[SOLVED] How to read $PS1 on non-login shells?

sombragris · 06-06-2010, 11:10 AM

Maybe the answer is just too elementary, but I'm at a loss about how can I achieve this.

Let's say that I have a customized Bash prompt stored as a PS1 variable. My variable gets read every time I invoke a login shell, i.e., when logging in in one of the standard virtual terminal or by invoking xterm with the -ls parameter.

However, when I just invoke the terminal without specifying that it is a login shell, I just get something like: bash-XXX$ as a prompt.

My question is: where should I place my PS1 variable so that it could get read even on non-login shells?

Thanks in advance!

xflow7 · 06-06-2010, 11:35 AM

I'm not positive, but I think you want to put the definition in ~/.bashrc which I believe gets executed for any interactive shell (login or not).

Dave

David the H. · 06-06-2010, 11:40 AM

Read the "man bash" section on invocation for which start-up files are read by default. Note that there may differences between distributions on this matter.

Also, be aware that any start-up file (or other script) can include lines that source other files. Any line of the pattern "source filename" or ". filename" means that the contents of that other file will be inserted at that point when the script is executed.

sombragris · 06-06-2010, 03:22 PM

Thank you! It seems that setting $PS1 on .bashrc does the trick. So far, it's working. Thanks!!!

onebuck · 06-06-2010, 06:21 PM

Hi,

You could setup a .bashrc & .bash_profile for your user;

Code:

 sample .bash_profile;
 
 ~$ cat .bash_profile
 # .bash_profile
 #08-30-06 12:21
 #
 # Source .bashrc
 if [ -f ~/.bashrc ]; then
         . ~/.bashrc
 fi

Code:

 sample .bashrc;
 :~$ cat .bashrc
 
 #.bashrc
 #08-30-06 12:20 
 
 # Add bin to path
 
 export PATH="$PATH:/sbin:/usr/sbin:$HOME/bin"
 
 #export PATH="$PATH:$HOME/bin"
 
 # Dynamic resizing
 shopt -s checkwinsize
 
 # Custom prompt
 #PS1='\[\033[01;32m\]\u@\h\[\033[00m\]:\[\033[01;34m\]\w\[\033[00m\]\$ '
 
 #08-29-06 11:40
 
 if [ `id -un` = root ]; then
    PS1='\[\033[1;31m\]\h:\w\$\[\033[0m\] '
  else
    PS1='\[\033[1;32m\]\h:\w\$\[\033[0m\] '
 fi
 
 #
 # Add color
 eval `dircolors -b`
 
 # User defined aliases
 alias cls='clear'
 alias clls='clear; ls'
 alias ll='ls -l'
 alias lsa='ls -A'
 alias lsg='ls | grep'
 alias lsp='ls -1 /var/log/packages/ > package-list'
 alias na='nano'
 alias web='links -g -download-dir ~/ www.google.com'
 
 #08-29-06 11:50
 
 #To clean up and cover your tracks once you log off
 #Depending on your version of BASH, you might have to use
 # the other form of this command
    trap "rm -f ~$LOGNAME/.bash_history" 0
 
 #The older KSH-style form
 #   trap 0 rm -f ~$LOGNAME/.bash_history

The .bashrc is very useful!

sombragris · 06-07-2010, 12:26 PM

Gary, thanks for the info. This is great!