Customize BASH Prompt¶

Customize the BASH (GNU Bourne-Again SHell) shell prompt that is visible in the shell or terminal.

Simple Prompt¶

Features¶

Prompt features are broken down in order as they appear.

Username of the currently logged in user.
Hostname of the connected system.
tty (teletype)/pts (psuedo terminal slave) session number on the connected system. TTY, physically at the console. PTS, SSH session.
Date and time of the connected system.
Current working directory.
Total files within the current working directory.
Total consumed space of the files within the current working directory.

Prompt Preview¶

Installation¶

Create "/etc/bash.bashrc" file.

$ sudo nano /etc/bash.bashrc

# set a fancy prompt (non-color, overwrite the one in /etc/profile)
#PS1='${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}\u@\h:\w\$ '

clientConnType=$(tty)
clientConnType=`echo "$clientConnType" | sed -r 's/\/dev\///g'`

PS1="\n\[\e[30;1m\]\[\016\]-\[\017\]($(if [[ ${EUID} == 0 ]]; then echo '\[\033[01;31m\]\u'; else echo '\[\e[34;1m\]\u';fi)\[\e[0;36m\]@\[\e[34;1m\]\h\[\e[30;1m\])-(\[\e[34;1m\]$clientConnType\[\e[30;1m\])-(\[\e[34;1m\]\D{%F} \t\[\e[30;1m\])\[\e[30;1m\]\[\016\]\[\017\]-(\[\[\e[32;1m\]\w\[\e[30;1m\])-(\[\e[00;31m\]\$(/bin/ls -1 | /usr/bin/wc -l | /bin/sed 's: ::g') files, \$(/bin/ls -lah | /bin/grep -m 1 total | /bin/sed 's/total //')b\[\e[30;1m\])\n-> \[\e[0m\]"

For changes to take affect restart the session.

Contextual Prompt¶

Features¶

Prompt features are broken down in order as they appear.

1^st Line: - Date and time on the connected system. - Command history line number. - Session command number. - Connection type, tty (teletype)/pts (psuedo terminal slave) and session number on the connected system. TTY, physically at the console. PTS, SSH session.

2^nd Line: - Username of the currently logged in user (blue=regular user, red=root user). - Hostname of the connected system. - Total files within the current working directory. * Current working directory.

3nd Line (contextual these features will appear): - GIT branch name. - GIT branch status (detached, untracked files, commit needed, branch is ahead of upstream and branch is behind of upstream).

4^th Line: - The "$" represents a regular user is in use. - The "$" represents a elevated user is in use. - The color green of "$" and "#" represents success of the last command. - The color red of "$" and "#" represents failure of the last command.

Prompt Preview¶

Installation¶

Add the following to the bottom of the file "/etc/bash.bashrc".

# nano /etc/bash.bashrc

# source our aliases, and environment files
if [ -f /etc/bash.d/environment ]; then
   source /etc/bash.d/environment;
fi
if [ -f /etc/bash.d/aliases ]; then
   source /etc/bash.d/aliases;
fi

# if running X-based Terminal in a local X session
if [ !-x ${DISPLAY} ]; then
  case ${TERM} in
    xterm*|rxvt*|Eterm|aterm|kterm|gnome*)
      PROMPT_COMMAND=${PROMPT_COMMAND:+$PROMPT_COMMAND; }'printf "\033]0;%s@%s:%s\007" "${USER}" "${HOSTNAME%%.*}" "${PWD/#$HOME/~}"'
      ;;
     screen)
       PROMPT_COMMAND=${PROMPT_COMMAND:+$PROMPT_COMMAND; }'printf "\033_%s@%s:%s\033\\" "${USER}" "${HOSTNAME%%.*}" "${PWD/#$HOME/~}"'
       ;;
   esac
fi

# source bash completion if user can read /usr/share/bash-completion/bash_completion
[ -r /usr/share/bash-completion/bash_completion   ] && . /usr/share/bash-completion/bash_completion

Create a new directory "/etc/bash.d".
```
$ sudo mkdir /etc/bash.d
```

Add global system aliases.

# nano /etc/bash.d/aliases

# if /usr/bin/dircolors exists & we can execute it
if [ -x /usr/bin/dircolors ]; then
   test -r ~/.dircolors && eval "$(dircolors -b ~/.dircolors)" || eval "$(dircolors -b)"
   alias ls='ls --color=auto'
   alias tree='tree -C'
   alias dir='dir --color=auto'
   alias grep='grep --color=auto'
   alias dmesg='dmesg -T --color' #-T makes human readable timestamps
fi

alias ll='ls -al'
alias la='ls -A'
alias l='ls -CF'

Create the environment file.

# nano /etc/bash.d/environment

#load the functions file, return if is not present
if [ -f "/etc/bash.d/functions" ]; then
   source /etc/bash.d/functions;
else
   echo "Functions file missing in /etc/bash.d";
   return;
fi

export PROMPT_COMMAND=prompt_generator;
export EDITOR="/usr/bin/nano";

Create the functions file.

# nano /etc/bash.d/functions

#copied verbatim from OSX El Capitan /etc/bash_bashrc_Apple_Terminal
update_terminal_cwd () {
   local url_path='';
   {
      local i ch hexch LC_CTYPE=C LC_ALL=;
       for ((i = 0; i < ${#PWD}; ++i))
      do
           ch="${PWD:i:1}";
           if [[ "$ch" =~ [/._~A-Za-z0-9-] ]]; then
               url_path+="$ch";
           else
               printf -v hexch "%02X" "'$ch";
               url_path+="%${hexch: -2:2}";
           fi;
       done
   };
   printf '\e]7;%s\a' "file://$HOSTNAME$url_path"
}

function prompt_generator() {
local EXIT=$?; #get last command exit status before doing anything else

#this is done to force PS1 to a newline if the cursor ended up somewhere other than the last margin
PS1='$(printf "%$((COLUMNS-1))s\r")';

# Reset
local Color_Off='\[\e[0m\]';       # Text Reset

# ASCII Foreground Colors            Bold                         High Intensity            Bold High Intensity
local Red='\[\e[0;31m\]';       local BRed='\[\e[1;31m\]';       local IRed='\[\e[0;91m\]';      local BIRed='\[\e[1;91m\]';
local Green='\[\e[0;32m\]';     local BGreen='\[\e[1;32m\]';     local IGreen='\[\e[0;92m\]';    local BIGreen='\[\e[1;92m\]';
local Yellow='\[\e[0;33m\]';    local BYellow='\[\e[1;33m\]';    local IYellow='\[\e[0;93m\]';   local BIYellow='\[\e[1;93m\]';
local Blue='\[\e[0;34m\]';      local BBlue='\[\e[1;34m\]';      local IBlue='\[\e[0;94m\]';     local BIBlue='\[\e[1;94m\]';
local Purple='\[\e[0;35m\]';    local BPurple='\[\e[1;35m\]';    local IPurple='\[\e[0;95m\]';   local BIPurple='\[\e[1;95m\]';
local Cyan='\[\e[0;36m\]';      local BCyan='\[\e[1;36m\]';      local ICyan='\[\e[0;96m\]';     local BICyan='\[\e[1;96m\]';
local White='\[\e[0;37m\]';     local BWhite='\[\e[1;37m\]';     local IWhite='\[\e[0;97m\]';    local BIWhite='\[\e[1;97m\]';
local Gray='\[\e[0;90m\]';
local LightGray='\[\e[0;30m\]';

# ASCII High Intensity Background Colors
local On_IBlack='\[\e[0;100m\]';   # Black
local On_IRed='\[\e[0;101m\]';     # Red
local On_IGreen='\[\e[0;102m\]';   # Green
local On_IYellow='\[\e[0;103m\]';  # Yellow
local On_IBlue='\[\e[0;104m\]';    # Blue
local On_IPurple='\[\e[0;105m\]';  # Purple
local On_ICyan='\[\e[0;106m\]';    # Cyan
local On_IWhite='\[\e[0;107m\]';   # White

#256 Foreground Colors
local Orange='\[\e[38;5;209m\]';

# Glyphs http://www.utf8-chartable.de/unicode-utf8-table.pl?start=9472&number=1024
local Checkmark="${BIGreen}$( echo -e "\xE2\x9C\x93" )${Color_Off}";
local Xmark="${BIRed}$( echo -e "\xE2\x9C\x95" )${Color_Off}";
local Lines_Color=$White;

local Light_Down_Right="${Lines_Color}$(echo -e "\xE2\x94\x8C")${Color_Off}";
local Light_Vert_Right="${Lines_Color}$(echo -e "\xE2\x94\x9C")${Color_Off}";
local Light_Up_Right="${Lines_Color}$(echo -e "\xE2\x94\x94")${Color_Off}";
local Left_Square="${Lines_Color}$( echo -e "\xE2\x9F\xA6" )";
local Right_Square="$( echo -e "\xE2\x9F\xA7" )${Color_Off}";
local Line="${Lines_Color}$(echo -e "\xE2\x94\x80" )${Color_Off}";

local Start_Parenthesis="${Lines_Color}(${Color_Off}";
local End_Parenthesis="${Lines_Color})${Color_Off}";

local Exit_Status_Color=$BIGreen
if [ $EXIT != 0 ]; then
    Exit_Status_Color=$BIRed;
fi

local PROMPT="${Exit_Status_Color}\$ ${Color_Off}";
local UsernameColor="${BIBlue}";

#turn username red if root
if [ $EUID == 0 ]; then
    UsernameColor="${BIRed}";
    PROMPT="${Exit_Status_Color}# ${NarrowSpace}${Color_Off}";
fi

#command separator
PS1+="${Gray}";
let Fillsize=${COLUMNS}-60;
while [ $Fillsize -gt 0 ]
do
    PS1+='-';
    let Fillsize-=1;
done
#timestamp
PS1+="${Left_Square}\D{%Y-%m-%d} \t${Right_Square}";

#command history line number
PS1+="${Line}${Left_Square}History: \!${Right_Square}";

#session command number
PS1+="${Line}${Left_Square}Session: \#${Right_Square}"

#TTY
PS1+="${Line}${Left_Square}$(tty | awk 'BEGIN { FS = "/" } ; {print $3"/"$4}')${Right_Square}";

#should be one char left to fill
PS1+="${Gray}-${Color_Off}";

#username@FQD_hostname
PS1+="\n${Light_Down_Right}${UsernameColor}\u${Color_Off}";
PS1+="${Lines_Color}@${Color_Off}";
PS1+="${BIGreen}\H${Color_Off}";

#pwd
PS1+="${Line}${Start_Parenthesis}$( ls -a | wc -l | awk '{print $1 " files"}' )${End_Parenthesis}";
PS1+="${Line}${Start_Parenthesis}\w${End_Parenthesis}";

#if we are in a directory that contains a .git folder, do magic!
local Git_Branch;
if Git_Branch=$(git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD 2> /dev/null); then
    PS1+="\n${Light_Vert_Right}${Start_Parenthesis}GIT Branch: ";
    if [ $Git_Branch == 'HEAD' ]; then
            PS1+="detached*";
    else
        PS1+="$Git_Branch";
    fi
    PS1+="${End_Parenthesis}";

    local Short_Status_Array=( $(git status --porcelain 2> /dev/null) );
    local Commit_Needed=false;
    local Long_Status_Array=$(git status 2> /dev/null);

    if [[ "${Short_Status_Array[@]}" =~ "??" ]]; then
        PS1+="${Line}${Start_Parenthesis}${Red}Untracked files present!${Color_Off}${End_Parenthesis}";
    fi

    if [[ "${Short_Status_Array[@]}" =~ [MADRCU] ]]; then
        PS1+="${Line}${Start_Parenthesis}${Orange}Commit Needed!${Color_Off}${End_Parenthesis}";
    fi

    if [ $Commit_Needed == false ]; then
        if [[ ${Long_Status_Array[@]} =~ 'Your branch is ahead of' ]]; then
            PS1+="${Line}${Start_Parenthesis}${Cyan}Push needed.${Color_Off}${End_Parenthesis}";
        elif [[ ${Long_Status_Array[@]} =~ 'Your branch is behind' ]]; then
            PS1+="${Line}${Start_Parenthesis}${BIRed}Behind upstream! 'git pull --rebase' required!${Color_Off}${End_Parenthesis}";
        fi
    fi
fi

   #prompts
   PS1+="\n${PROMPT}";
   update_terminal_cwd;
}

For changes to take affect restart the session.