This page should hold every information about the git ways to parse command lines, and best practices to be used for scripting. Signed-off-by: Pierre Habouzit <madcoder@xxxxxxxxxx> --- Documentation/Makefile | 2 +- Documentation/gitcli.txt | 104 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 2 files changed, 105 insertions(+), 1 deletions(-) create mode 100644 Documentation/gitcli.txt diff --git a/Documentation/Makefile b/Documentation/Makefile index 37ec355..f58f947 100644 --- a/Documentation/Makefile +++ b/Documentation/Makefile @@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ MAN1_TXT= \ $(filter-out $(addsuffix .txt, $(ARTICLES) $(SP_ARTICLES)), \ $(wildcard git-*.txt)) \ gitk.txt -MAN5_TXT=gitattributes.txt gitignore.txt gitmodules.txt +MAN5_TXT=gitattributes.txt gitignore.txt gitcli.txt gitmodules.txt MAN7_TXT=git.txt MAN_TXT = $(MAN1_TXT) $(MAN5_TXT) $(MAN7_TXT) diff --git a/Documentation/gitcli.txt b/Documentation/gitcli.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3b3f5e4 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/gitcli.txt @@ -0,0 +1,104 @@ +gitcli(5) +========= + +NAME +---- +gitcli - git command line interface and its usual conventions + +SYNOPSIS +-------- +gitcli + + +DESCRIPTION +----------- +This manual intends to describe best practice in how to use git CLI. Here are +the rules that you should follow when you are scripting git: + + * it's preferred to use the non dashed form of git commands, which means that + you should prefer `"git foo"` to `"git-foo"`. + + * splitting short option switches in separate atoms (prefer `"git foo -a -b"` + to `"git foo -ab"`, the latter may not even work). + + * when a command line switch takes an argument, use the 'sticked' form, which + means that you must prefer `"git foo -oArg"` to `"git foo -o Arg"` for short + option switches, and `"git foo --long-opt=Arg"` to `"git foo --long-opt Arg"` + for long switches. + + +ENHANCED CLI +------------ +From the git 1.5.4 series and further, git commands (not all of them at the +time of the writing though) come with an enhanced option parser with nice +facilities. Here is an exhaustive list of them + +Magic Options +~~~~~~~~~~~~~ +Commands which have the enhanced option parser activated all understand a +couple of magic command line switches: + +-h:: + gives a pretty printed usage of the command. ++ +--------------------------------------------- +$ git describe -h +usage: git-describe [options] <committish>* + + --contains find the tag that comes after the commit + --debug debug search strategy on stderr + --all use any ref in .git/refs + --tags use any tag in .git/refs/tags + --abbrev [<n>] use <n> digits to display SHA-1s + --candidates <n> consider <n> most recent tags (default: 10) +--------------------------------------------- + +--help-all:: + Some git commands takes options that are only used for plumbing or that + are deprecated, and such options are hidden from the default usage. This + switch gives the full list of options. + + +Negating options +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ +Another things to keep in mind is that long options can be negated. For +example, `"git branch"` has the option `"--track"` which is 'on' by default. You +can use `"--no-track"` to override that behaviour. The same goes for `"--color"` +and `"--no-color"`. + + +Aggregating short options +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ +Commands that support the enhanced option parser allow you to aggregate short +options. This means that you can for example use `"git rm -rf"` or +`"git clean -fdx"`. + + +Separating argument from the switch +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ +Also for option switches that take a mandatory argument, you can separate it +from the switch. That means that all the following uses are correct: + +---------------------------- +$ git foo --long-opt=Arg +$ git foo --long-opt Arg +$ git foo -oArg +$ git foo -o Arg +---------------------------- + +However, this is *NOT* possible for switches with an optionnal value, where the +'sticked' form must be used: +---------------------------- +$ git describe --abbrev HEAD # correct +$ git describe --abbrev=10 HEAD # correct +$ git describe --abbrev 10 HEAD # NOT WHAT YOU MEANT +---------------------------- + + +Documentation +------------- +Documentation by Pierre Habouzit. + +GIT +--- +Part of the gitlink:git[7] suite -- 1.5.3.7.2249.g89c99-dirty - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe git" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
