Ubuntu
gnome-terminal package

terminal tab too big

Asked by ant

Hi, in my terminal due to the number of folders inside folders i have the line covers a whole page and its pretty messy (it says: ant@Mr-PC:~/Desktop/Physics/5thyear/CompAstro/Section1/Assignment/test$) before i add any commands and i was just wondering how to change this?

Cheers, Ant

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Mathias Uebelacker (muebelacker) said : 		#1

Hello,

you find the definition for the COMMAND_PROMPT in the variable $PS1. Take a look into the profile file in /etc/profile, which keeps the system-wide definitions.

The standard entry should be PS1='\u@\h:\w\$ '

br
Mathias

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ant (s0346312) said : 		#2

I found the file but i cant edit it. I tried to alter the permissions but it has a message saying im not the owner so i cant change it. How can i alter it and which bit should i edit out.

Cheers, Ant

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marcobra (Marco Braida) (marcobra) said : 		#3

Try
sudo gedit /etc/profile

Tips to change prompt:
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/l-tip-prompt/
http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/3215

HTH

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ant (s0346312) said : 		#4

Hi, i tried editing that file (it said that any effect should be instant) but even wen i just deleted the whole thing it had no effect. Do i need to compile it or something?

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Simos Xenitellis  (simosx) said : 		#5

You need to "source" the configuration file again so that the new option is re-read.
One way to do it is to log out and log in.
An alternative is to type

. /etc/profile

(yeah, it's a dot, then the filename /etc/profile).

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