Is there a way to get the git root directory in one command?

Question

Mercurial has a way of printing the root directory (that contains .hg) via

hg root

Is there something equivalent in git to get the director

Answer 1

To write a simple answer here, so that we can use

git root

to do the job, simply configure your git by using

git config --global alias.root "rev-parse --show-toplevel"

and then you might want to add the following to your ~/.bashrc:

alias cdroot='cd $(git root)'

so that you can just use cdroot to go to the top of your repo.

Answer 2

To amend the "git config" answer just a bit:

git config --global --add alias.root '!pwd -P'

and get the path cleaned up. Very nice.

Answer 3

This shell alias works whether you are in a git subdir, or at the top level:

alias gr='[ ! -z `git rev-parse --show-toplevel` ] && cd `git rev-parse --show-toplevel || pwd`'

updated to use modern syntax instead of backticks:

alias gr='[ ! -z $(git rev-parse --show-toplevel) ] && cd $(git rev-parse --show-toplevel || pwd)'

Answer 4

Yes:

git rev-parse --show-toplevel

If you want to replicate the Git command more directly, you can create an alias:

git config --global alias.root 'rev-parse --show-toplevel'

and now git root will function just as hg root.

---

Note: In a submodule this will display the root directory of the submodule and not the parent repository. If you are using Git >=2.13 or above, there is a way that submodules can show the superproject's root directory. If your git is older than that, see this other answer.

Answer 5

How about "git rev-parse --git-dir" ?

F:\prog\git\test\copyMerge\dirWithConflicts>git rev-parse --git-dir
F:/prog/git/test/copyMerge/.git

The --git-dir option seems to work.

From git rev-parse manual page:

--git-dir

    Show $GIT_DIR if defined else show the path to the .git directory.

You can see it in action in this git setup-sh script.

If you are in a submodule folder, with Git >=2.13, use:

git rev-parse --show-superproject-working-tree

If you are using git rev-parse --show-toplevel, make sure it is with Git 2.25+ (Q1 2020).

Answer 6

If you're looking for a good alias to do this plus not blow up cd if you aren't in a git dir:

alias ..g='git rev-parse && cd "$(git rev-parse --show-cdup)"'