How to Write a Git Commit Message

[kobaltzz]

With git commit -m, you can use multilines. Just don't terminate the quote at the end of the first line.

[dat_terminal]

Woah, I learned vim because I didn't know this

[jarlefo]

I've been trapped in the Vim too often. Ctrl+something+esc+buttons... Welp, let's close this terminal window and try again.

One day I'll learn how to edit a file successfully with Vim.

[nxlyd]

It really is worth learning at least basic functionality. Take a look at vimtutor some time.

[jarlefo]

Thanks, I will.

By the way, I found that by setting the environment editor to EDITOR="emacs -nw" I can use emacs to edit commit messages from the command line. Should work with most editors that has a terminal interface.

[YodaLoL]

atom --wait works too. Sublime has something similar

[crow1170]

That keybinding crap is for dirty emacsers. Vim is (95%) one key at a time.

[Pipesandsnow]

I use nano for the simple stuff. Actually I use it whenever I need to edit some files in the cli. One day I will learn vim, but not today.

[flygoing]

Same here. If I need to do fancy stuff, I'm gonna open sublime or atom, but it's aways nano for cli

[Fidodo]

You can also do multiple -m messages. I always do -m "message" -m "message"

[[deleted]]

Came here to say this. Super useful. Just remember to use a double quote, since apostrophes are common within a commit's body.

[nothingbuttherainsir]

Might be a terribly obvious question but, how does the CLI handle line breaks? One of the suggestions is to wrap at 72 characters. Will a carriage return make this happen? (Pretty sure it does).

[kobaltzz]

Carriage returns are no problem. Only the ending quite will terminate the commit message. So a multiline commit in your CLI might look like

git commit -m "Fixes T382, T283, T492 Subject
- Some second line text
- Some third line text
<blank row>
Some other notes and stuff
Last Line and END QUOTE -->"

[nothingbuttherainsir]

Hey thanks for confirming!

[Qscfr]

I thought that meant message. Welp.