How to specify a custom path for my .zshrc file?

Question

I'm trying to move .zshrc to a folder where I keep this kind of files synced with Github.

But now whenever I start a zsh session it doesn't use that config file.

Assuming I changed the file to ~/.dotfiles how can I add ~/.dotfiles/.zshrc to the PATH(?!) to make zsh start with that config?

Doing source ~./dotfiles/.zshrc only works for that session. Doesn't work anymore if I close the terminal.

score 20 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 26 '14 at 15:52

20

You can symlink:

ln -s /path/to/original /path/to/symlink

For the zshrc you can do something like:

ln -s ~/.dotiles/.zshrc ~/.zshrc

answered Dec 26 '14 at 15:52

nitishagar

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I had tried this but I had an error in the command. Thanks. It's exactly what I was looking for! – Cândido Faísca Dec 26 '14 at 16:03
1

I suggest --> ln -s ~/.dotiles/zshrc ~/.zshrc that is, the zshrc inside and .dotfiles does not to be hidden – SergioAraujo Dec 26 '14 at 21:22

score 19 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 26 '14 at 15:57

19

One alternative to a symlink is to put this in ~/.zshenv:

ZDOTDIR=~/.dotfiles

If you want .zshenv in ~/.dotfiles as well, you can look into setting ZDOTDIR in one of the global configuration files (/etc/zshenv is a good choice).

answered Dec 26 '14 at 15:57

chepner

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Thanks for the answer but I'll stick to @nash_ag alternative. – Cândido Faísca Dec 26 '14 at 16:03
I would, too :) Just wanted to shine some light on the usage of `ZDOTDIR`. – chepner Dec 26 '14 at 16:04

score 8 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 31 '14 at 05:34

8

Alternatively, you can do what I do and use GNU Stow. I've got my dotfiles in a repository, one subdirectory per category, like so:

dotfilerepo/zsh/.zshrc
dotfilerepo/zsh/.zlogin
dotfilerepo/git/.gitconfig
dotfilerepo/vim/.vimrc

then I can cd into repo and do stow zsh and it'll create a symlink from ~/.zshrc to repo/zsh/.zshrc, another from zsh/.zlogin to ~/.zlogin. stow vim to create symlinks from the vim subdirectory to ~, etc.

I've got a script, install-linkfarm, that does all the stow commands so when I move onto a new machine, I clone my repo, cd to it and run install-linkfarm and am good to go.

answered Dec 31 '14 at 05:34

Joe Block

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this is interesting. I'll give it a try – Cândido Faísca Dec 31 '14 at 16:12
It's a lot less hassle than manually running `ln -s .foo ~/.foo` would be. I also like having the dotfiles segregated into their own subdirs. – Joe Block Dec 31 '14 at 19:49

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Sep 06 '19 at 15:21

1

You can put this in ~/.zshrc, even as its entire contents:

if [ -r ~/.dotfiles/.zshrc ]; then
    source ~/.dotfiles/.zshrc
fi

answered Sep 06 '19 at 15:21

Cliff P

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score 1 · Answer 5 · edited Dec 11 '19 at 09:32

1

Please use the export command mentioned below to solve your problem.

export ZDOTDIR=$HOME/.dotfiles

edited Dec 11 '19 at 09:32

stud3nt

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answered Dec 11 '19 at 03:44

bigxia

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Where do you place this ? In what file ? – 8c6b5df0d16ade6c Jun 28 '21 at 20:38

score 0 · Answer 6 · edited Aug 08 '20 at 01:28

0

In Linux, you can check if your zsh is loading /etc/zsh/zshrc, and edit it.

If that's the case, redirect this to your custom script by adding:

sh $HOME/.dotfiles/zshrc

edited Aug 08 '20 at 01:28

derloopkat

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answered Aug 07 '20 at 18:34

Caleb Santos

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score -1 · Answer 7 · answered Feb 16 '15 at 06:07

Here is an interesting hack that doesn't require you to use sym-links. In your .xsession, (or .*wmrc) have the following:

xterm -e 'zsh -c ". ~/.dotfiles/.zshrc; zsh"'.

instead of just:

xterm

Make sure to put the -e at the end after all of your other xterm options.

How to specify a custom path for my .zshrc file?

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