Bash prompt

Religious wars have been fought over the best possible shell prompt, so I will not claim that this is the ultimate and best prompt. However, this is one that helps me keep track of relevant information, and that keeps my terminal window fairly uncluttered.

This is the defintion for PS`` in my .bashrc, the other prompt definitions I leave unaltered from their defaults.

PS1='\n\[\e[0m\]\[\e[32m\]\u@\h \[\e[33m\]\w\[\e[0m\]\n\$ '

The prompt shows the user ID and hostname, followed by the current working directory. This information is colored green, so it is easily distinguishable from commands and their output, hence clearly separating one command from the next.

The advantage is that even when one is very deep in a directory structure, prompt itself is always on a line by itself, e.g.,

Using a different color per host allows to distinguish at a glance between various hosts.