noglob

noglob simple command

noglob is a zsh precommand modifier that disables filename generation (globbing) for all words in the command that follows. When used, pattern matching characters like \*, ?, and [...] are treated literally rather than being expanded to match filenames.This is useful when passing arguments that contain glob characters to commands without needing to quote each argument individually. Common use cases include URLs with query strings, package names with brackets, and commands where wildcard characters should be passed through verbatim.noglob must appear before any other precommand modifier, as it is interpreted immediately before any parsing is done.

Only available in zsh; not a POSIX shell feature. Has no effect in non-interactive shells. In bash, the equivalent is set -o noglob (or set -f) which applies globally rather than per-command. Cannot be combined after other precommand modifiers — it must come first.

noglob has been part of zsh since its early versions, originating from the csh family of shells. The C shell (csh) introduced the concept of selectively disabling globbing, and zsh adopted and refined it as a precommand modifier alongside nocorrect, builtin, command, and exec.

zsh(1), bash(1), glob(7)