color.ui is not working as expected

[JohnLBevan]

Existing issues matching what you're seeing

• Can't force color output using color.ui=always #4095 - though I'm in a later version, and the comment on using git diff doesn't apply to the generic use case.

Git for Windows version

git version 2.51.1.windows.1
cpu: x86_64
built from commit: 1454f0a9c4a3a22fb3fd7cc33f76f88cd65ced41
sizeof-long: 4
sizeof-size_t: 8
shell-path: D:/git-sdk-64-build-installers/usr/bin/sh
feature: fsmonitor--daemon
libcurl: 8.16.0
OpenSSL: OpenSSL 3.5.4 30 Sep 2025
zlib: 1.3.1
SHA-1: SHA1_DC
SHA-256: SHA256_BLK
default-ref-format: files
default-hash: sha1

Windows version

Windows 11

Windows CPU architecture

x86_64 (64-bit)

Additional Windows version information

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.22631.6060]

Options set during installation

Editor Option: VIM
Custom Editor Path:
Default Branch Option:
Path Option: Cmd
SSH Option: OpenSSH
Tortoise Option: false
CURL Option: OpenSSL
CRLF Option: CRLFAlways
Bash Terminal Option: MinTTY
Git Pull Behavior Option: Merge
Use Credential Manager: Enabled
Performance Tweaks FSCache: Enabled
Enable Symlinks: Disabled
Enable FSMonitor: Disabled

Other interesting things

ANSI colour codes proven to work by running "e[31mREDe[0m" in pwsh/powershell.

git config --global --list gives:

core.sshcommand='C:\Windows\System32\OpenSSH\ssh.exe'
core.autocrlf=false
core.longpaths=true
core.editor=code -w -n
core.pager=less -FRX
user.name=REDACTED
user.email=REDACTED
user.signingkey=~/.ssh/id_ecdsa.pub
safe.directory=*
gpg.format=ssh
gpg.ssh.allowedsignersfile=~/.ssh/allowed_signers
commit.gpgsign=true
filter.lfs.clean=git-lfs clean -- %f
filter.lfs.smudge=git-lfs smudge -- %f
filter.lfs.process=git-lfs filter-process
filter.lfs.required=true
diff.tool=vscode
difftool.vscode.cmd=code -w -n --diff $LOCAL $REMOTE
merge.tool=vscode
mergetool.vscode.cmd=code -w -n --merge $REMOTE $LOCAL $BASE $MERGED
init.defaultbranch=main
color.ui=auto
color.error=red bold

Git.exe is at: %appdatalocal%\Programs\Git\cmd\git.exe
.gitconfig is at: %UserProfile\.gitconfig

Terminal/shell

PowerShell

Commands that trigger the issue

git checkout nonExistantBranch

Expected behaviour

Output error: pathspec 'nonExistantBranch' did not match any file(s) known to git in red

Actual behaviour

Output error: pathspec 'nonExistantBranch' did not match any file(s) known to git in white (terminal default)

Repository

No response

[dscho]

Expected behaviour

Output error: pathspec 'nonExistantBranch' did not match any file(s) known to git in red

Actual behaviour

Output error: pathspec 'nonExistantBranch' did not match any file(s) known to git in white (terminal default)

This error is produced by this line, using a regular error() call. There is no logic in that function (nor in vfreportf(), which is ultimately called to output the error) to colorize errors.

Therefore, this is not a Windows-specific issue. Please take it to the Git mailing list (send plain-text messages, HTML messages are dropped silently).

[JohnLBevan]

Thank-you; email sent.

[dscho]

Thank-you; email sent.

@JohnLBevan I can't see it at https://lore.kernel.org/git/, though.

[JohnLBevan]

Thanks for the heads up & for that link @dscho.
Found the issue - I'd initially mailed git@vger.kernel.org, but my corporate email adds a disclaimer which causes the mail to convert from plaintext to html. I got a reply reporting the issue. When I later tried from my gmail I must have copied the address from the reply; which turns out to be the list owner's address, rather than the list itself. Resent now... All's good: https://lore.kernel.org/git/CAJLdeLz0p_40vsL=Zu2sHfwD3mdUjbQRpeVZF0WM2gv449pb8Q@mail.gmail.com/T/#u