ZLocation

Tracks your most used directories, based on number of previously run commands. After a short learning phase, z will take you to the most popular directory that matches all of the regular expressions given on the command line. You can use Tab-Completion / Intellisense to pick directories that are not the first choice.

ZLocation is the successor of Jump-Location. Like z.sh is a reimagined clone of autojump, Zlocation is a reimagined clone of Jump-Location.

Usage

ZLocation keeps track of your $pwd (current folder). Once visited, folder become known to ZLocation. You can cd with just a hint of the path!

The full command name is Invoke-ZLocation, but in examples I use alias z. It's all about navigation speed, isn't it?

PS C:\Users\sevoroby> z c:
PS C:\> z zlo
PS C:\dev\ZLocation> z dsc
PS C:\dev\azure-sdk-tools\src\ServiceManagement\Compute\Commands.ServiceManagement\IaaS\Extensions\DSC> z test
PS C:\dev\ZLocation\ZLocation.Tests>

List known locations

z without arguments will list all the known locations and their weights (short-cut for Get-ZLocation)

To see all locations matched to a query foo use z -l foo.

Navigating to less common directories with tab completion

If z mydir doesn't take you to the correct directory, you can also tab through ZLocation's suggestions.

For example, pressing tab with z src will take you through all of ZLocation's completions for src.

Going back

ZLocation keeps a stack of directories as you jump between them. z - will "pop" the stack: it will move you to the previous directory you jumped to, basically letting you undo your z navigation.

If the stack is empty (you have only jumped once), z - will take you to your original directory.

For example:

C:\>z foo
C:\foo>z bar
C:\baz\bar> z -
C:\foo>z -
C:\>z -
C:\>#no-op

Goals / Key features

• Support for multiple PS sessions.
• Good built-in ranking algorithm.
• Customizable matching algorithm and weight function.
• Works on Windows, Linux and MacOS.

Install

Install from PowerShellGet Gallery

Install-Module ZLocation -Scope CurrentUser

Make sure to include ZLocation import in your $PROFILE. It intentionally doesn't alter $PROFILE automatically on installation.

This one-liner installs ZLocation, imports it and adds it to a profile.

Install-Module ZLocation -Scope CurrentUser; Import-Module ZLocation; Add-Content -Value "`r`n`r`nImport-Module ZLocation`r`n" -Encoding utf8 -Path $PROFILE.CurrentUserAllHosts

If you want to display some additional information about ZLocation on start-up, you can put this snippet in $PROFILE after import.

Write-Host -Foreground Green "`n[ZLocation] knows about $((Get-ZLocation).Keys.Count) locations.`n"

Note

ZLocation alternates your prompt function to track the location. Meaning if you use this module with other modules that modifies your prompt function (e.g. such as posh-git), then you'd need to adjust your Powershell profile file. The statement Import-Module ZLocation needs to be placed after the other module imports that modifies your prompt function.

You can open up profile.ps1 through using any of the below commands:

notepad $PROFILE.CurrentUserAllHosts
notepad $env:USERPROFILE\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\profile.ps1
notepad $Home\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\profile.ps1

Alternatively, type up the below in your file explorer, and then edit the profile.ps1 file with an editor of your choice:

%USERPROFILE%\Documents\WindowsPowerShell

License

ZLocation is released under the MIT license.

ZLocation bundles a copy of LiteDB.

LiteDB License

MIT

Copyright (c) 2017 - Maurício David.

Develop

Run tests

Install Pester. Run Invoke-Pester from the root folder.