When comparing NuShell vs Xonsh (The Xonsh Shell), the Slant community recommends Xonsh (The Xonsh Shell) for most people. In the question“What are the best UNIX shells?” Xonsh (The Xonsh Shell) is ranked 5th while NuShell is ranked 11th. The most important reason people chose Xonsh (The Xonsh Shell) is:
Xonsh uses a syntax which is a superset of Python 3.4 plus some additional shell primitives. Because of the similarity to Python, which is famously an easy to understand programming language, the syntax of Xonsh is pretty easy to grasp too, even more so for Python programmers.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Sort and Filter
You can sort and filter output.
Pro Math from Shell
You can do math straight from your shell.
Pro Structured Data as Output
NuShell assumes the output should be a structured data from the beginning. It outputs as tables. That helps you to filter, sort and search the output quite easily.
Pro Easy to understand, Python-like syntax
Xonsh uses a syntax which is a superset of Python 3.4 plus some additional shell primitives. Because of the similarity to Python, which is famously an easy to understand programming language, the syntax of Xonsh is pretty easy to grasp too, even more so for Python programmers.
Pro Extensible
Most parts of xonsh are extensible. You can change tab-completer, prompt, history backend, aliases, functions and pack it to special package (called "xontrib") and put it on Github. The logic are clear and documented well.
Pro Portable
The xonsh shell has AppImage that makes it Linux-portable.
Pro Command history on steroids - including output
Xonsh has one feature that can be considered particularly unique. It stores not just the commands you type, but their output, and doing a search on your history (configurably) can search the output as well.
Pro Cross platform support
Xonsh has native cross-platform support.
Cons
Con Still Early in Development
NuShell is still young and has a long way to go.
Con No "export"
You cannot set temporary variables in NuShell. It uses a "config" system to permanently store variable in a config file.