Adding git alias with pipes complains about wrong configuration

Question

I am trying to add a git alias that makes me abort a rebase that have just finished. I tried to add this in .gitconfig:

rebabort = !sh -c 'git reflog | grep -v rebase | head -1 | sed -e "s/^\([[:alnum:]][[:alnum:]]*\)\(.*\)/\1/g" | git reset --hard'

but it complains about a wrong configuration. Anyway I tried to add the alias in the following way:

git config alias.rebabort '!git reflog | grep -v rebase | head -1 | sed -e "s/^\([[:alnum:]][[:alnum:]]*\)\(.*\)/\1/g" | git reset --hard'

and it worked. What am I missing?

UPDATE

I also tried to add this in .gitconfig

rebabort = "!f() { \
                git reflog | grep -v rebase | head -1 | sed -e 's/^\([[:alnum:]][[:alnum:]]*\)\(.*\)/\1/g\' | git reset --hard;
    }; f"

and this

rebabort = !"git reflog | grep -v rebase | head -1 | sed -e 's/^\([[:alnum:]][[:alnum:]]*\)\(.*\)/\1/g' | git reset --hard"

but it still complains about wrong configuration.

What shell are you using and on what OS? This is likely an OS+shell specific problem rather than a git problem. — starlocke, Dec 01 '15 at 14:36
Was your first command exactly like that? It looks like it's missing a closing apostrophe `'` symbol to match the first one for the `sh -c` option. — starlocke, Dec 01 '15 at 15:00
@starlocke I missed it in the question, it was present when I tried. — se7entyse7en, Dec 01 '15 at 15:30

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 01 '15 at 15:47

I replicated your "line that worked" and then looked in my dummy project's .git/config and found the following:

[alias]
        rebabort = !git reflog | grep -v rebase | head -1 | sed -e s/^\\([[:alnum:]][[:alnum:]]*\\)\\(.*\\)/\\1/g | git reset --hard

Just copy that to your ~/.gitconfig

It looks like a simple matter of not needing the sh -c stuff. Your .gitconfig is not a .bashrc; I say this because it looked like you were trying to write an alias in .bashrc format.

Also, for your reference, you could have done the following for the same effect (your line that worked, PLUS the --global) option, since --global typically adds to your ~/.gitconfig:

git config --global alias.rebabort '!git reflog | grep -v rebase | head -1 | sed -e "s/^\([[:alnum:]][[:alnum:]]*\)\(.*\)/\1/g" | git reset --hard'

The help files for git config are very informative for learning new options and tricks, too. https://git-scm.com/docs/git-config

Adding git alias with pipes complains about wrong configuration

1 Answers1