I think color in terminals should be used to highlight and make it easier to see textual information, not to replace them. So I would keep the parenthesis. > + test -n "${GIT_PS1_SHOWCOLORHINTS-}" || b="($b)" Also, the proposed change has a side-effect because color is not possible in non-pc mode, even if GIT_PS1_SHOWCOLORHINTS is defined. (Non-pc mode with GIT_PS1_SHOWCOLORHINTS defined would make the detached HEAD not be shown neither in red nor within parenthesis). Regards, Eduardo R. D'Avila -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe git" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html