UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Hi everybody,

I'm new to this and I was trying out some basic UNIX-commands on my MacBook (Mac OS X Lion 10.7.3).
However suddenly the prompt line is changed.
The prompt used to be: macbookname username$
Suddenly the prompt is changed and has now the location in it. So now it is: macbookname:Foldername user$
The foldername changes to the folder I'm currently in.
I have a clue about what this has caused, I made a mistake by typing in cd ` instead of cd ~ The ` is the grave accent.
I can't find anywhere on the internet what cd ` does or what the single ` means in UNIX.
So basically I have 2 questions:
1) How do I remove the location (Foldername) out of this line?
2) What does cd ` mean and has that something to do with what happened.?


Thinks for any help.

Ariel1

There are environment variables. Lots of them. Ones named "PS-" where the - can be a "1" or a "2" and so on, control your prompt - prompt is the thing you have a problem with.

Code:

set | grep '^PS'

will show you those variables and their values. I have no clue what you actually typed.
If it were me, I would log out and then login again. Things should be fine.

You can play interactively with those variables and see what they do:

How to Customize your Terminal Prompt