oliverdavies.uk/content/node.c99cc7ef-20b0-4743-9638-61cb4beeb5ec.yml

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title:
  - value: 'Why I use long parameter names in scripts'
created:
  - value: '2024-05-23T00:00:00+00:00'
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      <p>The other day, <a href="/daily/2024/05/21/which-commit-has-the-largest-message">I posted about a script I'd written</a> that found the longest commit message in a repository.</p>

      <p>As I couldn't find a native way to do this with Git, the script loops over each commit in the repository, calculates its length and stores the length and commit SHA in a file.</p>

      <p>The lines in the file are sorted so the longest commit is first.</p>

      <p>Whilst I commonly use short parameters, such as <code>git add -p</code> when typing commands, in scripts, I prefer to use the equivalent longer parameters, where possible.</p>

      <p>For example, in the script, I execute this command to sort the lines:</p>

      <pre><code class="bash">sort "${result_file}" --reverse --numeric-sort --output "${result_file}"
      </code></pre>

      <p>This could be re-written as:</p>

      <pre><code class="bash">sort "${result_file}" -rn -o "${result_file}"
      </code></pre>

      <p>Whilst the original is more verbose and longer to type, I prefer its verbosity which makes it easier for me or others to read and understand in the future.</p>

              
    format: full_html
    processed: |
      <p>The other day, <a href="/daily/2024/05/21/which-commit-has-the-largest-message">I posted about a script I'd written</a> that found the longest commit message in a repository.</p>

      <p>As I couldn't find a native way to do this with Git, the script loops over each commit in the repository, calculates its length and stores the length and commit SHA in a file.</p>

      <p>The lines in the file are sorted so the longest commit is first.</p>

      <p>Whilst I commonly use short parameters, such as <code>git add -p</code> when typing commands, in scripts, I prefer to use the equivalent longer parameters, where possible.</p>

      <p>For example, in the script, I execute this command to sort the lines:</p>

      <pre><code class="bash">sort "${result_file}" --reverse --numeric-sort --output "${result_file}"
      </code></pre>

      <p>This could be re-written as:</p>

      <pre><code class="bash">sort "${result_file}" -rn -o "${result_file}"
      </code></pre>

      <p>Whilst the original is more verbose and longer to type, I prefer its verbosity which makes it easier for me or others to read and understand in the future.</p>

              
    summary: null
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