BASH print result of linux command in PS1 variable

Question

I am trying to change my ps1 command prompt to print out the contents of pwd and also the result of the du command. I have tried adding this to my PS1 variable in my .bashrc file

PS1='\[\033[01;32m\]\w\$(du -s `echo $PWD` 2>/dev/null | awk '{printf $1}')\[\033[00m\]\$ '

after running source ~/.baashrc I was expecting an output of something like:

/home/some_user/ XXXX (the number returned from du) $

but instead I recieve

})\[\033[00m\]\$ : command not found

any help is greatly appreciated.

Couldn't find an exact duplicate but this might help [Bash prompt multiple command substitution](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/38808999/bash-prompt-multiple-command-substitution) — oguz ismail, Jan 31 '20 at 08:23
"did not work" is a really bad description of a problem. Please read [ask]. — Ulrich Eckhardt, Jan 31 '20 at 10:17
@UlrichEckhardt updated question to more accurately reflect my problem/situation. — Jay Wehrman, Feb 01 '20 at 00:39

tomgalpin · Answer 1 · 2020-01-31T10:03:32.717

2

Try something like

export PS1='[$(ls $PWD ; du -sh /home/me)]'

However, it must be said that this will put an overhead on your system/filesystem. Just bear that in mind.

edited Jan 31 '20 at 10:03

answered Jan 31 '20 at 08:57

tomgalpin

1,943
1
4
12

Thank you for your answer, could I ask what you mean by an overhead on my system? – Jay Wehrman Jan 31 '20 at 23:28
Everyone you press enter on your shell you’ll be doing multiple calls to your file system for the results you are after. – tomgalpin Feb 03 '20 at 13:07

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 01 '20 at 01:07

0

my solution:

I made a custom function with the du command and then just added that into the PS1 variable like so:

function printDu {
    du -s echo $PWD 2>/dev/null | awk '{printf $1}'
}
PS1 = '\[\033[01;32m\]\w\`printDu`\[\033[00m\]\$

answered Feb 01 '20 at 01:07

Jay Wehrman

193
2
10

Have you tried this ? I think you have a mistake between the -s and echo – tomgalpin Feb 05 '20 at 14:42

BASH print result of linux command in PS1 variable

2 Answers2

Linked

Related