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Creating Custom Git Commands

· 2 min read

Tired of juggling multiple commands to set up a new GitHub project? This guide introduces a clever scripting solution! We'll create a custom command that automates cloning a repository, navigating to the directory, installing dependencies, and opening the project in VSCode - all in one go!

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Every time I clone a repository from GitHub, I always run the same set of commands. This is prone to typos and simply inconvenient. There is a simple solution of combining each step into a single command that automatically runs everything for us.

In this example, I need to clone a GitHub repository, move into the new directory, and then open the project in VSCode.

Instead of multiple commands:

  git clone https://github.com/spencerlepine/readme-crawler
cd readme-crawler
code .

It would great to run one command:

	clone https://github.com/spencerlepine/readme-crawler

To achieve this, we can create a script in the ~/bin directory. Make sure this path matches up with your configuration for the terminal (e.g. PATH=$PATH:$HOME/bin).

Let’s create a custom script to combine the git commands.

  #!/bin/bash

((!$#)) && echo missing git URL argument! && exit 1

git clone $1
basename=$(basename $1)
reponame=${basename%.*}
cd $reponame
npm install
code .

Use this script or create your own, and follow these steps to set up the custom command:

  • Navigate to usr/local/bin -> cd ~/../../usr/local/bin
  • Run vim clone
    • Paste the script
  • Save the file:
    • *press ‘ESC’
    • *press ‘SHIFT’ + ‘:’
    • *type ‘wq’ + ENTER
  • Create an executable
    • chmod +x clone
  • Run the command!
    • clone https://github.com/spencerlepine/manyshiba-bot.git

Viola! This script will accept one command line argument of the destination repo URL. It will automatically open the new project in VSCode in one command.

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