[Solved] How to show longer part of $PWD in bash prompt ?

Lone_Wolf · 2026-07-18 11:03:00

The bash prompt has w and W to show the current directory in the prompt.
Unfortunately I have multiple folders with the same name but in different locationsfor different purposes..

example :

~/Documents/Games/MM7
~/Downloads/Games/MM7

~/pkgbuilds/llvm-minimal-git
~/git-repos/AUR/llvm-minimal-git

Showing the full path in the prompt is overkill and likely way to long but showing the path relative to $HOME for folders under $HOME would be very handy .

So instead of MM7 it should be Documents/Games/MM7 or Downloads/Games/MM7

Last edited by Lone_Wolf (2026-07-22 12:05:31)

5hridhyan · 2026-07-18 11:48:12

I did this by using a custom function

meow() {
    case "$1" in
        "$HOME")
            printf '~'
            ;;
        "$HOME"/*)
            printf '~/%s' "${1#$HOME/}"
            ;;
        *)
            printf '%s' "$1"
            ;;
    esac
}

and used `PS1='$(meow "$PWD") \$ ' ` in prompt
...

Edit
or

export PROMPT_DIRTRIM=3
PS1='\u@\h \w \$ '

like if your goal is to always show the full path under your home directory (for ex. always showing ~/Documents/Games/MM7) then PROMPT_DIRTRIM is not the right tool...

Edit2:
changed the function to accept the path as an argument instead of relying on the global $PWD variable

Last edited by 5hridhyan (2026-07-18 12:40:48)

Lone_Wolf · 2026-07-18 12:06:28

Yup, PROMPT_DIRTRIM=3 comes close .

Will test that and the function you posted in the next days to verify which works best for me.

seth · 2026-07-18 16:00:05

Have you ever tried just the basic https://archlinux.org/packages/extra/an … sh-config/ ?
https://archlinux.org/packages/extra/an … hlighting/ (you'll have to source that) is also fun.

(the grml config auto-elides the prompt to 40 chars max)

Lone_Wolf · 2026-07-19 11:35:26

Nope, only times I used zsh was during installing from the iso (atleast I think the iso uses grml zsh) .

Sofar the whole path from ~ to folder is TMI as ~/pkgbuilds/llvm-minimal-git/src/llvm-project starts 4 levels deep and has atleast 4 nested levels itself .
PROMPT_DIRTRIM=2 is not enough info, 3 is usable.

[panoramix@mjoelnir ~/.../oolite/KicheEmergencyShields/Scripts] (master)$

The total size of that is ~ 70 chars, how would grml handle that ?

How does grml handle longer prompts then 40 chars ?

seth · 2026-07-19 11:45:52

It left-elides the path, not the rest of the promt - or rather the token '%40<..<%~%<< ' does that in zsh - the grml config provides an abstraction layer to the config.
You can run "prompt -h grml" to get an oversight how to customize that.

It's a bit like a less annoying OMZ … and maybe a way to covert you to use ze zuperior zhell

Lone_Wolf · 2026-07-22 12:05:09

Looked at zsh with grml-zsh-config . The completion is better then that used in bash.

Things I'd have to change :

Seeing (git)-(master) is too much info as I don't use other VCS then git
The truncation of longer paths is annoying for me as I very much prefer path display stopping at a / .
ls sort order is case sensitive which I hate for directory output .
(under bash ls displays clang.ini before CMake.txt)

The question comes down to : Is the extra power the zsh shell gives worth the effort needed to tweak it to my wishes ?
For bash I have done very little tweaking.

I will keep zsh+grml installed for now.

As for the topic of this thread :
PROMPT_DIRTRIM=3 works well, marking as [Solved].

seth · 2026-07-22 12:54:32

zstyle ':vcs_info:*'              actionformats "%F{red}%b%f:%F{green}%a%f "  "zsh: %r"
zstyle ':vcs_info:*'              formats       "%F{red}%b%f "  "zsh: %r"

# limit prompt to trailing three segments
zstyle ':prompt:grml:*:items:path' token '%3~'

ls sorts according to LC_COLLATE which is likely set to some C (or unset) in zsh but set to some utf8 locale bash?

Lone_Wolf · 2026-07-23 09:35:10

LC_COLLATE is unset on my system.

$ alias | grep ls=
ls='command ls --color=auto -v'

Looks like that comes from /etc/zsh/.zshrc which is owned by grml-zsh-config.
It's the -v that caused it, apparently it does affect more then number sort.

Copying alias ls='ls --color=auto --group-directories-first' for my ~/.bashrc solved the issue

grml-zsh-config comes with a lot of aliases that I don't need (my ~/.bashrc only has 4 aliases)

I just noticed zsh (probably ZLE?) has different ideas then me about what the home-key on keyboard should do.

Not removing it yet, but my feeling sofar is that zsh/grml authors and I have different ideas about how things should work.

seth · 2026-07-23 16:11:35

grml-zsh-config comes with a lot of

tbc, it's a very generic config that actually carries a lot of "cruft" (including a lot of debian specific stuff, obviously) - it's more to showcase the environment, zsh's abilities do neither start nor end there.

I just noticed zsh (probably ZLE?) has different ideas then me about what the home-key on keyboard should do.

Specifically? (Jumps to the start of the line for me)

Lone_Wolf · 2026-07-24 19:24:16

Double checked, both home and end produce a ~ symbol .
With numlock disabled the home and end keys on the numeric block do the same .
Even the delete key gives ~ now.

I've removed grml-zsh-config, no difference .

My keyboard is a logitech wired K120 without any special keys. It's about the simplest you can find.

X complains about a few things related to keyboard but has done so since I bought it.

The XKEYBOARD keymap compiler (xkbcomp) reports:
> Warning:          Multiple symbols for level 1/group 1 on key <FK23>
>                   Using F23, ignoring XF86TouchpadOff
> Warning:          Symbol map for key <FK23> redefined
>                   Using last definition for conflicting fields
> Warning:          Symbol map for key <FK24> redefined
>                   Using last definition for conflicting fields
> Warning:          Could not resolve keysym XF86ElectronicPrivacyScreenOn
> Warning:          Could not resolve keysym XF86ElectronicPrivacyScreenOff
> Warning:          Could not resolve keysym XF86ActionOnSelection
> Warning:          Could not resolve keysym XF86ContextualInsert
> Warning:          Could not resolve keysym XF86ContextualQuery
Errors from xkbcomp are not fatal to the X server

I'll consider creating a test user with zsh as default shell to give a chance. Maybe next week when temps get above 30 again and I need to do something at 0300 when temp outside is below temp inside.

seth · 2026-07-24 20:00:45

IOW the home key does nothing (you get ESC~)

bindkey -e # "emacs" navigation in zle, you probably want that

bindkey "\e[1~" beginning-of-line
bindkey "\e[1;5D" backward-word
bindkey "\e[4~" end-of-line
bindkey "\e[1;5C" forward-word
bindkey "\e[3~" delete-char

r-delregion() {
  if ((REGION_ACTIVE)) then
     zle kill-region
  else 
    local widget_name=$1
    shift
    zle $widget_name -- $@
  fi
}

r-deselect() {
  ((REGION_ACTIVE = 0))
  local widget_name=$1
  shift
  zle $widget_name -- $@
}

r-select() {
  ((REGION_ACTIVE)) || zle set-mark-command
  local widget_name=$1
  shift
  zle $widget_name -- $@
}

r-copy() {
  if ((REGION_ACTIVE)); then
    zle copy-region-as-kill
    print -rn -- $CUTBUFFER | xsel -b -i
  else
    # Nothing is selected, so default to the interrupt command
    zle send-break
  fi
}

for key     seq        mode   widget (
    sleft   '\e[1;2D' select   backward-char
    sright  '\e[1;2C' select   forward-char
    send    '\E[1;2F' select   end-of-line

    shome   '\E[1;2H' select   beginning-of-line

    csleft  '\E[1;6D' select   backward-word
    csright '\E[1;6C' select   forward-word

    del     '\E[3~'  delregion delete-char
    bs      '^?'     delregion backward-delete-char
    
    sins    '^[[2;5~' copy ""

  ) {
  eval "key-$key() {
    r-$mode $widget \$@
  }"
  zle -N key-$key
  bindkey $seq key-$key
}

nb. that "r-copy" utilizes xsel to the things into the X11 clipboard and adjust that accordingly

Lone_Wolf · 2026-07-24 20:15:11

That means I have to port readline /etc/inputrc into zshrc to get zle to support the same functionality ?

seth · 2026-07-24 20:21:08

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Zsh#Key_bindings

The upside is that you're not constrained by readline either
(I really expected the grml config to set this up already)

Arch Linux

#1 2026-07-18 11:03:00

[Solved] How to show longer part of $PWD in bash prompt ?

#2 2026-07-18 11:48:12

Re: [Solved] How to show longer part of $PWD in bash prompt ?

#3 2026-07-18 12:06:28

Re: [Solved] How to show longer part of $PWD in bash prompt ?

#4 2026-07-18 16:00:05

Re: [Solved] How to show longer part of $PWD in bash prompt ?

#5 2026-07-19 11:35:26

Re: [Solved] How to show longer part of $PWD in bash prompt ?

#6 2026-07-19 11:45:52

Re: [Solved] How to show longer part of $PWD in bash prompt ?

#7 2026-07-22 12:05:09

Re: [Solved] How to show longer part of $PWD in bash prompt ?

#8 2026-07-22 12:54:32

Re: [Solved] How to show longer part of $PWD in bash prompt ?

#9 2026-07-23 09:35:10

Re: [Solved] How to show longer part of $PWD in bash prompt ?

#10 2026-07-23 16:11:35

Re: [Solved] How to show longer part of $PWD in bash prompt ?

#11 2026-07-24 19:24:16

Re: [Solved] How to show longer part of $PWD in bash prompt ?

#12 2026-07-24 20:00:45

Re: [Solved] How to show longer part of $PWD in bash prompt ?

#13 2026-07-24 20:15:11

Re: [Solved] How to show longer part of $PWD in bash prompt ?

#14 2026-07-24 20:21:08

Re: [Solved] How to show longer part of $PWD in bash prompt ?

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