Difference between git add -A and git add

Question

The command git add  --all -A  appears to be identical to git add    Is this correct  If not  how do they differ

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Git Version 1 x     Command New Files Modified Files Deleted Files Description     git add -A          Stage all  new  modified  deleted  files   git add           Stage new and modified files only in current folder   git add -u         Stage modified and deleted files only    Git Version 2 x     Command New Files Modified Files Deleted Files Description     git add -A          Stage all  new  modified  deleted  files   git add            Stage all  new  modified  deleted  files in current folder   git add --ignore-removal           Stage new and modified files only   git add -u         Stage modified and deleted files only    Long-form flags   git add -A is equivalent to git add --all git add -u is equivalent to git add --update  Further reading   Git for beginners  The definitive practical guide Resources to learn Git Learn Git Branching Explain Git With D3

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Things changed with Git 2 0  2014-05-28     -A is now the default The old behavior is now available with --ignore-removal  git add -u and git add -A in a subdirectory without paths on the command line operate on the entire tree    So for Git 2 the answer is    git add   and git add -A   add new modified deleted files in the current directory git add --ignore-removal   adds new modified files in the current directory git add -u   adds modified deleted files in the current directory Without the dot  add all files in the project regardless of the current directory

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A more distilled quick answer   Does both below  same as git add --all   git add -A   Stages new   modified files  git add     Stages modified   deleted files  git add -u

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git add   equals git add -A   adds files to index only from current and children folders   git add -A adds files to index from all folders in working tree   P S   information relates to Git 2 0  2014-05-28

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I hope this may add some more clarity    The syntax is git add  lt limiters gt   lt pathspec gt    Aka git add  nil -u -A   nil   pathspec    Limiters may be -u or -A or nil   Pathspec may be a filepath or dot      to indicate the current directory   Important background knowledge about how Git  adds     Invisible files  those prefixed with a dot   dotfiles  are never automatically recognized by Git  They are never even listed as  untracked   Empty folders are never added by Git  They are never even listed as  untracked    A workaround is to add a blank file  possibly invisible  to the tracked files   Git status will not display subfolder information  that is  untracked files  unless at least one file in that subfolder is tracked  Before such time  Git considers the entire folder out of scope  a la  empty   It is empty of tracked items  Specifying a filespec        dot   or the current directory  is not recursive unless -A is also specified  Dot refers strictly to the current directory - it omits paths found above and below    Now  given that knowledge  we can apply the answers above   The limiters are as follows    -u   --update   subset to tracked files    Add   No  Change   Yes  Delete   Yes     if the item is tracked  -A   --all  no such -a  which gives syntax error    superset of all untracked tracked files   unless in Git before 2 0  wherein if the dot filespec is given  then only that particular folder is considered     if the item is recognized  git add -A will find it and add it    The pathspec is as follows    In Git before 2 0  for the two limiters  update and all   the new default is to operate on the entire working tree  instead of the current path  Git 1 9 or earlier   However  in v2 0  the operation can be limited to the current path  just add the explicit dot suffix  which is also valid in Git 1 9 or earlier     git add -A    git add -u    In conclusion  my policy is    Ensure any hunks files to be added are accounted for in git status  If any items are missing  due to invisible files folders  add them separately  Have a good  gitignore file so that normally only files of interest are untracked and or unrecognized  From the top level of the repository   git add -A   to add all items  This works in all versions of Git  Remove any desired items from the index if desired  If there is a big bug  do  git reset  to clear the index entirely

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Both git add   and git add -A will stage all new  modified and deleted files in the newer versions of Git   The difference is that git add -A stages files in  higher  current and subdirectories  that belong to your working Git repository  But doing a git add   only stages files in the current directory and subdirectories following it  not the files lying outside  i e   higher directories    Here s an example    my-repo    git    subfolder      nested-file txt   rootfile txt   If your current working directory is  my-repo  and you do rm rootfile txt  then cd subfolder  followed by git add    then it will not stage the deleted file  But doing git add -A will certainly stage this change no matter where you perform the command from

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This answer only applies to Git version 1 x  For Git version 2 x  see other answers   Summary   git add -A stages all changes  git add   stages new files and modifications  without deletions  on the current directory and its subdirectories    git add -u stages modifications and deletions  without new files    Detail  git add -A is equivalent to  git add    git add -u  The important point about git add   is that it looks at the working tree and adds all those paths to the staged changes if they are either changed or are new and not ignored  it does not stage any  rm  actions  git add -u looks at all the already tracked files and stages the changes to those files if they are different or if they have been removed  It does not add any new files  it only stages changes to already tracked files  git add -A is a handy shortcut for doing both of those  You can test the differences out with something like this  note that for Git version 2 x your output for git add   git status will be different   git init echo Change me  gt  change-me echo Delete me  gt  delete-me git add change-me delete-me git commit -m initial  echo OK  gt  gt  change-me rm delete-me echo Add me  gt  add-me  git status   Changed but not updated      modified    change-me     deleted     delete-me   Untracked files      add-me  git add   git status    Changes to be committed      new file    add-me     modified    change-me   Changed but not updated      deleted     delete-me  git reset  git add -u git status    Changes to be committed      modified    change-me     deleted     delete-me   Untracked files      add-me  git reset  git add -A git status    Changes to be committed      new file    add-me     modified    change-me     deleted     delete-me

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In Git 2 x    If you are located directly at the working directory  then git add -A and git add   work without the difference  If you are in any subdirectory of the working directory  git add -A will add all files from the entire working directory  and git add   will add files from your current directory    And that s all

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With Git 2 0  git add -A is default  git add   equals git add -A          git add  lt path gt  is the same as  git add -A  lt path gt   now  so that    git add dir   will notice paths you removed from the directory and   record the removal    In older versions of Git   git add  lt path gt   ignored removals         You can say  git add --ignore-removal  lt path gt   to   add only added or modified paths in  lt path gt   if you really want to    git add -A is like git add     add everything from top git repo folder   Note that git 2 7  Nov  2015  will allow you to add a folder named      See commit 29abb33  25 Oct 2015  by Junio C Hamano  gitster        Note that starting git 2 0  Q1 or Q2 2014   when talking about git add    current path within the working tree   you must use     in the other git add commands as well   That means       git add -A    is equivalent to  git add    git add -u       Note the extra     for git add -A and git add -u   Because git add -A or git add -u would operate  starting git 2 0 only  on the entire working tree  and not just on the current path      Those commands will operate on the entire tree in Git 2 0 for consistency with  git commit -a  and other commands    Because there will be no mechanism to make  git add -u  behave as if  git add -u     it is important for those who are used to  git add -u   without pathspec  updating the index only for paths in the current subdirectory to start training their fingers to explicitly say  git add -u    when they mean it before Git 2 0 comes       A warning is issued when these commands are run without a pathspec and when you have local changes outside the current directory  because the behaviour in Git 2 0 will be different   from today s version in such a situation

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It s useful to have descriptions of what each flag does  By using a CLI like bit you ll have access to flag descriptions as you re typing

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From Charles  instructions  after testing my proposed understanding would be as follows     For the next commit   git add       Add only files created modified to the index and not those deleted   git add -u    Add only files deleted modified to the index and not those created   git add -A    Do both operations at once  add to all files to the index   This blog post might also be helpful to understand in what situation those commands may be applied  Removing Deleted Files from your Git Working Directory

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The -A option adds  modifies  and removes index entries to match the working tree   In Git 2 the -A option is now the default    When a   is added that limits the scope of the update to the directory you are currently in  as per the Git documentation      If no  lt pathspec gt  is given when -A option is used  all files in the entire working tree are updated  old versions of Git used to limit the update to the current directory and its subdirectories     One thing that I would add is that if the --interactive or -p mode is used then git add will behave as if the update  -u  flag was used and not add new files

Command	New Files	Modified Files	Deleted Files	Description
`git add -A`	??	??	??	Stage all (new, modified, deleted) files
`git add .`	??	??	?	Stage new and modified files only in current folder
`git add -u`	?	??	??	Stage modified and deleted files only

Command	New Files	Modified Files	Deleted Files	Description
`git add -A`	??	??	??	Stage all (new, modified, deleted) files
`git add .`	??	??	??	Stage all (new, modified, deleted) files in current folder
`git add --ignore-removal .`	??	??	?	Stage new and modified files only
`git add -u`	?	??	??	Stage modified and deleted files only

[git] Difference between "git add -A" and "git add ."

Git Version 1.x

Git Version 2.x

Long-form flags:

Further reading:

Examples related to git

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