Re: how to workaroun 'nl' being added to input-line after 49 characters....

[Greg Wooledge]

On Sun, Feb 13, 2011 at 08:17:05PM -0700, Bob Proulx wrote:
>    _CRed=$(tput setaf 1)  #Red
>    _CRST=$(tput sgr0)   #Reset
>    _CBLD=$(tput bold)   #Bold
>    _prompt_open=""
>    _prompt_close=""
>    _prompt=">"
>    [[ $UID -eq 0 ]] && {
>        _prompt_open="$_CBLD$_CRed"
>        _prompt_close="$_CRST"
>        _prompt="#"
>    }
>    PS1='\[$_prompt_open\]$(pwd "$PWD")$_prompt\[$_prompt_close\] ';

This is the best one in the thread.  Although I still don't see what
the $(pwd "$PWD") is supposed to mean....

Personally I would never use this much indirection in a PS1 assignment.
I appreciate that Bob was trying to maintain Linda's style -- it's that
style that I have a problem with.  A lot of people think they can do
things like this:

  f() { echo '\[blah blah\]'; }
  g() { ...; }
  h() { ...; }
  PS1='$(f)$(g)$(h)'

That DOES NOT WORK.  Don't even attempt it.  You'll end up bald.  The
\[ and \] have to be *literally* in the PS1 variable.  They can't be
put there as a product of a substitution.  (So then people think, "Oh,
then I need to use double quotes in the PS1 assignment..." and while
that technically *can* be made to work, it's abominable.)

If I were inclined to use garish colored prompts, my PS1 assignments
would look like this:

  red=$(tput setaf 1) bold=$(tput bold) reset=$(tput sgr0)
  PS1='\[$red\]\h\[$reset\]:\[$bold\]\w\[$reset\]\$ '

I tested that.  It works.

However, I'm not so inclined.  My PS1 actually looks like this:

  PS1='\h:\w\$ '

That one has also been tested, and it also works. ;-)