Hi, On 15/01/2020 18:13, Jeff King wrote: > On Wed, Jan 15, 2020 at 01:13:17AM +0200, Σταύρος Ντέντος wrote: > >>>> new = "!f() { : git log ; git log \"${1}@{1}..${1}@{0}\" \"$@\" ; } ; f" >>>> new = !f() { : git log ; git log "${1}@{1}..${1}@{0}" "$@" ; } ; f >>> Only the first one is correct. In addition to the quotes in the second >>> one being eaten by the config parser, the unquoted semicolon starts a >>> comment. >> Could somehow the latter "become" the correct option? > Unfortunately not without breaking compatibility of existing config > files. > >> Especially in the case of `!sh`: >> 1) You need to quote everything after `=` sign ("forced" double quotes), then >> 2) `sh -c` needs another set (singles are most safe here, I think), and >> 3) If, for some reason, you need to quote further ("$@" would be a >> common suspect usually) > Yes, the quoting can get pretty hairy. If your command is complicated, I > suggest writing it as a separate script and dropping it into your $PATH > as git-new. Then "git new" will run it automatically (and it's not even > any less efficient; it still ends up with a single shell invocation). > >> Thank you very much for a complete explaination of all of this . >> >> Can some of this be documented somewhere? >> Are they somewhere and I missed them? > I think the config syntax around quoting is described in "git help > config" (see the section Syntax). The shell parts seem out of scope for > Git's manpages themselves, though it sounds like maybe some examples you > found could stand to be fixed (and/or to call out the subtlety). > >> If nothing more, a link to this e-mail chain either on the wiki (if >> https://git.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Aliases is an official page) or >> on git-alias help (here >> https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Git-Basics-Git-Aliases or in some >> "advanced" section, which I cannot find) >> >> If https://git.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Aliases is an official page, >> then: was this written for an earlier version? >> Could it also be updated? > I think both of the issues you mentioned have always been true. That > wiki is open to editing by the world, I took the liberty of adding a small subsection on quoting based on this discussion, and adding a link to it. Feedback on my ignorance welcomed ;-) > so it's possible that somebody > just added bad examples (and fixes would be welcome). > > I don't know the book content very well. Looking at the page you > linked, I don't think it says anything _wrong_, but it definitely > doesn't discuss more advanced alias usage. I suspect that would be a > welcome addition; they take contributions at > https://github.com/progit/progit2. > > -Peff Philip