Git Tips and Tricks : Display Branch on Command Prompt not working and created side effects of git branch function not working and many others

Question

Just trying to enchance my knowledge of git and use to tips and tricks,

I updated my .bashrc file as suggested in Tip PS1='[\u@\h \W$(__git_ps1 " (%s)")]\$ ' but to my surprise now my git branch command is not working and even if I remove it from .bashrc than also it is not working for me.

Also every time, I use my command prompt I get -bash: __git_ps1: command not found any guidance or suggestions ?

Update : I want to get rid of it now, how can I achieve this ?

Answer 1

Have you enabled the git bash-completion functions? You may find them on your system already, just not enabled.

To work out whether they're on or not, type gitSpaceTab -- If you get a list of files, you don't have completion, if you get a list of commands, you do (and your prompt should work).

Update: Once you've removed the line from your .bashrc, the issues you've been experiencing should go away once you've restarted your shell. Merely re-sourcing the file won't help, as it doesn't un-set the prompt variable (and in any case, that variable did have a value before you overrode it).

Answer 2

By googling for "__git_ps1", I found the first result which says:

There is already a function to do this in the git distribution. If you check out the source there is a directory called contrib which has a bash completion file that gives you a __git_ps1 function.

So sounds like you need to go find that contrib/ file and source it in your bash profile!