[PATCH] completion: zsh: support completion after "git -C <path>"

[PATCH] completion: zsh: support completion after "git -C <path>"

[Lutz Lengemann via GitGitGadget]

From: Lutz Lengemann <lutz@lengemann.net>

The zsh completion wrapper (__git_zsh_main) did not handle the global -C
option, so "git -C <path> <command> <TAB>" offered nothing and could not
complete a command's arguments.

Three things are needed to make it work, all scoped to -C:

  - Add -C to the _arguments specification, so completion no longer stops
    at it.

  - Advance __git_cmd_idx past any leading "-C <path>" options. The index
    is hard-coded to 1, i.e. the command is assumed to be the first
    argument; with -C present the command sits two words later for each
    -C, so the bash helpers otherwise look at the wrong word and produce
    nothing.

  - Collect the -C paths into __git_C_args, as __git_main does. The bash
    helpers run git to resolve aliases and list refs; without the -C
    paths they run in the current directory, so completion fails whenever
    the cwd is not the target repository or the command is an alias.

With these, "git -C <path> <command> <TAB>" completes the command, its
options and its arguments, including outside the repository, through
aliases, and with repeated -C options.

Signed-off-by: Lutz Lengemann <lutz@lengemann.net>
---
    completion: zsh: support completion after "git -C "
    
    This patch is intentionally scoped to -C, but the underlying problem is
    more general. The zsh wrapper hard-codes __git_cmd_idx=1, i.e. it
    assumes the command is always the first argument. That assumption breaks
    argument completion after any global option that precedes the command,
    not just -C — e.g. --git-dir, --work-tree, --namespace, -c, and
    -p/--paginate. After those, git <opt> <command> <TAB> currently
    completes the command name but not its arguments.
    
    The same approach generalizes cleanly: instead of skipping only leading
    -C options, walk all leading global options and their arguments to
    locate the command and its true index (mirroring the option scan in
    __git_main in git-completion.bash), while collecting -C into
    __git_C_args and --git-dir into __git_dir as today.
    
    I kept this revision narrow for reviewability and because git -C is the
    case where I miss the completion, but I'm happy to extend it to cover
    the other global options in a follow-up (or fold it into this patch) if
    that's preferred.

Published-As: https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git/releases/tag/pr-2155%2Fmobilutz%2Fzsh-complete-global-C-v1
Fetch-It-Via: git fetch https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git pr-2155/mobilutz/zsh-complete-global-C-v1
Pull-Request: https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git/pull/2155

 contrib/completion/git-completion.zsh | 9 +++++++++
 1 file changed, 9 insertions(+)

diff --git a/contrib/completion/git-completion.zsh b/contrib/completion/git-completion.zsh
index c32186a977..323049be8b 100644
--- a/contrib/completion/git-completion.zsh
+++ b/contrib/completion/git-completion.zsh
@@ -227,6 +227,7 @@ __git_zsh_main ()
 		'(-p --paginate --no-pager)'{-p,--paginate}'[pipe all output into ''less'']' \
 		'(-p --paginate)--no-pager[do not pipe git output into a pager]' \
 		'--git-dir=-[set the path to the repository]: :_directories' \
+		'*-C[run as if git was started in <path>]: :_directories' \
 		'--bare[treat the repository as a bare repository]' \
 		'(- :)--version[prints the git suite version]' \
 		'--exec-path=-[path to where your core git programs are installed]:: :_directories' \
@@ -252,6 +253,14 @@ __git_zsh_main ()
 		;;
 	(arg)
 		local command="${words[1]}" __git_dir __git_cmd_idx=1
+		local -a __git_C_args
+		local -i i=2
+
+		while [[ ${orig_words[i]} == -C ]]; do
+			__git_C_args+=(-C ${orig_words[i+1]})
+			(( __git_cmd_idx += 2 ))
+			(( i += 2 ))
+		done
 
 		if (( $+opt_args[--bare] )); then
 			__git_dir='.'

base-commit: 0fae78c9d55efe705877ea537fe42c59164ccd94
-- 
gitgitgadget

Re: [PATCH] completion: zsh: support completion after "git -C <path>"

[Ben Knoble]

I’d like to take a deeper look at this, but I’m not sure when I can.

> Le 17 juin 2026 à 11:37, Lutz Lengemann via GitGitGadget <gitgitgadget@gmail.com> a écrit :
> 
> From: Lutz Lengemann <lutz@lengemann.net>
> 
> The zsh completion wrapper (__git_zsh_main) did not handle the global -C
> option, so "git -C <path> <command> <TAB>" offered nothing and could not
> complete a command's arguments.

One easy note, though: our commit style prefers describing the code base before the patch in question in the present tense (« does not handle », « offers nothing »).

The below imperative mood looks appropriate to me.

> 
> Three things are needed to make it work, all scoped to -C:
> 
>  - Add -C to the _arguments specification, so completion no longer stops
>    at it.
> 
>  - Advance __git_cmd_idx past any leading "-C <path>" options. The index
>    is hard-coded to 1, i.e. the command is assumed to be the first
>    argument; with -C present the command sits two words later for each
>    -C, so the bash helpers otherwise look at the wrong word and produce
>    nothing.
> 
>  - Collect the -C paths into __git_C_args, as __git_main does. The bash
>    helpers run git to resolve aliases and list refs; without the -C
>    paths they run in the current directory, so completion fails whenever
>    the cwd is not the target repository or the command is an alias.
> 
> With these, "git -C <path> <command> <TAB>" completes the command, its
> options and its arguments, including outside the repository, through
> aliases, and with repeated -C options.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Lutz Lengemann <lutz@lengemann.net>
> ---
>    completion: zsh: support completion after "git -C "
> 
>    This patch is intentionally scoped to -C, but the underlying problem is
>    more general. The zsh wrapper hard-codes __git_cmd_idx=1, i.e. it
>    assumes the command is always the first argument. That assumption breaks
>    argument completion after any global option that precedes the command,
>    not just -C — e.g. --git-dir, --work-tree, --namespace, -c, and
>    -p/--paginate. After those, git <opt> <command> <TAB> currently
>    completes the command name but not its arguments.
> 
>    The same approach generalizes cleanly: instead of skipping only leading
>    -C options, walk all leading global options and their arguments to
>    locate the command and its true index (mirroring the option scan in
>    __git_main in git-completion.bash), while collecting -C into
>    __git_C_args and --git-dir into __git_dir as today.
> 
>    I kept this revision narrow for reviewability and because git -C is the
>    case where I miss the completion, but I'm happy to extend it to cover
>    the other global options in a follow-up (or fold it into this patch) if
>    that's preferred.
> 
> Published-As: https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git/releases/tag/pr-2155%2Fmobilutz%2Fzsh-complete-global-C-v1
> Fetch-It-Via: git fetch https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git pr-2155/mobilutz/zsh-complete-global-C-v1
> Pull-Request: https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git/pull/2155
> 
> contrib/completion/git-completion.zsh | 9 +++++++++
> 1 file changed, 9 insertions(+)
> 
> diff --git a/contrib/completion/git-completion.zsh b/contrib/completion/git-completion.zsh
> index c32186a977..323049be8b 100644
> --- a/contrib/completion/git-completion.zsh
> +++ b/contrib/completion/git-completion.zsh
> @@ -227,6 +227,7 @@ __git_zsh_main ()
>        '(-p --paginate --no-pager)'{-p,--paginate}'[pipe all output into ''less'']' \
>        '(-p --paginate)--no-pager[do not pipe git output into a pager]' \
>        '--git-dir=-[set the path to the repository]: :_directories' \
> +        '*-C[run as if git was started in <path>]: :_directories' \
>        '--bare[treat the repository as a bare repository]' \
>        '(- :)--version[prints the git suite version]' \
>        '--exec-path=-[path to where your core git programs are installed]:: :_directories' \
> @@ -252,6 +253,14 @@ __git_zsh_main ()
>        ;;
>    (arg)
>        local command="${words[1]}" __git_dir __git_cmd_idx=1
> +        local -a __git_C_args
> +        local -i i=2
> +
> +        while [[ ${orig_words[i]} == -C ]]; do
> +            __git_C_args+=(-C ${orig_words[i+1]})
> +            (( __git_cmd_idx += 2 ))
> +            (( i += 2 ))
> +        done
> 
>        if (( $+opt_args[--bare] )); then
>            __git_dir='.'
> 
> base-commit: 0fae78c9d55efe705877ea537fe42c59164ccd94
> --
> gitgitgadget
> 

Re: [PATCH] completion: zsh: support completion after "git -C <path>"

[Junio C Hamano]

"Lutz Lengemann via GitGitGadget" <gitgitgadget@gmail.com> writes:

> From: Lutz Lengemann <lutz@lengemann.net>
>
> The zsh completion wrapper (__git_zsh_main) did not handle the global -C
> option, so "git -C <path> <command> <TAB>" offered nothing and could not
> complete a command's arguments.

I do not write, use, or customize zsh, so please take my comments
with huge grains of salt, or just ignore them completely (your
choice) ;-), but one thng I noticed was that ...

> diff --git a/contrib/completion/git-completion.zsh b/contrib/completion/git-completion.zsh
> index c32186a977..323049be8b 100644
> --- a/contrib/completion/git-completion.zsh
> +++ b/contrib/completion/git-completion.zsh
> @@ -227,6 +227,7 @@ __git_zsh_main ()
>  		'(-p --paginate --no-pager)'{-p,--paginate}'[pipe all output into ''less'']' \
>  		'(-p --paginate)--no-pager[do not pipe git output into a pager]' \
>  		'--git-dir=-[set the path to the repository]: :_directories' \
> +		'*-C[run as if git was started in <path>]: :_directories' \
>  		'--bare[treat the repository as a bare repository]' \
>  		'(- :)--version[prints the git suite version]' \
>  		'--exec-path=-[path to where your core git programs are installed]:: :_directories' \

... this part talks about not just "-C<dir>" but knows about
all the other options that the "git" potty itself takes, while ...

> @@ -252,6 +253,14 @@ __git_zsh_main ()
>  		;;
>  	(arg)
>  		local command="${words[1]}" __git_dir __git_cmd_idx=1
> +		local -a __git_C_args
> +		local -i i=2
> +
> +		while [[ ${orig_words[i]} == -C ]]; do
> +			__git_C_args+=(-C ${orig_words[i+1]})
> +			(( __git_cmd_idx += 2 ))
> +			(( i += 2 ))
> +		done

... this only knows about "-C<dir>" and nothing else.

Doesn't it want to do something similar to what __git_main in
git-completion.bash does at the beginning, namely, this part?

__git_main ()
{
	local i c=1 command __git_dir __git_repo_path
	local __git_C_args C_args_count=0
	local __git_cmd_idx

	while [ $c -lt $cword ]; do
		i="${words[c]}"
		case "$i" in
		--git-dir=*)
			__git_dir="${i#--git-dir=}"
			;;
		--git-dir)
			((c++))
			__git_dir="${words[c]}"
			;;
		--bare)
			__git_dir="."
			;;
		--help)
			command="help"
			break
			;;
		-c|--work-tree|--namespace)
			((c++))
			;;
		-C)
			__git_C_args[C_args_count++]=-C
			((c++))
			__git_C_args[C_args_count++]="${words[c]}"
			;;
		-*)
			;;
		*)
			command="$i"
			__git_cmd_idx="$c"
			break
			;;
		esac
		((c++))
	done