Shell Prompt

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Shell Prompt#

The shell prompt is the textual indicator that the shell is ready to accept input. It typically encodes contextual information such as the current user, host, and working directory.

Default Format#

<username>@<hostname><current-working-directory>$

Example:

user@host[/path/to/dir]$

Common Symbols#

Symbol	Meaning
`~`	User’s home directory
`$`	Regular (non-root) user
`#`	Root (privileged) user

Examples#

user@host[~]$

root@host[/root]#

Prompt Configuration (`PS1`)#

The prompt is controlled by the PS1 environment variable.

Example#

PS1="\u@\h[\w]\$ "

Common Escape Sequences#

Sequence	Description
`\u`	Username
`\h`	Hostname (short)
`\H`	Hostname (full)
`\w`	Current working directory
`\d`	Date (e.g., Mon Feb 6)
`\D{format}`	Custom date format
`\t`	Time (24-hour)
`\T`	Time (12-hour)
`\@`	Time (AM/PM format)
`\j`	Number of jobs
`\s`	Shell name
`\n`	Newline
`\r`	Carriage return

Customisation#

Prompt configuration is typically defined in:

Shell on tplat