diff --git a/contrib/completion/git-prompt.sh b/contrib/completion/git-prompt.sh
index c6cbef38c2..983e419d2b 100644
--- a/contrib/completion/git-prompt.sh
+++ b/contrib/completion/git-prompt.sh
@@ -278,11 +278,12 @@ __git_ps1_colorize_gitstring ()
 	r="$c_clear$r"
 }
 
+# Helper function to read the first line of a file into a variable.
+# __git_eread requires 2 arguments, the file path and the name of the
+# variable, in that order.
 __git_eread ()
 {
-	local f="$1"
-	shift
-	test -r "$f" && read "$@" <"$f"
+	test -r "$1" && IFS=$'\r\n' read "$2" <"$1"
 }
 
 # __git_ps1 accepts 0 or 1 arguments (i.e., format string)