Checking for a dirty index or untracked files with Git

Question

How can I check if I have any uncommitted changes in my git repository: - Changes added to the index but not committed - Untracked files from a script? `git-status` seems to always return zero with git version 1.6.4.2.

Accepted Answer

Great timing! I wrote a blog post about exactly this a few days ago, when I figured out how to add git status information to my prompt.

Here's what I do:

For dirty status:

```
# Returns "*" if the current git branch is dirty.
function evil_git_dirty {
  [[ $(git diff --shortstat 2> /dev/null | tail -n1) != "" ]] && echo "*"
}
```

For untracked files (Notice the `--porcelain` flag to `git status` which gives you nice parse-able output):

```
# Returns the number of untracked files

function evil_git_num_untracked_files {
  expr `git status --porcelain 2>/dev/null| grep "^??" | wc -l` 
}
```

Although `git diff --shortstat` is more convenient, you can also use `git status --porcelain` for getting dirty files:

```
# Get number of files added to the index (but uncommitted)
expr $(git status --porcelain 2>/dev/null| grep "^M" | wc -l)

# Get number of files that are uncommitted and not added
expr $(git status --porcelain 2>/dev/null| grep "^ M" | wc -l)

# Get number of total uncommited files
expr $(git status --porcelain 2>/dev/null| egrep "^(M| M)" | wc -l)
```

Note: The `2>/dev/null` filters out the error messages so you can use these commands on non-git directories. (They'll simply return `0` for the file counts.)

Edit:

Here are the posts:

Adding Git Status Information to your Terminal Prompt

Improved Git-enabled Shell Prompt

Checking for a dirty index or untracked files with Git

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