On Fri, Aug 04, 2000 at 11:34:07AM -0400, Subba Rao wrote: > > PS1='($?)\u@\h:\w =>' > PS1='($?)`whoami`@\h:\w =>' > In BASH, why does the "\u" and "whoami" make a big difference for > the $? value in PS1 string? The BASH version is 2.04. My assumption is that using whoami with the ` ` causes it to need to reevaulate the PS1 enviroment variable every time. During the reevaulation of PS1, it updates $? along with it. While using \u is handled internally by the shell. $? is only evaluated when PS1 is set. -- Dan Nguyen | It is with true love as it is with ghosts; [EMAIL PROTECTED] | everyone talks of it, but few have seent it. [EMAIL PROTECTED] | -Maxime De La Rochefoucauld _______________________________________________ techtalk mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.linux.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/techtalk