Bash Prompt HOWTO: $Revision: 0.100 $, $Date: 2009/08/07 02:33:22 $ | ||
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This is a list of problems I've noticed while programming prompts. Don't start reading here, and don't let this list discourage you - these are mostly quite minor details. Just check back if you run into anything odd.
Many Bash features (such as math within $(()) among others) are compile time options. If you're using a binary package such as comes with a standard Linux distribution, all such features should be compiled in. But if you're working on someone else's system, this is worth keeping in mind if something you expected to work doesn't.
Xdefaults files can override colours. Look in ~/.Xdefaults for lines referring to XTerm*background and XTerm*foreground (or possibly XTerm*Background and XTerm*Foreground). Similar changes can be made to RXVT and aterm, and quite possibly many other terms.
ANSI cursor movement escape sequences aren't all implemented in all X terminals. That's discussed in its own section.
Some nice looking pseudo-graphics can be created by using a VGA font rather than standard Linux fonts. Unfortunately, these effects look awful if you don't use a VGA font, and there's no way to detect within a term what kind of font it's using.