What does bashrc PS1 check [ "$PS1" = "\\s-\\v\\\$ " ] mean?

Question

In bashrc file in Fedora/Red Hat I see following line:

[ "$PS1" = "\\s-\\v\\\$ " ] && PS1="[\u@\h \W]\\$ "

What is the check being done in [ "$PS1" = "\\s-\\v\\\$ " ] and why is PS1 set only if the test succeeds?

Answer 1

"\\s-\\v\\\$ " is a default bash unprivileged prompt.

This line:

[ "$PS1" = "\\s-\\v\\\$ " ] && PS1="[\u@\h \W]\\$ "

change bash prompt only if it is set to default.

Some useful elements for bash prompt:

• \s - shell name
• \v - shell version
• \u - username
• \h - hostname
• \t - current time
• \d - current date
• \W - current directory