Shell Prompt

Variables #

PS1 PS2 PS3

Escape Codes Used in Shell Prompts #

Sequence Value Displayed
ASCII bell
̣ date in day, month, date format
̉ Hostname
̋ Full hostname
ȷ Number of jobs running
ł Name of current terminal
Newline
̊ Carriage return
Name of the shell program
͡ Current time in 24-hour hours:minutes:seconds format
Current time in 12-hour format
\@ Current time in 12-hour AM/PM format
Current time in 24-hour hours:minutes format
̆ Username of the current user
̌ Version number of the shell
Version and release numbers of the shell
Name of the current working directory
Last part of the current working directory name
\! History number of the current command
\# Number of commands entered during this shell session
\$ Displays a “$” char unless superuser then “#”
[ Signals the start of a series of one or more non-printing chars.
Moves cursor, changes colors, etc
] Signals end of non-printing char sequence

Colors #

  1. Foreground

    Sequence Text Color
    \033[0;30m Black
    \033[0;31m Red
    \033[0;32m Green
    \033[0;33m Brown
    \033[0;34m Blue
    \033[0;35m Purple
    \033[0;36m Cyan
    \033[0;37m Light gray
    \033[1;30m Dark gray
    \033[1;31m Light red
    \033[1;32m Light green
    \033[1;33m Yellow
    \033[1;34m Light blue
    \033[1;35m Light purple
    \033[1;36m Light cyan
    \033[1;37m White

    To set the terminal back to normal: \033[0;30m

  2. Background

    Sequence Background Color
    \033[0;40m Black
    \033[0;41m Red
    \033[0;42m Green
    \033[0;43m Brown
    \033[0;44m Blue
    \033[0;45m Purple
    \033[0;46m Cyan
    \033[0;47m Light gray

  3. Cursor Movement

    Escape Code Action
    \033[l;cH Move the cursor to line l and column c
    \033[nA Move the cursor up n lines
    \033[nB Move the cursor down n lines
    \033[nC Move the cursor forward n chars
    \033[nD Move the cursor backward n chars
    \033[2J Clear the screen and move the cursor to the upper-left corner
    (line 0, column 0)
    \033[K Clear from the cursor position to the end of the current line
    \033[s Store the current cursor position
    \033[u Recall the stored cursor position