Automatically switches to main, pulls latest changes, and creates a branch feature/user/YYYY-MM-DD/INDEX, incrementing the index if branches exist for the day. Streamlines date-indexed feature branch creation in Git.

feature-brancher.sh

# Creates a feature branch with date-indexed naming based on $USER.
# Add this function to your .bashrc or .zshrc file for easy access in every terminal session.
#
# Example:
# If $USER is "ckrauter" and today is 2024-11-08:
# Running `fb` creates a branch like `feature/ckrauter/2024-11-08/1`.
# Running `fb utils package` creates `feature/ckrauter/utils-package/2024-11-08/1`.

feature_branch() {
  local main_branch="main"
  local prefix="feature"
  local today=$(date +%Y-%m-%d)
  local username=$(echo "$USER" | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')  # Convert $USER to lowercase
  local additional_path=$(echo "$*" | tr ' ' '-')  # Convert arguments to hyphen-separated string
  local index=1
  local new_branch

  # Construct the branch path prefix with optional additional path
  local branch_path="${prefix}/${username}"
  [[ -n "$additional_path" ]] && branch_path="${branch_path}/${additional_path}"
  branch_path="${branch_path}/${today}"

  # Switch to main branch and pull latest changes if not on main
  if [[ "$(git branch --show-current)" != "$main_branch" ]]; then
    echo "Switching to ${main_branch} and pulling latest changes..."
    git checkout $main_branch
    git pull
  fi

  # Find the next available branch index for today
  while git rev-parse --verify --quiet "${branch_path}/${index}"; do
    index=$((index + 1))
  done

  # Create and switch to the new branch
  new_branch="${branch_path}/${index}"
  echo "Creating and checking out ${new_branch}..."
  git checkout -b $new_branch
}

alias fb="feature_branch"