Junio C Hamano <gitster@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > […] >> So on one hand, "--add" must be given before the key to add >> a line, but if on the other hand one passes the option after >> the key and before the value, it is literally taken as the >> value and the value does not seem to be interpreted as a >> value-pattern, either. However, if the value is missing, >> Git correctly recognizes that this does not make sense. > Not really. I agree that the "git config" syntax is messy, but I > followed your example with "git config --help" (especially its > SYNOPSIS section) in hand, and reached the above explanation, which > your conjecutre does not quite match. I respectfully disagree (somewhat). git-config(1) reads: | […] | Multiple lines can be added to an option by using | the --add option. If you want to update or unset an | option which can occur on multiple lines, a | value-pattern (which is an extended regular | expression, unless the --fixed-value option is | given) needs to be given. Only the existing values | that match the pattern are updated or unset. If you | want to handle the lines that do not match the | pattern, just prepend a single exclamation mark in | front (see also the section called “EXAMPLES”), but | note that this only works when the --fixed-value | option is not in use. | […] | --replace-all | Default behavior is to replace at most one | line. This replaces all lines matching the key | (and optionally the value-pattern). This says quite clearly if one wants to /add/ a value, "--add" must be given; the default is to /replace/ an existing value. The only indication that this might be false is the description of "--add" itself which gives another and different explanation for the behaviour of "--replace-all": | --add | Adds a new line to the option without altering | any existing values. This is the same as | providing ^$ as the value-pattern in | --replace-all. | […] So the first section states that "only the existing values that match the pattern are updated or unset", and here it says that if there are no matches, a new line is added. >> My expectation of least surprise is that "git config >> section.key --add value" should be equivalent to "git config >> --add section.key value". > You cannot have "--add" as a value by doing so. > […] The standard way to achieve this would be to use "--", i. e. "git config section.key --add -- --add" (apparently even part of POSIX as "Utility Syntax Guidelines", but also commonly used elsewhere in Git). Tim
