setting up the prompt

[Giorgos Keramidas]

On 2005-08-12 08:22, Carstea Catalin <carstea.catalin at gmail.com> wrote:
> how can i change the prompt to view always the current directory?
> Ex:
> 1. (/usr/local)#cd local1
> 2.(/usr/local/local1)#pwd
> 2.(usr/local/local1)#/usr/local/local1

That depends on your shell.

For tcsh that would be:

	% set prompt = '%m:%~%# '
	beatrix:~% cd /usr/local
	beatrix:/usr/local% cd bin
	beatrix:/usr/local/bin%

A slightly different prompt ``escape sequence'' that shows the absolute
path even if you are in your HOME directory is ``%/'', which would show
the following:

	% set prompt = '%m:%/%# '
	beatrix:/home/keramida% cd /usr/local
	beatrix:/usr/local% cd bin
	beatrix:/usr/local/bin%

For bash, you have to use a slightly different set of commands:

	$ export PS1='\h:\w\$ '
	beatrix:~$ cd /usr/local
	beatrix:/usr/local$ cd bin
	beatrix:/usr/local/bin$

or

	$ export PS1='\h:${PWD}\$ '
        beatrix:/home/keramida$ cd /usr/local
        beatrix:/usr/local$ cd bin
        beatrix:/usr/local/bin$

FYI, all the ``prompt escape sequences'', the special strings you can
add to $prompt in TCSH and $PS1 in bash to display various bits of
information, are described in the manpages of the shells:

	% man tcsh
	$ man bash