git-porcelain-parsing

What problem does it solve?

Parsing git status --porcelain output to reliably extract file paths and their index/work tree statuses, including tricky edge cases such as leading dots, spaces, quoted paths, and non-ASCII characters. It documents how to avoid common pitfalls (e.g., the line[2:] vs line[3:] issue) and ensures compatibility across platforms by using per-command core.quotepath=false to preserve Cyrillic paths.

Core Features & Use Cases

• Accurate extraction of file paths from porcelain lines for both staged and unstaged changes, including renamed paths (e.g., R old -> new) and untracked files.
• Robust handling of quotes and unicode in paths, with Windows path normalization (backslashes to slashes).
• Guidance for integrating the parser into audits, CI checks, pre-commit hooks, and automation pipelines that rely on precise change data.

Quick Start

Run the parser against a repository root to obtain a structured representation of changed files.