I'm using xfce4-terminal in XFCE and each tab by default shows the user/host/path name of that tab, which is what I want.
However, once I change $prompt (to customize it), this no longer happens. New tabs now actually come up with the name "Untitled".
Before I made the change, this was the content of $prompt:
echo $prompt
%%[%n#%m %c]%#
But even if I do this, I never get the tab name to get updated again:
set prompt = '%%[%n#%m %c]%#'
In fact, I know something is wrong here because when I set $path to that value, I actually pick up another "%" sign in the front of the prompt that wasn't there before.
Could someone please help me explain this and tell me how to fix it?
I'm not sure if I understand the codes you are using, but, assuming you're using Bash, I think maybe you're trying to do something like this:
PS1="\[\e]2;\u#\h: \w\a\]\u#\h: \w \$ "
If you are using Bash, here's info on Bash in general, and the prompt in particular.
Also, the Arch Wiki contains a bit more prompt snacks :-)
Related
I am trying to learn UNIX.
I am using a book called “Wicked Cool Shell Scripts”.
I am told that .bash_profile contains my login for bash and that I can add paths to it so that commands I enter in Terminal will find the scripts I am writing.
The contents of my current bash_profile is:
export PATH=~/bin:$PATH
When I type echo $PATH I get:
/usr/local/opt/php#7.0/bin:/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.6/bin:/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.5/bin:/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.5/bin:/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.3/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/opt/X11/bin
I would like to add a path so that - as the book suggests - I can write scripts and refer to them directly from the command line, instead of having to constantly navigate to that directory to run them.
I have a file with a shebang. It runs fine when I type its name and am in the same directory. I have moved that file to the folder scripts, which is located under crg/Users/ (ie: Users/crg/scripts)
According to this book, I can now alter my $PATH to include that directory, so that when I type that filename, the program will run.
I cannot do this successfully.
I don’t know why.
After every edit, I quit terminal and reopen it, to ensure it is using the newly edited bash_profile.
As per the books instructions on page 5, I have tried entering this in my bash_profile:
export PATH=”/Users/crg/scripts/:$PATH”
I save my bash_profile, quit Terminal, reopen it and type echo $Path
This is the result:
”/Users/crg/scripts/:??
This is not right. In fact, it's wildly wrong. And it does not allow me to run scripts from the folder indicated. It also seems to completely overwrite whatever was in the bash_profile before this, so I cannot - after doing this 'simple edit' suggested by a 'professional' - run a php -version command from the Terminal.
I am at a complete loss as to why this is happening.
Why is there a quotation mark at the beginning of this line (but not at the end)?
What's with the colon and the 2 question marks at the end of this line?
How do I add/append a path to my bash_profile?
More questions:
When I try and solve this on my own using “the Internet”, I discover many interesting versions of this ‘simple’ process: Here’s one suggested by a ‘professional’:
export PATH="${PATH}:/path/to/program/inside/package"
This is very different from what the book says...
Here’s another version of ‘how to do it’ by ‘a professional’:
export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/sbin/modemZapp
Notice that this one doesn’t even have quotes. In both, the PATH variable comes before the actual path.
Why are there so many 'versions' of how to perform this simple task?
Can someone please tell me how to add a path to my .bash_profile?
UPDATE: I have followed the advice here, (add it to etc/paths) but this does not work either.
I get the exact same thing when I type echo $PATH in a new Terminal:
/usr/local/opt/php#7.0/bin:/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.6/bin:/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.5/bin:/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.5/bin:/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.3/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr:/usr/local/share/npm/bin:/Users/fhb/scripts:/opt/X11/bin
I can't help but note a comment on that last page: "I have been through at least a dozen different methods for adding directories to $PATH. Why are there so many and why do so few of them work?"
To answer your first question if you look closely your quotes are ” instead of ". I'm guessing you edited either your bash_profile or this post in a rich text editor instead of a plain text one. I would recommend notepad for Windows or nano for *nix if you are writing code. To fix this issue, replace the ” with ".
To answer your second question, bash is quite forgiving and will allow you to set a string variable in multiple different ways, even without quotes. However you can run into issues when a string contains whitespace, for example: /Users/lilHenry/my scripts.
The "${PATH}" syntax is just another way to declare a string. It has the benefit that it allows you to interpolate variables into a string like so:
prefix="foo"
echo "${prefix}bar"
This will output foobar, whereas echo "$prefixbar" will not output anything as the variable prefixbar has not been set. I would suggest sticking with the export PATH="/Users/me/bin:$PATH" syntax.
I am trying to code an autocomplete script. It should also outputs some description. I have one function that manage the autocompletation AND the fetching of the description. The autocompletion related part works fine but i have an issue when i want to display the help. In short, this is what i have now :
$> myFunction -myOption1<TAB>
Description for myOption1<CURSOR>
What i woud like :
$> myFunction -myOption1<TAB>
Description for myOption1
$> myFunction -myOption1<CURSOR>
There is no conflict between the autocompletion and the output. The description can only be displayed when the myOption1 is complete. (myOpt will be completed as myOption1 and hence, does not display the description). I made severals attempts to make it work but i guess i am missing a step. The "Description for myOption1" is an 'echo'. I think it's related because compgen is waiting for some value (I give it none for the moment). I tried to trick compgen with some escape characters, spaces : no successes. The autocomplete script should continue to run after this description.
Thanks in advance for the help ;-)
Kol
What I would do:
set COMPREPLY in every case (you don't want to mess with it). (move out of the else)
before messing the screen, I would do a tput sc before the echo, and tput rc afterwards. Note, that will still screw up your screen if your terminal scrolls because of your echo
I've just started using Terminal (the CLI for Mac OS X).
When I run a command, get some information back, run another command, get more info etc., it is hard (on the eyes) to find a certain point on the screen (e.g. the output for the command before last).
Is there a way of adding a vertical empty space to the end of each output/ after each command is run that has no output?
Each new command that you enter is preceded by a "prompt", and these can be customized (though the exact way to customize depends on the shell). Since you mention Mac OS X I'm assuming you are using the default bash shell, in which case the absolute simplest way to add a blank line is like this: PROMPT_COMMAND=echo. You can run that command to try it out, or add it to a startup file (like .profile in your home folder) to have it done automatically each time.
If you use Bash 4.4 and you want a blank line after your prompt, you could set the PS0 prompt to a newline:
PS0="\n"
Now, this will be inserted every time you run a command:
$ echo "Hello"
Hello
Wondering this too, I've looked at the menu options in Terminal & most of the control characters one can type in and nothing does this on a keystroke. You can however enter an echo command, it alone to leave a single blank line below it before the next prompt. echo \n will add an extra blank line to that, echo \n\n to do 2 extra, ie. 3 blank lines, etc. (you can also do echo;echo;echo getting the same effect)
You can create a shell alias like alias b='echo;echo' (i couldn't seem to get the \n notation to work in a alias), then entering b on a prompt will leave a double-blank line, not bad. Then you gotta figure out how to save aliases in your .profile script.
I tried making an alias for the command ' ' ie. space character, which I though you could type like \ (hmm, stack overflow not formatting this well, that's backslash followed by a space, then return to execute it), but the bash shell doesn't seem to allow an alias with that name. It probably wouldn't allow a function named that either (similar to alias), though I didn't check.
I often use the fish shell, and I found that it does allow a function with that name! Created with function ' '; echo \n; end and indeed it works; at the shell prompt, typing the command \ (again backslash space) leaves a double blank line.
Cool, but.. I tried saving this function using funcsave ' ' (how you save functions in fish, no messing with startup scripts!) and afterwards the function no longer works :^( This is probably a bug in the fish shell. It's in active development right now though, I think I'll report this as a bug since I would kind of like this to work myself.
One could also send Apple a feature request through their bug reporter for an Insert Blank Line menu/keyboard command in Terminal. If someone pays attention to your request it might be implemented in a year maybe.
I wanted to solve exactly the same, and for anyone interested in doing the same, I used what tripleee said in his comment here - I created a .bash_profile (see details here) with the line export PS1="\n\n$ ".
Hopefully that helps someone else too!
When I start doing tab auto-complete of a command, it keeps what I initally typed next to it and the command becomes unreadable. In the example below, I typed 'git che' and hit tab. Once I select 'checkout' the command prompt becomes 'git che git checkout'. The command still works and in my history it stores 'git checkout'. But its pretty annoying visually. Is there anyway to change this behavior. I tried this in 2 different terminal emulators, so I can confirm its ZSH and not the emulator. Thanks
Screenshot
EDIT:
echo $ZSH_VERSION
4.3.10
It doesnt seem to happen with zsh -f. Though its hard to tell since the only autocomplete that works is directories. I'm using 'oh-my-zsh' with this custom theme:
autoload -U add-zsh-hook
add-zsh-hook chpwd do_ls_on_chdir
function do_ls_on_chdir() {
ls;
}
function dirStack(){
OUT='';
NUM=1;
for X in $(dirs | cut -d ' ' -f2-10); do
OUT="$OUT$1%B$NUM:%b$1$X ";
(( NUM=NUM+1 ))
done
echo $OUT;
}
ZSH_THEME_GIT_PROMPT_ADDED=""
ZSH_THEME_GIT_PROMPT_MODIFIED=""
ZSH_THEME_GIT_PROMPT_DELETED=""
ZSH_THEME_GIT_PROMPT_RENAMED=""
ZSH_THEME_GIT_PROMPT_UNMERGED=""
ZSH_THEME_GIT_PROMPT_UNTRACKED=""
ZSH_THEME_GIT_PROMPT_AHEAD="%{$fg_bold[yellow]%}↑"
ZSH_THEME_GIT_PROMPT_PREFIX=""
ZSH_THEME_GIT_PROMPT_SUFFIX=""
ZSH_THEME_GIT_PROMPT_DIRTY=" %{$fg_bold[red]%}✗"
ZSH_THEME_GIT_PROMPT_CLEAN=" %{$fg_bold[green]%}✔"
local user_color='blue'
local back="${BG[237]}"
test $UID -eq 0 && user_color='red'
PROMPT='$(dirStack $back)
$back%B%!%b$back %{$fg_bold[$user_color]%}%~%{$reset_color%}'\
'$back $(git_prompt_status)%{$reset_color%}'\
'$back%{$fg_bold[magenta]%}$(git_prompt_info)%{$reset_color%}'\
'$back$(git_prompt_ahead)$reset_color'\
'$back%(!.#.>)$reset_color '
PROMPT2='%{$fg[red]%}%_ %{$reset_color%}'
PROMPT3='%{$fg[red]%}... %{$reset_color%}'
RPROMPT='%(?..%{$fg_bold[red]%}exit %?%{$reset_color%})'\
' %{$FG[186]%}(%D %*)%{$reset_color%}'
SOLUTION:
NOTE: stackoverflow wont let me answer my own question since I asked it within the past 8 hours. I dont feel like waiting.
So I figured it out. It turns out I wasnt properly escaping the ANSI color codes (I think). Everywhere I had $reset_color in my PROMPT variable, I changed that to %{$reset_color%} and it fixed it.
So I figured it out. It turns out I wasnt properly escaping the ANSI color codes (I think). Everywhere I had $reset_color in my PROMPT variable, I changed that to %{$reset_color%} and it fixed it.
I only discovered this link tonight, after messing with my prompt - I'd always wondered why the ZSH prompt examples seemed so needlessly complex.
When you set up the colors in your zsh prompt, you should escape things with %{ [...] %}, so that 'the shell knows there is no output from these sequences and the cursor hasn't moved'.
If you don't escape this, the shell believes that your cursor has moved (even though it hasn't). This leads to messed up prompts, and rather annoying visual effects when you use tab-completion etc.
Here's some screenshots without escaping the reset-color prompt sequence (PR_NO_COLOUR="%{$terminfo[sgr0]%}", in my prompt settings). As we can see, the cursor starts in the wrong place:
It should be here:
And after trying tab-completion without escaping, the prompt is all confused about where the text is, and where the cursor should be placed:
(The cursor should be placed at the end of the directory, not halfway through).
So the prompt sequences look like this:
PS1="%{$fg[red]%}%n%{$reset_color%}#%{$fg[blue]%}%m %{$fg[yellow]%}%~ %{$reset_color%}%% "
because everything has to be escaped nicely inside %{...%} pairs.
I've done something to break my Bash Shell Prompt in OS X (10.5.7) Terminal.
This is the PS1 that I had configured:
PS1='\[\e[1;32m\]\h\[\e[0m\]:\[\e[1;34m\]\w\[\e[0m\]\$ '
As far as I can tell I have the color commands escaping correctly. However when I scroll up and down in my command history I often get line wrapping issues if the historic commands wrap onto multiple lines.
I simplified my prompts to the following:
PS1='\[\e[1m\]\h:\w\$ \[\e[0m\]'
PS2='> '
And I still see something like:
localhost:~/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles/knpmxpup.Defau
lt/extensions/{1A2D0EC4-75F5-4c91-89C4-3656F6E44B68}$ expocd \{1A2D0EC4-7
5F5-4c91-89C4-3656F6E export PS1="\[
\e[1;32m\]\h\[\e[0m\]: cd Library/Appl
ication\ Support/
I've also tried \033 instead of \e. I just included PS2 up there for information, I haven't changed that from the install default. If I completely remove the color codes then everything works fine, any ideas?
I am now using this PS1 with good effect:
green=$(tput setaf 2)
blue=$(tput setaf 4)
bold=$(tput bold)
reset=$(tput sgr0)
PS1="\[$green$bold\]\h\[$reset\]:\[$blue$bold\]\w\[$reset\]\$ "
Scrolling through my command history appears to handle line wraps now. However in the meantime since this question was asked I have also updated my OS X to 10.6.3
This stackoverflow thread seems relevant. As someone noted in that thread, the Bash FAQ at mywiki.wooledge.org discusses how to properly quote color codes in Bash prompts (FAQ 53), and the proper invocation of terminal colors (FAQ 37).
Line wrapping issues in Bash are nothing new. Your PS1 should work as is but there is a bug in Bash 3.2.49. Consult the mailing list, there's yet another bug regarding this which was confirmed to be fixed in 4.0.
You can't do much more than tagging unprintable characters with \[ and \], the rest must be done by the prompting code.
It seems that you have correctly escaped and enclosed sequences.
A workaround I use anyway it it to add a '\n' at the end. I find it clearer and lessen any problem with wrapping issues. The exact end of my PS1 is :
'\n\[\033[0;30m\]$\[\033[0m\]
An excellent howto you probably know :
Bash prompt howto
I noticed that there are some issues with the prompt cursor positioning even if there are no special character in the PS1 or PROMPT environment variable.
If we output a file that does not have a end-of-line char at the end. It will confuse the prompt.
You can reproduce this by doing:
curl https://gist.githubusercontent.com/martinos/d4aa0a7d4d752b0d0d9f/raw/3198c39f84a080c44227a084a19fb3a0bb661ee5/wrapping_issue.txt
and pressing the up key multiple times and you will see that the prompt get confused.
You can see an example of this in action:
https://asciinema.org/a/9mtjhi9dib6md4ocsbw210cca
When this occurs, just press <CTRL-C> and the prompt will come back to normal.
Note that ZShell does not have this issue.
For future reference, this is what I use:
export PS1="\[\033[0;31m\][\u#Project:\w]$\[\033[0m\] "
This would display my shell prompt as:
[ec2-user#Project:~]$
Helps me distinguish between live and dev sites.
Here's mine: it's the best one I've found, but the site where I originally found it was missing an escape character, leading to the line wrapping issue. I tinkered with it and finally got it working. It shows your user, path, and branch info with good contrast, color-wise.
export PS1='\[\e[1;37m\]\[\e[1;32m\]\u\[\e[0;39m\]:\[\e[1;33m\]\w\[\e[0;39m\]\[\e[1;35m\]$(__git_ps1 " (%s)")\[\e[0;39m\] \[\e[1;37m\]|\[\e[0;39m\]\$'
Also, add
GIT_PS1_SHOWDIRTYSTATE=true
To show a marker when a branch is "dirty" (changes to be committed exist)
export HISTCONTROL=ignoredups
Is also useful to ignore duplicates when scrolling up through bash history.
bind "set completion-ignore-case on"
Helps too.
Lastly,
shopt -s checkwinsize
May be helpful on OSX if issues persist.
'shopt -s checkwinsize' also works for Cygwin wrap problems also
If you're using the title bar trick "\e]2;titlebar\a", make sure to escape that too: "\[\e]2;titlebar\a\]"