Why does the Mac Terminal Show the % sign instead of $ sign?

When using the Mac Terminal app, you will notice two (2) different starting command prompts, namely;

• the dollar ($) sign
• the Percent (%) sign

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What is the difference between the Percent (%) and Dollar ($) signs?

Both signs have different meanings and usage when used.

Dollar ($) sign command prompt

For macOS Mojave (2018) and earlier, Mac uses the Bash shell and has the dollar ($) sign command prompt.

It means that the Terminal is awaiting commands from the user.

Some examples of bash commands are;

cd Desktop

This means navigating to the Desktop folder of your Mac system.

ls -l

This means performing a listing of all the files in a particular directory. As a result, you will see all the files in a long-list format.

Percent (%) sign command prompt

With macOS Catalina in 2019, Apple uses Zsh as the default login and interactive shell.

Zsh is a command-line interpreter and Unix shell that can be used as a substitution for the Bash shell on many Unix-based systems, including macOS.

Some of the main features of Zsh are;

• Spelling corrections
• Improved tab completion for filenames and options
• Customizable prompt system themes

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Why is Mac Terminal using the Percent (%) sign command prompt?

Depending on your situation and your Mac version, there are two (2) reasons why this is so.

• You are using macOS Catalina (2019) & above, and Zsh is the default login and interactive shell.
• You had previously installed Zsh on your Mac computer, and the percent (%) sign is the default command prompt for the Zsh shell.

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How can the Percent (%) sign be changed back to the Dollar ($) sign command prompt?

You can open the Mac Terminal and type the command below, to return back to the Bash shell and see the dollar ($) sign as the default command prompt:

chsh -s /bin/bash

Then, exit the Terminal and restart it again to take effect.

You will notice that the Dollar ($) sign command prompt is back now.

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