Stop Git submodule foreach from opening less for each module

gitless

I occasionally need to grep through git submodules for which I use:

git submodule foreach 'git grep x'

However, since switching to zsh I find a less prompt is opened for each submodule, even when there are no options. What I'd much prefer is for all of the output to be printed out to the terminal.

My current solution is to call:

git submodule foreach 'git grep x' > /tmp/a && cat /tmp/a

Which achieves what I want but I can't help but feel that I'm missing an option or a more elegant solution. Is there one?

Best Answer

Try changing the pager that git uses:

GIT_PAGER="cat" git submodule foreach 'git grep x'

Or if you want less to be used, but only when output will run off of the screen:

GIT_PAGER="less -FX" git submodule foreach 'git grep x'

You can set the pager per project by using git config, or you can, of course, set the environment variables globally.

Related Solutions

Bash – Use git submodule foreach with function

I resolved my issue by putting the function inside of the quotes as a callback:

#!/bin/bash

if [ -z $1 ]; then
    echo "Branch name required."
    exit
fi

git submodule foreach "
    branch=$1;
    exists=\$(git show-ref refs/heads/\$branch | cut -d ' ' -f1);

    if [ -z \$exists ]; then
        branch='master';
    fi;

    echo Checking branch \$branch for submodule \$name.;

    git fetch --all -p;
    git co \$branch;
    git reset --hard origin/\$branch;
"

Note that variables like $1 are those from the script's namespace. The "escaped ones" like $\(bar), \$branch are evaluated within "the callback". It was pretty easy.

`less` performs differently when invoked from Bash and from Git

Documentation:

When the LESS environment variable is unset, Git sets it to FRX (if LESS environment variable is set, Git does not change it at all).

The -X (--no-init) option is responsible for not clearing terminal after exit of less.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Bash – Use git submodule foreach with function

`less` performs differently when invoked from Bash and from Git

Related Question