z.lua

z - jump around (lua implementation for unix & windows).

An alternative to z.sh with windows and posix shells support and performance improving.

Features

• 10x times faster than fasd and autojump
• 3x times faster than z.sh
• available for posix shells: bash, zsh, dash, sh, ash, busybox and etc.
• supports Windows cmd (with clink) and cmder
• self contained, no dependence on awk/gawk
• compatible with lua 5.1, 5.2 and 5.3+
• new "$_ZL_ADD_ONCE" to allow updating database only if $PWD changed.

USE

z foo       # cd to most frecent dir matching foo
z foo bar   # cd to most frecent dir matching foo and bar
z -r foo    # cd to highest ranked dir matching foo
z -t foo    # cd to most recently accessed dir matching foo
z -l foo    # list matches instead of cd
z -c foo    # restrict matches to subdirs of $PWD
z -e foo    # echo the best match, don't cd

Install

• bash:

  put something like this in your .bashrc:

  eval "$(lua /path/to/z.lua --init bash)"
  

• zsh:

  put something like this in your .zshrc:

  eval "$(lua /path/to/z.lua --init zsh)"
  

• posix shells:

  put something like this in your .profile:

  eval "$(lua /path/to/z.lua --init posix)"
  

  (sh, ash, dash and busybox have been tested)

• Windows (with clink):

  • copy z.lua and z.cmd to clink's home directory
  • Add clink's home to %PATH% (z.cmd can be called anywhere)
  • Ensure that "lua" can be called in %PATH%

• Windows cmder:

  • copy z.lua and z.cmd to cmder/vendor
  • Add cmder/vendor to %PATH%
  • Ensure that "lua" can be called in %PATH%

Customize

• set $_ZL_CMD in .bashrc/.zshrc to change the command (default z).
• set $_ZL_DATA in .bashrc/.zshrc to change the datafile (default ~/.zlua).
• set $_ZL_NO_PROMPT_COMMAND if you're handling PROMPT_COMMAND yourself.
• set $_ZL_EXCLUDE_DIRS to an array of directories to exclude.
• set $_ZL_ADD_ONCE to '1' to update database only if $PWD changed.
• set $_ZL_MAXAGE to define a aging threshold (default is 5000).
• set $_ZL_CD to specify your own cd command.
• set $_ZL_ECHO to 1 to display new directory name after cd.

Benchmark

The slowest part is adding path to history data file. It will run every time when you press enter (installed in $PROMPT_COMMAND). so I profile it on my nas:

$ time autojump --add /tmp
real    0m0.352s
user    0m0.077s
sys     0m0.185s

$ time fasd -A /tmp
real    0m0.618s
user    0m0.076s
sys     0m0.242s

$ time _z --add /tmp
real    0m0.194s
user    0m0.046s
sys     0m0.154s

$ time _zlua --add /tmp
real    0m0.052s
user    0m0.015s
sys     0m0.030s

As you see, z.lua is the fastest one and requires less resource.

Add once

By default, z.lua will add current directory to database each time before display command prompt (correspond with z.sh). But there is an option to allow z.lua add path only if current working directory changed.

To enable this, you can set $_ZL_ADD_ONCE to 1 before init z.lua. Or you can init z.lua on linux like this:

eval "$(lua /path/to/z.lua --init bash once)"
eval "$(lua /path/to/z.lua --init zsh once)"

It could be much faster on slow hardware or Cygwin/MSYS.

Aliases

TODO

Credit

Releated projects:

• rupa/z: origin z.sh implementation
• JannesMeyer/z.ps: z for powershell

License

Licensed under MIT license.