How does one change the language of the command line interface of Git?
BashGitLocalizationEnvironment VariablesLocaleBash Problem Overview
I’d like to change the language of git (to English) in my Linux installation without changing the language for other programs and couldn’t find the settings. How to do it?
Bash Solutions
Solution 1 - Bash
Add these lines to your ~/.bashrc
, ~/.bash_profile
or ~/.zprofile
to force git to display all messages in English:
# Set Git language to English
#alias git='LANG=en_US git'
alias git='LANG=en_GB git'
The alias needs to override LC_ALL
on some systems, when the environment variable LC_ALL
is set, which has precedence over LANG
. See the UNIX Specification - Environment Variables for further explanation.
# Set Git language to English
#alias git='LC_ALL=en_US git'
alias git='LC_ALL=en_GB git'
In case you added these lines to ~/.bashrc
the alias will be defined when a new interactive shell gets started. In case you added it to ~/.bash_profile
the alias will be applied when logging in.
Solution 2 - Bash
If you just want to have one command in english instead you can just write LC_ALL=C
before the command, for example:
LC_ALL=C git status
will result in
# On branch master
nothing to commit, working directory clean
The locale as used in C
is English and always available without installing additional language packs
(see https://askubuntu.com/a/142814/34298)
To change it for the whole current bash session just enter
LANG=C
To change it for example to german enter
LANG=de_DE.UTF-8
Solution 3 - Bash
Adding this line solved the problem for me: Update: it seems like more components require a Locale as well now.
$ more ~/.bash_profile
>export LANG=en_US (obsolete)
export LANG="en_US.UTF-8" (Updated)
Solution 4 - Bash
Note: since Git 2.3.1+ (Q1/Q2 2015), Git will add Accept-Language header if possible.
See commit f18604b by Yi EungJun (eungjun-yi
)
> Add an Accept-Language
header which indicates the user's preferred
languages defined by $LANGUAGE
, $LC_ALL
, $LC_MESSAGES
and $LANG
.
> This gives git servers a chance to display remote error messages in the user's preferred language.
You have locale for git gui or other GUIs, but not for the command-line, considering it was one of the questions of GitSurvey 2010
localization of command-line messages (i18n) 258 3.6%
Of course, since 2010, as po/README
describes:
> Before strings can be translated they first have to be marked for translation.
> Git uses an internationalization interface that wraps the system's
gettext
library, so most of the advice in your gettext documentation
(on GNU systems info gettext
in a terminal) applies.
In place since git 1.7.9+ (January 2012):
> Git uses gettext
to translate its most common interface messages into the user's language if translations are available and the locale is appropriately set.
Distributors can drop new PO
files in po/
to add new translations.
So, if your update has mess up the translation, check what gettext
uses:
See, for instance, "Locale Environment Variables"
> A locale is composed of several locale categories, see Aspects. When a program looks up locale dependent values, it does this according to the following environment variables, in priority order:
LANGUAGE
LC_ALL
LC_xxx, according to selected locale category: LC_CTYPE, LC_NUMERIC, LC_TIME, LC_COLLATE, LC_MONETARY, LC_MESSAGES, ...
LANG
> Variables whose value is set but is empty are ignored in this lookup.
> LANG
is the normal environment variable for specifying a locale. As a user, you normally set this variable (unless some of the other variables have already been set by the system, in /etc/profile
or similar initialization files).
> LC_CTYPE
, LC_NUMERIC
, LC_TIME
, LC_COLLATE
, LC_MONETARY
, LC_MESSAGES
, and so on, are the environment variables meant to override LANG
and affecting a single locale category only.
For example, assume you are a Swedish user in Spain, and you want your programs to handle numbers and dates according to Spanish conventions, and only the messages should be in Swedish. Then you could create a locale named ‘sv_ES
’ or ‘sv_ES.UTF-8
’ by use of the localedef
program. But it is simpler, and achieves the same effect, to set the LANG
variable to es_ES.UTF-8
and the LC_MESSAGES
variable to sv_SE.UTF-8
; these two locales come already preinstalled with the operating system.
> LC_ALL
is an environment variable that overrides all of these. It is typically used in scripts that run particular programs. For example, configure scripts generated by GNU autoconf
use LC_ALL
to make sure that the configuration tests don't operate in locale dependent ways.
> Some systems, unfortunately, set LC_ALL
in /etc/profile
or in similar initialization files. As a user, you therefore have to unset this variable if you want to set LANG
and optionally some of the other LC_xxx
variables.
Solution 5 - Bash
Run LC_MESSAGES=C git
, not LC_ALL=C or LANG=C and no need delete or rename files.
This command change output Git messages to english.
Solution 6 - Bash
GIT defaults to english if it cannot find the Locale language.
So if you want GIT to be in english, just sabotage the language file that it is running with. In my case it was always running with german (ie: de.msg).
If I deleted it or renamed the it, then it defaulted to english.
Here I renamed the file
Solution 7 - Bash
As Bengt suggested : Add these lines to your ~/.bashrc
or ~/.bash_profile
to force git to display all messages in English:
vim ~/.bashrc
- for this profile (if you are user ubuntu
and you edit this it will be only for this user);
add this lines:
# Set Git language to English
#alias git='LANG=en_US git'
alias git='LANG=en_GB git'
#you can add also
LANG=en_GB
and after you close the file you need to write in shell:
source ~/.bashrc
to reload new settings or exit the terminal and connect again :)
Solution 8 - Bash
Here is my solution to change git language follow answer this and this
nano ~/.bashrc
- add
alias git='LANG=en_GB git'
to the file - save the file
source ~/.bashrc
Now your git already change the language. However, IF after your restart terminal and it not working anymore, you need to
4.1) nano ~/.profile
4.2) add source ~/.bashrc
4.3) save the file
it will make source ~/.bashrc
run whenever you open the terminal
Hope it help