Subject: Re: [PATCH] for-each-ref: `:short` format for `refname`

From: SZEDER Gábor <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 1 Sep 2008 15:15:23 +0200

Hi,

On Sun, Aug 31, 2008 at 02:41:07PM +0200, Bert Wesarg wrote:
> This strips from the refname the common directory prefix with the
> matched pattern.
> 
> This is particular usefull for bash completion, to get refs without
> `refs/heads` or `refs/tags`.

>  refname::
>  	The name of the ref (the part after $GIT_DIR/).
> +	For a short name of the ref append `:short`. This will strip
> +	the common directory prefix with the pattern which matches this ref.
> +	I.e. for a the pattern `refs/heads` you get `master`, or for
> +	`refs/tags/v1.5.[01].*` you get `v1.5.[01].*`.
> +	This is particular usefull for bash completion.
Should this last sentence really belong to the documentation?

Furthermore, I think ':strip' better describes what this format
actually does.  Even you have used the word 'strip' in the commit
message and in the documentation as well.

As far as bash completion is concerned, I'm for it, as it does exactly
what the completion script needs to perform better, it doesn't have
those conceptual issues 'refbasename' has, and it's only a tad slower
than 'refbasename'.

However, if we consider possible use cases other than bash completion,
I don't know which one is more useful.  For example, if you have two
branches 'foo/bar' and 'foo/baz', then 'git merge $(git for-each-ref
--format=%(refbasename) refs/heads/foo)' will work as expected, but
'refname:short' not, as it will output only 'bar' and 'baz' which 'git
merge' can not find.

Best,
Gábor