Git Alias - Multiple Commands and Parameters

I am trying to create an alias that uses both multiple Git commands and positional parameters. There are Stackoverflow pages for each, and it would appear painfully obvious to do both, but I am having trouble.

As an example, I want to switch to branch foo and perform a status. So in my .gitconfig, I have:

  [alias] 
     chs = !sh -c 'git checkout $0 && git status'

which doesn't work. Whereas something like this will work.

chs = !sh -c 'git checkout $0'

echoes = !sh -c 'echo hi && echo bye'

Any insight would be appreciated.

This will work (tested with zsh and bash):

[alias] chs = !git checkout $1 && git status

This targets Windows batch / msysgit bash; might not work on other environments.

As Olivier Verdier and Lily Ballard have said

[alias] chs = !git checkout $1 && git status

almost works, but gives a spurious extra insertion of the argument ...

git chs demo -> git checkout demo && git status demo

But if you add && : to the end of your alias, then the spurious argument is consumed into a location tag.

So

[alias] chs = !git checkout $1 && git status && :

gives the correct output ... git chs demo -> git checkout demo && git status

You can define a shell function.

[alias] chs = "!f(){ git checkout \"$1\" && git status; };f"

I was able to create multi-line and quite complex git aliases. They work fine on Windows but I assume they'd work elsewhere too, for example:

safereset = "!f() { \
				trap 'echo ERROR: Operation failed; return' ERR; \
				echo Making sure there are no changes...; \
				last_status=$(git status --porcelain);\
				if [[ $last_status != \"\" ]]; then\
					echo There are dirty files:;\
					echo \"$last_status\";\
					echo;\
					echo -n \"Enter Y if you would like to DISCARD these changes or W to commit them as WIP: \";\
					read dirty_operation;\
					if [ \"$dirty_operation\" == \"Y\" ]; then \
						echo Resetting...;\
						git reset --hard;\
					elif [ \"$dirty_operation\" == \"W\" ]; then\
						echo Comitting WIP...;\
						git commit -a --message='WIP' > /dev/null && echo WIP Comitted;\
					else\
						echo Operation cancelled;\
						exit 1;\
					fi;\
				fi;\
			}; \
			f"

I wrote a post and have a few more examples here.

[alias]
chs = !git branch && git status

Try this one:

[alias]
    chs = "!sh -c 'git checkout \"$0\" && git status'"

Call it like this: git chs master

It's possible to have multiline git alias by appending \ at the end of each line.

[alias] 
   chs = "!git checkout $1 \ 
          ; git status     \
         "

The problem here is that the positional parameters seem to be getting sent to the shell command twice (as of git 1.9.2). To see what I mean, try this:

[alias]
  test = !git echo $*

Then, do git test this is my testing string. You should observe the following output (last two lines edited here for clarity):

03:41:24 (release) ~/Projects/iOS$ git test this is my testing string
this is my testing string this is my testing string
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
          #1                         #2

One way to work around this would be to

[alias]
  chs = !git checkout $1 && git status && git echo x >/dev/null

This will consume the extra positional parameter as it gets applied to that last echo command and have no effect on the results.

[alias]
      chs = !git checkout && git status
      ac = !git add . && git commit -m 

what is ! ?

> If the alias expansion is prefixed with an exclamation point, it will be treated as a shell command. What does the exclamation mark mean in git config alias?

To call alias from .gitconfig file

git chs
git ac "write_your_commit_message" 

alias is more useful for add and commit in git you can do more fast

An example for people who want to try out what different aliases do.

Putting this in the alias-section of GIT's configuration-file (e.g. ~/.gitconfig) :

[alias]
    a0 = "!echo $*"
    a1 = "!echo $* #"
    a2 = "!f () { echo \"$*\"; }; f "
    a3 = "!f () { echo \"$*\"; }; f #"
    a4 = "!f () { echo \"$*\"; }; f \"$*\" #"
    a5 = "!f () { echo \"$*\"; }; f \"$@\" #"
    a6 = "!f () { echo \"$*\"; }; f \"$1\" #"

And then executing this command:

cat ~/.gitconfig | grep --extended-regexp -- '(a[0-9])|(alias)' ; \
echo "" ; \
export CMD ; \
for I in {0..6} ; \
do \
    CMD="a""${I}" ; \
    echo -n "Executing alias.${CMD} = " ; \
    git config --global alias."${CMD}" ; \
    git $CMD 'hoi daar' en nu ; \
    git $CMD hoi daar en nu ; \
    echo "" ; \
done ; \
unset CMD ;

Should give this as output:

[alias]
    a0 = "!echo $*"
    a1 = "!echo $* #"
    a2 = "!f () { echo \"$*\"; }; f "
    a3 = "!f () { echo \"$*\"; }; f #"
    a4 = "!f () { echo \"$*\"; }; f \"$*\" #"
    a5 = "!f () { echo \"$*\"; }; f \"$@\" #"
    a6 = "!f () { echo \"$*\"; }; f \"$1\" #"

Executing alias.a0 = !echo $*
hoi daar en nu hoi daar en nu
hoi daar en nu hoi daar en nu

Executing alias.a1 = !echo $* #
hoi daar en nu
hoi daar en nu

Executing alias.a2 = !f () { echo "$*"; }; f 
hoi daar en nu
hoi daar en nu

Executing alias.a3 = !f () { echo "$*"; }; f #



Executing alias.a4 = !f () { echo "$*"; }; f "$*" #
hoi daar en nu
hoi daar en nu

Executing alias.a5 = !f () { echo "$*"; }; f "$@" #
hoi daar en nu
hoi daar en nu

Executing alias.a6 = !f () { echo "$*"; }; f "$1" #
hoi daar
hoi