def suggest_localhost(func):
    '''Decorator: prompt user for value of env.host_string with default to
    'localhost' when env.host_string is empty.

    Modification of decorator function fabric.network.needs_host
    '''
    from fabric.network import handle_prompt_abort, to_dict

    @wraps(func)
    def host_prompting_wrapper(*args, **kwargs):
        while not env.get('host_string', False):
            handle_prompt_abort("the target host connection string")
            host_string = raw_input("No hosts found. Please specify "
                                    "host string for connection [localhost]: ")
            if host_string == '':
                host_string = 'localhost'
            env.update(to_dict(host_string))
        return func(*args, **kwargs)

    host_prompting_wrapper.undecorated = func

    return host_prompting_wrapper