/usr/share/zsh/5.5.1/help
Edit: /usr/share/zsh/5.5.1/help/autoload (4609B)
autoload [ {+|-}RTUXdkmrtWz ] [ -w ] [ name ... ]
See the section `Autoloading Functions' in zshmisc(1) for full
details. The fpath parameter will be searched to find the func-
tion definition when the function is first referenced.
If name consists of an absolute path, the function is defined to
load from the file given (searching as usual for dump files in
the given location). The name of the function is the basename
(non-directory part) of the file. It is normally an error if
the function is not found in the given location; however, if the
option -d is given, searching for the function defaults to
$fpath. If a function is loaded by absolute path, any functions
loaded from it that are marked for autoload without an absolute
path have the load path of the parent function temporarily
prepended to $fpath.
If the option -r or -R is given, the function is searched for
immediately and the location is recorded internally for use when
the function is executed; a relative path is expanded using the
value of $PWD. This protects against a change to $fpath after
the call to autoload. With -r, if the function is not found, it
is silently left unresolved until execution; with -R, an error
message is printed and command processing aborted immediately
the search fails, i.e. at the autoload command rather than at
function execution..
The flag -X may be used only inside a shell function. It causes
the calling function to be marked for autoloading and then imme-
diately loaded and executed, with the current array of posi-
tional parameters as arguments. This replaces the previous def-
inition of the function. If no function definition is found, an
error is printed and the function remains undefined and marked
for autoloading. If an argument is given, it is used as a
directory (i.e. it does not include the name of the function) in
which the function is to be found; this may be combined with the
-d option to allow the function search to default to $fpath if
it is not in the given location.
The flag +X attempts to load each name as an autoloaded func-
tion, but does not execute it. The exit status is zero (suc-
cess) if the function was not previously defined and a defini-
tion for it was found. This does not replace any existing defi-
nition of the function. The exit status is nonzero (failure) if
the function was already defined or when no definition was
found. In the latter case the function remains undefined and
marked for autoloading. If ksh-style autoloading is enabled,
the function created will contain the contents of the file plus
a call to the function itself appended to it, thus giving normal
ksh autoloading behaviour on the first call to the function. If
the -m flag is also given each name is treated as a pattern and
all functions already marked for autoload that match the pattern
are loaded.
With the -t flag, turn on execution tracing; with -T, turn on
execution tracing only for the current function, turning it off
on entry to any called functions that do not also have tracing
enabled.
With the -U flag, alias expansion is suppressed when the func-
tion is loaded.
With the -w flag, the names are taken as names of files compiled
with the zcompile builtin, and all functions defined in them are
marked for autoloading.
The flags -z and -k mark the function to be autoloaded using the
zsh or ksh style, as if the option KSH_AUTOLOAD were unset or
were set, respectively. The flags override the setting of the
option at the time the function is loaded.
Note that the autoload command makes no attempt to ensure the
shell options set during the loading or execution of the file
have any particular value. For this, the emulate command can be
used:
emulate zsh -c 'autoload -Uz func'
arranges that when func is loaded the shell is in native zsh
emulation, and this emulation is also applied when func is run.
Some of the functions of autoload are also provided by functions
-u or functions -U, but autoload is a more comprehensive inter-
face.