[SOLVED] Tmux prompt not following normal bash prompt PS1 \W

Issue

I did some updating on my Mac and seem to have broken some of my settings. I have the following set in my .bash_profile

export PS1="\W $"

This is working in my normal bash session to show just the current directory instead of the whole path. However, when I switch into tmux, it again displays the whole path. Other changes to the PS1 in the bash profile such as color or other characters work fine and are reflected in tmux. I have emptied out my .tmux.conf to see if that was causing conflict but there was no change to this behavior.

I did create a new user on the system and tried the same PS1 and it worked perfectly in both a normal session and tmux.

I am mostly confused because I know I had it working and can't figure out what would have changed in the update. What files besides .bash_profile and .tmux.conf could be at play here? Is there a way to tell where tmux is pulling it's settings from?

Additional info: This behavior is the same in both iTerm2 and Terminal Tmux version 1.8 Mac OSX 10.9.1

Solution

Add the following to your .tmux.conf:

new -n WindowName bash --login

You can replace WindowName with whatever you want the first window to be named. When bash is invoked this way, it sources to your .bash_profile, .bash_rc, .profile, etc. which is where you change your $PS1.

Answered By - Coder-256

Answer Checked By - Clifford M. (WPSolving Volunteer)