How to set current prompt setting?
Simply use echo command, enter:
$ echo $PS1
Output:
\\u@\h \\W]\\$
How do I modify or change the prompt?
PS1=”touch me : ”
Output: My new prompt
touch me :
So when executing interactively, bash displays the primary prompt PS1 when it is ready to read a command, and the secondary prompt PS2 when it needs more input to complete a command. Bash allows these prompt strings to be customized by inserting a number of backslash-escaped special characters that are decoded as follows:
\a : an ASCII bell character (07)
\d : the date in Weekday Month Date format (e.g., Tue May 26?)
\D{format} : the format is passed to strftime(3) and the result is inserted into the prompt string; an empty format results in a locale-specific time representation. The braces are required
\e : an ASCII escape character (033)
\h : the hostname up to the first .
\H : the hostname
\j : the number of jobs currently managed by the shell
\l : the basename of the shells terminal device name
\n : newline
\r : carriage return
\s : the name of the shell, the basename of $0 (the portion following the final slash)
\t : the current time in 24-hour HH:MM:SS format
\T : the current time in 12-hour HH:MM:SS format
\@ : the current time in 12-hour am/pm format
\A : the current time in 24-hour HH:MM format
\u : the username of the current user
\v : the version of bash (e.g., 2.00)
\V : the release of bash, version + patch level (e.g., 2.00.0)
\w : the current working directory, with $HOME abbreviated with a tilde
\W : the basename of the current working directory, with $HOME abbreviated with a tilde
\! : the history number of this command
\# : the command number of this command
\$ : if the effective UID is 0, a #, otherwise a $
\nnn : the character corresponding to the octal number nnn
\\ : a backslash
\[ : begin a sequence of non-printing characters, which could be used to embed a terminal control sequence into the prompt
\] : end a sequence of non-printing characters
Let us try to set the prompt so that it can display todayd date and hostname:
PS1=\d \h $
Output:
Sat Jun 02 server $
Now setup prompt to display date/time, hostname and current directory:
$PS1=[\d \t \u@\h:\w ] $