GitPython get current active branch

git_python_current_branch.py

"""
Gets the name of the active Git branch as a string.
Depends on GitPython

pip install GitPython
"""
from git import Repo

repo = Repo('/path/to/your/repo')
branch = repo.active_branch
print branch.name

"""
Example usage from my local Django settings:

try:
    # use the develop database if we are using develop
    import os
    from git import Repo

    repo = Repo(os.getcwd())
    branch = repo.active_branch
    branch = branch.name
    if branch == 'develop':
        DATABASES['default']['NAME'] = 'myproject__develop'
except ImportError:
    pass
"""

Any standard way to retrieve the default branch of the repository instead of current active branch?

AFAK, no off-the-shelf API in GitPython 3.1.17, here is a workaround:

    def get_default_branch(self):
        print("Fetching remote for default branch...")
        lines = self.repo.git.remote('show', self.git_url)
        print(lines)
        lines = lines.split("\n")
        default_branch = ''
        for line in lines:
            if "HEAD branch" in line:
                default_branch = line.split(":")[1].strip()
                break
        if default_branch == "":
            default_branch = "master"
        print("Default branch: " + default_branch)
        return default_branch