How to remove local (untracked) files from the current Git working tree?
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How to remove local (untracked) files from the current Git working tree?
How do you delete untracked local files from your current working tree?
Note: if you only want to remove some untracked files, but not all of them,
git clean has now an interactive mode! See my answer to this other question: git 1.8.4+– VonC
Jul 23 '13 at 6:00
git clean
Note that you're not removing files from git branch, as branch is a reference to a commit and therefore doesn't contain untracked files. Those are only present in the working directory and have nothing to do with branches. That's probably just terminology clarification.
– Pavel Šimerda
Sep 14 '14 at 22:28
Before you post a new answer, consider there are already 25+ answers for this question. Make sure that your answer contributes what is not among existing answers
– Sazzad Hissain Khan
Jun 15 '17 at 15:30
To clarify for the understanding of the uninitiated and those new to Git - run git status and if it shows a file as untracked, and you don't want that file in the repo, you can just go to your filesystem and delete or move it. This will not do anything bad to your local repo or to Git. You can also use
git clean or some variation in the answers below, including the interactive version to delete just selective files, but interactive mode can be tedious. Whatever you do, make sure you understand what git clean will delete or use --dry-run to have it tell you without deleting anything.– LightCC
Sep 2 '17 at 6:15
git clean
git clean
--dry-run
31 Answers
31
As per the Git Documentation git clean
Remove untracked files from the working tree
Step 1 is to show what will be deleted by using the -n option:
-n
git clean -n
Clean Step - beware: this will delete files:
git clean -f
git clean -f -d
git clean -fd
git clean -f -X
git clean -fX
git clean -f -x
git clean -fx
Note the case difference on the X for the two latter commands.
X
If clean.requireForce is set to "true" (the default) in your configuration, one needs to specify -f otherwise nothing will actually happen.
clean.requireForce
-f
Again see the git-clean docs for more information.
git-clean
-f
--force
If the Git configuration variable clean.requireForce is not set to false, git clean will refuse to run unless given -f, -n or -i.
-x
Don’t use the standard ignore rules read from .gitignore (per directory) and $GIT_DIR/info/exclude, but do still use the ignore rules given with -e options. This allows removing all untracked files, including build products. This can be used (possibly in conjunction with git reset) to create a pristine working directory to test a clean build.
-X
Remove only files ignored by Git. This may be useful to rebuild everything from scratch, but keep manually created files.
-n
--dry-run
Don’t actually remove anything, just show what would be done.
-d
Remove untracked directories in addition to untracked files. If an untracked directory is managed by a different Git repository, it is not removed by default. Use -f option twice if you really want to remove such a directory.
git clean -f works only in the directory where it's called (and subdirectories). If you want to clean the whole working copy, you should call it in its root directory.– Eduardo Bezerra
Mar 8 '13 at 10:51
git clean -f
It is also removing all files inside .gitignore. I need to delete only files/folders which are new and not in .gitignore
– Kostanos
Aug 5 '13 at 23:02
@Kostanos If you don't want to remove files that are in .gitignore, then do not provide the -x flag.
– Lo-Tan
Aug 23 '13 at 18:44
git clean -f :/ works as if you had run it in the root repo dir. See also later answers also accounting for submodules with git clean -ffxd :/– here
Oct 16 '14 at 20:38
git clean -f :/
git clean -ffxd :/
@Michelle git clean -xfd WILL also REMOVE ALL FILES CURRENTLY IGNORED IN YOUR .gitignore and they are not recoverable
– thedanotto
Nov 20 '15 at 5:36
Use git clean -f -d to make sure that directories are also removed.
git clean -f -d
You can then check if your files are really gone with git status.
git status
As previously stated, good to dry-run it with
git clean -n -d– Ms01
Dec 9 '13 at 10:54
git clean -n -d
Same thing is to do
git clean -nd and git clean -fd.– Micer
Jul 10 '17 at 9:13
git clean -nd
git clean -fd
I am surprised nobody mentioned this before:
git clean -i
That stands for interactive and you will get a quick overview of what is going to be deleted offering you the possibility to include/exclude the affected files. Overall, still faster than running the mandatory --dry-run before the real cleaning.
--dry-run
You will have to toss in a -d if you also want to take care of empty folders. At the end, it makes for a nice alias:
-d
git iclean
That being said, the extra hand holding of interactive commands can be tiring for experienced users. These days I just use the already mentioned git clean -fd
git clean -fd
got: error: unknown switch `i'
– pal4life
Jun 18 '14 at 21:58
@pal4life It was added in 1.8.4, you might be running an older version of git? github.com/git/git/blob/master/Documentation/RelNotes/1.8.4.txt
– Mattias Backman
Sep 30 '14 at 12:37
@SystematicFrank, Don't use alias, they don't really scale beyond 1 person....
– Pacerier
Oct 20 '15 at 11:01
git-clean - Remove untracked files from the working tree
git-clean
If untracked directory is a git repository of its own (e.g. submodule), you need to use -f twice:
-f
git clean -d -f -f
git clean -d -f -f
BTW, this is written in documentation : Git will refuse to delete directories with .git sub directory or file unless a second -f is given. But thanks anyway!
– Maxim Suslov
Jul 24 '15 at 9:03
To remove all untracked files, The simple
way is to add all of them first and reset the repo as below
git add --all
git reset --hard HEAD
You can replace
git add --all by git add .. So you can do it in a shorter way in oneline git add . && git reset --hard HEAD ( be very carefull with this command).– RousseauAlexandre
Mar 30 '17 at 13:35
git add --all
git add .
git add . && git reset --hard HEAD
Why use this over
git clean?– user2864740
Jun 30 '17 at 21:59
git clean
can anyone explain how/why this works?
– Alexander Mills
Jul 2 '17 at 3:37
@Andreas it doesn't delete ignored files for me (git 2.14.1). You should run
git clean -n anyway before doing the real deletion (or use git clean -i).– Qw3ry
Sep 26 '17 at 11:12
git clean -n
git clean -i
git clean deletes ignored files only if you use either the -x or -X option, otherwise it just deletes untracked files.– doubleDown
Sep 26 '17 at 20:17
git clean
-x
-X
I like git stash save -u because you can undo them all with git stash pop.
git stash save -u
git stash pop
EDIT: Also I found a way to show untracked file in a stash (e.g. git show stash@{0}^3) https://stackoverflow.com/a/12681856/338986
git show stash@{0}^3
Can you explain the -u on the stash? I do not follow how that works differently from git stash save. I tried this and it worked. Looked on git docs and could not find it there either.
– Winnemucca
Oct 17 '16 at 20:52
-u is equivalent to --include-untracked. You can find a help with git help stash.– hiroshi
Oct 18 '16 at 8:55
-u
--include-untracked
git help stash
@hiroshi Thanks! after trying every darn solution from a dozen different people this is the one that finally worked...whew ! Even a git stash did nada. The save - u took care of untracked. reset hard /clean force/etc none of these did anything for me.
– killjoy
Feb 15 '17 at 16:26
This is what I always use:
git clean -fdx
For a very large project you might want to run it a couple of times.
Could you explain the remark about large projects?
– Martin
Feb 28 '16 at 5:16
@Martin One of the projects I'm working on is +8 years old with +80 developers actively coding. Git sometimes fails to clean it on the first pass.
– Oscar Fraxedas
Feb 29 '16 at 13:10
git-clean is what you are looking for. It is used to remove untracked files from the working tree.
same comment as previous : linux.die.net/man/1/git-clean
– dlewin
Nov 3 '11 at 14:04
If needed to remove untracked files from particular subdirectory,
git clean -f {dir_path}
And combined way to delete untracked dir/files and ignored files.
git clean -fxd {dir_path}
after this you will have modified files only in git status.
git status
git clean -fd removes directory
git clean -fd
git clean -fX removes ignored files
git clean -fX
git clean -fx removes ignored and un-ignored files
git clean -fx
can be used all above options in combination as
git clean -fdXx
git clean -fdXx
check git manual for more help
The command
git clean -fdXx produces the error message "fatal: -x and -X cannot be used together" (using git-2.8). For your last sentence within your answer, please provide a link to git manual. Cheers– olibre
Jul 4 '16 at 16:23
git clean -fdXx
A better way is to use: git clean
git clean -d -x -f
This removes untracked files, including directories (-d) and files ignored by git (-x).
(-d)
git (-x)
Also, replace the -f argument with -n to perform a dry-run or -i for interactive mode and it will tell you what will be removed.
-f
-n
dry-run
-i
OK, deleting unwanted untracked files and folders are easy using git in command line, just do it like this:
git
git clean -fd
Double check before doing it as it will delete the files and folders without making any history...
Also in this case, -f stands for force and -d stands for directory...
-f
-d
So, if you want to delete files only, you can use -f only:
-f
git clean -f
If you want to delete(directories) and files, you can delete only untracked directories and files like this:
git clean -fd
Also, you can use -x flag for including the files which are ignored by git. This would be helpful if you want to delete everything.
-x
And adding -i flag, makes git asking you for permission for deleting files one by one on the go.
-i
If you not sure and want to check things first, add -n flag.
-n
Use -q if you don't want to see any report after successful deletion.
-q
I also create the image below to make it more memorisable, specially I have seen many people confuse -f for cleaning folder sometimes or mix it up somehow!
-f
Nice art dude!!!
– Bhavesh Gangani
Jul 4 at 18:06
Remove all extra folders and files in this repo + submodules
This gets you in same state as fresh clone.
git clean -ffdx
Remove all extra folders and files in this repo but not its submodules
git clean -fdx
Remove only extra folders but not files (ex. build folder)
git clean -fd
Remove extra folders + ignored files (but not any newly added files)
If file wasn't ignored and not yet checked-in then it stays. Note the capital X.
git clean -fdX
New interactive mode
git clean
User interactive approach:
git clean -i -fd
Remove .classpath [y/N]? N
Remove .gitignore [y/N]? N
Remove .project [y/N]? N
Remove .settings/ [y/N]? N
Remove src/com/arsdumpgenerator/inspector/ [y/N]? y
Remove src/com/arsdumpgenerator/manifest/ [y/N]? y
Remove src/com/arsdumpgenerator/s3/ [y/N]? y
Remove tst/com/arsdumpgenerator/manifest/ [y/N]? y
Remove tst/com/arsdumpgenerator/s3/ [y/N]? y
-i for interactive
-f for force
-d for directory
-x for ignored files(add if required)
Note: Add -n or --dry-run to just check what it will do.
git clean -f -d -x $(git rev-parse --show-cdup) applies clean to the root directory, no matter where you call it within a repository directory tree. I use it all the time as it does not force you to leave the folder where you working now and allows to clean & commit right from the place where you are.
git clean -f -d -x $(git rev-parse --show-cdup)
Be sure that flags -f, -d, -x match your needs:
-f
-d
-x
-d
Remove untracked directories in addition to untracked files. If an
untracked directory is managed by a different Git repository, it is
not removed by default. Use -f option twice if you really want to
remove such a directory.
-f, --force
If the Git configuration variable clean.requireForce is not set to
false, git clean will refuse to delete files or directories unless
given -f, -n or -i. Git will refuse to delete directories with .git
sub directory or file unless a second -f is given. This affects
also git submodules where the storage area of the removed submodule
under .git/modules/ is not removed until -f is given twice.
-x
Don't use the standard ignore rules read from .gitignore (per
directory) and $GIT_DIR/info/exclude, but do still use the ignore
rules given with -e options. This allows removing all untracked
files, including build products. This can be used (possibly in
conjunction with git reset) to create a pristine working directory
to test a clean build.
There are other flags as well available, just check git clean --help.
git clean --help
BTW you can just do git clean {flags} :/ so it will be as if you ran the command in the repo root
– The-null-Pointer-
Jun 24 '17 at 19:07
For me only following worked:
git clean -ffdx
In all other cases, I was getting message "Skipping Directory" for some subdirectories.
Thanks. I left out the
-x and just used git clean -ffd to avoid erasing files in the .gitignore.– Feckmore
Jan 25 '17 at 17:46
-x
git clean -ffd
-ff ftw. Had no idea - thanks!– Mike Rapadas
May 3 '17 at 22:35
-ff
A lifehack for such situation I just invented and tried (that works perfectly):
git add .
git reset --hard HEAD
Beware! Be sure to commit any needed changes (even in non-untracked files) before performing this.
At least this is a different approach. :) Another way, that would remember the deleted files in the reflog but not in any branches, would be:
git add . git commit -m 'about to delete' git reset --hard HEAD~– joeytwiddle
Mar 1 '16 at 6:10
git add .
git commit -m 'about to delete'
git reset --hard HEAD~
even more quick way is
git add . && git reset --hard HEAD– thybzi
Apr 29 '16 at 18:25
git add . && git reset --hard HEAD
git add . && git reset --hard– Pleymor
Jul 19 '16 at 11:35
git add . && git reset --hard
This might not be what you want if there are also changes you do wish to commit.
– lacostenycoder
Feb 10 '17 at 20:00
can anyone explain how/why this works?
– Alexander Mills
Jul 2 '17 at 3:36
If you just want to delete the files listed as untracked by 'git status'
git stash save -u
git stash drop "stash@{0}"
I prefer this to 'git clean' because 'git clean' will delete files
ignored by git, so your next build will have to rebuild everything
and you may lose your IDE settings too.
This will also remove valid changes to tracked files. I wouldn't recommend it.
– ray
Apr 4 '16 at 17:06
Yeah, you'd want to commit changes to tracked files first.
– jazzdev
Apr 5 '16 at 0:01
To know what will be deleted before actually deleting:
git clean -d -n
git clean -d -n
It will output something like:
Would remove sample.txt
To delete everything listed in the output of the previous command:
git clean -d -f
git clean -d -f
It will output something like:
Removing sample.txt
To remove the untracked files you should first use command to view the files that will be affected by cleaning
git clean -fdn
This will show you the list of files that will be deleted. Now to actually delete those files use this command:
git clean -fd
Normal git clean command doesn't remove untracked files with my git version 2.9.0.windows.1.
git clean
git version 2.9.0.windows.1
$ git clean -fdx # doesn't remove untracked files
$ git clean -fdx * # Append star then it works!
git clean -f to remove untracked files from working directory.
git clean -f to remove untracked files from working directory.
I have covered some basics here in my blog, git-intro-basic-commands
uggested Command for Removing Untracked Files from git docs is git clean
git clean - Remove untracked files from the working tree
Suggested Method: Interative Mode by using git clean -i
so we can have control over it. let see remaining available options.
git clean -i
Available Options:
git clean
-d -f -i -n -q -e -x -X (can use either)
Explanation:
1. -d
Remove untracked directories in addition to untracked files. If an untracked directory is managed by a different Git repository,
it is not removed by default. Use -f option twice if you really want to remove such a directory.
2. -f, --force
If the Git configuration variable clean.requireForce is not set to false, git clean will refuse to run unless given -f, -n or
-i.
3. -i, --interactive
Show what would be done and clean files interactively. See “Interactive mode” for details.
4. -n, --dry-run
Don’t actually remove anything, just show what would be done.
5. -q, --quiet
Be quiet, only report errors, but not the files that are successfully removed.
6. -e , --exclude=
In addition to those found in .gitignore (per directory) and $GIT_DIR/info/exclude, also consider these patterns to be in the
set of the ignore rules in effect.
7. -x
Don’t use the standard ignore rules read from .gitignore (per directory) and $GIT_DIR/info/exclude, but do still use the ignore
rules given with -e options. This allows removing all untracked files, including build products. This can be used (possibly in
conjunction with git reset) to create a pristine working directory to test a clean build.
8. -X
Remove only files ignored by Git. This may be useful to rebuild everything from scratch, but keep manually created files.
We can easily removed local untracked files from the current git working tree by using below git comments.
git reset [--soft | --mixed [-N] | --hard | --merge | --keep] [-q] [<commit>]
Example:
git reset --hard HEAD
Links :
Be careful while running `git clean` command.
Always use -n before running the actual command as it will show you what files would get removed.
-n
git clean -n -d
git clean -f -d
By default, git clean will only remove untracked files that are not ignored. Any file that matches a pattern in your .gitignore or other ignore files will not be removed. If you want to remove those files too, you can add a -x to the clean command.
git clean
-x
git clean -f -d -x
There is also interactive mode available -i with the clean command
-i
git clean -x -i
Alternatively
If you are not 100% sure that deleting your uncommitted work is safe, you could use stashing instead
git stash --all
It will also clear your directory but give you flexibility to retrieve the files at any point in time using stash with apply or pop. Then at later point you could clear your stash using:
git stash drop // or clean
The following command will clean out
the current git repository and all its submodules recursively:
(git clean -d -x -f && git submodule foreach --recursive git clean -d -x -f)
oh-my-zsh with zsh provides those great aliases via the git plugin. They can be used in bash as well.
gclean='git clean -fd'gpristine='git reset --hard && git clean -dfx'
gclean='git clean -fd'
gpristine='git reset --hard && git clean -dfx'
gclean
gpristine
How is this specific to
zsh? This should work in bash as well...– DanGordon
Jan 16 at 15:14
zsh
bash
Thanks for you feedback, my statement was confusing. I wanted to say that the highlighted aliases come automatically with oh-my-zsh. They obviously work great in
bash. I edited my answer to reflect that.– ZenLulz
May 31 at 23:35
bash
git clean -f
will remove the untracked files from the current git
git clean -fd
when you want to remove directories and files, this will delete only untracked directories and files
Note: First navigate to the directory and checkout the branch you want to clean.
-i interactive mode and it will tell you what will be removed and you can choose an action from the list.
-i
To clean files only [Folders will not be listed and will not be cleaned]: $ git clean -i
$ git clean -i
To clean files and folders:$ git clean -d -i
$ git clean -d -i
-d including directories.
-d
If you choose c from the list. The files/folders will be deleted that are not tracked and will also remove files/folders that you mess-up.*
c
For instance: If you restructure the folder in your remote and pull the changes to your local computer. files/folders that are created by others initially will be in past folder and in the new one that you restructure.
Thank you for your interest in this question.
Because it has attracted low-quality or spam answers that had to be removed, posting an answer now requires 10 reputation on this site (the association bonus does not count).
Would you like to answer one of these unanswered questions instead?
This interactive git cheat sheet ndpsoftware.com/git-cheatsheet.html shows the git workspace (google gives you better results with "workspace" than "working copy").
– qneill
Feb 1 '13 at 15:43