Documentation / git-rm.txton commit Merge branch 'nd/pretty-commit-log-message' (c17f1a9)
   1git-rm(1)
   2=========
   3
   4NAME
   5----
   6git-rm - Remove files from the working tree and from the index
   7
   8SYNOPSIS
   9--------
  10[verse]
  11'git rm' [-f | --force] [-n] [-r] [--cached] [--ignore-unmatch] [--quiet] [--] <file>...
  12
  13DESCRIPTION
  14-----------
  15Remove files from the index, or from the working tree and the index.
  16`git rm` will not remove a file from just your working directory.
  17(There is no option to remove a file only from the working tree
  18and yet keep it in the index; use `/bin/rm` if you want to do that.)
  19The files being removed have to be identical to the tip of the branch,
  20and no updates to their contents can be staged in the index,
  21though that default behavior can be overridden with the `-f` option.
  22When `--cached` is given, the staged content has to
  23match either the tip of the branch or the file on disk,
  24allowing the file to be removed from just the index.
  25
  26
  27OPTIONS
  28-------
  29<file>...::
  30        Files to remove.  Fileglobs (e.g. `*.c`) can be given to
  31        remove all matching files.  If you want git to expand
  32        file glob characters, you may need to shell-escape them.
  33        A leading directory name
  34        (e.g. `dir` to remove `dir/file1` and `dir/file2`) can be
  35        given to remove all files in the directory, and recursively
  36        all sub-directories,
  37        but this requires the `-r` option to be explicitly given.
  38
  39-f::
  40--force::
  41        Override the up-to-date check.
  42
  43-n::
  44--dry-run::
  45        Don't actually remove any file(s).  Instead, just show
  46        if they exist in the index and would otherwise be removed
  47        by the command.
  48
  49-r::
  50        Allow recursive removal when a leading directory name is
  51        given.
  52
  53\--::
  54        This option can be used to separate command-line options from
  55        the list of files, (useful when filenames might be mistaken
  56        for 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
  61        left alone.
  62
  63--ignore-unmatch::
  64        Exit with a zero status even if no files matched.
  65
  66-q::
  67--quiet::
  68        `git rm` normally outputs one line (in the form of an `rm` command)
  69        for each file removed. This option suppresses that output.
  70
  71
  72DISCUSSION
  73----------
  74
  75The <file> list given to the command can be exact pathnames,
  76file glob patterns, or leading directory names.  The command
  77removes only the paths that are known to git.  Giving the name of
  78a file that you have not told git about does not remove that file.
  79
  80File globbing matches across directory boundaries.  Thus, given
  81two directories `d` and `d2`, there is a difference between
  82using `git rm {apostrophe}d{asterisk}{apostrophe}` and
  83`git rm {apostrophe}d/{asterisk}{apostrophe}`, as the former will
  84also remove all of directory `d2`.
  85
  86REMOVING FILES THAT HAVE DISAPPEARED FROM THE FILESYSTEM
  87--------------------------------------------------------
  88There is no option for `git rm` to remove from the index only
  89the paths that have disappeared from the filesystem. However,
  90depending on the use case, there are several ways that can be
  91done.
  92
  93Using ``git commit -a''
  94~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  95If you intend that your next commit should record all modifications
  96of tracked files in the working tree and record all removals of
  97files that have been removed from the working tree with `rm`
  98(as opposed to `git rm`), use `git commit -a`, as it will
  99automatically notice and record all removals.  You can also have a
 100similar effect without committing by using `git add -u`.
 101
 102Using ``git add -A''
 103~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 104When accepting a new code drop for a vendor branch, you probably
 105want to record both the removal of paths and additions of new paths
 106as well as modifications of existing paths.
 107
 108Typically you would first remove all tracked files from the working
 109tree using this command:
 110
 111----------------
 112git ls-files -z | xargs -0 rm -f
 113----------------
 114
 115and then untar the new code in the working tree. Alternately
 116you could 'rsync' the changes into the working tree.
 117
 118After that, the easiest way to record all removals, additions, and
 119modifications in the working tree is:
 120
 121----------------
 122git add -A
 123----------------
 124
 125See linkgit:git-add[1].
 126
 127Other ways
 128~~~~~~~~~~
 129If all you really want to do is to remove from the index the files
 130that are no longer present in the working tree (perhaps because
 131your working tree is dirty so that you cannot use `git commit -a`),
 132use the following command:
 133
 134----------------
 135git diff --name-only --diff-filter=D -z | xargs -0 git rm --cached
 136----------------
 137
 138EXAMPLES
 139--------
 140`git rm Documentation/\*.txt`::
 141        Removes all `*.txt` files from the index that are under the
 142        `Documentation` directory and any of its subdirectories.
 143+
 144Note that the asterisk `*` is quoted from the shell in this
 145example; this lets git, and not the shell, expand the pathnames
 146of files and subdirectories under the `Documentation/` directory.
 147
 148`git rm -f git-*.sh`::
 149        Because this example lets the shell expand the asterisk
 150        (i.e. you are listing the files explicitly), it
 151        does not remove `subdir/git-foo.sh`.
 152
 153SEE ALSO
 154--------
 155linkgit:git-add[1]
 156
 157GIT
 158---
 159Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite