Appendix G. A Sample .bashrc File

The ~/.bashrc file determines the behavior of interactive shells. A good look at this file can lead to a better understanding of Bash.

Emmanuel Rouat contributed the following very elaborate .bashrc file, written for a Linux system. He welcomes reader feedback on it.

Study the file carefully, and feel free to reuse code snippets and functions from it in your own .bashrc file or even in your scripts.

Example G-1. Sample .bashrc file

#===============================================================
#
# PERSONAL $HOME/.bashrc FILE for bash-2.05a (or later)
#
# Last modified: Tue Apr 15 20:32:34 CEST 2003
#
# This file is read (normally) by interactive shells only.
# Here is the place to define your aliases, functions and
# other interactive features like your prompt.
#
# This file was designed (originally) for Solaris but based
# on Redhat's default .bashrc file
# --> Modified for Linux.
# The majority of the code you'll find here is based on code found
# on Usenet (or internet).
# This bashrc file is a bit overcrowded - remember it is just
# just an example. Tailor it to your needs
#
#
#===============================================================

# --> Comments added by HOWTO author.
# --> And then edited again by ER :-)

#-----------------------------------
# Source global definitions (if any)
#-----------------------------------

if [ -f /etc/bashrc ]; then
        . /etc/bashrc   # --> Read /etc/bashrc, if present.
fi

#-------------------------------------------------------------
# Automatic setting of $DISPLAY (if not set already)
# This works for linux - your mileage may vary....
# The problem is that different types of terminals give
# different answers to 'who am i'......
# I have not found a 'universal' method yet
#-------------------------------------------------------------

function get_xserver ()
{
    case $TERM in
	xterm )
	    XSERVER=$(who am i | awk '{print $NF}' | tr -d ')''(' )
	    XSERVER=${XSERVER%%:*}
	    ;;
	aterm | rxvt)
 	# find some code that works here.....
	    ;;
    esac
}

if [ -z ${DISPLAY:=""} ]; then
    get_xserver
    if [[ -z ${XSERVER}  || ${XSERVER} == $(hostname) || ${XSERVER} == "unix" ]]; then
	DISPLAY=":0.0"		# Display on local host
    else
	DISPLAY=${XSERVER}:0.0	# Display on remote host
    fi
fi

export DISPLAY

#---------------
# Some settings
#---------------

ulimit -S -c 0		# Don't want any coredumps
set -o notify
set -o noclobber
set -o ignoreeof
set -o nounset
#set -o xtrace          # useful for debuging

# Enable options:
shopt -s cdspell
shopt -s cdable_vars
shopt -s checkhash
shopt -s checkwinsize
shopt -s mailwarn
shopt -s sourcepath
shopt -s no_empty_cmd_completion  # bash>=2.04 only
shopt -s cmdhist
shopt -s histappend histreedit histverify
shopt -s extglob	# necessary for programmable completion

# Disable options:
shopt -u mailwarn
unset MAILCHECK		# I don't want my shell to warn me of incoming mail


export TIMEFORMAT=$'\nreal %3R\tuser %3U\tsys %3S\tpcpu %P\n'
export HISTIGNORE="&:bg:fg:ll:h"
export HOSTFILE=$HOME/.hosts	# Put a list of remote hosts in ~/.hosts



#-----------------------
# Greeting, motd etc...
#-----------------------

# Define some colors first:
red='\e[0;31m'
RED='\e[1;31m'
blue='\e[0;34m'
BLUE='\e[1;34m'
cyan='\e[0;36m'
CYAN='\e[1;36m'
NC='\e[0m'              # No Color
# --> Nice. Has the same effect as using "ansi.sys" in DOS.

# Looks best on a black background.....
echo -e "${CYAN}This is BASH ${RED}${BASH_VERSION%.*}${CYAN} - DISPLAY on ${RED}$DISPLAY${NC}\n"
date
if [ -x /usr/games/fortune ]; then
    /usr/games/fortune -s     # makes our day a bit more fun.... :-)
fi

function _exit()	# function to run upon exit of shell
{
    echo -e "${RED}Hasta la vista, baby${NC}"
}
trap _exit EXIT

#---------------
# Shell Prompt
#---------------

if [[ "${DISPLAY#$HOST}" != ":0.0" &&  "${DISPLAY}" != ":0" ]]; then
    HILIT=${red}   # remote machine: prompt will be partly red
else
    HILIT=${cyan}  # local machine: prompt will be partly cyan
fi

#  --> Replace instances of \W with \w in prompt functions below
#+ --> to get display of full path name.

function fastprompt()
{
    unset PROMPT_COMMAND
    case $TERM in
        *term | rxvt )
            PS1="${HILIT}[\h]$NC \W > \[\033]0;\${TERM} [\u@\h] \w\007\]" ;;
	linux )
	    PS1="${HILIT}[\h]$NC \W > " ;;
        *)
            PS1="[\h] \W > " ;;
    esac
}

function powerprompt()
{
    _powerprompt()
    {
        LOAD=$(uptime|sed -e "s/.*: \([^,]*\).*/\1/" -e "s/ //g")
    }

    PROMPT_COMMAND=_powerprompt
    case $TERM in
        *term | rxvt  )
            PS1="${HILIT}[\A \$LOAD]$NC\n[\h \#] \W > \[\033]0;\${TERM} [\u@\h] \w\007\]" ;;
        linux )
            PS1="${HILIT}[\A - \$LOAD]$NC\n[\h \#] \w > " ;;
        * )
            PS1="[\A - \$LOAD]\n[\h \#] \w > " ;;
    esac
}

powerprompt     # this is the default prompt - might be slow
                # If too slow, use fastprompt instead....

#===============================================================
#
# ALIASES AND FUNCTIONS
#
# Arguably, some functions defined here are quite big
# (ie 'lowercase') but my workstation has 512Meg of RAM, so .....
# If you want to make this file smaller, these functions can
# be converted into scripts.
#
# Many functions were taken (almost) straight from the bash-2.04
# examples.
#
#===============================================================

#-------------------
# Personnal Aliases
#-------------------

alias rm='rm -i'
alias cp='cp -i'
alias mv='mv -i'
# -> Prevents accidentally clobbering files.
alias mkdir='mkdir -p'

alias h='history'
alias j='jobs -l'
alias r='rlogin'
alias which='type -all'
alias ..='cd ..'
alias path='echo -e ${PATH//:/\\n}'
alias print='/usr/bin/lp -o nobanner -d $LPDEST'   # Assumes LPDEST is defined
alias pjet='enscript -h -G -fCourier9 -d $LPDEST'  # Pretty-print using enscript
alias background='xv -root -quit -max -rmode 5'    # Put a picture in the background
alias du='du -kh'
alias df='df -kTh'

# The 'ls' family (this assumes you use the GNU ls)
alias la='ls -Al'               # show hidden files
alias ls='ls -hF --color'	# add colors for filetype recognition
alias lx='ls -lXB'              # sort by extension
alias lk='ls -lSr'              # sort by size
alias lc='ls -lcr'		# sort by change time
alias lu='ls -lur'		# sort by access time
alias lr='ls -lR'               # recursive ls
alias lt='ls -ltr'              # sort by date
alias lm='ls -al |more'         # pipe through 'more'
alias tree='tree -Csu'		# nice alternative to 'ls'

# tailoring 'less'
alias more='less'
export PAGER=less
export LESSCHARSET='latin1'
export LESSOPEN='|/usr/bin/lesspipe.sh %s 2>&-' # Use this if lesspipe.sh exists
export LESS='-i -N -w  -z-4 -g -e -M -X -F -R -P%t?f%f \
:stdin .?pb%pb\%:?lbLine %lb:?bbByte %bb:-...'

# spelling typos - highly personnal :-)
alias xs='cd'
alias vf='cd'
alias moer='more'
alias moew='more'
alias kk='ll'

#----------------
# a few fun ones
#----------------

function xtitle ()
{
    case "$TERM" in
        *term | rxvt)
            echo -n -e "\033]0;$*\007" ;;
        *)
	    ;;
    esac
}

# aliases...
alias top='xtitle Processes on $HOST && top'
alias make='xtitle Making $(basename $PWD) ; make'
alias ncftp="xtitle ncFTP ; ncftp"

# .. and functions
function man ()
{
    for i ; do
	xtitle The $(basename $1|tr -d .[:digit:]) manual
	command man -F -a "$i"
    done
}

function ll(){ ls -l "$@"| egrep "^d" ; ls -lXB "$@" 2>&-| egrep -v "^d|total "; }
function te()  # wrapper around xemacs/gnuserv
{
    if [ "$(gnuclient -batch -eval t 2>&-)" == "t" ]; then
        gnuclient -q "$@";
    else
        ( xemacs "$@" &);
    fi
}

#-----------------------------------
# File & strings related functions:
#-----------------------------------

# Find a file with a pattern in name:
function ff() { find . -type f -iname '*'$*'*' -ls ; }
# Find a file with pattern $1 in name and Execute $2 on it:
function fe() { find . -type f -iname '*'$1'*' -exec "${2:-file}" {} \;  ; }
# find pattern in a set of filesand highlight them:
function fstr()
{
    OPTIND=1
    local case=""
    local usage="fstr: find string in files.
Usage: fstr [-i] \"pattern\" [\"filename pattern\"] "
    while getopts :it opt
    do
        case "$opt" in
        i) case="-i " ;;
        *) echo "$usage"; return;;
        esac
    done
    shift $(( $OPTIND - 1 ))
    if [ "$#" -lt 1 ]; then
        echo "$usage"
        return;
    fi
    local SMSO=$(tput smso)
    local RMSO=$(tput rmso)
    find . -type f -name "${2:-*}" -print0 | xargs -0 grep -sn ${case} "$1" 2>&- | \
sed "s/$1/${SMSO}\0${RMSO}/gI" | more
}

function cuttail() # cut last n lines in file, 10 by default
{
    nlines=${2:-10}
    sed -n -e :a -e "1,${nlines}!{P;N;D;};N;ba" $1
}

function lowercase()  # move filenames to lowercase
{
    for file ; do
        filename=${file##*/}
        case "$filename" in
        */*) dirname==${file%/*} ;;
        *) dirname=.;;
        esac
        nf=$(echo $filename | tr A-Z a-z)
        newname="${dirname}/${nf}"
        if [ "$nf" != "$filename" ]; then
            mv "$file" "$newname"
            echo "lowercase: $file --> $newname"
        else
            echo "lowercase: $file not changed."
        fi
    done
}

function swap()         # swap 2 filenames around
{
    local TMPFILE=tmp.$$
    mv "$1" $TMPFILE
    mv "$2" "$1"
    mv $TMPFILE "$2"
}


#-----------------------------------
# Process/system related functions:
#-----------------------------------

function my_ps() { ps $@ -u $USER -o pid,%cpu,%mem,bsdtime,command ; }
function pp() { my_ps f | awk '!/awk/ && $0~var' var=${1:-".*"} ; }

# This function is roughly the same as 'killall' on linux
# but has no equivalent (that I know of) on Solaris
function killps()   # kill by process name
{
    local pid pname sig="-TERM"   # default signal
    if [ "$#" -lt 1 ] || [ "$#" -gt 2 ]; then
        echo "Usage: killps [-SIGNAL] pattern"
        return;
    fi
    if [ $# = 2 ]; then sig=$1 ; fi
    for pid in $(my_ps| awk '!/awk/ && $0~pat { print $1 }' pat=${!#} ) ; do
        pname=$(my_ps | awk '$1~var { print $5 }' var=$pid )
        if ask "Kill process $pid <$pname> with signal $sig?"
            then kill $sig $pid
        fi
    done
}

function my_ip() # get IP adresses
{
    MY_IP=$(/sbin/ifconfig ppp0 | awk '/inet/ { print $2 } ' | sed -e s/addr://)
    MY_ISP=$(/sbin/ifconfig ppp0 | awk '/P-t-P/ { print $3 } ' | sed -e s/P-t-P://)
}

function ii()   # get current host related info
{
    echo -e "\nYou are logged on ${RED}$HOST"
    echo -e "\nAdditionnal information:$NC " ; uname -a
    echo -e "\n${RED}Users logged on:$NC " ; w -h
    echo -e "\n${RED}Current date :$NC " ; date
    echo -e "\n${RED}Machine stats :$NC " ; uptime
    echo -e "\n${RED}Memory stats :$NC " ; free
    my_ip 2>&- ;
    echo -e "\n${RED}Local IP Address :$NC" ; echo ${MY_IP:-"Not connected"}
    echo -e "\n${RED}ISP Address :$NC" ; echo ${MY_ISP:-"Not connected"}
    echo
}

# Misc utilities:

function repeat()       # repeat n times command
{
    local i max
    max=$1; shift;
    for ((i=1; i <= max ; i++)); do  # --> C-like syntax
        eval "$@";
    done
}

function ask()
{
    echo -n "$@" '[y/n] ' ; read ans
    case "$ans" in
        y*|Y*) return 0 ;;
        *) return 1 ;;
    esac
}

#=========================================================================
#
# PROGRAMMABLE COMPLETION - ONLY SINCE BASH-2.04
# Most are taken from the bash 2.05 documentation and from Ian McDonalds
# 'Bash completion' package (http://www.caliban.org/bash/index.shtml#completion)
# You will in fact need bash-2.05a for some features
#
#=========================================================================

if [ "${BASH_VERSION%.*}" \< "2.05" ]; then
    echo "You will need to upgrade to version 2.05 for programmable completion"
    return
fi

shopt -s extglob        # necessary
set +o nounset          # otherwise some completions will fail

complete -A hostname   rsh rcp telnet rlogin r ftp ping disk
complete -A export     printenv
complete -A variable   export local readonly unset
complete -A enabled    builtin
complete -A alias      alias unalias
complete -A function   function
complete -A user       su mail finger

complete -A helptopic  help     # currently same as builtins
complete -A shopt      shopt
complete -A stopped -P '%' bg
complete -A job -P '%'     fg jobs disown

complete -A directory  mkdir rmdir
complete -A directory   -o default cd

# Compression
complete -f -o default -X '*.+(zip|ZIP)'  zip
complete -f -o default -X '!*.+(zip|ZIP)' unzip
complete -f -o default -X '*.+(z|Z)'      compress
complete -f -o default -X '!*.+(z|Z)'     uncompress
complete -f -o default -X '*.+(gz|GZ)'    gzip
complete -f -o default -X '!*.+(gz|GZ)'   gunzip
complete -f -o default -X '*.+(bz2|BZ2)'  bzip2
complete -f -o default -X '!*.+(bz2|BZ2)' bunzip2
# Postscript,pdf,dvi.....
complete -f -o default -X '!*.ps'  gs ghostview ps2pdf ps2ascii
complete -f -o default -X '!*.dvi' dvips dvipdf xdvi dviselect dvitype
complete -f -o default -X '!*.pdf' acroread pdf2ps
complete -f -o default -X '!*.+(pdf|ps)' gv
complete -f -o default -X '!*.texi*' makeinfo texi2dvi texi2html texi2pdf
complete -f -o default -X '!*.tex' tex latex slitex
complete -f -o default -X '!*.lyx' lyx
complete -f -o default -X '!*.+(htm*|HTM*)' lynx html2ps
# Multimedia
complete -f -o default -X '!*.+(jp*g|gif|xpm|png|bmp)' xv gimp
complete -f -o default -X '!*.+(mp3|MP3)' mpg123 mpg321
complete -f -o default -X '!*.+(ogg|OGG)' ogg123



complete -f -o default -X '!*.pl'  perl perl5

# This is a 'universal' completion function - it works when commands have
# a so-called 'long options' mode , ie: 'ls --all' instead of 'ls -a'

_get_longopts ()
{
    $1 --help | sed  -e '/--/!d' -e 's/.*--\([^[:space:].,]*\).*/--\1/'| \
grep ^"$2" |sort -u ;
}

_longopts_func ()
{
    case "${2:-*}" in
	-*)	;;
	*)	return ;;
    esac

    case "$1" in
	\~*)	eval cmd="$1" ;;
	*)	cmd="$1" ;;
    esac
    COMPREPLY=( $(_get_longopts ${1} ${2} ) )
}
complete  -o default -F _longopts_func configure bash
complete  -o default -F _longopts_func wget id info a2ps ls recode


_make_targets ()
{
    local mdef makef gcmd cur prev i

    COMPREPLY=()
    cur=${COMP_WORDS[COMP_CWORD]}
    prev=${COMP_WORDS[COMP_CWORD-1]}

    # if prev argument is -f, return possible filename completions.
    # we could be a little smarter here and return matches against
    # `makefile Makefile *.mk', whatever exists
    case "$prev" in
        -*f)    COMPREPLY=( $(compgen -f $cur ) ); return 0;;
    esac

    # if we want an option, return the possible posix options
    case "$cur" in
        -)      COMPREPLY=(-e -f -i -k -n -p -q -r -S -s -t); return 0;;
    esac

    # make reads `makefile' before `Makefile'
    if [ -f makefile ]; then
        mdef=makefile
    elif [ -f Makefile ]; then
        mdef=Makefile
    else
        mdef=*.mk               # local convention
    fi

    # before we scan for targets, see if a makefile name was specified
    # with -f
    for (( i=0; i < ${#COMP_WORDS[@]}; i++ )); do
        if [[ ${COMP_WORDS[i]} == -*f ]]; then
            eval makef=${COMP_WORDS[i+1]}       # eval for tilde expansion
            break
        fi
    done

        [ -z "$makef" ] && makef=$mdef

    # if we have a partial word to complete, restrict completions to
    # matches of that word
    if [ -n "$2" ]; then gcmd='grep "^$2"' ; else gcmd=cat ; fi

    # if we don't want to use *.mk, we can take out the cat and use
    # test -f $makef and input redirection
    COMPREPLY=( $(cat $makef 2>/dev/null | awk 'BEGIN {FS=":"} /^[^.#   ][^=]*:/ {print $1}' | tr -s ' ' '\012' | sort -u | eval $gcmd ) )
}

complete -F _make_targets -X '+($*|*.[cho])' make gmake pmake


# cvs(1) completion
_cvs ()
{
    local cur prev
    COMPREPLY=()
    cur=${COMP_WORDS[COMP_CWORD]}
    prev=${COMP_WORDS[COMP_CWORD-1]}

    if [ $COMP_CWORD -eq 1 ] || [ "${prev:0:1}" = "-" ]; then
        COMPREPLY=( $( compgen -W 'add admin checkout commit diff \
        export history import log rdiff release remove rtag status \
        tag update' $cur ))
    else
        COMPREPLY=( $( compgen -f $cur ))
    fi
    return 0
}
complete -F _cvs cvs

_killall ()
{
    local cur prev
    COMPREPLY=()
    cur=${COMP_WORDS[COMP_CWORD]}

    # get a list of processes (the first sed evaluation
    # takes care of swapped out processes, the second
    # takes care of getting the basename of the process)
    COMPREPLY=( $( /usr/bin/ps -u $USER -o comm  | \
        sed -e '1,1d' -e 's#[]\[]##g' -e 's#^.*/##'| \
        awk '{if ($0 ~ /^'$cur'/) print $0}' ))

    return 0
}

complete -F _killall killall killps


# A meta-command completion function for commands like sudo(8), which need to
# first complete on a command, then complete according to that command's own
# completion definition - currently not quite foolproof (e.g. mount and umount
# don't work properly), but still quite useful - By Ian McDonald, modified by me.

_my_command()
{
    local cur func cline cspec

    COMPREPLY=()
    cur=${COMP_WORDS[COMP_CWORD]}

    if [ $COMP_CWORD = 1 ]; then
	COMPREPLY=( $( compgen -c $cur ) )
    elif complete -p ${COMP_WORDS[1]} &>/dev/null; then
	cspec=$( complete -p ${COMP_WORDS[1]} )
	if [ "${cspec%%-F *}" != "${cspec}" ]; then
	    # complete -F <function>
	    #
	    # COMP_CWORD and COMP_WORDS() are not read-only,
	    # so we can set them before handing off to regular
	    # completion routine

	    # set current token number to 1 less than now
	    COMP_CWORD=$(( $COMP_CWORD - 1 ))
	    # get function name
	    func=${cspec#*-F }
	    func=${func%% *}
	    # get current command line minus initial command
	    cline="${COMP_LINE#$1 }"
	    # split current command line tokens into array
		COMP_WORDS=( $cline )
	    $func $cline
	elif [ "${cspec#*-[abcdefgjkvu]}" != "" ]; then
	    # complete -[abcdefgjkvu]
	    #func=$( echo $cspec | sed -e 's/^.*\(-[abcdefgjkvu]\).*$/\1/' )
	    func=$( echo $cspec | sed -e 's/^complete//' -e 's/[^ ]*$//' )
	    COMPREPLY=( $( eval compgen $func $cur ) )
	elif [ "${cspec#*-A}" != "$cspec" ]; then
	    # complete -A <type>
	    func=${cspec#*-A }
	func=${func%% *}
	COMPREPLY=( $( compgen -A $func $cur ) )
	fi
    else
	COMPREPLY=( $( compgen -f $cur ) )
    fi
}


complete -o default -F _my_command nohup exec eval trace truss strace sotruss gdb
complete -o default -F _my_command command type which man nice

# Local Variables:
# mode:shell-script
# sh-shell:bash
# End: