diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index d2e40da0..2d031706 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -140,13 +140,21 @@ The segments that are currently available are:
 
 ##### anaconda
 
-This segment shows your active anaconda environment.
+This segment shows your active anaconda environment. It relies on either the
+`CONDA_ENV_PATH` or the `CONDA_PREFIX` (depending on the `conda` version)
+environment variable to be set which happens when you properly `source
+activate` an environment.
 
-*Note: This segment relies on a perl-regex with lookbehind.
-If `ack` is not available the segment will try to use `grep`.
-Recent versions of grep offer a `-P` option to handle such things.
-On OSX, however, you want to install gnu-grep (e.g. via `brew install grep`)
-and alias the newly installed `ggrep` to `grep`. Alternatively, `brew install ack`.*
+Special configuration variables:
+
+| Variable | Default Value | Description |
+|----------|---------------|-------------|
+|`POWERLEVEL9K_ANACONDA_LEFT_DELIMITER`|"("|The left delimiter just before the environment name.|
+|`POWERLEVEL9K_ANACONDA_RIGHT_DELIMITER`|")"|The right delimiter just after the environment name.|
+
+Additionally the following segment specific parameters can be used to customize
+it: `POWERLEVEL9K_PYTHON_ICON`, `POWERLEVEL9K_ANACONDA_BACKGROUND`, and
+`POWERLEVEL9K_ANACONDA_FOREGROUND`.
 
 ##### aws
 
diff --git a/powerlevel9k.zsh-theme b/powerlevel9k.zsh-theme
index bf09b4ce..e81aa6f2 100755
--- a/powerlevel9k.zsh-theme
+++ b/powerlevel9k.zsh-theme
@@ -291,13 +291,14 @@ CURRENT_BG='NONE'
 
 # Anaconda Environment
 prompt_anaconda() {
-  if $(hash ack 2>/dev/null); then
-    local active_conda_env=$(where conda | ack -o '(?<=envs/)[\w-]+(?=/bin)')
-  else
-    local active_conda_env=$(where conda | grep -o -P '(?<=envs/)[\w-]+(?=/bin)')
-  fi
-  if [[ -n $active_conda_env ]]; then
-    "$1_prompt_segment" "$0" "$2" "green" "black" "($active_conda_env)" ""
+  # Depending on the conda version, either might be set. This
+  # variant works even if both are set.
+  _path=$CONDA_ENV_PATH$CONDA_PREFIX
+  if ! [ -z "$_path" ]; then
+    # config - can be overwritten in users' zshrc file.
+    set_default POWERLEVEL9K_ANACONDA_LEFT_DELIMITER "("
+    set_default POWERLEVEL9K_ANACONDA_RIGHT_DELIMITER ")"
+    "$1_prompt_segment" "$0" "$2" "$3" "$4" "$POWERLEVEL9K_ANACONDA_LEFT_DELIMITER$(basename $_path)$POWERLEVEL9K_ANACONDA_RIGHT_DELIMITER" 'PYTHON_ICON'
   fi
 }