Re: Outputting colored zsh prompts from an external script

[seanh <snhmnd@gmail.com>]

> > > So far this color issue is the only thing getting in my way...
> > 
> > Your python script needs to either output %F{color} / %K{color} instead
> > of the raw ANSI sequences, or (might be easier) put %{ and %} around the
> > ANSI.  Both methods tell zsh that this output is "zero-width" on the
> > terminal, so it doesn't count those bytes when determing how much screen
> > space the prompt uses.  See also %G in the manual.
> 
> That was exactly what I needed, thanks! Took all of two seconds to apply
> and worked perfectly. I've updated the gist. The Python code could be
> written more clearly, to make it explicit that the ANSI codes are
> getting wrapped in zsh zero-width codes. Once I've given it some testing
> and finished it off, I'll publish the script properly somewhere.

Here's the "finished" version as I'm using it for now:

https://gist.github.com/seanh/5233082

Anyone know how I can make zsh call this script for PROMPT and RPROMPT,
but fall back on a simple pure-zsh prompt if trying to call the script
exits with non-zero? (Yes, my zsh-scripting skills really are that
limited.)

It does what I wanted from my prompt, with maybe a couple of minor
wrinkles that could be smoothed out. If I can get custom format options
working, it might be useful to others who want to design their own
prompts. I'm thinking it'd work something like this, for example to get
a zsh prompt with current working dir, virtualenv, git branch and last
exit status, you would put something like this in your zshrc:

    PROMPT='$(zshprompt.py --format "{cwd:green} {venv:blue} {git:yellow} {les:red,bold}> ")'

and zshprompt.py would do all the work to handle current working
directory truncation and git branch, virtualenv and non-zero exit status
detection, handle colours and bold etc and transform that (hopefully
simple) string specification into the much more complex string that zsh
needs for the prompt.