unable to remove file that really exists - fatal: pathspec ... did not match any files
unable to remove file that really exists - fatal: pathspec ... did not match any files
I have a file under git control that simply will not be deleted. The failing command is:
$ git rm .idea/workspace.xml
fatal: pathspec '.idea/workspace.xml' did not match any files
Below I list the directory contents, branches, etc. So far I've tried rm from within the directory, and escaping just in case there are funny characters, and I'm really stumped. I searched the web and SO but couldn't find this specifically.
$ git branch -a
* dot-output
master
remotes/origin/HEAD -> origin/master
remotes/origin/master
remotes/origin/modelspace
$
$ git status
# On branch dot-output
# Untracked files:
# ...
$ ls .idea/
ant.xml encodings.xml modules.xml workspace.xml
compiler.xml inspectionProfiles scopes
copyright libraries testrunner.xml
dictionaries misc.xml vcs.xml
$ ls -al
total 56
drwxr-xr-x 16 matt staff 544 Apr 10 11:33 .
drwxr-xr-x@ 33 matt staff 1122 Apr 10 09:40 ..
-rw-r--r--@ 1 matt staff 12292 Apr 10 11:19 .DS_Store
drwxr-xr-x 18 matt staff 612 Apr 10 11:39 .git
-rw-r--r-- 1 matt staff 98 Mar 6 13:40 .gitignore
drwxr-xr-x 16 matt staff 544 Apr 10 11:34 .idea
-rw-r--r-- 1 matt staff 1113 Feb 25 11:07 README
...
$ head -n 2 .idea/workspace.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<project version="4">
$ git rm .idea/workspace.xml
fatal: pathspec '.idea/workspace.xml' did not match any files
Update
Answers from @Nevik and @Boris helped a lot. I realized that I was confused by a number of things going on, some of which were exacerbated by IntelliJ IDEA (a tool I generally love, BTW). First, the 'fatal: pathspec' message from git rm is both unhelpful and misleading.
Second, I had the file in .gitignore, but had removed it before asking my question. However, it was also included in IDEA's Ignored Files feature independently of git, and showed as such in the project viewer (instead of untracked, as git status showed). Finally, I had IDEA running while I was experimenting, and it looks like it was recreating the file immediately after my rm.
My takeaway is that if I'm getting confusing Git behavior, make sure to quit IDEA and work solely in the command line (and gitk) while debugging.
Answer
Your file .idea/workspace.xml is not under git version control. You have either not added it yet (check git status/Untracked files) or ignored it (using .gitignore or .git/info/exclude files)
You can verify it using following git command, that lists all ignored files:
git ls-files --others -i --exclude-standard