As msysgit uses a bash shell, you can set really handy aliases for the different git commands. For example gs instead of git status and ga instead of git add are the ones I use the most. Check out the great Git Immersion tutorial from Edgecase for a list of aliases. I can also recommend creating the got and get aliases. It’s amazing how often I write got instead of git.
Using the bash shell can be unfamiliar to a Windows user. So if you want to set aliases in msysgit it is not very obvious where they should go. They could go into the .bashrc file or the bash_profile file. From a linux perspective the bash_profile configuration file is executed when logging in while the .bashrc file is executed every time a bash shell window is opened. The .bashrc file is located in the c:\Users\YourUsername directory and the bash_profile file is in the etc directory. In the case of msysgit I fail to see that there is any real practical difference; both are executed when you start up msysgit. So I just used .bashrc and it works great.
My .bashrc file (almost identical to the Git Immersion profile file that is linked above):
alias less='less -r' # --show-control-chars: help showing Korean or accented characters alias ls='ls -F --color --show-control-chars' alias ll='ls -l' alias gs='git status ' alias ga='git add ' alias gb='git branch ' alias gc='git commit' alias gd='git diff' alias go='git checkout ' alias gk='gitk --all&' alias gx='gitx --all' alias got='git ' alias get='git '
Related articles
- Git for Windows tip: setting an editor (danlimerick.wordpress.com)
