git-refresh

This enables you to pull changes from a different remote branch to your local branch with just one command. You can write your own custom git commands to do whatever repetitive actions you do multiple times a day. For, me I usually update my local branch with the remote branch from which I branched off initially. Doing this would usually take multiple commands.

Instead of:

git stash
git checkout remote_branch
git pull --rebase origin remote_branch
git checkout current-branch
git rebase remote-branch
git stash apply

you can just do:

git refresh remote_branch_name

Usage

git refresh remote_branch_name

remote_branch_name is the remote branch from which you want to pull changes.

Setup

1. Put the git-refresh file anywhere on your system. Lets say you've put in the folder named gitScripts, so the folder path is /Users/username/path/gitScripts/

2. Add the directory path to your environment PATH. For Linux/Mac, you can edit your bash_profile by doing vim ~/.bash_profile. Add following line in the file in the beginning:

   #!/bin/bash
   # For git commands
   export PATH=$PATH:/Users/user/Documents/gitScripts
   # Other existing export statements.
   # End of file
   

   Now after saving the file, do the following on the terminal:

   source ~/.bash_profile
   

3. That's it. You are done. You should be able run the command.

Writing your own custom git command

Lets say you want to make a command git awesome which takes one parameter and then calls series of git commands.

1. Create a file named git-awesome in a folder somewhere.

2. Add that folder path to your environment PATH as shown previously, if not already.

3. Have the following inside the file:

   #!/bin/sh
   
   # Check if params are sufficient enough to go ahead.
   # P.S: This command takes one parameter so check if you have the param.
   parameter=$1
   test -z $parameter && echo "ERROR: Please provide the param." 1>&2 && exit 1
   
   # Find which is your current branch
   if currentBranch=$(git symbolic-ref --short -q HEAD)
   then
     echo On branch $currentBranch
     echo Doing work using $parameter ...
     # Write your git commands here
     echo Success!
   else
     echo ERROR: Cannot find the current branch!
   fi
   

Credits and Inspiration : Extending Git: add a custom command