Technology

Unix and Windows Shells

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Updated:4/9/2026
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Shell
Author
First Released
Primary Platform
Implementation
Known For
Bash
Brian Fox / Chet Ramey1989Linux, macOS (legacy), WSLCGNU's Bourne Again SHell, default on almost every Linux server, POSIX-friendly, universal scripting
Zsh
Paul Falstad1990macOS (default), LinuxCmacOS default since Catalina, oh-my-zsh plugin universe, best-in-class completion
Fish
Axel Liljencrantz2005Linux, macOSC++ (now Rust)Sensible defaults, autosuggestions out of the box, rewritten in Rust in 2024, non-POSIX scripting
PowerShell
Jeffrey Snover / Microsoft2006Windows (default), cross-platformC#Object pipeline instead of text, cross-platform since Core 6.0, scripting backbone of Windows ops
Nushell
Sophia / Yehuda / JT2019Cross-platformRustStructured data pipelines like PowerShell with Unix feel, everything is a table, Rust-based
Xonsh
Anthony Scopatz2015Cross-platformPythonPython-powered shell, mix shell commands with Python in the same line, great for data folks
Dash
Herbert Xu1997Debian/UbuntuCMinimal POSIX shell, default /bin/sh on Debian and Ubuntu for fast script execution
Ksh
David Korn / AT&T1983Unix, AIX, SolarisCKorn Shell, bridged Bourne and C shells, standard on commercial Unix, influenced Bash and Zsh
Tcsh
Ken Greer / others1983BSDsCEnhanced C shell with history and completion, default on FreeBSD for years
Elvish
Qi Xiao2017Cross-platformGoModern shell with structured data, own expression language, great interactive UX
Oil / OSH / YSH
Andy Chu2018Linux, macOSPython / C++Bash-compatible OSH with cleaner YSH scripting language, careful upgrade path from Bash
Ion
Redox OS team2017Linux, RedoxRustDefault shell of Redox OS, Rust-native, opinionated modern scripting
Murex
Laurence Morgan2017Cross-platformGoTyped data pipelines, inline docs, SQL-style queries against JSON streams
Cmd.exe
Microsoft1987WindowsCClassic Windows command interpreter, still present everywhere but superseded by PowerShell
Git Bash (MSYS2)
Git for Windows team2007WindowsC (MinGW/MSYS)Bash-on-Windows for Git users, default terminal for millions of Windows devs before WSL

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