How can I recursively find and replace in the current git repository

Question

I am working inside a git-repo. Here I want to apply my search operation based on the root directory of the git repo that current buffer is open.

Here I do: find-dired "~/my_project" ... in order to replace all Python files.

(defun my-find-files ()
  (interactive)
  (message "press t to toggle mark for all files found && Press Q for Query-Replace in Files...")
  (find-dired "~/my_project" "-name \\*.py ! -name flycheck_\\*.py ! -name __init__.py"))

(global-set-key (kbd "M-z") 'my-find-files)

Instead how can I set "~/my_project" folder path dynamically based on the current buffer's root git repo.

git rev-parse --show-toplevel returns the root of the git repository where the file lives. I was wondering would it be possible to pass its return value instead of "~/my_project"?

Related: Using Emacs to recursively find and replace in text files not already open

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 11 '21 at 12:37

3

You can use project-find-regexp (C-x p g), from project.el, to find the regexp you are looking for and in the resulting buffer you can hit r (xref-query-replace-in-results) to replace what you need.

If your Emacs version does not come with project.el already built-in, you can get it from ELPA: https://elpa.gnu.org/packages/project.html

answered Oct 11 '21 at 12:37

Manuel Uberti

3,150
18
36

Would it be possible to make change only on the Python files? – alper Oct 11 '21 at 12:40
If you do `C-u C-x p g` you can pick the directory and the file name pattern. – Manuel Uberti Oct 11 '21 at 13:23
Can I set it single time and could it make the pattern search based on that? – alper Oct 11 '21 at 13:52
You can write your own wrapper around `project-find-regexp` for that, which calls it with the parameters you need. – Manuel Uberti Oct 11 '21 at 13:56
`your own wrapper around project-find-regexp` // can you give a small example how can I write a wrapper to handle only Python files? – alper Oct 11 '21 at 14:57

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 12 '21 at 02:34

2

You can use (vc-git-root (buffer-file-name)) in place of "~/my_project". It walks up the tree until it finds the directory that contains the .git subdir and declares that to be the root of the repo.

answered Oct 12 '21 at 02:34

NickD

27,023
3
23
42

Can we also check condition if there is no git-repo in the folder in order to prevent `Error running timer: (void-function vc-git-root)` message? – alper Oct 26 '21 at 13:03
You should ask this in a separate question: nobody will see this comment otherwise :-) You can refer back to this question for context. – NickD Oct 26 '21 at 15:27
Please see: https://emacs.stackexchange.com/q/69097/18414 . PS I am sorry for askling too many questions – alper Oct 26 '21 at 19:33
2

Don't worry about asking "too many" questions: just try to make each one a *good* question: crisp and clear statement of the problem, as much information as necessary (but no more: *long*, meandering questions will discourage most responders), things you tried that failed to resolve the problem, version information etc. are all good things to include. Plus the standard rules: one question per question and do not change the question after posting (except for corrections and adding detail) - in particular, never change the original question to ask a different one: ask a new question instead. – NickD Oct 26 '21 at 19:58

chen bin · Answer 3 · 2021-10-12T01:58:19.357

Install counsel (https://elpa.gnu.org/packages/counsel.html)
M-x counsel-git-grep
Press C-c C-o or M-x ivy-occur to export result to a buffer in ivy-occur-grep-mode
Press C-x C-q or M-x ivy-grep-change-to-wgrep-mode to switch to wgrep-mode and make the buffer editable
Edit the buffer and press C-c C-c or M-x wgrep-finish-edit to commit the changes of the buffer. Then corresponding files will be updated

I use counsel&ivy because it provides the integration of wgrep-mode. Other completion/filter frameworks (helm, eg) could do the same thing.

Or you could integrate wgrep-mode into your own grep command.

Here is an example I grep my "emacs.d" and export the result of the buffer in wgrep-mode,

The key technology is wgrep-mode. You can edit one text buffer and change multiple files in one shot. Many techniques could be applied the text buffer first. For example, if I don't want to touch README.org, I just delete the line containing README.org.

How can I recursively find and replace in the current git repository

3 Answers3

Linked