how PS1 variable is used ?

[MR ZenWiz]

On Tue, Dec 7, 2010 at 1:40 PM, Nils Kassube <kassube at gmx.net> wrote:
>
> Well, I do know it should have been "man bash" but why would you expect
> that everybody who starts exploring shell variables knows where to look.
> In this case the command used was "set" and the question was about "PS1"
> but even if you use "man set" or "man PS1" you don't get a hint to use
> "man bash". IMHO, it isn't helpful to reply with "RTFM" without a useful
> hint where to find the manual.
>
You make a good case.  In this instance, Google would have been a
better reference, perhaps.  Or I suppose I could (should?) have said
that PS1 is the standard shell (command line interpreter) primary
prompt which can be found in the man page for whichever shell you are
running ('echo $SHELL' followed by 'man <the shell's base-name>' or,
again, 'man `basename $SHELL`').

I will jump a shorter distance to my next conclusion.  Thank you.

OTOH, where else would you go to find out about shell variables other
than the man page for the shell you are running?  I would think it
fairly obvious that you can't find a man page for a shell variable....
 If you know enough to know what a shell is, and what the man command
is, I would expect that to be a huge pointer in the right direction.
Perhaps I still have my expectations of UNIX/Linux users set too high.

I shall adapt.