How do I store the output of a git command in a variable?

Question

What I want is to store the output of a git command (such as git status) inside a variable in a shell script. When I say output, I am talking about the text returned in the terminal on execution of a command, for example: on doing a git status outside my repo:

fatal: Not a git repository (or any of the parent directories): .git

I tried this:

var=$(git status)

But 'var' did not store anything.

The example output probably went to STDERR, and var will contain what was sent to STDOUT. You could use 2>&1 to redirect the former to the latter. — Biffen
– Biffen, Commented Jan 28, 2015 at 6:45

anubhava · Accepted Answer · 2015-01-28 06:43:45Z

69

You can use:

var=$(git status 2>&1)

i.e. redirect stderr to stdout and then capture the output.

Otherwise when for error messages are written on stderr and your command: var=$(git status) is only capturing stdout.

answered Jan 28, 2015 at 6:43

anubhava

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2 Comments

aliasav Over a year ago

Thanks a lot! Could you please provide any doc links I could study. (I'd give you an vote-up but my low repo won't allow it.)

anubhava Over a year ago

Check this nice tutorial on redirection

Adam · Accepted Answer · 2015-01-28 06:50:54Z

3

That message comes out on standard error, by default $(cmd) only captures standard out. You can fix by redirecting standard error to standard out - see one of the other answers. However you could use the exit code instead

128 for this case
0 if no errors.

I'd highly recommend this over trying to detect the string "fatal: Not a git repository..."

foo=$(git status)
fatal: Not a git repository (or any of the parent directories): .git
echo $?
128

Additionally there is a git status --porcelain and --short which are useful for scripting.

If you're using Linux/OS X etc the full details are at man git-status

edited Jan 28, 2015 at 6:50

answered Jan 28, 2015 at 6:44

Adam

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2 Comments

aliasav Over a year ago

Thanks, this method using exit codes is what I needed exactly.

Darshan L Over a year ago

How do I check whether a git command supports exit code or not? Because I am trying to use this approach to solve similar problem. but the command is git worktree remove. When I store the exit code of this command in a shell variable and print, there is nothing that is getting printed - stackoverflow.com/q/68409420/5347487

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