but help cli-ids

CLI IDs are used by but to reference things such as commits, branches and files. While obvious identifiers like full commit hashes and entire branch names are viable CLI IDs, there are also various shorter identifiers that can be used in place of the full names.

In general, but status will show all currently available CLI IDs in front of the "thing".

Typical CLI IDs include:

• Commit:
  • The entire commit ID
  • The entire change ID
  • Any prefix of the commit ID or change ID that is unique in the current context. but status highlights the shortest possible prefix.
• Branch:
  • The entire branch name
  • An exact short ID for the branch name, as shown by but status
• Uncommitted file: A path-derived ID that is typically 1-3 characters
• Uncommitted hunk: <uncommitted_file_cli_id>:<hunk_cli_id>
  • Run but diff to show all current uncommitted hunks and their IDs
• Uncommitted area: Always zz
• Committed file: <commit_cli_id>:<file_cli_id>
  • Run but status -f to show committed files

Many CLI IDs depend on the context and may change if the context changes, such as when new data is written to files, commits are made or rearranged and branches are created or deleted.

Some CLI IDs are more stable than others. For example, a commit's change ID is stable even when commits are made and moved around, but the minimum prefix may increase as other IDs are introduced.

Most but not all commands accept CLI IDs to perform various actions. See the documentation for the individual command (but <command> --help) for details on how to use CLI IDs for that command in particular.

Usage: but help cli-ids