# Using "-" for "previous branch" failing with rebase 4 messages from 2014-03-15 to 2014-03-18. Participants: Tim Chase, Junio C Hamano. Thread: https://gitlist.dev/t/36178 ## Tim Chase, 2014-03-15 20:29 Subject: Using "-" for "previous branch" failing with rebase Message-ID: <20140315152924.26c3294e@bigbox.christie.dr> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/20140315152924.26c3294e%40bigbox.christie.dr ``` I recently learned that there are several places where git allows use of "-" to refer to the previous branch, e.g. git checkout -b dev # hack, hack git checkout master git merge - git checkout - However, it doesn't seem to understand "-" in the context of a rebase: git checkout branch_a # hack git commit -a git checkout branch_b # hack git commit -a git rebase - # I'd expect to rebase onto branch_a but I get fatal: Needed a single revision invalid upstream - Issuing git rebase branch_a does exactly what I'd expect (as "git checkout -" puts me on "branch_a"). Is this just an interface inconsistency or is there a some technical reason this doesn't work (or, has it been addressed/fixed, and just not pulled into Debian Stable's 1.7.10.4 version of git)? Thanks, -tkc ``` ## Junio C Hamano, 2014-03-17 06:37 Subject: Re: Using "-" for "previous branch" failing with rebase Message-ID: <7vppll2uvp.fsf@alter.siamese.dyndns.org> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/7vppll2uvp.fsf%40alter.siamese.dyndns.org In-Reply-To: <20140315152924.26c3294e@bigbox.christie.dr> ``` Tim Chase writes: > Is this just an interface inconsistency or is there a some technical > reason this doesn't work (or, has it been addressed/fixed, and just > not pulled into Debian Stable's 1.7.10.4 version of git)? It is merely that nobody thought "rebase" would benefit from such a short-hand, I think. Teach more commands that operate on branch names about "-" shorthand for "the branch we were previously on", like we did for "git merge -" sometime after we introduced "git checkout -" has been sitting in my "leftover bits" list at http://git-blame.blogspot.com/p/leftover-bits.html for quite some time. Hint, hint... ``` ## Tim Chase, 2014-03-18 01:47 Subject: Re: Using "-" for "previous branch" failing with rebase Message-ID: <20140317204744.6ac795a0@bigbox.christie.dr> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/20140317204744.6ac795a0%40bigbox.christie.dr In-Reply-To: <7vppll2uvp.fsf@alter.siamese.dyndns.org> ``` On 2014-03-16 23:37, Junio C Hamano wrote: > Tim Chase writes: > > > Is this just an interface inconsistency or is there a some > > technical reason this doesn't work (or, has it been > > addressed/fixed, and just not pulled into Debian Stable's > > 1.7.10.4 version of git)? > > It is merely that nobody thought "rebase" would benefit from such a > short-hand, I think. > > Teach more commands that operate on branch names about "-" > shorthand for "the branch we were previously on", like we did > for "git merge -" sometime after we introduced "git checkout -" > > has been sitting in my "leftover bits" list at > > http://git-blame.blogspot.com/p/leftover-bits.html > > for quite some time. Hint, hint... Not sure if the "Hint, hint" was intended for me, as I'm not exactly a git hacker. I did find another place where I reached for it instinctively (now that I use it regularly with checkout/merge): git-diff. git checkout some_branch #hack git commit -m "..." git checkout other_branch # hmm...what's different between these branches? git diff - which I would have expected to act something like git diff some_branch..other_branch Just for the archives. -tkc (or possibly the reverse) ``` ## Junio C Hamano, 2014-03-18 18:59 Subject: Re: Using "-" for "previous branch" failing with rebase Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/xmqqr45z8h9d.fsf%40gitster.dls.corp.google.com In-Reply-To: <20140317204744.6ac795a0@bigbox.christie.dr> ``` Tim Chase writes: > On 2014-03-16 23:37, Junio C Hamano wrote: >> Tim Chase writes: >> >> > Is this just an interface inconsistency or is there a some >> > technical reason this doesn't work (or, has it been >> > addressed/fixed, and just not pulled into Debian Stable's >> > 1.7.10.4 version of git)? >> >> It is merely that nobody thought "rebase" would benefit from such a >> short-hand, I think. >> >> Teach more commands that operate on branch names about "-" >> shorthand for "the branch we were previously on", like we did >> for "git merge -" sometime after we introduced "git checkout -" >> >> has been sitting in my "leftover bits" list at >> >> http://git-blame.blogspot.com/p/leftover-bits.html >> >> for quite some time. Hint, hint... > > Not sure if the "Hint, hint" was intended for me,... No. It is primarily a search-engine bait ;-) and is secondarily a hint to any aspiring Git hackers on the list. In general, I am not very enthused to see the single letter "-" used where you name any commit object (like "diff"). It is a short-hand for the @{-1} notation that names the branch name, and it is OK in general to add support for it to the places where we expect a branch name and not just any commit object name (e.g. "checkout -"), but maybe it is just me who was heavily involved in the original design. ```