Inconsistent prompt spacing in VS Code terminal using Powershell and Starship

Question

I'm having an issue with the appearance of my terminal prompt in VS Code when using Powershell in combination with Starship. The same configuration yields different visual outputs between the native Terminal application and the integrated terminal in VS Code.

Here's the appearance in the Terminal app:

And here it is in VS Code:

You can observe an extra space in the VS Code terminal prompt which is not present in the Terminal app.

Here's my Starship configuration for the prompt:

format = """
[](#E6AB5E)\
$os\
$username\
[](bg:#DA627D fg:#E6AB5E)\
$directory\
[](fg:#DA627D bg:#FCA17D)\
$git_branch\
$git_status\
[](fg:#FCA17D bg:#86BBD8)\
$python\
[](fg:#86BBD8 bg:#06969A)\
$docker_context\
[](fg:#06969A bg:#33658A)\
$time\
[ ](fg:#33658A)\n
$character"""

add_newline = true

[username]
show_always = true
style_user = "bg:#E6AB5E"
style_root = "bg:#E6AB5E"
format = '[ $user ]($style)'

[character]
success_symbol = "[❯](blue)"
error_symbol = "[❯](red)"
vimcmd_symbol = "[❮](green)"

[os]
style = "bg:#E6AB5E"
disabled = false # Disabled by default

[directory]
style = "bg:#DA627D"
format = "[ $path ]($style)"
truncation_length = 3
truncation_symbol = "…/"

[git_branch]
symbol = ""
style = "bg:#FCA17D"
format = '[ $symbol $branch ]($style)'

[git_status]
style = "bg:#FCA17D"
format = '[$all_status$ahead_behind ]($style)'

[python]
symbol = " "
style = "bg:#86BBD8"
format = '[ $symbol ($version) ]($style)'

[time]
disabled = false
time_format = "%R" # Hour:Minute Format
style = "bg:#33658A"
format = '[  $time ]($style)'

[os.symbols]
Windows = "󰍲 "

I've attempted to diagnose the issue myself:

• Checked the configuration multiple times for any inconsistencies.
• Tried other terminal applications like hyper.js, which reproduces the same inconsistency.
• Confirmed that the configuration displays correctly on macOS.

Despite these attempts, I'm unable to determine the root cause of the discrepancy. Has anyone else faced this issue or does anyone have any suggestions on how to resolve it?

Answer 1

The issue is with the windows icon the preset is using, I changed the windows icon to a different windows icon from the Nerd Fonts Cheat Sheet and it fixed it.

New Windows Symbol: ""

Here is the updated config with the new symbol.

"$schema" = 'https://starship.rs/config-schema.json'

format = """
[](color_orange)\
$os\
$username\
[](bg:color_yellow fg:color_orange)\
$directory\
[](fg:color_yellow bg:color_aqua)\
$git_branch\
$git_status\
[](fg:color_aqua bg:color_blue)\
$c\
$rust\
$golang\
$nodejs\
$php\
$java\
$kotlin\
$haskell\
$python\
[](fg:color_blue bg:color_bg3)\
$docker_context\
[](fg:color_bg3 bg:color_bg1)\
$time\
[ ](fg:color_bg1)\
$line_break$character"""

palette = 'gruvbox_dark'

[palettes.gruvbox_dark]
color_fg0 = '#fbf1c7'
color_bg1 = '#3c3836'
color_bg3 = '#665c54'
color_blue = '#458588'
color_aqua = '#689d6a'
color_green = '#98971a'
color_orange = '#d65d0e'
color_purple = '#b16286'
color_red = '#cc241d'
color_yellow = '#d79921'

[os]
disabled = false
style = "bg:color_orange fg:color_fg0"

[os.symbols]
Windows = ""
Ubuntu = "󰕈"
SUSE = ""
Raspbian = "󰐿"
Mint = "󰣭"
Macos = "󰀵"
Manjaro = ""
Linux = "󰌽"
Gentoo = "󰣨"
Fedora = "󰣛"
Alpine = ""
Amazon = ""
Android = ""
Arch = "󰣇"
Artix = "󰣇"
CentOS = ""
Debian = "󰣚"
Redhat = "󱄛"
RedHatEnterprise = "󱄛"

[username]
show_always = true
style_user = "bg:color_orange fg:color_fg0"
style_root = "bg:color_orange fg:color_fg0"
format = '[ $user ]($style)'

[directory]
style = "fg:color_fg0 bg:color_yellow"
format = "[ $path ]($style)"
truncation_length = 3
truncation_symbol = "…/"

[directory.substitutions]
"Documents" = "󰈙 "
"Downloads" = " "
"Music" = "󰝚 "
"Pictures" = " "
"Developer" = "󰲋 "

[git_branch]
symbol = ""
style = "bg:color_aqua"
format = '[[ $symbol $branch ](fg:color_fg0 bg:color_aqua)]($style)'

[git_status]
style = "bg:color_aqua"
format = '[[($all_status$ahead_behind )](fg:color_fg0 bg:color_aqua)]($style)'

[nodejs]
symbol = ""
style = "bg:color_blue"
format = '[[ $symbol( $version) ](fg:color_fg0 bg:color_blue)]($style)'

[c]
symbol = " "
style = "bg:color_blue"
format = '[[ $symbol( $version) ](fg:color_fg0 bg:color_blue)]($style)'

[rust]
symbol = ""
style = "bg:color_blue"
format = '[[ $symbol( $version) ](fg:color_fg0 bg:color_blue)]($style)'

[golang]
symbol = ""
style = "bg:color_blue"
format = '[[ $symbol( $version) ](fg:color_fg0 bg:color_blue)]($style)'

[php]
symbol = ""
style = "bg:color_blue"
format = '[[ $symbol( $version) ](fg:color_fg0 bg:color_blue)]($style)'

[java]
symbol = " "
style = "bg:color_blue"
format = '[[ $symbol( $version) ](fg:color_fg0 bg:color_blue)]($style)'

[kotlin]
symbol = ""
style = "bg:color_blue"
format = '[[ $symbol( $version) ](fg:color_fg0 bg:color_blue)]($style)'

[haskell]
symbol = ""
style = "bg:color_blue"
format = '[[ $symbol( $version) ](fg:color_fg0 bg:color_blue)]($style)'

[python]
symbol = ""
style = "bg:color_blue"
format = '[[ $symbol( $version) ](fg:color_fg0 bg:color_blue)]($style)'

[docker_context]
symbol = ""
style = "bg:color_bg3"
format = '[[ $symbol( $context) ](fg:#83a598 bg:color_bg3)]($style)'

[time]
disabled = false
time_format = "%R"
style = "bg:color_bg1"
format = '[[  $time ](fg:color_fg0 bg:color_bg1)]($style)'

[line_break]
disabled = false

[character]
disabled = false
success_symbol = '[](bold fg:color_green)'
error_symbol = '[](bold fg:color_red)'
vimcmd_symbol = '[](bold fg:color_green)'
vimcmd_replace_one_symbol = '[](bold fg:color_purple)'
vimcmd_replace_symbol = '[](bold fg:color_purple)'
vimcmd_visual_symbol = '[](bold fg:color_yellow)'

Answer 2

Turns out the issue is with material design (nf-md-...) icons. Go to Nerd Font Cheat Sheet and replace those icons in starship.toml.

Thanks @rustybalboadev for showing the way.