Background

The good thing about personal computing is that it lends itself to quick and easy customizing.

In this post, we will cover how we can use “login scripts” to customize our prompt while in Linux’s terminal mode.

OSes

Microsoft – Win OS

In the Microsoft Windows world, one can use autoexec.bat to run scripts when the computer starts up.

BTW, autoexec stands for “auto execution”.

As Microsoft graduated into a unified directory system, Active Directory, one can set the logon script for each AD User.

Or use Group Policy ( GP ).

Linux

File Name Structure

Depending on the shell type and the intended user scope, the file name that we will need to modify will be slightly different.

Folder Names

File Names

 

Customization

Terminal Mode – Prompt

WSL

Here is the default terminal’s prompt  on my WSL:-

Output – Image

Output – Textual

dadeniji@M2:/mnt/c/WINDOWS/system32$

Explanation

Here is a quick breakdown of the default prompt

1. user
   • username
2. @
3. computer
   • computer-name
4. :
5. Current Folder
   • /mnt/c/windows/system32$

Customize

Let us quickly reduce the clutter a bit.

Outline

1. File
   • File name:- ~/.bash_profile
   • File Content
     • export PS1=’>’
   • File Mode
     • mark file as executable
       • chmod +x <filename>
   • Execute File

File Name

My current default shell is bash.

The change is for only me.

And, so the filename is ~/.bash_profile.

File Content

vi’ed file

File Mode

Using chmod marked file as executable.

chmod +x ~/.bash_profile

 

Execute File

Using the source command try to execute our little file ( /home/$USER/.bash_profile ).

source ~/.bash_profile

 

Lab

As always take it to the lab, add a bit more complexity.

In our case, we added our salutation script.

Source Code

Textual

export PS1='>'

source "/home/$USER/script/bash/salutation.sh"

Image

Output

Image

The next time we log on to the system, here is what we see

Explanation

1. dadeniji, Good morning
   • username
   • Time of Day
2. Prompt
   • >

Referenced Work

1. hello world in bash
   Link