4.1.1.1. Understanding the shell prompt
The standard shell prompt looks like this:
[chris@concord2 ~]$
This message is an invitation to enter a command. It shows the name of the user ( chris ), the computer being used ( concord2 ), and the current working directory within the filesystem ( ~ , meaning the user's home directory). The last character of the prompt, $ , indicates that this is a normal user's prompt, as opposed to the system administrator's prompt, which ends with # .