How to create zsh/bash macro with partial arguments

Question

I'd like to create some functions/aliases in my .zshrc to help with git, but I'm not sure how.

First one:

Full command: git commit -s -m "My message"

My desired end result: gsc -m "My message"

Second one:

Full command: git commit -s -a -m "My message"

My desired end result: gsca "My message"

As you can see I want a macro that would call something with partial arguments and accept all other arguments whatever they may be from this macros call.

What I tried:

function gsc() { git commit -s $@; }
alias gsc='git commit -s'

Neither of those worked.

My test:

> gsc -a -m "test"
On branch main
Your branch is up to date with 'origin/main'.

Untracked files:
  (use "git add <file>..." to include in what will be committed)
    smth.txt

nothing added to commit but untracked files present (use "git add" to track

The alias in (2) seems normal enough to me, what happened when you tried it? — muru
– muru, Commented Oct 27, 2023 at 9:02
@muru I added to the question what happened. Basically it didn't read the -a and -m flags and the commit message — Tarmo
– Tarmo, Commented Oct 27, 2023 at 9:05
Hmm? Your example doesn't show that. The output doesn't show any changes that would be added by -a. — muru
– muru, Commented Oct 27, 2023 at 9:07
The alias/function definition is correct, but as git says: "nothing added to commit". Did you forget to run git add first? — Panki
– Panki, Commented Oct 27, 2023 at 9:50
Just to be sure: Is the alias activated / did you re-sourece teh rc-file after changes? (use alias and see if it is listed) — FelixJN
– FelixJN, Commented Oct 27, 2023 at 11:32

ilkkachu · Accepted Answer · 2023-12-09 10:41:01Z

Here:

function gsc() { git commit -s $@; }

the use of the unquoted $@ means that any arguments to the function will go through word splitting, and e.g. the call gsc -m "hello there" will end up calling git with the arguments commit, -s, -m, hello, and there, i.e. with what was supposed to be commit message split to distinct arguments, as if you'd ran git commit -s m hello there on the shell command line.

You need to quote the expansion as "$@". Also, function foo is a ksh-ism, that would work equivalently with the standard foo(). So:

gsc() { git commit -s "$@"; }

On the other hand, the alias

alias gsc='git commit -s'

looks like it should work. An alias only substitutes its contents before the command line is parsed, so gsc -m "hello there" should be exactly equivalent to git commit -s -m "hello there".

Though you might want to make sure you don't have both the alias and the function defined at the same time when testing. That would surely cause confusion.

Roman Perepelitsa · Accepted Answer · 2023-12-09 08:34:17Z

Your solution is correct and the test demonstrates that it works as expected. You should see that it indeed works as expected by typing the full command alongside the short command and verifying that you get the same results. In other words, after running gsc -a -m "test" and seeing "nothing added to commit", run git commit -s -a -m "test" and verify that it behaves the same way.

I suggest going with an alias rather than a function. Firstly, it'll allow completions to work automatically. Secondly, you'll avoid common mistakes such as missing double quotes around $@ -- the mistake present in your gsc function.

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