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How to use git without pager

1 min read
Git

Usually, when we execute Git commands like git diff or git log, Git employs a pager to display the results.

Sometimes it can be beneficial to disable the pager, especially when I only want to view simple things. I prefer not having to press q just to quit or mistakenly pressing q and Esc multiple times.

To disable the pager for Git commands, you can simply include the --no-pager or -P parameter when executing the command. Here's an example:

git -P diff
#or
git --no-pager diff

However, there is a caveat when using it with Git aliases. I had an alias called git last, which displayed the details of the most recent commit. The alias was defined as follows:

last = log -1 HEAD --shortstat

Initially, I thought adding -P before the alias would work, but it didn't. Ultimately, I found that using the complete Git command within the alias did the trick:

last = !git -P log -1 HEAD --shortstat

If you have any other tips or Git aliases you'd like to share, please feel free to let me know! :)