Git Branch Prompt

Many people have written about showing the current git branch in your shell prompt.

There is even the Bash function __git_ps1 provided in the main Git repo.

I prefer to show info like the current time and current git branch in a GNU screen status line.

Screen Status

As I use screen constantly, I decided to take a different route: put the current branch name in my screen status line.

Changing the Screen Current Directory

When you start screen, it remembers the current directory. Issuing cd commands inside a shell does not change the value. The only way to change it is to issue a screen chdir command.

In order to know the current branch in a particular screen window, I needed to make screen's current directory change to follow the shell it is presenting.

I added the following to my .bashrc:

function set_screen_path() {
  screen -X chdir "`pwd`"
}

case $TERM in
screen*)
  PROMPT_COMMAND=set_screen_path
  ;;
esac

This is Bash specific, but similar code should work in other shells.

git-current-branch

Next, I created the following shell script to get the current Git path:

#!/bin/sh

git branch 2>/dev/null | grep '*' | sed 's/\* //'

.screenrc

And finally, I added a 'backtick' command to my .screenrc file:

startup_message off

backtick 1 0 1 git-current-branch

hardstatus alwayslastline "%-w%{.bw}%n %t%{-}%+w %-45= %1`"

screen -t bash 0
screen -t edit 1
select 0

The important line is:

backtick 1 0 1 git-current-branch

which creates a 'backtick command' (number 1) which calls git-current-branch once a second via %1\` in the hardstatus line.

The Result

Screen Status Line Showing Git Branch

Conclusion

This system is not perfect as the shell only notifies screen of its directory when a new prompt is created.

The result is that if you switch screens, the status line doesn't get updated until after you issue a command.