How do I show the git branch with colours in Bash prompt?

Question

I am using this guide to show the branch name in gnome terminal (Ubuntu 15.10) when working in a git repository. Based on the above I now have the below in my ~/.bashrc file:

# uncomment for a colored prompt, if the terminal has the capability; turned
# off by default to not distract the user: the focus in a terminal window
# should be on the output of commands, not on the prompt
#force_color_prompt=yes

...

# Add git branch if its present to PS1
parse_git_branch() {
 git branch 2> /dev/null | sed -e '/^[^*]/d' -e 's/* \(.*\)/(\1)/'
}
if [ "$color_prompt" = yes ]; then
 PS1='${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}\[\033[01;32m\]\u@\h\[\033[00m\]:\[\033[01;34m\]\w\[\033[01;31m\]$(parse_git_branch)\[\033[00m\]\$ '
else
 PS1='${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}\u@\h:\w$(parse_git_branch)\$ '
fi
unset color_prompt force_color_prompt

As a result I now get:

so it works. But why has the coloring of my user@host been removed? And I would also expect that the branch name should be colored. Before it looked like this:

UPDATE: I have now tried this guide instead:

https://coderwall.com/p/fasnya/add-git-branch-name-to-bash-prompt

adding this to .bashrc:

parse_git_branch() {
     git branch 2> /dev/null | sed -e '/^[^*]/d' -e 's/* \(.*\)/ (\1)/'
}
export PS1="\u@\h \[\033[32m\]\w\[\033[33m\]\$(parse_git_branch)\[\033[00m\] $ "

and that works:

Notice in .bashrc I also have this (default):

# uncomment for a colored prompt, if the terminal has the capability; turned
# off by default to not distract the user: the focus in a terminal window
# should be on the output of commands, not on the prompt
#force_color_prompt=yes

I have yet to find the reason why that snippet gives the correct result and the other version does not. Any input on this?

Here is the version of my .bashrc that has the old snippet enabled that does not work:

http://pastebin.com/M8kjEiH3

Yes I have tried with both uncommented and commented same result. The guide posted above says its should be commented out. — u123, Feb 07 '16 at 08:18
Can you post your complete .bashrc? IIRC the default .bashrc doesn't enable colour prompts, so you have to change it to show colours. It depends on what you changed. — muru, Feb 07 '16 at 08:20
Your new snippet has colour codes in them (the \[\033[32m\] and similar parts) without any checks. The old snippet checks if colour prompts are enabled before using them, and if they're not enabled, well. — muru, Feb 07 '16 at 08:25
As far as I can see the old snippet also has that when it evals to true. And I did try with 'force_color_prompt=yes' enabled/disabled. I made sure to restart gnome-terminal after each change. — u123, Feb 07 '16 at 08:28
Have a look at line 64, which should tell you why uncommenting force_color_prompt didn't help. — muru, Feb 07 '16 at 08:39
I have added a link to a pastebin of the bashrc file containing the version of the old snippet that does not work. — u123, Feb 07 '16 at 08:40
@u123 The .bashrc you just posted confirms my theory, you're setting the prompt after unset color_prompt force_color_prompt. Remove line 64 and it'll work. — kos, Feb 07 '16 at 08:42
Thanks that works. I never touched this part of my .bashrc file. Assumed that the old snippet would work without having to modify other parts of the bashrc file. I will stick with the new snippet since it works with a default .bashrc file - no need for removing line 64. — u123, Feb 07 '16 at 08:45
@u123 don't worry about the default .bashrc too much. If you mess up, you can always get the original from /etc/skel/.bashrc. — muru, Feb 07 '16 at 08:52
How can I add this only if the current directory is a git repo? I tried an if/else based on whether or not the contents of $git_parse_branch() were empty, but this didn't work — jjjjjj, Aug 29 '18 at 14:27
For anyone wondering about the color codes and other magic symbols... — djvg, Oct 23 '18 at 14:02
I'd recommend using git-prompt.sh instead. Nevertheless, there's no need to use git branch and pipe to sed. Just use git describe --contains --all HEAD — CervEd, Jun 22 '21 at 19:00
The leaseweb.com URL at the start of this post is no longer valid - it now just redirects to the labs.leaseweb.com homepage and the content no longer appears to be hosted anywhere on their site. I'm going to see if I can find an archived version. — AJM, May 05 '23 at 17:08

score 228 · Accepted Answer · edited Nov 20 '17 at 16:14

228

This snippet:

# Add git branch if its present to PS1

parse_git_branch() {
 git branch 2> /dev/null | sed -e '/^[^*]/d' -e 's/* \(.*\)/(\1)/'
}
if [ "$color_prompt" = yes ]; then
 PS1='${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}\[\033[01;32m\]\u@\h\[\033[00m\]:\[\033[01;34m\]\w\[\033[01;31m\]$(parse_git_branch)\[\033[00m\]\$ '
else
 PS1='${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}\u@\h:\w$(parse_git_branch)\$ '
fi

Is meant to replace the default prompt definition:

if [ "$color_prompt" = yes ]; then
    PS1='${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}\[\033[01;32m\]\u@\h\[\033[00m\]:\[\033[01;34m\]\w\[\033[00m\]\$ '
else
    PS1='${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}\u@\h:\w\$ '
fi

Which ends with:

unset color_prompt force_color_prompt

The .bashrc you posted shows you're adding it after the default prompt definition and unset color_prompt force_color_prompt (line #64).

Either replace the default prompt definition with the snippet or leave your ~/.bashrc as it is and comment the default prompt definition along with unset color_prompt force_color_prompt on line #64:

So part of your .bashrc could look like

parse_git_branch() {
 git branch 2> /dev/null | sed -e '/^[^*]/d' -e 's/* \(.*\)/(\1)/'
}
if [ "$color_prompt" = yes ]; then
 PS1='${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}\[\033[01;32m\]\u@\h\[\033[00m\]:\[\033[01;34m\]\w\[\033[01;31m\] $(parse_git_branch)\[\033[00m\]\$ '
else
 PS1='${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}\u@\h:\w$(parse_git_branch)\$ '
fi
# THE SIX LINES BELOW are the default prompt and the unset (which were in the original .bashrc)
#if [ "$color_prompt" = yes ]; then
#    PS1='${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}\[\033[01;32m\]\u@\h\[\033[00m\]:\[\033[01;34m\]\w\[\033[00m\]\$ '
#else
#    PS1='${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}\u@\h:\w\$ '
#fi
#unset color_prompt force_color_prompt

edited Nov 20 '17 at 16:14

Mark

153

answered Feb 07 '16 at 08:30

kos

35,891

Verified the above and you are correct. I will stick with new version of snippet since it works without having to modify the default parts of the bashrc file. – u123 Feb 07 '16 at 08:51
1

it fails to add color to the branch name. – Avinash Raj Feb 07 '16 at 10:11
@AvinashRaj Test it with a copy of the default ~/.bashrc in /etc/skel/.bashrc, you might have something interfering in your ~/.bashrc. – kos Feb 07 '16 at 10:15
un-comment force_color_prompt=yes (line # 48) if the colors are not visible. – Adil Abbasi Jun 07 '17 at 06:05
Faster: git symbolic-ref --short HEAD 2> /dev/null – Elazar Oct 11 '17 at 12:08
3

To color your branch according to its status, you can use the native git-prompt script provided by git itself. – Niket Pathak Jan 15 '18 at 11:42
With this method, if you are using any python virtual environment, keep in mind that this won't display the virtual environment name in the terminal. – user2018197 Mar 24 '18 at 06:06
I'm using Ubuntu 18.04.3 LTS & Terminator console and it works like a charm! – Manuel Abascal Nov 25 '19 at 14:21
Created a video to show the use of the git-prompt script created by git itself https://youtu.be/6DczjqG9HbA – Riyafa Abdul Hameed Jul 14 '20 at 17:18
do i need to comment line unset color_prompt force_color_prompt or not? – suhailvs Aug 16 '21 at 11:43

score 208 · Answer 2 · edited Jun 12 '20 at 14:37

208

Ubuntu: Show your branch name on your terminal

Add these lines in your ~/.bashrc file

# Show git branch name
force_color_prompt=yes
color_prompt=yes
parse_git_branch() {
 git branch 2> /dev/null | sed -e '/^[^*]/d' -e 's/* \(.*\)/(\1)/'
}
if [ "$color_prompt" = yes ]; then
 PS1='${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}\[\033[01;32m\]\u@\h\[\033[00m\]:\[\033[01;34m\]\w\[\033[01;31m\]$(parse_git_branch)\[\033[00m\]\$ '
else
 PS1='${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}\u@\h:\w$(parse_git_branch)\$ '
fi
unset color_prompt force_color_prompt

Reload the .bashrc file with this command:

$ source ~/.bashrc

edited Jun 12 '20 at 14:37

Community

1

answered Aug 16 '17 at 09:23

Sam

2,189

13

This worked for me on 18.04! – cbloss793 Jan 07 '19 at 20:18
2

Thanks. Using: Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS – Bishwas Mishra Jan 10 '19 at 06:38
1

It worked also for me on elementaryOS 0.4 Loki. As simple as open my ~/.bashrc with the command sudo nano ~/.bashrc, copy your code at the end of the file, save it, exit and reload the ~/.bashrc with the code you pasted above. Thanks a lot ;) – call0fcode Jan 23 '19 at 22:53
Works on Redhat 6.8! – BeeGee Feb 22 '19 at 15:18
3

This worked and kept the colors! (Ubuntu 18.04) – warkentien2 Feb 26 '19 at 23:39
Wokred on ubuntu 19.04 – Piotr Żak Sep 21 '19 at 12:35
Works on Ubuntu 18.04.3 LTS – Grávuj Miklós Henrich Jan 13 '20 at 12:59
Worked for me in Ubuntu 19.10 – Shantanu Tomar Mar 28 '20 at 09:59
1

How could I change the color and/or length of the git branch name that shows? – nilon Apr 12 '20 at 22:44
Working in 18.04 – Divyesh Prajapati Apr 20 '20 at 11:27
Works well for me and also shows the conda environment, when it's not the default one or when I go from another env into the default one. – Santiago Jun 02 '20 at 19:37
1

Works fine for Ubuntu 20.04 on WSL2. Thanks! – Emanuel Lindström Oct 06 '20 at 07:40
7

On Ubuntu 20.10 working correctly ;) – michal Oct 24 '20 at 12:07
1

Worked perfectly on 20.04 LTS – Javier Jun 17 '21 at 20:38
Worked on Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS (WSL) – Albert Hidalgo Jul 02 '21 at 18:26
I am not an expert, but managed to simplify parse method: git branch --show-current 2> /dev/null | sed -e 's/$.*$/ (\1)/'. Does anyone see any issues with this? – igor Jul 10 '21 at 09:46
Worked perfectly on Debian GNU/Linux 9.13 – Abdes Dec 03 '21 at 13:39
Its working perfectly on ubuntu20.04 LTS – pintu Jan 28 '22 at 09:21
1

@nilon To change the color of the branch name, replace 01;31m in the square brackets before $(parse_git_branch) with 33m, which is much more pleasent for the eyes, especially when using the shell with purple background. List of colors here: https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/bash-shell-change-the-color-of-my-shell-prompt-under-linux-or-unix/ – Jakob May 03 '22 at 10:40
@Jakob Note that 01;33m is for yellow even though your link says it's brown – Lee Meador Jul 07 '22 at 17:25
Worked on Ubuntu 22.04 and doesn't change the default colors of the prompt. – thanos.a Oct 20 '22 at 19:12
Perfect for Ubuntu 22.10 – Dacomis Jan 17 '23 at 12:13

score 23 · Answer 3 · edited Aug 16 '17 at 12:04

For now, I followed this https://gist.github.com/eliotsykes/47516b877f5a4f7cd52f and working, liking it so far, though I'm planning to customize it further.

In Terminal
mkdir ~/.bash
Copy the raw git-prompt.sh file from git contrib in to the ~/.bash directory: https://github.com/git/git/blob/master/contrib/completion/git-prompt.sh

Inside ~/.bashrc or ~/.bash_profile (choose the file where you normally put any bash customizations/setup), add the lines:
source ~/.bash/git-prompt.sh # Show git branch name at command prompt
export GIT_PS1_SHOWCOLORHINTS=true # Option for git-prompt.sh to show branch name in color

# Terminal Prompt:
# Include git branch, use PROMPT_COMMAND (not PS1) to get color output (see git-prompt.sh for more)
export PROMPT_COMMAND='__git_ps1 "\w" "\n\\\$ "' # Git branch (relies on git-prompt.sh)
As long as you're inside a git repo, your Bash prompt should now show the current git branch in color signifying if its got uncommitted changes.

This should be the accepted answer, as it's clear, concise, and does the job, and it works on other platforms too. — miguelmorin, May 15 '19 at 10:48
The following at the end of ~/.bashrc simply appends to the distribution's default color prompt export PROMPT_COMMAND='__git_ps1 "'${PS1%???}'" "\n\\\$ "' — Danilo Roascio, Nov 24 '20 at 15:41

score 12 · Answer 4 · answered Oct 24 '19 at 09:58

12

Quick hack:

Adding this to ~/.bashrc:

parse_git_branch() {
     git branch 2> /dev/null | sed -e '/^[^*]/d' -e 's/* \(.*\)/(\1)/'
}

export PS1="\u@\h \[\e[32m\]\w \[\e[91m\]\$(parse_git_branch)\[\e[00m\]$ "

Restart the terminal, or source ~/.bashrc:

More detail: https://medium.com/@thucnc/how-to-show-current-git-branch-with-colors-in-bash-prompt-380d05a24745

answered Oct 24 '19 at 09:58

thucnguyen

1,527

I had this in my centOS & RHEL VMs and worked there, but for Ubuntu this didn't update on switching the current directory. Had to follow this for setting and unsetting values – Ajit Panigrahi Mar 30 '21 at 09:45
This works but changes the default prompt colors. – thanos.a Oct 20 '22 at 19:13

score 7 · Answer 5 · edited Aug 30 '19 at 17:52

7

Append the lines below to ~/.bashrc:

export GIT_PS1_SHOWDIRTYSTATE=true
export GIT_PS1_SHOWUNTRACKEDFILES=true

export PS1='\[\033[32m\]\u@\h\[\033[00m\]:\[\033[34m\]\w\[\033[31m\]$(__git_ps1)\[\033[00m\]\$ '

edited Aug 30 '19 at 17:52

BeastOfCaerbannog

14,585

answered Aug 30 '19 at 14:25

nardele salomon

71

works on ubuntu 18.04 – fanny Nov 08 '19 at 16:06
Awesome, working!!!! – infiniteLearner Mar 01 '22 at 12:09
Other answers were great, but this was the simplest, fastest, and least cumbersome change to make on Ubuntu 22. – BigBlueHat Oct 26 '23 at 13:07

score 3 · Answer 6 · edited Oct 13 '18 at 22:24

3

Go to home folder

click Ctrl+h to show hidden files.

Open .bashrc file and at the end paste the next:

parse_git_branch() {
     git branch 2> /dev/null | sed -e '/^[^*]/d' -e 's/* \(.*\)/ (\1)/'
}
export PS1="\u@\h \[\033[32m\]\w\[\033[33m\]\$(parse_git_branch)\[\033[00m\] $ "

In case you have your terminal opened, close and open again. Enjoy!!

edited Oct 13 '18 at 22:24

abu_bua

10,783

answered Oct 13 '18 at 21:59

webtechnelson

663

Hello, I tried it and it works only where I switch superuser, can you tell me how to enable always? – Denis Stephanov Nov 24 '18 at 16:37

John · Answer 7 · 2022-04-26T15:22:09.143

3

I use bash-git-prompt. It's configurable and easier than writing your own, which I imagine is what many readers are looking for.

edited Apr 26 '22 at 15:22

answered Jul 23 '21 at 22:40

John

31
4

score 2 · Answer 8 · answered Dec 17 '20 at 14:17

2

Why bother with using sed? as in ...

git branch 2> /dev/null | sed -e '/^[^]/d' -e 's/ (.*)/(\1)/'

Much easier to just use:

git branch --show-current

It outputs the current branch and no extra characters!

answered Dec 17 '20 at 14:17

Sundeep Bhatia

21

Indeed, git branch --show-current 2> /dev/null | sed -e 's/$.*$/ (\1)/' works for me. – igor Jul 10 '21 at 09:48
3

Please always try to provide the full answer even if you you are trying to improve someone else's answer. :) – Rajan Dec 11 '21 at 18:19

score 2 · Answer 9 · edited Dec 12 '21 at 02:03

Topic is old but I will post being able to help someone. In the .bashrc file located inside the user's local folder, replace the existing PS1 with this one:

if [ "$color_prompt" = yes ]; then
    PS1='${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}\[\033[01;32m\]\u@\h\[\033[00m\]:\[\033[01;34m\]\w\[\033[00m\]\[\033[1;36m\]$(__git_ps1 " (%s)")\[\033[01;34m\]$\[\033[00m\]'

If you want to change the color of the branch change the color before the parameter $ (__ git_ps1 "(% s)") that is, change this value:

 \[\033[1;36m\]

color chart https://gist.github.com/avelino/3188137

ivan.ukr · Answer 10 · 2021-09-03T21:10:58.867

2

My variant for KUbuntu 20.04 LTS, derived from the original value of the PS1:

# put into ~/.bashrc
parse_git_branch() {
     git branch 2> /dev/null | sed -e '/^[^*]/d' -e 's/* \(.*\)/ (\1)/'
}
export PS1="\[\e]0;\u@\h: \w\a\]${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}\[\033[01;32m\]\u@\h\[\033[00m\]:\[\033[01;34m\]\w\[\033[33m\]\$(parse_git_branch)\[\033[00m\] $ "

edited Sep 03 '21 at 21:10

answered Sep 03 '21 at 21:05

ivan.ukr

391
4
12

score 1 · Answer 11 · edited Sep 26 '17 at 16:39

1

My problem was that I hadn't enabled the option

Run command as a login shell in

Terminal → Edit → Profile Preferences → Command

edited Sep 26 '17 at 16:39

TheOdd

3,012

answered Sep 26 '17 at 11:15

Joker

111

I think it's visually apparent from the question that this probably isn't the case here, but it may apply to others. – Oli Dec 11 '21 at 22:28

score 0 · Answer 12 · answered May 18 '18 at 10:19

0

replace

parse_git_branch

with

parse_git_branch 2>/dev/null

in your PS1 definition and live happily ever after.

answered May 18 '18 at 10:19

andrej

416

score 0 · Answer 13 · edited Nov 22 '19 at 06:01

0

sudo vi .bashrc

Write below code the button of the file:

git_branch() {
 git branch 2> /dev/null | sed -e '/^[^*]/d' -e 's/* \(.*\)/(\1)/'
}
export PS1="\[\033[1;36m\]\u\[\033[1;31m\]@\[\033[1;32m\]\h:\[\033[1;35m\]\w\[\033[1;31m\]\$\[\033[0m\]\$(git_branch)\$ "

source .bashrc

edited Nov 22 '19 at 06:01

Kevin Bowen

19,615
55
79
83

answered Nov 22 '19 at 05:23

nimesh

11

2

You should not need to use sudo to modify your own login file – Robert Benson May 05 '21 at 19:42

score 0 · Answer 14 · answered Jul 03 '22 at 10:08

Best and short solution. Modify .bashrc file located in ~/ directory. Change PS1 variable. In my case it is 60 line. Excerpts of .bashrc file with modified PS1 variable:

if [ "$color_prompt" = yes ]; then
    PS1='${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}\[\033[01;32m\]\u@\h\[\033[00m\]:\[\033[01;34m\]\w\[\033[01;36m\]`__git_ps1`\[\033[00m\]\n\$ '
else
    PS1='${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}\u@\h:\w\$ '
fi

I've add __git_ps1 variable and \n for new line for better readability. Worked in Ubuntu 22.04 LTS and 20.04.4 LTS with git installed. Example: sample of the terminal

score -1 · Answer 15 · answered Apr 27 '22 at 13:59

In my case I didn't overwrite the PS1 variable because I had to preserve the prepended environment that is added by anaconda package, that is the (base) in the image bellow. I use Ubuntu 20.04, and all I wanted is to append the branch at the end, thanks to @thucnguyen as my solution is based on his one:

parse_git_branch() {
  git branch 2> /dev/null | sed -e '/^[^*]/d' -e 's/* \(.*\)/(\1) /'
}
export PS1="$PS1\[\e[91m\]\$(parse_git_branch)\[\e[00m\]"

How do I show the git branch with colours in Bash prompt?

15 Answers15

Ubuntu: Show your branch name on your terminal

Write below code the button of the file:

Linked

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