1GIT-RM(1)                         Git Manual                         GIT-RM(1)
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NAME

6       git-rm - Remove files from the working tree and from the index
7

SYNOPSIS

9       git rm [-f | --force] [-n] [-r] [--cached] [--ignore-unmatch]
10                 [--quiet] [--pathspec-from-file=<file> [--pathspec-file-nul]]
11                 [--] [<pathspec>...]
12

DESCRIPTION

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.
26

OPTIONS

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
34           The command removes only the paths that are known to Git.
35
36           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
41           For more details, see the pathspec entry in gitglossary(7).
42
43       -f, --force
44           Override the up-to-date check.
45
46       -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
50       -r
51           Allow recursive removal when a leading directory name is given.
52
53       --
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
58       --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
62       --ignore-unmatch
63           Exit with a zero status even if no files matched.
64
65       --sparse
66           Allow updating index entries outside of the sparse-checkout cone.
67           Normally, git rm refuses to update index entries whose paths do not
68           fit within the sparse-checkout cone. See git-sparse-checkout(1) for
69           more.
70
71       -q, --quiet
72           git rm normally outputs one line (in the form of an rm command) for
73           each file removed. This option suppresses that output.
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75       --pathspec-from-file=<file>
76           Pathspec is passed in <file> instead of commandline args. If <file>
77           is exactly - then standard input is used. Pathspec elements are
78           separated by LF or CR/LF. Pathspec elements can be quoted as
79           explained for the configuration variable core.quotePath (see git-
80           config(1)). See also --pathspec-file-nul and global
81           --literal-pathspecs.
82
83       --pathspec-file-nul
84           Only meaningful with --pathspec-from-file. Pathspec elements are
85           separated with NUL character and all other characters are taken
86           literally (including newlines and quotes).
87

REMOVING FILES THAT HAVE DISAPPEARED FROM THE FILESYSTEM

89       There is no option for git rm to remove from the index only the paths
90       that have disappeared from the filesystem. However, depending on the
91       use case, there are several ways that can be done.
92
93   Using “git commit -a”
94       If you intend that your next commit should record all modifications of
95       tracked files in the working tree and record all removals of files that
96       have been removed from the working tree with rm (as opposed to git rm),
97       use git commit -a, as it will automatically notice and record all
98       removals. You can also have a similar effect without committing by
99       using git add -u.
100
101   Using “git add -A”
102       When accepting a new code drop for a vendor branch, you probably want
103       to record both the removal of paths and additions of new paths as well
104       as modifications of existing paths.
105
106       Typically you would first remove all tracked files from the working
107       tree using this command:
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109           git ls-files -z | xargs -0 rm -f
110
111       and then untar the new code in the working tree. Alternately you could
112       rsync the changes into the working tree.
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114       After that, the easiest way to record all removals, additions, and
115       modifications in the working tree is:
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117           git add -A
118
119       See git-add(1).
120
121   Other ways
122       If all you really want to do is to remove from the index the files that
123       are no longer present in the working tree (perhaps because your working
124       tree is dirty so that you cannot use git commit -a), use the following
125       command:
126
127           git diff --name-only --diff-filter=D -z | xargs -0 git rm --cached
128

SUBMODULES

130       Only submodules using a gitfile (which means they were cloned with a
131       Git version 1.7.8 or newer) will be removed from the work tree, as
132       their repository lives inside the .git directory of the superproject.
133       If a submodule (or one of those nested inside it) still uses a .git
134       directory, git rm will move the submodules git directory into the
135       superprojects git directory to protect the submodule’s history. If it
136       exists the submodule.<name> section in the gitmodules(5) file will also
137       be removed and that file will be staged (unless --cached or -n are
138       used).
139
140       A submodule is considered up to date when the HEAD is the same as
141       recorded in the index, no tracked files are modified and no untracked
142       files that aren’t ignored are present in the submodule’s work tree.
143       Ignored files are deemed expendable and won’t stop a submodule’s work
144       tree from being removed.
145
146       If you only want to remove the local checkout of a submodule from your
147       work tree without committing the removal, use git-submodule(1) deinit
148       instead. Also see gitsubmodules(7) for details on submodule removal.
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EXAMPLES

151       git rm Documentation/\*.txt
152           Removes all *.txt files from the index that are under the
153           Documentation directory and any of its subdirectories.
154
155           Note that the asterisk * is quoted from the shell in this example;
156           this lets Git, and not the shell, expand the pathnames of files and
157           subdirectories under the Documentation/ directory.
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159       git rm -f git-*.sh
160           Because this example lets the shell expand the asterisk (i.e. you
161           are listing the files explicitly), it does not remove
162           subdir/git-foo.sh.
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BUGS

165       Each time a superproject update removes a populated submodule (e.g.
166       when switching between commits before and after the removal) a stale
167       submodule checkout will remain in the old location. Removing the old
168       directory is only safe when it uses a gitfile, as otherwise the history
169       of the submodule will be deleted too. This step will be obsolete when
170       recursive submodule update has been implemented.
171

SEE ALSO

173       git-add(1)
174

GIT

176       Part of the git(1) suite
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180Git 2.43.0                        11/20/2023                         GIT-RM(1)
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