Add Apply Successive Filters To Lines In Less as a Unix TIL

Was fetching remote then checking out stale local branch

README.md

@@ -6,11 +6,11 @@ A collection of concise write-ups on small things I learn day to day across a
 variety of languages and technologies. These are things that don't really
 warrant a full blog post. These are things I've picked up by [Learning In
 Public™](https://dev.to/jbranchaud/how-i-built-a-learning-machine-45k9) and
-pairing with smart people at Hashrocket.
+working across different projects via [VisualMode](https://www.visualmode.dev/).
 
 For a steady stream of TILs, [sign up for my newsletter](https://visualmode.kit.com/newsletter).
 
-_1712 TILs and counting..._
+_1722 TILs and counting..._
 
 See some of the other learning resources I work on:
 
@@ -131,6 +131,7 @@ If you've learned something here, support my efforts writing daily TILs by
 - [Clean Up Your Brew Installations](brew/clean-up-your-brew-installations.md)
 - [Configure Brew Environment Variables](brew/configure-brew-environment-variables.md)
 - [Export List Of Everything Installed By Brew](brew/export-list-of-everything-installed-by-brew.md)
+- [Install From Nonstandard Brewfile](brew/install-from-nonstandard-brewfile.md)
 - [Install Go Packages In Brewfile](brew/install-go-packages-in-brewfile.md)
 - [List All Services Managed By Brew](brew/list-all-services-managed-by-brew.md)
 
@@ -157,6 +158,7 @@ If you've learned something here, support my efforts writing daily TILs by
 
 ### Claude Code
 
+- [Allow Edits From The Start](claude-code/allow-edits-from-the-start.md)
 - [Monitor Usage Limits From CLI](claude-code/monitor-usage-limits-from-cli.md)
 - [Open Current Prompt In Default Editor](claude-code/open-current-prompt-in-default-editor.md)
 
@@ -348,6 +350,7 @@ If you've learned something here, support my efforts writing daily TILs by
 - [Count Number Of Commits On A Branch](git/count-number-of-commits-on-a-branch.md)
 - [Create A New Branch With Git Switch](git/create-a-new-branch-with-git-switch.md)
 - [Delete All Untracked Files](git/delete-all-untracked-files.md)
+- [Determine Absolute Path Of Top-Level Project Directory](git/determine-absolute-path-of-top-level-project-directory.md)
 - [Determine The Hash Id For A Blob](git/determine-the-hash-id-for-a-blob.md)
 - [Diffing With Patience](git/diffing-with-patience.md)
 - [Dropping Commits With Git Rebase](git/dropping-commits-with-git-rebase.md)
@@ -500,6 +503,7 @@ If you've learned something here, support my efforts writing daily TILs by
 
 ### Heroku
 
+- [Check Ruby Version For Production App](heroku/check-ruby-version-for-production-app.md)
 - [Connect To A Database By Color](heroku/connect-to-a-database-by-color.md)
 - [Deploy A Review App To A Different Stack](heroku/deploy-a-review-app-to-a-different-stack.md)
 - [Diagnose Problems In A Heroku Postgres Database](heroku/diagnose-problems-in-a-heroku-postgres-database.md)
@@ -746,6 +750,7 @@ If you've learned something here, support my efforts writing daily TILs by
 
 - [Create Umbrella Task For All Test Tasks](mise/create-umbrella-task-for-all-test-tasks.md)
 - [List The Files Being Loaded By Mise](mise/list-the-files-being-loaded-by-mise.md)
+- [Look In Ruby Version Dotfile](mise/look-in-ruby-version-dotfile.md)
 - [Preserve Color Output For Task Command](mise/preserve-color-output-for-task-command.md)
 - [Read Existing Dot Env File Into Env Vars](mise/read-existing-dot-env-file-into-env-vars.md)
 - [Run A Command With Specific Tool Version](mise/run-a-command-with-specific-tool-version.md)
@@ -1412,6 +1417,7 @@ If you've learned something here, support my efforts writing daily TILs by
 - [Install Latest Version Of Ruby With asdf](ruby/install-latest-version-of-ruby-with-asdf.md)
 - [Invoking Rake Tasks Multiple Times](ruby/invoking-rake-tasks-multiple-times.md)
 - [IRB Has Built-In Benchmarking With Ruby 3](ruby/irb-has-built-in-benchmarking-with-ruby-3.md)
+- [Join URI Path Parts](ruby/join-uri-path-parts.md)
 - [Jump Out Of A Nested Context With Throw/Catch](ruby/jump-out-of-a-nested-context-with-throw-catch.md)
 - [Last Raised Exception In The Call Stack](ruby/last-raised-exception-in-the-call-stack.md)
 - [Limit Split](ruby/limit-split.md)
@@ -1533,6 +1539,7 @@ If you've learned something here, support my efforts writing daily TILs by
 
 ### Taskfile
 
+- [Create Interactive Picker For Set Of Subtasks](taskfile/create-interactive-picker-for-set-of-subtasks.md)
 - [Run A Task If It Meets Criteria](taskfile/run-a-task-if-it-meets-criteria.md)
 
 ### tmux
@@ -1568,6 +1575,7 @@ If you've learned something here, support my efforts writing daily TILs by
 - [Reset An Option Back To Its Default Value](tmux/reset-an-option-back-to-its-default-value.md)
 - [Set Environment Variables When Creating Session](tmux/set-environment-variables-when-creating-session.md)
 - [Set Session Specific Environment Variables](tmux/set-session-specific-environment-variables.md)
+- [Set Up Forwarding Prefix For Nested Session](tmux/set-up-forwarding-prefix-for-nested-session.md)
 - [Show The Current Value For An Option](tmux/show-the-current-value-for-an-option.md)
 - [Swap Split Panes](tmux/swap-split-panes.md)
 - [Switch To A Specific Session And Window](tmux/switch-to-a-specific-session-and-window.md)
@@ -1601,6 +1609,7 @@ If you've learned something here, support my efforts writing daily TILs by
 ### Unix
 
 - [All The Environment Variables](unix/all-the-environment-variables.md)
+- [Apply Successive Filters To Lines In Less](unix/apply-successive-filters-to-lines-in-less.md)
 - [Authorize A cURL Request](unix/authorize-a-curl-request.md)
 - [Cat A File With Line Numbers](unix/cat-a-file-with-line-numbers.md)
 - [Cat Files With Color Using Bat](unix/cat-files-with-color-using-bat.md)
@@ -1634,6 +1643,7 @@ If you've learned something here, support my efforts writing daily TILs by
 - [Different Ways To Generate A v4 UUID](unix/different-ways-to-generate-a-v4-uuid.md)
 - [Display All The Terminal Colors](unix/display-all-the-terminal-colors.md)
 - [Display Free Disk Space](unix/display-free-disk-space.md)
+- [Display Line Numbers While Using Less](unix/display-line-numbers-while-using-less.md)
 - [Display The Contents Of A Directory As A Tree](unix/display-the-contents-of-a-directory-as-a-tree.md)
 - [Do A Dry Run Of An rsync](unix/do-a-dry-run-of-an-rsync.md)
 - [Do Not Overwrite Existing Files](unix/do-not-overwrite-existing-files.md)
@@ -2053,7 +2063,7 @@ I shamelessly stole this idea from
 
 ## License
 
-© 2015-2025 Josh Branchaud
+© 2015-2026 Josh Branchaud
 
 This repository is licensed under the MIT license. See `LICENSE` for
 details.

Taskfile.yml

@@ -32,8 +32,7 @@ tasks:
   notes:sync:
     desc: Sync latest changes from the notes submodule
     cmds:
-      - git submodule update --remote {{.NOTES_DIR}}
-      - cd {{.NOTES_DIR}} && git checkout main
+      - cd {{.NOTES_DIR}} && git checkout main && git pull
     silent: false
 
   notes:open:
@@ -49,6 +48,7 @@ tasks:
     cmds:
       - git add NOTES.md
       - git commit -m "Update notes - $(date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M')"
+      - git pull --rebase
       - git push
     status:
       - git diff --exit-code NOTES.md

brew/install-from-nonstandard-brewfile.md

@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+# Install From Nonstandard Brewfile
+
+When you want to install the packages listed in the `Brewfile` for your current
+project (or dotfiles), you can run:
+
+```bash
+$ brew bundle
+```
+
+And `brew` knows to look for and use the `Brewfile` in the current directory.
+
+If, however, you are trying to run `brew bundle` for a `Brewfile` located
+somewhere besides the current directory *OR* you want to target a file with a
+non-standard name (like
+[`Brewfile.personal`](https://github.com/jbranchaud/dotfiles/blob/main/Brewfile.personal)),
+then you can use the `--file` flag.
+
+```bash
+$ brew bundle --file Brewfile.personal
+```
+
+This is what I do [here in my `dotfiles`
+repo](https://github.com/jbranchaud/dotfiles/blob/b053f6251cae7ed52f698fc2a2c40ba82c5881b0/installer/mac-setup.sh#L42-L48).
+
+See `man brew` and find the section on `brew bundle` for more details.

claude-code/allow-edits-from-the-start.md

@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+# Allow Edits From The Start
+
+A common pattern for me when using Claude Code is that I start it up in a
+project, I prompt it with a question or feature spec, it either comes up with a
+plan or just starts working, and as soon as it is ready to make its first edits
+to a file, it prompts me something like:
+
+```
+ Do you want to make this edit to Taskfile.yml?
+ ❯ 1. Yes
+   2. Yes, allow all edits during this session (shift+tab)
+   3. Type here to tell Claude what to do differently
+```
+
+That's a nice default so that I don't get surprised by Claude Code editing a
+bunch of files.
+
+However, if I'm in a git-backed project and I'm going into a session intending
+to make edits, then I can skip the formalities. I can tell Claude Code when
+starting up the session that edits are allowed.
+
+```sh
+$ claude --permission-mode acceptEdits
+```
+
+When I do this, I'll see the following indicator below the prompt input field:
+
+```
+  ⏵⏵ accept edits on (shift+tab to cycle)
+```
+
+If I've already started `claude` but I forgot to specify that permission mode, I
+can also toggle right into _accept edits_ by hitting `Shift+Tab`.
+
+[source](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IK18goX4X8)

git/determine-absolute-path-of-top-level-project-directory.md

@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+# Determine Absolute Path Of Top-Level Project Directory
+
+The `git rev-parse` command is a git plumbing command for parsing different
+kinds of things in git into a canonical form that can be used in a deterministic
+way by scripts. I would typically think of using it to work with branch names,
+tags, and other kinds of refs.
+
+There is a handy, sorta off-label use for it in determining the absolute path of
+the root directory for the current git repository. Use the `--show-toplevel`
+flag with no other arguments.
+
+```bash
+❯ git rev-parse --show-toplevel
+/Users/lastword/dev/jbranchaud/til
+```
+
+Here, I am in the local copy of [my TIL repo](https://github.com/jbranchaud/til). This command gives me the absolute
+path of the top-level directory where that `.git` directory resides.
+
+This is useful for scripts that need to orient themselves to the current
+project's top-level directory regardless of what directory they are being
+executed from. This is useful for things like a git hook script or monorepos
+with scripts located in a specific sub-project directory.
+
+Also worth mentioning is the `--show-superproject-working-tree` flag. In my TIL
+repo, I have a private repository included as a submodule. Within that directory
+`--show-toplevel` will produce the absolute path to the submodule. If I instead
+want the absolute path of the _super project_ (in this case TIL), then I can use
+this other flag.
+
+```bash
+❯ git rev-parse --show-toplevel
+/Users/lastword/dev/jbranchaud/til/notes
+
+❯ git rev-parse --show-superproject-working-tree
+/Users/lastword/dev/jbranchaud/til
+```
+
+See `man git-rev-parse` for more details.

heroku/check-ruby-version-for-production-app.md

@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+# Check Ruby Version For Production App
+
+While deploying a fresh Rails app to Heroku recently, I ran into an issue. The
+`it` block argument wasn't working despite being on Ruby 4.0. Or so I thought.
+
+Running the following command reported the Ruby version of that Heroku server
+instance:
+
+```bash
+❯ heroku run -- ruby --version
+Running ruby --version on ⬢ my-app... up, run.3090
+ruby 3.3.9 (2025-07-24 revision f5c772fc7c) [x86_64-linux]
+```
+
+I was on `3.3.9` which must have been the fallback default at the time.
+
+Though I had set the Ruby version in my `.ruby-version` file, I had neglected to
+specify it in the `Gemfile` as well. Once I added it to the `Gemfile` and
+redeployed, my Heroku server instance was running the expected version of Ruby.
+
+```bash
+❯ heroku run -- ruby --version
+Running ruby --version on ⬢ my-app... up, run.5353
+ruby 4.0.0 (2025-12-25 revision 553f1675f3) +PRISM [x86_64-linux]
+```
+
+Note: because [I have set `HEROKU_ORGANIZATION` and
+`HEROKU_APP`](set-default-team-and-app-for-project.md) in my environment
+(`.envrc`) for the local copy of the app, I don't need to specify those when
+running the `heroku run` command above.
+
+See `heroku run --help` for more details.

mise/look-in-ruby-version-dotfile.md

@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+# Look In Ruby Version Dotfile
+
+Newer versions of [`mise`](https://mise.jdx.dev/dev-tools/) specifically only
+look for tool versions in `mise.toml` as well as the asdf `.tool-versions` file.
+A lot of Ruby projects use the `.ruby-version` file to indicate the Ruby version
+of a project. To continue to use the `.ruby-version` file instead of migrating
+to `mise.toml`, you need to tell `mise` that you prefer to use the idiomatic
+version file.
+
+I added the following line to my
+[`~/.config/mise/config.toml`](https://github.com/jbranchaud/dotfiles/commit/8edeb7a9c53500e89e88b4079cbd1859ebebcbda)
+file:
+
+```toml
+idiomatic_version_file_enable_tools = ["ruby"]
+```
+
+Now, whenever `mise` is looking for the specified Ruby version of a project, it
+will also look for `.ruby-version`.
+
+Here is a [full list of idomatic version files supported by
+`mise`](https://mise.jdx.dev/configuration.html#idiomatic-version-files).
+
+See
+[`idiomatic_version_file_enable_tools`](https://mise.jdx.dev/configuration/settings.html#idiomatic_version_file_enable_tools)
+as well as the [Ruby-specific documentation](https://mise.jdx.dev/lang/ruby.html#ruby-version-and-gemfile-support)
+for more details.

ruby/join-uri-path-parts.md

@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+# Join URI Path Parts
+
+The
+[`URI.join`](https://ruby-doc.org/stdlib-2.5.1/libdoc/uri/rdoc/URI.html#method-c-join)
+method seems like a handy way to combine a base URL with some subpath. However,
+there are some subtle gotchas depending on where forward slashes appear in the
+two arguments.
+
+Let's first look at the, in my opinion, desired behavior:
+
+```ruby
+> URI.join("https://example.com/api/v1/", "users")
+=> #<URI::HTTPS https://example.com/api/v1/users>
+```
+
+The base URL has a trailing slash and the path that I want to join to it has no
+leading slash. The result is a path where `users` is joined to the end of the
+base URL. That's what I'm looking for.
+
+Now, let's see some variations on the above approach that give results that I
+wasn't expecting and don't want.
+
+```ruby
+> URI.join("https://example.com/api/v1", "/users") # 1
+=> #<URI::HTTPS https://example.com/users>
+> URI.join("https://example.com/api/v1", "users") # 2
+=> #<URI::HTTPS https://example.com/api/users>
+> URI.join("https://example.com/api/v1/", "/users") # 3
+=> #<URI::HTTPS https://example.com/users>
+```
+
+1. No trailing slash on the base URL. Leading slash on the path to join. The
+   path portion of the base URL is wiped out and `/users` is joined in.
+2. No trailing slash on the base URL. No leading slash on the path to join. The
+   `users` path replaces the last part of the path in the base URL.
+3. Both a trailing slash in the base URL and a leading slash in the path to
+   join. Same behavior as 1.
+
+I have two takeaways from this:
+- Use with caution. If I'm going to use `URI.join` for this purpose, I need to
+  be careful to only use the form in the first code block.
+- The `URI.join` method is probably meant to be primarily used to join a domain
+  (e.g. `http://example.com`) that has no path with some path segment.

taskfile/create-interactive-picker-for-set-of-subtasks.md

@@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
+# Create Interactive Picker For Set Of Subtasks
+
+For [my TIL repo](https://github.com/jbranchaud/til), I have a `Taskfile.yml`
+that defines a set of `notes:*` tasks for interacting with a `NOTES.md` file
+that lives in a private Git submodule.
+
+I wanted to make it easier on myself to not have to remember all the different
+`notes` subtasks, so I created a helper task to make it easy to see the options
+and run one.
+
+A summary of the Taskfile is shown below including the entirety of the `notes`
+task. That task will parse a listing of the available tasks (via `task --list`
+and some `sed` commands) and pass those to `fzf` to provide an interactive
+picker of the available subtasks.
+
+```yaml
+tasks:
+  notes:
+    desc: Interactive picker for notes tasks
+    cmds:
+      - |
+        TASK=$(task --list | grep "^\* notes:" | sed 's/^\* notes://' | sed 's/\s\+/ - /' | fzf --prompt="Select notes task: " --height=40% --reverse) || true
+        if [ -n "$TASK" ]; then
+          TASK_NAME=$(echo "$TASK" | awk '{print $1}' | sed 's/:$//')
+          task notes:$TASK_NAME
+        fi
+    interactive: true
+    silent: true
+
+  notes:edit:
+    ...
+
+  notes:sync:
+    ...
+
+  notes:open:
+    ...
+
+  notes:push:
+    ...
+
+  notes:status:
+    ...
+
+  notes:pull:
+    ...
+
+  notes:diff:
+    ...
+
+  notes:log:
+    ...
+```
+
+Now I can run the `notes` task to get a summary and interactive picker that
+looks like the following:
+
+```sh
+❯ task notes
+Select notes task: 
+  9/9
+> │                    Interactive picker for notes tasks
+  diff:                Show uncommitted changes in notes
+  edit:                All-in-one edit, commit, and push notes
+  log:                 Show recent commit history for notes
+  open:                Opens NOTES.md (syncs latest changes first) in default editor
+  pull:                Pull latest changes (alias for sync)
+  push:                Commit and push changes to notes submodule
+  status:              Check status of notes submodule
+  sync:                Sync latest changes from the notes submodule
+```
+
+It pulls in the subtask name and description. I can then use `fzf`'s navigation
+and filtering to narrow down and select the task I want to run.

tmux/set-up-forwarding-prefix-for-nested-session.md

@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+# Set Up Forwarding Prefix For Nested Session
+
+I use
+[`ctrl-z`](https://github.com/jbranchaud/dotfiles/blob/main/config/tmux/tmux.conf#L57)
+(instead of `ctrl-b`) for my tmux prefix key. I also have [`ctrl-z
+ctrl-z`](https://github.com/jbranchaud/dotfiles/blob/main/config/tmux/tmux.conf#L138-L139)
+configured to toggle back and forth between the previously visited window.
+
+With that in mind, I needed to set up a specific keybinding to send the prefix
+key to an inner (nested) tmux session. That's because sometimes, like with a
+tool such as `overmind`, you can end up connected to a tmux session while
+already within a tmux session.
+
+So, I have `Ctrl-z a` send the prefix key to the inner tmux session. This is
+what I added to my
+[`tmux.conf`](https://github.com/jbranchaud/dotfiles/blob/main/config/tmux/tmux.conf#L167-L168):
+
+```
+# send prefix to inner tmux session (C-z a)
+bind-key a send-prefix
+```
+
+Simply doing `Ctrl-z d` will detach me from the outer tmux session. If I want to
+detach from an inner tmux session, I can use my new keybinding -- `Ctrl-z a d`.

unix/apply-successive-filters-to-lines-in-less.md

@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+# Apply Successive Filters To Lines In Less
+
+Let's say I've opened a large Rails log file with `less`:
+
+```bash
+$ less logs/development.log
+```
+
+I have an idea of what I'm looking for, but there is way more noise than signal.
+I can start to filter out some of the noise. The `&` command starts a filter
+prompt. If I start to filter by something like `INSERT INTO`, then a ton of
+lines disappear leaving just those matching that pattern.
+
+Scrolling through the current set of lines, I start to have a better idea of
+what I'm looking for, but there is still too much noise. I can apply an
+additional successive filter on the remaining lines by hitting `&` again and
+entering in another pattern -- e.g. `GoodJob`.
+
+Now I only see lines that contain both `INSERT INTO` and `GoodJob` somewhere in
+them.
+
+As `less` puts it:
+
+> Multiple & commands may be entered, in which case only lines which match all
+> of the patterns will be displayed.
+
+If I want to undo all the filtering, I just need to enter an empty `&` filter
+prompt and it will reset things back to displaying all lines.
+
+> If pattern is empty (if you type & immediately followed by ENTER), any
+> filtering is turned off, and all lines are displayed.
+
+See `man less` for more details.

unix/display-line-numbers-while-using-less.md

@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+# Display Line Numbers While Using Less
+
+Including line numbers while viewing files with `less` can provide useful
+context for understanding where you are within the file. This is especially true
+if you've used `&` to filter down to lines that match a pattern.
+
+You can start `less` with line numbers with the `-N` flag (or `--LINE-NUMBERS`
+if you really want to spell it out).
+
+```bash
+$ less -N log/development.log
+```
+
+If you've already started up `less` and wish you had included line numbers,
+there is no reason to restart it with the flag. Instead, toggle the line numbers
+option on within the `less` process. To do this, type `-N`. It will prompt you
+with `Constantly display line numbers (press RETURN)`. Hit enter and line
+numbers will appear to the left of each line in the file.
+
+Similarly, to toggle line numbers back off within `less`, hit `-n` (lower-case
+`n`), accept the prompt, and back off they go.
+
+Both of these (`-N`/`-n`) are options being set (toggled) via the `-` command.
+There are many other options like these that can be configured within a `less`
+session in the same way.
+
+See `man less` and find the `-` command and the available `OPTIONS`.