terminal help

hi all,

new apple user for about a year.

recently logged into terminal to delete the recycle bin and saw this:

ancrsmedistrtr-2:~ (username)$

I've never seen this before, how do i delete it or reset it?
(the reset command doesn't work).
where did it come from? i'm sure it used to say 'mynotebook' before.

thanks to all.

If you go to System Preferences > Sharing > Computer Name, what do you see?

it says macbookair

Do you have a file in your user directory called .bashrc or .bash_profile? You'll have to show hidden files or use ls with the -a switch (so, ls -a ~) to see if you have them.

If you do, what are the contents of those files?

sorry, i'm lost on how to do that.

i click on my device, then HD....then click on users, then my name (house icon), here i have desktop, documents, etc. is this where you mean?

You type Vansmith's command in the Terminal not in Finder..

enter this into terminal?

ls -a ~

?

marcusbou said:

enter this into terminal?

ls -a ~

?

Click to expand...

Correct.

did that.....

i see .bash_history

marcusbou said:

did that.....

i see .bash_history

Click to expand...

And what's in it? It's very possible that someone/something has modified what is called the PS1 environment variable.

If you want to open it, simply execute the following: open ~/.bash_profile.

thanks for your help.

open ~/.bash_profile.

system says
The file /Users/(user)/.bash_profile does not exist.

When you did the "ls -a ~", is ".bash_history" the one file you saw or were there others? If there were others, list them all here..

. .cups Documents
.. .dropbox Downloads
.CFUserTextEncoding .filezilla Dropbox
.DS_Store .fontconfig Library
.Trash .local Movies
.Xauthority .spumux Music
.bash_history Applications Pictures
.config Desktop Public

Whoops, I read your last post as saying you saw a .bash_profile when it was actually .bash_history.

There's nothing there that would have modified your bash prompt in any way. Are you using ATT in Alaska by any chance? It looks like ancrsmedistrtr-2 is part of some DNS server that serves ATT customers in Alaska.

not using att in alaska, in the uk.

so back to square one, need to find out what changed it and how to change back.

thanks for help.

Want a tip?

If you don't know Terminal keep well out of it. Very powerful magic there.

yes pls

harryb2448 said:

Want a tip?

If you don't know Terminal keep well out of it. Very powerful magic there.

Click to expand...

marcusbou said:

yes pls

Click to expand...

That was the tip.

marcusbou said:

not using att in alaska, in the uk.

so back to square one, need to find out what changed it and how to change back.

thanks for help.

Click to expand...

Have you ever used a VPN service? As I mentioned, that machine name is also part of an address for an American DNS server.

Regardless, try the following command: Replace <name you want> with what you want your computer to be called (and consequently, what will be displayed at the command prompt). You'll be prompted for your password once you hit enter - type it in and press enter again (note - you won't see the characters registered but I guarantee that they are).

thanks for the info mate, glad to see some users are helpful.

i entered

sudo scutil --set ComputerName macbookair

entered password

restarted mac, same again - didn't work.
never used vpn connections.