Show current branch and coloring on Linux (like Git Bash on Windows)

Question

On Git Bash on Windows I get nice coloring and the current branch is shown, like this:

How can I get the same coloring and prompt on Linux? On Linux I use the regular terminal, which doesn't show the current branch.

Answer 1

If you would like to retain the same coloring of your existing linux terminal and also show the current git branch, you can add the following to your default PS1.

PS1 basically tells your bash prompt what to display. Ref: How to Change / Set up bash custom prompt (PS1) in Linux

I am using Ubuntu 20.04 and the default PS1 is found under if [ "$color_prompt" = yes ]; then in the ~/.bashrc file.

Steps:

1. Open the ~/.bashrc file and find if [ "$color_prompt" = yes ]; then
2. Define the following bash function (Thanks @Nogoseke) above the if statement (You can define it anywhere above the PS1 value in the file).

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

3. Update the PS1 values to the following:

if [ "$color_prompt" = yes ]; then
    PS1="${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}\[\033[01;32m\]\u@\h\[\033[00m\]:\[\033[01;34m\]\w\[\033[00m\] \[\033[31m\]\$(show_git_branch)\[\033[00m\]$ "
else
    PS1="${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}\u@\h:\w \$(show_git_branch)\$ "
fi

The entire thing should look something like this:

#show git branch
show_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\[\033[00m\] \[\033[31m\]\$(show_git_branch)\[\033[00m\]$ "
else
    PS1="${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}\u@\h:\w \$(show_git_branch)\$ "
fi

4. Save the changes and restart your terminal.

It should looks something like this: Terminal with git branch