Ignoring, moving and removing files

Some files should never go into a commit: logs a tool writes while it runs, backup copies your editor makes, passwords. And some files you've already committed need a new name, a new folder, or no place in the project at all. This Lesson covers all of these.

Ignoring files: .gitignore

A file called .gitignore tells git which untracked files to leave alone. Each line is a pattern:

*.log
backups/

• * matches any run of characters, so *.log matches every file whose name ends in .log, in this folder and in every folder inside it.
• A pattern ending in / matches a folder, and everything in it.
• A line starting with # is a comment.

git leaves ignored files out of git status, and git add . skips them. If you name an ignored file in git add, git refuses and tells you it's ignored.

Write the patterns with echo or edit. Put a pattern with a * in quotes, as in echo "*.log" > .gitignore: on a real computer, the shell would otherwise swap *.log for the names of the matching files. Then commit .gitignore like any other file, so the rules stay with the project.

.gitignore only affects files git doesn't track yet. A file that's already in a commit stays tracked, even when a pattern matches it.

Removing a file: git rm

git rm <file> deletes the file and stages the deletion, so your next commit no longer has it:

$ git rm style.css
rm 'style.css'

The commits you made before still have the file. git rm refuses to delete a file with changes you haven't committed, so you can't lose them by accident.

Untracking a file but keeping it: git rm --cached

git rm --cached <file> takes the file out of the staging area only. Your copy stays in the working tree, and git now lists it as untracked. Name it in .gitignore too, so it stays out of git status and git add . from then on.

That's how you stop tracking a file you committed by mistake. The commits you made before still have it, though: if it held a password, change the password.

Moving and renaming: git mv

git mv <old> <new> renames a file and stages the change. git status shows it as a rename:

Changes to be committed:
  (use "git restore --staged <file>..." to unstage)
	renamed:    style.css -> site.css

To move a file into a folder, the folder must exist: make it with mkdir first, then git mv about.html pages/. If the folder is missing, git mv about.html pages/ fails, and git mv about.html pages renames the file to pages.

A commit holds files, not how they got there. When a file disappears and a new one with the same content appears, git calls it a rename. So you can also move a file by hand: write the new file, git rm the old one, and git add the new one. The commit is the same.

Command	What it does
.gitignore	A file of patterns: untracked files that match stay out of git status and git add ..
git rm <file>	Deletes the file and stages the deletion.
git rm --cached <file>	Stops tracking the file, but keeps it in your working tree.
git mv <old> <new>	Renames or moves the file, and stages the change.