How to preserve colors when capturing output from Git commands?

Question

I have a custom Git command implemented in Python that uses methods from the subprocess module to call git. I've noted that, depending on the method used, the output may or may not be colored, e.g.:

import subprocess

subprocess.run('git push origin --delete foobar', shell=True)
print()
print(subprocess.run('git push origin --delete foobar', shell=True,
                     capture_output=True, encoding='utf-8').stderr, end='')

Output:

How to preserve colors in the captured output (both stdout and stderr)?

This doesn't answer your question, but consider using the Python bindings for libgit2 instead of subprocess. It should offer a nicer interface than having to build up strings as well as better performance and cross-platform support without needing git on the user's $PATH. — Chris
– Chris, Commented Nov 24, 2019 at 21:29
Possible duplicate of Force "git status" to output color on the terminal (inside a script) — phd
– phd, Commented Nov 24, 2019 at 22:10

Mats Wichmann · Accepted Answer · 2019-11-24 21:29:01Z

0

Many commands detect if they're not sending their output to a "terminal" and don't add the terminal-specific codes to display colors if not. That will be the case when you're missing the colors. Some git commands, not sure all of them, can take a --color argument - check the manpages.

answered Nov 24, 2019 at 21:29

Mats Wichmann

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3 Comments

Eugene Yarmash Over a year ago

push doesn't take --color, that's the problem. I need some generic way to enable colors for all commands, whether the output goes to a terminal or not.

Mats Wichmann Over a year ago

Short of rewriting git... try this question to see if it helps: 1401002

Eugene Yarmash Over a year ago

Yeah, using script or unbuffer is definitely an option. I was hoping there was an envariable enabling colors everywhere in Git, that would be ideal.

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