Make your Terminal Sassy!

Recently a few people asked me about my colorful terminal. So I decided to write a quick article about it. If you like what you see then scroll down.

Here are easy to follow steps to make your terminal “SaSsY” like mine ;)

1) https://www.iterm2.com
download this

2) Install homebrew

 % /bin/bash -c “$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install.sh)"

3) Download ohmyzsh framework

sh -c “$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/master/tools/install.sh)"

4) Run `brew install httpie`
This is a commandline http-client with a cool UI, syntax highlighting, JSON support & many more features & I use it instead of graphical programs like `Postman` Ref: https://httpie.org/docs#installation

5) Run `brew install htop`
It’s a pretty cool interactive process viewer. Ref: https://htop.dev. After installing you can run the command `htop`

6) For the js folks `brew install node`
Then you can check your node version using `node -v` & npm version using `npm -v`. You can also look into nvm which is a node version manager to easily switch between differnt node versions.

7) Run `npm install -g tree-cli`
This will list the content of directories in tree like format when you run the command `tree`
Ref: https://github.com/MrRaindrop/tree-cli

9) Make vim pretty
If you would like a colorful vim editor then do this:
` vi ~/.vimrc` and add `syntax on`
If you’d always like to see line numbers then add `set number` in your vimrc

8) Configuring zshrc
1. To configure zsh
you need to customize somethings inside zshrc so run this command

vi ~/.zshrc

2. Theme
The name of the theme I use is “Jonathan”. So far I like it. You can search for the following in your zshrc `ZSH_THEME` and set it to whichever theme you like.

3. Plugins:
I use the following plugins. Find `plugins` in your zshrc & add the name of the plugins like this.

 plugins=(
 git
 zsh-autosuggestions
 zsh-syntax-highlighting
 )

But for those plugins to work you need to first clone them so run the following commands:
* zsh-autosuggestions
This is a super handy plugin for auto suggestions. It suggests commands as you type based on history and completions.
Ref: https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-autosuggestions

 git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-autosuggestions ~/.oh-my-zsh/custom/plugins/zsh-autosuggestions

* zsh-syntax-highlighting
Provides some cool syntax hylighting.
Ref: https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-syntax-highlighting

git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-syntax-highlighting.git ~/.oh-my-zsh/custom/plugins/zsh-syntax-highlighting
 

4. thefuck — Yes, thefuck ? you read it right!
It’s fine friends, we all use bad words sometimes(jk), sometimes though :P!
This one corrects errors in previous console commands. So let’s say you type `pd` instead of `pwd` (eyeroll) , it’s obviously an invalid command. So all you gotta do is type “fuck” and it would tell you what went wrong.
I’m still exploring this one, it’s not super accurate but for now I like it.
To get this to work, inside your `zshrc` copy the following
`eval $(thefuck — alias)`
Ref: https://github.com/nvbn/thefuck
Here’s what it looks like

5. Let’s talk about colors ..

For this one, go to `Preferences -> i-term -> profiles -> Colors`. I changed the font to be `Chalkduster` and set a different color as well. Here is my config:

9) Now, let’s get into the coolest part ;) ft. ASCII art , lolcat , cowsay

* ASCII Art

I created my funky ASCII name art using this tool

https://dev.to/lakatos88/ascii-themes-node-js-cli-interface-to-generate-themed-ascii-art-4ck8

but if you do not want to go through those steps, you can always create your own art using this tool & copy paste it.

http://www.patorjk.com/software/taag/#p=display&f=Patorjk-HeX&t=SONA

I created a file called `welcome.sh` & copy pasted the design there. Make sure you put each line in an `echo “your ascii”` command . Checkout the screenshot.

I then put this `./welcome.sh` at the end of my `zshrc` file.

* lolcat

If you like rainbow effects then run `brew install lolcat`. If you want to apply this rainbow effect to your welcome message then in your `zshrc` add this at the end of the file

 ./welcome.sh | lolcat

* fortune & cowsay

If you would like a random quote by a cow and want all of that in rainbow colors then
`brew install fortune` and `brew install cowsay` and then again go back to the end of your `zshrc` and after the welcome message add the following

fortune | cowsay | lolcat

Pls Note: for all the above changes to take effect, run `source ~/.zshrc` or restart your terminal.
Yes, your terminal is going to look absolutely beautiful after all this!

10) Aliases

Aliases are super helpful & you can add that in your `zshrc` as per your use-case & convenience. I wanted the lolcat effect for a few commands so I added the following aliases with lolcat in my config.

alias ls=’ls | lolcat’
alias pwd=’pwd | lolcat’
alias gs=’git status | lolcat’
alias tree=’tree | lolcat’

I hope this was helpful!

If you would like to share cool tricks with lolcat or anything else, I would love to hear from you!