How do I get my iTerm prompt to display differently when I'm in a Git branch?

Question

I'm trying to get my iTerm prompt set up the same way as Paul Irish

So far I have the following in ~/.profile:

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

PS1='\n\[\033[0:35m\]\u\[\033[0;32m\]\w\[033[0m\]$(parse_git_branch)\n\$\[\033[0m\] '

I don't know how to make just the branch appear in a different colour and not the preceding "on"

As well as this there are other features such as:

Displaying an "o" at the prompt when not in a git branch
Displaying a "±" when in a branch
Displaying the date at the end of the line

Any help would be appreciated

Just as a tip: there is https://github.com/djl/vcprompt to do the whole git parsing for you. It also supports different vcs systems. — Remco Wendt, Jan 24 '12 at 08:19

score 23 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 01 '13 at 19:34

23

I use git-aware-prompt.

A lot of solutions I had before only displayed the git branch if I were only in that directory when the terminal loaded. If I started iTerm in a non-git repo, then it wouldn't work when I cd into directory with a git repo.

This github project solved that for me.

answered Apr 01 '13 at 19:34

spong

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1

Thanks, this is by far the easiest way to go about it and should be higher up. – Casper Jun 28 '13 at 14:22
Had some troubles using the other solutions, this is indeed the easiest one. Thanks – Joel Azevedo Jan 23 '19 at 09:51
i also had the issue where the prompt would not change when i changed branches within a repo, this fixed it. also, incredibly easy to setup/configure. thank you for sharing. bill – bill Apr 15 '19 at 18:58

SiegeX · Answer 2 · 2011-03-31T21:30:00.803

Rather than using archaic terminal codes, use tput instead which makes the code much easier to read and a lot harder to mess up:

BLACK=$(tput setaf 0)
RED=$(tput setaf 1)
GREEN=$(tput setaf 2)
YELLOW=$(tput setaf 3)
LIME_YELLOW=$(tput setaf 190)
POWDER_BLUE=$(tput setaf 153)
BLUE=$(tput setaf 4)
MAGENTA=$(tput setaf 5)
CYAN=$(tput setaf 6)
WHITE=$(tput setaf 7)
BRIGHT=$(tput bold)
NORMAL=$(tput sgr0)
BLINK=$(tput blink)
REVERSE=$(tput smso)
UNDERLINE=$(tput smul)

# Set Titlebar and Prompt
TITLEBAR='\e]0;\h: ${PWD/$HOME/~}\a'
PS1="${TITLEBAR}${WHITE}[${POWDER_BLUE}\u@\h${WHITE}]${NORMAL}$ "

Setting the titlebar is optional. Just be sure to use ${NORMAL} at the end to turn off the color change.

score 8 · Accepted Answer · 2011-05-11T03:32:57.197

I've just written a post about how to do all this. I've covered all the basics but had to guess a couple of things, e.g. how Paul uses the symbols etc. If you want to read it, check out http://digitalformula.net/articles/pimp-my-prompt-like-paul-irish.

There's also an article on digitalformula.net that shows a couple of other prompt examples - see http://digitalformula.net/articles/a-couple-more-bash-prompt-examples.

EDITED: The code part is as follows:

PATH=$PATH:~/Data/Scripts:~/Data/Utils/rar:~/_Applications:~/_Applications/lynx

# alias to quickly show if any Handbrake processes are running
alias hb='sudo ps -aef | grep HandBrakeCLI'

# alias for quick DNS cache flushing
alias fc='sudo dscacheutil -flushcache'

# enable the git bash completion commands
source ~/.git-completion

# enable git unstaged indicators - set to a non-empty value
GIT_PS1_SHOWDIRTYSTATE="."

# enable showing of untracked files - set to a non-empty value
GIT_PS1_SHOWUNTRACKEDFILES="."

# enable stash checking - set to a non-empty value
GIT_PS1_SHOWSTASHSTATE="."

# enable showing of HEAD vs its upstream
GIT_PS1_SHOWUPSTREAM="auto"

BLACK=$(tput setaf 0)
RED=$(tput setaf 1)
GREEN=$(tput setaf 2)
YELLOW=$(tput setaf 3)
LIME_YELLOW=$(tput setaf 190)
POWDER_BLUE=$(tput setaf 153)
BLUE=$(tput setaf 4)
MAGENTA=$(tput setaf 5)
CYAN=$(tput setaf 6)
WHITE=$(tput setaf 7)
BRIGHT=$(tput bold)
NORMAL=$(tput sgr0)
BLINK=$(tput blink)
REVERSE=$(tput smso)
UNDERLINE=$(tput smul)

# set the prompt to show current working directory and git branch name, if it exists

# this prompt is a green username, black @ symbol, cyan host, magenta current working directory and white git branch (only shows if you're in a git branch)
# unstaged and untracked symbols are shown, too (see above)
# this prompt uses the short colour codes defined above
# PS1='${GREEN}\u${BLACK}@${CYAN}\h:${MAGENTA}\w${WHITE}`__git_ps1 " (%s)"`\$ '

# this is a cyan username, @ symbol and host, magenta current working directory and white git branch
# it uses the shorter , but visibly more complex, codes for text colours (shorter because the colour code definitions aren't needed)
# PS1='\[\033[0;36m\]\u@\h\[\033[01m\]:\[\033[0;35m\]\w\[\033[00m\]\[\033[1;30m\]\[\033[0;37m\]`__git_ps1 " (%s)"`\[\033[00m\]\[\033[0;37m\]\$ '

# return the prompt prefix for the second line
function set_prefix {
    BRANCH=`__git_ps1`
    if [[ -z $BRANCH ]]; then
        echo "${NORMAL}o"
    else
        echo "${UNDERLINE}+"
    fi
}

# and here's one similar to Paul Irish's famous prompt ... not sure if this is the way he does it, but it works  :)
# \033[s = save cursor position
# \033[u = restore cursor position

PS1='${MAGENTA}\u${WHITE} in ${GREEN}\w${WHITE}${MAGENTA}`__git_ps1 " on %s"`${WHITE}\r\n`set_prefix`${NORMAL}${CYAN}\033[s\033[60C (`date "+%a, %b %d"`)\033[u${WHITE} '

I'm new to Stack Overflow so just wondering ... is it protocol to include code in a response instead of a link? I was hoping people would read the article instead of getting the code here as there are a couple of things you need to do before the code above will work. — , May 11 '11 at 03:30
@pablasso yea, me :) Looking back at this I have overreacted a bit. Still would have been nice to get a mention that the color codes were from me but the whole plagiarism is over the top and I take that back. — SiegeX, Sep 04 '12 at 16:52
I had line wrapping issues with iTerm2 and the date at the end of the line so have shuffled it to after the directory/branch info `code`PS1='${MAGENTA}\u${WHITE} in ${GREEN}\w${WHITE}${MAGENTA}`__git_ps1 " on %s"`${WHITE} (`date "+%a, %b %d"`)\r\n`set_prefix`${NORMAL}${CYAN}\033[s\033[60C \033[u${WHITE} '`code` — Simon, Feb 05 '13 at 11:30
Here's Paul Irish's actual configuration: https://github.com/paulirish/dotfiles/blob/master/.bash_prompt It is `source`d from his `.bash_profile`: https://github.com/paulirish/dotfiles/blob/master/.bash_profile — James M. Greene, Apr 08 '14 at 14:00

karlphillip · Answer 4 · 2011-03-31T20:21:44.680

7

Add this to your ~/.bashrc or ~/.profile

PS1="\u@\h:\w on\e[0;35m$(__git_ps1)\e[m\$ "

Where,

$(__git_ps1) is used for printing the branch name

\e defines the start of the color scheme

[0;35m represent the purple color

\e[m defines the end of the scheme

Also, I fixed your current prompt:

PS1='\n\[\033[0;35m\]\u\[\033[0;32m\]\w\[\033[0m\]$(__git_ps1)\n\$\[\033[0m\] '

edited Mar 31 '11 at 20:21

answered Mar 31 '11 at 19:39

karlphillip

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I recommend reading this page for coloring the prompt, since it can be applied to Mac too: http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/bash-shell-change-the-color-of-my-shell-prompt-under-linux-or-unix/ – karlphillip Mar 31 '11 at 20:02
If you really like colors: `PS1="\[\033[01;32m\]\u\[\033[36m\]@\h\[\033[00m\]:\[\033[01;34m\]\w\[\033[00m\]\e[1;35m$(__git_ps1)\e[m \$ "` – karlphillip Mar 31 '11 at 20:07
I'm pretty sure you should be using single quotes here, not double quotes. – Flimm Oct 07 '16 at 12:57

csebryam · Answer 5 · 2017-03-21T23:35:37.357

As mentioned above, I also use git-aware-prompt.

Run this to quickly install:

mkdir ~/.bash
cd ~/.bash
git clone git://github.com/jimeh/git-aware-prompt.git

Add this to the top of your ~/.bash_profile:

export GITAWAREPROMPT=~/.bash/git-aware-prompt
source "${GITAWAREPROMPT}/main.sh"

In the same file ~/.bash_profile here is the prompt I use:

export PS1="\n\[$txtpur\]\u\[$bldwht\]@\h\[$bldgrn\]:\[$bldblu\] \w \[$txtcyn\]\$git_branch\[$txtred\]\$git_dirty\[$txtrst\]\$ \[$txtwht\] "

export SUDO_PS1="\[$bakred\]\u@\h\[$txtrst\] \w\$ "

you can change the colors to your liking

Here is what some of the symbols in PS1 mean:
\u - username
@ - cool symbol
\h - hostname
: - cool symbol to separate things
\w - full path, use \W for short path
\git_branch - name of current branch
\git_dirty - show * when there is a change in branch
$ - cool symbol to signify, enter command

This is the best answer. – Marcus Ziadé Jul 16 '22 at 09:53 — Marcus Ziadé, Jul 16 '22 at 09:53

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Jan 28 '15 at 08:02

0

A very feature rich and broad solution (not only for iterm shell but also for Vim and others) is Powerline.

answered Jan 28 '15 at 08:02

Geert

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How do I get my iTerm prompt to display differently when I'm in a Git branch?

6 Answers6