Windows PowerShell: changing the command prompt

Question

Using Windows PowerShell, how do I change the command prompt?

For example, the default prompt says

PS C:\\Documents and Settings\\govendes\\My Docume         


        

Answer 1

Just put the function prompt in your PowerShell profile (notepad $PROFILE), e.g.:

function prompt {"PS: $(get-date)>"}

or colored:

function prompt
{
    Write-Host ("PS " + $(get-date) +">") -nonewline -foregroundcolor White
    return " "
}

Answer 2

At the prompt, I like a current timestamp and resolved drive letters for network drives. To make it more readable, I put it in two lines, and played a bit with colors.

With CMD, I ended up with

PROMPT=$E[33m$D$T$H$H$H$S$E[37m$M$_$E[1m$P$G

For PowerShell, I got the same result with:

function prompt {
    $dateTime = get-date -Format "dd.MM.yyyy HH:mm:ss"
    $currentDirectory = $(Get-Location)
    $UncRoot = $currentDirectory.Drive.DisplayRoot

    write-host "$dateTime" -NoNewline -ForegroundColor White
    write-host " $UncRoot" -ForegroundColor Gray
    # Convert-Path needed for pure UNC-locations
    write-host "PS $(Convert-Path $currentDirectory)>" -NoNewline -ForegroundColor Yellow
    return " "
}

Which is a little more readable :-)

BTW:

• I prefer powershell_ise.exe $PROFILE instead of (dumb) Notepad.
• If you like to debug your prompt() with breakpoints, you should rename the prompt-function to anything else (or try it in another file). Otherwise you might end up in a loop: When you stop debugging, prompt() is called again and you stop at the breakpoint, again. Quite irritating, at first...

Answer 3

Related to a comment to Ocaso Protal's answer, the following is needed for Windows Server 2012 as well as Windows 7 (in a PowerShell window):

new-item -itemtype file -path $profile -force
notepad $PROFILE

I would suggest the following as a prompt if you run with multiple user names (e.g. yourself + a production login):

function Global:prompt {"PS [$Env:username]$PWD`n>"} 

(Credit goes to David I. McIntosh for this one.)

Answer 4

If you want to do it yourself, then Ocaso Protal's answer is the way to go. But if you're lazy like me and just want something to do it for you, then I highly recommend Luke Sampson's Pshazz package.

Just to show you how lazy you can be, I'll provide a quick tutorial.

• Install Pshazz with Scoop (scoop install pshazz)
• Use a nice predefined theme (pshazz use msys)
• Drink (root) beer

Pshazz also allows you to create your own themes, which is as simple as configuring a JSON file. Check out mine to see how easy it is!

Answer 5

This version of Warren Stevens' answer avoids the noisy "Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\FileSystem" in the path if you Set-Location to network shares.

function prompt {"PS [$Env:username@$Env:computername]$($PWD.ProviderPath)`n> "} 

Answer 6

To just show the drive letter I use:

            function prompt {(get-location).drive.name+"\...>"}

Then to revert to the path I use:

            function prompt {"$pwd>"}