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## 17. Prompting

The default prompt for zsh is:

phoenix% echo $PROMPT
%m%#

The %m stands for the short form of the current hostname, and the %# stands for a % or a #, depending on whether the shell is running as root or not. zsh supports many other control sequences in the PROMPT variable.

% PROMPT=’%/> ’
/u/pfalstad/etc/TeX/zsh>

% PROMPT=’%˜> ’
˜/etc/TeX/zsh>

% PROMPT=’%h %˜> ’
6 ˜/etc/TeX/zsh>

%h represents the number of current history event.

% PROMPT=’%h %˜ %M> ’
10 ˜/etc/TeX/zsh apple-gunkies.gnu.ai.mit.edu>

% PROMPT=’%h %˜ %m> ’
11 ˜/etc/TeX/zsh apple-gunkies>

% PROMPT=’%h %t> ’
12 6:11am>

% PROMPT=’%n %w tty%l>’
pfalstad Fri 24 ttyp0>

PROMPT2 is used in multiline commands, like for-loops. The %_ escape sequence was made especially for this prompt. It is replaced by the kind of command that is being entered.

% PROMPT2=’%_> ’
% for i in foo bar
for>

% echo ’hi
quote>

Also available is the RPROMPT parameter. If this is set, the shell puts a prompt on the right side of the screen.

% RPROMPT=’%t’
% 6:14am

% RPROMPT=’%˜’
% ˜/etc/TeX/zsh

% PROMPT=’%l %T %m[%h] ’ RPROMPT=’ %˜’
p0 6:15 phoenix[5] ˜/etc/TeX/zsh

These special escape sequences can also be used with the -P option to print:

% print -P %h tty%l
15 ttyp1

The POSTEDIT parameter is printed whenever the editor exits. This can be useful for termcap tricks. To highlight the prompt and command line while leaving command output unhighlighted, try this:

% POSTEDIT=‘echotc se‘
% PROMPT=’%S%% ’

This trick is mostly superseded by the zle_highlight array parameter.

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