Color code your prompts

Having access to too many different servers opens the door for its own set of problems. If you're not careful you can accidentally bring up a command prompt window where you have SSHed into a production environment and start causing havoc unintentionally.

For this problem I have color coded the prompts on the different servers I work with. This way I can instantly see where I'm at when I bring up a terminal window. It's mighty handy, really.

My most used ones look something like this.

Just add one of these to your .bashprofile/.bashlogin/.bashrc (whichever exists, or any if none exist):

# for friendly cyan
PS1=\\\[\\e\]0\;\\w\\a\\\]\\n\\\[\\e\[36m\\\]\\u@\\h\ \[\\\[\\e\[37m\\\]\\w\\\[\\e\[36m\\\]\]\\\[\\e\[0m\\\]\\n\\t\ \\\$\ 
# for watchout yellow
PS1=\\\[\\e\]0\;\\w\\a\\\]\\n\\\[\\e\[33m\\\]\\u@\\h\ \[\\\[\\e\[37m\\\]\\w\\\[\\e\[33m\\\]\]\\\[\\e\[0m\\\]\\n\\t\ \\\$\ 
# for careful now red
PS1=\\\[\\e\]0\;\\w\\a\\\]\\n\\\[\\e\[31m\\\]\\u@\\h\ \[\\\[\\e\[37m\\\]\\w\\\[\\e\[31m\\\]\]\\\[\\e\[0m\\\]\\n\\t\ \\\$\