Git
Chapters ▾ 2nd Edition

A1.6 Appendix A: Git in Other Environments - Git in Powershell

Git in Powershell

The standard command-line terminal on Windows (cmd.exe) isn’t really capable of a customized Git experience, but if you’re using Powershell, you’re in luck. A package called Posh-Git (https://github.com/dahlbyk/posh-git) provides powerful tab-completion facilities, as well as an enhanced prompt to help you stay on top of your repository status. It looks like this:

Powershell with Posh-git.
Figure 165. Powershell with Posh-git.

If you’ve installed GitHub for Windows, Posh-Git is included by default, and all you have to do is add these lines to your profile.ps1 (which is usually located in C:\Users\<username>\Documents\WindowsPowerShell):

. (Resolve-Path "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\GitHub\shell.ps1")
. $env:github_posh_git\profile.example.ps1

If you’re not a GitHub for Windows user, just download a Posh-Git release from (https://github.com/dahlbyk/posh-git), and uncompress it to the WindowsPowershell directory. Then open a Powershell prompt as the administrator, and do this:

> Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope CurrentUser -Confirm
> cd ~\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\posh-git
> .\install.ps1

This will add the proper line to your profile.ps1 file, and posh-git will be active the next time you open your prompt.

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