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<a name="Customizing-the-Prompt"></a>
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Next: <a href="Diary-and-Echo-Commands.html#Diary-and-Echo-Commands" accesskey="n" rel="next">Diary and Echo Commands</a>, Previous: <a href="Customizing-readline.html#Customizing-readline" accesskey="p" rel="prev">Customizing readline</a>, Up: <a href="Command-Line-Editing.html#Command-Line-Editing" accesskey="u" rel="up">Command Line Editing</a> [<a href="index.html#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>][<a href="Concept-Index.html#Concept-Index" title="Index" rel="index">Index</a>]</p>
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<hr>
<a name="Customizing-the-Prompt-1"></a>
<h4 class="subsection">2.4.7 Customizing the Prompt</h4>
<a name="index-prompt-customization"></a>
<a name="index-customizing-the-prompt"></a>
<p>The following variables are available for customizing the appearance of
the command-line prompts. Octave allows the prompt to be customized by
inserting a number of backslash-escaped special characters that are
decoded as follows:
</p>
<dl compact="compact">
<dt>‘<samp>\t</samp>’</dt>
<dd><p>The time.
</p>
</dd>
<dt>‘<samp>\d</samp>’</dt>
<dd><p>The date.
</p>
</dd>
<dt>‘<samp>\n</samp>’</dt>
<dd><p>Begins a new line by printing the equivalent of a carriage return
followed by a line feed.
</p>
</dd>
<dt>‘<samp>\s</samp>’</dt>
<dd><p>The name of the program (usually just ‘<samp>octave</samp>’).
</p>
</dd>
<dt>‘<samp>\w</samp>’</dt>
<dd><p>The current working directory.
</p>
</dd>
<dt>‘<samp>\W</samp>’</dt>
<dd><p>The basename of the current working directory.
</p>
</dd>
<dt>‘<samp>\u</samp>’</dt>
<dd><p>The username of the current user.
</p>
</dd>
<dt>‘<samp>\h</samp>’</dt>
<dd><p>The hostname, up to the first ‘.’.
</p>
</dd>
<dt>‘<samp>\H</samp>’</dt>
<dd><p>The hostname.
</p>
</dd>
<dt>‘<samp>\#</samp>’</dt>
<dd><p>The command number of this command, counting from when Octave starts.
</p>
</dd>
<dt>‘<samp>\!</samp>’</dt>
<dd><p>The history number of this command. This differs from ‘<samp>\#</samp>’ by the
number of commands in the history list when Octave starts.
</p>
</dd>
<dt>‘<samp>\$</samp>’</dt>
<dd><p>If the effective UID is 0, a ‘<samp>#</samp>’, otherwise a ‘<samp>$</samp>’.
</p>
</dd>
<dt>‘<samp>\nnn</samp>’</dt>
<dd><p>The character whose character code in octal is <var>nnn</var>.
</p>
</dd>
<dt>‘<samp>\\</samp>’</dt>
<dd><p>A backslash.
</p></dd>
</dl>
<a name="XREFPS1"></a><dl>
<dt><a name="index-PS1"></a><em><var>val</var> =</em> <strong>PS1</strong> <em>()</em></dt>
<dt><a name="index-PS1-1"></a><em><var>old_val</var> =</em> <strong>PS1</strong> <em>(<var>new_val</var>)</em></dt>
<dt><a name="index-PS1-2"></a><em></em> <strong>PS1</strong> <em>(<var>new_val</var>, "local")</em></dt>
<dd><p>Query or set the primary prompt string.
</p>
<p>When executing interactively, Octave displays the primary prompt when it is
ready to read a command.
</p>
<p>The default value of the primary prompt string is <code>'octave:\#> '</code>.
To change it, use a command like
</p>
<div class="example">
<pre class="example">PS1 ("\\u@\\H> ")
</pre></div>
<p>which will result in the prompt ‘<samp>boris@kremvax> </samp>’ for the user
‘<samp>boris</samp>’ logged in on the host ‘<samp>kremvax.kgb.su</samp>’. Note that two
backslashes are required to enter a backslash into a double-quoted
character string. See <a href="Strings.html#Strings">Strings</a>.
</p>
<p>You can also use ANSI escape sequences if your terminal supports them.
This can be useful for coloring the prompt. For example,
</p>
<div class="example">
<pre class="example">PS1 ('\[\033[01;31m\]\s:\#> \[\033[0m\]')
</pre></div>
<p>will give the default Octave prompt a red coloring.
</p>
<p>When called from inside a function with the <code>"local"</code> option, the
variable is changed locally for the function and any subroutines it calls.
The original variable value is restored when exiting the function.
</p>
<p><strong>See also:</strong> <a href="#XREFPS2">PS2</a>, <a href="#XREFPS4">PS4</a>.
</p></dd></dl>
<a name="XREFPS2"></a><dl>
<dt><a name="index-PS2"></a><em><var>val</var> =</em> <strong>PS2</strong> <em>()</em></dt>
<dt><a name="index-PS2-1"></a><em><var>old_val</var> =</em> <strong>PS2</strong> <em>(<var>new_val</var>)</em></dt>
<dt><a name="index-PS2-2"></a><em></em> <strong>PS2</strong> <em>(<var>new_val</var>, "local")</em></dt>
<dd><p>Query or set the secondary prompt string.
</p>
<p>The secondary prompt is printed when Octave is expecting additional input to
complete a command. For example, if you are typing a <code>for</code> loop that
spans several lines, Octave will print the secondary prompt at the beginning
of each line after the first. The default value of the secondary prompt
string is <code>"> "</code>.
</p>
<p>When called from inside a function with the <code>"local"</code> option, the
variable is changed locally for the function and any subroutines it calls.
The original variable value is restored when exiting the function.
</p>
<p><strong>See also:</strong> <a href="#XREFPS1">PS1</a>, <a href="#XREFPS4">PS4</a>.
</p></dd></dl>
<a name="XREFPS4"></a><dl>
<dt><a name="index-PS4"></a><em><var>val</var> =</em> <strong>PS4</strong> <em>()</em></dt>
<dt><a name="index-PS4-1"></a><em><var>old_val</var> =</em> <strong>PS4</strong> <em>(<var>new_val</var>)</em></dt>
<dt><a name="index-PS4-2"></a><em></em> <strong>PS4</strong> <em>(<var>new_val</var>, "local")</em></dt>
<dd><p>Query or set the character string used to prefix output produced
when echoing commands is enabled.
</p>
<p>The default value is <code>"+ "</code>.
See <a href="Diary-and-Echo-Commands.html#Diary-and-Echo-Commands">Diary and Echo Commands</a>, for a description of echoing commands.
</p>
<p>When called from inside a function with the <code>"local"</code> option, the
variable is changed locally for the function and any subroutines it calls.
The original variable value is restored when exiting the function.
</p>
<p><strong>See also:</strong> <a href="Diary-and-Echo-Commands.html#XREFecho">echo</a>, <a href="#XREFPS1">PS1</a>, <a href="#XREFPS2">PS2</a>.
</p></dd></dl>
<hr>
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