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macosbashpromptps1

Changing PS1 prompt in a Bash parent shell

Using a script, I was to change the prompt of the parent Bash shell. I have tried the following:

PS1="Hello World > "

This changes the prompt of the subshell, which the script is running in, but which command would I use to change the prompt of the parent shell. Any ideas?

Solution

  • In all cases the parent shell must cooperate. The child process in a unix environment cannot influence the parent process without its cooperation.

    Try this in the subshell script changePrompt.sh:

    echo 'PS1="Hello World > "'

    And then call the script from the parent shell like this:

    eval "$(changePrompt.sh)"

    Or, a different approach: Source the script instead of calling it. changePrompt.sh:

    PS1="Hello World > "

    Call it like this:

    source changePrompt.sh

    or simply:

    . changePrompt.sh