last-word
                     zstyle :insert-last-assignment match '[[:alpha:]][][[:alnum:]]#=*'
                     bindkey '\e=' insert-last-assignment

              If  no  interesting word is found and the auto-previous style is
              set to a true value, the search  continues  upward  through  the
              history.   When  auto-previous  is unset or false (the default),
              the widget must be invoked repeatedly in order to search earlier
              history lines.

       transpose-lines
              Only useful with a multi-line editing buffer; the lines here are
              lines within the current on-screen buffer,  not  history  lines.
              The effect is similar to the function of the same name in Emacs.

              Transpose  the  current line with the previous line and move the
              cursor to the start of the next line.  Repeating this (which can
              be done by providing a positive numeric argument) has the effect
              of moving the line above the cursor down by a number of lines.

              With a negative numeric argument, requires two lines  above  the
              cursor.   These two lines are transposed and the cursor moved to
              the start of the previous line.  Using a numeric  argument  less
              than -1 has the effect of moving the line above the cursor up by
              minus that number of lines.

       url-quote-magic
              This widget replaces the built-in self-insert to make it  easier
              to  type URLs as command line arguments.  As you type, the input
              character is analyzed and, if it may need quoting,  the  current
              word  is checked for a URI scheme.  If one is found and the cur-
              rent word is not already in quotes, a backslash is inserted  be-
              fore the input character.

              Styles to control quoting behavior:

              url-metas
                     This    style    is    looked    up    in   the   context
                     `:url-quote-magic:scheme' (where scheme is  that  of  the
                     current  URL, e.g. "ftp").  The value is a string listing
                     the characters to be treated as  globbing  metacharacters
                     when  appearing  in a URL using that scheme.  The default
                     is to quote all zsh extended globbing characters, exclud-
                     ing  '<' and '>' but including braces (as in brace expan-
                     sion).  See also url-seps.

              url-seps
                     Like url-metas, but lists characters that should be  con-
                     sidered  command separators, redirections, history refer-
                     ences, etc.  The default is to quote the standard set  of
                     shell  separators,  excluding those that overlap with the
                     extended globbing characters, but including '<'  and  '>'
                     and the first character of $histchars.

              url-globbers
                     This    style    is    looked    up    in   the   context
                     `:url-quote-magic'.  The values form a  list  of  command
                     names  that  are expected to do their own globbing on the
                     URL string.  This implies that they are  aliased  to  use
                     the  `noglob'  modifier.  When the first word on the line
                     matches one of the values and the URL refers to  a  local
                     file (see url-local-schema), only the url-seps characters
                     are quoted; the url-metas are left alone,  allowing  them
                     to affect command-line parsing, completion, etc.  The de-
                     fault values  are  a  literal  `noglob'  plus  (when  the
                     zsh/parameter  module  is available) any commands aliased
                     to  the  helper  function  `urlglobber'  or   its   alias
                     `globurl'.

              url-local-schema
                     This  style is always looked up in the context `:urlglob-
                     ber', even though it is used by both url-quote-magic  and
                     urlglobber.   The  values  form a list of URI schema that
                     should be treated as referring to local  files  by  their
                     real  local  path  names,  as  opposed to files which are
                     specified relative to a web-server-defined document root.
                     The defaults are "ftp" and "file".

              url-other-schema
                     Like  url-local-schema,  but  lists  all other URI schema
                     upon which urlglobber and url-quote-magic should act.  If
                     the  URI  on  the command line does not have a scheme ap-
                     pearing either in this list or in url-local-schema, it is
                     not  magically  quoted.   The  default values are "http",
                     "https", and "ftp".  When a scheme appears both here  and
                     in  url-local-schema,  it is quoted differently depending
                     on whether the command name appears in url-globbers.

              Loading url-quote-magic also defines a helper function `urlglob-
              ber'  and  aliases `globurl' to `noglob urlglobber'.  This func-
              tion takes a local URL apart, attempts to pattern-match the  lo-
              cal file portion of the URL path, and then puts the results back
              into URL format again.

       vi-pipe
              This function reads a movement command  from  the  keyboard  and
              then  prompts  for  an  external command. The part of the buffer
              covered by the movement is piped to  the  external  command  and
              then  replaced  by the command's output. If the movement command
              is bound to vi-pipe, the current line is used.

              The function serves as an example for reading a vi movement com-
              mand from within a user-defined widget.

       which-command
              This  function  is  a drop-in replacement for the builtin widget
              which-command.  It has enhanced behaviour, in that it  correctly
              detects  whether or not the command word needs to be expanded as
              an alias; if so, it continues tracing the command word from  the
              expanded  alias  until  it reaches the command that will be exe-
              cuted.

              The style whence is available in the context :zle:$WIDGET;  this
              may be set to an array to give the command and options that will
              be used to investigate the command word found.  The  default  is
              whence -c.

       zcalc-auto-insert
              This  function  is  useful  together with the zcalc function de-
              scribed in the section Mathematical  Functions.   It  should  be
              bound  to a key representing a binary operator such as `+', `-',
              `*' or `/'.  When running in zcalc, if the  key  occurs  at  the
              start  of the line or immediately following an open parenthesis,
              the text "ans " is inserted before the representation of the key
              itself.   This  allows  easy use of the answer from the previous
              calculation in the current line.  The text to be inserted before
              the  symbol  typed  can  be  modified  by  setting  the variable
              ZCALC_AUTO_INSERT_PREFIX.

              Hence, for example, typing `+12' followed by return adds  12  to
              the previous result.

              If  zcalc  is in RPN mode (-r option) the effect of this binding
              is automatically suppressed as operators alone  on  a  line  are
              meaningful.

              When not in zcalc, the key simply inserts the symbol itself.

   Utility Functions
       These  functions  are  useful  in constructing widgets.  They should be
       loaded with  `autoload  -U  function'  and  called  as  indicated  from
       user-defined widgets.

       split-shell-arguments
              This  function splits the line currently being edited into shell
              arguments and whitespace.  The result is stored in the array re-
              ply.   The  array  contains  all the parts of the line in order,
              starting with any whitespace before the first argument, and fin-
              ishing  with  any whitespace after the last argument.  Hence (so
              long as the option KSH_ARRAYS is not set) whitespace is given by
              odd  indices  in  the array and arguments by even indices.  Note
              that no stripping of quotes is done; joining  together  all  the
              elements of reply in order is guaranteed to produce the original
              line.

              The parameter REPLY is set to the index of  the  word  in  reply
              which  contains  the character after the cursor, where the first
              element has index 1.  The parameter REPLY2 is set to  the  index
              of  the character under the cursor in that word, where the first
              character has index 1.

              Hence reply, REPLY and REPLY2 should all be made  local  to  the
              enclosing function.

              See  the  function modify-current-argument, described below, for
              an example of how to call this function.

       modify-current-argument [ expr-using-$ARG | func ]
              This function provides a simple method of allowing  user-defined
              widgets to modify the command line argument under the cursor (or
              immediately to the left of the cursor if the cursor  is  between
              arguments).

              The  argument can be an expression which when evaluated operates
              on the shell parameter ARG, which will have been set to the com-
              mand  line  argument under the cursor.  The expression should be
              suitably quoted to prevent it being evaluated too early.

              Alternatively, if the argument does not contain the string  ARG,
              it  is assumed to be a shell function, to which the current com-
              mand line argument is passed as the only argument.  The function
              should  set  the variable REPLY to the new value for the command
              line argument.  If the function returns non-zero status, so does
              the calling function.

              For example, a user-defined widget containing the following code
              converts the characters in the argument under  the  cursor  into
              all upper case:

                     modify-current-argument '${(U)ARG}'

              The  following strips any quoting from the current word (whether
              backslashes or one of the styles of  quotes),  and  replaces  it
              with single quoting throughout:

                     modify-current-argument '${(qq)${(Q)ARG}}'

              The  following  performs directory expansion on the command line
              argument and replaces it by the absolute path:

                     expand-dir() {
                       REPLY=${~1}
                       REPLY=${REPLY:a}
                     }
                     modify-current-argument expand-dir

              In practice the function expand-dir would probably  not  be  de-
              fined within the widget where modify-current-argument is called.

   Styles
       The  behavior  of several of the above widgets can be controlled by the
       use of the zstyle mechanism.  In particular, widgets that interact with
       the  completion system pass along their context to any completions that
       they invoke.

       break-keys
              This style is used by the incremental-complete-word widget.  Its
              value  should  be  a pattern, and all keys matching this pattern
              will cause the widget to stop incremental completion without the
              key  having any further effect. Like all styles used directly by
              incremental-complete-word, this style is  looked  up  using  the
              context `:incremental'.

       completer
              The incremental-complete-word and insert-and-predict widgets set
              up their top-level context name before calling completion.  This
              allows  one  to define different sets of completer functions for
              normal completion and for these widgets.  For  example,  to  use
              completion,  approximation and correction for normal completion,
              completion and correction for incremental  completion  and  only
              completion for prediction one could use:

                     zstyle ':completion:*' completer \
                             _complete _correct _approximate
                     zstyle ':completion:incremental:*' completer \
                             _complete _correct
                     zstyle ':completion:predict:*' completer \
                             _complete

              It is a good idea to restrict the completers used in prediction,
              because they may be automatically  invoked  as  you  type.   The
              _list and _menu completers should never be used with prediction.
              The _approximate, _correct, _expand, and _match  completers  may
              be  used,  but be aware that they may change characters anywhere
              in the word behind the cursor, so you need  to  watch  carefully
              that the result is what you intended.

       cursor The  insert-and-predict  widget  uses this style, in the context
              `:predict', to decide where to place the cursor after completion
              has been tried.  Values are:

              complete
                     The cursor is left where it was when completion finished,
                     but only if it is after a character equal to the one just
                     inserted  by the user.  If it is after another character,
                     this value is the same as `key'.

              key    The cursor is left after the nth occurrence of the  char-
                     acter  just inserted, where n is the number of times that
                     character appeared in the word before completion was  at-
                     tempted.   In  short,  this has the effect of leaving the
                     cursor after the character just typed even if the comple-
                     tion  code  found out that no other characters need to be
                     inserted at that position.

              Any other value for this style unconditionally leaves the cursor
              at the position where the completion code left it.

       list   When using the incremental-complete-word widget, this style says
              if the matches should be listed on every key press (if they  fit
              on  the  screen).  Use the context prefix `:completion:incremen-
              tal'.

              The insert-and-predict widget uses this style to decide  if  the
              completion  should  be  shown even if there is only one possible
              completion.  This is done if the value  of  this  style  is  the
              string  always.   In  this  case  the context is `:predict' (not
              `:completion:predict').

       match  This style is used by smart-insert-last-word to provide  a  pat-
              tern (using full EXTENDED_GLOB syntax) that matches an interest-
              ing word.  The context is  the  name  of  the  widget  to  which
              smart-insert-last-word is bound (see above).  The default behav-
              ior of smart-insert-last-word is equivalent to:

                     zstyle :insert-last-word match '*[[:alpha:]/\\]*'

              However, you might want to include words that contain spaces:

                     zstyle :insert-last-word match '*[[:alpha:][:space:]/\\]*'

              Or include numbers as long as the word is at least  two  charac-
              ters long:

                     zstyle :insert-last-word match '*([[:digit:]]?|[[:alpha:]/\\])*'

              The above example causes redirections like "2>" to be included.

       prompt The  incremental-complete-word  widget  shows  the value of this
              style in the status line  during  incremental  completion.   The
              string  value may contain any of the following substrings in the
              manner of the PS1 and other prompt parameters:

              %c     Replaced by the name of the completer function that  gen-
                     erated the matches (without the leading underscore).

              %l     When the list style is set, replaced by `...' if the list
                     of matches is too long to fit on the screen and  with  an
                     empty  string otherwise.  If the list style is `false' or
                     not set, `%l' is always removed.

              %n     Replaced by the number of matches generated.

              %s     Replaced by `-no match-',  `-no  prefix-',  or  an  empty
                     string if there is no completion matching the word on the
                     line, if the matches have no common prefix different from
                     the  word  on the line, or if there is such a common pre-
                     fix, respectively.

              %u     Replaced by the unambiguous part of all matches, if there
                     is any, and if it is different from the word on the line.

              Like `break-keys', this uses the `:incremental' context.

       stop-keys
              This style is used by the incremental-complete-word widget.  Its
              value is treated similarly to the one for the  break-keys  style
              (and  uses  the same context: `:incremental').  However, in this
              case all keys matching the pattern given as its value will  stop
              incremental  completion  and will then execute their usual func-
              tion.

       toggle This boolean style is used by predict-on and its related widgets
              in the context `:predict'.  If set to one of the standard `true'
              values, predictive typing is automatically toggled off in situa-
              tions  where it is unlikely to be useful, such as when editing a
              multi-line buffer or after moving into the middle of a line  and
              then  deleting  a character.  The default is to leave prediction
              turned on until an explicit call to predict-off.

       verbose
              This boolean style is used by predict-on and its related widgets
              in the context `:predict'.  If set to one of the standard `true'
              values, these widgets display a message below  the  prompt  when
              the  predictive state is toggled.  This is most useful in combi-
              nation with the toggle style.   The  default  does  not  display
              these messages.

       widget This style is similar to the command style: For widget functions
              that use zle to call other widgets, this style can sometimes  be
              used  to  override  the widget which is called.  The context for
              this style is the name of the calling widget (not  the  name  of
              the  calling function, because one function may be bound to mul-
              tiple widget names).

                     zstyle :copy-earlier-word widget smart-insert-last-word

              Check the documentation for the calling widget  or  function  to
              determine whether the widget style is used.

EXCEPTION HANDLING
       Two  functions are provided to enable zsh to provide exception handling
       in a form that should be familiar from other languages.

       throw exception
              The function throw throws the named exception.  The name  is  an
              arbitrary  string  and is only used by the throw and catch func-
              tions.  An exception is for the most part treated the same as  a
              shell error, i.e. an unhandled exception will cause the shell to
              abort all processing in a function or script and  to  return  to
              the top level in an interactive shell.

       catch exception-pattern
              The  function  catch  returns  status  zero  if an exception was
              thrown and the pattern exception-pattern matches its name.  Oth-
              erwise  it  returns  status  1.  exception-pattern is a standard
              shell  pattern,  respecting  the  current  setting  of  the  EX-
              TENDED_GLOB  option.   An alias catch is also defined to prevent
              the argument to the function from matching  filenames,  so  pat-
              terns  may  be  used  unquoted.  Note that as exceptions are not
              fundamentally different from other shell errors it  is  possible
              to  catch shell errors by using an empty string as the exception
              name.  The shell variable CAUGHT is set by catch to the name  of
              the exception caught.  It is possible to rethrow an exception by
              calling the throw function again  once  an  exception  has  been
              caught.

       The  functions  are  designed  to be used together with the always con-
       struct described in zshmisc(1).  This is important as  only  this  con-
       struct provides the required support for exceptions.  A typical example
       is as follows.

              {
                # "try" block
                # ... nested code here calls "throw MyExcept"
              } always {
                # "always" block
                if catch MyExcept; then
                  print "Caught exception MyExcept"
                elif catch ''; then
                  print "Caught a shell error.  Propagating..."
                  throw ''
                fi
                # Other exceptions are not handled but may be caught further
                # up the call stack.
              }

       If all exceptions should  be  caught,  the  following  idiom  might  be
       preferable.

              {
                # ... nested code here throws an exception
              } always {
                if catch *; then
                  case $CAUGHT in
                    (MyExcept)
                    print "Caught my own exception"
                    ;;
                    (*)
                    print "Caught some other exception"
                    ;;
                  esac
                fi
              }

       In common with exception handling in other languages, the exception may
       be thrown by code deeply nested inside the `try' block.  However,  note
       that  it  must  be  thrown  inside the current shell, not in a subshell
       forked for a pipeline, parenthesised current-shell construct,  or  some
       form of command or process substitution.

       The  system  internally uses the shell variable EXCEPTION to record the
       name of the exception between throwing and catching.  One  drawback  of
       this scheme is that if the exception is not handled the variable EXCEP-
       TION remains set and may be incorrectly recognised as the  name  of  an
       exception if a shell error subsequently occurs.  Adding unset EXCEPTION
       at the start of the outermost layer of any  code  that  uses  exception
       handling will eliminate this problem.

MIME FUNCTIONS
       Three  functions  are available to provide handling of files recognised
       by extension, for example to dispatch a file text.ps when executed as a
       command to an appropriate viewer.

       zsh-mime-setup [ -fv ] [ -l [ suffix ... ] ]
       zsh-mime-handler [ -l ] command argument ...
              These   two   functions   use   the   files   ~/.mime.types  and
              /etc/mime.types, which associate types and extensions,  as  well
              as  ~/.mailcap and /etc/mailcap files, which associate types and
              the programs that handle them.  These are provided on many  sys-
              tems with the Multimedia Internet Mail Extensions.

              To  enable the system, the function zsh-mime-setup should be au-
              toloaded and run.  This  allows  files  with  extensions  to  be
              treated  as  executable; such files be completed by the function
              completion system.  The  function  zsh-mime-handler  should  not
              need to be called by the user.

              The  system  works by setting up suffix aliases with `alias -s'.
              Suffix aliases already installed by the user will not  be  over-
              written.

              For  suffixes  defined  in  lower case, upper case variants will
              also automatically be handled (e.g. PDF is automatically handled
              if handling for the suffix pdf is defined), but not vice versa.

              Repeated  calls  to  zsh-mime-setup do not override the existing
              mapping between suffixes and executable files unless the  option
              -f  is given.  Note, however, that this does not override exist-
              ing suffix aliases assigned to handlers other than zsh-mime-han-
              dler.

              Calling  zsh-mime-setup  with  the  option -l lists the existing
              mappings without altering them.  Suffixes  to  list  (which  may
              contain  pattern characters that should be quoted from immediate
              interpretation on the command line) may be given  as  additional
              arguments, otherwise all suffixes are listed.

              Calling  zsh-mime-setup with the option -v causes verbose output
              to be shown during the setup operation.

              The system respects the mailcap flags  needsterminal  and  copi-
              ousoutput, see mailcap(4).

              The  functions  use the following styles, which are defined with
              the zstyle builtin command (see zshmodules(1)).  They should  be
              defined  before  zsh-mime-setup  is  run.  The contexts used all
              start with :mime:, with additional components in some cases.  It
              is  recommended  that a trailing * (suitably quoted) be appended
              to style patterns in case the  system  is  extended  in  future.
              Some examples are given below.

              For  files  that have multiple suffixes, e.g. .pdf.gz, where the
              context includes the suffix it will be looked up  starting  with
              the  longest  possible  suffix  until  a  match for the style is
              found.  For example, if .pdf.gz produces a match  for  the  han-
              dler,  that  will be used; otherwise the handler for .gz will be
              used.  Note that, owing to the way suffix aliases  work,  it  is
              always  required that there be a handler for the shortest possi-
              ble suffix, so in this example .pdf.gz can only  be  handled  if
              .gz  is  also  handled (though not necessarily in the same way).
              Alternatively, if no handling for .gz on its own is needed, sim-
              ply adding the command

                     alias -s gz=zsh-mime-handler

              to  the  initialisation code is sufficient; .gz will not be han-
              dled on its own, but may be in combination with other suffixes.

              current-shell
                     If this boolean style is true, the  mailcap  handler  for
                     the context in question is run using the eval builtin in-
                     stead of by starting a new sh process.  This is more  ef-
                     ficient,  but  may not work in the occasional cases where
                     the mailcap handler uses strict POSIX syntax.

              disown If this boolean style is true, mailcap  handlers  started
                     in  the  background will be disowned, i.e. not subject to
                     job control  within  the  parent  shell.   Such  handlers
                     nearly  always  produce  their  own  windows, so the only
                     likely harmful side effect of setting the style  is  that
                     it becomes harder to kill jobs from within the shell.

              execute-as-is
                     This style gives a list of patterns to be matched against
                     files passed for execution with a  handler  program.   If
                     the  file matches the pattern, the entire command line is
                     executed in its current form, with no handler.   This  is
                     useful  for  files which might have suffixes but nonethe-
                     less be executable in their own right.  If the  style  is
                     not  set, the pattern *(*) *(/) is used; hence executable
                     files are executed directly and not passed to a  handler,
                     and  the option AUTO_CD may be used to change to directo-
                     ries that happen to have MIME suffixes.

              execute-never
                     This style is useful in combination  with  execute-as-is.
                     It  is  set to an array of patterns corresponding to full
                     paths to files that  should  never  be  treated  as  exe-
                     cutable,  even  if  the  file  passed to the MIME handler
                     matches execute-as-is.  This is useful for  file  systems
                     that don't handle execute permission or that contain exe-
                     cutables from another operating system.  For example,  if
                     /mnt/windows is a Windows mount, then

                            zstyle ':mime:*' execute-never '/mnt/windows/*'

                     will ensure that any files found in that area will be ex-
                     ecuted as MIME types even if  they  are  executable.   As
                     this  example  shows,  the  complete file name is matched
                     against the pattern,  regardless  of  how  the  file  was
                     passed  to  the  handler.  The file is resolved to a full
                     path using the :P modifier described  in  the  subsection
                     Modifiers  in  zshexpn(1); this means that symbolic links
                     are resolved where possible, so  that  links  into  other
                     file systems behave in the correct fashion.

              file-path
                     Used  if the style find-file-in-path is true for the same
                     context.  Set to an array of directories  that  are  used
                     for  searching for the file to be handled; the default is
                     the command path given by  the  special  parameter  path.
                     The  shell option PATH_DIRS is respected; if that is set,
                     the appropriate path will be searched even if the name of
                     the  file to be handled as it appears on the command line
                     contains a `/'.  The full context is  :mime:.suffix:,  as
                     described for the style handler.

              find-file-in-path
                     If  set, allows files whose names do not contain absolute
                     paths to be searched for in the command path or the  path
                     specified  by  the  file-path  style.  If the file is not
                     found in the path, it is looked for locally  (whether  or
                     not  the  current directory is in the path); if it is not
                     found locally, the handler will  abort  unless  the  han-
                     dle-nonexistent  style  is  set.  Files found in the path
                     are tested as described for the style execute-as-is.  The
                     full  context  is  :mime:.suffix:,  as  described for the
                     style handler.

              flags  Defines flags to go with a handler; the context is as for
                     the  handler style, and the format is as for the flags in
                     mailcap.

              handle-nonexistent
                     By default, arguments that don't correspond to files  are
                     not  passed  to  the  MIME handler in order to prevent it
                     from intercepting commands found in the path that  happen
                     to  have  suffixes.  This style may be set to an array of
                     extended glob patterns for arguments that will be  passed
                     to  the  handler  even if they don't exist.  If it is not
                     explicitly set it defaults to [[:alpha:]]#:/*  which  al-
                     lows  URLs  to  be passed to the MIME handler even though
                     they don't exist in that format in the file system.   The
                     full  context  is  :mime:.suffix:,  as  described for the
                     style handler.

              handler
                     Specifies a handler for a suffix; the suffix is given  by
                     the context as :mime:.suffix:, and the format of the han-
                     dler is exactly that in mailcap.  Note in particular  the
                     `.'  and  trailing  colon  to distinguish this use of the
                     context.  This overrides any  handler  specified  by  the
                     mailcap  files.   If the handler requires a terminal, the
                     flags style should be set to include the word needstermi-
                     nal,  or if the output is to be displayed through a pager
                     (but not if the handler is itself a pager), it should in-
                     clude copiousoutput.

              mailcap
                     A   list  of  files  in  the  format  of  ~/.mailcap  and
                     /etc/mailcap to be read during setup, replacing  the  de-
                     fault  list  which consists of those two files.  The con-
                     text is :mime:.  A + in the list will be replaced by  the
                     default files.

              mailcap-priorities
                     This  style  is  used to resolve multiple mailcap entries
                     for the same MIME type.  It consists of an array  of  the
                     following  elements,  in  descending  order  of priority;
                     later entries will be used if earlier entries are  unable
                     to  resolve  the  entries being compared.  If none of the
                     tests resolve the entries, the first entry encountered is
                     retained.

                     files  The  order of files (entries in the mailcap style)
                            read.  Earlier files are  preferred.   (Note  this
                            does not resolve entries in the same file.)

                     priority
                            The  priority  flag  from  the mailcap entry.  The
                            priority is an integer from 0 to 9  with  the  de-
                            fault value being 5.

                     flags  The test given by the mailcap-prio-flags option is
                            used to resolve entries.

                     place  Later entries are preferred; as  the  entries  are
                            strictly ordered, this test always succeeds.

                     Note that as this style is handled during initialisation,
                     the context is always :mime:, with no  discrimination  by
                     suffix.

              mailcap-prio-flags
                     This  style is used when the keyword flags is encountered
                     in the list of tests specified by the  mailcap-priorities
                     style.   It  should be set to a list of patterns, each of
                     which is tested against the flags specified in the  mail-
                     cap  entry (in other words, the sets of assignments found
                     with some entries in the mailcap file).  Earlier patterns
                     in the list are preferred to later ones, and matched pat-
                     terns are preferred to unmatched ones.

              mime-types
                     A list of  files  in  the  format  of  ~/.mime.types  and
                     /etc/mime.types  to  be  read during setup, replacing the
                     default list which consists of those two files.  The con-
                     text  is :mime:.  A + in the list will be replaced by the
                     default files.

              never-background
                     If this boolean style is set, the handler for  the  given
                     context  is  always  run  in  the foreground, even if the
                     flags provided in the mailcap entry suggest it  need  not
                     be (for example, it doesn't require a terminal).

              pager  If  set, will be used instead of $PAGER or more to handle
                     suffixes where the copiousoutput flag is set.   The  con-
                     text  is as for handler, i.e. :mime:.suffix: for handling
                     a file with the given suffix.

              Examples:

                     zstyle ':mime:*' mailcap ~/.mailcap /usr/local/etc/mailcap
                     zstyle ':mime:.txt:' handler less %s
                     zstyle ':mime:.txt:' flags needsterminal

              When zsh-mime-setup is subsequently run, it will look for  mail-
              cap  entries  in the two files given.  Files of suffix .txt will
              be handled by running `less file.txt'.  The  flag  needsterminal
              is  set  to show that this program must run attached to a termi-
              nal.

              As there are several steps to dispatching a command, the follow-
              ing  should be checked if attempting to execute a file by exten-
              sion .ext does not have the expected effect.

              The command `alias -s ext'  should  show  `ps=zsh-mime-handler'.
              If it shows something else, another suffix alias was already in-
              stalled and was not overwritten.  If it shows nothing,  no  han-
              dler  was installed:  this is most likely because no handler was
              found in the .mime.types and mailcap combination for .ext files.
              In   that   case,   appropriate  handling  should  be  added  to
              ~/.mime.types and mailcap.

              If the extension is handled by zsh-mime-handler but the file  is
              not opened correctly, either the handler defined for the type is
              incorrect, or the flags associated with it are  in  appropriate.
              Running  zsh-mime-setup  -l  will show the handler and, if there
              are any, the flags.  A %s in the handler is replaced by the file
              (suitably  quoted if necessary).  Check that the handler program
              listed lists and can be run in the way shown.  Also  check  that
              the  flags needsterminal or copiousoutput are set if the handler
              needs to be run under a terminal; the second flag is used if the
              output  should  be  sent  to  a pager.  An example of a suitable
              mailcap entry for such a program is:

                     text/html; /usr/bin/lynx '%s'; needsterminal

              Running `zsh-mime-handler -l command line'  prints  the  command
              line  that would be executed, simplified to remove the effect of
              any flags, and quoted so that the output can be run  as  a  com-
              plete  zsh  command line.  This is used by the completion system
              to  decide  how  to   complete   after   a   file   handled   by
              zsh-mime-setup.

       pick-web-browser
              This  function is separate from the two MIME functions described
              above and can be assigned directly to a suffix:

                     autoload -U pick-web-browser
                     alias -s html=pick-web-browser

              It is provided as an intelligent front end  to  dispatch  a  web
              browser.   It may be run as either a function or a shell script.
              The status 255 is returned if no browser could be started.

              Various  styles  are  available  to  customize  the  choice   of
              browsers:

              browser-style
                     The  value of the style is an array giving preferences in
                     decreasing order for the type of  browser  to  use.   The
                     values of elements may be

                     running
                            Use  a GUI browser that is already running when an
                            X  Window  display  is  available.   The  browsers
                            listed  in the x-browsers style are tried in order
                            until one is found; if it is,  the  file  will  be
                            displayed in that browser, so the user may need to
                            check whether it  has  appeared.   If  no  running
                            browser  is  found,  one is not started.  Browsers
                            other than Firefox, Opera and  Konqueror  are  as-
                            sumed to understand the Mozilla syntax for opening
                            a URL remotely.

                     x      Start a new GUI browser when an X  Window  display
                            is  available.  Search for the availability of one
                            of the browsers listed in the x-browsers style and
                            start  the  first  one that is found.  No check is
                            made for an already running browser.

                     tty    Start a terminal-based browser.   Search  for  the
                            availability  of one of the browsers listed in the
                            tty-browsers style and start the first one that is
                            found.

                     If  the  style  is  not  set the default running x tty is
                     used.

              x-browsers
                     An array in decreasing order of preference of browsers to
                     use  when  running  under the X Window System.  The array
                     consists of the command name under  which  to  start  the
                     browser.  They are looked up in the context :mime: (which
                     may be extended in future, so  appending  `*'  is  recom-
                     mended).  For example,

                            zstyle ':mime:*' x-browsers opera konqueror firefox

                     specifies  that  pick-web-browser should first look for a
                     running instance of Opera, Konqueror or Firefox, in  that
                     order,  and  if  it  fails  to find any should attempt to
                     start Opera.  The default  is  firefox  mozilla  netscape
                     opera konqueror.

              tty-browsers
                     An  array  similar  to  x-browsers,  except that it gives
                     browsers to use when no X Window  display  is  available.
                     The default is elinks links lynx.

              command
                     If  it is set this style is used to pick the command used
                     to  open  a  page  for  a  browser.    The   context   is
                     :mime:browser:new:$browser:  to  start  a  new browser or
                     :mime:browser:running:$browser:  to  open  a  URL  in   a
                     browser  already  running on the current X display, where
                     $browser is  the  value  matched  in  the  x-browsers  or
                     tty-browsers  style.   The  escape  sequence  %b  in  the
                     style's value will be replaced by the browser,  while  %u
                     will  be  replaced  by the URL.  If the style is not set,
                     the default for all new instances is equivalent to %b  %u
                     and  the  defaults for using running browsers are equiva-
                     lent to the values kfmclient openURL  %u  for  Konqueror,
                     firefox  -new-tab  %u  for Firefox, opera -newpage %u for
                     Opera, and %b -remote "openUrl(%u)" for all others.

MATHEMATICAL FUNCTIONS
       zcalc [ -erf ] [ expression ... ]
              A reasonably powerful calculator based on zsh's arithmetic eval-
              uation  facility.   The syntax is similar to that of formulae in
              most programming languages; see the section `Arithmetic  Evalua-
              tion' in zshmisc(1) for details.

              Non-programmers  should  note that, as in many other programming
              languages, expressions involving  only  integers  (whether  con-
              stants  without  a  `.',  variables containing such constants as
              strings, or variables declared to be integers)  are  by  default
              evaluated using integer arithmetic, which is not how an ordinary
              desk calculator operates.  To force  floating  point  operation,
              pass the option -f; see further notes below.

              If  the  file  ~/.zcalcrc  exists  it will be sourced inside the
              function once it is set up and  about  to  process  the  command
              line.  This can be used, for example, to set shell options; emu-
              late -L zsh and setopt extendedglob are in effect at this point.
              Any failure to source the file if it exists is treated as fatal.
              As with other initialisation files, the  directory  $ZDOTDIR  is
              used instead of $HOME if it is set.

              The  mathematical  library  zsh/mathfunc will be loaded if it is
              available; see the section `The zsh/mathfunc Module' in  zshmod-
              ules(1).   The mathematical functions correspond to the raw sys-
              tem libraries, so trigonometric functions  are  evaluated  using
              radians, and so on.

              Each line typed is evaluated as an expression.  The prompt shows
              a number, which corresponds to a positional parameter where  the
              result  of  that calculation is stored.  For example, the result
              of the calculation on the line preceded by `4> ' is available as
              $4.   The  last value calculated is available as ans.  Full com-
              mand line editing, including the history  of  previous  calcula-
              tions,   is   available;  the  history  is  saved  in  the  file
              ~/.zcalc_history.  To exit, enter a blank line or type  `:q'  on
              its own (`q' is allowed for historical compatibility).

              A  line  ending  with  a single backslash is treated in the same
              fashion as it is in command line editing:  the backslash is  re-
              moved,  the  function prompts for more input (the prompt is pre-
              ceded by `...' to indicate this), and  the  lines  are  combined
              into  one to get the final result.  In addition, if the input so
              far contains more open than close parentheses zcalc will  prompt
              for more input.

              If  arguments  are  given to zcalc on start up, they are used to
              prime the first few positional parameters.  A visual  indication
              of this is given when the calculator starts.

              The  constants  PI (3.14159...) and E (2.71828...) are provided.
              Parameter assignment is possible, but note that  all  parameters
              will  be put into the global namespace unless the :local special
              command is used.  The function  creates  local  variables  whose
              names  start  with _, so users should avoid doing so.  The vari-
              ables ans (the last answer) and stack (the stack  in  RPN  mode)
              may  be  referred to directly; stack is an array but elements of
              it are numeric.  Various other special variables  are  used  lo-
              cally  with  their  standard  meaning,  for example compcontext,
              match, mbegin, mend, psvar.

              The output  base  can  be  initialised  by  passing  the  option
              `-#base',  for  example  `zcalc  -#16'  (the  `#' may have to be
              quoted, depending on the globbing options set).

              If the option `-e' is set, the function runs  non-interactively:
              the  arguments  are treated as expressions to be evaluated as if
              entered interactively line by line.

              If the option `-f' is set, all numbers are treated  as  floating
              point,  hence for example the expression `3/4' evaluates to 0.75
              rather than 0.  Options must appear in separate words.

              If the option `-r' is set, RPN (Reverse Polish Notation) mode is
              entered.  This has various additional properties:
              Stack  Evaluated  values are maintained in a stack; this is con-
                     tained in an array named stack with the most recent value
                     in ${stack[1]}.

              Operators and functions
                     If  the line entered matches an operator (+, -, *, /, **,
                     ^, | or &) or a function supplied by the zsh/mathfunc li-
                     brary,  the  bottom  element or elements of the stack are
                     popped to use as the argument or arguments.   The  higher
                     elements  of stack (least recent) are used as earlier ar-
                     guments.  The result is then pushed into ${stack[1]}.

              Expressions
                     Other expressions are evaluated  normally,  printed,  and
                     added  to the stack as numeric values.  The syntax within
                     expressions on a single line is normal  shell  arithmetic
                     (not RPN).

              Stack listing
                     If  an  integer follows the option -r with no space, then
                     on every evaluation that  many  elements  of  the  stack,
                     where available, are printed instead of just the most re-
                     cent  result.   Hence,  for  example,  zcalc  -r4   shows
                     $stack[4] to $stack[1] each time results are printed.

              Duplication: =
                     The  pseudo-operator  = causes the most recent element of
                     the stack to be duplicated onto the stack.

              pop    The pseudo-function pop causes the most recent element of
                     the  stack  to  be popped.  A `>' on its own has the same
                     effect.

              >ident The expression > followed (with  no  space)  by  a  shell
                     identifier causes the most recent element of the stack to
                     be popped and assigned to the variable  with  that  name.
                     The variable is local to the zcalc function.

              <ident The  expression  <  followed  (with  no space) by a shell
                     identifier causes the value of  the  variable  with  that
                     name  to be pushed onto the stack.  ident may be an inte-
                     ger, in which case the previous result with  that  number
                     (as  shown  before the > in the standard zcalc prompt) is
                     put on the stack.

              Exchange: xy
                     The pseudo-function xy causes the most  recent  two  ele-
                     ments  of  the  stack to be exchanged.  `<>' has the same
                     effect.

              The prompt is configurable via the parameter ZCALCPROMPT,  which
              undergoes  standard  prompt expansion.  The index of the current
              entry is stored locally in the first element of the array psvar,
              which  can  be referred to in ZCALCPROMPT as `%1v'.  The default
              prompt is `%1v> '.

              The variable ZCALC_ACTIVE is set within the function and can  be
              tested  by nested functions; it has the value rpn if RPN mode is
              active, else 1.

              A few special commands are available; these are introduced by  a
              colon.  For backward compatibility, the colon may be omitted for
              certain commands.  Completion is available if compinit has  been
              run.

              The  output  precision  may be specified within zcalc by special
              commands familiar from many calculators.
              :norm  The default output format.  It corresponds to the  printf
                     %g  specification.  Typically this shows six decimal dig-
                     its.

              :sci digits
                     Scientific notation, corresponding to the printf %g  out-
                     put format with the precision given by digits.  This pro-
                     duces either fixed point or exponential notation  depend-
                     ing on the value output.

              :fix digits
                     Fixed point notation, corresponding to the printf %f out-
                     put format with the precision given by digits.

              :eng digits
                     Exponential notation, corresponding to the printf %E out-
                     put format with the precision given by digits.

              :raw   Raw  output:  this is the default form of the output from
                     a math evaluation.  This may show more precision than the
                     number actually possesses.

              Other special commands:
              :!line...
                     Execute  line...  as  a  normal shell command line.  Note
                     that it is executed in the context of the function,  i.e.
                     with local variables.  Space is optional after :!.

              :local arg ...
                     Declare variables local to the function.  Other variables
                     may be used, too, but they will be taken from or put into
                     the global scope.

              :function name [ body ]
                     Define  a  mathematical function or (with no body) delete
                     it.  :function may be abbreviated to :func or simply  :f.
                     The name may contain the same characters as a shell func-
                     tion name.  The function is defined  using  zmathfuncdef,
                     see below.

                     Note that zcalc takes care of all quoting.  Hence for ex-
                     ample:

                            :f cube $1 * $1 * $1

                     defines a function to cube the sole argument.   Functions
                     so  defined,  or indeed any functions defined directly or
                     indirectly using functions -M, are available  to  execute
                     by  typing  only  the  name on the line in RPN mode; this
                     pops the appropriate number of arguments off the stack to
                     pass  to  the function, i.e. 1 in the case of the example
                     cube function.  If there are optional arguments only  the
                     mandatory arguments are supplied by this means.

              [#base]
                     This  is  not  a  special  command, rather part of normal
                     arithmetic syntax; however, when this form appears  on  a
                     line  by  itself the default output radix is set to base.
                     Use, for example, `[#16]' to display  hexadecimal  output
                     preceded  by  an indication of the base, or `[##16]' just
                     to display the raw number in the given base.  Bases them-
                     selves  are  always  specified in decimal. `[#]' restores
                     the normal output format.  Note that  setting  an  output
                     base  suppresses  floating point output; use `[#]' to re-
                     turn to normal operation.

              $var   Print out the value of var literally; does not affect the
                     calculation.   To  use the value of var, omit the leading
                     `$'.

              See the comments in the function for a few extra tips.

       min(arg, ...)
       max(arg, ...)
       sum(arg, ...)
       zmathfunc
              The function zmathfunc defines the three mathematical  functions
              min,  max,  and sum.  The functions min and max take one or more
              arguments.  The function sum takes zero or more arguments.   Ar-
              guments can be of different types (ints and floats).

              Not  to  be  confused with the zsh/mathfunc module, described in
              the section `The zsh/mathfunc Module' in zshmodules(1).

       zmathfuncdef [ mathfunc [ body ] ]
              A convenient front end to functions -M.

              With two arguments, define a mathematical function  named  math-
              func  which  can  be  used in any form of arithmetic evaluation.
              body is a mathematical expression to implement the function.  It
              may  contain  references  to position parameters $1, $2, ...  to
              refer to mandatory parameters and ${1:-defvalue} ...   to  refer
              to  optional  parameters.   Note that the forms must be strictly
              adhered to for the function to calculate the correct  number  of
              arguments.  The implementation is held in a shell function named
              zsh_math_func_mathfunc; usually the user will not need to  refer
              to  the  shell  function directly.  Any existing function of the
              same name is silently replaced.

              With one argument, remove the mathematical function mathfunc  as
              well as the shell function implementation.

              With  no  arguments, list all mathfunc functions in a form suit-
              able for restoring the definition.  The functions have not  nec-
              essarily been defined by zmathfuncdef.

USER CONFIGURATION FUNCTIONS
       The  zsh/newuser  module  comes  with  a function to aid in configuring
       shell options for new users.  If the module is installed, this function
       can  also be run by hand.  It is available even if the module's default
       behaviour, namely running the function for a new user logging in  with-
       out startup files, is inhibited.

       zsh-newuser-install [ -f ]
              The  function  presents  the  user with various options for cus-
              tomizing their initialization scripts.  Currently only  ~/.zshrc
              is  handled.   $ZDOTDIR/.zshrc  is used instead if the parameter
              ZDOTDIR is set; this provides a way for the user to configure  a
              file without altering an existing .zshrc.

              By default the function exits immediately if it finds any of the
              files .zshenv, .zprofile, .zshrc, or .zlogin in the  appropriate
              directory.   The  option  -f  is  required in order to force the
              function to continue.  Note this may happen even if  .zshrc  it-
              self does not exist.

              As  currently  configured, the function will exit immediately if
              the user has root privileges; this behaviour cannot be  overrid-
              den.

              Once  activated,  the  function's  behaviour  is  supposed to be
              self-explanatory.  Menus are present allowing the user to  alter
              the  value  of options and parameters.  Suggestions for improve-
              ments are always welcome.

              When the script exits, the user is given the opportunity to save
              the  new  file  or  not; changes are not irreversible until this
              point.  However, the script is careful to  restrict  changes  to
              the file only to a group marked by the lines `# Lines configured
              by zsh-newuser-install'  and  `#  End  of  lines  configured  by
              zsh-newuser-install'.  In addition, the old version of .zshrc is
              saved to a file with the suffix .zni appended.

              If the function edits an existing .zshrc, it is up to  the  user
              to  ensure that the changes made will take effect.  For example,
              if control usually returns early from the  existing  .zshrc  the
              lines  will  not be executed; or a later initialization file may
              override options or parameters, and so on.  The function  itself
              does not attempt to detect any such conflicts.

OTHER FUNCTIONS
       There are a large number of helpful functions in the Functions/Misc di-
       rectory of the zsh distribution.  Most are very simple and do  not  re-
       quire documentation here, but a few are worthy of special mention.

   Descriptions
       colors This  function  initializes  several  associative  arrays to map
              color names to (and from) the ANSI standard eight-color terminal
              codes.   These  are used by the prompt theme system (see above).
              You seldom should need to run colors more than once.

              The eight base colors are: black, red, green, yellow, blue,  ma-
              genta,  cyan, and white.  Each of these has codes for foreground
              and background.  In  addition  there  are  seven  intensity  at-
              tributes:  bold, faint, standout, underline, blink, reverse, and
              conceal.  Finally, there are seven  codes  used  to  negate  at-
              tributes:  none  (reset  all attributes to the defaults), normal
              (neither bold nor faint), no-standout,  no-underline,  no-blink,
              no-reverse, and no-conceal.

              Some terminals do not support all combinations of colors and in-
              tensities.

              The associative arrays are:

              color
              colour Map all the color names to their integer codes, and inte-
                     ger  codes  to the color names.  The eight base names map
                     to the foreground color codes, as do names prefixed  with
                     `fg-', such as `fg-red'.  Names prefixed with `bg-', such
                     as `bg-blue', refer to the background codes.  The reverse
                     mapping  from  code  to  color yields base name for fore-
                     ground codes and the bg- form for backgrounds.

                     Although it is a misnomer to call  them  `colors',  these
                     arrays  also map the other fourteen attributes from names
                     to codes and codes to names.

              fg
              fg_bold
              fg_no_bold
                     Map the eight basic color names to ANSI  terminal  escape
                     sequences  that  set  the  corresponding  foreground text
                     properties.  The fg sequences change  the  color  without
                     changing the eight intensity attributes.

              bg
              bg_bold
              bg_no_bold
                     Map  the  eight basic color names to ANSI terminal escape
                     sequences that set the corresponding  background  proper-
                     ties.  The bg sequences change the color without changing
                     the eight intensity attributes.

              In addition, the scalar parameters  reset_color  and  bold_color
              are  set  to  the  ANSI  terminal  escapes that turn off all at-
              tributes and turn on bold intensity, respectively.

       fned [ -x num ] name
              Same as zed -f.  This function does not appear in the  zsh  dis-
              tribution, but can be created by linking zed to the name fned in
              some directory in your fpath.

       is-at-least needed [ present ]
              Perform a greater-than-or-equal-to  comparison  of  two  strings
              having  the format of a zsh version number; that is, a string of
              numbers and text with segments separated by dots or dashes.   If
              the  present string is not provided, $ZSH_VERSION is used.  Seg-
              ments are paired left-to-right in the two strings  with  leading
              non-number parts ignored.  If one string has fewer segments than
              the other, the missing segments are considered zero.

              This is useful in startup files to set options and  other  state
              that are not available in all versions of zsh.

                     is-at-least 3.1.6-15 && setopt NO_GLOBAL_RCS
                     is-at-least 3.1.0 && setopt HIST_REDUCE_BLANKS
                     is-at-least 2.6-17 || print "You can't use is-at-least here."

       nslookup [ arg ... ]
              This  wrapper  function  for  the  nslookup command requires the
              zsh/zpty module (see zshmodules(1)).  It  behaves  exactly  like
              the  standard  nslookup  except  that  it  provides customizable
              prompts  (including  a  right-side  prompt)  and  completion  of
              nslookup  commands,  host  names,  etc.  (if  you  use the func-
              tion-based completion system).  Completion  styles  may  be  set
              with the context prefix `:completion:nslookup'.

              See also the pager, prompt and rprompt styles below.

       regexp-replace var regexp replace
              Use  regular  expressions to perform a global search and replace
              operation on a variable.  POSIX extended regular expressions are
              used,  unless  the  option  RE_MATCH_PCRE has been set, in which
              case Perl-compatible regular expressions are used (this requires
              the shell to be linked against the pcre library).

              var  is  the  name  of  the variable containing the string to be
              matched.  The variable will be modified directly  by  the  func-
              tion.   The  variables  MATCH, MBEGIN, MEND, match, mbegin, mend
              should be avoided as these are used by  the  regular  expression
              code.

              regexp is the regular expression to match against the string.

              replace  is  the  replacement text.  This can contain parameter,
              command and arithmetic expressions which will be  replaced:   in
              particular,  a  reference to $MATCH will be replaced by the text
              matched by the pattern.

              The return status is 0 if at least one match was performed, else
              1.

       run-help cmd
              This function is designed to be invoked by the run-help ZLE wid-
              get, in place of the  default  alias.   See  `Accessing  On-Line
              Help' above for setup instructions.

              In  the  discussion which follows, if cmd is a file system path,
              it is first reduced to its rightmost component (the file name).

              Help is first sought by looking for a file named cmd in the  di-
              rectory named by the HELPDIR parameter.  If no file is found, an
              assistant function, alias,  or  command  named  run-help-cmd  is
              sought.   If  found,  the assistant is executed with the rest of
              the current command line (everything after the command name cmd)
              as its arguments.  When neither file nor assistant is found, the
              external command `man cmd' is run.

              An example assistant for the "ssh" command:

                     run-help-ssh() {
                         emulate -LR zsh
                         local -a args
                         # Delete the "-l username" option
                         zparseopts -D -E -a args l:
                         # Delete other options, leaving: host command
                         args=(${@:#-*})
                         if [[ ${#args} -lt 2 ]]; then
                             man ssh
                         else
                             run-help $args[2]
                         fi
                     }

              Several of these assistants are provided in  the  Functions/Misc
              directory.   These  must  be autoloaded, or placed as executable
              scripts in your search path, in order to be found  and  used  by
              run-help.

              run-help-git
              run-help-ip
              run-help-openssl
              run-help-p4
              run-help-sudo
              run-help-svk
              run-help-svn
                     Assistant  functions  for the git, ip, openssl, p4, sudo,
                     svk, and svn, commands.

       tetris Zsh was once accused of not being as complete as Emacs,  because
              it  lacked  a  Tetris game.  This function was written to refute
              this vicious slander.

              This function must be used as a ZLE widget:

                     autoload -U tetris
                     zle -N tetris
                     bindkey keys tetris

              To start a game, execute the widget by typing the  keys.   What-
              ever  command  line you were editing disappears temporarily, and
              your keymap is also temporarily replaced by the  Tetris  control
              keys.   The  previous editor state is restored when you quit the
              game (by pressing `q') or when you lose.

              If you quit in the middle of a game, the next invocation of  the
              tetris widget will continue where you left off.  If you lost, it
              will start a new game.

       tetriscurses
              This is a port of the above to zcurses.  The input  handling  is
              improved a bit so that moving a block sideways doesn't automati-
              cally advance a timestep, and the  graphics  use  unicode  block
              graphics.

              This  version  does not save the game state between invocations,
              and is not invoked as a widget, but rather as:

                     autoload -U tetriscurses
                     tetriscurses

       zargs [ option ... -- ] [ input ... ] [ -- command [ arg ... ] ]
              This function has a similar purpose to GNU  xargs.   Instead  of
              reading  lines  of  arguments  from the standard input, it takes
              them from the command line.  This is useful because  zsh,  espe-
              cially with recursive glob operators, often can construct a com-
              mand line for a shell function that is longer than  can  be  ac-
              cepted by an external command.

              The  option list represents options of the zargs command itself,
              which are the same as those of xargs.  The  input  list  is  the
              collection  of  strings (often file names) that become the argu-
              ments of the command, analogous to the standard input of  xargs.
              Finally,  the  arg list consists of those arguments (usually op-
              tions) that are passed to the command each time  it  runs.   The
              arg  list precedes the elements from the input list in each run.
              If no command is provided, then no arg list may be provided, and
              in  that event the default command is `print' with arguments `-r
              --'.

              For example, to get a long ls listing of  all  non-hidden  plain
              files in the current directory or its subdirectories:

                     autoload -U zargs
                     zargs -- **/*(.) -- ls -ld --

              The first and third occurrences of `--' are used to mark the end
              of options for zargs and ls respectively to guard against  file-
              names  starting  with  `-', while the second is used to separate
              the list of files from the command to run (`ls -ld --').

              The first `--' would also be needed if there was  a  chance  the
              list might be empty as in:

                     zargs -r -- ./*.back(#qN) -- rm -f

              In  the event that the string `--' is or may be an input, the -e
              option may be used to change  the  end-of-inputs  marker.   Note
              that  this does not change the end-of-options marker.  For exam-
              ple, to use `..' as the marker:

                     zargs -e.. -- **/*(.) .. ls -ld --

              This is a good choice in that example because no plain file  can
              be  named  `..',  but the best end-marker depends on the circum-
              stances.

              The options -i, -I, -l, -L, and -n differ  slightly  from  their
              usage in xargs.  There are no input lines for zargs to count, so
              -l and -L count through the input list, and -n counts the number
              of  arguments passed to each execution of command, including any
              arg list.  Also, any time -i or -I is used, each input  is  pro-
              cessed separately as if by `-L 1'.

              For  details  of the other zargs options, see xargs(1) (but note
              the difference in function between zargs and xargs) or run zargs
              with the --help option.

       zed [ -f [ -x num ] ] name
       zed -b This function uses the ZLE editor to edit a file or function.

              Only  one  name argument is allowed.  If the -f option is given,
              the name is taken to be that of a function; if the  function  is
              marked  for  autoloading,  zed  searches for it in the fpath and
              loads it.  Note that functions edited  this  way  are  installed
              into  the  current  shell,  but not written back to the autoload
              file.  In this case the -x option specifies  that  leading  tabs
              indenting  the  function according to syntax should be converted
              into the given number of spaces; `-x 2' is consistent  with  the
              layout of functions distributed with the shell.

              Without  -f,  name  is  the path name of the file to edit, which
              need not exist; it is created on write, if necessary.

              While editing, the function sets the main keymap to zed and  the
              vi  command  keymap to zed-vicmd.  These will be copied from the
              existing main and vicmd keymaps if they do not exist  the  first
              time  zed is run.  They can be used to provide special key bind-
              ings used only in zed.

              If it creates the keymap, zed rebinds the return key to insert a
              line  break and `^X^W' to accept the edit in the zed keymap, and
              binds `ZZ' to accept the edit in the zed-vicmd keymap.

              The bindings alone can be installed by running `zed  -b'.   This
              is  suitable for putting into a startup file.  Note that, if re-
              run, this will overwrite the existing zed and zed-vicmd keymaps.

              Completion is available, and styles may be set with the  context
              prefix `:completion:zed'.

              A zle widget zed-set-file-name is available.  This can be called
              by name from within zed  using  `\ex  zed-set-file-name'  (note,
              however,  that because of zed's rebindings you will have to type
              ^j at the end instead of the return key), or can be bound  to  a
              key in either of the zed or zed-vicmd keymaps after `zed -b' has
              been run.  When the widget is called, it prompts for a new  name
              for  the  file  being  edited.   When zed exits the file will be
              written under that name and  the  original  file  will  be  left
              alone.  The widget has no effect with `zed -f'.

              While zed-set-file-name is running, zed uses the keymap zed-nor-
              mal-keymap, which is linked from the main keymap  in  effect  at
              the time zed initialised its bindings.  (This is to make the re-
              turn key operate normally.)  The result  is  that  if  the  main
              keymap has been changed, the widget won't notice.  This is not a
              concern for most users.

       zcp [ -finqQvwW ] srcpat dest
       zln [ -finqQsvwW ] srcpat dest
              Same as zmv -C and zmv -L, respectively.  These functions do not
              appear  in  the  zsh distribution, but can be created by linking
              zmv to the names zcp and zln in some directory in your fpath.

       zkbd   See `Keyboard Definition' above.

       zmv [ -finqQsvwW ] [ -C | -L | -M | -{p|P} program ] [ -o optstring ]
           srcpat dest
              Move (usually, rename) files matching the pattern srcpat to cor-
              responding  files  having names of the form given by dest, where
              srcpat contains parentheses surrounding patterns which  will  be
              replaced in turn by $1, $2, ... in dest.  For example,

                     zmv '(*).lis' '$1.txt'

              renames    `foo.lis'   to   `foo.txt',   `my.old.stuff.lis'   to
              `my.old.stuff.txt', and so on.

              The pattern is always treated as an EXTENDED_GLOB pattern.   Any
              file whose name is not changed by the substitution is simply ig-
              nored.  Any error (a substitution resulted in an  empty  string,
              two  substitutions  gave the same result, the destination was an
              existing regular file and -f was not given)  causes  the  entire
              function to abort without doing anything.

              In  addition  to pattern replacement, the variable $f can be re-
              ferrred to in the second (replacement) argument.  This makes  it
              possible to use variable substitution to alter the argument; see
              examples below.

              Options:

              -f     Force overwriting of destination  files.   Not  currently
                     passed  down  to  the mv/cp/ln command due to vagaries of
                     implementations (but you can use -o-f to do that).
              -i     Interactive: show each line to be executed  and  ask  the
                     user  whether to execute it.  `Y' or `y' will execute it,
                     anything else will skip it.  Note that you just  need  to
                     type one character.
              -n     No execution: print what would happen, but don't do it.
              -q     Turn bare glob qualifiers off: now assumed by default, so
                     this has no effect.
              -Q     Force bare glob qualifiers on.  Don't turn this on unless
                     you are actually using glob qualifiers in a pattern.
              -s     Symbolic, passed down to ln; only works with -L.
              -v     Verbose: print each command as it's being executed.
              -w     Pick  out  wildcard  parts  of  the pattern, as described
                     above, and implicitly add parentheses  for  referring  to
                     them.
              -W     Just  like  -w, with the addition of turning wildcards in
                     the replacement pattern into sequential ${1} .. ${N} ref-
                     erences.
              -C
              -L
              -M     Force  cp, ln or mv, respectively, regardless of the name
                     of the function.
              -p program
                     Call program instead of cp, ln or mv.  Whatever it  does,
                     it  should  at least understand the form `program -- old-
                     name newname' where oldname  and  newname  are  filenames
                     generated  by  zmv.  program will be split into words, so
                     might be e.g. the name of an archive tool plus a copy  or
                     rename subcommand.
              -P program
                     As -p program, except that program does not accept a fol-
                     lowing -- to indicate the end of options.  In  this  case
                     filenames  must already be in a sane form for the program
                     in question.
              -o optstring
                     The optstring is split into words and passed down  verba-
                     tim  to  the  cp,  ln or mv command called to perform the
                     work.  It should probably begin with a `-'.

              Further examples:

                     zmv -v '(* *)' '${1// /_}'

              For any file in the current directory with at least one space in
              the  name,  replace every space by an underscore and display the
              commands executed.

                     zmv -v '* *' '${f// /_}'

              This does exactly the same by referring to the file name  stored
              in $f.

              For more complete examples and other implementation details, see
              the zmv source file, usually located in one of  the  directories
              named in your fpath, or in Functions/Misc/zmv in the zsh distri-
              bution.

       zrecompile
              See `Recompiling Functions' above.

       zstyle+ context style value [ + subcontext style value ... ]
              This makes defining styles a bit simpler by using a  single  `+'
              as  a  special token that allows you to append a context name to
              the previously used context name.  Like this:

                     zstyle+ ':foo:bar' style1 value1 \
                            +':baz'     style2 value2 \
                            +':frob'    style3 value3

              This defines style1 with value1  for  the  context  :foo:bar  as
              usual,  but  it  also defines style2 with value2 for the context
              :foo:bar:baz and style3 with value3 for :foo:bar:frob.  Any sub-
              context  may be the empty string to re-use the first context un-
              changed.

   Styles
       insert-tab
              The zed function sets this style in context  `:completion:zed:*'
              to  turn  off completion when TAB is typed at the beginning of a
              line.  You may override this by setting your own value for  this
              context and style.

       pager  The  nslookup  function  looks  up  this  style  in  the context
              `:nslookup' to determine the program used to display output that
              does not fit on a single screen.

       prompt
       rprompt
              The  nslookup  function  looks  up  this  style  in  the context
              `:nslookup' to set the prompt and the right-side prompt, respec-
              tively.   The  usual  expansions for the PS1 and RPS1 parameters
              may be used (see EXPANSION OF PROMPT SEQUENCES in zshmisc(1)).

ZSHALL(1)                   General Commands Manual                  ZSHALL(1)

FILES
       $ZDOTDIR/.zshenv
       $ZDOTDIR/.zprofile
       $ZDOTDIR/.zshrc
       $ZDOTDIR/.zlogin
       $ZDOTDIR/.zlogout
       ${TMPPREFIX}*   (default is /tmp/zsh*)
       /etc/zsh/zshenv
       /etc/zsh/zprofile
       /etc/zsh/zshrc
       /etc/zsh/zlogin
       /etc/zsh/zlogout    (installation-specific - /etc is the default)

SEE ALSO
       sh(1), csh(1), tcsh(1), rc(1), bash(1), ksh(1)

       IEEE Standard for information Technology -  Portable  Operating  System
       Interface  (POSIX)  - Part 2: Shell and Utilities, IEEE Inc, 1993, ISBN
       1-55937-255-9.

zsh 5.8                        February 14, 2020                     ZSHALL(1)

NAME | OVERVIEW | DESCRIPTION | AUTHOR | AVAILABILITY | MAILING LISTS | THE ZSH FAQ | THE ZSH WEB PAGE | THE ZSH USERGUIDE | INVOCATION | COMPATIBILITY | RESTRICTED SHELL | STARTUP/SHUTDOWN FILES | NAME | WHEN THE SHELL STARTS | INTERACTIVE USE | OPTIONS | PATTERN MATCHING | GENERAL COMMENTS ON SYNTAX | PROGRAMMING | NAME | SIMPLE COMMANDS & PIPELINES | PRECOMMAND MODIFIERS | COMPLEX COMMANDS | ALTERNATE FORMS FOR COMPLEX COMMANDS | RESERVED WORDS | ERRORS | COMMENTS | ALIASING | QUOTING | REDIRECTION | OPENING FILE DESCRIPTORS USING PARAMETERS | MULTIOS | REDIRECTIONS WITH NO COMMAND | COMMAND EXECUTION | FUNCTIONS | AUTOLOADING FUNCTIONS | ANONYMOUS FUNCTIONS | SPECIAL FUNCTIONS | JOBS | SIGNALS | ARITHMETIC EVALUATION | CONDITIONAL EXPRESSIONS | EXPANSION OF PROMPT SEQUENCES | SIMPLE PROMPT ESCAPES | CONDITIONAL SUBSTRINGS IN PROMPTS | NAME | DESCRIPTION | HISTORY EXPANSION | PROCESS SUBSTITUTION | PARAMETER EXPANSION | COMMAND SUBSTITUTION | ARITHMETIC EXPANSION | BRACE EXPANSION | FILENAME EXPANSION | FILENAME GENERATION | NAME | DESCRIPTION | ARRAY PARAMETERS | POSITIONAL PARAMETERS | LOCAL PARAMETERS | PARAMETERS SET BY THE SHELL | PARAMETERS USED BY THE SHELL | NAME | SPECIFYING OPTIONS | DESCRIPTION OF OPTIONS | OPTION ALIASES | SINGLE LETTER OPTIONS | NAME | SHELL BUILTIN COMMANDS | NAME | DESCRIPTION | KEYMAPS | ZLE BUILTINS | WIDGETS | USER-DEFINED WIDGETS | STANDARD WIDGETS | CHARACTER HIGHLIGHTING | NAME | DESCRIPTION | COMPLETION SPECIAL PARAMETERS | COMPLETION BUILTIN COMMANDS | COMPLETION CONDITION CODES | COMPLETION MATCHING CONTROL | COMPLETION WIDGET EXAMPLE | NAME | DESCRIPTION | INITIALIZATION | COMPLETION SYSTEM CONFIGURATION | CONTROL FUNCTIONS | BINDABLE COMMANDS | UTILITY FUNCTIONS | COMPLETION SYSTEM VARIABLES | COMPLETION DIRECTORIES | NAME | DESCRIPTION | COMMAND FLAGS | OPTION FLAGS | ALTERNATIVE COMPLETION | EXTENDED COMPLETION | EXAMPLE | NAME | DESCRIPTION | THE ZSH/ATTR MODULE | THE ZSH/CAP MODULE | THE ZSH/CLONE MODULE | THE ZSH/COMPCTL MODULE | THE ZSH/COMPLETE MODULE | THE ZSH/COMPLIST MODULE | THE ZSH/COMPUTIL MODULE | THE ZSH/CURSES MODULE | THE ZSH/DATETIME MODULE | THE ZSH/DB/GDBM MODULE | THE ZSH/DELTOCHAR MODULE | THE ZSH/EXAMPLE MODULE | THE ZSH/FILES MODULE | THE ZSH/LANGINFO MODULE | THE ZSH/MAPFILE MODULE | THE ZSH/MATHFUNC MODULE | THE ZSH/NEARCOLOR MODULE | THE ZSH/NEWUSER MODULE | THE ZSH/PARAMETER MODULE | THE ZSH/PCRE MODULE | THE ZSH/PARAM/PRIVATE MODULE | THE ZSH/REGEX MODULE | THE ZSH/SCHED MODULE | THE ZSH/NET/SOCKET MODULE | THE ZSH/STAT MODULE | THE ZSH/SYSTEM MODULE | THE ZSH/NET/TCP MODULE | THE ZSH/TERMCAP MODULE | THE ZSH/TERMINFO MODULE | THE ZSH/ZFTP MODULE | THE ZSH/ZLE MODULE | THE ZSH/ZLEPARAMETER MODULE | THE ZSH/ZPROF MODULE | THE ZSH/ZPTY MODULE | THE ZSH/ZSELECT MODULE | THE ZSH/ZUTIL MODULE | NAME | DESCRIPTION | FILE AND DATE FORMATS | USER FUNCTIONS | STYLES | UTILITY FUNCTIONS | BUGS | NAME | DESCRIPTION | TCP USER FUNCTIONS | TCP USER-DEFINED FUNCTIONS | TCP UTILITY FUNCTIONS | TCP USER PARAMETERS | TCP USER-DEFINED PARAMETERS | TCP UTILITY PARAMETERS | TCP EXAMPLES | TCP BUGS | NAME | DESCRIPTION | INSTALLATION | FUNCTIONS | MISCELLANEOUS FEATURES | NAME | DESCRIPTION | UTILITIES | REMEMBERING RECENT DIRECTORIES | ABBREVIATED DYNAMIC REFERENCES TO DIRECTORIES | GATHERING INFORMATION FROM VERSION CONTROL SYSTEMS | PROMPT THEMES | ZLE FUNCTIONS | EXCEPTION HANDLING | MIME FUNCTIONS | MATHEMATICAL FUNCTIONS | USER CONFIGURATION FUNCTIONS | OTHER FUNCTIONS | FILES | SEE ALSO