Re: [PATCH v3 4/4] for-each-ref: avoid filtering on empty pattern

[Phillip Wood <phillip.wood123@gmail.com>]

Hi Karthik

On 29/01/2024 11:35, Karthik Nayak wrote:
> When the user uses an empty string pattern (""), we don't match any refs
> in git-for-each-ref(1). This is because in git-for-each-ref(1), we use
> path based matching and an empty string doesn't match any path.
>
> In this commit we change this behavior by making empty string pattern
> match all references. This is done by introducing a new flag
> `FILTER_REFS_NO_FILTER` in `ref-filter.c`, which uses the newly
> introduced `refs_for_each_all_refs()` function to iterate over all the
> refs in the repository.

It actually iterates over all the refs in the current worktree, not all 
the refs in the repository. I have to say that I find it extremely 
unintuitive that "" behaves differently to not giving a pattern. I 
wonder if we can find a better UI here - perhaps a command line option 
to include pseudorefs?

> Signed-off-by: Karthik Nayak <karthik.188@gmail.com>
> ---
>   Documentation/git-for-each-ref.txt |  3 ++-
>   builtin/for-each-ref.c             | 21 +++++++++++++++++-
>   ref-filter.c                       | 13 ++++++++++--
>   ref-filter.h                       |  4 +++-
>   t/t6302-for-each-ref-filter.sh     | 34 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>   5 files changed, 70 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/Documentation/git-for-each-ref.txt b/Documentation/git-for-each-ref.txt
> index be9543f684..b1cb482bf5 100644
> --- a/Documentation/git-for-each-ref.txt
> +++ b/Documentation/git-for-each-ref.txt
> @@ -32,7 +32,8 @@ OPTIONS
>   	If one or more patterns are given, only refs are shown that
>   	match against at least one pattern, either using fnmatch(3) or
>   	literally, in the latter case matching completely or from the
> -	beginning up to a slash.
> +	beginning up to a slash. If an empty string is provided all refs
> +	are printed, including HEAD and pseudorefs.

I think it would be helpful to clarify that it is all the refs for the 
current worktree that are printed, not all the refs in the repository - 
we still don't have a way to iterate over the per-worktree refs from 
other worktrees

Best Wishes

Phillip