Command Prompt Overview

The command prompt looks like the following:

View Settings of Current Command Prompt

There are several ways we can view the settings for the command prompt.

$PS1 Variable

We can get the command-line prompt setting by printing the environment variable $PS1:

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echo $PS1

set Command

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set | grep PS1

Command Prompt Settings Modification

Temporarily Back Up the Original Settings

Let’s temporarily back up the current command prompt settings:

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PS1_BAK=$PS1

Set Command Prompt to Show Nothing

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PS1=   # Without specifying anything tells command prompt to show nothing

Let’s check if the command-line prompt can still working properly:

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echo 'The command prompt is still working'

Set a Beep Sound

Every time the line breaks, the computer will make a sound:

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PS1='\a'

Show Date in Week, Month, Date

We can use the special character \d to display weeks, months, and date at the command line prompt:

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PS1='\d'

Show Date in Customized Format

We can use the special character \D{format} to display customized date format at the command line prompt:

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PS1='\D{%d/%m/%y}'

Show Hostname Content Before the First Dot

We can use the special character \h to display the content before the first dot of the hostname at the command line prompt:

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PS1='\h'

Show the Whole Hostname

We can use the special character \H to display the whole hostname at the command line prompt:

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PS1='\H'

Show the Number of Jobs Managed By Shell

We can use the special character \j to display the number of jobs managed by shell at the command line prompt:

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PS1='\j'

Show an Extra Line When Line Breaks

We can use the special character \n to display the an extra line at the command line prompt:

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PS1='\n'

Show the Name of the Shell

We can use the special character \s to display the name of the shell at the command line prompt:

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PS1='\s'

Show the Time in Twenty-Four Hour Format

We can use the special character \t to display the time in 24-hour format at the command line prompt:

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PS1='\t'

We can use \A to show time without the second part:

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PS1='\A'

Show the Time in Twelve Hour Format

We can use the special character \T to display the time in 12-hour format at the command line prompt:

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PS1='\T'

Show the Time in Twelve Hour AM/PM Format

We can use the special character \@ to display the time in 12-hour am/pm format at the command line prompt:

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PS1='\@'

Show the Name of the Current User

We can use the special character \u to display the name of the current user at the command line prompt:

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PS1='\u'

Show the Version of the Bash

We can use the special character \v to display the version of the bash at the command line prompt:

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PS1='\v'

Show the Release of the Bash

We can use the special character \V to display the release (version and patch level) of the bash at the command line prompt:

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PS1='\V'

Show the Whole Current Working Directory

We can use the special character \w to display the whole path of current working directory at the command line prompt:

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mkdir a    # let's create a directory to demonstrate
cd a    # change to that directory
PS1='\w'

Show Only the Current Working Directory

We can use the special character \W to display the whole path of current working directory at the command line prompt:

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PS1='\W'

Show the History Number of the Command

We can use the special character \! to display the history number of the command at the command line prompt:

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PS1='\!'

Show the Command Number of the Command

We can use the special character \# to display the command number of the command at the command line prompt:

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PS1='\#'

Show the Identity of a User

We can use the special character \$ to display the identity of a user at the command line prompt:

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PS1='\$'

If the user’s uid equals to 0 then show #, otherwise show $:

Show a Backslash

We can use the special character \\ to display a backslash at the command line prompt:

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PS1='\\'

Restore from Backup

We can restore the setting from the PS1_BAK variable we created early:

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PS1=$PS1_BAK

Mimic the Default Settings

We can mimic the default setting:

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PS1='[\u@\h \W]\$'

References 6.9 Controlling the Prompt

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