# git branch in Bash subshell "$(git branch -a)" including ls output as part of return? 4 messages from 2015-12-07 to 2015-12-07. Participants: Alex Jones, Charles Bailey. Thread: https://gitlist.dev/t/40955 ## Alex Jones, 2015-12-07 16:52 Subject: git branch in Bash subshell "$(git branch -a)" including ls output as part of return? Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/CAJGk2Wx4B%3DAHFxkJep%3DyYVKU9UyJieazoNaC44W5yBXoMi%2Bgdg%40mail.gmail.com ``` Hello Folks, I am Running OSX 10.10.5 Yosemite along with git 2.6.3 installed via homebrew package manager. I recently stumbled across the following bug in some scripting I was doing. "git branch -a --list" and "git branch -a" seem to include the output of an "ls" command if executed as part of a subshell in a bash script. I can't speculate to the reason. Script goal: Delete all branches aside from master in the repository Example outputs from several commands repo: ls output: ajonespro:Deploy_Script ajones$ ls -l total 0 drwxr-xr-x 11 ajones wheel 374 Dec 7 10:50 AppDeploy drwxr-xr-x 11 ajones wheel 374 Dec 7 11:15 WebDeploy git branch -a output: ajonespro:Deploy_Script ajones$ git branch -a * DWH_concurrent_api Email_No_Error_If_No_Old_Version IT/configs_in_app_support PHP_Build_Repo master remotes/origin/DWH_concurrent_api remotes/origin/Email_No_Error_If_No_Old_Version remotes/origin/IT/configs_in_app_support remotes/origin/PHP_Build_Repo remotes/origin/master echo $(git branch -a) output: ajonespro:Deploy_Script ajones$ echo $(git branch -a) AppDeploy WebDeploy DWH_concurrent_api Email_No_Error_If_No_Old_Version IT/configs_in_app_support PHP_Build_Repo master remotes/origin/DWH_concurrent_api remotes/origin/Email_No_Error_If_No_Old_Version remotes/origin/IT/configs_in_app_support remotes/origin/PHP_Build_Repo remotes/origin/master While it might be hard to see from that output, The first two "branches" in the subshell's output are actually the directories contained within the repo. If I place a file at the root it includes that in the branch list as well. Since my test file "test.txt" (not shown in example) and "WebDeploy" are sorted before all the branches, I suspect some output buffer is being accidentally being written to. Has any experienced this before, and can anyone reproduce it on a different configuration? I wouldn't be surprised if it was some weird bug with Apple's included terminal, but since I've only observed it with git branch, I thought I'd try contact git maintainers first. ``` ## Charles Bailey, 2015-12-07 16:58 Subject: Re: git branch in Bash subshell "$(git branch -a)" including ls output as part of return? Message-ID: <20151207165810.GA25856@hashpling.org> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/20151207165810.GA25856%40hashpling.org In-Reply-To: ``` On Mon, Dec 07, 2015 at 11:52:28AM -0500, Alex Jones wrote: > git branch -a output: > > ajonespro:Deploy_Script ajones$ git branch -a > > * DWH_concurrent_api > Email_No_Error_If_No_Old_Version > IT/configs_in_app_support > PHP_Build_Repo > master > remotes/origin/DWH_concurrent_api > remotes/origin/Email_No_Error_If_No_Old_Version > remotes/origin/IT/configs_in_app_support > remotes/origin/PHP_Build_Repo > remotes/origin/master > > echo $(git branch -a) output: > > ajonespro:Deploy_Script ajones$ echo $(git branch -a) > AppDeploy WebDeploy DWH_concurrent_api > Email_No_Error_If_No_Old_Version IT/configs_in_app_support > PHP_Build_Repo master remotes/origin/DWH_concurrent_api > remotes/origin/Email_No_Error_If_No_Old_Version > remotes/origin/IT/configs_in_app_support remotes/origin/PHP_Build_Repo > remotes/origin/master > > While it might be hard to see from that output, The first two > "branches" in the subshell's output are actually the directories > contained within the repo. Looking at the two outputs, you are seeing the shell's glob expansion of the '*' current branch marker. You probably want to quote the command expansion to prevent this: echo "$(git branch -a)" ``` ## Charles Bailey, 2015-12-07 17:02 Subject: Re: git branch in Bash subshell "$(git branch -a)" including ls output as part of return? Message-ID: <20151207170259.GA25915@hashpling.org> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/20151207170259.GA25915%40hashpling.org In-Reply-To: <20151207165810.GA25856@hashpling.org> ``` On Mon, Dec 07, 2015 at 04:58:10PM +0000, Charles Bailey wrote: > > Looking at the two outputs, you are seeing the shell's glob expansion of > the '*' current branch marker. You probably want to quote the command > expansion to prevent this: > > echo "$(git branch -a)" Pressing send has, of course, caused me to think further. You probably don't want to parse the output of a "porcelain" command such as "git branch" at all, but instead look at using something like "git for-each-ref", perhaps with the --format=%(refname) option, grepping out master and iterating through the rest. ``` ## Alex Jones, 2015-12-07 17:57 Subject: Re: git branch in Bash subshell "$(git branch -a)" including ls output as part of return? Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/CAJGk2Wx9cng8%2B9f0PxX1WFiGPLnoufMKgN8x0HWP-L0Xj8Nr-Q%40mail.gmail.com In-Reply-To: <20151207170259.GA25915@hashpling.org> ``` That did the trick, thanks for the help and the suggestion. On Mon, Dec 7, 2015 at 12:02 PM, Charles Bailey wrote: > On Mon, Dec 07, 2015 at 04:58:10PM +0000, Charles Bailey wrote: >> >> Looking at the two outputs, you are seeing the shell's glob expansion of >> the '*' current branch marker. You probably want to quote the command >> expansion to prevent this: >> >> echo "$(git branch -a)" > > Pressing send has, of course, caused me to think further. You probably > don't want to parse the output of a "porcelain" command such as "git > branch" at all, but instead look at using something like "git > for-each-ref", perhaps with the --format=%(refname) option, grepping out > master and iterating through the rest. -- Alex Jones | Software Engineer 919-238-4404 direct 336-263-2099 mobile netsertive.com ```