DEV Community

Cover image for tmux or zsh?
Reza Khademi
Reza Khademi

Posted on • Edited on

tmux or zsh?

This is my first article on dev.to, so go easy on me!

what is tmux?

tmux is an open-source terminal multiplexer for Linux operating distributions. It allows multiple terminal sessions to be accessed simultaneously in a single window.

what is zsh?

on the other hand, ZSH, also called as 'Z Shell', is an extended version of the Bourne Shell (sh), with plenty of new features, and support for plugins and themes. Since it’s based on the same shell as Bash, ZSH has many of the same features, and switching over is a breeze.

what you should choose?

If your editor for developing and coding is vim or sth like that, the best solution for you is tmux because you can always switch between tabs in a breeze and edit the code at the same time.
You should know tmux is very convenient with the vim editor and speeds up your developing.

But if you are like me and use VSCode as code editor, I recommend you to install zsh and even OhMyZsh to have some great features like: auto suggestion(Not recommended), syntax highlighting and etc.

So, both of them are great and offer you some helpful features. zsh is more like a handful featured terminal and tmux will bring your editor and terminal at same place to switch simultaneously!

you want both?

you can use both of them or install zash on tmux!

Top comments (8)

Collapse
 
jumanjii profile image
Allan Jacquet-Cretides • Edited

Why do you want to choose between them?
Those are like... two different things 😅

I'm using both for exemple:
my shell is ZSH and I'm using it in my kitty terminal when the first things I do is starting tmux because I have the habit to use it instead of terminal shortcuts that can change when switching terminal (and it also protecting myself in case I quit after a bad stroke 😂).

And yes I'm using vim but my main IDE is Jetbrain's and I even open VsCode in some occasion 😂

pkmonGetThemAll

Collapse
 
nicolasdanelon profile image
Nicolás Danelón

ask to choose between tmux or zsh is like compare French fries with hamburgers. you can use (or eat) both together

Collapse
 
ranggakd profile image
Retiago Drago

So do I! I'm using both VSCode and zsh as my main shell on WSL 2.0.

You can check out my first article as well to make your terminal feel like home!

Collapse
 
amirmms profile image
Amir Sadeghi • Edited

Image good job

Collapse
 
cjwyett profile image
Cyrus Wyett

Created an account to say that this is the dumbest thing I've ever read. You can use zsh on tmux.

Collapse
 
mrinjamul profile image
Injamul Mohammad Mollah

Why not both?

Collapse
 
mniazi1366 profile image
مهدی نیازی

هر دو

Collapse
 
jeklah profile image
Jeklah

Why should you choose? Use both in wsl 2.0, that's what I do. When I have needed to use vscode, I use zsh. If I need more than one terminal I switch to wsl. Easy.