How do I get a colored bash?

Question

How can I get the bash to look colored like this?

Answer 1

Open ~/.bashrc in text editor and uncomment line:

#force_color_prompt=yes

to be:

force_color_prompt=yes

save then execute source ~/.bashrc

Answer 2

I came up with this solution:

1. Open ~/.bashrc in a text editor.

2. Copy this and add it at the end of the ~/.bashrc file:

   PS1='\[\033[1;36m\]\u\[\033[1;31m\]@\[\033[1;32m\]\h:\[\033[1;35m\]\w\[\033[1;31m\]\$\[\033[0m\] '
   

3. Ssave the file and source ~/.bashrc:

   source ~/.bashrc
   

For a full list of available colors and further options, look up these links:

• wiki.ubuntuusers
• bash-color-chart

Answer 3

A version that is a bit more 'general' - should work with a varied environment:
(depends on terminfo)

Insert this in your $HOME/.bashrc:

function fgtab {
  echo "tput setf/setb - Foreground/Background table"
  for f in {0..7}; do
    for b in {0..7}; do
      echo -en "$(tput setf $f)$(tput setb $b) $f/$b "
    done
    echo -e "$(tput sgr 0)"
  done
}

# The prompt in a somewhat Terminal -type independent manner:
cname="$(tput setf 3)"
csgn="$(tput setf 4)"
chost="$(tput setf 2)"
cw="$(tput setf 6)"
crst="$(tput sgr 0)"
PS1="\[${cname}\]\u\[${csgn}\]@\[${chost}\]\h:\[${cw}\]\w\[${csgn}\]\$\[${crst}\] "

Then execute source ~/.bashrc.

After that, fgtab will display a color table with numbers. Those numbers are for tput setf n and tput setb n where 'n' is the number, 'f' stands for 'foreground' and 'b' stands for 'background' color.

tput sgr 0 will reset foreground and background colors to default.

And as you can see, changing the colors used for the prompt becomes really easy (just edit the same number in $HOME/.bashrc as you wish).

Add an $(tput setb n) in $cname if you wish to have ALL of the prompt with background n.

Answer 4

I've been having trouble making "force-color-prompt" to work in Ubuntu 20 using Kitty/Putty.

But notice the following code in the default Ubuntu 20 .bashrc file: case "$TERM" in xterm-color|*-256color) color_prompt=yes;; esac

So in Kitty, go to

1. Connection
2. Data

Then change "Terminal-type string" from "xterm" to "xterm-color" and viola!

Answer 5

If you install the minimal Ubuntu you don't get the default .bashrc that has the values for colors and some other stuff. This is the default .bashrc you can use.

# ~/.bashrc: executed by bash(1) for non-login shells.
# see /usr/share/doc/bash/examples/startup-files (in the package bash-doc)
# for examples
If not running interactively, don't do anything
case $- in
    i) ;;
      *) return;;
esac
don't put duplicate lines or lines starting with space in the history.
See bash(1) for more options
HISTCONTROL=ignoreboth
append to the history file, don't overwrite it
shopt -s histappend
for setting history length see HISTSIZE and HISTFILESIZE in bash(1)
HISTSIZE=1000
HISTFILESIZE=2000
check the window size after each command and, if necessary,
update the values of LINES and COLUMNS.
shopt -s checkwinsize
If set, the pattern "**" used in a pathname expansion context will
match all files and zero or more directories and subdirectories.
#shopt -s globstar
make less more friendly for non-text input files, see lesspipe(1)
[ -x /usr/bin/lesspipe ] && eval "$(SHELL=/bin/sh lesspipe)"
set variable identifying the chroot you work in (used in the prompt below)
if [ -z "${debian_chroot:-}" ] && [ -r /etc/debian_chroot ]; then
    debian_chroot=$(cat /etc/debian_chroot)
fi
set a fancy prompt (non-color, unless we know we "want" color)
case "$TERM" in
    xterm-color|*-256color) color_prompt=yes;;
esac
uncomment for a colored prompt, if the terminal has the capability; turned
off by default to not distract the user: the focus in a terminal window
should be on the output of commands, not on the prompt
#force_color_prompt=yes
if [ -n "$force_color_prompt" ]; then
    if [ -x /usr/bin/tput ] && tput setaf 1 >&/dev/null; then
    # We have color support; assume it's compliant with Ecma-48
    # (ISO/IEC-6429). (Lack of such support is extremely rare, and such
    # a case would tend to support setf rather than setaf.)
    color_prompt=yes
    else
    color_prompt=
    fi
fi
if [ "$color_prompt" = yes ]; then
    PS1='${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}[\033[01;32m]\u@\h[\033[00m]:[\033[01;34m]\w[\033[00m]$ '
else
    PS1='${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}\u@\h:\w$ '
fi
unset color_prompt force_color_prompt
If this is an xterm set the title to user@host:dir
case "$TERM" in
xterm|rxvt)
    PS1="[\e]0;${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}\u@\h: \w\a]$PS1"
    ;;
*)
    ;;
esac
enable color support of ls and also add handy aliases
if [ -x /usr/bin/dircolors ]; then
    test -r ~/.dircolors && eval "$(dircolors -b ~/.dircolors)" || eval "$(dircolors -b)"
    alias ls='ls --color=auto'
    #alias dir='dir --color=auto'
    #alias vdir='vdir --color=auto'
alias grep='grep --color=auto'
alias fgrep='fgrep --color=auto'
alias egrep='egrep --color=auto'

fi
colored GCC warnings and errors
#export GCC_COLORS='error=01;31:warning=01;35:note=01;36:caret=01;32:locus=01:quote=01'
some more ls aliases
alias ll='ls -alF'
alias la='ls -A'
alias l='ls -CF'
Add an "alert" alias for long running commands.  Use like so:
sleep 10; alert
alias alert='notify-send --urgency=low -i "$([ $? = 0 ] && echo terminal || echo error)" "$(history|tail -n1|sed -e '''s/^\s[0-9]+\s//;s/[;&|]\s*alert$//''')"'
Alias definitions.
You may want to put all your additions into a separate file like
~/.bash_aliases, instead of adding them here directly.
See /usr/share/doc/bash-doc/examples in the bash-doc package.
if [ -f ~/.bash_aliases ]; then
    . ~/.bash_aliases
fi
enable programmable completion features (you don't need to enable
this, if it's already enabled in /etc/bash.bashrc and /etc/profile
sources /etc/bash.bashrc).
if ! shopt -oq posix; then
  if [ -f /usr/share/bash-completion/bash_completion ]; then
    . /usr/share/bash-completion/bash_completion
  elif [ -f /etc/bash_completion ]; then
    . /etc/bash_completion
  fi
fi