Re: [PATCH 2/2] ref-filter: support filtering of operational refs

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: Jan 2, 2024, 16:49 UTC
Message-ID: <xmqq4jfvfzo0.fsf@gitster.g>
In-Reply-To: <CAOLa=ZTPxWXnZ8kpBB7=cybNfdEv6d6O37Em7Vpmcw=enpY1_w@mail.gmail.com>

Karthik Nayak <karthik.188@gmail.com> writes:

Show 20 quoted lines

>> As "git for-each-ref" takes pattern that is prefix match, e.g.,
>>
>>     $ git for-each-ref refs/remotes/
>>
>> shows everything like refs/remotes/origin/main that begins with
>> refs/remotes/, I wonder if
>>
>>     $ git for-each-ref ""
>>
>> should mean what you are asking for.  After all, "git for-each-ref"
>> does *not* take "--branches" and others like "git log" family to
>> limit its operation to subhierarchy of "refs/" to begin with.
>
> But I don't think using an empty pattern is the best way to go forward.
> This would break the pattern matching feature. For instance, what if the
> user wanted to print all refs, but pattern match "*_HEAD"?
>
> Would that be
>
>       $ git for-each-ref "" "*_HEAD"

Because you do not omit the leading hierarchy when using globs:

    $ git for-each-ref v2.4\?.\* ;# nothing
    $ git for-each-ref tags/v2.4\?.\* ;# nothing
    $ git for-each-ref refs/tags/v2.4\?.\* ;# gives tags in v2.40 and onwards

I would expect that it would be more like

	$ git for-each-ref "*_HEAD"

And because you can have two or more patterns, e.g.,

    $ git for-each-ref refs/tags/v2.4\?.\* refs/heads/m\*

to get those recent tags and branches whose name begins with 'm', I would expect your

    $ git for-each-ref "" "*_HEAD"

would probably be equivalent to

    $ git for-each-ref ""