timestring="$ms" timestring="$(printf '%03d' $timestring)"

-----

OFS="$IFS" IFS='/'

[[ $PWD =~ ^$HOME ]] && pathstring='~'

for d in ${PWD#$HOME}; do

[[ -z $d ]] && continue
dirchar="${d:0:1}"

[[ $dirchar = . ]] && dirchar="${d:1:1}"
pathstring+="/$dirchar"

done

IFS="$OFS" ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZ2IQIvHtc0