Question

Can you elaborate on the concept of hooks in Zsh and give a practical example where they can be useful?

Answer 1

Zsh hooks are functions automatically invoked by the shell when certain events occur. They allow customization and automation of tasks, enhancing user experience.

A common hook is ‘chpwd’, triggered whenever the current working directory changes. This can be useful for auto-updating terminal titles with the current directory or logging directory navigation.

Example:

function chpwd {
  echo "You moved to: $PWD" >> ~/dir_log.txt
}
This logs every directory change to a file, providing a history of navigation which could aid in debugging or workflow analysis.