How can I tell (in ~/.bashrc) if I'm running in interactive mode, or, say, executing a command over ssh. I want to avoid printing of ANSI escape sequences in .bashrc if it's the latter.
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Choosing whether to print escape sequences or not is better to be based on $TERM value and not on interactiveness of the shell. The variable identifies capabilities of the client terminal which is the part which interprets the escape sequences. – yarek Sep 26 '18 at 16:21
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According to man bash:
PS1 is set and $- includes i if bash is interactive, allowing a shell script or a startup file to test this state.
So you can use:
if [[ $- == *i* ]]
then
do_interactive_stuff
fi
Also:
When an interactive shell that is not a login shell is started, bash reads and executes commands from /etc/bash.bashrc and ~/.bashrc, if these files exist.
So ~/.bashrc is only sourced for interactive shells. Sometimes, people source it from ~/.bash_profile or ~/.profile which is incorrect since it interferes with the expected behavior. If you want to simplify maintenance of code that is common, you should use a separate file to contain the common code and source it independently from both rc files.
It's best if there's no output to stdout from login rc files such as ~/.bash_profile or ~/.profile since it can interfere with the proper operation of rsync for example.
In any case, it's still a good idea to test for interactivity since incorrect configuration may exist.
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7Note that $- may contain an i, not necessarily equal it. I use
[[ $- =~ i ]] && echo interactive– Alex Howansky Feb 27 '13 at 14:47 -
1@AlexHowansky: the asterisks in the equality test make it a test for containing
i– Dennis Williamson Feb 27 '13 at 18:17 -
Oh wow didn't even notice those, they look like double quotes on my monitor. It may be time to up the font size. <getting old> – Alex Howansky Feb 28 '13 at 14:29
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Sometimes, people source it from
~/.bash_profileor~/.profilewhich is incorrect since it interferes with the expected behavior Right. What do you think of sourcing~/.bashrcfrom~/.bash_login? As login shell needn't to to be interactive I guess it's incorrect, too. – Piotr Dobrogost Mar 5 '14 at 20:44 -
1@PiotrDobrogost: This is an excellent discussion of shell startup files. – Dennis Williamson Mar 6 '14 at 2:11
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Use:
if tty -s; then echo interactive; fi
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this doesn't seem to work for me either, I think this is the correct answer: stackoverflow.com/a/49064632/1223975 – Alexander Mills Mar 2 '18 at 7:58
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this checks for presence of a TTY on standard input; although it can be related but it is not the same as shell's interactive mode, which is indicated by shell's "-i" flag. – yarek Sep 26 '18 at 16:15
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the test tool can check for this (from the man page):
-t FD True if FD is opened on a terminal.
So you can use for example:
if [ -t 0 ] ; then
echo stdin is a terminal
.....
fi
or
if [ -t 1 ] ; then
echo stdout is a terminal
fi
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Nice and seems to be portable between shells. TEST it
bash <<< 'test -t 0 && echo Y || echo X'writesY,bash -c 'test -t 0 && echo Y || echo X'writesX– kyb May 21 '18 at 12:53 -
1this also verifies that the standard input is a TTY; although it can be related but it is NOT the same as the shell's interactive mode, which is requested and indicated by shell's "-i" flag. – yarek Sep 26 '18 at 16:18
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I typically look at the output of the program tty.
If you're on a tty, it will tell you which tty you're on. If you're not in interactive mode, it will typically tell you something like "not a tty".
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3tty -s will set a return value of 0 if you are on a terminal or 1 otherwise without giving you output. You can use it as 'if tty -s; then _interactive; fi' – BillThor May 31 '10 at 1:31
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Thanks! It's been a long time since I've needed to do this sort of thing and I guess I forgot some of the details... – chris May 31 '10 at 11:13
