bash prompt problem

akudewan · 03-06-2005, 07:35 AM

I'm sure this is asked very often, but I just cant figure it out. Basically, I want my pwd to be shown in my prompt. This is the .bashrc and .bash_profile in my home directory

.bashrc -->

Code:

alias ls='ls --color'
PS1="\u@\h:\w\$ "

.bash_profile-->

Code:

if [ -f ~/.bashrc ]; then
    source ~/.bashrc
fi

This works for normal users, but when I adopted this for root, it still showed a Dollar sign and not a hash (#)

How do I adapt it for root? Also, can I change the prompt globally by editing /etc/profile ?

Oliv' · 03-06-2005, 08:07 AM

Hello,

if that does not work for root it probably comes from your /root/.bashrc or /root/.bash_profile which tells PS1 variable to overwrite # prompt.
Unless your /etc/profile don't do the usual uid comparison:

Code:

if [ $EUID -eq 0 ] ; then

keefaz · 03-06-2005, 08:08 AM

By default the prompt is set as you wish (PS1='\u@\h:\w\$ ') in /etc/profile

When you log as root, does the prompt is set correctly in console and not in
x terminal ?

Oliv' · 03-06-2005, 08:09 AM

Hello,

if that does not work for root it probably comes from your /root/.bashrc or /root/.bash_profile which tells PS1 variable to overwrite # prompt.
Unless your /etc/profile don't do the usual uid comparison:

Code:

if [ $EUID -eq 0 ] ; then
   export PS1=...
fi

Oliv'

shilo · 03-07-2005, 01:16 AM

I don't have an answer, but I do want to chip in that it is a very nice feature having the different prompts for root and for users. Gives you a nice indicator of how much you can mess things up at any given time.

akudewan · 03-07-2005, 03:29 AM

OK, I created a .bashrc file in root's home directory that has the following contents:

alias ls='ls --color'
PS1="\u@\h:\w\$ "

Thats all, and the problem was solved. Thanks for all the help

Grunthos · 03-07-2005, 04:38 AM

further to that I have found 2 extra things very helpful.

Firstly:

using \W instead of \w will give you the last part of the path so as not to take up the whole width of the screen.

Secondly:

I try to make the prompt for root a different colour (mainly red) than the normal colour as a reminder that I am still able to screw the system up with a careless command.

I do this with the following *8)

export PS1='^[[1;31m\h \W\$ ^[[0m'

I generally use id or whoami if i need to know who i am logged in as

its a personal choice.

^[ <== <ctrl+v><esc>, then you add the second [ . You should remember to close the colour with ^[[0m or you will change ALL text

hope this is helpful to someone

-Grunthos

Oliv' · 03-09-2005, 07:21 AM

to customize your bash prompt see also this howto: http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Bash-Prompt-HOWTO/