I'm on AIX-6.1 and I'm trying to make use of tput inside my $PS1. I've confirmed I can't even run tput from the commandline. Following is my session: # tput unknown terminal "xterm" # echo $TERM xterm # tput -T ansi unknown terminal "ansi" In fact, ... # ls /usr/lib/terminfo/x x1700 xl83 xterm+pcc3 xterm+pcfkeys xterm-88color xterm-hp xterm-old xterm-vi x1720 xtalk xterm+pcf0 xterm+pcfn xterm-8bit xterm-ic xterm-r5 xterm-vt220 x1750 xterm xterm+pcf1 xterm-16color xterm-basic xterm-mono xterm-r6 xterm-vt52 x820 xterm+pcc0 xterm+pcf2 xterm-24 xterm-bold xterm-new xterm-rep xterm-xfree86 xdku xterm+pcc1 xterm+pcf3 xterm-256color xterm-boldso xterm-noapp xterm-sco xterm-xmc xitex xterm+pcc2 xterm+pcfN xterm-65 xterm-color xterm-nrc xterm-sun xterms # ls /usr/lib/terminfo/x | wc -l 48 # for term in $(ls /usr/lib/terminfo/x) ; do tput -T $term ; done 2>&1 | grep 'unknown terminal' | wc -l 48 # for term in $(ls /usr/lib/terminfo/x) ; do TERM=$term tput ; done 2>&1 | grep 'unknown terminal' | wc -l 48 Any ideas? Thanks in advance.