1GIT-RM(1) Git Manual GIT-RM(1)
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6 git-rm - Remove files from the working tree and from the index
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9 git rm [-f | --force] [-n] [-r] [--cached] [--ignore-unmatch]
10 [--quiet] [--pathspec-from-file=<file> [--pathspec-file-nul]]
11 [--] [<pathspec>...]
12
14 Remove files matching pathspec from the index, or from the working tree
15 and the index. git rm will not remove a file from just your working
16 directory. (There is no option to remove a file only from the working
17 tree and yet keep it in the index; use /bin/rm if you want to do that.)
18 The files being removed have to be identical to the tip of the branch,
19 and no updates to their contents can be staged in the index, though
20 that default behavior can be overridden with the -f option. When
21 --cached is given, the staged content has to match either the tip of
22 the branch or the file on disk, allowing the file to be removed from
23 just the index.
24
26 <pathspec>...
27 Files to remove. A leading directory name (e.g. dir to remove
28 dir/file1 and dir/file2) can be given to remove all files in the
29 directory, and recursively all sub-directories, but this requires
30 the -r option to be explicitly given.
31 The command removes only the paths that are known to Git.
33 File globbing matches across directory boundaries. Thus, given two
35 directories d and d2, there is a difference between using git rm
36 'd*' and git rm 'd/*', as the former will also remove all of
37 directory d2.
38 For more details, see the pathspec entry in gitglossary(7).
40 -f, --force
42 Override the up-to-date check.
43 -n, --dry-run
45 Don’t actually remove any file(s). Instead, just show if they exist
46 in the index and would otherwise be removed by the command.
47 -r
49 Allow recursive removal when a leading directory name is given.
50 --
52 This option can be used to separate command-line options from the
53 list of files, (useful when filenames might be mistaken for
54 command-line options).
55 --cached
57 Use this option to unstage and remove paths only from the index.
58 Working tree files, whether modified or not, will be left alone.
59 --ignore-unmatch
61 Exit with a zero status even if no files matched.
62 -q, --quiet
64 git rm normally outputs one line (in the form of an rm command) for
65 each file removed. This option suppresses that output.
66 --pathspec-from-file=<file>
68 Pathspec is passed in <file> instead of commandline args. If <file>
69 is exactly - then standard input is used. Pathspec elements are
70 separated by LF or CR/LF. Pathspec elements can be quoted as
71 explained for the configuration variable core.quotePath (see git-
72 config(1)). See also --pathspec-file-nul and global
73 --literal-pathspecs.
74 --pathspec-file-nul
76 Only meaningful with --pathspec-from-file. Pathspec elements are
77 separated with NUL character and all other characters are taken
78 literally (including newlines and quotes).
79
81 There is no option for git rm to remove from the index only the paths
82 that have disappeared from the filesystem. However, depending on the
83 use case, there are several ways that can be done.
84 Using “git commit -a”
86 If you intend that your next commit should record all modifications of
87 tracked files in the working tree and record all removals of files that
88 have been removed from the working tree with rm (as opposed to git rm),
89 use git commit -a, as it will automatically notice and record all
90 removals. You can also have a similar effect without committing by
91 using git add -u.
92 Using “git add -A”
94 When accepting a new code drop for a vendor branch, you probably want
95 to record both the removal of paths and additions of new paths as well
96 as modifications of existing paths.
97 Typically you would first remove all tracked files from the working
99 tree using this command:
100 git ls-files -z | xargs -0 rm -f
102 and then untar the new code in the working tree. Alternately you could
104 rsync the changes into the working tree.
105 After that, the easiest way to record all removals, additions, and
107 modifications in the working tree is:
108 git add -A
110 See git-add(1).
112 Other ways
114 If all you really want to do is to remove from the index the files that
115 are no longer present in the working tree (perhaps because your working
116 tree is dirty so that you cannot use git commit -a), use the following
117 command:
118 git diff --name-only --diff-filter=D -z | xargs -0 git rm --cached
120
122 Only submodules using a gitfile (which means they were cloned with a
123 Git version 1.7.8 or newer) will be removed from the work tree, as
124 their repository lives inside the .git directory of the superproject.
125 If a submodule (or one of those nested inside it) still uses a .git
126 directory, git rm will move the submodules git directory into the
127 superprojects git directory to protect the submodule’s history. If it
128 exists the submodule.<name> section in the gitmodules(5) file will also
129 be removed and that file will be staged (unless --cached or -n are
130 used).
131 A submodule is considered up to date when the HEAD is the same as
133 recorded in the index, no tracked files are modified and no untracked
134 files that aren’t ignored are present in the submodules work tree.
135 Ignored files are deemed expendable and won’t stop a submodule’s work
136 tree from being removed.
137 If you only want to remove the local checkout of a submodule from your
139 work tree without committing the removal, use git-submodule(1) deinit
140 instead. Also see gitsubmodules(7) for details on submodule removal.
141
143 git rm Documentation/\*.txt
144 Removes all *.txt files from the index that are under the
145 Documentation directory and any of its subdirectories.
146 Note that the asterisk * is quoted from the shell in this example;
148 this lets Git, and not the shell, expand the pathnames of files and
149 subdirectories under the Documentation/ directory.
150 git rm -f git-*.sh
152 Because this example lets the shell expand the asterisk (i.e. you
153 are listing the files explicitly), it does not remove
154 subdir/git-foo.sh.
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157 Each time a superproject update removes a populated submodule (e.g.
158 when switching between commits before and after the removal) a stale
159 submodule checkout will remain in the old location. Removing the old
160 directory is only safe when it uses a gitfile, as otherwise the history
161 of the submodule will be deleted too. This step will be obsolete when
162 recursive submodule update has been implemented.
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165 git-add(1)
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168 Part of the git(1) suite
169Git 2.30.2 2021-03-08 GIT-RM(1)