Subject: Re: [RFC/PATCH 01/11] ref-filter: add "%(objectname:size=X)" option

From: Junio C Hamano <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 2015 08:43:38 -0700

Karthik Nayak <[email-masked]> writes:

> From: Karthik Nayak <[email-masked]>
>
> Add support for %(objectname:size=X) where X is a number.
> This will print the first X characters of an objectname.
> The minimum value for X is 5. Hence any value lesser than
> 5 will default to 5 characters.

Is the reason why you do not call this "abbrev" because you are
allowing it to truncate to a non-unique prefix?

If so, wouldn't it make more sense to treat this kind of string
function in a way very similar to your earlier "padright"?  I.e.
"%(maxwidth:5)%(objectname)" or something?

If not, and if this is really an abbrev, then it makes sense to make
it specific to the objectname, e.g. "%(objectname:abbrev=7)".