How do I change my $PS1 on a Macbook for oh-my-zsh?

I'm trying to find the PS1 variable in oh-my-zsh and change it so iTerm doesn't look as clogged up. Running the following command:

echo $PS1 

gives me this

%{%f%b%k%}$(build_prompt) 

Additionally, I've attempted to edit the .zshrc file and put

export PS1="random-text" 

but it didn't work. I've tried to look around for the PS1 variable, but couldn't locate it.

If it also helps, I'm running El Capitan on my laptop right now. I couldn't find any similar questions to what I posted so any help would be greatly appreciated.

2 Answers

Changing your Theme:

To edit your prompt in oh-my-zsh you need to edit a PROMPT variable in your theme instead of PS1. In your .zshrc file you will find a line that looks something like this:

ZSH_THEME="themename" 

oh-my-zsh stores these themes in the ~/.oh-my-zsh/themes folder. If you ls ~/.oh-my-zsh/themes you will see a list of themes that you can change. The above theme would be named themename.zsh-theme in this directory.

Customizing your Theme:

If you want a simple way to customize your oh-my-zsh theme you can copy a file already in this theme folder and edit that.

To change your prompt simply edit the PROMPT variable. For example:

PROMPT=">>" 

This would make two >'s your prompt.

I like editing the already existing simple theme. the simple.zsh-theme file looks like this:

PROMPT='%{$fg[green]%}%~%{$fg_bold[blue]%}$(git_prompt_info)%{$reset_color%} ' ZSH_THEME_GIT_PROMPT_PREFIX="(" ZSH_THEME_GIT_PROMPT_SUFFIX=")" ZSH_THEME_GIT_PROMPT_DIRTY=" ✗" ZSH_THEME_GIT_PROMPT_CLEAN=" ✔" 

Applying the Changes:

Now just change the theme in your in your .zshrc file:

ZSH_THEME="simple" 

And reload oh-my-zsh with:

. ~/.zshrc 

Important update 1st July, 2021. I saw devote for this answer from yesterday. So the below command might not work anymore. Just try POWERLEVEL10K now.

For POWERLEVEL9K if you're using it

POWERLEVEL9K_LEFT_PROMPT_ELEMENTS=(dir) 

PS: Try POWERLEVEL10K, it's much better. trust me