#### 2.4.7 Customizing the Prompt

The following variables are available for customizing the appearance of the command-line prompts. Octave allows the prompt to be customized by inserting a number of backslash-escaped special characters that are decoded as follows:

``\t`'
  The time.
``\d`'
  The date.
``\n`'
  Begins a new line by printing the equivalent of a carriage return followed by a line feed.
``\s`'
  The name of the program (usually just ``octave`').
``\w`'
  The current working directory.
``\W`'
  The basename of the current working directory.
``\u`'
  The username of the current user.
``\h`'
  The hostname, up to the first `.'.
``\H`'
  The hostname.
``\#`'
  The command number of this command, counting from when Octave starts.
``\!`'
  The history number of this command. This differs from ``\#`' by the number of commands in the history list when Octave starts.
``\$`'
  If the effective UID is 0, a ``#`', otherwise a ``$`'.
``\nnn`'
  The character whose character code in octal is nnn.
``\\`'
  A backslash.

— Built-in Function: val = PS1 ()
— Built-in Function: old_val = PS1 (new_val)

> Query or set the primary prompt string. When executing interactively, Octave displays the primary prompt when it is ready to read a command.

> The default value of the primary prompt string is `"\s:\#> "`. To change it, use a command like

>               octave:13> PS1 = "\\u@\\H> "

> which will result in the prompt ``boris@kremvax>` ' for the user ``boris`' logged in on the host ``kremvax.kgb.su`'. Note that two backslashes are required to enter a backslash into a double-quoted character string. See Strings.

> See also: PS2, PS4.

— Built-in Function: val = PS2 ()
— Built-in Function: old_val = PS2 (new_val)

> Query or set the secondary prompt string. The secondary prompt is printed when Octave is expecting additional input to complete a command. For example, if you are typing a for loop that spans several lines, Octave will print the secondary prompt at the beginning of each line after the first. The default value of the secondary prompt string is `"> "`.

> See also: PS1, PS4.

— Built-in Function: val = PS4 ()
— Built-in Function: old_val = PS4 (new_val)

> Query or set the character string used to prefix output produced when echoing commands when `echo_executing_commands` is enabled. The default value is `"+ "`. See Invoking Octave from the Command Line, for a description of `--echo-commands`.

> See also: echo_executing_commands, PS1, PS2.