How can I set my default shell on a Mac, e.g. to Fish?

Question

I do not like to retype fish every time I start terminal. I want Fish on by default. How can I set the Fish shell as my default shell on a Mac?

score 292 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 12 '14 at 02:06

292

1. sudo nano /etc/shells enter image description here

2. add /usr/local/bin/fish to your list of shells enter image description here

3. chsh -s /usr/local/bin/fish

answered Oct 12 '14 at 02:06

user391339

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And you should to change `Shell open with: Default login shell` in settings of Terminal.app – Tikhonov Aleksandr Nov 27 '17 at 11:45

score 107 · Answer 2 · edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

107

From Terminal:

Add Fish to /etc/shells, which will require an administrative password:
```
sudo echo /usr/local/bin/fish >> /etc/shells
```
Make Fish your default shell with chsh:
```
chsh -s /usr/local/bin/fish
```

From System Preferences:

User and Groups → ctrl-click on Current User → Advanced Options...
Change Login shell to /usr/local/bin/fish
Press OK, log out and in again

edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

Community

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answered Dec 10 '13 at 22:11

Paolo Moretti

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Had to make a slight tweak to step 1. - `sudo sh -c 'echo /usr/local/bin/fish >> /etc/shells'` – purpletonic Jan 04 '17 at 19:58
1

Just another way of doing the same thing @purpletonic mentioned `echo /usr/local/bin/fish | sudo tee -a /etc/shells` – mroach Sep 17 '18 at 14:22
1

Used to do it the Terminal way, but on a recent macOS upgrade, /etc/shells got reset. Probably best to use the System Preferences way in future. – vin047 Feb 03 '21 at 15:51

Aif · Answer 3 · 2013-10-23T09:18:23.733

84

You can use chsh to change a user's shell.

Run the following code, for instance, to change your shell to Zsh

chsh -s /bin/zsh

As described in the manpage, and by Lorin, if the shell is not known by the OS, you have to add it to its known list: /etc/shells.

edited Oct 23 '13 at 09:18

answered Jan 17 '09 at 12:48

Aif

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Tried and got `chsh: /usr/local/bin/fish: non-standard shell` Solution was to add it to /etc/shells as described by @lorin-hochstein answer below – lmsurprenant Oct 23 '13 at 03:03
dbright@PowerMac:~$ chsh -s /Users/dbright/sys/bin/bash Changing shell for dbright. Password for dbright: chsh: /Users/dbright/sys/bin/bash: non-standard shell dbright@PowerMac:~$ ls -l /etc/shells -rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 179 Sep 23 2007 /etc/shells – don bright Sep 28 '15 at 21:12
Hum, I have recently tried chsh which worked as a simple user (without the `-s` though). I'll try again soon. – Aif Sep 29 '15 at 10:23

score 41 · Accepted Answer · edited Jul 15 '21 at 13:57

41

These are applicable to macOS v10.12.5 (Sierra) (16F73) and probably some other recent and upcoming versions of macOS.

chsh is not enough to change the default shell. Make sure you press Command + , while your terminal is open and change the 'Shells open with' option to 'Default login shell.'
In case of Bash, make sure that you execute echo $BASH_VERSION to confirm you are running the intended version of Bash. bash --version does not give you correct information.

edited Jul 15 '21 at 13:57

Peter Mortensen

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answered Jul 15 '17 at 15:29

Tushar Vazirani

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This is answered in [the docs](https://fishshell.com/docs/current/faq.html#faq-default) now. – reergymerej Sep 27 '18 at 13:23
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Update: We can now set default shell in `Preferences` of *Terminal.app*. See [this Answer](https://stackoverflow.com/a/41450005/642706) by Pankaj. – Basil Bourque Nov 29 '19 at 00:01
I have mentioned the keyboard shortcut for preferences. – Tushar Vazirani Nov 29 '19 at 21:04

score 21 · Answer 5 · edited Jul 21 '21 at 15:59

21

Here's another way to do it:

Assuming you installed it with MacPorts, which can be done by doing:

sudo port install fish

Your shell will be located in /opt/local/bin/fish.

You need to tell OS X that this is a valid shell. To do that, add this path to the end of the /etc/shells file.

Once you've done this, you can change the shell by going to System Preferences → Accounts. Click on the Lock to allow changes. Right-click on the account, and choose "Advanced Options...". In the "Login shell" field, add the path to Fish.

edited Jul 21 '21 at 15:59

Peter Mortensen

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answered Jan 10 '10 at 15:27

Lorin Hochstein

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thanks! this worked great and made fish my default terminal everywhere. just changing it in terminal like one of the other answers made terminal prompt me every time i closed a window and chsh just didn't work for me. – jasongregori Jun 06 '12 at 16:57
With `macports`, follow `port notes fish` instructions after the installation. Currently, the notes state to `sudo chpass -s /opt/local/bin/fish ${USER}`. – Y. E. Mar 28 '23 at 13:31

score 13 · Answer 6 · edited Jul 21 '21 at 16:03

13

Terminal.app → Preferences → General → Shells open with → /bin/fish

Open your terminal and press command + , (comma). This will open a preferences window.
The first tab is 'General'.
Find 'Shells open with' setting and choose the second option which needs complete path to the shell.
Paste the link to your fish command, which generally is /usr/local/bin/fish.

See this screenshot where zsh is being set as default.

I am using macOS v10.12 (Sierra). It also works in macOS v10.14 (Mojave).

edited Jul 21 '21 at 16:03

Peter Mortensen

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answered Jan 03 '17 at 18:26

Pankaj

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At last! A solution that works for a non-sudo user! – Ébe Isaac Jul 16 '19 at 04:51

score 12 · Answer 7 · edited Jul 21 '21 at 16:01

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The only thing that worked for me was a combination of all these methods.

First I had to add the path to the Fish executable to the /etc/shells file
Then I ran chsh -s /usr/local/bin/fish
Finally, I typed Command + , and added /usr/local/bin/fish to the default path there

Only after I had done all three things did Fish start popping up as the default for new terminal windows.

edited Jul 21 '21 at 16:01

Peter Mortensen

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answered Jun 05 '14 at 22:22

quaintm

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score 11 · Answer 8 · answered Dec 15 '21 at 12:20

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type fish to check if it was installed correctly, if installed correctly, type exit
type which fish, copy the path.
type sudo sh -c 'echo <your-fish-path-here> >> /etc/shells'
restart your terminal
type chsh -s <your-fish-path-here>
restart terminal again
it should work now.

answered Dec 15 '21 at 12:20

Ash Singh

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How is this any different than [this answer](https://stackoverflow.com/a/20506404/11810933), or [this answer](https://stackoverflow.com/a/24071174/11810933), or [this answer](https://stackoverflow.com/a/26321141/11810933), or [this answer](https://stackoverflow.com/a/56995035/11810933)? All of these are essentially (a) add `fish` to `/etc/shells` (b) `chsh`. – NotTheDr01ds Dec 15 '21 at 13:49
@NotTheDr01ds None of those worked for me because my fish shell path was different, `/opt/homebrew/bin/fish` – Ash Singh Dec 15 '21 at 14:00
That was covered in multiple answers as well - [This one](https://stackoverflow.com/a/66830075/11810933) specifically for the Fish shell, but 3 others for `bash` and `zsh` also mentioned using `which` to find the right location. With 18 other answers, it's almost impossible that the information isn't replicated several times already ;-) – NotTheDr01ds Dec 15 '21 at 20:54
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works with latest iterm on m1 :) thanks – Ivan Aracki Mar 14 '22 at 13:37
Yep, this solution also worked for me (not other ones). – sabiland Jan 14 '23 at 07:59

score 8 · Answer 9 · edited Jul 21 '21 at 16:05

8

On macOS v10.14 (Mojave) I had to do the following (using Z shell (zsh) as an example):

brew install zsh
sudo sh -c "echo $(which zsh) >> /etc/shells"
chsh -s $(which zsh)

edited Jul 21 '21 at 16:05

Peter Mortensen

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answered Sep 28 '18 at 11:22

MagicDude4Eva

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Note: You can use this exact method to get the latest version of bash also. https://stackoverflow.com/a/55011144/117471 I came up with nearly the exact same code on my own. – Bruno Bronosky Mar 05 '19 at 20:36
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No need to install `zsh`. Already present on macOS Mojave. Bundled on Mojave, and default in Catalina. – Basil Bourque Nov 28 '19 at 23:39

score 7 · Answer 10 · edited Jul 21 '21 at 16:12

How to get the latest version of Bash on modern macOS (tested on macOS v10.14 (Mojave)).

brew install bash
which bash | sudo tee -a /etc/shells
chsh -s $(which bash)

Then you are ready to get Vim-style tab completion which is only available on Bash >= 4 (the current version in Homebrew is 5.0.2):

# If there are multiple matches for completion, Tab should cycle through them
bind 'TAB':menu-complete

# Display a list of the matching files
bind "set show-all-if-ambiguous on"

# Perform partial completion on the first Tab press,
# only start cycling full results on the second Tab press
bind "set menu-complete-display-prefix on"

score 7 · Answer 11 · edited Jul 21 '21 at 16:22

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Homebrew on M1 Macs should use /opt/homebrew instead of /usr/local.

You can check the Fish location which fish. For me, Fish was in /opt/homebrew/bin/fish which was the location I have added to etc/shells.

edited Jul 21 '21 at 16:22

Peter Mortensen

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answered Mar 27 '21 at 10:04

Black

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score 6 · Answer 12 · edited Jul 21 '21 at 16:09

6

This work for me on fresh install of Mac OS X v10.12 (Sierra):

Define the current user as the owner of shells
```
sudo chown $(whoami) /etc/shells
```

Add Fish to file /etc/shells

sudo echo /usr/local/bin/fish >> /etc/shells

Make Fish your default shell with chsh
```
chsh -s /usr/local/bin/fish
```
Redefine root as the owner of shells
```
sudo chown root /etc/shells
```

edited Jul 21 '21 at 16:09

Peter Mortensen

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answered Jul 11 '19 at 18:04

ZecKa

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score 4 · Answer 13 · edited Jul 15 '21 at 13:59

4

The chsh program will let you change your default shell. It will want the full path to the executable, so if your shell is Fish then it will want you to provide the output given when you type which fish.

You'll see a line starting with "Shell:". If you've never edited it, it most likely says "Shell: /bin/bash". Replace that /bin/bash path with the path to your desired shell.

edited Jul 15 '21 at 13:59

Peter Mortensen

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answered Jan 17 '09 at 12:28

rejj

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the -s flag was needed for me: `$ chsh -s /usr/local/bin/fish` – shackleton Oct 27 '22 at 17:21

score 4 · Answer 14 · edited Jul 21 '21 at 16:18

4

To change your default shell on Mac, run the following:

chsh -s <name-of-shell>

The list of shells you can choose from are:

/bin/bash
/bin/csh
/bin/dash
/bin/ksh
/bin/sh
/bin/tcsh
/bin/zsh

so if you want to change from to the /bin/zsh shell, your command will look like:

chsh -s /bin/zsh

You can see all the available shells on your system by running:

cat /etc/shells

edited Jul 21 '21 at 16:18

Peter Mortensen

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answered May 19 '20 at 19:01

codedbychavez

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Re *"chsh -s "*: Shouldn't it be *"chsh -s* ****** *"**? – Peter Mortensen Jul 21 '21 at 16:19

holsety · Answer 15 · 2021-07-28T07:47:50.877

4

When in the Terminal, open the terminal preferences using Command+,.

On the General Tab, Shells open with: change from Default login shell to Command: and using /bin/fish

edited Jul 28 '21 at 07:47

answered Jan 23 '12 at 15:36

holsety

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What do you mean by *"set the autostart command fish"*? Can you elaborate/clarify? Please respond by [editing (changing) your answer](https://stackoverflow.com/posts/8974180/edit), not here in comments (***without*** "Edit:", "Update:", or similar - the answer should appear as if it was written today). – Peter Mortensen Jul 21 '21 at 16:14
This is a too old answer and could be out of date, I update it with macOS Big Sur 11.4 now. – holsety Jul 28 '21 at 07:48

score 3 · Answer 16 · edited Jul 15 '21 at 13:59

3

Use dscl:

heimdall:~ leeg$ dscl
Entering interactive mode... (type "help" for commands)
 > cd /Local/Default/Users/
/Local/Default/Users > read <<YOUR_USER>>
[...]
UserShell: /bin/bash
/Local/Default/Users >

Just change that value (with the write command in dscl).

edited Jul 15 '21 at 13:59

Peter Mortensen

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answered Jan 17 '09 at 12:30

I get this error when I run read leeg: DS Error: -14136 (eDSRecordNotFound) – Léo Léopold Hertz 준영 Jan 17 '09 at 12:51
1

Yes. That's because leeg is _my_ username, not yours :P – Jan 17 '09 at 12:59

score 2 · Answer 17 · edited Jul 21 '21 at 16:26

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In case you are having troubles with the other ways, the following worked on macOS v10.14 (Mojave), but it should generally work.

which fish

Add the output path to System Preferences → Users & Groups → right click user, Advanced Options. Paste the result from which into filed "Login shell:".

edited Jul 21 '21 at 16:26

Peter Mortensen

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answered Oct 11 '18 at 11:21

SLuck

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MichaelMoser · Answer 18 · 2021-07-23T17:46:16.233

Edit file .zshrc and change it to

exec /bin/bash

Or to whatever shell you might prefer.

Bonus: this doesn't require root access and will work on every version of OS X.

The only problem is that it doesn't read file .bash_profile this way; it is only read if Bash is run as an interactive login shell. You would have to include it from file .bashrc with something like this:

if [[ "$OSTYPE" == "darwin"* ]]; then
    #local hack on osx.
    if [[ -f $HOME/.bash_profile ]]; then
      . $HOME/.bash_profile
    fi
fi

Also: The bash version that comes with osx is a bit dated, it is preferrable to install an up to date version of bash with brew install bash; in this case your .zshrc file should run the correct bash version. Currently that is

exec /usr/local/Cellar/bash/5.1.8/bin/bash

How can I set my default shell on a Mac, e.g. to Fish?

18 Answers18

Terminal.app → Preferences → General → Shells open with → /bin/fish

Linked

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