How to produce a PS1 prompt in bash or ksh93 similar to tcsh





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1















In tcsh, I have the default:



prompt  [%m:%c3] %n%# 


which gives prompts like:



[woehler:hacking/c/hello] ajcarr% 


and



[woehler:~] ajcarr% 


In other words, the current directory and up to the next two above it in the path.



In ksh93 or bash, the substitution of $HOME by ~ is easy, as is extracting the name of just the current directory, but I have yet to find a way of replicating the %c3 behaviour of tcsh. At present in ksh93 I have:



[ajcarr@Woehler] hello $ 


and



[ajcarr@Woehler] ~ $ 


Does anyone have any suggestions about how to do this?










share|improve this question































    1















    In tcsh, I have the default:



    prompt  [%m:%c3] %n%# 


    which gives prompts like:



    [woehler:hacking/c/hello] ajcarr% 


    and



    [woehler:~] ajcarr% 


    In other words, the current directory and up to the next two above it in the path.



    In ksh93 or bash, the substitution of $HOME by ~ is easy, as is extracting the name of just the current directory, but I have yet to find a way of replicating the %c3 behaviour of tcsh. At present in ksh93 I have:



    [ajcarr@Woehler] hello $ 


    and



    [ajcarr@Woehler] ~ $ 


    Does anyone have any suggestions about how to do this?










    share|improve this question



























      1












      1








      1


      0






      In tcsh, I have the default:



      prompt  [%m:%c3] %n%# 


      which gives prompts like:



      [woehler:hacking/c/hello] ajcarr% 


      and



      [woehler:~] ajcarr% 


      In other words, the current directory and up to the next two above it in the path.



      In ksh93 or bash, the substitution of $HOME by ~ is easy, as is extracting the name of just the current directory, but I have yet to find a way of replicating the %c3 behaviour of tcsh. At present in ksh93 I have:



      [ajcarr@Woehler] hello $ 


      and



      [ajcarr@Woehler] ~ $ 


      Does anyone have any suggestions about how to do this?










      share|improve this question
















      In tcsh, I have the default:



      prompt  [%m:%c3] %n%# 


      which gives prompts like:



      [woehler:hacking/c/hello] ajcarr% 


      and



      [woehler:~] ajcarr% 


      In other words, the current directory and up to the next two above it in the path.



      In ksh93 or bash, the substitution of $HOME by ~ is easy, as is extracting the name of just the current directory, but I have yet to find a way of replicating the %c3 behaviour of tcsh. At present in ksh93 I have:



      [ajcarr@Woehler] hello $ 


      and



      [ajcarr@Woehler] ~ $ 


      Does anyone have any suggestions about how to do this?







      bash ksh prompt tcsh






      share|improve this question















      share|improve this question













      share|improve this question




      share|improve this question








      edited 1 hour ago









      steeldriver

      38.1k45489




      38.1k45489










      asked 2 hours ago









      Alun CarrAlun Carr

      6612




      6612






















          2 Answers
          2






          active

          oldest

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          1














          For bash, you could achieve similar results by setting the PROMPT_DIRTRIM variable:



          $ PS1='[u@h] w$ '
          [schaller@r2d2] ~$ pwd
          /home/schaller
          [schaller@r2d2] ~$ PROMPT_DIRTRIM=3
          [schaller@r2d2] ~$ cd /home/schaller/tmp/513924/another/directory/here
          [schaller@r2d2] ~/.../another/directory/here$





          share|improve this answer































            1














            In ksh93:



            PS1='${PWD#${PWD%?/*/*/*}?/} $ '
            share/doc/libnl-3-dev $ _

            PS1='[${HOSTNAME%%.*}:${PWD#${PWD%?/*/*/*}?/}] $USER% '
            [host:share/doc/libnl-3-dev] user% _


            If you want it to also replace $HOME with ~, something nastier[1] is needed:



            PS1='$(d=${PWD/#$HOME/"~"};printf %s "${d#${d%?/*/*/*}?/}") $ '
            ~/w/maemo $ cd sb2-pathmaps
            w/maemo/sb2-pathmaps $ _


            This should also work in bash, though bash has its own prompt escapes (eg. h for ${HOSTNAME%%.*}) and path shortening mechanism (with PROMPT_DIRTRIM).



            zsh has prompt escapes quite similar but not identical to tcsh:



            zsh$ PS1='[%m:%3c] %n%# '
            [host:share/doc/libnl-3-dev] user% _


            [1] there may be some consolation in the fact that ksh93 doesn't fork() another process for subshells which contain only builtins, like that $( ...; printf ...) ;-)






            share|improve this answer


























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              2 Answers
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              active

              oldest

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              2 Answers
              2






              active

              oldest

              votes









              active

              oldest

              votes






              active

              oldest

              votes









              1














              For bash, you could achieve similar results by setting the PROMPT_DIRTRIM variable:



              $ PS1='[u@h] w$ '
              [schaller@r2d2] ~$ pwd
              /home/schaller
              [schaller@r2d2] ~$ PROMPT_DIRTRIM=3
              [schaller@r2d2] ~$ cd /home/schaller/tmp/513924/another/directory/here
              [schaller@r2d2] ~/.../another/directory/here$





              share|improve this answer




























                1














                For bash, you could achieve similar results by setting the PROMPT_DIRTRIM variable:



                $ PS1='[u@h] w$ '
                [schaller@r2d2] ~$ pwd
                /home/schaller
                [schaller@r2d2] ~$ PROMPT_DIRTRIM=3
                [schaller@r2d2] ~$ cd /home/schaller/tmp/513924/another/directory/here
                [schaller@r2d2] ~/.../another/directory/here$





                share|improve this answer


























                  1












                  1








                  1







                  For bash, you could achieve similar results by setting the PROMPT_DIRTRIM variable:



                  $ PS1='[u@h] w$ '
                  [schaller@r2d2] ~$ pwd
                  /home/schaller
                  [schaller@r2d2] ~$ PROMPT_DIRTRIM=3
                  [schaller@r2d2] ~$ cd /home/schaller/tmp/513924/another/directory/here
                  [schaller@r2d2] ~/.../another/directory/here$





                  share|improve this answer













                  For bash, you could achieve similar results by setting the PROMPT_DIRTRIM variable:



                  $ PS1='[u@h] w$ '
                  [schaller@r2d2] ~$ pwd
                  /home/schaller
                  [schaller@r2d2] ~$ PROMPT_DIRTRIM=3
                  [schaller@r2d2] ~$ cd /home/schaller/tmp/513924/another/directory/here
                  [schaller@r2d2] ~/.../another/directory/here$






                  share|improve this answer












                  share|improve this answer



                  share|improve this answer










                  answered 1 hour ago









                  Jeff SchallerJeff Schaller

                  45.2k1164147




                  45.2k1164147

























                      1














                      In ksh93:



                      PS1='${PWD#${PWD%?/*/*/*}?/} $ '
                      share/doc/libnl-3-dev $ _

                      PS1='[${HOSTNAME%%.*}:${PWD#${PWD%?/*/*/*}?/}] $USER% '
                      [host:share/doc/libnl-3-dev] user% _


                      If you want it to also replace $HOME with ~, something nastier[1] is needed:



                      PS1='$(d=${PWD/#$HOME/"~"};printf %s "${d#${d%?/*/*/*}?/}") $ '
                      ~/w/maemo $ cd sb2-pathmaps
                      w/maemo/sb2-pathmaps $ _


                      This should also work in bash, though bash has its own prompt escapes (eg. h for ${HOSTNAME%%.*}) and path shortening mechanism (with PROMPT_DIRTRIM).



                      zsh has prompt escapes quite similar but not identical to tcsh:



                      zsh$ PS1='[%m:%3c] %n%# '
                      [host:share/doc/libnl-3-dev] user% _


                      [1] there may be some consolation in the fact that ksh93 doesn't fork() another process for subshells which contain only builtins, like that $( ...; printf ...) ;-)






                      share|improve this answer






























                        1














                        In ksh93:



                        PS1='${PWD#${PWD%?/*/*/*}?/} $ '
                        share/doc/libnl-3-dev $ _

                        PS1='[${HOSTNAME%%.*}:${PWD#${PWD%?/*/*/*}?/}] $USER% '
                        [host:share/doc/libnl-3-dev] user% _


                        If you want it to also replace $HOME with ~, something nastier[1] is needed:



                        PS1='$(d=${PWD/#$HOME/"~"};printf %s "${d#${d%?/*/*/*}?/}") $ '
                        ~/w/maemo $ cd sb2-pathmaps
                        w/maemo/sb2-pathmaps $ _


                        This should also work in bash, though bash has its own prompt escapes (eg. h for ${HOSTNAME%%.*}) and path shortening mechanism (with PROMPT_DIRTRIM).



                        zsh has prompt escapes quite similar but not identical to tcsh:



                        zsh$ PS1='[%m:%3c] %n%# '
                        [host:share/doc/libnl-3-dev] user% _


                        [1] there may be some consolation in the fact that ksh93 doesn't fork() another process for subshells which contain only builtins, like that $( ...; printf ...) ;-)






                        share|improve this answer




























                          1












                          1








                          1







                          In ksh93:



                          PS1='${PWD#${PWD%?/*/*/*}?/} $ '
                          share/doc/libnl-3-dev $ _

                          PS1='[${HOSTNAME%%.*}:${PWD#${PWD%?/*/*/*}?/}] $USER% '
                          [host:share/doc/libnl-3-dev] user% _


                          If you want it to also replace $HOME with ~, something nastier[1] is needed:



                          PS1='$(d=${PWD/#$HOME/"~"};printf %s "${d#${d%?/*/*/*}?/}") $ '
                          ~/w/maemo $ cd sb2-pathmaps
                          w/maemo/sb2-pathmaps $ _


                          This should also work in bash, though bash has its own prompt escapes (eg. h for ${HOSTNAME%%.*}) and path shortening mechanism (with PROMPT_DIRTRIM).



                          zsh has prompt escapes quite similar but not identical to tcsh:



                          zsh$ PS1='[%m:%3c] %n%# '
                          [host:share/doc/libnl-3-dev] user% _


                          [1] there may be some consolation in the fact that ksh93 doesn't fork() another process for subshells which contain only builtins, like that $( ...; printf ...) ;-)






                          share|improve this answer















                          In ksh93:



                          PS1='${PWD#${PWD%?/*/*/*}?/} $ '
                          share/doc/libnl-3-dev $ _

                          PS1='[${HOSTNAME%%.*}:${PWD#${PWD%?/*/*/*}?/}] $USER% '
                          [host:share/doc/libnl-3-dev] user% _


                          If you want it to also replace $HOME with ~, something nastier[1] is needed:



                          PS1='$(d=${PWD/#$HOME/"~"};printf %s "${d#${d%?/*/*/*}?/}") $ '
                          ~/w/maemo $ cd sb2-pathmaps
                          w/maemo/sb2-pathmaps $ _


                          This should also work in bash, though bash has its own prompt escapes (eg. h for ${HOSTNAME%%.*}) and path shortening mechanism (with PROMPT_DIRTRIM).



                          zsh has prompt escapes quite similar but not identical to tcsh:



                          zsh$ PS1='[%m:%3c] %n%# '
                          [host:share/doc/libnl-3-dev] user% _


                          [1] there may be some consolation in the fact that ksh93 doesn't fork() another process for subshells which contain only builtins, like that $( ...; printf ...) ;-)







                          share|improve this answer














                          share|improve this answer



                          share|improve this answer








                          edited 9 mins ago

























                          answered 1 hour ago









                          mosvymosvy

                          10.6k11338




                          10.6k11338






























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