44

When using the terminal in a deep folder structure sometimes the prompt can take up most of the line. Is there any way in which I can trim the working directory? I know I can do

PS1="\W >"

to only print the current directory and not the full path, but is there a way to have something like:

/home/smauel/de...ther/folder >
muru
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smauel
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10 Answers10

80

If you are using bash4 (Ubuntu 9.10 and newer has bash4), the easiest option is to just set the PROMPT_DIRTRIM variable. e.g.:

PROMPT_DIRTRIM=2

For one similar to João Pinto's example, (that'll work in older bash versions and ensures that the path component is never longer than 30 characters), you could do something like this: 

PS1='[\u@\h:$(p=${PWD/#"$HOME"/~};((${#p}>30))&&echo "${p::10}…${p:(-19)}"||echo "\w")]\$ '
geirha
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35

Create a small python script which implements the desired trimming logic.

Example: ~/.short.pwd.py

import os
from socket import gethostname
hostname = gethostname()
username = os.environ['USER']
pwd = os.getcwd()
homedir = os.path.expanduser('~')
pwd = pwd.replace(homedir, '~', 1)
if len(pwd) > 33:
    pwd = pwd[:10]+'...'+pwd[-20:] # first 10 chars+last 20 chars
print '[%s@%s:%s] ' % (username, hostname, pwd)

Now test it, from a terminal:

export PROMPT_COMMAND='PS1="$(python ~/.short.pwd.py)"'

If you are ok with the result just append the command to your ~/.bashrc.

cezar
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João Pinto
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  • Not to ask the obvious, but how exactly do we append the command to the ~/.bashrc? Would it just be pasting that last line at the bottom of the file? – FloatingRock Jul 04 '14 at 10:31
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    @FloatingRock correct. Simply add it to the .bashrc file. – tdc Apr 16 '15 at 16:59
  • This is great! If you edit the python program, it automatically updates: sweet! – N3sh Dec 01 '15 at 12:36
  • Update that last print ... to print( ... ) to get this work almost as-is for python 3 too, great tip, thanks for sharing!! – Sean Mar 12 '18 at 15:34
  • See also next best answer down below: PROMPT_DIRTRIM – BaCh Jun 18 '20 at 09:00
12

Another way around that problem is to include a line break into PS1, so that the working directory and the actual prompt appear on separate lines, for example:

PS1="\w\n>"
ak2
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  • Similar to thiis, is to not change your PS1 prompt, but to just start your command with a \ and press Enter. This forces the command to begin on the next line with the PS2 prompt, which is usually > ... (I hadn't thought of it until I saw your suggestion :) – Peter.O Dec 16 '10 at 19:36
5

Add this to the bottom of your ~/.bashrc

split_pwd() {
        # Only show ellipses for directory trees -gt 3
        # Otherwise use the default pwd as the current \w replacement
        if [ $(pwd | grep -o '/' | wc -l) -gt 3 ]; then
                pwd | cut -d'/' -f1-3 | xargs -I{} echo {}"/../${PWD##*/}"
        else
                pwd
        fi
}


export PS1="\$(split_pwd) > "

Admittedly this could probably be cleaner, but I wanted to get a crack at it.

Expected output for directories more than three layers deep. 

/home/chris/../Node Projects >

Expected output for directories from Desktop and back. 

/home/chris/Desktop > 
/home/chris >  
/home
Zanna
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Chris Sullivan
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  • Beautiful! I just need to add some smarts about transforming $HOME to "~/" and not counting that as part of the 'length' if $PWD is under the home directory. – Michael Burr Oct 29 '19 at 21:50
3

Based on Cris Sullivan's answer, but keeping the ~ for the home folder

get_bash_w() {
  # Returns the same working directory that the \W bash prompt command
  echo $(pwd | sed 's@'"$HOME"'@~@')
}

split_pwd() {
  # Split pwd into the first element, elipsis (...) and the last subfolder
  # /usr/local/share/doc --> /usr/.../doc
  # ~/project/folder/subfolder --> ~/project/../subfolder
  split=2
  W=$(get_bash_w)
  if [ $(echo $W | grep -o '/' | wc -l) -gt $split ]; then
    echo $W | cut -d'/' -f1-$split | xargs -I{} echo {}"/../${W##*/}"
  else
    echo $W
  fi
}

export PS1="\$(split_pwd) > "
Manuel
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2

Just to update slightly (for Python3) and enhance the selected answer to add colours to the prompt as per a BASH prompt (in Linux Mint 18.3 anyway):

#! /usr/bin/python3

import os, getpass
from socket import gethostname

username = getpass.getuser()
hostname = gethostname()
pwd = os.getcwd()
homedir = os.path.expanduser('~')
pwd = pwd.replace(homedir, '~', 1)

if len(pwd) > 40:
    # first 10 chars+last 30 chars
    pwd = pwd[:10] + '...' + pwd[-30:] 

# Virtual environment being used? Essential not to omit!
ve = os.getenv('VIRTUAL_ENV')
venv = '(`basename \"$VIRTUAL_ENV\"`)' if ve else ''

# colours as per my current BASH Terminal: 
# username + hostname: bold green
# path and $: bold blue
print( '\[\e[;1;32m\]%s%s@%s \[\e[;1;34m\]%s $\[\e[0m\]  ' % (venv, username, hostname, pwd) )

More on colour codes in a BASH Terminal here. There's probably some way of finding out what colours your Terminal uses automatically, but I haven't got a clue what that might be.

With the shebang line the export line for inclusion in .bashrc then becomes:

export PROMPT_COMMAND='PS1="$(~/.local/bin/manage_prompt.py)"' # adjust path to .py file

NB1 these "\e" escape codes must always be enclosed in "\[ ... \]", otherwise line-returns get completely messed up.

NB2 to get your full path at any time just go 

... $ pwd

of course...

mike rodent
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1

This small addition to @joão-pinto's excellent answer adds in the virtual environment name when you run the workon command.

import os
from platform import node
hostname = node().split('.')[0]
username = os.environ['USER']
pwd = os.getcwd()
homedir = os.path.expanduser('~')
pwd = pwd.replace(homedir, '~', 1)

# check for the virtualenv
ve = os.getenv('VIRTUAL_ENV')

if ve:
    venv = '(`basename \"$VIRTUAL_ENV\"`)'
else:
    venv = ''

if len(pwd) > 33:
    pwd = pwd[:10]+'...'+pwd[-20:] # first 10 chars+last 20 chars
print '%s[%s@%s:%s] ' % (venv, username, hostname, pwd)
katahdin
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  • This is absolutely essential! If you don't have it you will assume your Python virtual environment is not working when it is... for this reason I'm shamelessly using this to incorporate into my idea (with the colours...). – mike rodent Nov 17 '19 at 12:59
0

this prompt shortens all names except the current line this: 

user:/h/t/D/C/current$ 

sps() {
    echo `dirname $PWD` | sed -r 's|/(.)[^/]*|/\1|g'
}

PS1='\u:$$(eval "sps")/\W\$ '
Travis S
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0

A Further customization based on mike rodent's update. This allows to change the len of the shown path dynamically via

export MAXPROMPTLEN=<desired length>

It always shows the last folder (even if its name is longer than the maximum length), and tries to show the first folder.

#! /usr/bin/python3

import os, getpass
from socket import gethostname


username = getpass.getuser()
hostname = gethostname()
pwd = os.getcwd()
homedir = os.path.expanduser('~')
pwd = pwd.replace(homedir, '~', 1)


Default value for maxlen of pwd


Use environment varibale MAXPROMPTLEN to change dynamically


MAXLEN=30
if "MAXPROMPTLEN" in os.environ:
    MAXLEN = int(os.environ["MAXPROMPTLEN"])


if len(pwd) > MAXLEN:
    # keep first and last folder
    parts = pwd.split(os.path.sep) 
    leaf = "..." + parts[-1]
    stem = os.path.sep.join(parts[:2])[:(MAXLEN-len(leaf)+1)]
    pwd = stem + leaf


Virtual environment being used? Essential not to omit!


ve = os.getenv('VIRTUAL_ENV')
venv = '(basename \&quot;$VIRTUAL_ENV\&quot;)' if ve else ''


colours as per my current BASH Terminal:


username + hostname: bold green


path and $: bold blue


print(f"[\e[;1;32m]{venv}{username}@{hostname} [\e[;1;34m]{pwd}$[\e[0m]")

I suggest you include it in your .bashrc like this:

# Limit the lenght of the prompt dynamically
# comment to turn off
max_prompt_len=yes
if [ "$max_prompt_len" ]; then
   MAXPROMPTLEN=30  # maxium length of prompt
   PS1="$(python3 ~/.short_pwd.py)"
fi

Assuming you put the code in ~/.short_pwd.py

JuanPi
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0

I like this one most, PS1="[\W]\\$ "

Medya
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