zsh and xterm

zsh and xterm

[Pierpaolo Righini]

Hello,

please, i'd like to know in which way can I alter the appearance of an
xterm by putting the current directory and hostname in the title.
I've tried in the ksh-way, putting in the .zshrc:

PS1="$(print "\033")]2;[ $_U ]%m: %/$(print "\007 \r")$PSB "

and in fact this works for the title but then i have problems with the
muliline editing (it supposes to have written the title also after the
prompt and so the line is broken too early).
Are there other ways to do this? Are there someone who could mail me an
answer?

Pierpaolo Righini

Re: zsh and xterm

[Geoff Wing]

Pierpaolo Righini wrote:
:Hello,
:please, i'd like to know in which way can I alter the appearance of an
:xterm by putting the current directory and hostname in the title.
:I've tried in the ksh-way, putting in the .zshrc:
:
:PS1="$(print "\033")]2;[ $_U ]%m: %/$(print "\007 \r")$PSB "
:
:and in fact this works for the title but then i have problems with the
:muliline editing (it supposes to have written the title also after the
:prompt and so the line is broken too early).
:Are there other ways to do this? Are there someone who could mail me an
:answer?

You obviously don't have RPROMPT set;  it would immediately look worse if
you did.  Zsh has no way of knowing which characters get soaked up by the
terminal so you shouldn't put this type of stuff in the prompt. 
I have in my .zshrc something like

if [[ -n $DISPLAY ]]; then
    print -Pn  whatever
    chpwd() { print -Pn  whatever }
fi

where whatever are Prompt style strings (like your PS1 var).
-- 
Geoff Wing [gwing@primenet.com.au]   Technical Manager
  Phone    : +61-3-9818 2977	     PrimeNet - Internet Consultancy
  Facsimile: +61-3-9819 3788	     Web : <URL:http://www.primenet.com.au/>
  Mobile   : 0412 162 441

Re: zsh and xterm

[Zefram]

>PS1="$(print "\033")]2;[ $_U ]%m: %/$(print "\007 \r")$PSB "
>
>and in fact this works for the title but then i have problems with the
>muliline editing (it supposes to have written the title also after the
>prompt and so the line is broken too early).

Yes, you need to indicate to zsh that part of the prompt doesn't take
up any space on the screen:

PS1="%{$(print "\033")]2;[ $_U ]%m: %/$(print "\007 \r")%}$PSB "
     ^^                                                 ^^

But in this case it would be better to use the chpwd feature:

function chpwd {
  print -nP "\033]2;[ $_U ]%m: %/\007"
}

chpwd gets executed every time the current directory changes.  Other
things of this nature can be done using precmd, which is executed
before the prompt is displayed.

-zefram

zsh not sourcing .zsh*

[John Harres]

I just set up a new Sun running Solaris 2.5.1.  After installing zsh 3.0.1 on
it and copying my old .zsh* files over, I noticed that in some cases it is
not sourcing the .zsh* files.  When I log in, it works fine.  When I su to
root, I normally follow this with a 'zsh -'.  On this system, I noticed that
my prompt didn't change to reflect root's PROMPT variable, unlike the other
systems I have it installed on.  I also tried 'zsh -l', 'zsh -l -i', and 
'zsh -i' to no avail (in all cases the quotes are mine for clarity, not
actually part of the command).  After I do a '. /.zshrc', everything is fine
(except for the rest of the .zsh* files).

Ideas?

John

Re: zsh not sourcing .zsh*

[Zefram]

Have you checked whether $HOME is being set correctly?

-zefram

Re: zsh not sourcing .zsh*

[John Harres]

No, I hadn't.  But you are right, it's not being changed when I su.  After
a quick look at the man page for su, I guess I'll be doing a 'su -' from now
on.

Thanks!
John