ZSH color prompt - not working

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Level 1

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ZSH color prompt - not working

I am going through the zhguide_us.pdf file from zsh.org. The guide indicates that the prompt's color can be customized using tags in the .zshrc file.

Quoting from the manual,
In the case of colours, there is a shell function colors supplied
with the standard distribution to help you. When loaded and
run, it deﬁnes associative array parameters $fg and $bg which you
use to extract the escape sequences for given colours, for example
${fg[red]}${bg[yellow]} produces the sequences for red text on a
yellow background. So for example,

PS1="%{${bg[white]}${fg[red]}%}%(?..(%?%))\
%{${fg[yellow]}${bg[black]}%}%# "

I can't get these color tags to work. Anyone had luck with this? Thanks.

MBP 1st generation, Mac OS X (10.5.7), Safari 4.0

Posted on Jun 26, 2009 5:54 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Jun T.

Level 4

2,191 points

Jun 27, 2009 6:32 PM in response to oxomoxo

Which means I probably need to have something like "autoload -U color" called prior to color coding the prompt? In the .zshrc file?

You both need the following two lines in your .zshrc:

autoload -U colors
colors

The zshguide.pdf says:
"When loaded and run, it deﬁnes associative array parameters $fg and $bg ...."

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Answer 2

Jun T.

Level 4

2,191 points

Jun 27, 2009 12:59 PM in response to oxomoxo

Does the following work in your zsh?


zsh$ autoload -U colors
zsh$ colors
zsh$ echo ${fg[red]}foo${fg[black]}bar

This should print "foo" in red and "bar" in black.

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Answer 3

oxomoxo Author

Level 1

5 points

Jun 27, 2009 1:06 PM in response to Jun T.

Yes it does. Which means I probably need to have something like "autoload -U color" called prior to color coding the prompt? In the .zshrc file?

Message was edited by: oxomoxo

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Answer 4

oxomoxo Author

Level 1

5 points

Jun 27, 2009 6:39 PM in response to Jun T.

Works great! Many thanks Jun T.

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