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

In case anyone needs a POSIX compliant way of doing this, without needing git executable:

git-root:

#$1: Path to child directory
git_root_recurse_parent() {
    # Check if cwd is a git root directory
    if [ -d .git/objects -a -d .git/refs -a -f .git/HEAD ] ; then
        pwd
        return 0
    fi

    # Check if recursion should end (typically if cwd is /)
    if [ "${1}" = "$(pwd)" ] ; then
        return 1
    fi

    # Check parent directory in the same way
    local cwd=$(pwd)
    cd ..
    git_root_recurse_parent "${cwd}"
}

git_root_recurse_parent

---

If you just want the functionality as part of a script, remove the shebang, and replace the last git_root_recurse_parent line with:

git_root() {
    (git_root_recurse_parent)
}