git-current-branch.md

Git current branch

The shell used in the following examples is bash, but the commands can be adapted for other shells.

reading it

Determine if working in a git repository

The goal here is to have a performant way to determine if we are in a git repo without printing anything.

git status --porcelain --untracked-files=no &>/dev/null && \
	echo 'in a git repo' || echo 'not in a git repo'

Print current branch if in git repo

Now we'll add the current branch.

git status --porcelain --untracked-files=no &>/dev/null && \
	git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD

Print current repo and branch as two words

Add the local name of the repo.

git status --porcelain --untracked-files=no &>/dev/null && \
	echo -n "$(basename $(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)) " && \
	git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD

using it

Depending your shell, these commands or variations of them could be used to add the current repo/branch to your command prompt or the title of your current terminal window.

Bash and zsh users can also use an existing solution included in the git repo: https://github.com/git/git/blob/master/contrib/completion/git-prompt.sh