Add newline after output of every bash command

Question

I'm in the process of customizing my terminal.

Currently, I have the following:

What I want is a newline after the output of every command, like this:

The only way I have been able to accomplish something close to this is by adding a newline at the beginning of my PS1. This works, but it annoys the hell out of me that the first time I open up a bash prompt, there is a newline above the very first line. Is there any other way to accomplish this?

`there is a newline above the very first line` Is that such a big problem? — anubhava, Oct 26 '13 at 17:39
Not really, just curious if there is a better way. It rubs my OCD the wrong way :( — bitpshr, Oct 26 '13 at 17:41
Actually putting a newline above the very first line probably *is* the best way – super cheap and easy to understand. — kojiro, Oct 26 '13 at 18:08
@bitpshr Can I see your bashrc that gets you that format? I'd like to use it (I don't mind the newline when I first open the terminal) — RTF, Jul 17 '20 at 09:07

score 14 · Answer 1 · edited Jun 09 '20 at 21:04

14

One approach using printf:

$ printf '%s\n' * $'\n'

or better (for every command):

$ PROMPT_COMMAND="echo"
$ ls

From man bash :

If PROMPT_COMMAND is set and has a non-null value, then the value is executed just as if it had been typed on the command line.

edited Jun 09 '20 at 21:04

KyleMit

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answered Oct 26 '13 at 17:42

Gilles Quénot

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I like this method, but this is interpreted before `PS1` and still prints a newline above the very first line of the bash prompt, essentially equivalent to a newline at the beginning of `PS1`. I may be doing something wrong... – bitpshr Oct 26 '13 at 17:48
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I'm really not sure how this is different from putting a newline at the beginning of PS1, which what OP asked not to do. (Except PROMPT_COMMAND is slightly more expensive.) – kojiro Oct 26 '13 at 18:08
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I once [posted an answer](http://stackoverflow.com/a/14860632/1126841) showing how to define `PRMOPT_COMMAND` in such a way that it redefines itself the first time it is called. You could adapt that so that `echo` is *not* called the very first time it is used in the shell, but is for each subsequent use. – chepner Oct 26 '13 at 19:27
Is there a way to get this to work after every line of *output* instead of every command? – Cole May 20 '20 at 07:42
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`PROMPT_COMMAND="export PROMPT_COMMAND=echo"` seems to work – qwazix Feb 12 '21 at 15:19
For anyone who tries to get this to work in macOS: neither of these worked in zsh on macOS. – jcollum Mar 07 '22 at 16:35

score 5 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 13 '21 at 15:08

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Combining @GillesQuenot's answer with @chepner's comment this seems to work and it's quite simple:

PROMPT_COMMAND="export PROMPT_COMMAND=echo"

answered Feb 13 '21 at 15:08

qwazix

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Safal Piya · Answer 3 · 2022-09-23T15:05:35.673

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Adding up @GillesQuenot's answer + @chepner's comment with a neat hack for the clear command:

# Print newline AFTER executing a command
PROMPT_COMMAND="export PROMPT_COMMAND=echo"
alias clear="unset PROMPT_COMMAND; clear; PROMPT_COMMAND='export PROMPT_COMMAND=echo'"

edited Sep 23 '22 at 15:05

answered Sep 23 '22 at 14:57

Safal Piya

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Add newline after output of every bash command

3 Answers3