256 colour prompt in Zsh

Question

How can I set my prompt to be colourized in 256 colours? I am looking for an equivalent to the bash prompt:

  local DEFAULT="\[\033[0;39m\]"
  local ROOK="\[\033[38;5;24m\]"
  PS1="${ROOK}\$${DEFAULT} "

Answer 1

First, ensure that your terminal supports 256 colors, which I suppose you already have. Second, use a PS1 variable with the correct code, for example:

export PS1='%{^[[01;38;05;214;48;05;123m%}%m%{^[[0m%} '

This will give you a prompt with the host name in bold, with a foreground color of 214 and a background color of 123.

Note that the ^[ is "entered" by typing Ctrl+v and Ctrl+[. See this excellent article "That 256 Color Thing" for the whole list of attributes.