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Git has its own versions of commands such as mv and rm that we really ought to use when doing these operations inside repositories.
However, I'm sure I'm not the only person who often forgets to do this.
Is there any way to automatically use these tools when operating within a git repository?
I'm interested in answers for any of bash, zsh or fish.
git mv does a different thing from normal mv and is very much not a drop-in replacement.
For instance, it doesn't act on untracked files:
touch foo
git mv foo bar
prints
fatal: not under version control, source=foo, destination=bar
And refuses to move the file. Similar things apply to the other commands. They are tools for working with git, so using these commands instead of the normal operating system versions is not a good idea.
Git has its own versions of commands such as mv and rm that we really ought to use when doing these operations inside repositories
You oughtn't.
mv/rm with git … is always safe. You’re unlikely to mess anything up if you use mv or rm instead of git …, but using git … instead of mv or rm could have unfortunate results.
Aug 7, 2022 at 14:54
mv results in a file deletion and creation, but in my experience if both end up in the same commit git figures out that it’s a rename anyway.
Aug 7, 2022 at 15:14
I suggest you have some myrm / mymv script that git rev-parse in order to detect if you are inside the repo and act accordingly. Something like :
ingitr="$(git rev-parse --is-inside-work-tree 2>/dev/null)"
if [ "$ingitr" ]
then
git rm $1 ( git mv $1 $2 )
else
rm $1 ( mv $1 $2 )
fi
Of course this is for a starting point. It should certainly be enhanced in order to take care of options.
However I read from comments that… you should not want that. (I'll remove this answer under pressure… ;-)
git rm. This isn't about shooting yourself in the foot, this is about burning your perfectly good axe whenever you enter a garden, assuming all you need in gardening is a shovel. You're confusing git rm with something it's not! It's not a replacement for rm, it does quite a different job, the only thing they both have in
Aug 7, 2022 at 20:25
git rm actually does!
Aug 7, 2022 at 20:28
git help mv, the official git website or using a search engine.