Why type long and tedious paths when you’re able to instantly jump to directories? We’re entering the age of quantum computing, yet still navigating terminals like it’s the 1970s. Solutions exist today: tools like Zoxide, Warp, and Yazi all make cd obsolete and could save you a lot of time.
Slowly typing out the long and tedious directory paths is error-prone. Back when I was a beginner—on both Windows and Linux—it was torture to type out each individual character, hoping thatthis timeit wouldn’t spit out an error. Bookmarks, fuzzy selection, and terminal file managers are how we remedy this issue.
Zoxide: Rapid Navigation with Smart Approximate Matching
Zoxide is so simple and useful that it’s now a mainstay in my personal tool kit. Zoxide works by remembering the directories that you visit and then provides a fuzzy list for you to search over. For example, instead of typingcd, you will typezi. Zoxide then displays a list, and you narrow the candidates down in real time by typing a rough file path. When you select an item, it changes to that directory. Zoxide looks and feels a lot like fzf, if you’ve used that before, and in fact it relies on fzf for part of its function.
While cd is still necessary sometimes, once you build up a directory history, you may use Zoxide the majority of the time.
Zoxide is available in the repositories for Fedora, Debian, Ubuntu, and Arch Linux. If you require assistance installing software, you’re able to check out our guide onhow to install software via the terminal.
To install it on Fedora and similar distros:
To install it on Debian, Ubuntu, and similar distros:
To install it on Arch Linux and similar distros:
Manual Installation
If your distro has not packaged Zoxide, you may install it directly from its GitHub releases page:
Always read scripts before executing them like this.
Additionally, you will need to install fzf using your distro’s package manager.
Set Up Your Shell
Lastly, no matter how you install Zoxide, to make it work, you need to set up your shell. Place one of the following snippets into your shell configuration file. The following snippets are for Bash and Zsh, but if you visit the installation page, there are steps for additional shells.
We also havea guide that explains the bashrc filein detail.
For zsh:
Before you can make any jumps, you need to build up a directory history. Use cd to change into a few directories, then usezi.
Warp Directory: Bookmarks for Your File System
Warp directory is a simpler alternative to Zoxide. To use it is straightforward: when you’re in a directory that you would like to bookmark, simply typewd add my-alias, and it will save that directory path under that alias. When you want to access that directory, simply usewd my-alias.
For example, to add a directory:
To change to that directory:
Under the hood, Warp Directory simply manages a list of alias-to-path mappings in the.warprcfile, which it uses to jump to bookmarked locations. You can view all of your bookmarks withwd list. Over time, this list will contain broken links, and you should usewd cleanto trim it down.
Warp Directory is a Zsh plugin, but there is also a standalone Ruby script. To install the Zsh plugin, visit thewd GitHub pagefor the installation instructions. For Bash, I created the following script to install everything you need. I’ve tested it on Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, and Arch Linux. Copy its contents into a file called install-wd, then runchmod +x install-wdon it to make it executable. Finally, to run it, simply type./install-wd.
Once the installation is complete, runsource ~/.bashrc, and see its help menu withwd -h.
Yazi: Fast, Fluid File System Navigation
If you are familiar with Ranger, then Yazi is a modern replacement for it. If you are not familiar with Yazi or Ranger, they are terminal-based (TUI) file managers. It’s similar to other well-known applications, like Ranger.
A terminal file manager is a huge upgrade on cd, which is as basic as a command can be. A good terminal file manager makes browsing around your file system rapid—almost as fast as you can think—and Yazi does just that. Those familiar with Vim will feel at home, because Yazi allows you to enter and exit directories with Vim motion keys, which are likely hard-wired deep into your brain stem.
Yazi doesn’t only provide rapid navigation; it also provides Zoxide support, which makes jumping around even faster.
Installing Yazi is easy on most distros because it’s available in most repositories (but not Debian or Ubuntu).
To install it on Arch Linux and related distros:
Fedora
To install it on Fedora and related distros, you must use Copr:
Other Distros
If you head over toYazi’s installation page, you will see that there are available packages for most distros. If you’re unlucky, and it’s not available for your distro, then you can use Snap, Nix, or Homebrew. As a last resort, you can download the binary directly.
I find Warp Directory a little clunkier than Zoxide, but I did use it for years. I now prefer fuzzy find onall the things, and Zoxide does that well. I also used Ranger for years, and it was great, but Yazi has several improvements over it. No matter what terminal file manager that you use, if it enables fast navigation, it’s an upgrade over cd.
