How to shorten the bash shell prompt

So sometimes it happens that you are working on command terminal and you navigate inside a directory then again in the inner directory and so on until half of the screen width is filled with prompt string. Example below.

> _rana@Brahma: dir1/dir2/dir3/dir4/dir5/dir6/dir7/dir8 $ ls_

Now I want to display just the last directory in the terminal prompt string so that I am left with enough width space to execute lengthy commands.

For this, We need to change the prompt string from the .bashrc file. Below are the steps -

1. Go to your home directory.
2. Open .bashrc file.
3. Search for string ‘PS1’. To search quick open the file in vi and type /PS1 and hit enter.
4. now you will find below code. (or similar to it) [I am working on Ubuntu 16.04]

> _if [“$color\_prompt” = yes]; then  
> PS1=’${debian\_chroot:+($debian\_chroot)}\[\033[01;32m\]\u@\h\[\033[00m\]:\[\033[01;34m\]\_ **_w_** _\[\033[00m\]\$ ‘  
> else  
> PS1=’${debian\_chroot:+($debian\_chroot)}\u@\h:\w\$ ‘  
> fi_

1. Replace the ‘w’ (highlighted in bold) with capital W. So your new code will be.

> _if [“$color\_prompt” = yes]; then  
> PS1=’${debian\_chroot:+($debian\_chroot)}\[\033[01;32m\]\u@\h\[\033[00m\]: \[\033[01;34m\]\_ **_W_** _\[\033[00m\]\$ ‘  
> else  
> PS1=’${debian\_chroot:+($debian\_chroot)}\u@\h:\w\$ ‘  
> fi_

1. Restart the terminal and navigate inside any directory. You will see just the last directory in teminal prompt.

> _rana@Brahma: dir8$_

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