Switching from zsh to bash on OSX, and back again?

Question

So Im learning to develop in Rails, and have discovered the power of zsh. However, for some of my other tasks, I wish to use normal Bash. Although they are the same, I just feel comfortable with the lay out of bash in some situations. How do I switch back and forth, or turn zsh on and off? Thanks!

Answer 1

You can just use exec to replace your current shell with a new shell:

Switch to bash:

exec bash

Switch to zsh:

exec zsh

This won't affect new terminal windows or anything, but it's convenient.

Answer 2

you can try chsh -s /bin/bash to set the bash as the default, or chsh -s /bin/zsh to set the zsh as the default.

Answer 3

I switch between zsh and bash somewhat frequently. For a while, I used to have to source my bash_profile every switch. Then I found out you can (typically) do

exec bash --login

or just

exec bash -l

Answer 4

For Bash, try

chsh -s $(which bash)

For zsh, try

chsh -s $(which zsh)

Answer 5

if it is just a temporary switch

you can use exec as mentioned above, but for more of a permanent solution.

you can use chsh -s /bin/bash (to switch to bash) and chsh -s /bin/zsh (to switch to zsh)

Answer 6

zsh has a builtin command emulate which can emulate different shells by setting the appropriate options, although csh will never be fully emulated.

emulate bash
perform commands
emulate -R zsh

The -R flag restores all the options to their default values for that shell.

See: zsh manual

Answer 7

You should be able just to type bash into the terminal to switch to bash, and then type zsh to switch to zsh. Works for me at least.

Answer 8

You can easily switch back to bash by using command "bye"