Loss of color when executing git through python

Question

I have the following git extension script:

#!/usr/bin/env python

import sys
from subprocess import Popen, PIPE

if len(sys.argv) <= 1:
    sys.argv = sys.argv + ['status']

git_cmd = 'git ' + ' '.join(sys.argv[1:])

print('--->', git_cmd)

#p = Popen(['git'] + sys.argv[1:], shell=True, stdout=PIPE)
p = Popen(git_cmd, shell=True, stdout=PIPE)
out, err = p.communicate()

print(out)
#print(str(out).encode('ascii'))
#print(out.decode('ascii'))

Basically I want to get the output of my Git command in a variable but I also want it to preserve the terminal color codes in the variable. So when I call print(out), it should print the colors too. Currently the string given back to me after calling communicate() does not have color information. If I remove stdout=PIPE from Popen(), then I do get colors, but the output goes directly to the output and I do not get it in a variable.

I'm running Python 3.4 rc2 on Windows through msysgit (not cmd.exe). So for example I will do this:

git index status --short

The command it runs is git status --short, the output contains no color information, but when I run the same command directly in msysgit terminal, it gives me colors.

Anyone know how I can get the color information back?

Note that the answer I gave doesn't take into account any Windows-specific behavior which may/may not exist. — Charles Duffy
– Charles Duffy, Commented Feb 27, 2014 at 16:34
Also, using a git_cmd string (which implies shell=True) is bad form. Pass in an explicit argument array, and don't set shell=True, if you want better-defined behavior (where you don't run the risk of cmd.exe parsing your command line incorrectly). — Charles Duffy
– Charles Duffy, Commented Feb 27, 2014 at 16:35

Charles Duffy · Accepted Answer · 2014-02-27 19:41:04Z

1

Set color.ui to always in your git configuration.

Note that this will break quite a lot of scripts (which, in general, don't expect color codes interspersed in content they're reading from git subcommands).

To update this temporarily, you can pass -c color.ui=always on the command line, or set the GIT_CONFIG environment variable to point to a config file with this setting only when your script is in operation.

Alternately, you can just stop using stdout=PIPE, output will be direct to the TTY instead of captured by your program (which is sensible, as your program is doing absolutely nothing with it other than printing), and git will colorize by default.

edited Feb 27, 2014 at 19:41

answered Feb 27, 2014 at 16:30

Charles Duffy

299k43 gold badges442 silver badges498 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

3 Comments

void.pointer Over a year ago

My script isn't done yet but ideally I plan to mutate the output a bit before I print it. That's why I wanted colors.

Charles Duffy Over a year ago

...well, then, the first part of this answer should be useful to you. Of course, your code doing the mutation work will need to know how to handle terminal codes. (If you're only ever targeting Windows, you may only need to know how to handle ANSI terminal codes; if you're targeting other platforms as well, that gets considerably more complicated).

torek Over a year ago

You can also add a -c color.ui=always argument between git and the actual command (or two separate strings in the array, which as already noted, sidesteps parsing issues). That might be easier than adjusting config files.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Loss of color when executing git through python

1 Answer 1

3 Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

3 Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related