On OS X, how do I change my shell from fish back to bash?

Question

I'm kinda preferring bash lately to fish, and I'm wondering if I can change it back. I tried this command: chsh -s /bin/bash but closing the terminal and reopening it does not restore it to bash, but it's still fish.

In fact, how do I remove fish?

Hmm, that should work. What does `grep $USER /etc/passwd | sed 's/.*://'` print? — Keith Thompson, Nov 14 '12 at 19:59
Or, you can use System Preferences Accounts with a control-click on user. Check this SuperUser link: http://superuser.com/questions/379725/how-do-i-change-a-users-default-shell-in-osx — leanne, Nov 14 '12 at 20:09
User accounts aren't kept in `/etc/passwd` on OS X so grepping won't reveal anything. — Ned Deily, Nov 14 '12 at 21:31

Brian Campbell · Accepted Answer · 2013-12-02T16:09:37.657

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Go to System Preferences, Users & Groups, click the lock to make changes, right click (or Control click) on your username, choose "Advanced Options" and you should have a field to change your shell. Change it there, reboot, and your new shell should take effect.

edited Dec 02 '13 at 16:09

answered Nov 14 '12 at 20:07

Brian Campbell

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It may be helpful to specify right clicking on the current user image, and then continue with selecting Advanced Options. – Pippin Nov 30 '13 at 20:09
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@Pippin Updated to mention right/control clicking on your username. – Brian Campbell Dec 02 '13 at 16:09
@Gustav I haven't tried it, but I don't believe so. It should only affect what shell opens up when you use the Terminal, log in via SSH, etc. It shouldn't affect logging in via the GUI at all; so if you screw it up, you should be able to change it back. That said, I haven't tried it, so caveat emptor. – Brian Campbell Aug 13 '15 at 05:28
On 10.13.1 you need to click on the username on the left pane, not the image. – danielhadar Nov 22 '17 at 20:38
How do you go back to fish? :D – Nobita Dec 19 '18 at 13:25

nicolas.f.g · Answer 2 · 2018-03-28T13:12:44.177

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Very easy:

from FISH to BASH :
In your Fish terminal, type bash --login to switch to Bash
from BASH to FISH :
In your Bash terminal, type fish to switch to Fish

edited Mar 28 '18 at 13:12

answered Dec 14 '17 at 11:27

nicolas.f.g

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score 4 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 22 '17 at 20:40

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Update 10.13.1:

Right-click (ctrl+click) on the username in the left pane, not the image.

answered Nov 22 '17 at 20:40

danielhadar

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On OS X, how do I change my shell from fish back to bash?

3 Answers3

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