OK, now using Archimerged's cleaner version, I bet Matthew can reproduce this.
[EMAIL PROTECTED]:/root# su - nobody No directory, logging in with HOME=/ [EMAIL PROTECTED]:/$ PROMPT_COMMAND='prompt_status=\ $?' [EMAIL PROTECTED]:/$ PS1=$SPECIAL_PS1"\A\${prompt_status# 0} \W$ " 17:26 /$ TZ=America/Los_Angeles date Thu Apr 17 02:26:11 PDT 2008 02:26 /$ echo $BASH_VERSION 3.1.17(1)-release 02:26 /$ false 02:26 1 /$ true 02:26 /$ /bin/true 17:26 /$ Note how the prompt timezone becomes contaminated until we finally shake it back off with a non-built-in command. You know, this reminds me of some injection attacks!