Using the Korn Shell

For most users, the default prompt in the Korn shell is a dollar sign:

                        $
                        

                     

For root, the prompt is a hash symbol:

                        #
                        

                     

Changing the Korn shell prompt

The prompt can be changed by setting the PS1 environment variable. For example:

                        export PS1='$PWD ! $ '
                        

                        export PS1='${PWD#${PWD%/*/*}/} ! $ '
                        

                        export PS1="$LOGNAME@`uname -n` \$PWD ! $ "
                        

                     

$PWD shows the path for the current directory. ${PWD#${PWD%/*/*}/} uses Korn shell pattern matching to show only the last two directories in the current directory path. ! shows the number of the command in the command history. When setting the prompt with a double-quoted ("...") string, unescaped variables, such as $LOGNAME above, and commands, such as `uname -n` above, are interpreted when the environment variable is exported, and therefore will not change unless the prompt is set again.

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