Let’s say you have already added/committed some files to your git repository and you then add them to your .gitignore; these files will still be present in your repository index. This article we will see how to get rid of them.
Step 1: Commit all your changes
Before proceeding, make sure all your changes are committed, including your .gitignore file.
Step 2: Remove everything from the repository
To clear your repo, use:
git rm -r --cached . |
- rm is the remove command
- -r will allow recursive removal
- –cached will only remove files from the index. Your files will still be there.
- The
.indicates that all files will be untracked. You can untrack a specific file withgit rm --cached foo.txt(thanks @amadeann).
The rm command can be unforgiving. If you wish to try what it does beforehand, add the -n or --dry-run flag to test things out.
Step 3: Re add everything
git add . |
Step 4: Commit
git commit -m ".gitignore fix" |
Your repository is clean :)
Push the changes to your remote to see the changes effective there as well.
