glyph sets

Glyph Sets

A glyph set defines the symbol shown before a file or directory name. Nerd Fonts and Emoji provide the complete selector catalog. The text and Unicode fallback sets intentionally use only essential file-system matchers.

Built-in Sets

Set	Default file glyph	Purpose
NerdFonts		Full Nerd Font icon set; the default.
ANSI	[file]	Readable ASCII labels for files, directories, links, and attributes; no special font required.
ANSICompact	f	Compact structural labels for narrow terminals.
Unicode	□	Unicode structural symbols without the Private Use Area.
Emoji	📄	Emoji and short text labels; actual width depends on the terminal.

List and select a set:

Get-GlyGlyphSet
Set-GlyGlyphSet Unicode

Preview every glyph matcher without changing the active set:

Show-GlyGlyph Unicode

See Theme and glyph previews for combined previews and pipeline behavior.

If NerdFonts glyphs do not render correctly, select a fallback explicitly:

Set-GlyGlyphSet ANSI
Set-GlyGlyphSet ANSICompact
Set-GlyGlyphSet Unicode
Set-GlyGlyphSet Emoji

gly does not detect the active terminal font or switch sets automatically.

Essential Fallback Matchers

ANSI, ANSICompact, and Unicode define only these matcher-specific glyphs:

• directory;
• junction;
• symbolic link;
• read-only attribute;
• hidden attribute.

All extension, well-known-name, and specialized-directory matches use the set's default file glyph. This keeps fallback output predictable instead of representing dedicated Nerd Font icons with arbitrary abbreviations.

Complete Built-in Selector Catalog

NerdFonts and Emoji contain rules for the groups below. More specific well-known-name rules are declared after extension rules and therefore take precedence.

Directories

Group	Names
Git	.git, .github
Editor settings	.config, .vscode, .vscode-insiders, .idea
Dependencies	node_modules, vendor, packages, bower_components
Source	src, source, scripts
Tests	test, tests, spec, specs, coverage
Documentation	doc, docs, documentation
Build	build, dist, out, output, artifacts, target, bin
Cache	.cache, __pycache__, .pytest_cache, .mypy_cache
Downloads	download, downloads
Images	image, images, photo, photos, picture, pictures
Audio	audio, music, songs
Video	video, videos, movie, movies
Infrastructure	.docker, .kube, .terraform, infra, deploy, charts

Other directories use separate Directory, Junction, and Symlink rules.

Well-known Files

Group	Patterns and names
Git	.gitignore, .gitattributes, .gitmodules, .gitconfig, .gitkeep
Docker Compose	Dockerfile, Dockerfile.*, .dockerignore, docker-compose*.yml, docker-compose*.yaml, compose*.yml, compose*.yaml
Core documentation	README*, LICENSE*, LICENCE*, COPYING*, CHANGELOG*, HISTORY*
Packages	package.json, package-lock.json, yarn.lock, pnpm-lock.yaml, composer.json, composer.lock, go.mod, go.sum, Cargo.toml, Cargo.lock, requirements.txt, pyproject.toml, Pipfile
Projects and build	*.sln, *.slnx, *.csproj, *.fsproj, *.vbproj, CMakeLists.txt, Makefile
Settings	.editorconfig, ESLint/Prettier config files, tsconfig*.json, jsconfig*.json
CI	GitLab CI, Travis CI, Azure Pipelines, Bitbucket Pipelines, Jenkinsfile

Extensions

Group	Supported extensions
PowerShell	.ps1, .psm1, .psd1, .ps1xml, .psc1, .pssc
Shell	.sh, .bash, .zsh, .fish, .bat, .cmd
.NET	.cs, .csx, .fs, .fsx, .vb
C/C++	.c, .h, .cpp, .cc, .cxx, .hpp
JVM	.java, .class, .jar, .kt, .kts, .scala, .gradle
JavaScript/TypeScript	.js, .mjs, .cjs, .ts, .d.ts, .jsx, .tsx
Other languages	Python/Jupyter, Rust, Go, Ruby, PHP
Web	HTML, CSS, Sass, Less, Vue, Svelte
Data and settings	JSON/JSONC, YAML, TOML, INI, CFG, CONF, ENV, XML/XSD/XSL/XAML/PLIST
Text	Markdown/MDX/RST, TXT/RTF, LOG/TRACE
Archives	TAR and compound TAR, ZIP, GZip, BZip2, XZ, 7z, RAR, TGZ, Zstandard
Media	Common image, audio, and video formats
Documents	PDF, Word/OpenDocument, Excel/CSV/TSV, PowerPoint/OpenDocument
Other	Databases/SQL, fonts, certificates/keys, executable and binary files

ReadOnly and Hidden attributes also have dedicated rules; the Hidden rule is declared last.

The catalog was assembled from stable mappings in these reference projects:

Project	Inspiration
devblackops/Terminal-Icons	Well-known directories/files, extension groups, and Nerd Font glyphs.
SemperFu/GlyphShell	Broader coverage of modern project/tool directories and files.
hanthor/PSFileIcons	Compact core of common development, document, and media mappings.

gly does not add Git-aware or executable-aware behavior: matching uses only the object name, extension, kind, and attributes.

Strongly Typed Structure

Get-GlyGlyphSet and Copy-GlyGlyphSet return GlyGlyphSet. Its rules use GlyGlyphRule, and its selectors use GlySelector.

Registration still accepts a hashtable or pscustomobject; the input is validated and converted to the typed model before storage:

@{
    Name = 'MyGlyphs'
    BuiltIn = $false
    Default = '[file]'
    Rules = @(
        @{
            Selector = @{ Kind = 'Directory' }
            Glyph = '[dir]'
        }
    )
}

If Default is not set and no rule matches, no glyph is added.

Custom Glyph Set

Built-in sets are immutable. Copy a set, edit the copy, and register it under a new name:

$glyphs = Copy-GlyGlyphSet ANSI MyGlyphs
$glyphs.Rules += @{
    Selector = @{ Extension = '.log' }
    Glyph = '[my-log]'
}

Register-GlyGlyphSet $glyphs
Set-GlyGlyphSet MyGlyphs

Rules use the shared selector model.