Re: [PATCH] branch: add '-' to delete previous branch

From: Ivan Tham <pickfire@riseup.net>
Date: Apr 30, 2020, 03:43 UTC
Message-ID: <20200430034323.wwsxzru7pcw2xsju@arch>
In-Reply-To: <87v9likr5a.fsf@osv.gnss.ru>

On Wed, Apr 29, 2020 at 10:50:41PM +0300, Sergey Organov wrote:

Show 20 quoted lines

>Taylor Blau <me@ttaylorr.com> writes:
>
>> In my opinion, it is fairly clear that 'git branch -D -' means "delete
>> the last branch", and not "delete a list of branches from stdin.
>
>Honestly, I'd never guess it'd "delete the last branch". No way.
>
>"-" standing by itself in a command means stdin, stdout, or otherwise a
>typo. Using it for any other meaning is a blasphemy. Sure, nobody will
>die because of this, but it's /extremely/ confusing!
>
>BTW, what about mistyping:
>
>$ git branch -d - f my_branch
>
>for
>
>$ git branch -d -f my_branch
>
>or some such?

I already knew `git checkout -` and `git switch -` exists and have been using them quite frequently as my workflow, but when I wanted to go back to my original branch and delete the branch, I tried `git branch -D -` quite a few times and I am surprised it does not work as expected.

Yes, that typo would have deleted a branch but it could be restored from reflog at the very least.

Show 5 quoted lines

>No, it still doesn't look like a good idea to use isolated '-' as
>suggested by the patch.
>
>OTOH, for otherwise unusual @{-1}, @{-}, or @- I'd immediately realize I
>must consult the manual, so these would be fine with me.

But yes, I didn't know @{-1} or @{-} or @- exists before I was sending this patch, I only know I can use - which is very simple.