Fish shell cheatsheet

Keys

Shortcut Description

^A ←/^E → Move to the line beginning/end

Alt ←/Alt → Jump to the previous/next word

↑/↓ Switch to the previous/next command

Alt ↑/Alt ↓ Switch to the previous/next arguments

^U Delete to the beginning

^C Cancel the line

Alt H Show the command man page description

Alt W Show the short command description

Alt . Repeat last argument

Sample program

#!/usr/bin/env fish

echo 'Hello from Fish!'

Comments

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# my comment

Printing text

echo 'Hello from Fish!'

# or
printf '%s\n' 'Hello from Fish!'

Print the string with a trailing \n.

Reading from stdin

read my_variable

Reads the string to a variable my_variable.

Loops

for i in (seq 1 10)

...
end

Variables

Defining and erasing

# Declare the global/local variable:

set my_variable 'Hello from Fish!'

i# Remove the variable:

set --erase my_variable

Slicing

echo $my_variable[1..10]
echo $my_variable[2..]
echo $my_variable[..-2]

Numbers

Incrementing and decrementing

set my_variable (math $my_variable + 1)

set my_variable (math $my_variable - 1)

Arithmetic

echo (math 1 + 2)

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 Operator Performs

+ Addition

- Subtraction

* Multiplication

/ Division

% Modulo

^ Exponentiation

Strings

Matching

Match the string against a regular expresion:

string match --regex --entire 'Fish' 'Hello from Fish!'

Pattern Matches
x? Zero or one x chars

x* Any count x chars

x+ One or more x chars

x{n} n times x chars

x{n,m} n to m times x chars

x{n,} n or more times x chars

[xy] x or y char

[^xy] not x or y char

\w Word character

\d Digit character

\W Not word character

\D Not digit character

Perl compatible regular expressions are described here.

Replacing

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# Replaces the first match
string replace --regex 'Fish' 'fish' 'Hello from Fish!'

# Replaces all matches

string replace --regex --all 'Fish' 'fish' 'Hello from Fish!'

Conditionals

If/else

if test $my_variable -lt $another_variable

···
else if test $my_variable -eq $another_variable
···
else
···
end

Comparisons

Numbers

Number operator Meaning

-lt [L]ess [t]han

-eq [Eq]ual

-gt [G]reater [t]han

-le [L]ess than or [e]qual to

-ge [G]reater than or [e]qual to

-ne [N]ot [E]qual

Strings

String operator Meaning

== [Eq]ual

!= [N]ot [E]qual

Files

File operator Meaning

-f [F]ile exists

-d [D]irectory exists

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 File operator Meaning

-r File or directory exists and [r]eadable

-w File or directory exists and [w]ritable

-x File or directory exists and e[x]ecutable

Process communication

Writing to files

# Overwrite file
echo 'Hello from Fish!' > my_file

# Append to file
echo 'Hello from Fish!' >> my_file

Piping

my_command | another_command

Passes the first command stdout output as an input to a second command.

Command substitution

echo (math $my_variable + 1)

The (...) expression is substituted with the output of the command inside it.

Process substitution

echo (math $my_variable + 1 | psub)

The (... | psub) expression is substituted with a temporary file with the command’s
output.

Functions

Defining and erasing

# Declare the function

function my_function --description 'My description'
···
end

# Remove the function

functions --erase my_function

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Events

Emitting

emit my_event

Emits an event that can be picked up by other functions.

Event handling

function my_hook --on-event my_event

···
end

Reacts to the my_event event.

Abbreviations

Defining and erasing

# Declare the abbreviation

abbr --add grh "git reset --hard HEAD"

# Remove the abbreviation

abbr --erase grh

Completions

Defining completions

complete --command mycommand --arguments 'install uninstall'

complete --command mycommand --short-option 'h' --long-option 'help' --description
'Display help'

Option Description

--arguments Arguments to the command itself or option

--short-option Short option

--long-option Long option

--no-files Don’t suggest files

--force-files Suggest files

--condition Display the hint only when a given condition is true

--description Description

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Declares the completion for a command.

Removing completions

complete --command mycommand --erase

Useful built-in functions

Function Description
__fish_seen_argument Check whether the specified argument is used

__fish_seen_subcommand_from Check whether the specified subcommand is used

__fish_use_subcommand Check whether any subcommand is used

__fish_complete_directories Complete directories with the specified letters in their

name

__fish_complete_suffix Complete files with the specified suffix

__fish_complete_users List all users

__fish_complete_groups List all user groups

__fish_print_hostnames List all host names

__fish_complete_pids List all PIDs

__fish_print_filesystems List all known filesystems

__fish_print_interfaces List all network interfaces

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