Trim the username on the bash terminal

.short_pwd.py

import os
from commands import getoutput
from socket import gethostname
hostname = gethostname()
username = os.environ['USER']
pwd = os.getcwd()
homedir = os.path.expanduser('~')
pwd = pwd.replace(homedir, '~', 1)
if len(pwd) > 30:
        pwd = pwd[:10]+'...'+pwd[-20:] # first 10 chars+last 20 chars
#print '%s$ ' % (pwd)
print '%s$ ' %(pwd)

add this to your .bashrc
export PROMPT_COMMAND='PS1="$(python ~/.short_pwd.py)"'

The default bash prompt makes it terrible to use the terminal once the dir length crosses 30, so this script shortens the length to 30 characters

~/Download...pse.github.io-master$
for Downloads/goclipse.github.io-master/

~$ is the default prompt

The terminal looks way more cleaner this way

Link: http://askubuntu.com/questions/17723/trim-the-terminal-command-prompt-working-directory/17738#17738