How can I delete a file from a Git repository?

Question

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

Answer 1

Note: if you want to delete file only from git use below:

git rm --cached file1.txt

If you want to delete also from hard disk:

git rm file1.txt

If you want to remove a folder(the folder may contain few files) so, you should remove using recursive command, as below:

git rm -r foldername

If you want to remove a folder inside another folder

git rm -r parentFolder/childFolder

Then, you can commit and push as usual. However, if you want to recover deleted folder, you can follow this: recover deleted files from git is possible.

From doc:

git rm [-f | --force] [-n] [-r] [--cached] [--ignore-unmatch] [--quiet] [--] <file>…​

OPTIONS

<file>…​

Files to remove. Fileglobs (e.g. *.c) can be given to remove all matching files. If you want Git to expand file glob characters, you

may need to shell-escape them. A leading directory name (e.g. dir to remove dir/file1 and dir/file2) can be given to remove all files in the directory, and recursively all sub-directories, but this requires the -r option to be explicitly given. -f --force

Override the up-to-date check.

-n --dry-run

Don’t actually remove any file(s). Instead, just show if they exist in the index and would otherwise be removed by the command.

-r

Allow recursive removal when a leading directory name is given.

--

This option can be used to separate command-line options from the list of files, (useful when filenames might be mistaken for

command-line options). --cached

Use this option to unstage and remove paths only from the index. Working tree files, whether modified or not, will be left alone.

--ignore-unmatch

Exit with a zero status even if no files matched.

-q --quiet

git rm normally outputs one line (in the form of an rm command) for each file removed. This option suppresses that output.

Read more on official doc.

Answer 2

According to the documentation.

git rm --cached file1.txt

When it comes to sensitive data—better not say that you removed the file but rather just include it in the last known commit:

0. Amend last commit

git commit --amend -CHEAD

If you want to delete the file from all git history, according to the documentation you should do the following:

1. Remove it from your local history

git filter-branch --force --index-filter \ "git rm --cached --ignore-unmatch PATH-TO-YOUR-FILE-WITH-SENSITIVE-DATA" \  --prune-empty --tag-name-filter cat -- --all
# Replace PATH-TO-YOUR-FILE-WITH-SENSITIVE-DATA with the path to the file you want to remove, not just its filename

2. Don't forget to include this file in .gitignore (If it's a file you never want to share (such as passwords...):

echo "YOUR-FILE-WITH-SENSITIVE-DATA" >> .gitignore
git add .gitignore
git commit -m "Add YOUR-FILE-WITH-SENSITIVE-DATA to .gitignore"

3. If you need to remove from the remote

git push origin --force --all

4. If you also need to remove it from tag releases:

git push origin --force --tags

Answer 3

I tried a lot of the suggested options and none appeared to work (I won't list the various problems). What I ended up doing, which worked, was simple and intuitive (to me) was:

1. move the whole local repo elsewhere
2. clone the repo again from master to your local drive
3. copy back the files/folder from your original copy in #1 back into the new clone from #2
4. make sure that the problem large file is either not there or excluded in the .gitignore file
5. do the usual git add/git commit/git push

Answer 4

Additionally, if it's a folder to be removed and it's subsequent child folders or files, use:

git rm -r foldername

Answer 5

go to your project dir and type:

git filter-branch --tree-filter 'rm -f <deleted-file>' HEAD

after that push --force for delete file from all commits.

git push origin --force --all

Answer 6

If you have the GitHub for Windows application, you can delete a file in 5 easy steps:

• Click Sync.
• Click on the directory where the file is located and select your latest version of the file.
• Click on tools and select "Open a shell here."
• In the shell, type: "rm {filename}" and hit enter.
• Commit the change and resync.