Changing colors for user, host, directory information in terminal command prompt

You can edit the settings editing the file: ~/.bashrc.

1. Open the file: gedit ~/.bashrc.

2. Look for the line with #force_color_prompt=yes and uncomment (delete the #).

3. Look for the line below if [ "$color_prompt" = yes ]; then that should looks like:

   PS1='${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}\[\033[01;32m\]\u@\h\[\033[00m\]:\[\033[01;34m\]\w\[\033[00m\]\$ '
   

   Pay attention at the part \u@\h it is saying "user@host" and the number before it \[\033[01;32m\] indicates the color. This is what you have to change. For example, lets change the user to purple, the "@" to black and host to green. Edit the line so it looks like:

   PS1='${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}\[\033[01;35m\]\u\[\033[01;30m\]@\[\033[01;32m\]\h\[\033[00m\]:\[\033[01;34m\]\w\[\033[00m\]\$ '
   

Result:

The colors numbers are:

Black       0;30     Dark Gray     1;30
Blue        0;34     Light Blue    1;34
Green       0;32     Light Green   1;32
Cyan        0;36     Light Cyan    1;36
Red         0;31     Light Red     1;31
Purple      0;35     Light Purple  1;35
Brown       0;33     Yellow        1;33
Light Gray  0;37     White         1;37

References: 1, 2.

You can try the BashrcGenerator. This is by far the easiest way to get a prompt like you want. I've noticed that the colors defined here may be different from your own system, but that's a small issue. With the generated code you can change the colors yourself.

Server user:

export PS1="\[\e[01;37m\][\[\e[0m\]\[\e[01;32m\]\u\[\e[0m\]\[\e[00;37m\]@\[\e[0m\]\[\e[01;34m\]\h\[\e[0m\]\[\e[00;37m\] \[\e[0m\]\[\e[00;37m\]\t\[\e[0m\]\[\e[01;37m\] \W]\\$ \[\e[0m\]"

Server root:

export PS1="\[\e[01;37m\][\[\e[0m\]\[\e[01;31m\]\u\[\e[0m\]\[\e[00;37m\]@\[\e[0m\]\[\e[01;34m\]\h\[\e[0m\]\[\e[00;37m\] \[\e[0m\]\[\e[00;37m\]\t\[\e[0m\]\[\e[01;37m\] \W]\\$ \[\e[0m\]"

And if needed you can change hostname color to reflect different type of servers.

I use different format for my local computer:

export PS1="\[\e[01;33m\]\u\[\e[0m\]\[\e[00;37m\]@\[\e[0m\]\[\e[01;36m\]\h\[\e[0m\]\[\e[00;37m\] \t \[\e[0m\]\[\e[01;35m\]\w\[\e[0m\]\[\e[01;37m\] > \[\e[0m\]"

My favorite now:

export PS1="\n\[\e[01;33m\]\u\[\e[0m\]\[\e[00;37m\]@\[\e[0m\]\[\e[01;36m\]\h\[\e[0m\]\[\e[00;37m\] \t \[\e[0m\]\[\e[01;35m\]\w\[\e[0m\]\[\e[01;37m\] \[\e[0m\]\n$ "

This last prompt has one nice touch. It adds a newline after the prompt, and an empty newline before. Now you can display the complete directory path without problem, and it makes it more clear where a new command starts, in case of long output.

Another update, as ZSH is now the default shell on Macos. This is to be edited in .zshrc:

NEWLINE=$'\n'
DATE=$( date +"[%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S]" )
PROMPT="${NEWLINE}%F{yellow}${DATE} %(!.%F{red}.%F{white})%n%F{cyan}@%m %F{yellow}%d${NEWLINE}%F{reset}> "

For details, see this detailed HOWTO.

In short, you can alter the prompt by editing the $PS1 environment variable. There's so much to say here, that I'll just show you my prompt and refer you to the link above for more details.

The color-related parts are in the function setPrompt:

# This function from: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Color_Bash_Prompt_%28%D0%A0%D1%83%D1%81%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B9%29#Wolfman.27s
##################################################
# Fancy PWD display function
##################################################
# The home directory (HOME) is replaced with a ~
# The last pwdmaxlen characters of the PWD are displayed
# Leading partial directory names are striped off
# /home/me/stuff          -> ~/stuff               if USER=me
# /usr/share/big_dir_name -> ../share/big_dir_name if pwdmaxlen=20
##################################################
bash_prompt_shortener() {
    # How many characters of the $PWD should be kept
    local pwdmaxlen=25
    # Indicate that there has been dir truncation
    local trunc_symbol=".."
    local dir=${PWD##*/}
    pwdmaxlen=$(( ( pwdmaxlen < ${#dir} ) ? ${#dir} : pwdmaxlen ))
    NEW_PWD=${PWD/#$HOME/\~}
    local pwdoffset=$(( ${#NEW_PWD} - pwdmaxlen ))
    if [ ${pwdoffset} -gt "0" ]
    then
        NEW_PWD=${NEW_PWD:$pwdoffset:$pwdmaxlen}
        NEW_PWD=${trunc_symbol}/${NEW_PWD#*/}
    fi
}


function setPrompt {
  COLOR1="\[\033[1;33m\]"     #First color
  COLOR2="\[\033[0;33m\]"     #Second color
  NO_COLOR="\[\033[0m\]"      #Transparent - don't change

  case $TERM in 
    xterm*)
      TITLEBAR="\[\033]0;\h - \w\007\]"
      ;;
    *)
      TITLEBAR=""
      ;;
  esac

  local dash_open="${COLOR1}-${COLOR2}-"
  local dash_close="${COLOR2}-${COLOR1}-"
  local spacer="${COLOR2}-"
  local jobs_and_history="${COLOR2}(${COLOR1}\!${COLOR2}:${COLOR1}\j${COLOR2})"
  local user_host="${COLOR2}(${COLOR1}\u${COLOR2}@${COLOR1}\H${COLOR2})"
  local host="${COLOR2}(${COLOR1}\H${COLOR2})"
  local root_or_not="${COLOR2}(${COLOR1}\\\$${COLOR2})"
  local cwd="${COLOR2}(${COLOR1}\w${COLOR2})"
  #PS1="${TITLEBAR}${COLOR1}-${COLOR2}-(${COLOR1}\!${COLOR2}:${COLOR1}\j${COLOR2})-(${COLOR1}\w${COLOR2})-${COLOR1}-\n-${COLOR2}-(${COLOR1}\u${COLOR2}@${COLOR1}\H${COLOR2})-(${COLOR1}\\\$${COLOR2})-${COLOR1}- ${NO_COLOR}"
  #PS1="${TITLEBAR}${dash_open}${cwd}${spacer}${root_or_not}${dash_close}\n${dash_open}${jobs_and_history}${spacer}${host}${dash_close}${NO_COLOR} "
  #PS2="${COLOR2}--${COLOR1}- ${NO_COLOR}"
  PS1="${TITLEBAR}${COLOR1}"'${NEW_PWD}'"${COLOR2}:\$${NO_COLOR} "
  PS2="$spacer$dash_close$NO_COLOR "
}

bash_prompt_shortener
setPrompt
unset setPrompt

#Determine and display the exit Status of the last command, if non-zero.
function checkExitStatus() {
  local status="$?"
  local signal=""
  local COLOR1="\033[0;0;33m"     #First color
  local COLOR2="\033[0;0;36m"     #Second color
  local NO_COLOR="\033[0m"        #Transparent - don't change

  if [ ${status} -ne 0 -a ${status} != 128 ]; then
    # If process exited by a signal, determine name of signal.
    if [ ${status} -gt 128 ]; then
      signal="$(builtin kill -l $((${status} - 128)) 2>/dev/null)"
      if [ "$signal" ]; then
        signal="$signal"
      fi
    fi
    echo -e "${COLOR1}[Exit ${COLOR2}${status} ${signal}${COLOR1}]${NO_COLOR}" 1>&2
    #echo -ne "${COLOR1}[Exit ${COLOR2}${status}${COLOR1} ${COLOR2}${signal}${COLOR1}]${NO_COLOR} " 1>&2
    fi
  return 0
}
print_prompt_time() {
    printf "%*s\r" $(tput cols) "$(date '+%T')"
}

promptCmd() {
    checkExitStatus
    print_prompt_time
}

PROMPT_COMMAND=promptCmd

In addition to colors, my prompt has a few other features, such as abbreviated directory names (see the function bash_prompt_shortener), automatic display of the last command's exit status if nonzero (function checkExitStatus), and display of the time in the rightmost columns (function print_prompt_time).

You can use a bash generator service. For example, I like to make it through Ezprompt. This is an example I made:

PS1="\[\e[34m\][\[\e[m\] \[\e[36m\]\A\[\e[m\] \[\e[37m\]\u\[\e[m\]\[\e[31m\]@\[\e[m\]\[\e[32m\]\h\[\e[m\] \[\e[35m\]~\[\e[m\] \[\e[34m\]]\[\e[m\]\n$ "

After getting the bash results you are satisfied with, edit your prompt by running the following export command or by editing the ~/.bashrc file with the nano text editor or vim:

sudo nano ~/.bashrc

and adding the export command:

export PS1="\[\e[34m\][\[\e[m\] \[\e[36m\]\A\[\e[m\] \[\e[37m\]\u\[\e[m\]\[\e[31m\]@\[\e[m\]\[\e[32m\]\h\[\e[m\] \[\e[35m\]~\[\e[m\] \[\e[34m\]]\[\e[m\]\n$ "

I wrote a file that can help you customise everything

Execute the file with a leading . to make it run on the same terminal else it will create a child terminal and results thereof will not be seen. Like this:

. shortern_path_terminal.sh

How it works:

• The variable PS1 controls the display of the terminal.

  PS1='\[\e]0;\u@\h: \w\a\]\[\033[01;32m\]\u@\h\[\033[00m\]:\[\033[01;34m\]\W\[\033[00m\]$ '
  

  • u - Refers to the user

  • w - Refers to the current working directory

  • W - Shows the full path up to the current working directory

  • h - Displays the name of the system

  • [\033[01;32m] - Precedes the texture of text

  • 01 bold

  • 00 not bold

  • {colour}m

      Black       0;30     Dark Gray     1;30
      Blue        0;34     Light Blue    1;34
      Green       0;32     Light Green   1;32
      Cyan        0;36     Light Cyan    1;36
      Red         0;31     Light Red     1;31
      Purple      0;35     Light Purple  1;35
      Brown       0;33     Yellow        1;33
      Light Gray  0;37     White         1;37
    

Reference