PrettyPrompt/README.md

# PrettyPrompt  

A pretty shell prompt, written in rust.  

## Current Features  

- **User indicator** - Symbol with different colors for root user and normal users  
- **Error indicator** - Symbol with different colors to indicate if the last comment was successful  
- **Git repo indicator**  
  - Indicates if the current directory is a repo or a regular directory  
  - Branches indicated by different colors  
- **SSH indicator** - Symbol to indicate if the current shell is in an SSH session  
- **Current directory**  
  - Abbreviated if the path is too long  
  - Replaces the user's home directory with a `~` symbol  
  - Show the repo's name if currently in a git repo  

## Screenshot  

![screenshot](https://git.candifloss.cc/candifloss/PrettyPrompt/raw/branch/main/screenshot/BashPromptExampleScreenshoot.png "Screenshot")  

## Planned Features  

- **Right-hand side prompt**: Challenging to implement on non-zsh shells.   
- **Configuration file**  
  - Choose only the components you need  
  - Change appearance  
    - Symbols and text  
	- Colors  
	- Order and position    
  - Custom components  
    - Static: Shell icon, Host name, etc.  
    - Dynamic: Time & date, system stats, or any custom commands  

## Current Limitations  

- **Hard-Coded Configuration**: User customization is not available yet. 
- **Exit Code Requirement**: Must pass the last command’s exit code as a command-line argument.  

## Tested on  

Ubuntu 24.04  
  - `bash` 5.2  
  - `zsh` 5.9  
  - `ion` 1.0.0-alpha  

## Installation  

**Step 1. Build binary from source**  
This requires [rust](https://www.rust-lang.org/tools/install) installed on your system.  

```bash  
git clone https://git.candifloss.cc/candifloss/PrettyPrompt.git  
cd PrettyPrompt/  
cargo build --release  
# Binary location: `target/release/prettyprompt`    
```  

**Step 2. Add to `$PATH`**  
  - Option 1. Move the binary to a directory in your `$PATH`. Eg:
```bash  
sudo mv target/release/prettyprompt /usr/bin/
```  
  - Option 2. Add the directory containing the binary to `$PATH`  
   System-wide: `/etc/profile`  
   User-specific: `~/.profile`  
   Shell-specific: `bashrc`, `zshrc`, etc.  
```bash  
export PATH="$PATH:/path/where/the/binary/is/"
```  

## Usage  

Configuration varies by shell, and the file location varies by distro. Refer your shell's docs or community resources for details. Note that the exit code of the last command(usually `$?` variable) must be passed as a command-line argument.  

### `bash`  

 - The `PS1` variable sets a fixed prompt string.  
 - This `PROMPT_COMMAND` variable sets a dynamic prompt.  

System-wide: `/etc/bash.bashrc`  
User-specific: `~/.bashrc`:
```bash  
PS1=""  # Set it to an empty string
PROMPT_COMMAND='prettyprompt $?'  # Single quotes, not double quotes
```  

### `ion`  

The `PROMPT` function is currently the only way to customize the prompt according to the `ion` shell docs.  
User-specific config: `~/.config/ion/initrc`:  
```ion  
fn PROMPT
    prettyprompt $?
end
```  

### `zsh`  
Export the `PS1` variable with the output of `prettyprompt $?` as its value.  
User-specific: `~/.zshrc`  
System-wide: `/etc/zsh/zshrc`  
```sh    
export PS1='$(prettyprompt $?)' # Notice the single quotes
```  

### Other shells  

For other shells, refer their docs to set a dynamic prompt. Ensure the last command's exit code (`$?` or equivalent) is passed to `prettyprompt`.

## Changes since the last version
 - **Updated Output String Type:** Ansi strings improved compatibility with other shells.  
 - **Revamped Indicator Symbols:** Enhanced the visual aspect of the prompt.  
 - **Removed Shell Icon:** Determining the shell is practically not possible.  
 - **Conditional Component Inclusion:** A first step towards user-configuration expected in future versions.  
 - **Code Improvements:** readability and performance  
   - **Refactoring:** Modular structure for better readability and maintenance.  
   - **Modularization:** Separate modules for cleaner organization.  
   - **Error Handling:** Improved logic to exclude error messages from the prompt.  
   - **Enhanced Documentation:** Comments for better comprehension.  

## Acknowledgement  

The current default (and only) theme draws inspiration from [s1ck94](https://github.com/zimfw/s1ck94) theme of [zimfw](https://zimfw.sh/).  

## Why this project?  

- **Efficiency**: Avoids repeated invocation of multiple binaries like `tr`, `grep`, `echo`, `git`, `sed`, etc., which would otherwise be used dozens of times in shell scripts just to generate a colored string.  
- **Portability**: Eliminates the need to write separate scripts in different shell languages for various shells.  
- **Learning Rust**: Serves as a fun and practical project to learn and apply Rust programming skills.