How can I parse arguments in a shell function and then make a multiline commit with it?

Question

I'm following the conventional commits standard and I want to make a shell function to do a squash and merge and commit changes with a parsed message, improving my coding speed and my commits consistency.

My problem is to parse the arguments and then use the result in the commit message.

My actual code:

function git_merge_squash() {
  git merge --squash "$1"
  shift
  msg= echo $'\n'"$*" | tr . \\n | tr - ' '
  # echo $msg
  git commit -m $msg
}

alias gmrs=git_merge_squash

Usage example:

$ gmrs f/my_branch Features.- Signup.-- Save hashed password
asynchronously.-- Retrieve token.- Login.-- Retrieve token.-
Logout.-- Destroy token

Expected result:

git merge --squash f/my_branch
git commit -m "
Features
  Signup
    Save hashed password asynchronously
    Retrieve token
  Login
    Retrieve token
  Logout
    Destroy token"

As you can guess, in my actual code my commented echo prints exactly the message that I want. But git commit -m command takes $msg as a string. I tried multiple other options, like simulating a file input with the -F flag, but I couldn't work it out.

How can I achieve my goal? Thank you in advance.

I think you need to add `\n` as well in the commit message if it is mult-line. — Raza Mehdi, Oct 22 '17 at 21:14
`git commit -m "$msg"` (with quotes surrounding the msg var)? — zigarn, Oct 22 '17 at 21:25
While the resource you're touting has certain grains of good practices listed, squash-merging is not one of them: is basically destroys all the history led to the final shape of the branch merged, and makes `git bisect` useless. — kostix, Oct 23 '17 at 07:54
An idea to use squash-merges often comes from mere incapability to use Git properly—for instance from being scared by "odd-looking history" stemming from multiple true merges. This can be easily dealt with by merely learning how Git branching works; [here](https://hackernoon.com/how-the-creators-of-git-do-branches-e6fcc57270fb) is one very good explanation. — kostix, Oct 23 '17 at 08:01

score 0 · Answer 1 · edited Oct 23 '17 at 07:50

0

Solution

I worked it out. I hope someone can get help from this.

Working code

function git_merge_squash() {
  git merge --squash "$1"
  shift
  git commit -m "$(echo $'\n'"$*" | tr . \\n | tr - ' ')"
}
alias gmrs=git_merge_squash

edited Oct 23 '17 at 07:50

kostix

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answered Oct 22 '17 at 22:37

Franco Méndez

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score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 23 '17 at 00:33

0

You don't need to invent your own encoding for newlines; just use a second argument formatted the way you want.

git_merge_squash() {
  git merge --squash "$1"
  git commit -m "$2"
}

gmrs f/my_branch "\
Features
  Signup
    Save hashed password asynchronously
    Retrieve token
  Login
    Retrieve token
  Logout
    Destroy token"

answered Oct 23 '17 at 00:33

chepner

497,756
71
530
681

The main reason why a don't use that is because it is easier to make mistakes and also because the " isn't fast to write (I need 2 keys, at least on my Spanish keyboard) and typing ".- " is much faster than what I replaced with it. Thank you – Franco Méndez Oct 23 '17 at 01:18
You have one pair of double quotes, and multiple newlines. – chepner Oct 23 '17 at 11:16

How can I parse arguments in a shell function and then make a multiline commit with it?

2 Answers2