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

NAME

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

SYNOPSIS

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

DESCRIPTION

Remove files matching pathspec from the index, or from the working
tree and the index. git rm will not remove a file from just your
working directory. (There is no option to remove a file only from the
working tree and yet keep it in the index; use /bin/rm if you want to
do that.) The files being removed have to be identical to the tip of
the branch, and no updates to their contents can be staged in the
index, though that default behavior can be overridden with the -f
option. When --cached is given, the staged content has to match
either the tip of the branch or the file on disk, allowing the file
to be removed from just the index. When sparse-checkouts are in use
(see git-sparse-checkout(1)), git rm will only remove paths within
the sparse-checkout patterns.

OPTIONS

<pathspec>...
Files to remove. A leading directory name (e.g. dir to remove
dir/file1 and dir/file2) can be given to remove all files in the
directory, and recursively all sub-directories, but this requires
the -r option to be explicitly given.

The command removes only the paths that are known to Git.

File globbing matches across directory boundaries. Thus, given
two directories d and d2, there is a difference between using git
rm 'd*' and git rm 'd/*', as the former will also remove all of
directory d2.

For more details, see the pathspec entry in gitglossary(7).

-f, --force
Override the up-to-date check.

-n, --dry-run
Don't actually remove any file(s). Instead, just show if they
exist in the index and would otherwise be removed by the command.

-r
Allow recursive removal when a leading directory name is given.

--
This option can be used to separate command-line options from the
list of files, (useful when filenames might be mistaken for
command-line options).

--cached
Use this option to unstage and remove paths only from the index.
Working tree files, whether modified or not, will be left alone.

--ignore-unmatch
Exit with a zero status even if no files matched.

--sparse
Allow updating index entries outside of the sparse-checkout cone.
Normally, git rm refuses to update index entries whose paths do
not fit within the sparse-checkout cone. See git-sparse-
checkout(1) for more.

-q, --quiet
git rm normally outputs one line (in the form of an rm command)
for each file removed. This option suppresses that output.

--pathspec-from-file=<file>
Pathspec is passed in <file> instead of commandline args. If
<file> is exactly - then standard input is used. Pathspec
elements are separated by LF or CR/LF. Pathspec elements can be
quoted as explained for the configuration variable core.quotePath
(see git-config(1)). See also --pathspec-file-nul and global
--literal-pathspecs.

--pathspec-file-nul
Only meaningful with --pathspec-from-file. Pathspec elements are
separated with NUL character and all other characters are taken
literally (including newlines and quotes).

REMOVING FILES THAT HAVE DISAPPEARED FROM THE FILESYSTEM

There is no option for git rm to remove from the index only the paths
that have disappeared from the filesystem. However, depending on the
use case, there are several ways that can be done.

Using "git commit -a"
If you intend that your next commit should record all modifications
of tracked files in the working tree and record all removals of files
that have been removed from the working tree with rm (as opposed to
git rm), use git commit -a, as it will automatically notice and
record all removals. You can also have a similar effect without
committing by using git add -u.

Using "git add -A"
When accepting a new code drop for a vendor branch, you probably want
to record both the removal of paths and additions of new paths as
well as modifications of existing paths.

Typically you would first remove all tracked files from the working
tree using this command:

git ls-files -z | xargs -0 rm -f

and then untar the new code in the working tree. Alternately you
could rsync the changes into the working tree.

After that, the easiest way to record all removals, additions, and
modifications in the working tree is:

git add -A

See git-add(1).

Other ways

If all you really want to do is to remove from the index the files
that are no longer present in the working tree (perhaps because your
working tree is dirty so that you cannot use git commit -a), use the
following command:

git diff --name-only --diff-filter=D -z | xargs -0 git rm --cached

SUBMODULES

Only submodules using a gitfile (which means they were cloned with a
Git version 1.7.8 or newer) will be removed from the work tree, as
their repository lives inside the .git directory of the superproject.
If a submodule (or one of those nested inside it) still uses a .git
directory, git rm will move the submodules git directory into the
superprojects git directory to protect the submodule's history. If it
exists the submodule.<name> section in the gitmodules(5) file will
also be removed and that file will be staged (unless --cached or -n
are used).

A submodule is considered up to date when the HEAD is the same as
recorded in the index, no tracked files are modified and no untracked
files that aren't ignored are present in the submodule's work tree.
Ignored files are deemed expendable and won't stop a submodule's work
tree from being removed.

If you only want to remove the local checkout of a submodule from
your work tree without committing the removal, use git-submodule(1)
deinit instead. Also see gitsubmodules(7) for details on submodule
removal.

EXAMPLES

git rm Documentation/\*.txt
Removes all *.txt files from the index that are under the
Documentation directory and any of its subdirectories.

Note that the asterisk * is quoted from the shell in this
example; this lets Git, and not the shell, expand the pathnames
of files and subdirectories under the Documentation/ directory.

git rm -f git-*.sh
Because this example lets the shell expand the asterisk (i.e. you
are listing the files explicitly), it does not remove
subdir/git-foo.sh.

BUGS

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

SEE ALSO

git-add(1)

GIT

Part of the git(1) suite

Git 2.48.1 2025-01-13 GIT-RM(1)