UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

I know this question has come up before but I couldn't find any documentation on ksh here.

I'm trying

PS1="`whoami`@`hostname`:`pwd`> "
export PS1

in ksh but the working directory sticks at the home directory. How do I fix that? Also, how do I make the prompt bold in korn?

use $PWD in place of pwd

HOST=`hostname`
PS1='${USER}@${HOST}:${PWD}> '
export PS1

seems to work

the problem was more in using " ... " instead of ' ... ' because I tried both syntaxes

still leaves the question of how to make it bold.

Making stuff bold depends on how capable your terminal is as well how complete your terminfo entry is. In general, almost all terminals have some form of "standout" mode and using the local standout mode may be a more universal choice. You may or may not have a bold entry in terminfo as well. Try these commands:

echo one $(tput smso) two $(tput rmso) three
echo one $(tput bold) two $(tput sgr0) three