Set variables in ZSH precmd and reference them in the prompt

Question

Is there a way to set variables in the precmd function of zsh and then echo them in the prompt?

Something like

function precmd {
   GREETING='Hi Kevin!';
}

PROMPT="$GREETING";

Solution

Put this in your .zshrc:

setopt prompt_subst
PROMPT='$GREETING'

Then $PROMPT will undergo parameter expansion (as well as its siblings command substitution and arithmetic expansion) each time it's displayed. Take care to quote anything that gets included from an outside source properly. Also note that the result of the $ expansion will undergo % expansion (i.e. prompt escape sequences can appear in $GREETING).

An alternate approach is to reset the PROMPT variable itself in precmd, but this makes it harder to customize the prompt in a specific shell instance.

Comments

[Kevin Burke]

It turns out that having double quotes was presenting a problem. Once I changed to single quotes around the PROMPT I got the function to update fine.

[Abolfazl Najjar]

Double quotes will expand $GREETING on assignment, i.e. PROMPT will be set to a fixed string. With single quotes, PROMPT will contain the string $GREETING, which will then be reevaluated to the value of $GREETING on every new line, thanks to prompt_subst