This is a fairly heavyweight zsh prompt, based on the powerline font from the popular eponymous vim plugin, which works well for a dark background.
To use it properly, you will obviously need to have a powerline patched font. For details, see here: https://github.com/Lokaltog/vim-powerline
Since the wiki (and with it, the prepatched fonts) in that repository were taken down, I added a bunch of prepatched fonts to this repository. See below for installation instructions.
This prompt uses promptsubst. It does not use a right-side prompt, although RPROMPT will be cleared on load time to ensure compatibility.
The prompt has a number of informational tidbits, most of which are shown only when relevant. The minimal appearance in my regular setup looks like this:
Without configuration, a username is also shown. However, I find this to be an unnecessary piece of information, so I usually hide it if it's my default username, which can be configured using a zstyle (see below). In directories which are not owned or not writable by $UID, a lock is shown, its color indicating the read/write status:
Running background jobs and non-zero return values adds extra segments:
If $PWD is inside a repository, info about that is displayed as well. In its vanilla form, a repository type indicator is shown, next to the current branch name, and two small indicators for changes in the working tree and staging area. The slash at the repository base will also be colored:
There is also an indicator for the current SHLVL:
To use this prompt, you will need to have a powerline patched font. The easiest way to get that is to copy one of the packaged .ttf fonts into ~/.fonts then run fc-cache, although this may or may not work depending on your distribution (works in debian). After that, tell your terminal emulator to use it, which is usually done in .Xresources. Here's what I use for rxvt-unicode:
urxvt*font: xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono for Powerline:pixelsize=12
You can also use the fontpatcher application from the vim-powerline repository linked above to patch your own fonts.
This prompt uses ZSH's own prompt support functions. To install it, simply copy prompt_powerline_setup into some directory in your $fpath, or add the repository to the $fpath array. After that, initialize and set your prompt as usual.
fpath+=( /path/to/zsh-prompt-powerline )
autoload promptinit ; promptinit
prompt powerline
Unfortunately, there is no way to know at load time if the font used to display the prompt will be a powerline patched font (or if there is, I would like to hear about it), so compatibility is a matter of heuristics. Personally, I simply check if TERM is rxvt-unicode-256 colors in my zshrc and fall back to another, simpler prompt if it isn't.
For some sample configs, check out example_config.zsh.
This prompt can work with hooks. There are four hooks provided in separate files, adding various functionalities:
This hook adds extra information for git, namely how far the current branch is ahead or before the one it is tracking, and the number of stashed commits.
This hook stops vcs_info right after detection step, before any expensive operations are done. Only the vcs type is shown and the repository is marked in the path. Once any vcs command is run, the vcs_info returns to normal. There is also a widget to do that, which is bound to ^G^L by default.
This hook replaces the path, which is normally shortened to the last three directories, with a non-ambiguous prefix version.
This hook replaces the return codes of applications by their associated signal names. This way, you can see what signal killed an application, like INT from a keyboad ^C, TSTP for ^Z and so on.
This prompt is configured using zstyles.
zstyle ':prompt:powerline:ps1' sep1-char
zstyle ':prompt:powerline:ps1' sep2-char
zstyle ':prompt:powerline:ps1' lock-char
zstyle ':prompt:powerline:ps1' branch-char
These styles allow specifying the powerline characters to be used in the prompt. They default to '⮀', '⮁', '⭤' and '⭠' respectively. Note that these are the OLD powerline characters, which were used in vim-powerline. The new powerline uses a different set ('', '', '', ''). If you can see those but not the old ones, you need to set the styles accordingly. Check out example_config.zsh.
zstyle ':prompt:powerline:ps1' hide-user
If this style is true, the user will not be displayed. This is useful to hide uninteresting usernames like a default one.
zstyle ':prompt:powerline:ps1' host-color
This sets an explicit color to use for the hostname. If this is not set, a color will be generated from the hostname.
zstyle ':prompt:powerline:ps1' default-sh-level
This is the SHLVL value that will be assumed to be the top level. This should be set so there is one arrow at the left side of the prompt for each process we are below that top level.
zstyle ':vcs_info:*:powerline:*' check-for-changes
This is a regular vcs_info style, I mention it here because it is relevant. If this style is true, the dirty working tree and staged changes indicators will be shown inside repositories. This can be slow on big repositories, decide for yourself if you find it worthwhile.
zstyle ':prompt:powerline:ps1' precmd-hooks
This is an array of hooks which are called in the precmd function, after all settings are loaded. This can be used in various ways, like adding segments or modifying existing ones. For usage examples, check out the signal names and disambiguate hooks.