I have an already initialized Git repository that I added a .gitignore file to. How can I refresh the file index so the files I want ignored get ignored?
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21 Answers
To untrack a single file that has already been added/initialized to your repository, i.e., stop tracking the file but not delete it from your system use: git rm --cached filename
To untrack every file that is now in your .gitignore:
First commit any outstanding code changes, and then, run this command:
git rm -r --cached .
This removes any changed files from the index(staging area), then just run:
git add .
Commit it:
git commit -m ".gitignore is now working"
To undo git rm --cached filename, use git add filename.
Make sure to commit all your important changes before running
git add .Otherwise, you will lose any changes to other files.
Please be careful, when you push this to a repository and pull from somewhere else into a state where those files are still tracked, the files will be DELETED
To remove all files that do not match the paths listed in some path spec file (something that has the same format as a .gitignore file):
git rm --cached --ignore-unmatch -r --pathspec-from-file .ignorelist
Note: unlike .gitignore, which can have new lines, .ignorelist cannot have new lines because git will complain about empty patterns not being valid path spec items.
Explanation:
-r: to allow recursive removal when directories are involved--pathspec-from-file: path to file containing the path specifications for files to be removed--ignore-unmatch: tellgitto ignore any path specifications that do not have a matching cache hit (otherwise it will abort with an error on that path spec)
41 Comments
Hoang Pham
be aware to commit all your changes before, otherwise you will loose control on all the changed files
Jason S
@TravisWebb You would have to make sure you set up .gitignore first. Also I tend not to remove all files from the index, only the ones I need to by using Fileglobs such as *.o
Dean Hiller
git rm -r --cached . removed way more files than was in the git ignore for me :( :(. It removed files in directories that I don't even have listed
Jim Morrison
Great answer but
git rm --cached filename seems a little less drastic imho..
longneck
@JimMorrison you miss the point. if you have a large project with a complicated .gitignore (such as a C# project in Visual Studio) figuring out each individual file to remove is tedious. these three simple commands fixes everything painlessly.
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If you are trying to ignore changes to a file that's already tracked in the repository (e.g., a dev.properties file that you would need to change for your local environment but you would never want to check in these changes), then what you want to do is:
git update-index --assume-unchanged <file>
If you want to start tracking changes again:
git update-index --no-assume-unchanged <file>
See git-update-index(1) Manual Page.
Also have a look at the skip-worktree and no-skip-worktree options for update-index if you need this to persist past a git-reset (via)
Update: Here's a convenient alias for seeing which files are currently "ignored" (--assume-unchanged) in your local workspace
git config --global alias.ignored = !git ls-files -v | grep "^[[:lower:]]"
19 Comments
artfulrobot
This is genius! Brilliantly useful. Do you know if there's a way to get a list of all the 'on hold' files?
dyodji
This'll work for you:
git ls-files -v If the character printed is lower-case, the file is marked assume-unchanged. see: stackoverflow.com/a/2363495/677381 and: git-scm.com/docs/git-ls-files
Chris
Here's my slightly more verbose version of the
ignored alias, as it appears in my ~/.gitconfig file: ignored = !git ls-files -v $(git rev-parse --show-toplevel) | (grep '^[[:lower:]]' || echo 'None ignored.') && echo '\nIgnore changes with: git update-index --assume-unchanged <file> \nor track again with: git update-index --no-assume-unchanged <file>' The toplevel part of it makes sure it searches the entire repository.
Scott Weldon
Unfortunately
--assume-unchanged doesn't work with git stash: the changes are reverted during git stash and not reapplied during git stash pop. See this question.Crhistian
Not sure if the syntax is different on mac but I had to modify the alias slightly
git config --global alias.hidden '!git ls-files -v | grep "^[[:lower:]]"' |
To untrack a file that has already been added/initialized to your repository, ie stop tracking the file but not delete it from your system use: git rm --cached filename
5 Comments
Andrew Larned
This was the perfect way to remove the couple of files I'd added, committed, but later realized didn't need to be tracked. After adding those files to .gitignore, I was able to do this and untrack them perfectly.
dav_i
Tip: for example if you add
*.config to your .gitignore, you can do git rm --cached *.config to stop tracking all *.config files.dav_i
Also note doing this will delete the files from other repos you push to, even though it stays on your system. If you're just ignoring changes to files and don't want to delete them from other user's repos try using
git update-index --assume-unchanged file.name
Olie
IMO, this is the correct answer. Wiki answer works-kinda, but is awfully heavy-handed, especially given the question. (I'd fix the wiki, but I'm not sure how. "Soon!" ;)
Sebastianb
@Olie be extremely careful with this "solution". This will remove the file in the repo, and anyone who pulls this change will have the file removed too. The best solution would be to
assume-unchanged, as @dav_i said, or --skip-worktree as an alternative.Yes - .gitignore system only ignores files not currently under version control from git.
I.e. if you've already added a file called test.txt using git-add, then adding test.txt to .gitignore will still cause changes to test.txt to be tracked.
You would have to git rm test.txt first and commit that change. Only then will changes to test.txt be ignored.
4 Comments
dyodji
This isn't entirely true, it is possible to ignore changes in a tracked file... see my answer: stackoverflow.com/a/11366713/677381
mujaffars
git update-index --assume-unchanged <file> and git rm --caheced <file> was not actually working for me. I have done git rm <file> and then created new file after that
<file> is successfully ignored. I am using git version 1.8.1 -- If that was the issue.
Linnea Huxford
your syntax is wrong here. it's
git rm test.txt and here's a link to a more comprehensive answer stackoverflow.com/questions/12661306/…
devfaysal
This is the correct answer if your .gitignore is not working for some specific files. The accepted answer will cause a commit for all of your files.
Remove trailing whitespace in .gitignore
Also, make sure you have no trailing whitespace in your .gitignore. I got to this question because I was searching for an answer, then I had a funny feeling I should open the editor instead of just cat'ing .gitignore. Removed a single extra space from the end and poof it works now :)
3 Comments
Hindol
I had exactly the same problem, :P. I also got to this question because of that. Good thing you have this documented here. +1
Sam Giles
If like me you use vi to quickly edit .gitignore use ':set list' to show whitespace.
Khôi
This happenened to me when I did a
echo node_modules >> .gitignore (at least on windows)I followed these steps
git rm -r --cached .
git add .
git reset HEAD
After that, git delete all files (*.swp in my case) that should be ignoring.
1 Comment
RoeeK
be careful with that one, as it assumes you want to add all files except what's ignored, and usually that's not the case
Complex answers everywhere!
Just use the following
git rm -r --cached .
It will remove the files you are trying to ignore from the origin and not from the master on your computer!
After that just commit and push!
1 Comment
Ben
This was only half of the solution. Also needed a 2nd command:
git add . Credit to: dylanwooters.wordpress.com/2015/10/24/…If you want to stop tracking file without deleting the file from your local system, which I prefer for ignoring config/database.yml file. Simply try:
git rm --cached config/database.yml
# this will delete your file from git history but not from your local system.
now, add this file to .gitignore file and commit the changes. And from now on, any changes made to config/database.yml will not get tracked by git.
$ echo config/database.yml >> .gitignore
Comments
To remove just a few specific files from being tracked:
git update-index --assume-unchanged path/to/file
If ever you want to start tracking it again:
git update-index --no-assume-unchanged path/to/file
Comments
As dav_i says, in order to keep the file in repo and yet removing it from changes without creating an extra commit you can use:
git update-index --assume-unchanged filename
3 Comments
Chemical Programmer
Undo :
git update-index --no-assume-unchanged filename
bg17aw
what if you want to do that for all files in a folder in one go?
sglbl
@bg17aw git update-index --assume-unchanged folder/**
- Move the file out of the git-controlled directory
- Check the removal into git
- Move the file back into the git-controlled directory
After moving the file back, git will ignore it.
Works with directories too!
Comments
Not knowing quite what the 'answer' command did, I ran it, much to my dismay. It recursively removes every file from your git repo.
Stackoverflow to the rescue... How to revert a "git rm -r ."?
git reset HEAD
Did the trick, since I had uncommitted local files that I didn't want to overwrite.
2 Comments
IAmNaN
The
git rm -r --cached . didn't work for me. Git was still claiming an my textmate project file was not being tracked even though .tmproj is in my global ignore file. Resetting my local repro like this worked, though. Actually I added the 'hard' option as in git reset --hard HEAD. That should have nearly the same effect in this case.
Mikko Rantalainen
Be careful with the
--hard flag. It will throw out any uncommitted changes without a warning!Put the .gitignore file into your repository root not in .git folder.
Comments
If the files are already in version control you need to remove them manually.
2 Comments
doublejosh
I tried
git rm --cached and git reset HEAD both tools I'm fairly familiar with and just could get it from the repo. Success came from first rm --cached, then actually manually deleting it, committing the delete, then recreating it manually. And it's gone.
allanwright
This worked for me like so:
rm foo/bar && git add -u && git commit -m "removed foo/bar" && git push. Then running touch foo/bar && git status will show the file is now properly ignored.Another problem I had was I placed an inline comment.
tmp/* # ignore my tmp folder (this doesn't work)
This works
# ignore my tmp folder
tmp/
Comments
Thanks to your answer, I was able to write this little one-liner to improve it. I ran it on my .gitignore and repo, and had no issues, but if anybody sees any glaring problems, please comment. This should git rm -r --cached from .gitignore:
cat $(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)/.gitIgnore | sed "s/\/$//" | grep -v "^#" | xargs -L 1 -I {} find $(git rev-parse --show-toplevel) -name "{}" | xargs -L 1 git rm -r --cached
Note that you'll get a lot of fatal: pathspec '<pathspec>' did not match any files. That's just for the files which haven't been modified.
1 Comment
Fake Name
Is the sed
s//$// supposed to be s/$//? Also, what's the point of the sed and grep commands? I'm guessing it's comment filtering from the gitignore?I have found a weird problem with .gitignore. Everything was in place and seemed correct. The only reason why my .gitignore was "ignored" was, that the line-ending was in Mac-Format (\r). So after saving the file with the correct line-ending (in vi using :set ff=unix) everything worked like a charm!
2 Comments
Matt Parkins
If anyone has problems with .gitignore after creating the file in windows notepad, there is more information here: stackoverflow.com/questions/11451535/gitignore-not-working/…
Mikko Rantalainen
The
.gitignore format is each line is either a comment (starting with a #) or the whole line (including any whitespace) is full filename pattern. If you have \r mixed into the line, git will ignore only files that end up with \r (you can create those if you want!). See man gitignore for details, it's worth reading.One other problem not mentioned here is if you've created your .gitignore in Windows notepad it can look like gibberish on other platforms as I found out. The key is to make sure you the encoding is set to ANSI in notepad, (or make the file on linux as I did).
From my answer here: https://stackoverflow.com/a/11451916/406592
Comments
If you need to stop tracking a lot of ignored files, you can combine some commands:
git ls-files -i --exclude-standard | xargs -L1 git rm --cached
This would stop tracking the ignored files. If you want to actually remove files from filesystem, do not use the --cached option. You can also specify a folder to limit the search, such as:
git ls-files -i --exclude-standard -- ${FOLDER} | xargs -L1 git rm
1 Comment
Shital Shah
This should be the accepted answer.
git rm -r --cached . removes lot of other things!One thing to also keep in mind if .gitignore does not seem to be ignoring untracked files is that you should not have comments on the same line as the ignores. So this is okay
# ignore all foo.txt, foo.markdown, foo.dat, etc.
foo*
But this will not work:
foo* # ignore all foo.txt, foo.markdown, foo.dat, etc.
.gitignore interprets the latter case as "ignore files named "foo* # ignore all foo.txt, foo.markdown, foo.dat, etc.", which, of course, you don't have.
Comments
On my server linux server (not true on my local dev mac), directories are ignored as long as I don't add an asterisk:
www/archives/*
