zsh-syntax-highlighting VS ble.sh

Compare zsh-syntax-highlighting vs ble.sh and see what are their differences.

ble.sh

Bash Line Editor―a line editor written in pure Bash with syntax highlighting, auto suggestions, vim modes, etc. for Bash interactive sessions. (by akinomyoga)
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zsh-syntax-highlighting ble.sh
72 50
18,884 1,980
1.9% -
5.9 9.1
7 days ago 17 days ago
Shell Shell
BSD 3-clause "New" or "Revised" License BSD 3-clause "New" or "Revised" License
The number of mentions indicates the total number of mentions that we've tracked plus the number of user suggested alternatives.
Stars - the number of stars that a project has on GitHub. Growth - month over month growth in stars.
Activity is a relative number indicating how actively a project is being developed. Recent commits have higher weight than older ones.
For example, an activity of 9.0 indicates that a project is amongst the top 10% of the most actively developed projects that we are tracking.

zsh-syntax-highlighting

Posts with mentions or reviews of zsh-syntax-highlighting. We have used some of these posts to build our list of alternatives and similar projects. The last one was on 2024-01-08.
  • Setting up a MacBook for development in 2024
    5 projects | dev.to | 8 Jan 2024
    brew install fzf # for fuzzy find files, commands, etc brew install starship $(brew --prefix)/opt/fzf/install git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-syntax-highlighting.git ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-~/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/plugins/zsh-syntax-highlighting # syntax highlight for zsh git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-autosuggestions ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-~/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/plugins/zsh-autosuggestions # smart autosuggestions for zsh echo 'eval "$(starship init zsh)"' >> ~/.zshrc
  • Quickest path to a decent zsh setup?
    6 projects | /r/zsh | 5 Dec 2023
    # run this git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-syntax-highlighting $ZSH/custom/zsh-syntax-highlighting # add this to your .zshrc plugin=(... zsh-syntax-highlighting)
  • Arch Installation for Beginners
    3 projects | dev.to | 15 Sep 2023
    $ git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-syntax-highlighting.git ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-~/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/plugins/zsh-syntax-highlighting $ git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-autosuggestions ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-~/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/plugins/zsh-autosuggestions
  • Configurando Alpine Linux, tmux e neovim no WSL2 - parte 1
    5 projects | dev.to | 8 Jun 2023
    sudo git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-syntax-highlighting.git echo "source ${(q-)PWD}/zsh-syntax-highlighting/zsh-syntax-highlighting.zsh" >> ${ZDOTDIR:-$HOME}/.zshrc
  • better than admitting I'm too too lazy to correct the command
    2 projects | /r/linuxmemes | 4 Jun 2023
  • [Question] What are the best plugins for zsh ?
    8 projects | /r/zsh | 28 May 2023
    Two by far the most popular plugins are zsh-syntax-highlighting and zsh-autosuggestions. They are of high quality and quite useful.
  • Configuração do Windows para desenvolvimento
    7 projects | dev.to | 26 May 2023
    echo "Installing zsh-autosuggestions" git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-autosuggestions ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-~/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/plugins/zsh-autosuggestions echo "Installing zsh-syntax-highlighting" git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-syntax-highlighting ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-~/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/plugins/zsh-syntax-highlighting echo "Installing asdf" git clone https://github.com/asdf-vm/asdf.git ~/.asdf
  • Why Oh My ZSH is so cool?
    4 projects | dev.to | 3 Mar 2023
    Syntax highlighting
  • ZSH + Oh My ZSH! on Windows with WSL
    4 projects | dev.to | 3 Mar 2023
    git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-autosuggestions.git ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-~/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/plugins/zsh-autosuggestions git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-syntax-highlighting.git ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-~/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/plugins/zsh-syntax-highlighting
  • Wrote a "plugin manager" shell function. Any ideas for improvement?
    5 projects | /r/zsh | 13 Feb 2023
    if (($+commands[git])); then use_plugin() { local root_dir="${XDG_DATA_HOME:-$HOME/.local/share}/zsh/plugins" local plugin_name=${1:t} # grabbing the 5th field works for a Github url, not necessarily for every url. local plugin_dir=$root_dir/${1//[/:]/_} if ! [[ -d $plugin_dir ]] echo $EPOCHSECONDS > $plugin_dir/update_timestamp # don't continue if cloning failed git clone --depth 1 "$1" "$plugin_dir" || return local timestamp read -r timestamp < $plugin_dir/update_timestamp if ((EPOCHSECONDS - timestamp > 864000)); then # don't update timestamp if pull failed git -C $plugin_dir pull && echo $EPOCHSECONDS > $plugin_dr/update_timestamp # Match common source filenames local file for file in ($plugin_name|${plugin_name:l}).(plugin.zsh|zsh|zsh-theme)(N); do source $plugin_dir/$filename && break done } use_plugin 'https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-autosuggestions' use_plugin 'https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-syntax-highlighting' fi

ble.sh

Posts with mentions or reviews of ble.sh. We have used some of these posts to build our list of alternatives and similar projects. The last one was on 2023-10-25.
  • [Release v0.2.0] promkit: A toolkit for building interactive command-line tools in Rust
    2 projects | /r/commandline | 25 Oct 2023
    So could someone say use this to reimplement blesh in Rust?
  • After years of bash, I actually found a shortcut I never heard about.
    2 projects | /r/linux | 23 May 2023
  • Which Shell?
    3 projects | /r/linuxmint | 4 May 2023
    Bash + ble.sh = fish like interactive features but still bash.
  • Sweet Shell: With Oh-My-Zsh, SpaceVim, Starship, True Color, and Demo Mode
    7 projects | news.ycombinator.com | 22 Nov 2022
    > Autocompletion is one thing zsh does better, and that alone is worth it IMO. It can autocomplete things other than filenames and even gives you a short description for each of the subcommands or CLI options in the completion candidates. For the most common commands, this works without even having to install third party completion scripts.

    The joke here is: All this requires additional scripts / configs. Whether bundled or not…

    With those scripts / config there is no difference between shells.

    > Syntax highlighting is useful as well, though that requires the use of a third party plugin. You can detect quoting errors, unmatched braces, missing commands, incorrect filepaths before hitting enter. It's indispensable in an interactive shell because that's where you write convoluted one-off one-liners.

    https://github.com/akinomyoga/ble.sh

    > In general, zsh is extensible and offers more capabilities than bash.

    Nobody ever could show me even one feature that isn't available in almost all popular shells!

    > But to feel the difference, you need to configure it and enable the nice features.

    Yeah sure. When you tune your ̵c̵a̵r̵ shell it has nice features afterwards…

    That's true for any shell as I see it.

    ---

    I for my part don't like Unix shell. Even after 20 years of usage (as since then Linux is my only OS).

    Also I've never understood what's the case about zsh. Nobody could ever answer the question why it's anyhow "better" or even show features not available elsewhere.

    I came to the conclusion that zsh is just a stupid hype of "cool kids". It's the same as with the car tuning crowd.

    A truly better shell would be much different than a Unix shell. There are some experiments out there but nothing really convincing.

    So I continue to stay with the not so cool default. As it's most compatible and available everywhere.

    But please wake me up when there is some real innovation regarding shells!

    7 projects | news.ycombinator.com | 22 Nov 2022
    > With those scripts / config there is no difference between shells.

    As I wrote in my original comment, bash only does filepath completion most of the time even with third party completion scripts. And I have never seen bash

    > https://github.com/akinomyoga/ble.sh

    ble.sh is impressive work, but it's a hack that won't be as reliable or compatible without built-in support for programmatic manipulation of the command line buffer in bash. ble.sh diverts key input from readline and reimplements its features. It contains workarounds for specific terminals, and scripts have to be modified to accommodate ble.sh. IIRC FZF's shell integration required modifications to work with ble.sh.

    > Nobody ever could show me even one feature that isn't available in almost all popular shells!

    Read the parts of my original comment which you haven't quoted.

    > When you tune your ̵c̵a̵r̵ shell it has nice features afterwards…

    Only to the extent that the shell lets you.

    > I came to the conclusion that zsh is just a stupid hype of "cool kids". It's the same as with the car tuning crowd.

    That was uncalled for.

  • Does Bash have something like Powershell's MenuComplete?
    4 projects | /r/bash | 24 Oct 2022
  • Fuzzy file completion in bash
    2 projects | /r/bash | 14 Oct 2022
    You might try blesh. It has a nice completion for files and variables in bash
  • Bash 5.2
    8 projects | news.ycombinator.com | 27 Sep 2022
    Nice, there's also ble.sh -- a bash replacement of readline that has zsh/fish-like syntax colors and completion. It is actively developed and the maintainer has implemented 2 features I've requested in a matter of hours.

    If you want to check it out: https://github.com/akinomyoga/ble.sh

    (Still, I personally believe these features are overrated and don't actually bring in more usability or comfort to the command line experience)

  • Is there a way to make Konsole act like it does in Manjaro?
    2 projects | /r/kde | 19 Sep 2022
    Yea, there is also ble.sh. I haven't used them myself because I wrote a simple one of my own to scratch my itch. What do you like the most about oh-my-bash? They don't have the same capabilities as other shells, though.
  • How to get terminal autocomplete like this?
    3 projects | /r/commandline | 16 Sep 2022
    Sadly, no. But if you want to try one of zsh feature is menu complete, you can install ble.sh

What are some alternatives?

When comparing zsh-syntax-highlighting and ble.sh you can also consider the following projects:

fast-syntax-highlighting - (Short name F-Sy-H). Syntax-highlighting for Zshell – fine granularity, number of features and multiple shipped themes.

bash-it - A community Bash framework.

ohmyzsh - 🙃 A delightful community-driven (with 2,200+ contributors) framework for managing your zsh configuration. Includes 300+ optional plugins (rails, git, macOS, hub, docker, homebrew, node, php, python, etc), 140+ themes to spice up your morning, and an auto-update tool so that makes it easy to keep up with the latest updates from the community.

zsh-autosuggestions - Fish-like autosuggestions for zsh

starship - ☄🌌️ The minimal, blazing-fast, and infinitely customizable prompt for any shell!

oh-my-bash - A delightful community-driven framework for managing your bash configuration, and an auto-update tool so that makes it easy to keep up with the latest updates from the community.

powerlevel10k - A Zsh theme

tmux-resurrect - Persists tmux environment across system restarts.

antibody - The fastest shell plugin manager.

ansible-role-zsh - Setup antigen with oh-my-zsh, powerlevel10k theme, fzf, autosuggestions, syntax-highlighting

spaceship-prompt - :rocket::star: Minimalistic, powerful and extremely customizable Zsh prompt