Better Default Tools

Updated:
2 min read

A lot of the tools you use are probably super old! That's great cause they work no problem, but they might not be as pretty as we want them. All of the following are tools I use to replace default tooling that is preinstalled on most computers.

cat => bat

A cat(1) clone with wings.. So much nicer!

❯ brew install bat

Make sure to alias cat in your ~/.zshrc.

~/.zshrc
alias cat="bat"

ls => exa

A modern version of ‘ls’.. Pretty colors!

❯ brew install exa

Make sure to alias cat in your ~/.zshrc.

~/.zshrc
alias ls="exa"
# Show lots of info, even with icons!
alias lss="exa -alh --icons --git-ignore"

git diff => delta

Strives to make your diffs human readable instead of machine readable..

❯ brew install git-delta

Tell git to use delta for all diffs in your ~/.gitconfig:

~/.gitconfig
[pager]
    diff = delta
    log = delta
    reflog = delta
    show = delta
 
[delta]
    features = side-by-side line-numbers decorations relative-paths hyperlinks
    file-style = yellow auto italic
    file-decoration-style = white ol dim
    line-numbers-left-style = white auto dim
    line-numbers-right-style = white auto dim
    hunk-header-style = omit
    syntax-theme = TwoDark
 
[interactive]
    diffFilter = delta --color-only

History search

bash and zsh ship with a nice search history (press ctrl + r). But it's old and ugly. For a better experience I install fzf.

❯ brew install fzf
 
# To install useful key bindings and fuzzy completion:
$(brew --prefix)/opt/fzf/install

cd => z (zoxide)

Easily jump to directories. Just supply a part of the path and it will change the directory to the last matching path. I still use cd but I use z to jump between projects.

❯ brew tap ajeetdsouza/zoxide
brew install zoxide

And add some config in your ~/.zshrc.

~/.zshrc
eval "$(zoxide init zsh)"

zoxide ships with a zi alias. This allows you to fuzzy search though all possible directory matches.

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