28

How do I shorten my git bash prompt from something like this

Malik@LAPTOP-7R9912OI MINGW64 ~/Desktop/test
$

to something like this

Malik@test$

I am using git bash on windows with git version 2.21.0 (26-02-2019)

Govind Parmar
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Malik Bagwala
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5 Answers5

33

An alternative answer is to go to C:\Program Files\Git\etc\profile.d and open the git-prompt.sh file. It contains the default configuration/prompt for Git Bash.

if test -f /etc/profile.d/git-sdk.sh
then
    TITLEPREFIX=SDK-${MSYSTEM#MINGW}
else
    TITLEPREFIX=$MSYSTEM
fi

if test -f ~/.config/git/git-prompt.sh
then
    . ~/.config/git/git-prompt.sh
else
    PS1='\[\033]0;$TITLEPREFIX:$PWD\007\]' # set window title
    PS1="$PS1"'\n'                 # new line
    PS1="$PS1"'\[\033[32m\]'       # change to green
    # PS1="$PS1"'\u@\h '             # user@host<space>
    # PS1="$PS1"'\[\033[35m\]'       # change to purple
    # PS1="$PS1"'$MSYSTEM '          # show MSYSTEM
    # PS1="$PS1"'\[\033[33m\]'       # change to brownish yellow
    PS1="$PS1"'\W'                 # current working directory
    if test -z "$WINELOADERNOEXEC"
    then
        GIT_EXEC_PATH="$(git --exec-path 2>/dev/null)"
        COMPLETION_PATH="${GIT_EXEC_PATH%/libexec/git-core}"
        COMPLETION_PATH="${COMPLETION_PATH%/lib/git-core}"
        COMPLETION_PATH="$COMPLETION_PATH/share/git/completion"
        if test -f "$COMPLETION_PATH/git-prompt.sh"
        then
            . "$COMPLETION_PATH/git-completion.bash"
            . "$COMPLETION_PATH/git-prompt.sh"
            PS1="$PS1"'\[\033[36m\]'  # change color to cyan
            PS1="$PS1"'`__git_ps1`'   # bash function
        fi
    fi
    PS1="$PS1"'\[\033[0m\]'        # change color
    # PS1="$PS1"'\n'                 # new line
    PS1="$PS1"' $ '                 # prompt: always $
fi

MSYS2_PS1="$PS1"               # for detection by MSYS2 SDK's bash.basrc

# Evaluate all user-specific Bash completion scripts (if any)
if test -z "$WINELOADERNOEXEC"
then
    for c in "$HOME"/bash_completion.d/*.bash
    do
        # Handle absence of any scripts (or the folder) gracefully
        test ! -f "$c" ||
        . "$c"
    done
fi

In my configuration, I commented out the user@host<space>, the MINGW64 and changed the working directory to its basename by changing \w to \W.

Krizza
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    This works, but be careful: git updates overwrite this file. This file checks for the existence of `~/.config/git/git-prompt.sh` which if exists takes precedence, so you're better of making your changes there, or directly in `~/.bashrc`. – w5l Jul 10 '20 at 06:56
  • I'm unable to change git-prompt.sh file as the system is complaining that's readonly file. chmod also isn't working (permission denied). What I might be missing? – Amit128 May 05 '21 at 15:26
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    Not a good idea to edit this file directly. Just reconfigure `PS1` string in your user file, e.g. `.bashrc` or `.bash_profile` – Dut A. Oct 25 '21 at 19:47
25

In Git Bash:

cd ~
notepad .bashrc

In notepad, add the line PS1="foobar>" (replace foobar> with whatever text you want)

After saving ~/.bashrc, in Git Bash, run the command:

source ~/.bashrc

You may find this online .bashrc generator useful to experiment with to find a prompt you like.

Govind Parmar
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5

I'd like to offer some tweaks which are based off of Krizza's answer. The prompt file can be overwritten anytime you update your Git For Windows installation so it's best to make a copy of it. Fortunately the file has a built in plan for this:

First make a copy of the default git-prompt.sh file and put it in your own personal config location. In my case the command is:

cp /c/Program\ Files/Git/etc/profile.d/git-prompt.sh ~/.config/git/

Do not skip this step! Now make sure to update your copy of the file by removing everything except what's inside of the larger else clause where PS1 is set. (At the time of this writing I'm keeping only lines 12-36.) Note, if you skip this step Git Bash will get stuck in an infinite loop and exit.

Now you can edit your copy of the file however you please. My personal preference is to comment out displaying the user and host, and the MSYSTEM, and instead displaying the current time of day, like this:

# PS1="$PS1"'\[\033[32m\]'       # change to green
# PS1="$PS1"'\u@\h '             # user@host<space>
PS1="$PS1"'\[\033[35m\]'       # change to purple
PS1="$PS1"'\D{%H:%M:%S} '      # show current time
# PS1="$PS1"'$MSYSTEM '          # show MSYSTEM

I personally find the time of day useful so when I look back at a prompt later I can see the time I ran the preceding command, e.g. git fetch, etc.

TTT
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  • for some reason \W didn't work for me I have to use PS1="$PS1"'$(pwd)' # current working directory Credit to https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/430411/53125 – PAS Jan 12 '23 at 18:27
1

Yes, just reset PS1 environment variable in .bashrc file.
Like this：

export PS1='\[\033[32m\]\u@\[\033[35m\]$MSYSTEM \[\033[33m\]\w\[\033[36m\]`__git_ps1`\[\033[0m\]\n$'
biehan
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-10

The:

LAPTOP-7R9912OI MINGW6

is the name of your PC.

Search in setting

'about your PC'

and look for

rename

There you can rename your pc and it should change the username in git-bash

David Demmers
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    While renaming your computer will work to change how a Git Bash prompt appears, it carries with it numerous other side effects, especially if you're on a domain. For that matter, it is not something that can be done if you don't actually own / have Administrator access on the machine you're working on, so this is not a useful answer. – Govind Parmar Feb 26 '19 at 16:54
  • Computer name is not the only thing they want to change. And "MINGW64" is not part of the computer name. – gre_gor Aug 01 '22 at 14:54