Gash - Gash, Another SHell 🚀

Oh Gash, was it really necessary?

Gash is a no-fuss, colorful, and feature-rich replacement for your standard Bash configuration files. It packs everything you need to make your terminal experience faster, prettier, and more productive—all while keeping it simple and minimalistic.

Why Gash?

• 🚀 Faster workflows: Jump between directories, manage Git repos, and stop services in one-liners.
• 🎨 Colorful output: Command-line information that stands out and helps you focus.
• 💡 Smarter shell: Aliases, functions, and an informative prompt that simplifies tasks.
• ⚡ Lightweight: No bloat—just the tools you need.

Features At A Glance 👀

• Intelligent Prompt: See everything you need (username, Git branch, jobs, etc.) at a glance.
• Productivity Aliases: Shortcuts for file operations, Git commands, and service management.
• Convenient Functions: One-liners to extract archives, list the largest files, or kill processes by port.
• Colorful Output: Enhanced color schemes for better visibility (with LS_COLORS, Git status, etc.).
• Cross-platform: Works seamlessly on Linux, macOS, and Windows (WSL).

Check out the full features list for a detailed breakdown.

Quickstart 🌟

Get Gash up and running in under 60 seconds:

Install with cURL

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mauriziofonte/gash/refs/heads/main/install.sh | bash

Install with Wget

wget -qO- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mauriziofonte/gash/refs/heads/main/install.sh | bash

The automated installer will add a new section to your .bash_profile with:

...
# Load the Gash Environment
if [ -f ~/.gashrc ]; then
    source ~/.gashrc
fi
...

If no .bash_profile is found, the installer will create one for you.

Features Breakdown

🖥️ Custom Command Prompt

Your new prompt shows:

• Username (colored by user type)
• Current directory (shortened to ~ for home)
• Git branch & status if you're inside a Git repo (shows unstaged changes, ahead/behind status)
• Background jobs and last command exit code for easy debugging.

# Example: 
[maurizio@server]:~/projects (main*)[j2] $  # Git branch, jobs, exit code

⚙️ Built-in Aliases

Gash improves everyday commands:

• ..: Go up one directory, ... for two, etc.
• ll, la, lash: Enhanced directory listings.
• g: Shortcut for git, with ga, gst, gl for common actions.
• hgrep: Search Bash history with color-coded output.

And many more!

📂 Useful Functions

Save time with these built-in utilities:

• mkcd dir_name: Make a directory and cd into it.
• extract file.tar.gz [output_dir]: Extract almost any archive to a directory.
• largest_files [path]: Show the largest files in a directory.
• pskill process_name: Kill all processes by name.
• portkill port_number: Kill processes running on a specific port.
• stop_services: Stop well-known services like Apache, MySQL, Redis, Docker, etc.

And many more!

Power Up with Additional Tools 💪

Gash works out of the box, but it shines when you install these optional tools:

Original Command	Replacement	Description
df	pydf	Enhanced disk usage output
less	most	Better paging for long files
top	htop	Enhanced process viewer
traceroute	mtr	Interactive network diagnostics

Install recommended tools

Debian/Ubuntu

sudo apt install most multitail pydf mtr htop colordiff

macOS (with Homebrew)

brew install most multitail pydf mtr htop colordiff

Customization 🛠️

Gash is fully customizable. Want to add your own aliases or functions? Easy!

Create a ~/.bash_local file:

# ~/.bash_local example: 
alias cls='clear'  # Custom alias  
greet() {   echo "Hello, $USER!" }

Gash will load your custom settings automatically.

Uninstalling Gash 🔧

Gash comes with an automated uninstaller.

To remove Gash and restore your original configuration:

gash_uninstall

Then, restart your terminal.

Upgrading Gash 🚀

To upgrade Gash to the latest version, run the dedicated Gash Helper function

gash_upgrade

This will fetch the latest version from the repository and update your local configuration.

Remember to restart your terminal to apply the changes.

Full Features List

Aliases

• Directory Navigation:
  • .., ..., ...., .....: Quickly move up multiple directory levels.
  • cd.., .4, .5: Alternate ways to move up multiple directory levels.
• File Operations:
  • cp, mv, rm: Aliased with safer interactive options (-iv, -I) to prevent accidental overwrites or deletions.
  • mkdir: Aliased with -pv to create parent directories and show verbose output.
  • bc: Launches bc with the -l option for floating point calculations.
• Git Shortcuts:
  • g, ga, gst, gco, gb, gd, gl, gcm, gp: Common Git commands, shortened for convenience.
  • gl, glog: A more visual and color-enhanced log of commits.
  • gst, gstatus: Colorized and compact view of the repository's status.
  • gadd_tag, gdel_tag, gtags: Tag management commands.
  • ga, gadd: Quickly adds files to staging.
  • gc, gcommit: Shortcut for committing changes.
• Network Utilities:
  • ping, traceroute, tracepath: Aliased with -c 5 for a limited number of packets.
  • mtr: Launches mtr with the -c 5 option for a limited number of packets.
• System Monitoring:
  • df, du, free, ps, top: Aliased with human-readable output and color-coded columns.
  • htop: Launches htop with color-coded output for better process monitoring.
  • pydf: Displays disk usage with color-coded output.
• Docker:
  • dcls, dclsr: Lists all or running Docker containers.
  • dils: Lists all Docker images.
  • dcrm, dirm: Removes all Docker containers or images.
  • dstop, dstart: Stops or starts a Docker container.
  • dexec, drm, drmi: Executes a command, removes a container, or an image.
  • dlogs, dinspect, dnetls: Shows logs, inspects an object, or lists networks.
  • docker_stop_all, dstopall, dstartall: Stops or starts all Docker containers.
  • dpruneall, docker_prune_all: Removes all Docker containers, images, volumes, and networks.
• Miscellaneous:
  • ll, la, lash: Enhanced directory listings with color-coded output.
  • hgrep: Searches Bash history for a pattern and removes duplicates.
  • myip: Displays your public IP address.
  • stop_services: Stops well-known services like Apache, MySQL, Redis, Docker, etc.
• Cross-Platform Commands:
  • explorer, taskmanager: For Windows WSL users, opens Windows Explorer and Task Manager.
  • wslrestart, wslshutdown: Restarts or shuts down WSL.
• System Commands:
  • cls: Clears the terminal screen.
  • quit: Stops well-known services (apache2, nginx, mysql, etc.) with the --force flag.
  • ports: Lists open network ports.
  • all_colors: Prints all available terminal colors with ANSI escape codes.
• Gash Helper Functions:
  • gash_help: Displays a list of available Gash commands. (Also, help is shown if you type help, at the end of the prompt.)
  • gash_upgrade: Upgrades Gash to the latest version.
  • gash_inspiring_quote: Displays an inspiring quote.
  • gash_uninstall: Uninstalls Gash and cleans up configurations.

Helpers (Functions)

• File and Directory Management:
  • mkcd: Creates a directory and changes into it.
  • extract: Extracts archive files (.tar.gz, .zip, .7z, etc.) into the current or specified output directory.
  • backup_file: Creates a backup of a file with a timestamp suffix.
  • list_empty_dirs: Lists all empty directories in the specified path.
• System Monitoring:
  • largest_files: Lists the top 100 largest files in a directory.
  • largest_dirs: Lists the top 100 largest directories.
  • find_large_dirs: Finds directories larger than a specified size and lists their largest file's modification time.
  • disk_usage_fs: Displays disk usage for specific filesystem types, formatted for readability.
  • all_colors: Prints all available terminal colors with ANSI escape codes.
• Process Management:
  • pskill: Kills all processes matching a given name.
  • portkill: Kills processes running on a specified port.
  • psgrep: Searches for processes by name and displays details with color-coded output.
• Git Utilities:
  • git_dump_revisions: Dumps all revisions of a Git-tracked file into separate files.
  • git_apply_feature_patch: Creates and applies patches from a feature branch to the main branch.
• History and Permissions:
  • hgrep: Searches Bash history for a pattern and removes duplicates, only showing the last occurrence.
  • please: Runs the last command or a given command with sudo.

Swap-ins (Command Replacements)

• Command Replacements:
  • less → most: Provides a more feature-rich pager with better handling for non-text input files.
  • tail → multitail: Displays multiple log files in real-time.
  • df → pydf: Shows disk usage with color-coded output.
  • top → htop: An interactive system-monitoring tool with a more user-friendly interface.
  • traceroute/tracepath → mtr: A network diagnostic tool combining the functionality of traceroute and ping.
  • diff → colordiff: Colorizes the output of diff for easier readability.
• PHP & Composer Versions:
  • php83, composer83, php82, composer82, etc.: Aliases for specific versions of PHP and Composer, allowing easy switching between different environments. Uses memory limits and allow_url_fopen enabled for Composer.
• Git Enhancements:
  • git log → gl: A more visual and color-enhanced log of commits.
  • git status → gst: Colorized and compact view of the repository's status.
  • git add → ga: Quickly adds files to staging.
  • git commit → gc: Shortcut for committing changes.

License 📝

Gash is open-source and distributed under the Apache License 2.0.

Contributing 🤝

We welcome contributions! Fork the repo, open issues, or submit pull requests to help improve Gash.