What does the 'git add .' ('git add' single dot) command do?

git command-line-interface git-add
chunjw picture chunjw · Jun 6, 2013 · Viewed 66.7k times · Source

I don't get what the Git command means, when adding files to the stage with the use of a period (or full stop, single dot):

$ git add .

What does this do?

Answer

agconti picture agconti · Jun 6, 2013

git add . adds / stages all of the files in the current directory. This is for convenience, and can still be used if you have certain files you don't want to add by using a .gitignore

A tutorial for .gitignore is located here.

A deeper look into git add . vs git add -A vs. git add -u is located here and it might answer your question if you wanted more control of how you add all of the files / wanted to know how git add . works.

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