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I'm new to Linux, trying Ubuntu 10.04, preconfigured by host.

When I log in (SSH) using the preconfigured account, the shell prompt is: user@hostname:~$

The up arrow scrolls through the list of recent shell commands, and tab-completion works as expected.

However, when I create an account and log in (SSH) using that account, the shell prompt is simply "$", and the up arrow just prints a control character (^[[A).

Can anyone tell me how to get my prompt, tab-completion, and up-arrow behavior set up? The fact that I'm getting control characters when I up-arrow makes me think that my account (or session) is in some mode I'm unfamiliar with.

I know there is tab-completion code stored in bashrc that I can uncomment, but that doesn't seem to have any effect, even after logging out and logging back in.

Am I in some strange mode when I SSH in with the new account, or are there just some session/account settings I need to set up, and can find information for anywhere on the Internet if I just knew what to look for?

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I realize his account is preconfigured by host, but shouldn't this really belong in AskUbuntu, SuperUser, or at least StackOverflow? – puk Nov 6 '11 at 0:02
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2 Answers

up vote 13 down vote accepted

My first guess is that the default shell is sh rather than Bash. Use chsh to change it.

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Yep. You nailed it. Just checked. Thanks! – pastorius Oct 28 '10 at 16:45
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up vote 3 down vote

Other way is open /etc/passwd file and change the shell /bin/sh to /bin/bash

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