Prefixes

Out of the box, regular abbreviations (Types > Regular) expand only at the start of the command line.

TIP

Configuring ABBR_SPLIT_FN is another way of customizing what content abbrevations expand after. Learn more at Configuration variables.

Regular abbreviation prefixes are strings and globs that don't count against the "start of the line"-ness.

Learn more at Configuration variables.

Example

There is one regular abbreviation scalar prefix by default: the string sudo . And there's one regular abbreviation glob prefix: the glob . Here's the difference those make:

• Before zsh-abbr v6.0.0

  abbr a=b
  a[Enter] # expands to `b`
  sudo a[Enter] # does not expand 😞
     a[Enter] # does not expand 😞

• Since zsh-abbr v6.0.0

  abbr a=b
  a[Enter] # expands to `b`
  sudo a[Enter] # expands to `b` 🎉
     a[Enter] # expands to `b` 🎉

Multiple prefixes

You can prefix a regular abbreviation with as many regular abbreviation prefixes as you like, and it will still expand.

Here's an example combining scalar (string or number) and glob prefixes:

# .zshrc

ABBR_REGULAR_ABBREVIATION_SCALAR_PREFIXES+=( 'xyz ' )
ABBR_REGULAR_ABBREVIATION_GLOB_PREFIXES+=( '?.' )

abbr a=b
e.xyz sudo a[SPACE] # expands to `e.xyz sudo bcd`
xyz e.sudo a[SPACE] # expands to `xyz e.sudo bcd`
xyz sudo e.a[SPACE] # expands to `xyz sudo e.bcd`