Add line break to 'git commit -m' from the

Question

I am using Git from the command line and am trying to add a line break to the commit message (using git commit -m "") without going into Vim.

Is this possible?

Answer 1

Doing something like

git commit -m"test\ntest"

doesn't work, but something like

git commit -m"$(echo -e "test\ntest")"

works, but it's not very pretty. You set up a git-commitlb command in your PATH which does something like this:

#!/bin/bash

message=$1

git commit -m"$(echo -e "$message")"

And use it like this:

git commitlb "line1\nline2\nline3"

Word of warning, I have a feeling that the general convention is to have a summary line as the first line, and then two line breaks, and then an extended message in the commit message, so doing something like this would break that convention. You could of course do:

git commitlb "line1\n\nline2\nline3"

Answer 2

There is no need complicating the stuff. After the -m "text... the next line is gotten by pressing Enter. When Enter is pressed > appears. When you are done, just put " and press Enter:

$ git commit -m "Another way of demonstrating multicommit messages:
>
> This is a new line written
> This is another new line written
> This one is really awesome too and we can continue doing so till ..."

$ git log -1
commit 5474e383f2eda610be6211d8697ed1503400ee42 (HEAD -> test2)
Author: ************** <*********@gmail.com>
Date:   Mon Oct 9 13:30:26 2017 +0200

Another way of demonstrating multicommit messages:

This is a new line written
This is another new line written
This one is really awesome too and we can continue doing so till ...