Bash prompt getting garbled when I browse history?

Question

I have MacOS and .bash_profile content:

export PS1="\[\e[0;31m$\]\[\e[m\] \[\e[0;32m\w\e[m\] : \]"

as a result I have pwd printed in terminal like this:

but when I press up and down arrows to use terminal history I have bug:

Answer 1

1. no need to export PS1: it's a variable for the shell, other processes aren't going to use it.

2. looks like you don't have the escaping brackets quite right. They are there to surround non-printing sequences, so bash can accurately figure how wide your prompt is. Try this:

   PS1="\[\e[0;31m\]\$ \[\e[0;32m\]\w\[\e[0m\] : "
   #     1.........1    2.........2   3......3 
   

   So the printing bits (\$, \w, the colon and the spaces) are outside the brackets.

Further reference: https://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/bashref.html#Controlling-the-Prompt