Can anyone explain the Ubuntu's bash prompt?
It's basically username@box:~$ but the part that confuses me is $. Is it just a letter that can be of preference, or it has some actual meaning?
"$
" was the default prompt string in sh
, the Bourne shell. It doesn't have any special meaning besides showing that you are a normal user (the default prompt for root is "#
").
Since bash
("Bourne Again" shell) is a derivative of sh
, it continues to use $
/#
as part of its default prompt. Take a look at http://www.gilesorr.com/bashprompt/howto/x170.html and bash
's manual page for information on how to customize it.
sudo -s
(or sudo sh
or whatever). Can't you do something similar in Ubuntu? So even with the root account disabled, having the prompt change from $ to # is useful for keeping track of whether or not you're in a superuser shell.