diff -r f02d7a562a21 -r d79fdff55627 mercurial/templatekw.py
--- a/mercurial/templatekw.py	Mon Nov 29 09:37:23 2010 +0100
+++ b/mercurial/templatekw.py	Mon Dec 13 10:30:15 2010 -0500
@@ -145,6 +145,9 @@
 def showauthor(repo, ctx, templ, **args):
     return ctx.user()
 
+def showbranch(**args):
+    return args['ctx'].branch()
+
 def showbranches(**args):
     branch = args['ctx'].branch()
     if branch != 'default':
@@ -247,6 +250,7 @@
 # revcache - a cache dictionary for the current revision
 keywords = {
     'author': showauthor,
+    'branch': showbranch,
     'branches': showbranches,
     'children': showchildren,
     'date': showdate,