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How can I get the root directory of the current git repo? I could run shell-command-to-string on something like git rev-parse --show-toplevel. Is there a better way? Does magit or any other git front-end expose this info?

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4
  • Do you mean git rev-parse --show-toplevel instead of git rev-parse --git-dir?
    – Kyle Meyer
    Feb 17, 2015 at 21:50
  • See also stackoverflow.com/questions/16125637/…
    – phils
    Feb 17, 2015 at 21:52
  • @phils Thanks! I have that same link posted in one of the comments under abo-abo's answer :)
    – Pradhan
    Feb 17, 2015 at 21:54
  • Ah, so you did :)
    – phils
    Feb 17, 2015 at 21:56

3 Answers 3

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In Magit this is available as magit-toplevel (but I agree with @abo-abo that it makes sense to use vc-root-dir).

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  • vc-root-dir is surely the most generic. However, I am unable to get it to work in that form as I mentioned in the comments on @abo-abo's answer. But this one worked straight. Thanks!
    – Pradhan
    Feb 17, 2015 at 21:52
7

You need vc-root-dir. Works for more than git.

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  • 3
    Could you elaborate? I don't see a function or a package titled vc-root-dir. The only thing that's close is vc-root-diff. And on a vc-related search, I find this.
    – Pradhan
    Feb 17, 2015 at 21:33
  • It's an autoloaded function in vc.el, built-in
    – abo-abo
    Feb 17, 2015 at 21:35
  • Perhaps my vc is too old? I have the one built-in with emacs 24.3. I don't see vc-root in vc.el or with apropos etc. Looking at vc.el, I see things like (setq rootdir (vc-call-backend...)). And indeed, (vc-call-backend 'Git 'root default-directory) works.
    – Pradhan
    Feb 17, 2015 at 21:50
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    n.b. I think vc-root-dir is only in trunk at this stage. It's certainly not in 24.4. Presumably it will be available in Emacs 25.
    – phils
    Feb 17, 2015 at 21:52
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As mentioned by abo-abo, in Emacs 25, there is a function called vc-root-dir that does what you need in a backend-agnostic manner. For earlier versions of Emacs, the following is a suitable replacement:

(defun vc-root-dir ()
  (let ((backend (vc-deduce-backend)))
    (and backend
         (ignore-errors
           (vc-call-backend backend 'root default-directory)))))

As mentioned by Kyle, Magit provides the function magit-get-top-dir, which simply calls git rev-parse --show-cdup and interprets the result.

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    Indeed, after looking at the implementation of vc-root-diff, I tried vc-deduce-backend. Somehow, that returns nil in my git-repo. However, vc-responsible-backend default-directory returns Git.
    – Pradhan
    Feb 17, 2015 at 22:21
  • If the current buffer is not tracked by vc, then vc-deduce-backend returns nil. Does that explain it?
    – jch
    Feb 17, 2015 at 22:25
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    Ah, it does. I was running it in ielm and expecting vc-deduce-backend to use default-directory. Thanks!
    – Pradhan
    Feb 17, 2015 at 22:35
  • Did you mean vc-root-dir instead of vc-root-diff?
    – Michael Mrozek
    Oct 1, 2019 at 21:42

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