Add tab completion for Git branches in Powershell

Question

When inside a Git repository, is it possible to add tab completion for branches to Powershell? For example:

PS> git checkout ma TAB

would result in

PS> git checkout master

Answer 1

For that to be possible, a git provider for PowerShell would need to exist.

After a quick search, something similar apparently exists, the bizarre but aptly named posh-git:

http://github.com/dahlbyk/posh-git

A set of PowerShell scripts which provide Git/PowerShell integration

• Prompt for Git repositories: The prompt within Git repositories can show the current branch and the state of files (additions, modifications,
  deletions) within.
• Tab completion: Provides tab completion for common commands when using git. Eg git ch<tab> --> git checkout

Usage

See profile.example.ps1 as to how you can integrate the tab completion and/or git prompt into your own profile. You can also choose whether advanced git commands are shown in the tab expansion or only simple/common commands. Default is simple.

Answer 2

I wrote this little PS "gem", if posh-git is too much.
Just put it in your PowerShell profile to be able to type co (with a space) and hit Tab to trigger completion and cycle through the list of branches:

function co
{
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory)]
        [ValidateNotNullOrEmpty()]
        [ArgumentCompleter({
            param($pCmd, $pParam, $pWord, $pAst, $pFakes)

            $branchList = (git branch --format='%(refname:short)')

            if ([string]::IsNullOrWhiteSpace($pWord)) {
                return $branchList;
            }

            $branchList | Select-String "$pWord"
        })]
        [string] $branch
    )

    git checkout $branch;
}

UPDATE: refactored to return a list of branches when tab-completion invoked after space and no partial string can be matched. Will return "master" if this is only one branch

As a bonus, did you know you can call TortoiseGit from shell?

function dif
{
    TortoiseGitProc.exe /command:repostatus
}

Answer 3

I wrote a generic provider for PowerShell whose behaviour can be implemented entirely in powershell script. This would be an ideal starting spot to prototype a GIT provider if one does not exist (or is dead, or insufficent.