Add Determine Absolute Path Of Top-Level Project Directory as a Git 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).
 
-_1715 TILs and counting..._
+_1719 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)
 
@@ -348,6 +349,7 @@ 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)
@@ -746,6 +748,7 @@ 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)
@@ -1637,6 +1640,7 @@ 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)
@@ -2056,7 +2060,7 @@ 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 && git pull
-      - cd {{.NOTES_DIR}} && git checkout main
     silent: false
 
   notes:open:

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.

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.

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.

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`.