gcl ── A minimal bash utility for cloning git repositories with intelligent directory naming

README.md

gcl

Git Clone with Smart Naming

A minimal bash utility for cloning git repositories with intelligent directory naming

---

Installation

# Clone the repo
git clone git@gist.github.com:dc05168913b89f8d065e87a3e976a004.git

# Navigate to repo
cd dc05168913b89f8d065e87a3e976a004

# Give execution permissions
chmod +x gcl

# Link it somewhere in your PATH
ln -svf $PWD/gcl /usr/bin/gcl

# Use it anywhere
gcl git@github.com:metaory/markup.json.git +u

---

Usage

gcl <SSH_URL> [OPTION]

Examples

Basic Clone

gcl git@github.com:metaory/markup.json.git
# Clones to: markup.json

Username Prefix

gcl git@github.com:metaory/markup.json.git -u
# Clones to: metorial__markup.json

Username Suffix

gcl git@github.com:metaory/markup.json.git +u
# Clones to: markup.json__metorial

Custom Suffix Word

gcl git@github.com:metaory/markup.json.git +foobar
# Clones to: markup.json__foobar

Custom Prefix Word

gcl git@github.com:metaory/markup.json.git -foobar
# Clones to: foobar__markup.json

Language Suffix

gcl git@github.com:metaory/markup.json.git +l
# Clones to: markup.json__javascript

Language Prefix

gcl git@github.com:metaory/markup.json.git -l
# Clones to: javascript__markup.json

Custom Suffix Sentence

gcl git@github.com:metaory/markup.json.git x11 xorg
# Clones to: markup.json__x11-xorg

Options

• -u or -U: Prefix with username
• +u or +U: Suffix with username
• -l or -L: Prefix with language
• +l or +L: Suffix with language
• +<name>: Suffix with custom word
• -<name>: Prefix with custom word
• x12 xog: Suffix with hyphen joined sentence

Features

• Extracts username and repo name from SSH URLs
• Uses double underscore (__) as separator
• Clones with --depth 1 for shallow clones
• Includes --recurse-submodules for submodule support
• Robust error handling with bash strict mode
• Colored output for debugging

Installation

chmod +x gcl
# Add to PATH or use directly

---

License

MIT

gcl

#!/bin/bash

trap exit INT

set -o errexit
set -o errtrace
set -o pipefail
set -o noclobber
shopt -s extglob

help() {
  cat <<EOF
Usage: gcll <SSH_URL> [OPTION]

Examples:
  gcll git@github.com:metaory/markup.json.git
  gcll git@github.com:metaory/markup.json.git -u
  gcll git@github.com:metaory/markup.json.git +u
  gcll git@github.com:metaory/markup.json.git +foobar
  gcll git@github.com:metaory/markup.json.git -foobar

Options:
  -u, -U    Prefix with username
  +u, +U    Suffix with username
  -l, -L    Prefix with language
  +l, +L    Suffix with language
  +<name>   Suffix with custom word
  -<name>   Prefix with custom word
  x12 xog   Suffix with underscore joined sentence
  -h, --help Show this help
EOF
}

[[ "$1" == "-h" || "$1" == "--help" ]] && {
  help
  exit 0
}

[ -z "$1" ] && {
  echo "Error: SSH URL required" >&2
  help >&2
  exit 1
}

[[ "$1" =~ ^git@github\.com:[^/]+/[^/]+\.git$ ]] || {
  echo "Error: Invalid SSH URL format. Expected: git@github.com:user/repo.git" >&2
  exit 1
}

URL="$1"
DIR="$REP"
read -r USR REP < <(sed -E 's|git@github.com:([^/]*)/(.*)\.git|\1 \2|' <<<"$URL")
read -r LNG < <(gh repo view --json primaryLanguage --jq '.primaryLanguage.name // "NA"' "$URL")

case "${2:-}" in
[+][[:alpha:]][[:alnum:]-]*) DIR="${REP}__${2:1}" ;;
[-][[:alpha:]][[:alnum:]-]*) DIR="${2:1}__${REP}" ;;
-u | -U) DIR="${USR}__${REP}" ;;
+u | +U) DIR="${REP}__${USR}" ;;
-l | -L) DIR="${LNG}__${REP}" ;;
+l | +L) DIR="${REP}__${LNG}" ;;
*) ETC="${*:2}"; DIR="${REP}__${ETC// /-}" ;;
esac

DIR="${DIR,,}"

[ -d "$DIR" ] && {
  echo "Error: Directory '$DIR' already exists" >&2
  exit 1
}

log() {
  while [ "$1" ]; do
    echo -e "$1 [\e[33m${!1}\e[0m]"
    shift
  done
}

log URL LNG USR REP DIR

git clone \
  --depth 1 \
  --recurse-submodules \
  "${URL}" "${DIR}"

# vim: ft=bash