| There are a number of prompt variables in the Korn shell: PS1 and PS2 are two of them. PS1 contains your primary prompt string and is displayed by the Korn shell when it is ready to read a command. If not specified, the default is $ for regular users, and # for superusers. PS2 specifies the secondary prompt string and is displayed whenever the Korn shell needs more input. For example, when you press <RETURN> before a complete command has been given, or continue a command onto the next line with the \ character, the PS2 variable is displayed. If not specified, the default for PS2 is the > character. $ print "Here is > another line" Here is another line Customizing Your Command Prompt By default, the command prompt is set to the $ character. But you could set it to something else by simply reassigning a value to the PS1 variable. For example, you could have the prompt give you a greeting message like this: $ typeset x PS1="Good morning " As soon as you press the <RETURN> key, the prompt is reset. Good morning: pwd /home/anatole Good morning: The current command number can be displayed by putting a ! in the prompt variable PS1 like this: $ typeset x PS1="!:Good morning:" 154: Good morning: If you really want to display a ! in the prompt, use !!: $ typeset x PS1="Hello there!!" Hello there! Now let's make a fancy prompt that will display the command number and the current working directory. Besides ! for the command number, we'll need the PWD variable for the current working directory. $ typeset x PS1="!:$PWD> " Just to make sure it works, let's change directories: 167:/home/anatole> cd /tmp 168:/tmp> cd /usr/spool/news/comp/sources 169:/usr/spool/news/comp/sources> Don't go overboard with this. If you are using the in-line editor, remember that the prompt size affects the edit window width. |