BLOCK(1)

💅 BLOCK(1) — the fish-shell one, bestie

okay so this is block from the fish-shell manual, section 1, and it's genuinely one of those tiny commands that does one specific thing and does it iconically. let me put you on. 🫶

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✨ NAME ✨

block — temporarily block delivery of events. yes literally that's it, that's the whole vibe. 🎀

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🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

block [(--local | --global)]
block --erase

like, two modes. that's the whole thing. pick one, bestie. 💅

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🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

okay so block delays delivery of all events triggered by fish or by the emit <>, which means it delays the execution of any function registered with --on-event, --on-process-exit, --on-job-exit, --on-variable and --on-signal until after the block is removed. so everything just... waits. politely. in line. 🧚

⚠️ real talk: event blocks should not be confused with code blocks, which are created with begin, if, while or for. two completely different things with almost the same name — no cap, that's just how it is. 😭

without options, block sets up a block that is released automatically at the end of the current function scope. cute, self-cleaning, no notes. ✨

the following options are available:

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

• -l, --local — release the block automatically at the end of the current innermost code block scope. very much local-girl behaviour. 💖
• -g, --global — never automatically release the lock. it just stays there. main character energy fr. 👑
• -e, --erase — release global block. this is your undo button, bestie. 🔥
• -h, --help — display help about using this command. the classic. 💀

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🌈 EXAMPLE 🌈

# Create a function that listens for events
function --on-event foo foo; echo 'foo fired'; end

# Block the delivery of events
block -g

emit foo
# No output will be produced

block -e
# 'foo fired' will now be printed

see what happened?? emit foo fired into the void because we had block -g up, and the second we did block -e the whole thing came through and printed 'foo fired'. the way that works. 😭💜

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⭐ NOTES ⭐

events are only received from the current fish process as there is no way to send events from one fish process to another. so like, no cross-process gossip. sorry. 🙈

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🍓 Copyright 🍓

fish-shell developers. icons only. 🎀

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so yeah, that's block, from fish-shell 4.9, dated Sep 08, 2026 — go forth and block your events, bestie, i believe in you 💖🦋✨