Terminal Customization in Linux

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Supported Shells

Setup

0. Ensure you are running bash

getent passwd <username>
sudo chsh -s /bin/bash <username>

1. Customize your Bash prompt

The Bash prompt is controlled by the PS1 environment variable. Add the following to your ~/.bashrc:

# Basic colored prompt with username, hostname, and current directory
export PS1="\[\e[32m\]\u@\h\[\e[0m\]:\[\e[34m\]\w\[\e[0m\]\$ "

The \e[32m sets green color, \u shows username, \h shows hostname, \w shows working directory, and \e[0m resets color.

Apply changes immediately:

source ~/.bashrc

2. Add useful aliases

Aliases are shortcuts for frequently used commands. Add these to ~/.bashrc:

# Navigation
alias ..='cd ..'
alias ...='cd ../..'
alias ll='ls -lah'
alias la='ls -A'

# Safety nets
alias rm='rm -i'
alias cp='cp -i'
alias mv='mv -i'

# Git shortcuts
alias gs='git status'
alias ga='git add'
alias gc='git commit'
alias gp='git push'
alias gl='git log --oneline --graph --decorate'

# System
alias update='sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y'
alias ports='netstat -tulanp'

3. Enable better command history

Add these lines to ~/.bashrc for improved history management:

# Don't save duplicate commands
export HISTCONTROL=ignoredups:erasedups

# Larger history
export HISTSIZE=10000
export HISTFILESIZE=20000

# Append to history file, don't overwrite
shopt -s histappend

# Save multi-line commands as one entry
shopt -s cmdhist

4. Install and configure a modern prompt (optional)

For a more advanced prompt with Git integration, install Starship:

# Install Starship
curl -sS https://starship.rs/install.sh | sh

# Add to ~/.bashrc
echo 'eval "$(starship init bash)"' >> ~/.bashrc

Create a custom configuration at ~/.config/starship.toml:

[character]
success_symbol = "[➜](bold green)"
error_symbol = "[✗](bold red)"

[directory]
truncation_length = 3
truncate_to_repo = true

[git_branch]
symbol = "🌱 "

[git_status]
ahead = "⇡${count}"
diverged = "⇕⇡${ahead_count}⇣${behind_count}"
behind = "⇣${count}"

5. Configure terminal colors and fonts

Most modern terminals support 256 colors. Test support:

# Test 256-color support
curl -s https://gist.githubusercontent.com/HaleTom/89ffe32783f89f403bba96bd7bcd1263/raw/ | bash

For better fonts, install a Nerd Font:

# Download and install FiraCode Nerd Font
mkdir -p ~/.local/share/fonts
cd ~/.local/share/fonts
curl -fLo "Fira Code Regular Nerd Font Complete.ttf" \
  https://github.com/ryanoasis/nerd-fonts/raw/master/patched-fonts/FiraCode/Regular/FiraCodeNerdFont-Regular.ttf
fc-cache -fv

Change your terminal emulator's font settings to use "FiraCode Nerd Font" for best icon support.

6. Enable syntax highlighting (optional)

Install bash-completion for better tab completion:

sudo apt install bash-completion

For command syntax highlighting as you type, consider switching to Zsh with Oh My Zsh, or install bash-preexec:

# Clone bash-preexec
git clone https://github.com/rcaloras/bash-preexec.git ~/.bash-preexec
echo '[[ -f ~/.bash-preexec/bash-preexec.sh ]] && source ~/.bash-preexec/bash-preexec.sh' >> ~/.bashrc

7. Create custom functions

Add useful functions to ~/.bashrc:

# Create directory and cd into it
mkcd() {
    mkdir -p "$1" && cd "$1"
}

# Extract any archive format
extract() {
    if [ -f "$1" ]; then
        case "$1" in
            *.tar.bz2)   tar xjf "$1"     ;;
            *.tar.gz)    tar xzf "$1"     ;;
            *.bz2)       bunzip2 "$1"     ;;
            *.rar)       unrar x "$1"     ;;
            *.gz)        gunzip "$1"      ;;
            *.tar)       tar xf "$1"      ;;
            *.tbz2)      tar xjf "$1"     ;;
            *.tgz)       tar xzf "$1"     ;;
            *.zip)       unzip "$1"       ;;
            *.Z)         uncompress "$1"  ;;
            *.7z)        7z x "$1"        ;;
            *)           echo "'$1' cannot be extracted via extract()" ;;
        esac
    else
        echo "'$1' is not a valid file"
    fi
}

# Find files by name
ff() {
    find . -type f -iname "*$1*"
}

8. Advanced options

Organization and advanced customizations

• Split your configuration into multiple files (e.g., ~/.bash_aliases, ~/.bash_functions) and source them from ~/.bashrc.
• Use ~/.inputrc to customize readline behavior (e.g., case-insensitive tab completion).
• Install tmux for terminal multiplexing and session management.
• Consider terminal emulators like Alacritty, Kitty, or WezTerm for better performance and features.
• Use direnv for per-directory environment variables.

Example ~/.inputrc for better tab completion:

# Case-insensitive completion
set completion-ignore-case on

# Show all completions immediately
set show-all-if-ambiguous on

# Color completion
set colored-stats on

# Show file type indicator
set visible-stats on

Useful Links

• Bash Reference Manual
• Starship Prompt
• Oh My Bash
• Nerd Fonts
• Bash Aliases Gist

Quick Reference

Common PS1 Escape Sequences

ANSI Color Codes

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