Re: [PATCH] branch: implement shortcut to delete last branch

[Jeff King <peff@peff.net>]

On Fri, Mar 23, 2018 at 02:09:25AM +0000, Aaron Greenberg wrote:

> This patch gives git-branch the ability to delete the previous
> checked-out branch using the "-" shortcut. This shortcut already exists
> for git-checkout, git-merge, and git-revert. One of my common workflows
> is to do some work on a local topic branch and push it to a remote,
> where it gets merged in to 'master'. Then, I switch back to my local
> master, fetch the remote master, and delete the previous topic branch.
> 
> $ git checkout -b topic-a
> $ # Do some work...
> $ git commit -am "Implement feature A"
> $ git push origin topic-a
> 
> # 'origin/topic-a' gets merged into 'origin/master'
> 
> $ git checkout master
> $ git branch -d topic-a
> $ # With this patch, a user could simply type
> $ git branch -d -
> 
> I think it's a useful shortcut for cleaning up a just-merged branch
> (or a just switched-from branch.)

I don't use "-" myself, but I can see how this would be useful. Do note
that in a discussion last year there was some hesitation about allowing
"-" for destructive commands:

  https://public-inbox.org/git/vpqh944eof7.fsf@anie.imag.fr/

I don't really have a strong opinion either way.

The details in this cover letter probably should go into the commit
message. The diff itself looks OK (the assumption of a 7-char
abbreviation in the test is a little gross, but I see you're just
following existing convention in the file).

-Peff