Can I have the terminal prompt at the vertical middle of a window?












0















I just realized that I hunch over a lot when using the terminal since the prompt is always at the bottom of the terminal window, which is vertically maximized.



I would like the prompt to be at the vertical middle of the window (or in a point near where my eyes are pointed to).



You could argue that I can resize the window and achieve that, but sometimes I like the vertical space (eg. when running ls -la). So, ideally, I could toggle the position of the prompt between some point and the bottom of the window.



(I'm using iTerm under MacOS with zsh, but I'm interested in an agnostic/generic way of doing this)










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    0















    I just realized that I hunch over a lot when using the terminal since the prompt is always at the bottom of the terminal window, which is vertically maximized.



    I would like the prompt to be at the vertical middle of the window (or in a point near where my eyes are pointed to).



    You could argue that I can resize the window and achieve that, but sometimes I like the vertical space (eg. when running ls -la). So, ideally, I could toggle the position of the prompt between some point and the bottom of the window.



    (I'm using iTerm under MacOS with zsh, but I'm interested in an agnostic/generic way of doing this)










    share|improve this question

























      0












      0








      0








      I just realized that I hunch over a lot when using the terminal since the prompt is always at the bottom of the terminal window, which is vertically maximized.



      I would like the prompt to be at the vertical middle of the window (or in a point near where my eyes are pointed to).



      You could argue that I can resize the window and achieve that, but sometimes I like the vertical space (eg. when running ls -la). So, ideally, I could toggle the position of the prompt between some point and the bottom of the window.



      (I'm using iTerm under MacOS with zsh, but I'm interested in an agnostic/generic way of doing this)










      share|improve this question














      I just realized that I hunch over a lot when using the terminal since the prompt is always at the bottom of the terminal window, which is vertically maximized.



      I would like the prompt to be at the vertical middle of the window (or in a point near where my eyes are pointed to).



      You could argue that I can resize the window and achieve that, but sometimes I like the vertical space (eg. when running ls -la). So, ideally, I could toggle the position of the prompt between some point and the bottom of the window.



      (I'm using iTerm under MacOS with zsh, but I'm interested in an agnostic/generic way of doing this)







      terminal zsh iterm2 iterm






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      asked Jan 2 at 16:07









      edmzedmz

      11815




      11815






















          1 Answer
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          1














          The following code (uses zsh features, but the priciple can be used with other shells, too) defines two shell functions, prompt_middle and prompt_restore.



          The first function keeps the prompt always above the middle of the terminal by forcing an appropriate number of empty lines below the prompt. The latter funtion restores the normal behavior.



          You can assign these functions to some shortcuts or use some logic to toggle between these two modes.



          # load terminfo modules to make the associative array $terminfo available
          zmodload zsh/terminfo

          # save current prompt to parameter PS1o
          PS1o="$PS1"

          # calculate how many lines one half of the terminal's height has
          halfpage=$((LINES/2))

          # construct parameter to go down/up $halfpage lines via termcap
          halfpage_down=""
          for i in {1..$halfpage}; do
          halfpage_down="$halfpage_down$terminfo[cud1]"
          done

          halfpage_up=""
          for i in {1..$halfpage}; do
          halfpage_up="$halfpage_up$terminfo[cuu1]"
          done

          # define functions
          function prompt_middle() {
          # print $halfpage_down
          PS1="%{${halfpage_down}${halfpage_up}%}$PS1o"
          }

          function prompt_restore() {
          PS1="$PS1o"
          }


          Personally instead of toggling between two modes I would use a much simpler approach (you need the definitions of $halfpage_up/down from above):



          magic-enter () {
          if [[ -z $BUFFER ]]
          then
          print ${halfpage_down}${halfpage_up}$terminfo[cuu1]
          zle reset-prompt
          else
          zle accept-line
          fi
          }
          zle -N magic-enter
          bindkey "^M" magic-enter


          This checks if the current command line is empty (see my other answer) and if so move the prompt up to the middle of the terminal. Now you can fast-forward your prompt with an additional press of the ENTER key (or maybe you want to call it double-press similar to a double-click).






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            1 Answer
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            oldest

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            1 Answer
            1






            active

            oldest

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            active

            oldest

            votes






            active

            oldest

            votes









            1














            The following code (uses zsh features, but the priciple can be used with other shells, too) defines two shell functions, prompt_middle and prompt_restore.



            The first function keeps the prompt always above the middle of the terminal by forcing an appropriate number of empty lines below the prompt. The latter funtion restores the normal behavior.



            You can assign these functions to some shortcuts or use some logic to toggle between these two modes.



            # load terminfo modules to make the associative array $terminfo available
            zmodload zsh/terminfo

            # save current prompt to parameter PS1o
            PS1o="$PS1"

            # calculate how many lines one half of the terminal's height has
            halfpage=$((LINES/2))

            # construct parameter to go down/up $halfpage lines via termcap
            halfpage_down=""
            for i in {1..$halfpage}; do
            halfpage_down="$halfpage_down$terminfo[cud1]"
            done

            halfpage_up=""
            for i in {1..$halfpage}; do
            halfpage_up="$halfpage_up$terminfo[cuu1]"
            done

            # define functions
            function prompt_middle() {
            # print $halfpage_down
            PS1="%{${halfpage_down}${halfpage_up}%}$PS1o"
            }

            function prompt_restore() {
            PS1="$PS1o"
            }


            Personally instead of toggling between two modes I would use a much simpler approach (you need the definitions of $halfpage_up/down from above):



            magic-enter () {
            if [[ -z $BUFFER ]]
            then
            print ${halfpage_down}${halfpage_up}$terminfo[cuu1]
            zle reset-prompt
            else
            zle accept-line
            fi
            }
            zle -N magic-enter
            bindkey "^M" magic-enter


            This checks if the current command line is empty (see my other answer) and if so move the prompt up to the middle of the terminal. Now you can fast-forward your prompt with an additional press of the ENTER key (or maybe you want to call it double-press similar to a double-click).






            share|improve this answer






























              1














              The following code (uses zsh features, but the priciple can be used with other shells, too) defines two shell functions, prompt_middle and prompt_restore.



              The first function keeps the prompt always above the middle of the terminal by forcing an appropriate number of empty lines below the prompt. The latter funtion restores the normal behavior.



              You can assign these functions to some shortcuts or use some logic to toggle between these two modes.



              # load terminfo modules to make the associative array $terminfo available
              zmodload zsh/terminfo

              # save current prompt to parameter PS1o
              PS1o="$PS1"

              # calculate how many lines one half of the terminal's height has
              halfpage=$((LINES/2))

              # construct parameter to go down/up $halfpage lines via termcap
              halfpage_down=""
              for i in {1..$halfpage}; do
              halfpage_down="$halfpage_down$terminfo[cud1]"
              done

              halfpage_up=""
              for i in {1..$halfpage}; do
              halfpage_up="$halfpage_up$terminfo[cuu1]"
              done

              # define functions
              function prompt_middle() {
              # print $halfpage_down
              PS1="%{${halfpage_down}${halfpage_up}%}$PS1o"
              }

              function prompt_restore() {
              PS1="$PS1o"
              }


              Personally instead of toggling between two modes I would use a much simpler approach (you need the definitions of $halfpage_up/down from above):



              magic-enter () {
              if [[ -z $BUFFER ]]
              then
              print ${halfpage_down}${halfpage_up}$terminfo[cuu1]
              zle reset-prompt
              else
              zle accept-line
              fi
              }
              zle -N magic-enter
              bindkey "^M" magic-enter


              This checks if the current command line is empty (see my other answer) and if so move the prompt up to the middle of the terminal. Now you can fast-forward your prompt with an additional press of the ENTER key (or maybe you want to call it double-press similar to a double-click).






              share|improve this answer




























                1












                1








                1







                The following code (uses zsh features, but the priciple can be used with other shells, too) defines two shell functions, prompt_middle and prompt_restore.



                The first function keeps the prompt always above the middle of the terminal by forcing an appropriate number of empty lines below the prompt. The latter funtion restores the normal behavior.



                You can assign these functions to some shortcuts or use some logic to toggle between these two modes.



                # load terminfo modules to make the associative array $terminfo available
                zmodload zsh/terminfo

                # save current prompt to parameter PS1o
                PS1o="$PS1"

                # calculate how many lines one half of the terminal's height has
                halfpage=$((LINES/2))

                # construct parameter to go down/up $halfpage lines via termcap
                halfpage_down=""
                for i in {1..$halfpage}; do
                halfpage_down="$halfpage_down$terminfo[cud1]"
                done

                halfpage_up=""
                for i in {1..$halfpage}; do
                halfpage_up="$halfpage_up$terminfo[cuu1]"
                done

                # define functions
                function prompt_middle() {
                # print $halfpage_down
                PS1="%{${halfpage_down}${halfpage_up}%}$PS1o"
                }

                function prompt_restore() {
                PS1="$PS1o"
                }


                Personally instead of toggling between two modes I would use a much simpler approach (you need the definitions of $halfpage_up/down from above):



                magic-enter () {
                if [[ -z $BUFFER ]]
                then
                print ${halfpage_down}${halfpage_up}$terminfo[cuu1]
                zle reset-prompt
                else
                zle accept-line
                fi
                }
                zle -N magic-enter
                bindkey "^M" magic-enter


                This checks if the current command line is empty (see my other answer) and if so move the prompt up to the middle of the terminal. Now you can fast-forward your prompt with an additional press of the ENTER key (or maybe you want to call it double-press similar to a double-click).






                share|improve this answer















                The following code (uses zsh features, but the priciple can be used with other shells, too) defines two shell functions, prompt_middle and prompt_restore.



                The first function keeps the prompt always above the middle of the terminal by forcing an appropriate number of empty lines below the prompt. The latter funtion restores the normal behavior.



                You can assign these functions to some shortcuts or use some logic to toggle between these two modes.



                # load terminfo modules to make the associative array $terminfo available
                zmodload zsh/terminfo

                # save current prompt to parameter PS1o
                PS1o="$PS1"

                # calculate how many lines one half of the terminal's height has
                halfpage=$((LINES/2))

                # construct parameter to go down/up $halfpage lines via termcap
                halfpage_down=""
                for i in {1..$halfpage}; do
                halfpage_down="$halfpage_down$terminfo[cud1]"
                done

                halfpage_up=""
                for i in {1..$halfpage}; do
                halfpage_up="$halfpage_up$terminfo[cuu1]"
                done

                # define functions
                function prompt_middle() {
                # print $halfpage_down
                PS1="%{${halfpage_down}${halfpage_up}%}$PS1o"
                }

                function prompt_restore() {
                PS1="$PS1o"
                }


                Personally instead of toggling between two modes I would use a much simpler approach (you need the definitions of $halfpage_up/down from above):



                magic-enter () {
                if [[ -z $BUFFER ]]
                then
                print ${halfpage_down}${halfpage_up}$terminfo[cuu1]
                zle reset-prompt
                else
                zle accept-line
                fi
                }
                zle -N magic-enter
                bindkey "^M" magic-enter


                This checks if the current command line is empty (see my other answer) and if so move the prompt up to the middle of the terminal. Now you can fast-forward your prompt with an additional press of the ENTER key (or maybe you want to call it double-press similar to a double-click).







                share|improve this answer














                share|improve this answer



                share|improve this answer








                edited Jan 2 at 20:30

























                answered Jan 2 at 20:25









                mpympy

                18k45372




                18k45372






























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