Fix git colors for watch(1)

git-colored.sh

#!/usr/bin/env bash
# Fix git colors, userful for watch(1)
#
# @usage watch -c 'git colored <git command>'
# @see https://askubuntu.com/questions/967503 for an example of the problem and explanation

# run git command and replace all foreground colors to include '0'
exec git -c color.ui=always "$@" | sed -r $'s/\033\[([[:digit:]][[:digit:]])m/\033\[0;\\1m/g; s/\033\[m/\033\[0m/g'

Install

1. git clone
2. cp git-colored.sh ~/bin/git-colored

or you can symlink, if you like to keep repositories around.

My favorite usage:

watch -c 'git colored log -1; echo; git colored log --all --date-order --decorate --graph --oneline'

I aliased this in ~/.gitconfig:

[alias]
  watch = !watch -c 'git colored log -1 && echo && git colored log --all --date-order --decorate --graph --oneline'

note the && replacing ;

Simply keep a terminal running git watch inside your repository

the next step is making watch(1) scrollable