When was the environment variable PS1 created?
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I've always seen reference to pwd as being very essential 'back in the day'. These days we have customized command prompts like PS1 that display the current directory and pwd is pretty outmoded. But when did the idea for ps1 get introduced into *nix systems? Watching this from the AT&T archives I can see that PS1 definitely did not exist in the seventies.
environment-variables prompt history
edited May 29 at 15:03
Kusalananda
102k13199314
asked May 29 at 14:16
malan
454214
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up vote
3
down vote
favorite
I've always seen reference to pwd as being very essential 'back in the day'. These days we have customized command prompts like PS1 that display the current directory and pwd is pretty outmoded. But when did the idea for ps1 get introduced into *nix systems? Watching this from the AT&T archives I can see that PS1 definitely did not exist in the seventies.
environment-variables prompt history
edited May 29 at 15:03
Kusalananda
102k13199314
asked May 29 at 14:16
malan
454214
add a comment |Â
up vote
3
down vote
favorite
up vote
3
down vote
favorite
I've always seen reference to pwd as being very essential 'back in the day'. These days we have customized command prompts like PS1 that display the current directory and pwd is pretty outmoded. But when did the idea for ps1 get introduced into *nix systems? Watching this from the AT&T archives I can see that PS1 definitely did not exist in the seventies.
environment-variables prompt history
edited May 29 at 15:03
Kusalananda
102k13199314
asked May 29 at 14:16
malan
454214
I've always seen reference to pwd as being very essential 'back in the day'. These days we have customized command prompts like PS1 that display the current directory and pwd is pretty outmoded. But when did the idea for ps1 get introduced into *nix systems? Watching this from the AT&T archives I can see that PS1 definitely did not exist in the seventies.
environment-variables prompt history
edited May 29 at 15:03
Kusalananda
102k13199314
asked May 29 at 14:16
malan
454214
edited May 29 at 15:03
Kusalananda
102k13199314
edited May 29 at 15:03
Kusalananda
102k13199314
edited May 29 at 15:03
Kusalananda
102k13199314
102k13199314
asked May 29 at 14:16
malan
454214
asked May 29 at 14:16
malan
454214
asked May 29 at 14:16
malan
454214
454214
add a comment |Â
add a comment |Â
1 Answer
1
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oldest
votes
up vote
2
down vote
accepted
This variable is part of the shell, $PS1 is used in bash, the Bourne shell (sh) and the ksh, it is not used in the csh.
The first UNIX shell was the Thompson Shell (which was also called sh like the later bourne shell, the Thompson Shell was often called osh on systems with both the Thompson and Bourne shell installed.) The Thompson shell used the variable $P for the prompt.
Then the Bourne Shell was introduced which used $PS1 to set the prompt. ksh was based on the Bourne Shell, and also uses $PS1. The csh/tcsh used set prompt = <something>.
So I think the first shell to use $PS1 was the Bourne Shell.
Thompson Shell man page: https://etsh.io/man/osh.1.pdf
Bourne Shell man page: http://heirloom.sourceforge.net/sh/sh.1.html
answered May 29 at 14:59
rusty shackleford
1,135115
If the Thompson Shell had a variable for the prompt, $P, why did they never customize a prompt to display the working directory?
– malan
May 29 at 15:06
1
You could do if you wanted to, I expect it just wasn't the convention back then. Remember they would have been using 80 character wide terminals where space was a bit more of a luxury.
– rusty shackleford
May 29 at 15:09
2
So let me add the final answer to when didPS1first appear. It was 1976 in the Bourne Shell.
– schily
May 29 at 16:06
add a comment |Â
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
up vote
2
down vote
accepted
This variable is part of the shell, $PS1 is used in bash, the Bourne shell (sh) and the ksh, it is not used in the csh.
The first UNIX shell was the Thompson Shell (which was also called sh like the later bourne shell, the Thompson Shell was often called osh on systems with both the Thompson and Bourne shell installed.) The Thompson shell used the variable $P for the prompt.
Then the Bourne Shell was introduced which used $PS1 to set the prompt. ksh was based on the Bourne Shell, and also uses $PS1. The csh/tcsh used set prompt = <something>.
So I think the first shell to use $PS1 was the Bourne Shell.
Thompson Shell man page: https://etsh.io/man/osh.1.pdf
Bourne Shell man page: http://heirloom.sourceforge.net/sh/sh.1.html
answered May 29 at 14:59
rusty shackleford
1,135115
If the Thompson Shell had a variable for the prompt, $P, why did they never customize a prompt to display the working directory?
– malan
May 29 at 15:06
1
You could do if you wanted to, I expect it just wasn't the convention back then. Remember they would have been using 80 character wide terminals where space was a bit more of a luxury.
– rusty shackleford
May 29 at 15:09
2
So let me add the final answer to when didPS1first appear. It was 1976 in the Bourne Shell.
– schily
May 29 at 16:06
add a comment |Â
up vote
2
down vote
accepted
This variable is part of the shell, $PS1 is used in bash, the Bourne shell (sh) and the ksh, it is not used in the csh.
The first UNIX shell was the Thompson Shell (which was also called sh like the later bourne shell, the Thompson Shell was often called osh on systems with both the Thompson and Bourne shell installed.) The Thompson shell used the variable $P for the prompt.
Then the Bourne Shell was introduced which used $PS1 to set the prompt. ksh was based on the Bourne Shell, and also uses $PS1. The csh/tcsh used set prompt = <something>.
So I think the first shell to use $PS1 was the Bourne Shell.
Thompson Shell man page: https://etsh.io/man/osh.1.pdf
Bourne Shell man page: http://heirloom.sourceforge.net/sh/sh.1.html
answered May 29 at 14:59
rusty shackleford
1,135115
If the Thompson Shell had a variable for the prompt, $P, why did they never customize a prompt to display the working directory?
– malan
May 29 at 15:06
1
You could do if you wanted to, I expect it just wasn't the convention back then. Remember they would have been using 80 character wide terminals where space was a bit more of a luxury.
– rusty shackleford
May 29 at 15:09
2
So let me add the final answer to when didPS1first appear. It was 1976 in the Bourne Shell.
– schily
May 29 at 16:06
add a comment |Â
up vote
2
down vote
accepted
up vote
2
down vote
accepted
This variable is part of the shell, $PS1 is used in bash, the Bourne shell (sh) and the ksh, it is not used in the csh.
The first UNIX shell was the Thompson Shell (which was also called sh like the later bourne shell, the Thompson Shell was often called osh on systems with both the Thompson and Bourne shell installed.) The Thompson shell used the variable $P for the prompt.
Then the Bourne Shell was introduced which used $PS1 to set the prompt. ksh was based on the Bourne Shell, and also uses $PS1. The csh/tcsh used set prompt = <something>.
So I think the first shell to use $PS1 was the Bourne Shell.
Thompson Shell man page: https://etsh.io/man/osh.1.pdf
Bourne Shell man page: http://heirloom.sourceforge.net/sh/sh.1.html
answered May 29 at 14:59
rusty shackleford
1,135115
This variable is part of the shell, $PS1 is used in bash, the Bourne shell (sh) and the ksh, it is not used in the csh.
The first UNIX shell was the Thompson Shell (which was also called sh like the later bourne shell, the Thompson Shell was often called osh on systems with both the Thompson and Bourne shell installed.) The Thompson shell used the variable $P for the prompt.
Then the Bourne Shell was introduced which used $PS1 to set the prompt. ksh was based on the Bourne Shell, and also uses $PS1. The csh/tcsh used set prompt = <something>.
So I think the first shell to use $PS1 was the Bourne Shell.
Thompson Shell man page: https://etsh.io/man/osh.1.pdf
Bourne Shell man page: http://heirloom.sourceforge.net/sh/sh.1.html
answered May 29 at 14:59
rusty shackleford
1,135115
edited May 29 at 15:04
answered May 29 at 14:59
rusty shackleford
1,135115
answered May 29 at 14:59
rusty shackleford
1,135115
answered May 29 at 14:59
rusty shackleford
1,135115
1,135115
If the Thompson Shell had a variable for the prompt, $P, why did they never customize a prompt to display the working directory?
– malan
May 29 at 15:06
1
You could do if you wanted to, I expect it just wasn't the convention back then. Remember they would have been using 80 character wide terminals where space was a bit more of a luxury.
– rusty shackleford
May 29 at 15:09
2
So let me add the final answer to when didPS1first appear. It was 1976 in the Bourne Shell.
– schily
May 29 at 16:06
add a comment |Â
If the Thompson Shell had a variable for the prompt, $P, why did they never customize a prompt to display the working directory?
– malan
May 29 at 15:06
1
You could do if you wanted to, I expect it just wasn't the convention back then. Remember they would have been using 80 character wide terminals where space was a bit more of a luxury.
– rusty shackleford
May 29 at 15:09
2
So let me add the final answer to when didPS1first appear. It was 1976 in the Bourne Shell.
– schily
May 29 at 16:06
If the Thompson Shell had a variable for the prompt, $P, why did they never customize a prompt to display the working directory?
– malan
May 29 at 15:06
If the Thompson Shell had a variable for the prompt, $P, why did they never customize a prompt to display the working directory?
– malan
May 29 at 15:06
1
1
You could do if you wanted to, I expect it just wasn't the convention back then. Remember they would have been using 80 character wide terminals where space was a bit more of a luxury.
– rusty shackleford
May 29 at 15:09
You could do if you wanted to, I expect it just wasn't the convention back then. Remember they would have been using 80 character wide terminals where space was a bit more of a luxury.
– rusty shackleford
May 29 at 15:09
2
2
So let me add the final answer to when did
PS1 first appear. It was 1976 in the Bourne Shell.– schily
May 29 at 16:06
So let me add the final answer to when did
PS1 first appear. It was 1976 in the Bourne Shell.– schily
May 29 at 16:06
add a comment |Â
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