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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 Variable: PS1

The primary prompt string. When executing interactively, Octave displays the primary prompt PS1 when it is ready to read a command.

The default value of PS1 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 string. See Strings.

— Built-in Variable: PS2

The secondary prompt string, which is printed when Octave is expecting additional input to complete a command. For example, when defining a function over several lines, Octave will print the value of PS1 at the beginning of each line after the first. The default value of PS2 is "> ".

— Built-in Variable: PS4

If Octave is invoked with the --echo-commands option, the value of PS4 is printed before each line of input that is echoed. The default value of PS4 is "+ ". See Invoking Octave, for a description of --echo-commands.