Instruction to add color to shell prompt (and show git directory name)

The best to execute this is to select everything and simply paste it into a terminal. It will append some lines to .bashrc file in home directory.

curl -o ~/git-prompt.sh https://raw.githubusercontent.com/git/git/master/contrib/completion/git-prompt.sh
echo '. ~/git-prompt.sh' >> ~/.bashrc
echo 'PROMPT_DIRTRIM=1' >> ~/.bashrc
echo 'HOST_COLOR=32' >> ~/.bashrc
echo "PS1='"'\[\033[01;${HOST_COLOR}m\]\u@\h\[\033[00m\] \[\033[01;34m\]\w\[\033[00m\]\[\033[01;35m\]$(__git_ps1 " (%s)")\[\033[00m\]$ '"'" >> ~/.bashrc
exec bash
Example output (user zbyszek, host my-machine, directory ~/something/something/shell, git branch gh-pages)

Example output (user “zbyszek”, host “my-machine”, directory “~/something/something/shell”, git branch “gh-pages”)

Longer explanation:

  1. curl downloads a file which extracts information about git branch and saves it in your home directory
  2. echo ... > ~/.bashrc commands append lines at the end of your .bashrc file. You can view the results in any editor.
  3. exec bash simply restarts your shell, so you can see the effect.
Software Carpentry Source Contact License