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. When sparse-checkouts are in use (see git-sparse-
24 checkout(1)), git rm will only remove paths within the sparse-checkout
25 patterns.
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28 <pathspec>...
29 Files to remove. A leading directory name (e.g. dir to remove
30 dir/file1 and dir/file2) can be given to remove all files in the
31 directory, and recursively all sub-directories, but this requires
32 the -r option to be explicitly given.
33 The command removes only the paths that are known to Git.
35 File globbing matches across directory boundaries. Thus, given two
37 directories d and d2, there is a difference between using git rm
38 'd*' and git rm 'd/*', as the former will also remove all of
39 directory d2.
40 For more details, see the pathspec entry in gitglossary(7).
42 -f, --force
44 Override the up-to-date check.
45 -n, --dry-run
47 Don’t actually remove any file(s). Instead, just show if they exist
48 in the index and would otherwise be removed by the command.
49 -r
51 Allow recursive removal when a leading directory name is given.
52 --
54 This option can be used to separate command-line options from the
55 list of files, (useful when filenames might be mistaken for
56 command-line options).
57 --cached
59 Use this option to unstage and remove paths only from the index.
60 Working tree files, whether modified or not, will be left alone.
61 --ignore-unmatch
63 Exit with a zero status even if no files matched.
64 -q, --quiet
66 git rm normally outputs one line (in the form of an rm command) for
67 each file removed. This option suppresses that output.
68 --pathspec-from-file=<file>
70 Pathspec is passed in <file> instead of commandline args. If <file>
71 is exactly - then standard input is used. Pathspec elements are
72 separated by LF or CR/LF. Pathspec elements can be quoted as
73 explained for the configuration variable core.quotePath (see git-
74 config(1)). See also --pathspec-file-nul and global
75 --literal-pathspecs.
76 --pathspec-file-nul
78 Only meaningful with --pathspec-from-file. Pathspec elements are
79 separated with NUL character and all other characters are taken
80 literally (including newlines and quotes).
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83 There is no option for git rm to remove from the index only the paths
84 that have disappeared from the filesystem. However, depending on the
85 use case, there are several ways that can be done.
86 Using “git commit -a”
88 If you intend that your next commit should record all modifications of
89 tracked files in the working tree and record all removals of files that
90 have been removed from the working tree with rm (as opposed to git rm),
91 use git commit -a, as it will automatically notice and record all
92 removals. You can also have a similar effect without committing by
93 using git add -u.
94 Using “git add -A”
96 When accepting a new code drop for a vendor branch, you probably want
97 to record both the removal of paths and additions of new paths as well
98 as modifications of existing paths.
99 Typically you would first remove all tracked files from the working
101 tree using this command:
102 git ls-files -z | xargs -0 rm -f
104 and then untar the new code in the working tree. Alternately you could
106 rsync the changes into the working tree.
107 After that, the easiest way to record all removals, additions, and
109 modifications in the working tree is:
110 git add -A
112 See git-add(1).
114 Other ways
116 If all you really want to do is to remove from the index the files that
117 are no longer present in the working tree (perhaps because your working
118 tree is dirty so that you cannot use git commit -a), use the following
119 command:
120 git diff --name-only --diff-filter=D -z | xargs -0 git rm --cached
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124 Only submodules using a gitfile (which means they were cloned with a
125 Git version 1.7.8 or newer) will be removed from the work tree, as
126 their repository lives inside the .git directory of the superproject.
127 If a submodule (or one of those nested inside it) still uses a .git
128 directory, git rm will move the submodules git directory into the
129 superprojects git directory to protect the submodule’s history. If it
130 exists the submodule.<name> section in the gitmodules(5) file will also
131 be removed and that file will be staged (unless --cached or -n are
132 used).
133 A submodule is considered up to date when the HEAD is the same as
135 recorded in the index, no tracked files are modified and no untracked
136 files that aren’t ignored are present in the submodules work tree.
137 Ignored files are deemed expendable and won’t stop a submodule’s work
138 tree from being removed.
139 If you only want to remove the local checkout of a submodule from your
141 work tree without committing the removal, use git-submodule(1) deinit
142 instead. Also see gitsubmodules(7) for details on submodule removal.
143
145 git rm Documentation/\*.txt
146 Removes all *.txt files from the index that are under the
147 Documentation directory and any of its subdirectories.
148 Note that the asterisk * is quoted from the shell in this example;
150 this lets Git, and not the shell, expand the pathnames of files and
151 subdirectories under the Documentation/ directory.
152 git rm -f git-*.sh
154 Because this example lets the shell expand the asterisk (i.e. you
155 are listing the files explicitly), it does not remove
156 subdir/git-foo.sh.
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159 Each time a superproject update removes a populated submodule (e.g.
160 when switching between commits before and after the removal) a stale
161 submodule checkout will remain in the old location. Removing the old
162 directory is only safe when it uses a gitfile, as otherwise the history
163 of the submodule will be deleted too. This step will be obsolete when
164 recursive submodule update has been implemented.
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167 git-add(1)
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170 Part of the git(1) suite
171Git 2.33.1 2021-10-12 GIT-RM(1)