What does username@hostname in terminal?
If you basically open terminal, it looks like by defualt “[USERNAME]@[HOSTNAME]:[PATH][SYMBOL]”
In my environment of ubuntu linux, the terminal looks as follows :
Formally, shell prompt looks like “[USERNAME]@[HOSTNAME]:[PATH][SYMBOL]” as you could read above.
let’s Exactly go through what each of shell prompt means below :
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[USERNAME] : in my case, It is hyunyoung2, whenever you log in linux, you can see it. i.e. the username of the currently operating user. Basically this is you as current user in linux, BUT when you enter su mode, you get root shell,it means currently operating user is root.
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[HOSTNAME] : in my case, It is hyunyoung2-desktopter, so this is my hostname. that is to say, it’s the name of your computer, another way is your ip address.
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[PATH] : in my case, It appear to be in ~ **, So PATH is **~ by default in here, specifically speaking, It is your current working directory that you’re currently operating on. So when you open a new terminal, the default directory is your current user’s home directory. a synonym for /home/YOURUSERNAME is ~ in linux.
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[SYMBOL] : in my case, It is $ sign. BUT It basically either $ if you’re operating as any normal user, or # if you’re operating as root user.
once again look my case :
That means I logged in as user hyunyoung2 on my linux computer called hyunyoung2-desktop. and Currently operating in my own home directory(~). Of course you’re not root, Therefore the SYMBOL is $