Sort list of git refs in most recently used (committed) order

[thomaseizinger]

Is your feature request related to a particular plugin or theme? If so, specify it.

gitfast

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.

Having to exactly remember branch names is cumbersome, I would much more prefer if the result of gco <TAB> would list branches I (or possible someone else if remote branches are included) recently committed to.

Describe the solution you'd like

Make use of the --sort option of git-for-each-ref command to sort by committer date. (Source: https://stackoverflow.com/a/5188364/2489334) I think, the following function would need to be changed:

ohmyzsh/plugins/gitfast/git-completion.bash

Lines 637 to 745 in 2a3a940

	__git_refs ()
	{
	local i hash dir track="${2-}"
	local list_refs_from=path remote="${1-}"
	local format refs
	local pfx="${3-}" cur_="${4-$cur}" sfx="${5-}"
	local match="${4-}"
	local fer_pfx="${pfx//\%/%%}" # "escape" for-each-ref format specifiers
	__git_find_repo_path
	dir="$__git_repo_path"
	if [ -z "$remote" ]; then
	if [ -z "$dir" ]; then
	return
	fi
	else
	if __git_is_configured_remote "$remote"; then
	# configured remote takes precedence over a
	# local directory with the same name
	list_refs_from=remote
	elif [ -d "$remote/.git" ]; then
	dir="$remote/.git"
	elif [ -d "$remote" ]; then
	dir="$remote"
	else
	list_refs_from=url
	fi
	fi
	if [ "$list_refs_from" = path ]; then
	if [[ "$cur_" == ^* ]]; then
	pfx="$pfx^"
	fer_pfx="$fer_pfx^"
	cur_=${cur_#^}
	match=${match#^}
	fi
	case "$cur_" in
	refs|refs/*)
	format="refname"
	refs=("$match*" "$match*/**")
	track=""
	;;
	*)
	for i in HEAD FETCH_HEAD ORIG_HEAD MERGE_HEAD REBASE_HEAD; do
	case "$i" in
	$match*)
	if [ -e "$dir/$i" ]; then
	echo "$pfx$i$sfx"
	fi
	;;
	esac
	done
	format="refname:strip=2"
	refs=("refs/tags/$match*" "refs/tags/$match*/**"
	"refs/heads/$match*" "refs/heads/$match*/**"
	"refs/remotes/$match*" "refs/remotes/$match*/**")
	;;
	esac
	__git_dir="$dir" __git for-each-ref --format="$fer_pfx%($format)$sfx" \
	"${refs[@]}"
	if [ -n "$track" ]; then
	# employ the heuristic used by git checkout
	# Try to find a remote branch that matches the completion word
	# but only output if the branch name is unique
	__git for-each-ref --format="$fer_pfx%(refname:strip=3)$sfx" \
	--sort="refname:strip=3" \
	"refs/remotes/*/$match*" "refs/remotes/*/$match*/**" | \
	uniq -u
	fi
	return
	fi
	case "$cur_" in
	refs|refs/*)
	__git ls-remote "$remote" "$match*" | \
	while read -r hash i; do
	case "$i" in
	*^{}) ;;
	*) echo "$pfx$i$sfx" ;;
	esac
	done
	;;
	*)
	if [ "$list_refs_from" = remote ]; then
	case "HEAD" in
	$match*) echo "${pfx}HEAD$sfx" ;;
	esac
	__git for-each-ref --format="$fer_pfx%(refname:strip=3)$sfx" \
	"refs/remotes/$remote/$match*" \
	"refs/remotes/$remote/$match*/**"
	else
	local query_symref
	case "HEAD" in
	$match*) query_symref="HEAD" ;;
	esac
	__git ls-remote "$remote" $query_symref \
	"refs/tags/$match*" "refs/heads/$match*" \
	"refs/remotes/$match*" |
	while read -r hash i; do
	case "$i" in
	*^{}) ;;
	refs/*) echo "$pfx${i#refs/*/}$sfx" ;;
	*) echo "$pfx$i$sfx" ;; # symbolic refs
	esac
	done
	fi
	;;
	esac
	}

Unfortunately, I have not idea how to write completion scripts or ZSH scripts in general so I couldn't make it work. If I try to add the --sort argument, it just seems to be ignored. The completion values of gco <TAB> seem to be sorted alphabetically.

Describe alternatives you've considered

Setting the branch.sort git config value but it doesn't seem to have an effect.

Additional context

refs are sorted alphabetically:

[mcornella]

Two things should change for that:

• The __git_refs function should echo the refs in MRU order
• The __gitcomp_direct function should run compadd with -V something to specify unordered display. Otherwise, compadd prints the entries in alphabetical order no matter the order in which the arguments were passed to it.

[thomaseizinger]

Do you think it makes sense to change the default behaviour here and make a PR for these changes?

If not, what is your advice on patching these files locally that are compatible with updates?

[thomaseizinger]

@mcornella I submitted a PR here: #8860

[mcornella]

These should be pushed upstream, i.e. on the git repository. Meanwhile, you can set up a custom plugin, see adding a new plugin.

cc @felipec