Fish 4.6.0, released March 28, 2026, changes how emoji widths are handled in terminals and accepts Bash’s |& spelling for piping standard output and standard error together. It also improves completion-pager readability, adds prompt-related environment variables and color controls, and fixes several stability issues. The signed 4.6.0 release lists 100 commits since 4.5.0 from 27 contributors.
What changed in fish 4.6?
The release focuses on terminal display, interactive use, and a few targeted compatibility and stability improvements. Its changes do not make fish a general-purpose Bash-compatible or POSIX shell.
- Emoji rendering: the default width assigned to emoji changes from 1 to 2, which is intended to improve alignment when connecting from modern desktops to older systems.
- Combined-output pipes: fish accepts
|&as an alternative spelling of its existing&|operator. - Completion pager: descriptions are left-justified for more readable columns.
- Prompt and welcome text:
SHELL_PROMPT_PREFIX,SHELL_PROMPT_SUFFIX, andSHELL_WELCOMElet programs provide prompt prefixes or suffixes and startup welcome text. The release notes cite systemd’srun0as an example consumer. - Color control:
set_colorcan disable italics, reverse video, strikethrough, and underline independently; it also adds--foreground(or-f) and--reset. - Stability: fixes address SIGWINCH interruptions during builtin output and a crash when suspending certain pipelines with Ctrl-Z, along with other regressions.
See the complete fish release notes for the full change list.
Does fish 4.6 handle emoji better?
It changes the default width fish uses for emoji from 1 to 2. Width assumptions can affect where terminal text appears after an emoji, so the change is aimed at alignment problems that may occur when a modern desktop connects to an older system. The release notes describe the goal, but do not provide a benchmark or controlled user-test result establishing how often alignment improves.
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After upgrading, check emoji-heavy prompts and output in the terminals and remote systems you actually use. If an older terminal still misaligns text, set fish’s $fish_emoji_width variable to 1 to restore the previous width assumption.
What does the new Bash-style |& operator do?
It pipes both standard output and standard error to the next command. Fish already had the &| operator for this purpose; in 4.6, |& is accepted as another spelling. That can make a small syntax adjustment easier for someone arriving from Bash, but it does not mean Bash scripts will generally run unchanged in fish.
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For broader differences in syntax and workflow, consult the project’s guide for Bash users. Treat the new operator as a narrow compatibility convenience, not as evidence that fish is Bash- or POSIX-compatible overall.
Are the interactive improvements useful?
The pager change is most noticeable when completions include descriptions: left-justified text makes the description columns easier to scan. The new SHELL_PROMPT_PREFIX, SHELL_PROMPT_SUFFIX, and SHELL_WELCOME variables provide a way for programs to supply prompt additions or startup text; they matter most if a tool you use adopts them. The added set_color options offer more specific control over text styling.
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Should you upgrade to fish 4.6?
For existing fish users, the release is worth considering if you encounter emoji alignment issues, want the |& spelling, or value the documented interactive and stability fixes. The main practical check after upgrading is whether emoji still align correctly in your terminal setup; the fallback is to set $fish_emoji_width to 1.
The project publishes source and binary archives, including fish-4.6.0.tar.xz and standalone Linux binaries. Choose the artifact and installation method appropriate to your system, and use the GitHub release page to review the signed release and available files.
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