How to Change Your Default Linux Shell Using chsh – Step‑by‑Step Guide

Overview

The article provides a practical tutorial for changing the default login shell on a Linux system using the chsh command, including how to list available shells, determine the current shell, switch to a new shell such as zsh, revert to bash, and view command‑line help.

List Available Shells

cat /etc/shells

You can also filter the list with grep to check for specific shells, e.g., grep "zsh" /etc/shells or grep "fish" /etc/shells.

Find Your Current Shell

ps -p $$

printf "My current shell - %s
" "$SHELL"

grep "^${USER}" /etc/passwd

These commands display the shell process and the shell path recorded in the user’s password entry.

Change Default Shell to zsh

type -a zsh   # locate the full path of zsh

chsh -s /bin/zsh   # set zsh as the new login shell

Log out and log back in, or use su - $USER, to apply the change.

Revert to bash

type -a bash

chsh -s /bin/bash

After changing, verify the entry in /etc/passwd and re‑login to confirm the shell has been restored.

Help for chsh

man chsh

chsh --help

-h: display the help message and exit.

-R CHROOT_DIR: apply the change inside the specified chroot directory.

-s /path/to/SHELL: specify the new login shell; leaving it empty lets the system use the default.

Conclusion

By following these steps, you can confidently list shells, identify the current one, switch to zsh or revert to bash, and consult the built‑in help for further options, enabling flexible shell management on Linux systems.