Re: Can we make interactive add easier to use?

From: Jeff King <peff@peff.net>
Date: Oct 14, 2016, 19:12 UTC
Message-ID: <20161014191254.stzzffyxk6ih3cwx@sigill.intra.peff.net>
In-Reply-To: <CAHd499AnuVximRgM0MKdq5JC-hwkrhox6bK_KA+XGrawoz2W+g@mail.gmail.com>

On Fri, Oct 14, 2016 at 08:20:40AM -0500, Robert Dailey wrote:

> Normally when I use interactive add, I just want to add files to the
> index via simple numbers, instead of typing paths. So I'll do this as
> quick as I can:

I'd generally second Matthieu's suggestion to use a combination of "git add" and "git add -p". But if you really like the interactive updater, then the optimizations I can think of are:

Show 6 quoted lines

> 1. Type `git add -i`
> 2. Press `u` after prompt appears
> 3. Press numbers for the files I want to add, ENTER key
> 4. ENTER key again to go back to main add -i menu
> 5. Press `q` to exit interactive add
> 6. Type `git commit`

We have "git add -p" to avoid having to do a similar workflow just to get to the "p"atch menu. So in theory we could have a similar shortcut to get to "u"pdate. I think it's just not in common enough use that anybody really bothered to implement it.

We also have "commit -p" (and "commit -i") already, though I do not use them myself.

That would probably take you down to:

  1. git commit --iu ;# obviously a terrible option name
  2. Press numbers, then ENTER
  3. 'q' or ENTER or ^D to exit, and jump into commit message
     automatically.

You can also set the interactive.singleKey config option to turn (2) into just "press numbers" (which works right now).

> This feels very tedious. Is there a simplified workflow for this? I
> remember using a "git index" unofficial extension to git that let you
> do a `git status` that showed numbers next to each item (including
> untracked files!) and you could do `git add 1, 2, 3-5`, etc.

TBH, that extension sounds a lot more generically useful, as it works at the shell level. I _think_ I've seen similar features implemented that are not even git specific (i.e., they work off of existing shell-completion libraries and just let you pick the options by number rather than tab-completing). Sorry I don't have any links, though. It's not something I ever used myself.

-Peff