feat(args): allow returning the bumped version

.github/fixtures/test-bumped-version/cliff.toml

@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+[changelog]
+# changelog header
+header = """
+# Changelog\n
+All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.\n
+"""
+# template for the changelog body
+# https://keats.github.io/tera/docs/#introduction
+body = """
+{% if version %}\
+    ## [{{ version | trim_start_matches(pat="v") }}]
+{% else %}\
+    ## [unreleased]
+{% endif %}\
+{% for group, commits in commits | group_by(attribute="group") %}
+    ### {{ group | upper_first }}
+    {% for commit in commits %}
+        - {% if commit.breaking %}[**breaking**] {% endif %}{{ commit.message | upper_first }}\
+    {% endfor %}
+{% endfor %}\n
+"""
+# remove the leading and trailing whitespace from the template
+trim = true
+# changelog footer
+footer = """
+<!-- generated by git-cliff -->
+"""

.github/fixtures/test-bumped-version/commit.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+set -e
+
+GIT_COMMITTER_DATE="2021-01-23 01:23:45" git commit --allow-empty -m "feat: add feature 1"
+GIT_COMMITTER_DATE="2021-01-23 01:23:45" git commit --allow-empty -m "feat: add feature 2"
+git tag v0.1.0
+
+GIT_COMMITTER_DATE="2021-01-23 01:23:46" git commit --allow-empty -m "fix: fix feature 1"
+GIT_COMMITTER_DATE="2021-01-23 01:23:46" git commit --allow-empty -m "fix: fix feature 2"

.github/fixtures/test-bumped-version/expected.md

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+0.1.1

.github/workflows/test-fixtures.yml

@@ -34,6 +34,8 @@ jobs:
           - fixtures-name: test-keep-a-changelog-links
           - fixtures-name: test-bump-version
             command: --bump
+          - fixtures-name: test-bumped-version
+            command: --bumped-version
     steps:
       - name: Checkout
         uses: actions/checkout@v4

git-cliff/src/args.rs

@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ pub struct Opt {
 		help = "Prints help information",
 		help_heading = "FLAGS"
 	)]
-	pub help:         Option<bool>,
+	pub help:           Option<bool>,
 	#[arg(
 		short = 'V',
 		long,
@@ -61,10 +61,10 @@ pub struct Opt {
 		help = "Prints version information",
 		help_heading = "FLAGS"
 	)]
-	pub version:      Option<bool>,
+	pub version:        Option<bool>,
 	/// Increases the logging verbosity.
 	#[arg(short, long, action = ArgAction::Count, alias = "debug", help_heading = Some("FLAGS"))]
-	pub verbose:      u8,
+	pub verbose:        u8,
 	/// Sets the configuration file.
 	#[arg(
 	    short,
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ pub struct Opt {
 	    default_value = DEFAULT_CONFIG,
 	    value_parser = Opt::parse_dir
 	)]
-	pub config:       PathBuf,
+	pub config:         PathBuf,
 	/// Sets the working directory.
 	#[arg(
 	    short,
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ pub struct Opt {
 	    value_name = "PATH",
 	    value_parser = Opt::parse_dir
 	)]
-	pub workdir:      Option<PathBuf>,
+	pub workdir:        Option<PathBuf>,
 	/// Sets the git repository.
 	#[arg(
 		short,
@@ -93,31 +93,31 @@ pub struct Opt {
 		num_args(1..),
 		value_parser = Opt::parse_dir
 	)]
-	pub repository:   Option<Vec<PathBuf>>,
+	pub repository:     Option<Vec<PathBuf>>,
 	/// Sets the path to include related commits.
 	#[arg(
 		long,
 		env = "GIT_CLIFF_INCLUDE_PATH",
 		value_name = "PATTERN",
 		num_args(1..)
 	)]
-	pub include_path: Option<Vec<Pattern>>,
+	pub include_path:   Option<Vec<Pattern>>,
 	/// Sets the path to exclude related commits.
 	#[arg(
 		long,
 		env = "GIT_CLIFF_EXCLUDE_PATH",
 		value_name = "PATTERN",
 		num_args(1..)
 	)]
-	pub exclude_path: Option<Vec<Pattern>>,
+	pub exclude_path:   Option<Vec<Pattern>>,
 	/// Sets custom commit messages to include in the changelog.
 	#[arg(
 		long,
 		env = "GIT_CLIFF_WITH_COMMIT",
 		value_name = "MSG",
 		num_args(1..)
 	)]
-	pub with_commit:  Option<Vec<String>>,
+	pub with_commit:    Option<Vec<String>>,
 	/// Prepends entries to the given changelog file.
 	#[arg(
 	    short,
@@ -126,7 +126,7 @@ pub struct Opt {
 	    value_name = "PATH",
 	    value_parser = Opt::parse_dir
 	)]
-	pub prepend:      Option<PathBuf>,
+	pub prepend:        Option<PathBuf>,
 	/// Writes output to the given file.
 	#[arg(
 	    short,
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@ pub struct Opt {
 	    num_args = 0..=1,
 	    default_missing_value = DEFAULT_OUTPUT
 	)]
-	pub output:       Option<PathBuf>,
+	pub output:         Option<PathBuf>,
 	/// Sets the tag for the latest version.
 	#[arg(
 		short,
@@ -146,10 +146,13 @@ pub struct Opt {
 		value_name = "TAG",
 		allow_hyphen_values = true
 	)]
-	pub tag:          Option<String>,
+	pub tag:            Option<String>,
 	/// Bumps the version for unreleased changes.
 	#[arg(long, help_heading = Some("FLAGS"))]
-	pub bump:         bool,
+	pub bump:           bool,
+	/// Prints bumped version for unreleased changes.
+	#[arg(long, help_heading = Some("FLAGS"))]
+	pub bumped_version: bool,
 	/// Sets the template for the changelog body.
 	#[arg(
 		short,
@@ -158,38 +161,38 @@ pub struct Opt {
 		value_name = "TEMPLATE",
 		allow_hyphen_values = true
 	)]
-	pub body:         Option<String>,
+	pub body:           Option<String>,
 	/// Writes the default configuration file to cliff.toml
 	#[arg(short, long, help_heading = Some("FLAGS"))]
-	pub init:         bool,
+	pub init:           bool,
 	/// Processes the commits starting from the latest tag.
 	#[arg(short, long, help_heading = Some("FLAGS"))]
-	pub latest:       bool,
+	pub latest:         bool,
 	/// Processes the commits that belong to the current tag.
 	#[arg(long, help_heading = Some("FLAGS"))]
-	pub current:      bool,
+	pub current:        bool,
 	/// Processes the commits that do not belong to a tag.
 	#[arg(short, long, help_heading = Some("FLAGS"))]
-	pub unreleased:   bool,
+	pub unreleased:     bool,
 	/// Sorts the tags topologically.
 	#[arg(long, help_heading = Some("FLAGS"))]
-	pub topo_order:   bool,
+	pub topo_order:     bool,
 	/// Prints changelog context as JSON.
 	#[arg(long, help_heading = Some("FLAGS"))]
-	pub context:      bool,
+	pub context:        bool,
 	/// Strips the given parts from the changelog.
 	#[arg(short, long, value_name = "PART", value_enum)]
-	pub strip:        Option<Strip>,
+	pub strip:          Option<Strip>,
 	/// Sets sorting of the commits inside sections.
 	#[arg(
 		long,
 		value_enum,
 		default_value_t = Sort::Oldest
 	)]
-	pub sort:         Sort,
+	pub sort:           Sort,
 	/// Sets the commit range to process.
 	#[arg(value_name = "RANGE", help_heading = Some("ARGS"))]
-	pub range:        Option<String>,
+	pub range:          Option<String>,
 }
 
 impl Opt {

git-cliff/src/lib.rs

@@ -32,7 +32,10 @@ use std::fs::{
 	self,
 	File,
 };
-use std::io;
+use std::io::{
+	self,
+	Write,
+};
 use std::time::{
 	SystemTime,
 	UNIX_EPOCH,
@@ -59,6 +62,14 @@ fn check_new_version() {
 	}
 }
 
+/// Output of the `process_repository` call.
+enum ProcessOutput<'a> {
+	/// List of releases.
+	Releases(Vec<Release<'a>>),
+	/// Semantic version.
+	Version(String),
+}
+
 /// Processes the tags and commits for creating release entries for the
 /// changelog.
 ///
@@ -68,7 +79,7 @@ fn process_repository<'a>(
 	repository: &'static Repository,
 	config: Config,
 	args: &Opt,
-) -> Result<Vec<Release<'a>>> {
+) -> Result<ProcessOutput<'a>> {
 	let mut tags = repository.tags(&config.git.tag_pattern, args.topo_order)?;
 	let skip_regex = config.git.skip_tags.as_ref();
 	let ignore_regex = config.git.ignore_tags.as_ref();
@@ -240,8 +251,14 @@ fn process_repository<'a>(
 	}
 
 	// Bump the version.
-	if args.bump && releases[release_index].version.is_none() {
+	if (args.bump || args.bumped_version) &&
+		releases[release_index].version.is_none()
+	{
 		let next_version = releases[release_index].calculate_next_version()?;
+		if args.bumped_version {
+			return Ok(ProcessOutput::Version(next_version));
+		}
+
 		debug!("Bumping the version to {next_version}");
 		releases[release_index].version = Some(next_version.to_string());
 		releases[release_index].timestamp = SystemTime::now()
@@ -250,7 +267,7 @@ fn process_repository<'a>(
 			.try_into()?;
 	}
 
-	Ok(releases)
+	Ok(ProcessOutput::Releases(releases))
 }
 
 /// Runs `git-cliff`.
@@ -350,16 +367,33 @@ pub fn run(mut args: Opt) -> Result<()> {
 	// Process the repository.
 	let repositories = args.repository.clone().unwrap_or(vec![env::current_dir()?]);
 	let mut releases = Vec::<Release>::new();
+	let mut versions = Vec::<String>::new();
 	for repository in repositories {
 		let repository = Repository::init(repository)?;
-		releases.extend(process_repository(
+		let process_output = process_repository(
 			Box::leak(Box::new(repository)),
 			config.clone(),
 			&args,
-		)?);
+		)?;
+
+		match process_output {
+			ProcessOutput::Releases(release) => releases.extend(release),
+			ProcessOutput::Version(version) => versions.push(version),
+		}
 	}
 
 	// Generate output.
+	if !versions.is_empty() {
+		let buf = versions.join("\n");
+		if let Some(path) = args.output {
+			let mut output = File::create(path)?;
+			output.write_all(buf.as_bytes())?;
+		} else {
+			println!("{buf}");
+		};
+		return Ok(());
+	}
+
 	let changelog = Changelog::new(releases, &config)?;
 	if args.context {
 		return if let Some(path) = args.output {

website/docs/usage/examples.md

@@ -30,6 +30,8 @@ Calculate and set the next semantic version (i.e. _bump the version_) for the un
 # Semver: {MAJOR}.{MINOR}.{PATCH}
 # "fix:" increments PATCH, "feat:" increments MINOR and "scope!" (breaking changes) increments MAJOR
 git cliff --bump
+# Calculate and print the next semantic version to stdout
+git cliff --bumped-version
 ```
 
 Generate a changelog for a certain part of git history:

website/docs/usage/usage.md

@@ -11,16 +11,17 @@ git-cliff [FLAGS] [OPTIONS] [--] [RANGE]
 ## Flags
 
 ```
--h, --help        Prints help information
--V, --version     Prints version information
--v, --verbose...  Increases the logging verbosity
-    --bump        Bumps the version for unreleased changes
--i, --init        Writes the default configuration file to cliff.toml
--l, --latest      Processes the commits starting from the latest tag
-    --current     Processes the commits that belong to the current tag
--u, --unreleased  Processes the commits that do not belong to a tag
-    --topo-order  Sorts the tags topologically
-    --context     Prints changelog context as JSON
+-h, --help            Prints help information
+-V, --version         Prints version information
+-v, --verbose...      Increases the logging verbosity
+    --bump            Bumps the version for unreleased changes
+    --bumped-version  Prints bumped version for unreleased changes
+-i, --init            Writes the default configuration file to cliff.toml
+-l, --latest          Processes the commits starting from the latest tag
+    --current         Processes the commits that belong to the current tag
+-u, --unreleased      Processes the commits that do not belong to a tag
+    --topo-order      Sorts the tags topologically
+    --context         Prints changelog context as JSON
 ```
 
 ## Options