How to Set Bash as the Default Shell on Mac

  Matt Cone       January 15, 2021      Tutorials Mac Developer

Every new Mac uses the Z shell (Zsh) by default, but you can quickly and easily switch the default shell back to Bash. There are several reasons you might want to do this. For example, you may need to be using the bash shell to execute bash scripts on a Mac.

Here’s how to set Bash as the default shell on your Mac:

1. Open your Terminal application.

2. Type the following command and press Return:

   chsh -s /bin/bash
   

3. Enter your account password when prompted.

That’s it! Your Mac will now use Bash as the default shell.

Switching Back to Zsh as Default

If you want to stop using the Bash shell, you can switch back to using Zsh as the default shell by using the following command:

chsh -s /bin/zsh

You Mac will once again use Zsh as the default shell.

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