bash script ? Change PS1 color on per user basis

tommyttt · 02-27-2010, 06:16 PM

Been trying to change the color of the shell prompt for each user including root. The things I've tried so far do change the color for each user but don't change the su (root) prompt back to bright red. The su color remains what is set for the user.

The code I've been using is in ~/.bashrc

Code:

### colorize user shell prompt: 2/12/10 TTT
# export PS1="\e[0;36m\u@\h \w> \e[m " # base colored prompt 
# colors:  # replace 0 with 1 for bright color:
#   black  0;30
#   blue   0;34
#   green   0;32
#   cyan   0;36
#   red   0;31
#   purple   0;35
#   brown   0;33

# Change prompt for root
if test "$UID" -eq 0  ; then   <========== this doesn't seem to work
    color="1;31m" # bright red for su(root)
else
    color="0;36m" # color for user
fi
export PS1="\e[$color\u@\h \w> \e[m "

Should this be put somewhere else or is the code wrong?

Admittedly I'm a bash script newbie, normally using c or assembly.

Thanks for any help.

yancek · 02-27-2010, 08:30 PM

Try this:

Quote:

export PS1="\e[0;31m[\u@\h \W]\$ \e[m "

tommyttt · 02-28-2010, 05:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yancek

Try this:

Thanks for the reply Yancek.

That doesn't do what I want. That just changes the "$" for ordinary user with "#" for su(root). The color stays the same. I want to change the color each user selects while retaining the bright red when the user goes su(root).

In unmodified bash prompts, the user prompt is the default color (usually black) while the su(root) prompt changes to bright red.

Your suggestion did give me some ideas about what to research further. Again, thanks.

yancek · 02-28-2010, 10:55 PM

I guess I'm not sure what you're trying to do then. I have my user prompt set to brown. When I enter su, enter password and get root prompt it is red. What exactly do you want to change? The entry I posted above was from my user .bashrc, the following, which as you can see is different, is from my root .bashrc:

Quote:

export PS1='\[\033[01;31m\][\u@\h \W]\$\[\033[00m\] '

Don't know if this will help any.

David the H. · 02-28-2010, 11:07 PM

This is what I use in my bashrc

Code:

export RESET='\e[0m'
export BRED='\e[1;31m'
export BGREEN='\e[1;32m'
export BBLUE='\e[1;34m'
export BMAGENTA='\e[1;35m'

XTITLE='\e]0;\u:\W\a'  # \W is the base directory name.


if [ "$PS1" ]; then
  if [[ "$TERM" =~ xterm ]]; then

    # Set the prompt
    #  Must unquote all the variables.

    if [ "$(id -u)" -eq 0 ]; then
        export PS1='\['${XTITLE}$BRED'\]\u:[\['$MAGENTA'\]$(variprompt)\['$BRED'\]]##\['$RESET'\] '
    else
        export PS1='\['${XTITLE}$BGREEN'\]\u:[\['$BBLUE'\]$(variprompt)\['$BGREEN'\]]$\['$RESET'\] '
    fi

  else

    # Prompt for non xterm consoles--leave out the xterm title setting.

    if [ "$(id -u)" -eq 0 ]; then
      export PS1='\['$BRED'\]\u:[\['$MAGENTA'\]$(variprompt)\['$BRED'\]]##\['$RESET'\] '
    else
      export PS1='\['$BGREEN'\]\u:[\['$BBLUE'\]$(variprompt)\['$BGREEN'\]]$\['$RESET'\] '
    fi

  fi
fi

variprompt is a script I wrote (later converted to a function) that outputs the current directory string based on the current terminal width.

catkin · 03-01-2010, 12:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tommyttt

The su color remains what is set for the user.

No per-user configuration is done by the su command without the "-" option. If you want per-user configuration to be done when using su, change to su - and su will run the usual shell initialisation, as if the user was logging in.