Tips and Tricks for Debian - Colored Theme for Bash

.: Colored Theme for Bash :.

Bash's first prompt level is managed by the environment variable PS1. If you like to tweak things (as I do), this post is a must! See how you can set PS1 to behave in different ways! =)

Just for you to get the whole idea, just try the following commands inside BASH:

• export PS1="{\d,\t - \W] \\$ "
• export PS1="{\d,\t}\n[\u@\h \W] \\$ " 
• export PS1="C:\> "  # This one is very funny. ;-P

Got the idea? Did you see how it works? Well, now let's create a configurable theme file for BASH. =)

The file will be called "bash_colors.defs".

#!/bin/bash

#

# Color Theme for BASH - PS1 configuration file.

# Gabriel Marques - snortt@gmail.com
# 09/09/2002

# 

# Color values

# There are 2 8 colors categories:

# Foreground - from 30 to 37

# Background - from 40 to 47

# If you want bold text, just add the char 1 right after the desired color.

#

# Foreground: 30-black; 31-red; 32-green; 33-yellow; 34-blue; 35-magenta; 36-cyan; 37-white

# Background: 40-black; 41-red; 42-green; 43-yellow; 44-blue; 45-magenta; 46-cyan; 47-white

# 

# Color definitions

# Foreground

FGBLACK='\[\e[30m\]'

FGRED='\[\e[31m\]'

FGGREEN='\[\e[32m\]' 

FGYELLOW='\[\e[33m\]'

FGBLUE='\[\e[34m\]'

FGMAGENTA='\[\e[35m\]'

FGCYAN='\[\e[36m\]'

FGWHITE='\[\e[37m\]'

#

# Background

BGBLACK='\[\e[40m\]'

BGRED='\[\e[41m\]'

BGGREEN='\[\e[42m\]'

BGYELLOW='\[\e[43m\]'

BGBLUE='\[\e[44m\]'

BGMAGENTA='\[\e[45m\]'

BGCYAN='\[\e[46m\]'

BGWHITE='\[\e[47m\]'

# Bold text definitions

# Foreground

FGBLACKB='\[\e[30;1m\]'

FGREDB='\[\e[31;1m\]'

FGGREENB='\[\e[32;1m\]'

FGYELLOWB='\[\e[33;1m\]'

FGBLUEB='\[\e[34;1m\]'

FGMAGENTAB='\[\e[35;1m\]'

FGCYANB='\[\e[36;1m\]'

FGWHITEB='\[\e[37;1m\]'

# Background

BGBLACKB='\[\e[40;1m\]'

BGREDB='\[\e[41;1m\]'

BGGREENB='\[\e[42;1m\]'

BGYELLOWB='\[\e[43;1m\]'

BGBLUEB='\[\e[44;1m\]'

BGMAGENTAB='\[\e[45;1m\]'

BGCYANB='\[\e[46;1m\]'

BGWHITEB='\[\e[47;1m\]'

# The RESET Color is important when you reach the end of a line. 

# This stops the last color from spreading across the screen.

RESET='\[\e[0m\]'

# Now you just have to source this file and set your PS1 variable! :-)

# See the example, coded inside $HOME/.bash_profile:

# . /etc/bash_colors.defs

# PS1="${FGYELLOWB}[${FGGREENB}\u${FGYELLOWB}@${FGBLUEB}\h ${FGWHITEB}\W${FGYELLOWB}]${FGREDB}\\$ $RESET"

# This one is for root, if you want a compact and simple prompt, coded inside /root/.bash_profile.

# . /etc/bash_colors.defs

# PS1="${FGREDB}<_ROOT_> ${FGWHITEB}\W ${FGYELLOWB}\\$ $RESET"

I hope you liked it! Have fun! =)