Author(s)

aier

Co-author(s)

Lunear

Info

This guide will walk you through customizing your Bash prompt, how to run fastfetch on start in your terminal, and a few useful terminal programs.

Caution

This tutorial assumes that you are using Bash as your shell, even though some part of the tutorial may apply to non-Bash shells.

For non-Bash users, we cannot guarantee success and will not take responsibility to damages to your system.

Back up current .bashrc

Make a copy of your current .bashrc file and place it somewhere safe.

cp ~/.bashrc ~/.bashrc-original # Makes a copy of current .bashrc file named .bashrc-original

Make sure that you have a .bashrc file in your /home/$USER/ at all times. If you followed the command above, you'd be fine.

You'll be editing the .bashrc file from your home directory in this guide, but if you ever want/need to revert back to the original file, simply replace the content in .bashrc from the backup you've made.

Here is an exemplar .bashrc file taken from my Fedora 42 Workstation (hopefully you don't have to use this):

.bashrc

# .bashrc

# Source global definitions
if [ -f /etc/bashrc ]; then
    . /etc/bashrc
fi

# User specific environment
if ! [[ "$PATH" =~ "$HOME/.local/bin:$HOME/bin:" ]]; then
    PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$HOME/bin:$PATH"
fi
export PATH

# Uncomment the following line if you don't like systemctl's auto-paging feature:
# export SYSTEMD_PAGER=

# User specific aliases and functions
if [ -d ~/.bashrc.d ]; then
    for rc in ~/.bashrc.d/*; do
        if [ -f "$rc" ]; then
            . "$rc"
        fi
    done
fi
unset rc

Aesthetic changes

Quick append & preview

Your .bashrc should look something like this if you decide to follow all instructions in the following section:

.bashrc

# ... omitted original .bashrc content above

fastfetch

PS1='------------------\n\[$(tput setaf 21)\][\[$(tput setaf 27)\]\u \[$(tput setaf 33)\]@ \[$(tput setaf 39)\]\h\[$(tput setaf 21)\]] \[$(tput setaf 45)\]\w\[$(tput sgr0)\]\n > '

Autorun fastfetch when you open the terminal

You can make your bash terminal autorun fastfetch to display system information every time it starts by appending the following at the bottom of your file.

• Installation

  Fedora

  sudo dnf install fastfetch

  Arch

  pacman -S fastfetch

  Debian/Ubuntu

  sudo apt install fastfetch

• Set up fastfetch in shell

  You can append the following at the bottom of your .bashrc:

  .bashrc

  fastfetch

  and here is what it looks like:

  

• Changing the look of the prompt (PS1)

  Now, in your .bashrc, you change the looks of your prompt looks through modifying the PS1 variable.

  You can append the following at the bottom of your .bashrc:

  .bashrc

  PS1='------------------\n\[$(tput setaf 56)\][$(tput setaf 56)\]\u \[$(tput setaf 92)\]@ \[$(tput setaf 128)\]\h\[$(tput setaf 128)\]] \[$(tput setaf 200)\]\w\[$(tput sgr0)\]\n > '

  and here is what it looks like:

  

• More resources

  • PS1 customization by Rahul from tecadmin.net

Terminal programs

Quick append & preview

Your .bashrc should look something like this if you decide to follow all instructions in the following section:

.bashrc

# ... omitted original .bashrc content above

#### fzf-related aliases ####
alias cmd='compgen -c | fzf' # search for a possible command
alias zh='history | fzf' # search in bash command history

#### enabling zoxide ####
eval "$(zoxide init bash)"

#### eza-related aliases ####
# list directories in a tree format (or specify how many levels to list them)
alias lsd='eza -TD'
alias lsd1='eza -TD --level 1'
alias lsd2='eza -TD --level 2'
alias lsd3='eza -TD --level 3'
# list items in tree format (or specify how many levels to list them)
alias lst='eza -T'
alias lst1='eza -T --level 1'
alias lst2='eza -T --level 2'
alias lst3='eza -T --level 3'
# list all directories in tree format including hidden ones (or specify how many levels to list them)
alias lsda='eza -TDa'
alias lsda1='eza -TDa --level 1'
alias lsda2='eza -TDa --level 2'
alias lsda3='eza -TDa --level 3'
# list all items in tree format including hidden ones (or specify how many levels to list them)
alias lsta='eza -Ta'
alias lsta1='eza -Ta --level 1'
alias lsta2='eza -Ta --level 2'
alias lsta3='eza -Ta --level 3'

Using fzf (Fuzzy Find)

What is fzf?

fzf is a command-line fuzzy finder that helps you quickly search and navigate files, directories, command history, and more.

• Installation

  Fedora

  sudo dnf install fzf

  Arch

  pacman -S fzf

  Debian/Ubuntu

  sudo apt install fzf

• Add aliases

  Below are example aliases:

  .bashrc

  alias cmd='compgen -c | fzf' # search for a possible command
  alias zh='history | fzf' # search in bash command history

• More resources

  • Tutorial on how to use fzf by DevOps Toolbox
  • Use fzf with zoxide by Dreams of Autonomy
  • More info about fzf from the official fzf GitHub page.

Using zoxide

What is zoxide?

zoxide is a terminal program that is like cd on steroids. It provides cd's functionality with the addition of being able to jump to directories with short, fuzzy-matched commands.

• Installation

  Fedora

  sudo dnf install zoxide

  Arch

  sudo pacman -S zoxide

  Debian/Ubuntu

  sudo apt install zoxide

• Set up zoxide in your Bash shell

  Append the following to your .bashrc:

  .bashrc

  eval "$(zoxide init bash)"

• More resources

  • Tutorial on how to use zoxide by Dreams of Autonomy (includes how to use it with fzf, too)
  • More info about zoxide from the official zoxide GitHub page

Using eza

What is eza?

eza is a modern alternative to the classic ls, it provides color-coding, tree-styled outputs, git integration, and more.

• Installation

  Fedora

  As of Fedora 42, there is no maintainer for eza so you'll be unable to download eza through dnf.

  sudo dnf install eza

  Arch

  pacman -S eza

  Debian/Ubuntu

  sudo apt install eza

• Add aliases

  Below are some example aliases:

  .bashrc

  # list directories in a tree format (or specify how many levels to list them)
  alias lsd='eza -TD'
  alias lsd1='eza -TD --level 1'
  alias lsd2='eza -TD --level 2'
  alias lsd3='eza -TD --level 3'
  # list items in tree format (or specify how many levels to list them)
  alias lst='eza -T'
  alias lst1='eza -T --level 1'
  alias lst2='eza -T --level 2'
  alias lst3='eza -T --level 3'
  # list all directories in tree format including hidden ones (or specify how many levels to list them)
  alias lsda='eza -TDa'
  alias lsda1='eza -TDa --level 1'
  alias lsda2='eza -TDa --level 2'
  alias lsda3='eza -TDa --level 3'
  # list all items in tree format including hidden ones (or specify how many levels to list them)
  alias lsta='eza -Ta'
  alias lsta1='eza -Ta --level 1'
  alias lsta2='eza -Ta --level 2'
  alias lsta3='eza -Ta --level 3'

• More resources

  • Quick overview on eza by Josean Martinez

Changelog

7/16/25, 11:47 AM

View All Changelog

• 18d2a-Consistent heading stylingon 7/16/25
• 6f292-Enhance markdown formatting for consistency across documentationon 7/12/25
• b8933-Using fewer tags for better tag sorting.on 7/5/25
• 9537b-Update terminal customization and guides to include devicons for Linux distributionson 6/25/25
• e2f6b-Refactor guide authorship sections: update titles from "Maintainer" to "Author(s)" and "Contributors" to "Co-author(s)" across multiple guideson 6/13/25
• 0e8c8-Update section titles for clarity in terminal customization guideon 6/12/25
• e746c-Reorder Debian/Ubuntu to be after Fedora and Archon 6/12/25
• daeb8-Enhance documentation by adding missing line breaks, updating demo wrappers to include images, and refining contribution guidelines for clarity and consistency.on 6/12/25
• c31f9-Refactor terminal customization guide for improved clarity; update Bash example formatting and enhance details for Timeshift setup in Fedora guide.on 6/12/25
• 686d1-Enhance formatting and clarity in Firefox user.js and Terminal customization guideson 6/11/25
• 357ef-Consistency fixon 6/10/25
• 0e14f-Added contributors to blogson 6/10/25
• d8be1-Making page more legible.on 6/9/25
• 7d0cb-Adding collapseson 6/8/25
• 6cd30-Terminal Customization Guide legibility improvementon 6/8/25
• 62c4b-Automating steps.on 6/8/25
• 731c5-Microtweakson 6/7/25
• 0ed49-Mass renamingon 6/7/25
• 99d1e-Fixed typoon 6/7/25
• 41f78-deleting legacy metadataon 5/31/25
• 25920-Restructuringon 5/30/25
• 64610-Notes and sidebar work nowon 5/30/25
• d95ee-Notes & sidebard don't work for some reason...on 5/30/25
• a154c-testing sidebar generationon 5/30/25
• ddcec-Batch metadata editingon 5/29/25
• 63f60-Draft ongoingon 5/29/25
• fb788-under-construction addedon 5/29/25
• ac353-v1on 5/28/25
• 85907-Better lookson 5/28/25
• 718fb-Aesthetic changeson 5/28/25