How to Add Version Control Info to zsh Prompt

Mon, 31 Aug 2026 11:33:01 +0200

MacOS default shell, zsh, comes with a neat version control system integration. It works not only with git, but also with svn, mercurial, and many others! The capabilities are quite extensive — you can see yourself in zsh manual.

One thing that I found always missing from default terminal views into folders was if the folder is part of some git repo and which branch is currently checked out. Turns out, about 10 lines of .zshrc is enough to provide not only that, but also whether the current branch contains changes, staged and unstaged! I am sharing a script for zsh and its alternative for bash, which does not have a VCS integration and thus relies on native git commands. The result is branch name with + and * markers appended to the end of folder path, whenever the folder belongs to some git repository.

Zsh

Shell

# Always display version control info in the prompt
autoload -Uz vcs_info
autoload -Uz add-zsh-hook
add-zsh-hook precmd vcs_info

zstyle ':vcs_info:*' check-for-changes true
zstyle ':vcs_info:git:*' unstagedstr '%F{red}*%f'
zstyle ':vcs_info:git:*' stagedstr '%F{green}+%f'
zstyle ':vcs_info:git:*' formats ' %F{cyan}[%b%u%c%F{cyan}]%f'

setopt PROMPT_SUBST
PROMPT='%~${vcs_info_msg_0_} %# '

Bash

Shell

COLOR_CYAN='\e[36m'
COLOR_RED='\e[31m'
COLOR_GREEN='\e[32m'
COLOR_RESET='\e[0m'

__git_prompt() {
    local branch

    # If not a Git repository
    branch=$(git symbolic-ref --short HEAD 2>/dev/null) ||
        branch=$(git rev-parse --short HEAD 2>/dev/null) ||
        return

    GIT_PROMPT="${COLOR_CYAN}[${branch}"

    # Staged changes
    if ! git diff --cached --quiet 2>/dev/null; then
        GIT_PROMPT+="${COLOR_GREEN}+${COLOR_CYAN}"
    fi

    # Unstaged changes
    if ! git diff --quiet 2>/dev/null; then
        GIT_PROMPT+="${COLOR_RED}*${COLOR_CYAN}"
    fi

    GIT_PROMPT+="]${COLOR_RESET}"
}

__update_prompt() {
    GIT_PROMPT=""
    __git_prompt
    PS1='\w '"${GIT_PROMPT}"' \$ '
}

PROMPT_COMMAND="__update_prompt${PROMPT_COMMAND:+;$PROMPT_COMMAND}"

How to Delete All Local Git Branches in One Command

Thu, 28 Aug 2025 13:46:06 +0200

First, checkout to main (or any other branch you want to clear from upstream branches).

Now, let’s build the command, step by step.

Check which branches were merged to the current branch:

Shell

git branch --merged

Filter out current branch from the output – it is marked by an asterisk (*):

Shell

git branch --merged | grep -v \*

Turn the columnar output into a space-separated string:

Shell

git branch --merged | grep -v \* | xargs

Feed these arguments to the deletion command (passed in the second argument of xargs):

Shell

git branch --merged | grep -v \* | xargs git branch -D

Blog — George Mishurovsky: posts tagged git

How to Add Version Control Info to zsh Prompt

Zsh

Bash

How to Delete All Local Git Branches in One Command