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Home/ Questions/Q 6691903
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Editorial Team
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Editorial Team
Asked: May 26, 20262026-05-26T05:48:20+00:00 2026-05-26T05:48:20+00:00

__git_ps1 returns (unknown) instead of nothing when I am not in a git directory.

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__git_ps1 returns (unknown) instead of nothing when I am not in a git directory. That’s a change I’m not too happy with. So I am trying to extend it to get the old behaviour back. So, I added this in my ~/.bashrc and made sure that /etc/bash_completion is sourced before it:

__git_silent_ps1() {
    local b='$(__git_ps1 " (%s)")'
    if ["$b" != " ((unknown))"]; then
        echo -n $b
    fi
}

But when I use __git_silent_ps1 in my prompt definition, I get:

-bash: [$(__git_ps1 " (%s)"): command not found

When I just use __git_ps1 in my prompt definition I don’t get that error but it displays the branch. Any idea why I am getting the error and how I can fix it?

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  1. Editorial Team
    Editorial Team
    2026-05-26T05:48:21+00:00Added an answer on May 26, 2026 at 5:48 am

    Just as one doesn’t write rmsomefile.txt, one shouldn’t write ["$b".

        if [ "$b" != " ((unknown))" ]; then
    
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