I usually have 5 or more ssh connections to various servers, and putting this command in my .bash_profile file makes my putty window or x terminal window title change to this easily recognizable and descriptive text. Includes the username, group, server hostname, where I am connecting from (for SSH tunneling), which device pts, current server load, and how many processes are running. You can also use this for your PROMPT_COMMAND variable, which updates the window title to the current values each time you exec a command. I prefix running this in my .bash_profile with [[ ! -z "$SSH_TTY" ]] && which makes sure it only does this when connecting via SSH with a TTY. Here's some rougher examples from http://www.askapache.com/linux-unix/bash_profile-functions-advanced-shell.html # If set, the value is executed as a command prior to issuing each primary prompt. #H=$((hostname || uname -n) 2>/dev/null | sed 1q);W=$(whoami) #export PROMPT_COMMAND='echo -ne "\033]0;${W}@${H}:${PWD/#$HOME/~} ${SSH_TTY/\/dev\//} [`uptime|sed -e "s/.*: \([^,]*\).*/\1/" -e "s/ //g"`]\007"' #PROMPT_COMMAND='echo -ne "\033]0;`id -un`:`id -gn`@`hostname||uname -n 2>/dev/null|sed 1q` `command who -m|sed -e "s%^.* \(pts/[0-9]*\).*(\(.*\))%[\1] (\2)%g"` [`uptime|sed -e "s/.*: \([^,]*\).*/\1/" -e "s/ //g"` / `command ps aux|wc -l`]\007"' #[[ -z "$SSH_TTY" ]] || export PROMPT_COMMAND #[[ -z "$SSH_TTY" ]] && [[ -f /dev/stdout ]] && SSH_TTY=/dev/stdout And here's a simple function example for setting the title: function set_window_title(){ echo -e "\033]0; ${1:-$USER@$HOST - $SHLVL} \007"; } Show Sample Output

If the return code from the last command was greater than zero, colour part of your prompt red. The commands give a prompt like this: [user current_directory]$ After an error, the "[user" part is automatically coloured red. Tested using bash on xterm and terminal. Place in your .bashrc or .bash_profile.

unset PROMPT_COMMAND to disable. Show Sample Output