Trying to figure out what this PS1 command is doing: export PS1="$accountName "'${PWD##*($HOME|$HOME/)}$ '
The prompt looks like this: [aea11-un] data$
The account name is "aea11-un" The PWD is set to /ifastest/bsi/data The $HOME is set to /ifastest/bsi I'm confused about the two ## and the *. What do they do? And the $HOME|$HOME/ ? Confused on what it does. Looks like it is stripping off the 1st two nodes of the pwd command.
> I'm confused about the two ## and the *. What do they do?
Just what you deduced. The '${parameter##pattern}' is described in the 'sh-posix' manpages. If the pattern matches the beginning of the value of parameter, the value of this substitution is the value of the parameter with the matched portion deleted.
Thats exactly the answer I was looking for! Your the best! And thanks for the link to the HP docs section on pattern substitution. That paper has cleared up a lot of other questions I had. This forum is priceless!
In this example, the lowest two directories are shown. So if you change to /usr/local/bin, the prompt will be:
[aea11-un] local/bin $
Knowing that you are in the bin directory is not enough. The current PWD and the parent provide most of the details without showing the entire $PWD.
Further details: The double quotes around "$accountName " will be set permanently with PS1= assignment but the single quotes (apostrophes) will be evaluated every time the PS1 variable is displayed.
