Fix Git Bash Flicker in Windows Terminal

If you use Git Bash through Windows Terminal and press the Backspace key when there is nothing to delete, you will notice that the entire Git Bash window flickers.

Believe it or not, this is the intended behavior and it’s called the bell notification style or the visual bell.

If you like this behavior, leave it as it is, close this page, and go on with your life.

But if it annoys the hell out of you and you want to disable the flicker, let me show you how to turn it off.

🎥 Prefer a step-by-step video walkthrough instead? Here you go:

Fix Git Bash Flicker in Windows Terminal

Open the C:\Users\YourUserName.inputrc file.

If the file doesn’t exist, you can create it by running the following command in Git Bash:

touch ~/.inputrc

Then add the following setting in the ~/.inputrc file:

set bell-style none

Alternatively, you can use the following command to create the file if it doesn’t exist or append the text content to it if the file already exists:

echo "set bell-style none" >> ~/.inputrc

Now you need to restart the Windows Terminal to see the result.

Fix Vim Flicker

If you’re one of those giga chads that are using Vim, then the above fix won’t work if you’re opening Vim through Git Bash in Windows Terminal.

But don’t worry, there is a way to fix the flicker for Vim as well.

Open the C:\Users\YourUserName.vimrc file.

If you don’t have the file, you can create it by running the following command in Git Bash:

touch ~/.vimrc

Then add the following setting in the ~/.vimrc file:

set t_vb=

Alternatively, you can use the following command to create the file if it doesn’t exist or append the text content to it if the file already exists:

echo "set t_vb=" >> ~/.vimrc

Now you need to restart the Windows Terminal to see the result.

Happy coding 💜

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