You Should Use

Simple zsh plugin that reminds you that you should use one of your existing aliases for a command you just typed.

Also supports detection of global and git aliases.

Usage

You dont need to do anything. Once it's installed, zsh-you-should-use will let you know if you wrote a command with an existing alias.

$ alias gc="git commit"
$ git commit -m "test commit"
Found existing alias for "git commit". You should use: "gc"
On branch master
Your branch is up-to-date with 'origin/master'.
Changes not staged for commit:
    modified:   README.md

no changes added to commit

you-should-use also detects global aliases:

$ alias -g NE="2>/dev/null"
$ find . -name "*.zsh" 2>/dev/null
Found existing alias for "2>/dev/null". You should use: "NE"
./you-should-use.plugin.zsh

and Git aliases:

$ git config --global alias.config cfg
$ git config --get-regexp alias\..
Found existing git alias for "config". You should use: "git cfg"
alias.cp cherry-pick
alias.cfg config

Requirements

you-should-use officially supports zsh versions larger than 5.0.

It is possible the plugin might work on even older versions. However they would not have been tested as part of the CI test process.

Installation

Add one of the following to your .zshrc file depending on your package manager:

ZPlug

zplug "MichaelAquilina/zsh-you-should-use"

Antigen

antigen bundle "MichaelAquilina/zsh-you-should-use"

Zgen

zgen load "MichaelAquilina/zsh-you-should-use"

oh-my-zsh

Copy this repository to $ZSH/custom/plugins, where $ZSH is the root directory of oh-my-zsh:

git clone https://github.com/MichaelAquilina/zsh-you-should-use.git $ZSH/custom/plugins/zsh-you-should-use

Then add this line to your .zshrc

plugins=(you-should-use $plugins)

Displaying Results

By default, you-should-use will display the best match from any matching aliases found. However, you can change this behaviour so that it displays all matches found by setting the value of YSU_MODE.

• To only display best match (default): export YSU_MODE=BESTMATCH
• To display all matches: export YSU_MODE=ALL

Hardcore Mode

For the brave and adventerous only

You can enable Hardcore mode to enforce the use of aliases. Enabling this will cause zsh to refuse to execute commands you have entered if an alternative alias for it exists. This is a handy way of forcing you to use your aliases and help you turn those aliases into muscle memory.

Enable hardcore mode by setting the variable YSU_HARDCORE to 1.

export YSU_HARDCORE=1

Now if you type a command that has an alias defined and you didnt use it, zsh will refuse to execute that command:

$ export YSU_HARDCORE=1
$ ls -lh
Found existing alias for "ls -lh". You should use: "ll"
You Should Use hardcore mode enabled. Use your aliases!
$ ll
total 8.0K
-rw-r--r-- 1 michael users 2.4K Jun 19 20:46 README.md
-rw-r--r-- 1 michael users  650 Jun 19 20:42 you-should-use.plugin.zsh

Contributing

Pull requests and Feedback are welcome! 🎉

I have tried to cater for as many use cases that I can think of. However, they are naturally tailored to to my own workflow and I could be missing many others.

Because of this if there is a specific use case that does not work as you would expect or if you have any suggestions to how the plugin should behave, feel free to open an issue

Running Tests

Install zunit. Run zunit in the root directory of the repo.

$ zunit
Launching ZUnit
ZUnit: 0.8.2
ZSH:   zsh 5.3.1 (x86_64-suse-linux-gnu)

✔ ysu message correct output
✔ ysu global message correct output
✔ ysu git message correct output

NOTE: It is required that you use a minimum zunit version of 0.8.2

NOTE: The tests that run move your git configuration to a temporary location during the test process so that your user configuration does not interfere with tests. This will be restored at the end of each test so there is no risk in losing your settings. If for some strange reason zunit crashes or does not restore your git configuration automatically, all you need to do is run mv ~/.gitconfig.bak ~/.gitconfig