# How to use @{-1} with push? 6 messages from 2016-03-25 to 2016-03-28. Participants: Robert Dailey, Junio C Hamano. Thread: https://gitlist.dev/t/41825 ## Robert Dailey, 2016-03-25 14:40 Subject: How to use @{-1} with push? Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/CAHd499AM-OzqiB1hOF%3D0BTesFxrxNj%3D%2Bjr1wH6vpQXfgoXd8Ug%40mail.gmail.com ``` I have an alias that I'm working on to do a push and delete of a topic branch: # Push HEAD, delete branch local & remote # # $1 = remote name # $2 = branch name pushdel = "!f() { : git push ; git push \"$1\" HEAD \":$2\" && git branch -d \"$2\" ; }; f" I use it after I merge a topic branch, like so: $ git pushdel origin my-topic-branch What would be nice is if I could do one of the two: $ git pushdel origin - $ git pushdel origin @{-1} Both should refer to the last branch, but I know that these can't be used verbatim in a push command because it doesn't read it as a branch name normally like `git checkout` would. I'm not sure why, as I do not have knowledge of the underlying mechanics of these commands. Is there a way I can use these "relative" branch shorthands in my push command? If not directly, perhaps there is a way I can update my alias to do an intermediate translation? Thanks in advance. ``` ## Junio C Hamano, 2016-03-25 17:45 Subject: Re: How to use @{-1} with push? Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/xmqq8u164fjv.fsf%40gitster.mtv.corp.google.com In-Reply-To: ``` Robert Dailey writes: > Both should refer to the last branch, but I know that these can't be > used verbatim in a push command because it doesn't read it as a branch > name normally like `git checkout` would. You can ask rev-parse to give you --symbolic-full-name, error out if it is empty (i.e. detached HEAD), and otherwise use the result, no? $ git checkout next $ git checkout master $ git rev-parse --symbolic-full-name @{-1} refs/heads/master $ git checkout HEAD^0 $ git checkout master $ git rev-parse --symbolic-full-name @{-1} $ exit And $ git push origin :refs/heads/master would be the fully-spelled out way to remove that branch. ``` ## Robert Dailey, 2016-03-25 18:02 Subject: Re: How to use @{-1} with push? Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/CAHd499B3Z58hj--Pa0uM36A2H3Xpmayrb%2BRiLeOBkmnu70yW1A%40mail.gmail.com In-Reply-To: ``` On Fri, Mar 25, 2016 at 12:45 PM, Junio C Hamano wrote: > You can ask rev-parse to give you --symbolic-full-name, error out if > it is empty (i.e. detached HEAD), and otherwise use the result, no? > > $ git checkout next > $ git checkout master > $ git rev-parse --symbolic-full-name @{-1} > refs/heads/master > $ git checkout HEAD^0 > $ git checkout master > $ git rev-parse --symbolic-full-name @{-1} > $ exit > > And > > $ git push origin :refs/heads/master > > would be the fully-spelled out way to remove that branch. Thanks Junio, I figured there was a command to do that. I tried to do this using '-' shorthand, but that didn't work. I guess because that's not really a revision, but a special function of git checkout only. ``` ## Robert Dailey, 2016-03-25 18:11 Subject: Re: How to use @{-1} with push? Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/CAHd499BCciG5Udd_sj550jPKg_ahZmWOi-zUOU-cr_wYmri%3DRg%40mail.gmail.com In-Reply-To: ``` On Fri, Mar 25, 2016 at 1:02 PM, Robert Dailey wrote: > On Fri, Mar 25, 2016 at 12:45 PM, Junio C Hamano wrote: >> You can ask rev-parse to give you --symbolic-full-name, error out if >> it is empty (i.e. detached HEAD), and otherwise use the result, no? >> >> $ git checkout next >> $ git checkout master >> $ git rev-parse --symbolic-full-name @{-1} >> refs/heads/master >> $ git checkout HEAD^0 >> $ git checkout master >> $ git rev-parse --symbolic-full-name @{-1} >> $ exit >> >> And >> >> $ git push origin :refs/heads/master >> >> would be the fully-spelled out way to remove that branch. > > Thanks Junio, I figured there was a command to do that. I tried to do > this using '-' shorthand, but that didn't work. I guess because that's > not really a revision, but a special function of git checkout only. So the push works with the fully-qualified ref, but not git branch: $ git rev-parse --symbolic-full-name foo refs/heads/foo $ git branch -d refs/heads/foo error: branch 'refs/heads/foo' not found. Any reason for this? I'm using git 2.7.4 on windows ``` ## Junio C Hamano, 2016-03-25 18:58 Subject: Re: How to use @{-1} with push? Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/xmqqoaa22xmg.fsf%40gitster.mtv.corp.google.com In-Reply-To: ``` Robert Dailey writes: > So the push works with the fully-qualified ref, but not git branch: I thought these are clear from their documentation. "push" works on refnames, "branch" works on branch names. "push" takes an branch name as a short-hand and adds refs/heads/ when it makes sense, but because it does not make any sense for "git branch" to create a "branch" in a random place in refs/ (e.g. "refs/tags/foo" is not a branch), it takes "foo" (i.e. the name of the branch, whose underlying ref is "refs/heads/foo"). So ref=$(git rev-parse --symbolic-full-name "$2") && case "$ref" in '') echo >&2 "No such thing $2"; exit 1 ;; refs/heads/*) ref=${ref#refs/heads/} ;; *) echo >&2 "That's not a branch $2"; exit 2 ;; esac && git push "$1" "refs/heads/$ref" && git branch -D "$ref" or something? > > $ git rev-parse --symbolic-full-name foo > refs/heads/foo > > $ git branch -d refs/heads/foo > error: branch 'refs/heads/foo' not found. > > Any reason for this? I'm using git 2.7.4 on windows ``` ## Robert Dailey, 2016-03-28 14:53 Subject: Re: How to use @{-1} with push? Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/CAHd499A-8iajchG7hUMKNnCN9riarU4G3S-HZxXusOdewwaVCg%40mail.gmail.com In-Reply-To: ``` On Fri, Mar 25, 2016 at 1:58 PM, Junio C Hamano wrote: > I thought these are clear from their documentation. "push" works on > refnames, "branch" works on branch names. "push" takes an branch > name as a short-hand and adds refs/heads/ when it makes sense, but > because it does not make any sense for "git branch" to create a > "branch" in a random place in refs/ (e.g. "refs/tags/foo" is not a > branch), it takes "foo" (i.e. the name of the branch, whose > underlying ref is "refs/heads/foo"). > > So > > ref=$(git rev-parse --symbolic-full-name "$2") && > case "$ref" in > '') echo >&2 "No such thing $2"; exit 1 ;; > refs/heads/*) ref=${ref#refs/heads/} ;; > *) echo >&2 "That's not a branch $2"; exit 2 ;; > esac && > git push "$1" "refs/heads/$ref" && > git branch -D "$ref" > > or something? Reading the git documentation feels a lot like reading the C++ standard. Not the best place to go to learn something. Some of the terminology is very detail-oriented. For example, until you explained the differences between push & branch, I always thought "ref" and "branch" were interchangeable. But now it's clear to me that a branch is just a type of ref, but refs are not branches. Also as a Windows developer, I am not as well-versed in bash scripting as I'd like to be. So thanks for your explanation, it is clear now. ```