Re: do you use separate .zshenv and .zshrc files?

["Benjamin R. Haskell" <zsh@benizi.com>]

On Sat, 28 Apr 2012, TJ Luoma wrote:

> I keep vacillating between wanting to separate my config files into 
> two separate files or keep them in one.

My config currently spans 19 files, so my bias should be apparent.  I 
keep everything in ~/.zsh/, except for machine-specific settings, which 
I put in ~/.zsh.local/.  And ~/.zshenv is a symlink to ~/.zsh/.zshenv, 
which sets ZDOTDIR to ~/.zsh.  My ~/.zsh/.zshrc sources the other files 
in ~/.zsh/, most of which have some guard at the top (e.g. 
~/.zsh/.zsh_screen returns if the `screen` command isn't installed).


> If I understand ZSH correctly, I could use one file (.zshenv) and put 
> the settings which *would* have been in .zshrc into a block like this:
>
> if [[ -o login ]]

You want 'interactive' here, not 'login':
if [[ -o interactive ]]


> then
> # do stuff which would have been in .zshrc here
> fi


[[ -o login ]] would catch things that would be done in .zprofile and 
.zlogin, not those that are done in .zshrc.


> The reason for doing this is that I tend to forget which file has 
> whatever thing it is that I want to tweak/edit/change/add, and so I 
> end up having to open one, search for what I'm looking for, realize 
> it's in the other file, and then open the other file.
>
> ISTM that it would be easier to just keep everything in one file and 
> separate the login stuff using the `if` statement above.

As pointed out above .zshenv vs .zshrc isn't a difference of "login" vs. 
not.  It's "interactive" vs. not.

Here's the order of the standard four files, and the condition under 
which they run:

.zshenv: (always)
.zprofile: [[ -o login ]]
.zshrc: [[ -o interactive ]]
.zlogin: [[ -o login ]]

To disable all of them, there is the 'NO_RCS' option.

Personally, I don't use .zprofile or .zlogin, because all of my 
customization outside of .zshenv is only applicable to interactive 
shells.


> Are there any drawbacks to that method?

None that I know of.  If that's how you prefer to organize it, it should 
work fine.

-- 
Best,
Ben