Technical blog from Craig Russell.
This post describes git-number which can be used to number each file listed in git commands for a quicker way to choose files.
If you work with git on the command line, you’ll be used to seeing the output of git status. e.g.,
cdrussell.github.io % git status main (cdrussell.github.io)
On branch main
Your branch is ahead of 'origin/main' by 1 commit.
(use "git push" to publish your local commits)
Changes not staged for commit:
(use "git add <file>..." to update what will be committed)
(use "git restore <file>..." to discard changes in working directory)
modified: _posts/2016-08-10-SSH-Keys-with-Multiple-GitHub-Accounts-c67db56f191e.md
modified: _posts/2018-03-21-Recycler View and ListAdapter, More Animations and Less Code.md
modified: _posts/2022-01-07-easier-git-commands-using-git-number.md
If you want to add these files you need to run git add, and for each you have to provide the filename. Sometimes you can regex to make this easier, and sometimes you might be adding everything, but other times you need to choose individual files and it’s a pain to have to provide this full name each time. e.g.,
git add _posts/2016-08-10-SSH-Keys-with-Multiple-GitHub-Accounts-c67db56f191e.md
git add _posts/2018-03-21-Recycler View and ListAdapter, More Animations and Less Code.md
git add _posts/2022-01-07-easier-git-commands-using-git-number.md
Tedious. Enter git-number.
git-number will number each file and allow you to use just that number in future git commands instead of having to type out the full filename.
Let’s run git-number status.
cdrussell.github.io % git-number main (cdrussell.github.io)
On branch main
Your branch is ahead of 'origin/main' by 1 commit.
(use "git push" to publish your local commits)
Changes not staged for commit:
(use "git add <file>..." to update what will be committed)
(use "git restore <file>..." to discard changes in working directory)
1 modified: _posts/2016-08-10-SSH-Keys-with-Multiple-GitHub-Accounts-c67db56f191e.md
2 modified: _posts/2018-03-21-Recycler View and ListAdapter, More Animations and Less Code.md
3 modified: _posts/2022-01-07-easier-git-commands-using-git-number.md
It’s a subtle difference, but you’ll see each file is numbered on the left-hand side.
To add the files now, we can provide the number instead of the full filename. e.g.,
git-number add 1
git add _posts/2016-08-10-SSH-Keys-with-Multiple-GitHub-Accounts-c67db56f191e.md
☝️ Both of these commands do the same thing. Which would you rather type? You can also alias git-number to something quicker to type.
brew install git-number