quitting git log from a bash script

Question

i'm trying to write a 'live git log' bash script. here's the code so far:

#!/bin/sh
while true;
do
    clear
    git log --graph -10 --all --color --date=short --pretty=format:"%Cred%x09%h %Creset%ad%Cblue%d %Creset %s %C(bold)(%an)%Creset"
    sleep 3
done

my problem is that git log uses a pager and you have to press q to quit or it will just sit there forever. is there a way to code the quit command in bash? i tried echoing q, with no luck. (i saw another post here that suggested echo "q" > /dev/console -- but there is no dev console in my environment)

system: win7 box - emulating bash with mingw (1.7.6.msysget.0)

UPDATE

here's the finished script

#!/bin/sh
while true;
do
    clear
    git log \
    --graph \
    --all \
    --color \
    --date=short \
    -40 \
    --pretty=format:"%C(yellow)%h%x20%C(white)%cd%C(green)%d%C(reset)%x20%s%x20%C(bold)(%an)%Creset" |
    cat -
    sleep 15
done

the -40 is a personal taste. change it to whatever number suits you and your terminal screen size.

Watersick

Answer 1

Try the following code :

git log \
    --graph -10 \
    --all \
    --color \
    --date=short \
    --pretty=format:"%Cred%x09%h %Creset%ad%Cblue%d %Creset %s %C(bold)(%an)%Creset" |
    cat -

edit

| cat - is not specific to git, that works in each use cases when you have a pager and you'd want to print to STDOUT

Kaleb

Added explanations about | cat - – Unexacting

awesome! that's the ticket! but i dont understand why. what exactly is "cat -" doing? and why is it overriding the pager? – Watersick

It forces STDOUT to pass by cat – Unexacting

oh i get it! i missed the fact that you were piping all of git log INTO cat! thanx!!!! – Watersick

This creates an unnecessary extra process while resetting the PAGER variable doesn't – Raneeraney

why mess with env variables if you can just say in your command that you don't want a pager – Mediatorial

Answer 2

Adding --no-pager is the way to go.:

git --no-pager log

So the full command would be

git --no-pager log --graph -10 --all --color --date=short --pretty=format:"%Cred%x09%h %Creset%ad%Cblue%d %Creset %s %C(bold)(%an)%Creset"

Mediatorial

ok, that's a start. i had not heard of the --no-pager flag. but try calling that command. the formatting is totally gone, and there are (i assume) escape characters in the output. completely useless output. * [31m 4c29b0d [m2012-10-01[34m (HEAD) [m updated test.php [1m(xero)[m – Watersick

it works fine on my Windows 7 box. You have something messed up on your terminal config I guess? I am using it with command prompt though, not through mingw. – Mediatorial

had to confirm - works also without issues with cygwin bash + other environments. No experience with mingw though. – Mediatorial

weird. i'm using console2 (sourceforge.net/projects/console) as a frontend to mingw. i wounder if that's causing it. i still upvoted your post. – Watersick

maybe related to this, custom colors of console2? #2445503 - though you probably don't need it as it's working with cat, too – Mediatorial

Answer 3

setting, in your script:

export PAGER=

would do the trick

Raneeraney

i tired that after the shebang line and in the while loop, with no luck. actually that looks like it has no effect at all. i tired setting it to nothing, less, more, and askodjaskdlj (which should cause an error i would assume) but i get nothing different in my results. – Watersick