How to Fix Zsh Command Not Found Error on macOS

Zsh command not found errors are a common problem for macOS users. Zsh is a Unix shell that is similar to the popular Bash shell, but with more features and greater flexibility. When you enter a command in the Terminal that Zsh doesn’t recognize, it will display a "zsh: command not found" error message. This error can be caused by a number of issues, but it is usually an issue with your environment variables or PATH settings. In this article, we will discuss how to fix the zsh command not found error on macOS.

How Do I know If zsh is installed on my Mac?

You can check if zsh is installed on your Mac by running the following command in the terminal:

which zsh

If zsh is installed, this command will output the path to the zsh executable. If zsh is not installed, this command will output an "zsh not found" error.

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How to Fix zsh Permission denied in Terminal Mac?

If you are seeing a "zsh: Permission denied" error in your Terminal, this means that you do not have permission to run the command you are trying to run. To fix this, you will need to use the chmod command to change the permissions on the file or directory. For example, if you are trying to run a script called "my_script.sh", you can run the following command to give yourself permission to run it:

chmod +x my_script.sh

Replace my_script.sh with the path of the command you are trying to run. This will give the user the necessary permissions to execute the command.

How to Fix Zsh Command Not Found Error on macOS

1. Check the PATH Variable

The first thing to do when you encounter a “zsh command not found” error is to check the PATH variable. This is an environment variable that tells the shell where to look for executable programs. To check the PATH variable in zsh, open a terminal window and type the following command:

echo $PATH

This will print out a list of directories that the shell will search for executable programs. Make sure that the directory containing the zsh executable is included in the list.

2. Install Zsh

If the directory containing the zsh executable is not in the PATH variable, then you will need to install zsh. You can do this by typing the following command in the terminal window:

brew install zsh

This will install the latest version of zsh on your system.

3. Add the Directory to the PATH Variable

Once you have installed zsh, you will need to add the directory containing the executable to the PATH variable. To do this, open the .zshrc file in a text editor and add the following line to the end of the file:

export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/bin/zsh

This will add the directory containing the zsh executable to the PATH variable, and the “zsh command not found” error should no longer be an issue.

4. Re-source the .zshrc File

Once you have made the necessary changes to the .zshrc file, you will need to re-source it in order for the changes to take effect. To do this, type the following command in the terminal window:

source .zshrc

This will reload the .zshrc file, and the “zsh command not found” error should now be resolved.

Zsh is a popular UNIX shell used on macOS systems. It is a powerful and versatile command line interpreter. However, sometimes users may encounter an error when trying to execute a command in Zsh, saying "command not found". This error occurs when the command is not installed or is not in the system’s PATH variable. In this article, we’ve discussed how to fix this error on macOS so that you can continue to use Zsh.