bash-powerline

Powerline for Bash in pure Bash script.

Features

• Git:

• displays current git branch name, or short SHA1 hash when the head is detached.
• displays when current branch is changed but uncommited.
• displays the number of commits when the current branch is behind or ahead of remote

• Python virtualenv: display current virtual environment
• Color code for the previously failed command
• Fast execution (no noticable delay)
• Default settings do not require patched fonts
• Optional support for powerline patched fonts (export POWERLINE_FONT=1 in .bashrc to enable patched fonts)
• Shortened path if current working path is too deep and too long

Installation

Download the Bash script

curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/undu/bash-powerline/master/powerline.bash > ~/.powerline.bash

Do a cursory content of it contents to see if it's sane, and source it.

source ~/.powerline.bash

After you do the test run, feel free to source it in your .bashrc to permanently change the prompt:

echo 'source ~/.powerline.bash' >> ~/.bashrc

For best results, use Base16 colorscheme with your terminal emulator. Or hack your own colorscheme by modifying the script. It's really easy.

Note: This script uses features available only in bash versions 4.2 or greater.

Why?

This script is largely inspired by powerline-shell. The biggest problem is that it is implemented in Python. Python scripts are much easier to write and maintain than Bash scripts, however, invoking the Python interpreter each time to draw the shell prompt introduces a noticable delay. I hate delays. So I decided to port just the functionalities I need to pure Bash script instead.

See also

• powerline: Unified Powerline written in Python. This is the future of all Powerline derivatives.
• vim-airline: Powerline-style status line for Vim written in pure Vimscript.
• tmux-powerline: Powerline for Tmux written in Bash script. Deprecated.