git-detect-case-change

Script to stage file-path case changes in a Git repository.

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Usage

After renaming files, run the script with npx in your Git repository:

npx git-detect-case-change

If there were any case-changes, it will detect and stage them for you.

Dry run

Run with --dry to see what files would be renamed before staging them:

npx git-detect-case-change --dry

Scoping files

Pass in specific paths after -- to scope the search to:

npx git-detect-case-change -- <scope to directory path>

Why?

File-systems on macOS & Windows are case-insensitive by default, which means paths /a.txt and /A.txt cannot exist at the same time. Because of this default, Git is also case-insensitive by default, preventing it from detecting case changes in file names.

The recommended solution from this StackOverflow discussion is to rename the files individually with git mv:

git mv <old-path> <new-path>

However, this may not be practical if the case-changes were made without Git (eg. automated by another program) and there's a lot to rename.

This script automates case-change detection for Git.

How does it work?

1. Get the case-sensitive file paths from the current Git project:

   git ls-tree --name-only -r HEAD

2. Check each file path with fs.promises.exists to find a case-insensitive match.

3. If the path exists with a different case, register the change with Git:

   git mv <old-path> <new-path>