Imagine this common development scenario: You've created a new branch, feature/cool-new-thing. After implementing some changes, staging, and committing them, you're ready to push your code. You run a git push command, only to be greeted by an error because your new branch lacks an upstream counterpart. The error message helpfully suggests running the git push --set-upstream origin feature/cool-new-thing command. You can copy and paste that, but ugh! The hassle of leaving the keyboard to use your mouse just to copy and paste some text is annoying!

I had grown tired of this minor inconvenience. I could never remember the full command with the appropriate flags. I would habitually run git push and subsequently copy and paste the error message that appeared, which drove me a little more nuts each time. So I wrote a bash script—an alias, to be precise—that you insert into your shell startup file. Here's the script:

alias copyNewBranch="git push 2>&1 | grep 'git push' | sed 's/^ *//g' | tr -d '\n' | pbcopy"

Let's break this script down:

• git push 2>&1: This attempts to run git push while redirecting STDERR to STDOUT.
• grep 'git push': This filters the output to include only lines containing 'git push'.
• sed 's/^ *//g': This removes any leading whitespace from the filtered output.
• tr -d '\n': This deletes newline characters, consolidating the output into a single line.
• pbcopy: This copies the resulting output to the clipboard.

When you want to push a new local branch, just run copyNewBranch. This command will execute git push, process the error message, and copy the correct command to your clipboard for easy pasting. Your hands never have to leave the keyboard!

Keep in mind that the pbcopy command is macOS-specific.

For Windows, try replacing pbcopy with clip:

alias copyNewBranch="git push 2>&1 | grep 'git push' | sed 's/^ *//g' | tr -d '\n' | clip"

For Linux, try using xclip or xsel, depending on your system:

# Using xclip
alias copyNewBranch="git push 2>&1 | grep 'git push' | sed 's/^ *//g' | tr -d '\n' | xclip -selection clipboard"

# Using xsel
alias copyNewBranch="git push 2>&1 | grep 'git push' | sed 's/^ *//g' | tr -d '\n' | xsel --clipboard --input"

As an alternative, you could use the warp terminal. When you run a git push without an upstream branch, the warp terminal will autosuggest the corrected command! It's a convenient feature to have baked in.

Even though I currently use Warp, I will continue to use this bash script. Admittedly, it only saves me mere seconds each time I use it, but I've consistently relied on it since its creation to help me save a trip to the mouse. I expect it to remain a staple in my toolbox for years.