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I'm trying to write a git alias that removes from the commit messages the string "[ci skip]" (placed at the end of the message), but I'm having problem with escaping. The alias takes all the commit from the one passed as argument to HEAD.

If I run the following command:

git filter-branch -f --msg-filter "sed -e \"s/\[ci skip\]$//g\"" master..HEAD

it works as expected. Anyway if I create the following alias:

unwip = !sh -c 'git filter-branch -f --msg-filter \"sed -e \\\"s/\[ci skip\]$//g\\\"\" $0..HEAD'

and I run git unwip master it complains about bad config, but I expect it to behave as the previous commads. How can I fix this?

se7entyse7en
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2 Answers2

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Generic solution

Getting a git alias to pass the parser correctly can be a mind-boggling set of \\\\" noise, so I created two aliases:

# Quote / unquote a sh command, converting it to / from a git alias string
quote-string = "!read -r l; printf \\\"!; printf %s \"$l\" | sed 's/\\([\\\"]\\)/\\\\\\1/g'; printf \" #\\\"\\n\" #"
quote-string-undo = "!read -r l; printf %s \"$l\" | sed 's/\\\\\\([\\\"]\\)/\\1/g'; printf \"\\n\" #"

This allows you to convert anything you could type into sh+, eg: 

$ echo '\"'

\"

Into a quoted string fit for an alias:

$ git quote-string
echo '\"'

"!echo '\\\"' #"

To quote a multi-line string, I wrote a longer script, which I suggest you run as:

git quote-string |sponge

Answering OP's specific issue

Using git quote-string on the OP's command, I get:

"!git filter-branch -f --msg-filter \"sed -e \\\"s/\\[ci skip\\]$//g\\\"\" master..HEAD #"

So, to use the OP's preferred alias name, under [alias] in ~/.gitconfig, add:

unwip = "!git filter-branch -f --msg-filter \"sed -e \\\"s/\\[ci skip\\]$//g\\\"\" master..HEAD #"

Debugging

Sometimes it's nice to see what is going on under the hood. Try this alias:

debug  = "!set -x; GIT_TRACE=2 GIT_CURL_VERBOSE=2 GIT_TRACE_PERFORMANCE=2 GIT_TRACE_PACK_ACCESS=2 GIT_TRACE_PACKET=2 GIT_TRACE_PACKFILE=2 GIT_TRACE_SETUP=2 GIT_TRACE_SHALLOW=2 git"

Just insert debug between git and whatever would usually follow, eg for the OP's question:

git debug unwip

+ git uses /bin/sh to execute aliases beginning with !*. To work around this, create a command line like: bash -c 'echo \\\"' and then pass this to git quote-string.

* See the "Debugging" heading for proof

Tom Hale
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  • Excellent! One issue is when I run `git quote-string` [it outputs on multiple lines](https://gist.github.com/fadookie/7ae5cbec94245609165efee08da21c17). Also you reference `git shell-quote` in your post, I presume you meant `quote-string`? – Eliot Sep 30 '16 at 19:48
  • Thanks. I fixed the terminology and copy/pasted from my working `gitconfig` for `quote-string`. I also added a script for multi-line aliases. Talk in chat if you still have multi-line output issues? – Tom Hale Oct 01 '16 at 03:26
  • it appears the new aliases you pasted in are identical to the old ones. [I set up a chatroom](http://chat.stackoverflow.com/rooms/125033/discussion-between-eliot-and-tom-hale) but was unable to invite you for some reason. – Eliot Oct 05 '16 at 20:27
3

EDIT This solution doesn't work in all cases. Here is a correct solution which works in all cases.

I'm using bash as a command-line and the following alias worked for me:

unwip = "!f() { git filter-branch --msg-filter 'sed -e "s/[ci skip/]$/g"' $1..HEAD ; }; f"

The only downside is that you're specifying the interpreter and always using sh. In my case I'm relying on user's shell. Though I don't believe it will be a problem in any of major shells as we're doing just basic stuff.

Community
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alexK
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  • This is an incorrect example - the `"` after `sed -e` actually *ends* the first quoted string. The coloured syntax highlighting demonstrates this. You're lucky that the `;` characters are inside a second quoted string, otherwise `git` would treat `;` as a comment character and ignore the rest of the line. See [my answer](http://stackoverflow.com/a/39616600/5353461) for a correct solution. – Tom Hale Sep 21 '16 at 12:35