Switching from zsh to bash on OS X, and back again?

239
votes

I'm 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?

11
bashterminalzsh

11 Answers

475
votes

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.

165
votes

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.

Terminal will need a restart to take effect.

67
votes

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
18
votes

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)

14
votes

For Bash, try

chsh -s $(which bash)

For zsh, try

chsh -s $(which zsh)
6
votes

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

4
votes

In Mac OS Catalina default interactive shell is zsh. To change shell to zsh from bash:

chsh -s /bin/zsh

Then you need to enter your Mac password. Quit the terminal and reopen it. To check whether it's changed successfully to ssh, issue the following command.

echo $SHELL

If the result is /bin/zsh, your task is completed.

To change it back to bash, issue the following command on terminal.

chsh -s /bin/bash

Verify it again using echo $SHELL. Then result should be /bin/bash.

3
votes

you can just type bash or if you always want to use bash:

on "iTerm2"

  • Go to preferences > Profiles > Command
  • Select "Command" from the dropdown
  • Type bash

Test by closing iTerm and open it again

2
votes

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.

1
votes

Follow the below steps !

   chsh -s /bin/bash
   Restart terminal 
   check which shell is in use by echo $SHELL
   source .profile

You are back with Bash !!

-4
votes

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