Right justifying prompt data in bash


 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Top Forums UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers Right justifying prompt data in bash
# 1  
Old 12-27-2012
Apple Right justifying prompt data in bash

Hi,

I have a custom prompt in Bash. However, I would like to further customise it so that it shows me the date and time. However, I would like this new addition to appear on the right side of the terminal window.

The idea behind this is to "visually balance" some data on the right as most of the time the terminal is used from the left.

I hope this make sense. Please let me know if you require further information.

Regards,

vnayak
# 2  
Old 12-27-2012
Not sure if such a thing is really possible with Bash.

Interestingly, the zsh shell has the ability to display things on the right hand side of a terminal. You can do the same things as with PS1, and you don't have to worry about typing over it, or it messing up your commands. The variable to set is RPS1.
This User Gave Thanks to fpmurphy For This Post:
# 3  
Old 12-27-2012
Apple Right justify for bash

Hi fpmurphy,

Many thanks for the suggestion and your prompt reply. I did find a few resources on the web which may benefit people using the terminal.

These are below:

8 Useful and Interesting Bash Prompts

and

Add a Separator & Time Stamp Between Terminal Commands to Increase Readability

I than mixed the codes I found on these sites together to make something below:

Code:
 Fill with minuses
# (this is recalculated every time the prompt is shown in function prompt_command):

fill="--- "
reset_style='\[\033[00m\]'
status_style=$reset_style'\[\033[0;90m\]' # gray color; use 0;37m for lighter color
prompt_style=$reset_style
command_style=$reset_style'\[\033[1;29m\]' # bold black

# Prompt variable:

#PS1="$status_style"'$fill \t\n'"$prompt_style"'${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}\u@\h:\w\$'"$command_style "
PS1='\n\[\e[32;1m\](\[\e[37;1m\]\u\[\e[32;1m\])-(\[\e[37;1m\]jobs:\j\[\e[32;1m\])-(\[\e[37;1m\]\w\[\e[32;1m\])$fill (\t)\n(\[\[\e[37;1m\]! \!\[\e[32;1m\])-> \[\e[0m\]`if [ $? = 0 ]; then echo \[\e[33m\]^_^\[\e[0m\]; else echo \[\e[31m\]O_O\[\e[0m\]; f$

# Reset color for command output
# (this one is invoked every time before a command is executed):

trap 'echo -ne "\033[00m"' DEBUG

function prompt_command {

        # create a $fill of all screen width minus the time string and a space:

        let fillsize=${COLUMNS}-32
        fill=""

        while [ "$fillsize" -gt "0" ]

        do

                fill="-${fill}" # fill with underscores to work on
                let fillsize=${fillsize}-1

        done

        # If this is an xterm set the title to user@host:dir

        case "$TERM" in

                xterm*|rxvt*)
                bname=`basename "${PWD/$HOME/~}"`
                echo -ne "\033]0;${bname}: ${USER}@${HOSTNAME}: ${PWD/$HOME/~}\007"

        ;;
*)
;;
esac
}

PROMPT_COMMAND=prompt_command

I am by no means an expert Bash scripter however, once I started looking at the code I was able to roughly figure out how this worked. Obviously this code be improved upon but this serves my purpose for now.

Many thanks

vnayak
 
Login or Register to Ask a Question

Previous Thread | Next Thread

10 More Discussions You Might Find Interesting

1. UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Bash prompt is over lapping

Hello Guys, I have facing problem with linux shell prompt .Am expecting my Bash prompt to be like below but its showing like ~]$ ot@Servername and while typing the commands the prompt looks like below: ~]$ echo $PS1 $ ~]$ ot@ServernameChecked the .bash_profile and also changed... (9 Replies)
Discussion started by: kapil514
9 Replies

2. Shell Programming and Scripting

Running an executable from bash prompt

Hi, I'm trying to run a program from the bash prompt and I don't understand why it is returning with an error. Dig is my C program, and it takes in parameters J4, detect, 3 and 0182F98E var1="cygdrive/c/2i/test fixture/software/mccdaqtest/debug/Dig J4 detect 3 0182F98E" when I do ... (6 Replies)
Discussion started by: oahmad
6 Replies

3. Emergency UNIX and Linux Support

Bash answer prompt

I am working with a script to simplyfy some operations where I work, but one of the programs needs me to enter a password. It will as me "Please enter the administrator password:" Is there a way to make a bash script to automatically answer the question with the needed password? I am looking... (3 Replies)
Discussion started by: noratx
3 Replies

4. Shell Programming and Scripting

BASH: Getting titlebar and prompt to 'sync up'

This is an instance of "if it's not one thing, it's another." I recently fell victim to my own stupidity in trashing, by accident, my long-running and very highly-customized .bash_profile and .bashrc files for Cygwin & Cygwin/X. I had backups from a previous "go" with this, and decided to use... (0 Replies)
Discussion started by: SilversleevesX
0 Replies

5. OS X (Apple)

Bash prompt wraparound

I'm using a custom prompt with PS1 in my .profile. It is PS1="\\u@\e\:\W\ \\$\ \" and it works well, as you can see, http://content.screencast.com/users/killer54291/folders/Jing/media/2b3db52a-ebf7-43e2-95cc-f45dadbc2b98/00000023.png but, when i type more than the width of the window, it... (0 Replies)
Discussion started by: killer54291
0 Replies

6. UNIX for Advanced & Expert Users

Bash conditional prompt?

Hi, Does anyone know any way of making bash prompt extended with conditional content? Example: export PS1="] && echo '#' || echo '\$'" # This won't work - prompt is not executed # export PS1="\$" # This is an existing but also working equivalent I would like to use more complex... (8 Replies)
Discussion started by: adderek
8 Replies

7. Shell Programming and Scripting

How can i change my bash prompt ?

It looks like, user@hostname:/auto/home3/user$ Desired, user@hostname$ I added following line in .bashrc, but still its same. export PS1=" $ " Please help me :confused: (13 Replies)
Discussion started by: admax
13 Replies

8. Shell Programming and Scripting

Works from bash prompt, but not from script!

I'm trying to use unison from bash on windows with cygwin. I don't know if this is a cygwin question, bash question or unison question. Since I always get reprimanded by the cygwin mailing list for assuming it is a cygwin problem, I'll assume it is a bash question. The following commands work... (7 Replies)
Discussion started by: siegfried
7 Replies

9. Shell Programming and Scripting

justifying the fields

hi experts, i just need a help that my script is generating the output which i will mentioned below but the fileds are not justified the alignment is disturbed. 0 8718 8718 0 8777 1 7450 7450 0 7483 2 5063 5063 0 5091 3 3840 3840 0 3855 4 ... (2 Replies)
Discussion started by: shary
2 Replies

10. UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

customize my prompt in bash

in csh I was using: set prompt=""$HOSTNAME".tk.\!> " to customize the look of my prompt. I have seen the light after reading the perils of csh scripting and wish to switch to bash. How do I customize my bash prompt??? I've tried many variation of the above w/no success, and searching this... (2 Replies)
Discussion started by: yankee428
2 Replies
Login or Register to Ask a Question