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<H1> 12. Prompt Expansion </H1>
<!--docid::SEC39::-->
Prompt sequences undergo a special form of expansion. This type of expansion
is also available using the <TT>-P</TT> option to the <TT>print</TT> builtin.
<P>
<A NAME="IDX130"></A>
If the <TT>PROMPT_SUBST</TT> option is set, the prompt string is first subjected to
<EM>parameter expansion</EM>,
<EM>command substitution</EM> and
<EM>arithmetic expansion</EM>.
See
<A HREF="zsh_13.html#SEC40">13. Expansion</A>.
</P>
<P>
Certain escape sequences may be recognised in the prompt string.
</P>
<P>
<A NAME="IDX131"></A>
If the <TT>PROMPT_BANG</TT> option is set, a `<TT>!</TT>' in the prompt is replaced
by the current history event number. A literal `<TT>!</TT>' may then be
represented as `<TT>!!</TT>'.
</P>
<P>
<A NAME="IDX132"></A>
If the <TT>PROMPT_PERCENT</TT> option is set, certain escape sequences that
start with `<TT>%</TT>' are expanded.
Some escapes take an optional integer argument, which
should appear between the `<TT>%</TT>' and the next character of the
sequence. The following escape sequences are recognized:
</P>
<P>
</P>
<DL COMPACT>
<DT><TT>%%</TT>
<DD>A `<TT>%</TT>'.
<P>
</P>
<DT><TT>%)</TT>
<DD>A `<TT>)</TT>'.
<P>
</P>
<DT><TT>%d</TT>
<DD><DT><TT>%/</TT>
<DD>Present working directory (<TT>$PWD</TT>). If an integer follows the `<TT>%</TT>',
it specifies a number of trailing components of <TT>$PWD</TT> to show; zero
means the whole path. A negative integer specifies leading components,
i.e. <TT>%-1d</TT> specifies the first component.
<P>
</P>
<DT><TT>%~</TT>
<DD>As <TT>%d</TT> and <TT>%/</TT>, but if <TT>$PWD</TT> has a named directory as its prefix,
that part is replaced by a `<TT>~</TT>' followed by the name of the directory.
If it starts with <TT>$HOME</TT>, that part is replaced by a `<TT>~</TT>'.
<P>
</P>
<DT><TT>%h</TT>
<DD><DT><TT>%!</TT>
<DD>Current history event number.
<P>
</P>
<DT><TT>%L</TT>
<DD>The current value of <TT>$SHLVL</TT>.
<P>
</P>
<DT><TT>%M</TT>
<DD>The full machine hostname.
<P>
</P>
<DT><TT>%m</TT>
<DD>The hostname up to the first `<TT>.</TT>'.
An integer may follow the `<TT>%</TT>' to specify
how many components of the hostname are desired. With a negative integer,
trailing components of the hostname are shown.
<P>
</P>
<DT><TT>%S</TT> (<TT>%s</TT>)
<DD>Start (stop) standout mode.
<P>
</P>
<DT><TT>%U</TT> (<TT>%u</TT>)
<DD>Start (stop) underline mode.
<P>
</P>
<DT><TT>%B</TT> (<TT>%b</TT>)
<DD>Start (stop) boldface mode.
<P>
</P>
<DT><TT>%t</TT>
<DD><DT><TT>%@</TT>
<DD>Current time of day, in 12-hour, am/pm format.
<P>
</P>
<DT><TT>%T</TT>
<DD>Current time of day, in 24-hour format.
<P>
</P>
<DT><TT>%*</TT>
<DD>Current time of day in 24-hour format, with seconds.
<P>
</P>
<DT><TT>%n</TT>
<DD><TT>$USERNAME</TT>.
<P>
</P>
<DT><TT>%N</TT>
<DD>The name of the script, sourced file, or shell function that zsh is
currently executing, whichever was started most recently. If there is
none, this is equivalent to the parameter <TT>$0</TT>. An integer may follow
the `<TT>%</TT>' to specify a number of trailing path components to show; zero
means the full path. A negative integer specifies leading components.
<P>
</P>
<DT><TT>%i</TT>
<DD>The line number currently being executed in the script, sourced file, or
shell function given by <TT>%N</TT>. This is most useful for debugging as part
of <TT>$PS4</TT>.
<P>
</P>
<DT><TT>%w</TT>
<DD>The date in <VAR>day</VAR><TT>-</TT><VAR>dd</VAR> format.
<P>
</P>
<DT><TT>%W</TT>
<DD>The date in <VAR>mm</VAR><TT>/</TT><VAR>dd</VAR><TT>/</TT><VAR>yy</VAR> format.
<P>
</P>
<DT><TT>%D</TT>
<DD>The date in <VAR>yy</VAR><TT>-</TT><VAR>mm</VAR><TT>-</TT><VAR>dd</VAR> format.
<P>
</P>
<DT><TT>%D{</TT><VAR>string</VAR><TT>}</TT>
<DD><VAR>string</VAR> is formatted using the <TT>strftime</TT> function.
See man page strftime(3) for more details. Three additional codes are
available: <TT>%f</TT> prints the day of the month, like <TT>%e</TT> but
without any preceding space if the day is a single digit, and
<TT>%K</TT>/<TT>%L</TT> correspond to <TT>%k</TT>/<TT>%l</TT> for the hour of the day
(24/12 hour clock) in the same way.
<P>
</P>
<DT><TT>%l</TT>
<DD>The line (tty) the user is logged in on without <TT>/dev/</TT> prefix.
If name starts with <TT>/dev/tty</TT> this is stripped.
<P>
</P>
<DT><TT>%y</TT>
<DD>The line (tty) the user is logged in on without <TT>/dev/</TT> prefix.
It does not treat <TT>/dev/tty*</TT> specially.
<P>
</P>
<DT><TT>%?</TT>
<DD>The return code of the last command executed just before the prompt.
<P>
</P>
<DT><TT>%_</TT>
<DD>The status of the parser, i.e. the shell constructs (like `<TT>if</TT>' and
`<TT>for</TT>') that have been started on the command line. If given an integer
number that many strings will be printed; zero or negative or no integer means
print as many as there are. This is most useful in prompts <TT>PS2</TT> for
continuation lines and <TT>PS4</TT> for debugging with the <TT>XTRACE</TT> option; in
the latter case it will also work non-interactively.
<P>
</P>
<DT><TT>%E</TT>
<DD>Clears to end of line.
<P>
</P>
<DT><TT>%#</TT>
<DD>A `<TT>#</TT>' if the shell is running with privileges, a `<TT>%</TT>' if not.
Equivalent to `<TT>%(!.#.%%)</TT>'.
The definition of `privileged', for these purposes, is that either the
effective user ID is zero, or, if POSIX.1e capabilities are supported, that
at least one capability is raised in either the Effective or Inheritable
capability vectors.
<P>
</P>
<DT><TT>%v</TT>
<DD><A NAME="IDX133"></A>
The value of the first element of the <TT>psvar</TT> array parameter. Following
the `<TT>%</TT>' with an integer gives that element of the array. Negative
integers count from the end of the array.
<P>
</P>
<DT><TT>%{</TT>...<TT>%}</TT>
<DD>Include a string as a literal escape sequence.
The string within the braces should not change the cursor
position. Brace pairs can nest.
<P>
</P>
<DT><TT>%(</TT><VAR>x.true-text.false-text</VAR><TT>)</TT>
<DD>Specifies a ternary expression. The character following the <VAR>x</VAR> is
arbitrary; the same character is used to separate the text for the
`true' result from that for the `false' result.
This separator may not appear in the <VAR>true-text</VAR>, except as part of a
%-escape
sequence. A `<TT>)</TT>' may appear in the <VAR>false-text</VAR> as `<TT>%)</TT>'.
<VAR>true-text</VAR>
and <VAR>false-text</VAR> may both contain arbitrarily-nested escape
sequences, including further ternary expressions.
<P>
The left parenthesis may be preceded or followed by a positive integer <VAR>n</VAR>,
which defaults to zero. A negative integer will be multiplied by -1.
The test character <VAR>x</VAR> may be any of the following:
</P>
<P>
</P>
<DL COMPACT>
<DT><TT>c</TT>
<DD><DT><TT>.</TT>
<DD><DT><TT>~</TT>
<DD>True if the current path, with prefix replacement, has at least <VAR>n</VAR> elements.
<DT><TT>/</TT>
<DD><DT><TT>C</TT>
<DD>True if the current absolute path has at least <VAR>n</VAR> elements.
<DT><TT>t</TT>
<DD>True if the time in minutes is equal to <VAR>n</VAR>.
<DT><TT>T</TT>
<DD>True if the time in hours is equal to <VAR>n</VAR>.
<DT><TT>d</TT>
<DD>True if the day of the month is equal to <VAR>n</VAR>.
<DT><TT>D</TT>
<DD>True if the month is equal to <VAR>n</VAR> (January = 0).
<DT><TT>w</TT>
<DD>True if the day of the week is equal to <VAR>n</VAR> (Sunday = 0).
<DT><TT>?</TT>
<DD>True if the exit status of the last command was <VAR>n</VAR>.
<DT><TT>#</TT>
<DD>True if the effective uid of the current process is <VAR>n</VAR>.
<DT><TT>g</TT>
<DD>True if the effective gid of the current process is <VAR>n</VAR>.
<DT><TT>l</TT>
<DD>True if at least <VAR>n</VAR> characters have already been
printed on the current line.
<DT><TT>L</TT>
<DD>True if the <TT>SHLVL</TT> parameter is at least <VAR>n</VAR>.
<DT><TT>S</TT>
<DD>True if the <TT>SECONDS</TT> parameter is at least <VAR>n</VAR>.
<DT><TT>v</TT>
<DD>True if the array <TT>psvar</TT> has at least <VAR>n</VAR> elements.
<DT><TT>_</TT>
<DD>True if at least <VAR>n</VAR> shell constructs were started.
<DT><TT>!</TT>
<DD>True if the shell is running with privileges.
</DL>
<P>
</P>
<DT><TT>%<</TT><VAR>string</VAR><TT><</TT>
<DD><DT><TT>%></TT><VAR>string</VAR><TT>></TT>
<DD><DT><TT>%[</TT><VAR>xstring</VAR><TT>]</TT>
<DD>Specifies truncation behaviour for the remainder of the prompt string.
The third, deprecated, form is equivalent to `<TT>%</TT><VAR>xstringx</VAR>',
i.e. <VAR>x</VAR> may be `<TT><</TT>' or `<TT>></TT>'.
The numeric argument, which in the third form may appear immediately
after the `<TT>[</TT>', specifies the maximum permitted length of
the various strings that can be displayed in the prompt.
The <VAR>string</VAR> will be displayed in
place of the truncated portion of any string; note this does not
undergo prompt expansion.
<P>
The forms with `<TT><</TT>' truncate at the left of the string,
and the forms with `<TT>></TT>' truncate at the right of the string.
For example, if the current directory is `<TT>/home/pike</TT>',
the prompt `<TT>%8<..<%/</TT>' will expand to `<TT>..e/pike</TT>'.
In this string, the terminating character (`<TT><</TT>', `<TT>></TT>' or `<TT>]</TT>'),
or in fact any character, may be quoted by a preceding `<TT>\</TT>'; note
when using <TT>print -P</TT>, however, that this must be doubled as the
string is also subject to standard <TT>print</TT> processing, in addition
to any backslashes removed by a double quoted string: the worst case
is therefore `<TT>print -P "%<\\\\<<..."</TT>'.
</P>
<P>
If the <VAR>string</VAR> is longer than the specified truncation length,
it will appear in full, completely replacing the truncated string.
</P>
<P>
The part of the prompt string to be truncated runs to the end of the
string, or to the end of the next enclosing group of the `<TT>%(</TT>'
construct, or to the next truncation encountered at the same grouping
level (i.e. truncations inside a `<TT>%(</TT>' are separate), which
ever comes first. In particular, a truncation with argument zero
(e.g. `<TT>%<<</TT>') marks the end of the range of the string to be
truncated while turning off truncation from there on. For example, the
prompt '%10<...<%~%<<%# ' will print a truncated representation of the
current directory, followed by a `<TT>%</TT>' or `<TT>#</TT>', followed by a
space. Without the `<TT>%<<</TT>', those two characters would be included
in the string to be truncated.
</P>
<P>
</P>
<DT><TT>%c</TT>
<DD><DT><TT>%.</TT>
<DD><DT><TT>%C</TT>
<DD>Trailing component of <TT>$PWD</TT>.
An integer may follow the `<TT>%</TT>' to get more than one component.
Unless `<TT>%C</TT>' is used, tilde contraction is performed first. These are
deprecated as <TT>%c</TT> and <TT>%C</TT> are equivalent to <TT>%1~</TT> and <TT>%1/</TT>,
respectively, while explicit positive integers have the same effect as for
the latter two sequences.
<P>
</DL>
<A NAME="Expansion"></A>
<P>
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