bash prompt with abbreviated current director including dot files?

Question

I have the following in my .bash_profile (from a similar question here:

PROMPT_COMMAND='pwd2=$(sed "s:\([^/]\)[^/]*/:\1/:g" <<<$PWD)'
PS1='\u@\h:$pwd2\$ '

However, if the current directory is within a .dir (such as ~/.vim/bundle/) then the prompt just displays a .:

chris@DeathStar:/U/c/./bundle$

I would like it instead to retain 1 char for all dirnames unless it has a dot, in which case it would show two, like this:

chris@DeathStar:/U/c/.v/bundle$

Even better would be if I also have the home directory represented by a ~ like this:

chris@DeathStar:~/.v/bundle$

Any ideas?

Is it OK just putting the basename of the current working directory in the prompting instead of the whole directory, and use pwd command if you want to get the whole directory? That means use \W instead \w. This solution is simple and work for me. — Edw4rd, Nov 16, 2012 at 20:09

Dennis Kaarsemaker · Accepted Answer · 2012-11-16 19:22:35Z

2

This seems to do the trick, adding an optional . to the capture:

PROMPT_COMMAND='pwd2=$(sed "s:\(\.\?[^/]\)[^/]*/:\1/:g" <<<$PWD)'
PS1='\u@\h:$pwd2\$ '

And for the 'even better':

PROMPT_COMMAND='pwd2=$(sed -e "s:$HOME:~:" -e "s:\(\.\?[^/]\)[^/]*/:\1/:g" <<<$PWD)'
PS1='\u@\h:$pwd2\$ '

answered Nov 16, 2012 at 19:22

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hmmm...neither of these work on my system: the prompt shows the full dirnames in the path ... chris@DeathStar:/Users/chris/db/personal$
– Chris
Nov 16, 2012 at 20:38
Hmm. Could be an incompatibility between gnu sed and osx sed. Don't have an osx machine to test on.
– Dennis Kaarsemaker
Nov 16, 2012 at 20:40
Thank you! That pointed me in the right direction... installed gnu-sed and all it works!
– Chris
Nov 16, 2012 at 23:36

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