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stepanzak @iusearchlinux.fyi
Question

Which shell prompt do you use and why?

Hi. I've been using powerlevel10k for a long time, but a few days ago, I decided I wanted to customize it a bit. I opened the .p10k.zsh file, and I was shocked. It's really massive, with TONS of options. I've been digging through for a few hours already, and it's absolutely amazing how much you can customize it without actually programming anything. I was wondering what other people are using. So my questions are:

  • Do you customize your shell prompt?
  • If yes, do you use some framework or pre-made theme, or do you just configure it the vanilla way in your bashrc/zshrc/...
  • How is your experiences with it so far?
  • Share screenshot of your prompts, please (Sadly, my prompt is currently half done, so I can't really share it)
83 comments

  • I use Zsh with the Oh My Zsh! framework, and I use a different theme depending on which subuserland I’m in, by customising ~/.zshrc. For example, I use the gentoo theme on Debian and its derivatives, agnoster on NixOS, darkblood on Arch, strug for Mageia, apple on my macOS device, aussiegeek on FreeBSD, and gallifrey on OpenBSD. Different themes helps me remember which package manager to use and which distro-specific commands will work.

    I'll send some screenshots in a bit, when I boot up my PC.

    I like Zsh because of its tab completion and command history. I also quite like its plugins.

    Before anyone asks, I have tried Fish before, and I prefer Zsh. I have tried configuring Bash before, and I prefer Zsh. I have played with Ksh and Tcsh on BSD, and I prefer Zsh. I used PowerShell a long time ago, and I prefer Zsh.

  • I designed this prompt shortly after I switched to Linux, I've been using it for a while, it has a few features like putting the exit code if it isn't 0, changing the hostname color if its detected that you are over ssh, changing the directory color to red if it isn't writeable, changing the prompt color to red if your euid is 0, and instead of printing I have no name! when your user does not have an entry in the passwd file, it will just print your uid in red. I also have a version that I wrote in C that works the same way with a subsitution shell, but it was harder to sync across all my devices when I made a change, so I rewrote it in posix shell that could be synced with just my .bashrc and work almost anywhere.

    I don't know how to post a screenshot, sorry for the long paragraph, but here is the source code, feel free to share or do whatever with it! 

     undefined
        
#-----PS1-----#
BOLDRED="\001\033[1;31m\002"
BOLDBLUE="\001\033[1;34m\002"
BOLDPURPLE="\001\033[1;35m\002"
BOLDCYAN="\001\033[1;36m\002"
BOLDGREEN="\001\033[1;32m\002"
COLORRESET="\001\033[0m\002"
CURSOR_BLINK="\001\033[5 q\002"
INFO_COLOR=$BOLDGREEN
SUPERUSER_COLOR=$BOLDRED
NORMALUSER_COLOR=$BOLDCYAN
SSH_COLOR=$BOLDPURPLE
__shellprompt ()
{
        if [ "$(id -u)" = 0 ]; then
                PROMPT_COLOR=$SUPERUSER_COLOR
                PROMPT_EMBLEM='#'
        else
                PROMPT_COLOR=$NORMALUSER_COLOR
                PROMPT_EMBLEM='$'
        fi
        # [user@hostname]
        printf "%b%s%b" "${PROMPT_COLOR}[${INFO_COLOR}" "$(whoami 2>/dev/null || (printf "%b%s" "${BOLDRED}" "UID:$(id -u)"))" "${PROMPT_COLOR}@"
        if [ -n "${SSH_TTY}" ] || [ -n "${SSH_CLIENT}" ]; then
                printf "%b" "$SSH_COLOR"
        else
                printf "%b" "$INFO_COLOR"
        fi
        printf "%s%b" "$(hostname)" "${PROMPT_COLOR}]"
        # :
        printf "%b" "${COLORRESET}:"
        # (/pwd)
        printf "%b" "${PROMPT_COLOR}("
        if [ -w "$PWD" ]; then
                printf "%b" "${INFO_COLOR}"
        else
                printf "%b" "${BOLDRED}"
        fi
        if [ -n "$HOME" ] && [ "$HOME" != "/" ] && { [ "$PWD" = "$HOME" ] || [ "$PWD" != "${PWD#"$HOME/"}" ]; }; then
                printf "%s" "~${PWD#"$HOME"}"
        else
                printf "%s" "${PWD}"
        fi
        printf "%b" "${PROMPT_COLOR})${COLORRESET}"
        # :(EXITCODE)
        if [ "$1" != 0 ]; then
                printf "%b" "${COLORRESET}:"
                printf "%b%s%b" "${PROMPT_COLOR}(${BOLDRED}" "${1}" "${PROMPT_COLOR})${COLORRESET}"
        fi
        # ->$
        # ->#
        printf "%b" "\n${PROMPT_COLOR}->${PROMPT_EMBLEM} ${COLORRESET}${CURSOR_BLINK}"
}
export PS1='$(__shellprompt $?)'
#-----PS1-----#

  • I just use the default fish without any modifications.

    To be fair, I don't use the terminal that often.

    Even for my homeserver, I access most stuff (containers, updates, etc.) graphically with CasaOS (a web interface), and as a more "casual" PC user, I work with the tools given by my DE. I don't do much fancy stuff.

    And when I really need the CLI, fish is alright for me. It's simple, has sane defaults, and feels (thanks to the automatically activated spell check and completion) very efficient for me.

    Bash isn't bad, but feels a bit lackluster. Zsh may be better, but requires too much configuration for what it's worth for me.

    • You'll want to start toning your skills with Bash and other POSIX shells like AT&T ksh, zsh, and dash if you ever wish to do serious scripting for work... either that, or start learning Python. That is, unless you already have those under your belt. Apology in advance if you already do... I just couldn't understand switching to Fish after already having those skills. If you do, and you then switched to Fish, what was the benefit of that? Just curious.

  • As I use bash basically for everything, I wanted my prompt to be as basic as possible (No newlines, fixed format) and compatible across my PC, Laptop as well as server and Pi via SSH.
    Therefore, it's a simple __prompt_command function in my .bashrc (nearly) everywhere.
    It's structured as:

    1. Terminal/TTY number in orange
    2. Username in green (for roots .bashrc it's red)
    3. Hostname in green
    4. Current working dir in blue
    5. Current git branch in yellow (if in a git repo)
    6. Exit code in red (if not 0)

    Looks like this:

    I used some prompt generator to get the variables and colors right, and then wrapped parts in if-then where needed.
    The result is: 

     undefined
        
__prompt_command() {
    local EXIT="$?"
    PS1="\[\033[38;5;216m\](\l)\[$(tput sgr0)\] \[$(tput sgr0)\]\[\033[38;5;85m\]\u@\H\[$(tput sgr0)\]:\[$(tput sgr0)\]\[\033[38;5;68m\][\w\[$(tput sgr0)\]"
    local GIT_BRANCH="$(git branch 2> /dev/null | sed -e '/^[^*]/d' -e 's/* \(.*\)/(\1)/')"
    if ! [[ -z "$GIT_BRANCH" ]]; then
        PS1+=":\[$(tput sgr0)\]\[\033[38;5;142m\]${GIT_BRANCH}\[$(tput sgr0)\]"
    fi
    PS1+="\[\033[38;5;68m\]]\[$(tput sgr0)\]"
    if [ $EXIT != 0 ]; then
        PS1+=":\[$(tput sgr0)\]\[\033[38;5;1m\]${EXIT}\[$(tput sgr0)\]"
    fi
    PS1+="\\$ \[$(tput sgr0)\]"
}

    In practice I use every aspect of it. The terminal number is useful for sorting, the username is needed especially when handling e.g. git or db servers with specific users, and one has a terminal as the user, one as root and one as normal user. Hostname is obviously important with multiple ssh sessions open all the time (especially without terminal emulator titles). Typing pwd all the time would be very tedious, as I only move around my system in bash, so having it in the prompt is nice. If I am in a git repo I also need to know the branch and otherwise it's not displayed anyway. Quickly identifying silently failed commands is tedious, especially because issuing one command overwrites $? again, so 'logging' it if necessary is nice.

  • When I hopped on the home manager train I enabled starship (since it was just a couple lines to add) and I'm very happy with it. It has a couple small things out of the box that I really want. Mostly, its trimming my path so it doesnt take the full width of my terminal. I have it set so it only prints the lowest 3 directories and it wont print any directory higher than the current git repo Im in. IMO i hate all the little emojis but that was very easy to remove/disable. Its a very clean experience, and straightforward config (toml if not using nix).

    EDIT: here's a pic of the path trimming. This is about as complicated as it gets. Also, I'm using catpuccin color scheme in urxvt.

  • I use oh-my-posh (on a windows machine) with a custom theme that tells me some git info and a few other things. But when I'm in my Linux machine its a vanilla zsh

  • VERY simple. Time & node:

    HH:MM node%

    Except in the xterm I keep open for dealing with my camera. That's time & last-word-in-cwd:

    HH:MM dir%

    Sometimes on a cellphone I will use battery charge percent:

    BB%

    And when I'm su'ed it's just:

    root%

  • Custom PROMPT variable in my .zshrc. Similar format in .bashrc, but uses PS1 instead.

    Prompt shows git branch, italics and custom colors/characters. Shows a hanging arrow on a newline (i know, wasted newlines are blasphemy to some, but I like it).

    Renders nicely in my custom compiled suckless terminal using monospace font. 

     undefined
        
PROMPT='%B%F{blue}[  %B%F{white}$(tput sitm)'%1~'$(tput sgr0)$(tput bold)%B%F{blue}]$(tput sitm)$ %B%F{white}$(tput setaf 5)${vcs_info_msg_0_}%B%F$(tput sgr0)$(tput setaf 4)$(tput bold)
└─>%B%F{white} '
83 comments