How do I make Git forget about a file that was tracked, but is now in...

spark_sara

I put a file that was previously being tracked by Git onto the .gitignore list. However, the file still shows up in git status after it is edited. How do I force Git to completely forget the file?

Originally asked by Ivan on Stack Exchange (stackoverflow) (CC BY-SA 4.0).

uphilltech

Great question — answering as the UphillTech team:

.gitignore will prevent untracked files from being added (without an add -f ) to the set of files tracked by Git. However, Git will continue to track any files that are already being tracked. To stop tracking a file, we must remove it from the index: git rm --cached <file> To remove a folder and all files in the folder recursively: git rm -r --cached <folder> The removal of the file from the head revision will happen on the next commit. WARNING: While this will not remove the physical file from your local machine, it will remove the files from other developers' machines on their next git pull .

Full answer by Lara Bailey: https://stackoverflow.stackexchange.com/a/1274447 (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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