How to custom display prompt in KornShell to show hostname and current directory?

I am using KornShell (ksh) on Solaris and currently my PS1 env var is:

PS1="${HOSTNAME}:\${PWD} \$ "

And the prompt displays: hostname:/full/path/to/current/directory $

However, I would like it to display: hostname:directory $

In other words, how can I display just the hostname and the name of the current directory, i.e. tmp or ~ or public_html etc etc?

From reading the ksh man page you want

PS1="${HOSTNAME}:\${PWD##*/} \$ "

Tested on default ksh on SunOS 5.8

Okay, a little old and a little late, but this is what I use in Kornshell:

PS1='$(print -n "`logname`@`hostname`:";if [[ "${PWD#$HOME}" != "$PWD" ]] then; print -n "~${PWD#$HOME}"; else; print -n "$PWD";fi;print "\n$ ")'

This makes a prompt that's equivalent to PS1="\u@\h:\w\n$ " in BASH.

For example:

qazwart@mybook:~
$ cd bin
qazwart@mybook:~/bin
$ cd /usr/local/bin
qazwart@mybook:/usr/local/bin
$

I like a two line prompt because I sometimes have very long directory names, and they can take up a lot of the command line. If you want a one line prompt, just leave off the "\n" on the last print statement:

PS1='$(print -n "`logname`@`hostname`:";if [[ "${PWD#$HOME}" != "$PWD" ]] then; print -n "~${PWD#$HOME}"; else; print -n "$PWD";fi;print "$ ")'

That's equivalent to PS1="\u@\h:\w$ " in BASH:

qazwart@mybook:~$ cd bin
qazwart@mybook:~/bin$ cd /usr/local/bin
qazwart@mybook:/usr/local/bin$

It's not quite as easy as setting up a BASH prompt, but you get the idea. Simply write a script for PS1 and Kornshell will execute it.

For Solaris and other Older Versions of Kornshell

I found that the above does not work on Solaris. Instead, you'll have to do it the real hackish way...

In your .profile, make sure that ENV="$HOME/.kshrc"; export ENV is set. This is probably setup correctly for you.
In your .kshrc file, you'll be doing two things
1. You'll be defining a function called _cd. This function will change to the directory specified, and then set your PS1 variable based upon your pwd.
2. You'll be setting up an alias cd to run the _cd function.

This is the relevant part of the .kshrc file:

function _cd {
   logname=$(logname)   #Or however you can set the login name
   machine=$(hostname)  #Or however you set your host name
   $directory = $1
   $pattern = $2        #For "cd foo bar"

   #
   # First cd to the directory
   # We can use "\cd" to evoke the non-alias original version of the cd command
   #
   if [ "$pattern" ]
   then
       \cd "$directory" "$pattern"
   elif [ "$directory" ]
   then
       \cd "$directory"
   else
       \cd
   fi

   #
   # Now that we're in the directory, let's set our prompt
   #

   $directory=$PWD
   shortname=${directory#$HOME}  #Possible Subdir of $HOME

   if [ "$shortName" = "" ]  #This is the HOME directory
   then
        prompt="~$logname"   # Or maybe just "~". Your choice
   elif [ "$shortName" = "$directory" ] #Not a subdir of $HOME
   then
        prompt="$directory"
   else
        prompt="~$shortName"
   fi
   PS1="$logname@$hostname:$prompt$ "  #You put it together the way you like
}

alias cd="_cd"

This will set your prompt as the equivelent BASH PS1="\u@\h:\w$ ". It isn't pretty, but it works.

ENV=~/.kshrc, and then in your .kshrc:

function _cd {
  \cd "$@"
  PS1=$(
    print -n "$LOGNAME@$HOSTNAME:"
    if [[ "${PWD#$HOME}" != "$PWD" ]]; then
      print -n "~${PWD#$HOME}"
    else
      print -n "$PWD"
    fi
    print "$ "
  )
}

alias cd=_cd

cd "$PWD"

Brad

HOST=`hostname`
PS1='$(print -n "[${USER}@${HOST%%.*} ";[[ "$HOME" == "$PWD" ]] && print -n "~" ||([[ "${PWD##*/}" == "" ]] && print -n "/" || print -n "${PWD##*/}");print "]$")'

user8585881

PS1=`id -un`@`hostname -s`:'$PWD'$

and...

if you work between two shells for most of your effort [ksh and bourne sh] and desire a directory tracking display on your command line then PWD can be substituted easily in ksh and if you use /usr/xpg4/bin/sh for your sh SHELL, it will work there as well

Try this: