Gnome: Change title of current terminal from bash command line

Question

I know there are options to start a new terminal with a specified title, and that is is possible to change the title from a terminal using the menu: 'Terminal' -> Set Title.

However, I want to change it for a current terminal from command line. How can I change the title for an existing Gnome terminal from command line?

score 14 · Accepted Answer · edited Mar 20 '12 at 15:04

14

Output a suitable xterm escape sequence.

echo -ne '\033]0;New title\007'

See also How to change the title of an xterm.

edited Mar 20 '12 at 15:04

l0b0

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answered Mar 12 '12 at 18:28

tripleee

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Perfect, thats it! :D Also, thanks for the very interesting link. – Sander Mar 13 '12 at 15:26
Nice, but is it cross-platform compatible? – l0b0 Mar 20 '12 at 15:00
http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-448614.html - there is a discussion regarding other terminals. I don't have many measuring points, but the xterm variete at least works for me in rxvt-unicode as well. – Daniel Andersson Mar 20 '12 at 15:49
@l0b0: Across which platforms? Many ssh clients on various platforms offer xterm compatibility, as do most xterm replacements. – tripleee Mar 21 '12 at 05:15
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@tripleee: Usually it's recommended to use `tput` commands to print such escape sequences, as mentioned in [this exact duplicate](http://serverfault.com/questions/23978/how-can-one-set-a-terminals-title-with-the-tput-command). – l0b0 Mar 21 '12 at 08:27
@l0b0: ack; you are right, of course. – tripleee Mar 21 '12 at 12:28
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@triplee Thanks for the input! However I don't consider this question as an exact duplicate of the one you mentioned. The context of the other question is very different. – Sander Feb 13 '13 at 10:02
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This no longer seems to work – kapad Jul 29 '13 at 14:19
@kapad Where does this no longer work? It works for me, still. – tripleee Nov 11 '15 at 05:24
Warning, this will not work if PS1 and/or PROMT_COMMAND variables are set (in bashrc e.g. ) to set the title. In that case, after issuing this command, bash will first execute the contents of PROMT_COMMAND, then redraw the prompt ( = the text with the $-sign) by printing PS1. Both variables have the potential to reset the title. See the link in Zach Pfeffer's answer with more details (it's not only for Ubuntu). – mxt3 Jan 19 '19 at 12:12
That's `PROMPT_COMMAND` with a P. Your comment is a bit of a sweeping generalization; but certainly, if something else is rewriting the prompt (regularly or not), it will overwrite whatever you put there. – tripleee Sep 26 '19 at 03:40

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 25 '14 at 16:59

1

If you need to set it to the hostname where you are logged into you can use:

echo -ne "\033]0;${HOSTNAME}\007"

answered Mar 25 '14 at 16:59

Benjamin Goodacre

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score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 11 '18 at 08:33

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If you're using Ubuntu 16.04 you may need to clear the PS1 and PROMPT_COMMAND like:

PS1=$
PROMPT_COMMAND=
echo -en "\033]0;New title\a"

I put together a write up on it at link.

answered Jun 11 '18 at 08:33

Zach Pfeffer

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score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Mar 12 '12 at 18:32

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It might be worth your while to try KDE. It has tabbed terminal windows, and each tab can be named just by right clicking on the tab.

answered Mar 12 '12 at 18:32

Scott C Wilson

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Thanks for your suggestion, however, I'm still fond with Gnome :) – Sander Mar 12 '12 at 22:10

Gnome: Change title of current terminal from bash command line

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