[git] How to remove files from git staging area?

I made changes to some of my files in my local repo, and then I did git add -A which I think added too many files to the staging area. How can I delete all the files from the staging area?

After I do that, I'll just manually do git add "filename".

This question is related to git

The answer is


You could use

git reset HEAD

then add the specific files you want with

git add [directory/]filename

Use "git reset HEAD <file>..." to unstage fils

ex : to unstage all files

git reset HEAD .

to unstage one file

git reset HEAD nameFile.txt

As noted in other answers, you should use git reset. This will undo the action of the git add -A.

Note: git reset is equivalent to git reset --mixed which does this

Resets the index but not the working tree (i.e., the changed files are preserved but not marked for commit) and reports what has not been updated. This is the default action. [ git reset ]


You can reset the staging area in a few ways:

  1. Reset HEAD and add all necessary files to check-in again as below:

     git reset HEAD ---> removes all files from the staging area
     git add <files, that are required to be committed>
     git commit -m "<commit message>"
     git push 
    

I tried all these method but none worked for me. I removed .git file using rm -rf .git form the local repository and then again did git init and git add and routine commands. It worked.


To remove all files from staging area use -
git reset
To remove specific file use -
git reset "File path"


If unwanted files were added to the staging area but not yet committed, then a simple reset will do the job:

$ git reset HEAD file
# Or everything
$ git reset HEAD .

To only remove unstaged changes in the current working directory, use:

git checkout -- .

If you've already committed a bunch of unwanted files, you can unstage them and tell git to mark them as deleted (without actually deleting them) with

git rm --cached -r .

--cached tells it to remove the paths from staging and the index without removing the files themselves and -r operates on directories recursively. You can then git add any files that you want to keep tracking.


Use the following to remove a specific file from the staging area:

git restore --staged <individual_file>

Or use the following to remove all the files that are currently staged:

git restore --staged .

In your git bash terminal after adding files to the staging area you can run a git status and the command is displayed for you above the current staged files: enter image description here


It is very simple:

  1. To check the current status of any file in the current dir, whether it is staged or not:

    git status

  2. Staging any files:

    git add . for all files in the current directory

    git add <filename> for specific file

  3. Unstaging the file:

    git restore --staged <filename>


Use

git reset

to unstage all the staged files.


use

git reset HEAD

This will remove all files from staging area


Now at v2.24.0 suggests

git restore --staged .

to unstage files.