git status is one of the Git commands I use the most. I use it for a quick overview of what I’ve done since that last commit:

• Which files have changed?
• Which files have been added?
• Which files have been removed?
• Have I staged any of the files already?

But it outputs a lot of info…

➜  tempertemper.net git:(codeblock-layout) ✗ git status
On branch feature/pre-spacing
Your branch is ahead of 'codeblock-layout' by 2 commits.
  (use "git push" to publish your local commits)

Changes not staged for commit:
  (use "git add <file>..." to update what will be committed)
  (use "git checkout -- <file>..." to discard changes in working directory)

        modified:   src/scss/base/typography/_code.scss
        modified:   src/scss/style.scss
        deleted:    src/scss/components/_pre.scss

Untracked files:
  (use "git add <file>..." to include in what will be committed)

        src/scss/base/_code.scss

no changes added to commit (use "git add" and/or "git commit -a")

In this example, there’re only 4 lines that are of use:

• the two “modified” files
• the file I deleted
• the untracked file

All the rest is noise:

• I probably don’t care how many commits ahead of the remote branch I am at this point
• The instructions are repetitive – the git add <file>... command is listed twice
• The instructions are unnecessary once you know how to stage files, discard changes and commit all changes
• I know what branch I’m on as it says it right there on the line where I typed the command

Enter --short

Seems like cheating, but just appending the --short flag to your git status command makes things a lot easier to look at. Even better, you can even shorten --short to -s!

git status -s

This outputs just those 4 lines I’m interested in:

➜  tempertemper.net git:(codeblock-layout) ✗ git status -s
 M src/scss/base/typography/_code.scss
 M src/scss/style.scss
 D src/scss/components/_pre.scss
?? src/scss/base/_code.scss

M markers tell me it’s a modified file, D a deleted file, and ?? tells me it’s a newly added file.

If I add a couple of those to the staging area, they look like this:

➜  tempertemper.net git:(codeblock-layout) ✗ git status -s
 M src/scss/base/typography/_code.scss
M  src/scss/style.scss
 D src/scss/components/_pre.scss
A  src/scss/base/_code.scss

The M moves to the left for staged files, to show they’re ready to commit, and the ?? becomes a left-aligned A.

So a simple -s filters out all of the noise, leaving just the information I’m interested in.