destination path already exists and is not an empty directory

Question

I cloned a git repository but accidentally messed up  So I re-cloned and the message showed up      destination path already exists and is not an empty directory   I ve tried deleting folders in my mac with the name of the destination path but it did not work    I m very new to coding so all help would be appreciated

User · Answer

This error comes up when you try to clone a repository in a folder which still contains .git folder (Hidden folder).

If the earlier answers doesn't work then you can proceed with my answer. Hope it will solve your issue.

Open terminal & change the directory to the destination folder (where you want to clone).

Now type: ls -a

You may see a folder named .git.

You have to remove that folder by the following command: rm -rf .git

Now you are ready to clone your project.

User · Answer

This just means that the git clone copied the files down from github and placed them into a folder  If you try to do it again it will not let you because it can t clone into a folder that has files into  it  So if you think the git clone did not complete properly  just delete the folder and do the git clone again  The clone creates a folder the same name as the git repo

User · Answer

I got same issue while using cygwin to install nvm  In fact  the target directory where empty but the git binary used was the one from windows  and not git from cygwin git package     After installing cygwin git package  the git clone from nvm install was ok

User · Answer

Make a new-directory and then use the git clone url

User · Answer

An engineered way to solve this if you already have files you need to push to Github Server    In Github Server where your repo will live    Create empty Git Repo  Save  lt YourPathAndRepoName gt    git init --bare  Local Computer  Just put in any folder      touch  gitignore  Add files you want to ignore in text editor to  gitignore   git clone  lt YourPathAndRepoName gt   This will create an empty folder with your Repo Name from Github Server   Legitimately copy and paste all your files from wherever and paste them into this empty Repo   git add    amp  amp  git commit -m  First Commit   git push origin master

User · Answer

Steps to get this error    Clone a repo  for eg take name as xyz in a folder Not try to clone again in the same folder   Even after deleting the folder manually this error will come since deleting folder doesn t delete git info    Solution   rm -rf  quot name of repo folder which in out case is xyz quot    So rm -rf xyz

User · Answer

What works for me is that  I created a new folder that doesn t contain any other files  and selected that new folder I created and put the clone there  I hope this helps

User · Answer

If you got Destination path XXX already exists means the name of the project repository which you are trying to clone is already there in that current directory  So please cross-check and delete any existing one and try to clone it again

User · Answer

Explanation  This is pretty vague but I ll do what I can to help   First  while it may seem daunting at first  I suggest you learn how to do things from the command line  called terminal on OSX   This is a great way to make sure you re putting things where you really want to   You should definitely google  unix commands  to learn more  but here are a few important commands to help in this situation   ls - list all files and directories  folders  in current directory  cd  lt input directory here without these brackets gt  - change directory  or change the folder you re looking in  mkdir  lt input directory name without brackets gt  - Makes a new directory  be careful  you will have to cd into the directory after you make it   rm -r  lt input directory name without brackets gt  - Removes a directory and everything inside it  git clone  lt link to repo without brackets gt  - Clones the repository into the directory you are currently browsing   Answer  So  on my computer  I would run the following commands to create a directory  folder  called projects within my documents folder and clone a repo there    Open terminal cd documents   Not case sensitive on mac  mkdir projects cd projects git clone https   github com seanbecker15 wherecanifindit git cd wherecanifindit  if I want to go into the directory    p s  wherecanifindit is just the name of my git repository  not a command

[git] destination path already exists and is not an empty directory

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