The PS1 Generator empowers you to craft visually coherent, information-rich Bash prompts that convey system context at a glance. By combining discrete prompt tokens with precise colour and style controls, you optimise situational awareness during command-line work, reduce cognitive overhead, and reinforce best practices for shell hygiene on shared or production hosts.
Through its interactive drag-and-drop interface the generator lets you arrange usernames, hostnames, directories, Git branches, or custom text exactly where you want them. Live ANSI-aware previewing exposes attributes instantly, enabling iterative adjustments without touching configuration files or memorising escape sequences that often complicate manual prompt authoring.
Whether you manage developer workstations, teach newcomers about shell customisation, or maintain consistent branding across servers, the tool delivers an elegant one-click export path to a fully-formed PS1 string. Support for imports safeguards existing configurations, while fine-grained styling delivers accessibility compliance across Bash versions and terminal emulators.
This section outlines the principal capabilities, syntax references, and output conventions implemented by the PS1 Generator.
$PS1 strings (order preserving)| Element | Token | Sample Output |
|---|---|---|
| Username | \u | shakir |
| Hostname (short) | \h | glamdring |
| Working Directory | \w | ~/projects |
| Git Branch | $(parse_git_branch) | main |
| Date (ISO-8601) | \D{%F} | 2025-04-30 |
| Time (24-hour) | \t | 03:55:17 |
| Exit Status | \$? | 0 |
| Attribute | ANSI Code | Visual Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Bold | 1 | Example |
| Dim | 2 | Example |
| Italic | 3 | Example |
| Underline | 4 | Example |
| Blink | 5 | Example |
| Reverse | 7 | Example |
# Sample generated string
PS1='\[\e[1;38;2;0;255;0m\]\u@\h:\[\e[38;2;0;128;255m\]\w\[\e[0m\]\$ 'Follow these instructions to assemble and deploy a customised Bash prompt with minimal effort.
[, ], $) directly in the dedicated fields if contextual markers are required.PS1 string on the clipboard, then append it to your ~/.bashrc or session script.This section clarifies recurrent questions about functionality, compatibility, and best practices.
Add the copied string to ~/.bashrc, then reload with source ~/.bashrc or start a new terminal.
The current implementation targets Bash prompt syntax. Zsh tokens overlap partially but results may vary; Fish uses a different model.
The prompt must be wrapped in \[ \] escapes to inform Bash of non-printing characters; the generator adds these automatically.
Yes—add a Text element and paste the desired symbol. Ensure your terminal font supports the glyph for consistent rendering.
True-colour codes fall back gracefully; unsupported values usually map to the nearest palette entry. Test on target hosts to confirm.
If unexpected behaviour occurs, consult the list below for rapid resolutions.
TERM supports 24-bit colour or switch to xterm-256color.\n or shorten directory tokens..bashrc and you are inside a repository.PS1='\$ ' then regenerate with standard colour values.Leverage these expert techniques to refine performance and maintainability.
set -o vi for modal editing and pair with a dimmed, italic prompt indicator.VIRTUAL_ENV.Key terminology referenced throughout the documentation is defined below.