There seems to be a semi-meme going [around][2] on some of the planets I read.

My concern is long directory paths and I wanted a dymanic solution for it. Surely, I cannot be the first person to think of it, but I haven’t seen it in use anywhere else.

  jolexa @ helios :: ~ %%



and




  jolexa @ helios :: ~ %% cd projects/prefix-tinderbox/really_long_dirname_so_that_binpkgs_can_be_shortened/a/b/
  jolexa @ helios :: .../a/b %%

(the colors and wrapping are representitive only)

and the code that produces that:

_chomp_path() {
    local path=${1/${HOME}/\~}
    local last=${path} sedout= count=0 count2=0
    sedout=$(echo ${path} | sed -e 's:/: :g')
    for i in ${sedout}; do
        (( count++ ))
    done
    if ((count > 2)); then
        last="..."
        for i in ${sedout}; do
        (( count2++ ))
        if (( count2 >=  count - 1 )); then
            last+="/$i"
        fi
        done
    fi
    echo ${last}
}

PS1='\[\033[1;34m\]\u \[\033[1;32m\]@\[\033[1;34m\] \h \[\033[1;30m\]::\[\033[1;37m\] $(_chomp_path $(pwd)) \[\033[1;30m\]%%\[\033[0m\] '

If anyone wants to improve that function, let me know. It “fails” on directories with spaces in it.

[2]: http://www.linuxized.com/2010/08/quicky-changing-your-shell-prompt