How to Install and Use zoxide on Linux

zoxide is a fast and smart alternative to the cd command. Built on Rust, zoxide outperforms many similar commands, and its directory ranking algorithm helps you navigate quick.

Learn more about zoxide in this guide, including how to install and get started using it on your Linux system.

Before You Begin

1. Familiarize yourself with our Getting Started with Linode guide, and complete the steps for setting your Linode’s hostname and timezone.

2. This guide uses sudo wherever possible. Complete the sections of our How to Secure Your Server guide to create a standard user account, harden SSH access, and remove unnecessary network services.

3. Update your system.

   • On Debian and Ubuntu, use the following command:

       sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
     

   • On AlmaLinux, CentOS (8 or later), or Fedora, use the following command:

       sudo dnf upgrade
     

   • On CentOS 7 or earlier, use the following command:

       sudo yum update
     

What is zoxide?

zoxide is an alternative to the cd command, offering faster performance and smarter navigation capabilities. Like the tools mentioned below, much of the power of zoxide is in its directory ranking based on your usage. Its ranking algorithm can quickly match partial paths, even single search terms, with one of your most used directories.

zoxide vs Similar Tools

Several similar cd alternatives exist. Most notably, there is z, autojump, and fasd.

So, what sets zoxide apart?

First, zoxide is fast. This is the case not only compared to cd itself but even to the other alternatives. zoxide is built on Rust, and, like many tools taking advantage of the Rust environment, zoxide is performant.

Second, zoxide aims for a minimal and ergonomic interface rather than an abundance of features. A tool like autojump has more abilities, but a deeper understanding is needed to use it. Even more so with fasd, which aspires to be a “command-line productivity booster”. It includes a suite of methods for short-cutting common navigation and file related commands. In fact, if what you’re looking for is a full-featured productivity booster, fasd is a tool worth exploring.

zoxide focuses on providing a handy, fast, and intelligent cd alternative. It avoids the other embellishments to hone its interface into something sharp and intuitive. So, if what you’re looking for is just that — a tight and performant cd replacement — zoxide is a good choice.

How to Install zoxide

1. Install zoxide from you system’s package manager:

   • On Debian and Ubuntu, install zoxide using APT:

       sudo apt install zoxide
     

   • On AlmaLinux and CentOS, use the COPR plugin to enable the zoxide repository on DNF, and then install zoxide from there:

       sudo dnf copr enable atim/zoxide
       sudo dnf install zoxide
     

     If you are on CentOS 7, you need to install DNF and the COPR plugin before executing the above commands:

       sudo yum install dnf
       sudo dnf install 'dnf-command(copr)'
     

   • On Fedora, install zoxide directly using DNF:

       sudo dnf install zoxide
     

2. Have your shell initialize zoxide with each shell session. You can do so by adding the following line to the end of your ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc file, depending on the shell you’re using:

   File: ~/.bashrc

   1 2 3

   # [...] eval "$(zoxide init bash)"

   If you’re using Zsh, replace bash with zsh in the line shown above.

3. Confirm your installation using the following command:

    zoxide --version
   

   zoxide v0.7.5

Set Up fzf Integration (Optional)

zoxide can integrate with fzf to provide you with interactive selection when you have multiple matching directories. All you need to do is install fzf, which you can learn how to do in our guide How to Install and Use fzf.

How to Use zoxide

As with similar tools, zoxide has to first “learn” directories for its ranking algorithm. So, to begin, navigate to some directories just like you would with cd, but using the z command instead.

You can use the following series of commands to do just that. The examples that follow in this guide use these commands as a baseline to show you how the zoxide algorithm operates:

z /etc/opt
z /etc/ssh
z /etc/ssh/ssh_config.d
z /usr/local/bin
z /var/log

Once you’ve taught zoxide your frequently visited directories, you can begin using abbreviated directory searches. For instance, to navigate into the /etc/ssh directory after using the above commands, you can enter z ssh.

Notice that using z ssh command takes you to /etc/ssh. However, try using the following command three or four times:

z config

After doing that, the next time you use the z ssh command, you are taken to the /etc/ssh/ssh_config.d directory. Why? Because zoxide has ranked it as your most frequent visited directory that matches the search query ssh.

You can use the following command to get back to /etc/ssh. This works because the provided search terms more closely match the directory.

z etc ssh

zoxide also supports partial search terms, as you can see above with config. You can also use this feature for something like the following command, which still gets you to /usr/local/bin:

z lo b

Be aware that your zoxide search needs to include something of the destination directory. For instance, z var doesn’t get you to the /var/log directory, but searches like z log or z var l do.

Interactive Searches with fzf

If you have fzf installed, zoxide can use it to let you select from a list of all directories it matches for a given search term or terms. For instance, the following command matches both /etc/ssh and /etc/ssh/ssh_config.d, and so the interactive zoxide command gives you an option to select between the two directories:

zi ssh

Take a look at the Set Up fzf Integration section above to learn how to install fzf if you don’t have it already.

More Information

You may wish to consult the following resources for additional information on this topic. While these are provided in the hope that they will be useful, please note that we cannot vouch for the accuracy or timeliness of externally hosted materials.

• GitHub: ajeetdsouza/zoxide
• GitHub: junegunn/fzf