This article is for those who wonder how my very simple, but helpful prompt in the shell is created and to learn the motivation behind it.

How it looks like

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How it is created

Bash:

PS1='[\t] \[\033[1m\]\h\[\033[0m\]:\W\$ '

Zsh:

PS1="[%T] %B%m%b:%c%# "

Motivation

• I need the hostname to know on which box I am working
• Time is helpful for copy & paste in logs (and to not waste space with xclock)
• Short directory name (\W, %c) is helpful, long paths make the prompt unusable and I usually know which tree I am in (if not: pwd helps)
• No need for username@ like most distros do: If I am a user, I am nico ($ in bash, % in zsh). Otherwise I am root (#).