Git: How to enable autocorrect
Update (2023-10-16): An improved version of this post’s content appears in my new book Boost Your Git DX.
By default, if you mistype a Git command, it will list similar commands that you might have meant:
$ git comit -m "Some awesome work"
git: 'comit' is not a git command. See 'git --help'.
The most similar command is
commit
You can configure Git to actually run the first match automatically. This saves you a few seconds each time you make a typo.
To enable autocorrect, set the help.autocorrect:
$ git config --global help.autocorrect immediate
This will add to your ~/.gitconfig file:
[help]
autocorrect = immediate
With this in place, Git will automatically correct typo’d commands instantly:
$ git comit -m "Some awesome work"
WARNING: You called a Git command named 'comit', which does not exist.
Continuing under the assumption that you meant 'commit'.
[main 25112f085] Some awesome work
Neat.
Git only automatically proceeds if there’s only one command that’s a significantly close match. If there are several potential matches, it still lists them and stops:
$ git com -m "Some awesome work"
git: 'com' is not a git command. See 'git --help'.
The most similar commands are
commit
column
Safe.
Prompt to run
If automatically proceeding to run the closest matched command makes you a little nervous, you can instead use the “prompt” mode:
$ git config --global help.autocorrect prompt
Typos will then show a yes/no prompt to correct:
$ git comit -m "More awesome work"
WARNING: You called a Git command named 'comit', which does not exist.
Run 'commit' instead [y/N]?
Press “y” then “enter” to accept the correction:
$ git comit -m "More awesome work"
WARNING: You called a Git command named 'comit', which does not exist.
Run 'commit' instead [y/N]? y
[main 2183b892e] More awesome work
Easy does it.
With a timeout
There’s a third mode, a kind of middle ground between “immediate” and “prompt”. With a numerical setting, Git will wait that many deciseconds before automatically continuing. This gives you a small window of time to stop the corrected command if you spot that it is not what you intended.
For example, to use a two second delay:
$ git config --global help.autocorrect 20
Typo’d commands then show “Continuning in 2.0 seconds...”:
$ git comit -m "Even more work" --allow-empty
WARNING: You called a Git command named 'comit', which does not exist.
Continuing in 2.0 seconds, assuming that you meant 'commit'.
[main b0be18f0d] Even more work
You can press Ctrl-C to cancel incorrect commands during the pause.
Personally I prefer immediate mode—it’s normally possible to recover from erroneous commands.
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Tags: git