dotfiles.git

Vim Git-Tab

These are handy context-sensitive Git commands in Vim that load the results in a new tab. The commands infer what you want from the current filename and whether there's a commit hash under the cursor.

These commands are for investigating the history of files. They are:

• Blame
• Log
• Show and ShowFile
• Diff

This simple plugin is enough to do 95% of the Git dives I do. If you still want to do even more with Git while in Vim, consider Tim Pope's comprehensive vim-fugitive.

Installation

Install into Vim's built-in package support:

mkdir -p ~/.vim/pack/plugins/start
cd ~/.vim/pack/plugins/start
git clone --filter=blob:none -b main --single-branch https://github.com/dblume/gittab
vim -u NONE -c "helptags gittab/doc" -c q

Common Use Example

Say you're on "index.html", and you need to know why a section looks the way it does. Run :Blame to see a buffer of "git blame" open at the same line where you are so you don't lose any context.

Or run :Log to see a list of only the commits that affect that file. This is nice in a repo of thousands of commits, but only dozens are to this file.

If you see a commit of interest, move the cursor over it, and type :Diff to see what changes were made by that commit, or :Show to see the full commit description.

Then you can keep exploring, and each command infers what you want by which type of buffer you're in or what commit your cursor is on.

The Commands

When you're browsing a file in a Git repository, these commands provide a very simple and convenient flow for digging into their history.

All you have to know is Blame, Log, Show, and Diff.

The following image is an oversimplification, but shows that with the above four commands, one can easily and quickly navigate various views of a file and its commit history.

:Blame

When you're on a regular file or a :ShowFile buffer, opens up a git blame buffer in a new tab and positions the cursor at the same relative spot in the Blame buffer.

Example, run Blame on a :ShowFile buffer named "git show 1234abcd:README.md", and you get a :Blame buffer named "git blame 1234abcd -- README.md".

:Log

When you're on a regular file or a :ShowFile buffer, opens up a git log buffer in a new tab for the commits that affect only that file. By default, runs log as:

git log --no-color --graph --date=short --pretty="format:%h %ad %s %an %d"

And you can pass in additional Git arguments like --all.

:Log --all

The reason Log defaults to one-line logs is because :Show and :Diff are so easy to use to dive in deeper to the individual commits.

Handy arguments are --all, --merges, --date-order, --first-parent, and --ancestry-path.

:Show and :ShowFile

These require the cursor to be positioned on a hash, so you'd most likely be in a :Log or :Blame buffer when you want to use these commands.

When you're on a :Log or :Blame buffer :Show opens a buffer in a new tab that shows the full commit message for the hash under the cursor.

:ShowFile opens a buffer in a new tab that shows the contents of the file at the hash under the cursor.

Ex., If the cursor is on "1234abcd" on :Blame buffer git blame -- README.md then:

Command	Resultant Buffer
:Show	git show 1234abcd -- README.md
:ShowFile	git show 1234abcd:README.md

:Diff

If you're on a regular file that's different from HEAD, :Diff will perform a git diff on the file from HEAD. If it's the same as HEAD, then :Diff will perform a git diff against that file's previous commit.

If the cursor is on a commit hash (as available on :Blame, :Log, and :Show buffers), then :Diff will perform a diff against the previous commit to that one.

If the active window is of a :Diff buffer, then :Diff will perform a git diff of that buffer with that revision's parent.

Is it any good?

Yes.

The diagram was made with Excalidraw.

Licence

This software uses the MIT License