Supply the same filename as argument to two commands

Question

On a git conflict, I can currently do:

git diff path/to/some/file.txt

... after reviewing the diff, usually I want to do:

git checkout --theirs path/to/some/file.txt && git add path/to/some/file.txt

It's painstaking to edit both paths each time, so I'd like to be able to do the following:

git checkout --theirs <ref> && git add path/to/some/file.txt

Where the <ref> refers to file.txt.

Any way to do this in bash?

Answer 1

There are many ways.

You can use history expansion in (t)csh, bash or zsh. !$ expands to the last argument of the previous command line.

git checkout --theirs !$ && git add !$

Bash, ksh and zsh have a variable $_ which stores the last argument of the last simple command executed by the shell.

git checkout --theirs "$_" && git add "$_"

Bash and zsh have a keyboard shortcut Alt+. or ESC . which inserts the last argument of the previous command line.

git checkout --theirs Alt+. && git add Alt+.

You can stuff this in a function.

git_add_theirs () {
  if [ "$#" -eq 0 ]; then set -- "$_"; fi
  git checkout --theirs -- "$@" && git add -- "$@"
}

Or make that a standalone script and define an alias add-theirs = git_add_theirs in your ~/.gitconfig.