Skip to content

Sourcing Multiple Files

Normally src'' can be used to specify additional file to source:

zinit ice pick"powerless.zsh" src"utilities.zsh"
zinit light martinrotter/powerless
  • pick'' – provide main file to source (can be a pattern like *.sh – alphabetically first matched file is sourced),
  • src'' – provide second file to source (not a pattern, plain file name)

However, via atload'' ice one can provide simple loop to source more files:

zinit ice svn pick"completion.zsh" \
    atload'local f; for f in git.zsh misc.zsh; do \
        source $f \
    done'
zinit snippet OMZ::lib
  • svn – use Subversion to clone OMZ::lib (the whole Oh My Zsh lib/ directory),
  • note that atload'' uses apostrophes not double quotes, to literally put $f into the string,
  • atload's code is automatically being run within the snippet's (or plugin's) directory,
  • atload'' code isn't tracked by Zinit, i.e. cannot be unloaded, unless you load a plugin (not a snippet) with zinit load … and prepend the value of the ice with exclamation mark, i.e. atload'!local f; for …',
  • atload'' is executed after loading main files (pick'' and src'' ones).

The multisrc'' ice, which loads multiple files enumerated with spaces as the separator (e.g. multisrc'misc.zsh grep.zsh') and also using brace-expansion syntax (e.g. multisrc'{misc,grep}.zsh'). Example:

zinit ice svn pick"completion.zsh" multisrc'git.zsh \
    functions.zsh {history,grep}.zsh'
zinit snippet OMZ::lib

The all possible ways to use the multisrc'' ice-mod:

zinit ice depth"1" multisrc="lib/{functions,misc}.zsh" pick"/dev/null"
zinit load robbyrussell/oh-my-zsh

# Can use patterns
zinit ice svn multisrc"{funct*,misc}.zsh" pick"/dev/null"
zinit snippet OMZ::lib

array=( {functions,misc}.zsh )
zinit ice svn multisrc"$array" pick"/dev/null"
zinit snippet OMZ::lib

# Will use the array's value at the moment of plugin load
# – this can matter in case of using Turbo mode
array=( {functions,misc}.zsh )
zinit ice svn multisrc"\$array" pick"/dev/null"
zinit snippet OMZ::lib

# Compatible with KSH_ARRAYS option
array=( {functions,misc}.zsh )
zinit ice svn multisrc"${array[*]}" pick"/dev/null"
zinit snippet OMZ::lib

# Compatible with KSH_ARRAYS option
array=( {functions,misc}.zsh )
zinit ice svn multisrc"\${array[*]}" pick"/dev/null"
zinit snippet OMZ::lib

zinit ice svn multisrc"misc.zsh functions.zsh" pick"/dev/null"
zinit snippet OMZ::lib

# Also – hack Zinit: the ice's contents is simply `eval'-uated
# like follows: eval "reply=($multisrc)". So it might get handy on
# an occasion to pass code there, but first you must close the paren
# and then don't forget to assign `reply', and to provide a trailing
# opening paren. In the code be careful to not redefine any variable
# used internally by Zinit – e.g.: `i' is safe:

array=( {functions,misc}.zsh )
zinit ice svn multisrc'); local i; for i in $array; do \
            reply+=( ${i/.zsh/.sh} ); \
        done; ((1)' pick"/dev/null"
zinit snippet OMZ::lib

--

Changes In The Recent Zinit#

Recently, Zinit has been extended with the For-Syntax which can in some situations replace a typical multisrc'' loading. The point is that this syntax allows to easily specify snippets to source – and do this within a single Zinit command. Thus, instead of:

zinit ice multisrc'(functions|misc|completion).zsh'
zinit snippet OMZ::lib

it's possible to write:

zinit for \
    OMZL::functions.zsh \
    OMZL::misc.zsh \                                                                    
    OMZL::completion.zsh

which is somewhat easier on eyes. Also – an important property: the multiple snippets loaded with the for-syntax are being loaded separately, which means that they will not cause a longer keyboard blockage, which could have been noticeable – when using Turbo. The Zinit scheduler will distribute the work over time and will allow activation of keyboard in between the snippets. The multisrc'' way doesn't work this way – sourcing many files can cause noticeable keyboard freezes (in Turbo).