[git] git still shows files as modified after adding to .gitignore

i'm adding this to .gitignore file

.idea/*

but anyway the status is:

#       modified:   .gitignore
#       modified:   .idea/.generators
#       modified:   .idea/dovezu.iml
#       modified:   .idea/misc.xml
#       modified:   .idea/workspace.xml

what am i doing wrong ? i even added .idea/* to the global ~/.gitignore_global but git status, anyway shows me:

#       modified:   .gitignore
#       modified:   .idea/.generators
#       modified:   .idea/dovezu.iml
#       modified:   .idea/misc.xml
#       modified:   .idea/workspace.xml

In my case, the .gitignore file is somehow corrupted. It sometimes shows up OK but sometimes is gibberish. I guess the encoding might be to blame but cannot be sure. To solve the issue, I deleted the file (previously created through echo > .gitgore in VS Code commandline) and created a new one manually in the file system (Explorer), then added my ignore rules. After the new .ignore was in place, everything works fine.

Using git rm --cached *file* is not working fine for me (I'm aware this question is 8 years old, but it still shows at the top of the search for this topic), it does remove the file from the index, but it also deletes the file from the remote.

I have no idea why that is. All I wanted was keeping my local config isolated (otherwise I had to comment the localhost base url before every commit), not delete the remote equivalent to config.

Reading some more I found what seems to be the proper way to do this, and the only way that did what I needed, although it does require more attention, especially during merges.

Anyway, all it requires is git update-index --assume-unchanged *path/to/file*.

As far as I understand, this is the most notable thing to keep in mind:

Git will fail (gracefully) in case it needs to modify this file in the index e.g. when merging in a commit; thus, in case the assumed-untracked file is changed upstream, you will need to handle the situation manually.

To the people who might be searching for this issue still, are looking at this page only.

This will help you remove cached index files, and then only add the ones you need, including changes to your .gitignore file.

1. git rm -r --cached .  
2. git add .
3. git commit -m 'Removing ignored files'

Here is a little bit more info.

1. This command will remove all cached files from index.
2. This command will add all files except those which are mentioned in gitignore.
3. This command will commit your files again and remove the files you want git to ignore, but keep them in your local directory.

The solutions offered here and in other places didn't work for me, so I'll add to the discussion for future readers. I admittedly don't fully understand the procedure yet, but have finally solved my (similar) problem and want to share.

I had accidentally cached some doc-directories with several hundred files when working with git in IntelliJ IDEA on Windows 10, and after adding them to .gitignore (and PROBABLY moving them around a bit) I couldn't get them removed from the Default Changelist.

I first commited the actual changes I had made, then went about solving this - took me far too long. I tried git rm -r --cached . but would always get path-spec ERRORS, with different variations of the path-spec as well as with the -f and -r flags.

git status would still show the filenames, so I tried using some of those verbatim with git rm -cached, but no luck. Stashing and unstashing the changes seemed to work, but they got queued again after a time (I'm a bity hazy on the exact timeframe). I have finally removed these entries for good using

git reset

I assume this is only a GOOD IDEA when you have no changes staged/cached that you actually want to commit.

1. Git add .

2. Git status //Check file that being modified

   // git reset HEAD --- replace to which file you want to ignore

3. git reset HEAD .idea/ <-- Those who wanted to exclude .idea from before commit // git check status and the idea file will be gone, and you're ready to go!

4. git commit -m ''

5. git push

Simply add git rm -r --cached <folder_name/file_name>

Sometimes, you update the .gitignore file after the commit command of files. So, the files get cached in the memory. To remove the cached files, use the above command.

if you have .idea/* already added in your .gitignore and if git rm -r --cached .idea/ command does not work (note: shows error-> fatal: pathspec '.idea/' did not match any files) try this

remove .idea file from your app run this command

rm -rf .idea

run git status now and check while running the app .idea folder will be created again but it will not be tracked