git branch command is incompatible with bash

Hello!

I hope posting this to this mailing list is okay, this is the first ever
mail that I submit to a technical mailing list. 

When using the git branch command, git uses a '*' to denote the current
branch. Therefore, in bash this:

	$ branchName=$(git branch -q)
	$ echo $branchName

produces a directory listing, because the '*' is interpreded by the
shell. 

While an (unwieldly) workaround exists:

	$ branchName=$(git symbolic-ref -q HEAD)                                                                            
	$ branchName=${branch##refs/heads/}

it would still be nice, if there were a --current flag, that returned
only the current branch name, omitting the star:

	$ branchName=$(git branch --current -q)
	$ echo $branchName
	master

Am 27.07.2015 um 14:12 schrieb Anatol Rudolph:

When using the git branch command, git uses a '*' to denote the current
branch. Therefore, in bash this:

	$ branchName=$(git branch -q)
	$ echo $branchName

produces a directory listing, because the '*' is interpreded by the
shell.

Of course. You would write the last line as

   echo "$branchName"

These are shell fundamentals.

While an (unwieldly) workaround exists:

	$ branchName=$(git symbolic-ref -q HEAD)
	$ branchName=${branch##refs/heads/}

If you want to do that in a script, this is not a work-around, but it is 
how you should do it. But you may want to use option --short to save the 
second line.

it would still be nice, if there were a --current flag, that returned
only the current branch name, omitting the star:

	$ branchName=$(git branch --current -q)
	$ echo $branchName
	master

Try

   branchName=$(git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD)

-- Hannes