git: programmatically know by how much the branch is ahead/behind a remote branch

Posted by Olivier on Stack Overflow See other posts from Stack Overflow or by Olivier
Published on 2010-06-03T19:43:21Z Indexed on 2010/06/03 21:44 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 320

Filed under:

git

|

programmatically

|

git-status

I would like to extract the information that is printed after a github status, which looks like:

# On branch master
# Your branch is ahead of 'origin/master' by 2 commits.

Of course I can parse the output of git status but this is not recommended since this human readable output is liable to change.

There are two problems:

How to know the remote tracked branch? It is often origin/branch but need not be.
How to get the numbers? How to know whether it is ahead/behind? By how many commits? And what about the diverged branch case?

© Stack Overflow or respective owner

Related posts about git

git pull gives error: 401 Authorization Required while accessing https://git.foo.com/bar.git

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
My macbook pro is able to clone/push/pull from the company git server. My cent 6.3 vm gets a 401 error git clone https://git.acme.com/git/torque-setup "error: The requested URL returned error: 401 Authorization Required while accessing https://git.acme.com/git/torque-setup/info/refs As a work… >>> More
Can't install git on Ubuntu 12.10

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
I'm following these instructions to install git on my laptop: http://git-scm.com/download/linux When I do: $ sudo apt-get install git-core This is what my terinal shows: Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done The following packages… >>> More
Git apache : unable to push via http

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
I have to setup a server which can allow http vcs management (such as git and svn). svn support works well, but I have some trouble with git. Actual configuration: CentOS 5 Apache 2.2.8 Git 1.7.4.1 The /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf content: ServerTokens OS ServerRoot "/etc/httpd" PidFile run/httpd… >>> More
git on HTTP with gitolite and nginx

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
I am trying to setup a server where my git repo would be accessible with HTTP(S). I am using gitolite and nginx (and gitlab for web interface but I doubt it makes any difference). I have searched the whole afternoon and I think I'm stuck. I have think I have understood that nginx needs fcgiwrap… >>> More
Redmine git integration - issue in accessing git from redmine but not from external git client

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
I have setup redmine integration with apache as described in the redmine documentation. I have a /git path accessible with auth and /git-private accessible only to redmine. When I clone the repository through /git path, I get the up-to-date repo. But when I try to view it in redmine repo viewer, I… >>> More

Related posts about programmatically

How to power off a hard drive to essentially "hot swap"

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
I'm looking for either freeware or the programming basics to power off/on a hard drive. Mounting and unmounting a hard drive is simple enough just using the command prompt in Windows XP. Now I need to be able to power down the hard drive so it will not become damaged when being unplugged. I would… >>> More
UITabBar inside UINavigationController programmatically?

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Hi all, Im writing an app that has a navigation controller as it's main menu system but I need to be able to have a UITabBar appear inside the navigation controller when the user clicks one of the buttons on the main view. I have written everything programmatically so far so would like to keep it… >>> More
How does [self.tableView reloadData] know what data to reload?

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
It bugs me to death that my viewcontroller, which happens to be a tableViewController, knows without being told that its property that is an NSArray or an NSDictionary holds the data that is to be loaded into the table for display. Seems like I should explicitly say something like: [self.tableView… >>> More
Android: Create spinner programmatically from array

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Hi, I'm all new to Android and I'm trying to create a spinner programmatically and feeding it with data from an array, but Eclipse gives me a warning that I can't handle. Here's what I got: This ArrayList holds the elements that should be in the spinner (gets filled from a file later on): ArrayList<String>… >>> More
How to open call out MKAnnotationView programmatically? (iPhone, MapKit)

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I want to open up the callout for an MKPinAnnotationView programmatically. Eg I drop 10 pins on the map, and want to open up the one closest to me. How would I go about doing this? Apple has specified the 'selected' parameter for MKAnnotationView's, but discourages setting it directly (this doesn't… >>> More