Any difference between git add . and git add --all?

Question

Is there any difference between:

git add .

and

git add --all

?

Answer 1

git add --all will add the deleted file too (removing files from index that are no longer in the working tree), while git add . does not.

For new files and files already tracked in current working tree:

git add .

For only files already tracked in current working tree:

git add -u

For new files, files already tracked in current working tree, and remove files from index that are no longer in the working tree:

git add -A

or

git add --all

Answer 2

The accepted answer is valid for Git 1.x. But for Git versions from 2.0 and above, following is the difference:

git add .

Adds, modifies and removes index entries/files in the current directory and its subdirectories.

While

git add -all

And

git add -A

Adds, modifies and removes all index entries/files to match the entire working tree of the repository.

Refer Git documentation for git add here.