Unix Power Tools

4.8
in the status area or window title, depending on which terminal type I’m using.
Of course, you can change the format of the status line. Change the following
command string, ${host:h}:${cwd}, to do what you need; see your shell’s manual
page for a list of variables, or create your own custom information.
set e=`echo x | tr x '\033'`
# Make an ESCape character
set g=`echo x | tr x '\07'` # And a Ctrl-g
stattitle.csh
stattitle.sh set host=`uname -n`
# Puts $host and $cwd in VT102 status line. Escape sequences are:
# ${e}7 = save cursor position, ${e}[25;1f = go to start of status
# line (line 25), ${e}[0K = erase line, ${e}8 = restore cursor
:h 28.5 alias setstatline 'echo -n "${e}7${e}[25;1f${e}[0K ${host:h}:${cwd}${e}8"'
alias settitle 'echo -n "${e}]2;${host:h}:${cwd}${g}"'
switch ($TERM)
case vt10?:
&& 35.14 alias cd 'cd \!* && setstatline'
alias pushd 'pushd \!* && setstatline'
alias popd 'popd \!* && setstatline'
breaksw
case xterm*:
alias cd 'cd \!* && settitle'
alias pushd 'pushd \!* && settitle'
alias popd 'popd \!* && settitle'
breaksw
endsw
(Article 5.15 has more about how this works in xterms.)
The ESC and CTRL-g characters are stored with a trick that should work on all
Unix shells. Most modern echos will let you make a nonprintable character
directly, like this: g='echo '\07''.
If you always use a VT102-type terminal (and many people do), the setstatline
alias will work fine. If you use a different terminal, try it anyway! Otherwise,
read the terminal manual or its termcap/terminfo entry and find the escape
sequences that work for it; then add a new case to the switch statement.
Note that you might have some trouble here: if this code is in your .cshrc file but
your terminal type is set in your .login file, the terminal type may not be set until
after the alias has been read. There are workarounds (3.8).
The status line or titlebar can also get out of sync with reality if you use remote
logins (1.21), subshells (24.4), etc. These might make a new status line or titlebar
but not reset the original one when needed. To fix this, just type setstatline or
settitle at a shell prompt. Or, if you don’t want to bother to think of the name of
the alias, use the following command to change to the current directory (.),
which will use the correct alias and reset the status or title:
% cd .
78 Part II: Customizing Your Environment
This is the Title of the Book, eMatter Edition
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