BackinGIT v.2.0 - Gotta lot of branches? KNOW you coded something already, but cannot recall WHERE? Can't remember which branch you'd been working on 4 days ago when you had to switch gears? Start BackinGIT!

README.md

BackinGIT

BackinGIT is a simple command line tool that provides an interactive menu that lists all the previous branches you've checked out in reverse chronological order, along with the date and time of that access.

What? Why?

Trust me: at some point in your career, you'll find yourself with 4-5 active branches you're working in, be midway through something, and have a co-worker pop up and drag you off down a rabbit hole across multiple branches for multiple days. When you finally are able to resume what you'd been working on last Thursday, you'll think to yourself, "Boy, it sure would be nice if I had a breadcrumb trail back to where I'd BEEN before all of that!"

S'cool. I got you.

Installation

Download the bk2.sh file attached to this gist to your $HOME folder, then source it (source $HOME/bk2.sh). It's pretty self-explanatory after that.

After installation, an (optional) command is generated for your machine that will add the script to your standard bash commands, should you desire to do so. This command creates an alias that tells the shell to lazy-load the script when you first call it that session, then execute it (so it's not occupying any resources unless called for).

Usage

In any Git repository, run bk. That's it. You will be presented with an interactive menu that will allow you to backtrack through your previous checkouts, each tagged with a date/time stamp of said checkout. Use the ⬆︎/⬇︎ arrow keys to select the branch you wish to jump to, hit the Enter key and you're ready to rock/roll/recover!

bk2.sh

#!/usr/bin/bash
# shellcheck disable=SC2086,SC2162
# Inform user of script being loaded, and provide instructions for execution and adding to shell profile
SCRIPT_DIR="$( cd "$( dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )" &> /dev/null && pwd )"
unalias bk 2>/dev/null
echo -e "\nSourced BackinGIT.sh v.2.00 at $(date)!"
[[ "$(grep "alias bk" ~/.bash_profile)" == "" ]] && echo -e "\n Execution command: bk\n To add bk to your standard shell commands:\n echo \"alias bk='unalias bk; source \\\"$SCRIPT_DIR/${BASH_SOURCE[0]}\\\"; bk'\" >> \"$HOME/.bash_profile\"\n\n"

# Initiate the BackInGIT function
function bk {
    # Color definitions
    XX=$XALL; fR=$(tput setaf 1); fG=$(tput setaf 2); fC=$(tput setaf 6); fM=$(tput setaf 5); fY=$(tput setaf 3); fW=$(tput setaf 7); bC=$(tput setab 6); tB=$(tput bold); tS=$(tput smso); 

    [ ! -d .git ] && echo -e "${tS}${fR} bk ERROR: ${fW} This directory is not a git repository! Aborting... ${XX}" && return 1

    # Set up the branch list
    unset BRANCH_LIST
    declare -a BRANCH_LIST
    readarray -t BRANCH_LIST <<< "$(git reflog show --date=iso --all -v | grep checkout | grep . -n | sed -E "s/^([0-9]+):.*[{]([ :0-9-]+)[}].* to (.*)/\1. \3 \2/" | xargs -J @ printf "%-6s%-30s%-17s%-9s%-5s\n" "@")"
    BRANCH_COUNT=${#BRANCH_LIST[@]}

    # Set up the menu variables
    ESC=$( printf "\033")
    BK_MENU_SELECTION=1;
    unset keys
    declare -a keys
    

    # BK_RENDER_MENU
    # Displays the menu, with the currently selected branch highlighted
    function BK_RENDER_MENU {
        clear
        [ $BK_MENU_SELECTION -gt $BRANCH_COUNT ] && BK_MENU_SELECTION=1
        [ $BK_MENU_SELECTION -lt 1 ] && BK_MENU_SELECTION=$BRANCH_COUNT
        listIncrementer=0
        branch_rows=""
        for branch in "${BRANCH_LIST[@]}"; do 
            ((listIncrementer+=1))
            [ $BK_MENU_SELECTION -eq $listIncrementer ] && branch_row="${tB}${bC}$branch${XX}" || branch_row="$branch"
            branch_rows="$branch_rows\\n$branch_row"
        done
        echo -e "${tS}╓─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╖\n║  BackinGIT - \"I'd SWEAR I already coded that! ...Somewhere...\"  ║\n╙─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╜\n${XX}"
        printf "%-6s%-30s%-17s%-9s%-5s\n┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈" "#" "Branch" "Last Accessed" "At Time" ""
        echo -e "$branch_rows"
        printf "\n\n${tS}${tB}Instructions:${XX} 
        [⬆︎ ] and [⬇︎ ]: Select the branch you wish to check out
        [${fM}${tB}1${XX}] - [${fM}${tB}9${XX}]:     Quick-select corresponding branches
        [${fG}${tB}ENTER${XX}]:       Complete selection & check out branch
        [${fR}${tB}ESCAPE${XX}]:      Abort and cancel selection
        
        ${tB}${fY}Select a branch (${fW}[${fG}ENTER${fW}]${fY} selects: ${fC}%s${fY}) > ${XX}" "$BK_MENU_SELECTION"
    }

    # BK_PERFORM_SELECTION
    # Performs the checkout of the highlighted branch
    function BK_PERFORM_SELECTION {
        userSelection="$(echo $1 | sed -E "s/ +/ /g")"
        selectedIndex="$(cut -d' ' -f1 <<< $userSelection)"
        selectedBranch="$(cut -d' ' -f2 <<< $userSelection)"
        printf "%s. %s\n\n" "$selectedIndex" "$selectedBranch"
        echo "Switching to branch $selectedBranch... "
        echo "EXECUTING COMMAND: git checkout $selectedBranch"
        git checkout "$selectedBranch"
    }

    # BK_WATCH_KEY_INPUT
    # Watches for keypresses and returns the corresponding action
    function BK_WATCH_KEY_INPUT() { 
        read -s -n1 key 2>/dev/null >&2
        case "$key" in
            # Handle arrow keys and ESC
            $'\x1b') read -t.1 -n2 r 1>/dev/null >&2
                    case "$r" in
                        '[A') echo 'U';;
                        '[B') echo 'D';;
                        '') echo 'ESC';;
                    esac;;
            # Handle number keys
            '1'|'2'|'3'|'4'|'5'|'6'|'7'|'8'|'9') [[ $key -le $BRANCH_COUNT ]] && echo $key || echo "NULL";;
            # Handle "Q" key
            'Q'|'q') echo 'ESC';;
            # Handle "ENTER" key
            $'\x0a'|'') echo 'SEL';;
            # Handle all other keys (loopback into this menu)
            *) echo "NULL";;
        esac
    }

    # BK_MENU_LOOP
    # The main loop for the menu
    while true; do
        BK_RENDER_MENU
        BK_KEY_INPUT=$(BK_WATCH_KEY_INPUT)
        case "$BK_KEY_INPUT" in
            'ESC'|'Q') echo "${fR}Aborted.${XX}"; return 0;;
            'SEL') BK_PERFORM_SELECTION "${BRANCH_LIST[$((BK_MENU_SELECTION-1))]}"; break;;
            '1'|'2'|'3'|'4'|'5'|'6'|'7'|'8'|'9') BK_PERFORM_SELECTION "${BRANCH_LIST[$((BK_KEY_INPUT-1))]}"; break;;
            'U') ((BK_MENU_SELECTION--)) && continue ;;
            'D') ((BK_MENU_SELECTION++)) && continue ;;
            'NULL') continue;;
        esac
    done
}