How can I delete a file from a Git repository?

git git-rm
webminal.org picture webminal.org · Jan 12, 2010 · Viewed 2.6M times · Source

I have added a file named "file1.txt" to a Git repository. After that, I committed it, added a couple of directories called dir1 and dir2, and committed them to the Git repository.

Now the current repository has "file1.txt", dir1, and dir2. How can I delete "file1.txt" without affecting others, like dir1 and dir2?

Answer

Greg Hewgill picture Greg Hewgill · Jan 12, 2010

Use git rm.

If you want to remove the file from the Git repository and the filesystem, use:

git rm file1.txt
git commit -m "remove file1.txt"

But if you want to remove the file only from the Git repository and not remove it from the filesystem, use: 

git rm --cached file1.txt
git commit -m "remove file1.txt"

And to push changes to remote repo

git push origin branch_name

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