ZDNET Backs Fish Shell Over Bash, Citing 5 Usability Gains

1 articles · Updated · ZDNet · May 27

Fish was presented as a more approachable Linux shell than Bash, with ZDNET highlighting command suggestions, color-coded validity checks, tab-completion menus, persistent abbreviations and a built-in calculator.
Bash remains the default on most Linux distributions, but the report said it largely waits for users to enter commands, while Fish guides input using history-based suggestions and visual feedback.
Examples included simpler syntax for variables and command substitution—using set name jack and parentheses instead of Bash backticks—along with shortcuts such as abbr --add gco git checkout.
Fish can be installed from standard repositories on Ubuntu, Fedora and Arch, then made the default shell with chsh -s $(which fish); users can switch back to Bash with the same command.

Is Fish's user-friendly design worth sacrificing the universal scripting standard of Bash?

Can Fish's built-in simplicity truly outperform the massive plugin ecosystem of its rival, Zsh?

As AI and Rust reshape command-line tools, is the era of traditional shells like Bash ending?