[git] How to git commit a single file/directory

Tried the following command:

git commit path/to/my/file.ext -m 'my notes'

Receive an error in git version 1.5.2.1:

error: pathspec '-m' did not match any file(s) known to git.
error: pathspec 'MY MESSAGE' did not match any file(s) known to git.

Is that incorrect syntax for singe file or directory commits?

ANSWER: Arguments were expected in this order...

git commit -m 'my notes' path/to/my/file.ext

UPDATE: it's not strict anymore :)

This question is related to git commit

The answer is


Specify path after entered commit message, like:

git commit -m "commit message" path/to/file.extention

you try if You are in Master branch git commit -m "Commit message" -- filename.ext


For git 1.9.5 on Windows 7: "my Notes" (double quotes) corrected this issue. In my case putting the file(s) before or after the -m 'message'. made no difference; using single quotes was the problem.


Use the -o option.

git commit -o path/to/myfile -m "the message"

-o, --only commit only specified files


If you are in the folder which contains the file

git commit -m 'my notes' ./name_of_file.ext

Try:

git commit -m 'my notes' path/to/my/file.ext