How to alias 'git' to 'g' so that bash-completion rules are preserved?

Question

If I do this:

alias g='git'

I loose all completion rules (i.e. branches and remotes are no longer being automatically completed when I hit TAB after typing, for example g push o).

Solution 1

Copying and modifying opportunely from /etc/bash_completion.d/git, add the following lines to your ~/.bashrc:

complete -o bashdefault -o default -o nospace -F _git g 2>/dev/null \
    || complete -o default -o nospace -F _git g

Solution 2

Latest bash-completion upstream moved and renamed things a bit. It's now:

source /usr/share/bash-completion/completions/git
__git_complete g __git_main

Use this in recent versions of Ubuntu (e.g. 14.04, also Fedora 22+) when you encounter:

completion: function `_git' not found

during completing.

Solution 3

In ~/.bashrc:

alias g='git'
source /usr/share/bash-completion/completions/git
complete -o default -o nospace -F _git g

Via http://29a.ch/2013/8/9/fixing-bash-autocomplete-on-ubuntu-13-04

Solution 4

First, look up the original completion command. Example:

$ complete | grep git

complete -o bashdefault -o default -o nospace -F __git_wrap__git_main git

Now add these to your startup script (e.g. ~/.bashrc):

# copy the original statement, but replace the last command (git) with your alias (g)
complete -o bashdefault -o default -o nospace -F __git_wrap__git_main g

# load dynamically loaded completion functions (may not be required)
_completion_loader git

The _completion_loader line may not be required. But for some situations, the completion function is only loaded dynamically after you type the command and press TAB the first time. So if you haven't used the original command, and try the alias + TAB, you may get an error like "bash: completion: function not found".

Solution 5

The updated way to do this (complete wouldn't work for me):

1. cd - switch to your home directory
2. wget https://raw.github.com/git/git/master/contrib/completion/git-completion.bash
3. Add source ~/git-completion.bash to your .bashrc file (if you don't have this file make one in your home folder, bash will look for it automatically)
4. Add alias g='git'to your .bashrc file.
5. Start a new session or source your changes with source ~/.bashrc

View more solutions

Comments

[Admin]

While I don't have an answer for you, I'm going to have to take a minute and wonder if not typing those two other letters is really giving you much of an advantage?

[Admin]

Sure it does! I'm typing 'g' probably over a 100 times a day.

[Admin]

Aliasing often-used short commands to even shorter aliases saves me hundreds of keypresses a day. According to my shell history, I have used the alias g=git 756 times in the past month, meaning I saved pressing the 'g' and 'i' keys 1512 times total. That, combined with my git aliases, probably saves me tens of thousands of key presses a month.

[Admin]

The main point of shortening keystrokes is helping your hands keep up with your brain.

[Admin]

The script at superuser.com/questions/436314/… worked so well I think it deserves a mention.

[Lukas]

I also had to add source /usr/share/bash-completion/completions/git to my .bashrc

[Paweł Gościcki]

Sorry, but that's something completely different. Making such simple alias es for whole commands is trivial.

[scue]

I just make them work like git plugin of Oh-My-Zsh: github.com/robbyrussell/oh-my-zsh/blob/master/plugins/git/…

[pjvandehaar]

You skipped the part where they actually added completion in the comment you linked to: __git_complete g _git

[pjvandehaar]

Seems like this is the only correct answer here.

[Max Wallace]

Use __git_complete gc _git_checkout (or similar) to set up completions for more specific aliases. Search /usr/.../git as above to find the right name.

[Max Wallace]

Not sure if the .bashrc code here works, but this answer is definitely out of date. /etc/bash_completion.d/git doesn't seem to exist on 14.04. See lzap's answer below.

[Piotr Aleksander Chmielowski]

@MaxWallace - when you set the aliases for particular git methods in .gitconfig (e.g. gc = checkout), there is no need to explicitly configure completion for them.

[Max Wallace]

@PiotrAleksanderChmielowski Thanks! But I don't think that works for top-level bash aliases (e.g. gc => git checkout) as opposed to aliasing c to checkout within git, and saying git c. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[Piotr Aleksander Chmielowski]

@MaxWallace Yes, you are right, my mistake ;)

[Paul Carlton]

Works great. For me this is the correct answer, the grep command on complete is handy. Did not need the completion loader.