Technology

Unix and Windows Shells

Name: Unix and Windows Shells
Creator: Community curated
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Bash, Zsh, Fish, PowerShell, Nushell, Xonsh - which shell do you actually want at 2 AM?

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Source:Community curated

Updated:4/9/2026

#technology #shell #terminal #cli #developer-tools

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Shell↕	Author↕	First Released↕	Primary Platform↕	Implementation↕	Known For↕
Bash	Brian Fox / Chet Ramey	1989	Linux, macOS (legacy), WSL	C	GNU's Bourne Again SHell, default on almost every Linux server, POSIX-friendly, universal scripting
Zsh	Paul Falstad	1990	macOS (default), Linux	C	macOS default since Catalina, oh-my-zsh plugin universe, best-in-class completion
Fish	Axel Liljencrantz	2005	Linux, macOS	C++ (now Rust)	Sensible defaults, autosuggestions out of the box, rewritten in Rust in 2024, non-POSIX scripting
PowerShell	Jeffrey Snover / Microsoft	2006	Windows (default), cross-platform	C#	Object pipeline instead of text, cross-platform since Core 6.0, scripting backbone of Windows ops
Nushell	Sophia / Yehuda / JT	2019	Cross-platform	Rust	Structured data pipelines like PowerShell with Unix feel, everything is a table, Rust-based
Xonsh	Anthony Scopatz	2015	Cross-platform	Python	Python-powered shell, mix shell commands with Python in the same line, great for data folks
Dash	Herbert Xu	1997	Debian/Ubuntu	C	Minimal POSIX shell, default /bin/sh on Debian and Ubuntu for fast script execution
Ksh	David Korn / AT&T	1983	Unix, AIX, Solaris	C	Korn Shell, bridged Bourne and C shells, standard on commercial Unix, influenced Bash and Zsh
Tcsh	Ken Greer / others	1983	BSDs	C	Enhanced C shell with history and completion, default on FreeBSD for years
Elvish	Qi Xiao	2017	Cross-platform	Go	Modern shell with structured data, own expression language, great interactive UX
Oil / OSH / YSH	Andy Chu	2018	Linux, macOS	Python / C++	Bash-compatible OSH with cleaner YSH scripting language, careful upgrade path from Bash
Ion	Redox OS team	2017	Linux, Redox	Rust	Default shell of Redox OS, Rust-native, opinionated modern scripting
Murex	Laurence Morgan	2017	Cross-platform	Go	Typed data pipelines, inline docs, SQL-style queries against JSON streams
Cmd.exe	Microsoft	1987	Windows	C	Classic Windows command interpreter, still present everywhere but superseded by PowerShell
Git Bash (MSYS2)	Git for Windows team	2007	Windows	C (MinGW/MSYS)	Bash-on-Windows for Git users, default terminal for millions of Windows devs before WSL

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