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gitzshprompt

showing git branch name in command prompt

Just curious if the following two always output the same thing (branch name)? I'm using zsh.

git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD 2> /dev/null

versus

ref=$($git symbolic-ref HEAD 2> /dev/null)
echo "${ref#refs/heads/}"

If not, is one way preferred over the other for setting up git context in command prompt?

Solution

  • They behave the same when on a branch, but not when in "detached HEAD" mode (try git checkout --detach master for instance, followed by git checkout master to re-attach your head).

    The real question to answer is: what do you want displayed in detached HEAD mode? If you want an abbreviated hash, use the rev-parse format. If you want something else, use the symbolic-ref format, perhaps with an additional clause to show "detached" or whatever, if symbolic-ref errors out.