PS1='\[\e[1;31m\][\u@\h \W]\$\[\e[0m\] '
It is useful to set a different color for the shell prompt in different deployment environments like dev/test/production, so that you don't mix up your multiple windows and do something by accident in the wrong window.
PS1
contains the format of the primary prompt\[\e[1;31m\]
sets the foreground color to red\u
will be substituted with the current username\h
will be substituted with the hostname\W
will be substituted with the current directory name\[\e[0m\]
is the end marker of the color settingTo make the color stand out even more for root users, the inverse color can be interesting too:
PS1='\[\e[7;31m\][\u@\h \W]\$\[\e[0m\] '
Other color examples:
#PS1='\[\e[1;32m\][\u@\h \W]\$\[\e[0m\] ' # green
#PS1='\[\e[1;33m\][\u@\h \W]\$\[\e[0m\] ' # yellow
#PS1='\[\e[1;34m\][\u@\h \W]\$\[\e[0m\] ' # blue
You can learn more in man bash
, search for "PROMPTING".
Your terminal program must support colors, of course ;-)