elvish

Start Elvish shell

$ elvish

$ elvish [script.elv]

$ elvish -c "[echo hello]"

$ elvish --rc [config.elv]

elvish [options] [script] [args]

Elvish is an expressive programming language and a powerful shell for Unix-like systems. It combines shell features with a modern programming language including namespaces, lambdas, and structured data.
The shell offers pipelines that pass structured data (not just strings), built-in file manager (Ctrl-N), and comprehensive history with directory history (Ctrl-L). Its syntax is cleaner than traditional shells.
Elvish provides real-time syntax highlighting, intelligent completions, and a consistent programming model for both interactive use and scripting.

SCRIPT

Script file to execute.

Execute command string.

Configuration file.

Don't load rc file.

Display help information.

~/.config/elvish/rc.elv or ~/.elvish/rc.elv

Main configuration file loaded on shell startup.

Directory for Elvish modules and libraries.

Not POSIX-compatible. Scripts not portable to bash/zsh. Smaller community than mainstream shells. Some traditional shell patterns don't work.

Elvish was created by Qi Xiao starting around 2014 as a shell designed from scratch with modern language features rather than POSIX compatibility as the primary goal.

bash(1), zsh(1), fish(1), nushell(1)