Customize Zsh Pt.3 - Git Info

Yes, Oh My Zsh is awesome! That’s the first thing I installed when I switched from Bash to Zsh and I used it for a few years.

Past that time, I realized that in my daily use, the only features I was taking advantage was:

• Autocompletion and history-based autocompletion using the arrow keys.

• The fancy multi-line and colorful user prompt showing the working directory, and the switching color after the fail/success of the previous command execution.

• The git repository info at the user prompt.

• The z command, provided by the ZSH-z plugin.

I couldn’t help myself but thinking that the Oh My Zsh framework was much more than I needed. I decided to remove Oh My Zsh and reset Zsh from scratch, so I could configure and install only the features I needed.

This is a four-part post series explaining how to set up those features on a fresh new Zsh installation:

Customize Zsh Pt.1 - Autocompletion

Customize Zsh Pt.2 - User Prompt

Customize Zsh Pt.3 - Git Info 👈

Customize Zsh Pt.4 - ZSH-z Plugin

Git Prompt Integration

Git is shipped by default with a shell prompt customization script called git-prompt.sh that is compatible with Zsh.

The script provides the command __git_ps1 that can be called with arguments returning information about the repository and its status. Calling the script from inside the PS1 using command-substitution, enables real-time repository status in your Zsh prompt.

How to Set Up

• Create a user custom Zsh plugins directory, and a directory for the git-prompt.sh plugin:

  mkdir -p ~/.zsh/plugins/git

• Download the script and save it to the plugins directory created:

  From Zsh:

  curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/git/git/master/contrib/completion/git-prompt.sh -o ~/.zsh/plugins/git/git-prompt.sh
  

  From the browser:

  https://github.com/git/git/blob/master/contrib/completion/git-prompt.sh

  (Remember to save into ~/.zsh/plugins/git directory)

• Load it in Zsh and enable some configurations by adding the following code into the .zshrc file:

  # PLUGINS
  
  source ~/.zsh/plugins/git/git-prompt.sh
  
  # git prompt options
  GIT_PS1_SHOWDIRTYSTATE=true
  GIT_PS1_SHOWSTASHSTATE=true
  GIT_PS1_SHOWUNTRACKEDFILES=true
  GIT_PS1_SHOWUPSTREAM="auto"
  GIT_PS1_STATESEPARATOR=' '
  GIT_PS1_HIDE_IF_PWD_IGNORED=true
  GIT_PS1_COMPRESSSPARSESTATE=true
  

  (To learn more about the options please check the comments inside git-prompt.sh file, line 36 to 106.)

  Attention: The # PLUGINS section inside the .zshrc file must be placed BEFORE the # USER PROMPT section to have the __git_ps1 command loaded and available to call from inside the PS1.

• Call the __git_ps1 command using command-susbsitution inside PS1:

  Place following snippet just before the second newline character in the PS1 built in the last post:

  % %F{magenta}$(__git_ps1 "  %s")%f
  

  PS1 before:

  PS1='$NL%B%F{cyan}%3~%f%b$NL%B%(?.%F{green}.%F{red})%(!.#.>)%f%b '
  

  PS1 after:

  PS1='$NL%B%F{cyan}%3~%f%b% %F{magenta}$(__git_ps1 "  %s")%f$NL%B%(?.%F{green}.%F{red})%(!.#.>)%f%b '
  

• Source the .zshrc file again, in the Zsh shell type:

  source ~/.zshrc
  

And the user prompt is now aware of git repostories!

Your Zsh shell is becoming a powerful tool!

Part 4 explores how to install the ZSH-z plugin.

Next:

Customize Zsh Pt.4 - ZSH-z Plugin

Useful links & references:

• Zsh Documentation (man -k zsh to list each Zsh man page section)
• Git in Other Environments - Git in Zsh

Footnotes:

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• If you have any doubts or tips about this article, I’d appreciate knowing and discussing it via email.
• Do you have any other Cli tips? Would you like to publish that in this blog? Please send an email to cli drops.
• As English is not my native language, I apologize for the errors. Corrections are welcome.
• Contact: cli [@] alldrops [.] info.