Dirhistory plugin

This plugin adds keyboard shortcuts for navigating directory history and hierarchy.

To use it, add dirhistory to the plugins array in your zshrc file:

plugins=(... dirhistory)

Keyboard Shortcuts

For macOS: use the Option key (<kbd>⌥</kbd>) instead of <kbd>Alt</kbd>.

NOTE: some terminals might override the <kbd>Alt</kbd> + Arrows key bindings (e.g. Windows Terminal). If these don't work check your terminal settings and change them to a different keyboard shortcut.

Usage

This plugin allows you to navigate the history of previous working directories using <kbd>Alt</kbd> + <kbd>Left</kbd> and <kbd>Alt</kbd> + <kbd>Right</kbd>. <kbd>Alt</kbd> + <kbd>Left</kbd> moves to past directories, and <kbd>Alt</kbd> + <kbd>Right</kbd> goes back to recent directories.

NOTE: the maximum directory history size is 30.

You can also navigate directory hierarchies using <kbd>Alt</kbd> + <kbd>Up</kbd> and <kbd>Alt</kbd> + <kbd>Down</kbd>. <kbd>Alt</kbd> + <kbd>Up</kbd> moves to the parent directory, while <kbd>Alt</kbd> + <kbd>Down</kbd> moves into the first child directory found in alphabetical order (useful to navigate long empty directories, e.g. Java packages).

For example, if the shell was started, and the following commands were entered:

cd ~
cd /usr
cd share
cd doc

the directory stack (dirs -v) would look like this:

$ dirs -v
0       /usr/share/doc
1       /usr/share
2       /usr
3       ~

then entering <kbd>Alt</kbd> + <kbd>Left</kbd> at the prompt would change directory from /usr/share/doc to /usr/share, then if pressed again to /usr, then ~. If <kbd>Alt</kbd> + <kbd>Right</kbd> were pressed the directory would be changed to /usr again.

After that, <kbd>Alt</kbd> + <kbd>Down</kbd> will probably go to /usr/bin if bin is the first directory in alphabetical order (depends on your /usr folder structure). <kbd>Alt</kbd> + <kbd>Up</kbd> will return to /usr, and once more will get you to the root folder (/).

cde

This plugin also provides a cde alias that allows you to change to a directory without clearing the next directory stack. This changes the default behavior of dirhistory, which is to clear the next directory stack when changing directories.

For example, if the shell was started, and the following commands were entered:

cd ~
cd /usr
cd share
cd doc

# <Alt + Left>
# <Alt + Left>

The directory stack would look like this:

➜  /usr typeset -pm dirhistory_\*
typeset -ax dirhistory_past=( /home/user /usr )
typeset -ax dirhistory_future=( /usr/share/doc /usr/share )

This means that pressing <kbd>Alt</kbd> + <kbd>Right</kbd>, you'd go to /usr/share and /usr/share/doc (the "future" directories).

If you run cd /usr/bin, the "future" directories will be removed, and you won't be able to access them with <kbd>Alt</kbd> + <kbd>Right</kbd>:

➜  /u/bin typeset -pm dirhistory_\*
typeset -ax dirhistory_past=( /home/user /usr )
typeset -ax dirhistory_future=( /usr/bin )

If you instead run cde /usr/bin, the "future" directories will be preserved:

➜  /u/bin typeset -pm dirhistory_\*
typeset -ax dirhistory_past=( /home/user /usr /usr/bin )
typeset -ax dirhistory_future=( /usr/share/doc /usr/share )