Configure Terminal (UNIX)

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Use an updated .bash* file

First method

Close and re-open the Terminal.app (or other).

Second method (fastest)

Use this command:

source ~/.bash_file
source ~/.bash_profile

Aliases

Source

Create files

Create .bash_aliases in ~.

Link .bash_aliases

Open .bash_profile and add:

if [ -f ~/.bash_aliases ]; then
    . ~/.bash_aliases
fi

Create an alias

Open .bash_aliases and add:

alias my_alias='myCommand'
alias agu='sudo apt-get update'

Create a function to use parameters

myFunction() {
    #This function use Two parameters
    command $1 $2
}
alias myAlias=myFunction
javaParam() {
    #use the given param to compile and run Java code
    if [ "$1" = "*" ]; then
        javac *.java
        java Main
    else
        javac $1.java
        java $1
    fi
}

alias java=javaParam

List all the aliases

alias

Custom aliases

Scripts

about

This is what the script does:

The about script

It's located at ~/.MyScripts/about

alias about='./.MyScripts/about'

The script is available on my GitHub.

Personnalize terminal

The default prompt on macOS is: 

PS1="\h:\W \u$ ";
export PS1;

Default prompt

Personnalize prompt

Choose the wanted options and colors, and insert them in PS1.

Example

PS1="\[$(tput setaf 2)\]\u\[$(tput sgr0)\] at \[$(tput setaf 3)\]\h\[$(tput sgr0)\] in \[$(tput setaf 166)\]\W\[$(tput sgr0)\]\n\d, \t $ ";
export PS1;

or, for cleaner

PS1="\[$(tput setaf 2)\]\u\[$(tput sgr0)\] at ";
PS1+="\[$(tput setaf 3)\]\h\[$(tput sgr0)\] in ";
PS1+="\[$(tput setaf 166)\]\W\[$(tput sgr0)\]\n";
PS1+="\d, \t $ ";
export PS1;

or whether

white=$(tput setaf 15);
green=$(tput setaf 2);
orange=$(tput setaf 166);
yellow=$(tput setaf 3);
reset=$(tput sgr0);

PS1="\[$green\]\u\[$white\] at ";
PS1+="\[$yellow\]\h\[$white\] in ";
PS1+="\[$orange\]\W\[$reset\]\n";
PS1+="\d, \t $ ";
export PS1;

This is the result:

Result

Colors

The colors used are from the Chart of the 256 colors available in an Xterm with color support.

See the chart

Options

    \a     an ASCII bell character (07)
    \d     the date in "Weekday Month Date" format (e.g., "Tue May 26")
    \D{format}
           the format is passed to strftime(3) and the result is inserted into the prompt string; an empty format results in a locale-
           specific time representation.  The braces are required
    \e     an ASCII escape character (033)
    \h     the hostname up to the first '.'
    \H     the hostname
    \j     the number of jobs currently managed by the shell
    \l     the basename of the shell's terminal device name
    \n     newline
    \r     carriage return
    \s     the name of the shell, the basename of $0 (the portion following the final slash)
    \t     the current time in 24-hour HH:MM:SS format
    \T     the current time in 12-hour HH:MM:SS format
    \@     the current time in 12-hour am/pm format
    \A     the current time in 24-hour HH:MM format
    \u     the username of the current user
    \v     the version of bash (e.g., 2.00)
    \V     the release of bash, version + patch level (e.g., 2.00.0)
    \w     the current working directory, with $HOME abbreviated with a tilde (uses the value of the PROMPT_DIRTRIM variable)
    \W     the basename of the current working directory, with $HOME abbreviated with a tilde
    \!     the history number of this command
    \#     the command number of this command
    \$     if the effective UID is 0, a #, otherwise a $
    \nnn   the character corresponding to the octal number nnn
    \\     a backslash
    \[     begin a sequence of non-printing characters, which could be used to embed a terminal control sequence into the prompt
    \]     end a sequence of non-printing characters

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