How to make git mark a deleted and a new file as a file move

Question

I ve moved a file manually and then I ve modified it  According to Git  it is a new file and a removed file  Is there any way to force Git into treating it as a file move

User · Answer

There is a probably a better    command line    way to do this  and I know this is a hack  but I   ve never been able to find a good solution   Using TortoiseGIT  If you have a GIT commit where some file move operations are showing up as load of adds deletes rather than renames  even though the files only have small changes  then do this    Check in what you have done locally Check in a mini one-line change in a 2nd commit Go to GIT log in tortoise git Select the two commits  right click  and select    merge into one commit      The new commit will now properly show the file renames    which will help maintain proper file history

User · Answer

There is a probably a better    command line    way to do this  and I know this is a hack  but I   ve never been able to find a good solution   Using TortoiseGIT  If you have a GIT commit where some file move operations are showing up as load of adds deletes rather than renames  even though the files only have small changes  then do this    Check in what you have done locally Check in a mini one-line change in a 2nd commit Go to GIT log in tortoise git Select the two commits  right click  and select    merge into one commit      The new commit will now properly show the file renames    which will help maintain proper file history

User · Answer

For me it worked to stash save all the changes before the commit and pop them out again  This made git re-analyze the added   deleted files and it correctly marked them as moved

User · Answer

git diff -M or git log -M should automatically detect such changes as a rename with minor changes as long as they indeed are  If your minor changes are not minor  you can reduce the similarity threashold  e g     git log -M20 -p --stat   to reduce it from the default 50  to 20

User · Answer

Do the move and the modify in separate commits

User · Answer

I had this problem recently  when moving  but not modifying  some files   The problem is that Git changed some line endings when I moved the files  and then wasn t able to tell that the files were the same   Using git mv sorted out the problem  but it only works on single files   directories  and I had a lot of files in the root of the repository to do   One way of fixing this would be with some bash   batch magic   Another way is the following   Move the files and git commit  This updates the line endings  Move the files back to their original location  now that they have the new line endings  and git commit --amend Move the files again and git commit --amend  There is no change to the line endings this time so Git is happy

User · Answer

It s all a perceptual thing   Git is generally rather good at recognising moves  because GIT is a content tracker  All that really depends is how your  stat  displays it    The only difference here is the -M flag    git log --stat -M  commit 9c034a76d394352134ee2f4ede8a209ebec96288 Author  Kent Fredric Date    Fri Jan 9 22 13 51 2009  1300           Category Restructure       lib Gentoo Repository pm                    10      -----      lib Gentoo     gt  Repository  Base pm          2  -      lib Gentoo     gt  Repository  Category pm     12       ------      lib Gentoo     gt  Repository  Package pm      10      -----      lib Gentoo     gt  Repository  Types pm        10      -----      5 files changed  22 insertions     22 deletions -    git log --stat  commit 9c034a76d394352134ee2f4ede8a209ebec96288 Author  Kent Fredric Date    Fri Jan 9 22 13 51 2009  1300      Category Restructure   lib Gentoo Base pm                    36 ------------------------  lib Gentoo Category pm                51 ----------------------------------  lib Gentoo Package pm                 41 ---------------------------  lib Gentoo Repository pm              10    ---  lib Gentoo Repository Base pm         36                           lib Gentoo Repository Category pm     51                                     lib Gentoo Repository Package pm      41                              lib Gentoo Repository Types pm        55                                        lib Gentoo Types pm                   55 -------------------------------------  9 files changed  188 insertions     188 deletions -    git help log       -M        Detect renames      -C        Detect copies as well as renames  See also --find-copies-harder

User · Answer

The other answers already cover that you can simply git add NEW  amp  amp  git rm OLD in order to make git recognize the move  However  if you have already modified the file in the working directory  the add rm approach will add the modifications to the index  which may be undesired in some cases  e g  in case of substantial modifications  git might not recognize anymore that it is a file rename   Let s assume you want to add the rename to the index  but not any modifications  The obvious way to achieve this  is to do a back and forth rename mv NEW OLD  amp  amp  git mv OLD NEW  But there is also a  slighty more complicated  way to do this directly in the index without renaming the file in the working tree  info   git ls-files -s --  quot OLD quot    cut -d    -f-2   tr        git update-index --add --cacheinfo  quot  info NEW quot   amp  amp  git rm --cached  quot  old quot   This can also be put as an alias in your    gitconfig   alias      mv-index    quot  f             old   quot  1  quot           new   quot  2  quot           info   git ls-files -s --   quot  old  quot    cut -d    -f-2   tr                 git update-index --add --cacheinfo   quot  info  new  quot   amp  amp          git rm --cached   quot  old  quot            f quot

User · Answer

Do the move and the modify in separate commits

User · Answer

If you re talking about git status not showing the renames  try git commit --dry-run -a instead

User · Answer

Use git mv command to move the files  instead of the OS move commands  https   git-scm com docs git-mv  Please note that git mv command only exists in Git versions 1 8 5 and up  So you may have to update your Git to use this command

User · Answer

It s all a perceptual thing   Git is generally rather good at recognising moves  because GIT is a content tracker  All that really depends is how your  stat  displays it    The only difference here is the -M flag    git log --stat -M  commit 9c034a76d394352134ee2f4ede8a209ebec96288 Author  Kent Fredric Date    Fri Jan 9 22 13 51 2009  1300           Category Restructure       lib Gentoo Repository pm                    10      -----      lib Gentoo     gt  Repository  Base pm          2  -      lib Gentoo     gt  Repository  Category pm     12       ------      lib Gentoo     gt  Repository  Package pm      10      -----      lib Gentoo     gt  Repository  Types pm        10      -----      5 files changed  22 insertions     22 deletions -    git log --stat  commit 9c034a76d394352134ee2f4ede8a209ebec96288 Author  Kent Fredric Date    Fri Jan 9 22 13 51 2009  1300      Category Restructure   lib Gentoo Base pm                    36 ------------------------  lib Gentoo Category pm                51 ----------------------------------  lib Gentoo Package pm                 41 ---------------------------  lib Gentoo Repository pm              10    ---  lib Gentoo Repository Base pm         36                           lib Gentoo Repository Category pm     51                                     lib Gentoo Repository Package pm      41                              lib Gentoo Repository Types pm        55                                        lib Gentoo Types pm                   55 -------------------------------------  9 files changed  188 insertions     188 deletions -    git help log       -M        Detect renames      -C        Detect copies as well as renames  See also --find-copies-harder

User · Answer

Here s a quick and dirty solution for one  or a few  renamed and modified files that are uncommitted   Let s say the file was named foo and now it s named bar    Rename bar to a temp name   mv bar side  Checkout foo   git checkout HEAD foo  Rename foo to bar with Git   git mv foo bar  Now rename your temporary file back to bar   mv side bar    This last step is what gets your changed content back into the file   While this can work  if the moved file is too different in content from the original git will consider it more efficient to decide this is a new object  Let me demonstrate     git status On branch workit Changes to be committed     use  git reset HEAD  lt file gt      to unstage       new file     gitignore     renamed     README - gt  README md  Changes not staged for commit     use  git add  lt file gt      to update what will be committed     use  git checkout --  lt file gt      to discard changes in working directory       modified    README md     modified    work js    git add README md work js   why are the changes unstaged  let s add them    git status On branch workit Changes to be committed     use  git reset HEAD  lt file gt      to unstage       new file     gitignore     deleted     README     new file    README md     modified    work js    git stash   what  let s go back a bit Saved working directory and index state WIP on dir  f7a8685 update HEAD is now at f7a8685 update   git status On branch workit Untracked files     use  git add  lt file gt      to include in what will be committed        idea   nothing added to commit but untracked files present  use  git add  to track    git stash pop Removing README On branch workit Changes to be committed     use  git reset HEAD  lt file gt      to unstage       new file     gitignore     new file    README md  Changes not staged for commit     use  git add rm  lt file gt      to update what will be committed     use  git checkout --  lt file gt      to discard changes in working directory       deleted     README     modified    work js  Dropped refs stash  0   1ebca3b02e454a400b9fb834ed473c912a00cd2f    git add work js   git status On branch workit Changes to be committed     use  git reset HEAD  lt file gt      to unstage       new file     gitignore     new file    README md     modified    work js  Changes not staged for commit     use  git add rm  lt file gt      to update what will be committed     use  git checkout --  lt file gt      to discard changes in working directory       deleted     README    git add README   hang on  I want it removed   git status On branch workit Changes to be committed     use  git reset HEAD  lt file gt      to unstage       new file     gitignore     deleted     README     new file    README md     modified    work js    mv README md Rmd   Still  Try the answer I found    git checkout README error  pathspec  README  did not match any file s  known to git    git checkout HEAD README   Ok the answer needed fixing    git status On branch workit Changes to be committed     use  git reset HEAD  lt file gt      to unstage       new file     gitignore     new file    README md     modified    work js  Changes not staged for commit     use  git add rm  lt file gt      to update what will be committed     use  git checkout --  lt file gt      to discard changes in working directory       deleted     README md     modified    work js  Untracked files     use  git add  lt file gt      to include in what will be committed       Rmd    git mv README README md   git status On branch workit Changes to be committed     use  git reset HEAD  lt file gt      to unstage       new file     gitignore     renamed     README - gt  README md     modified    work js  Changes not staged for commit     use  git add  lt file gt      to update what will be committed     use  git checkout --  lt file gt      to discard changes in working directory       modified    work js  Untracked files     use  git add  lt file gt      to include in what will be committed       Rmd    mv Rmd README md   git status On branch workit Changes to be committed     use  git reset HEAD  lt file gt      to unstage       new file     gitignore     renamed     README - gt  README md     modified    work js  Changes not staged for commit     use  git add  lt file gt      to update what will be committed     use  git checkout --  lt file gt      to discard changes in working directory       modified    README md     modified    work js      actually that s half of what I wanted        and the js being modified twice  Git prefers it in this case

User · Answer

I had this problem recently  when moving  but not modifying  some files   The problem is that Git changed some line endings when I moved the files  and then wasn t able to tell that the files were the same   Using git mv sorted out the problem  but it only works on single files   directories  and I had a lot of files in the root of the repository to do   One way of fixing this would be with some bash   batch magic   Another way is the following   Move the files and git commit  This updates the line endings  Move the files back to their original location  now that they have the new line endings  and git commit --amend Move the files again and git commit --amend  There is no change to the line endings this time so Git is happy

User · Answer

The other answers already cover that you can simply git add NEW  amp  amp  git rm OLD in order to make git recognize the move  However  if you have already modified the file in the working directory  the add rm approach will add the modifications to the index  which may be undesired in some cases  e g  in case of substantial modifications  git might not recognize anymore that it is a file rename   Let s assume you want to add the rename to the index  but not any modifications  The obvious way to achieve this  is to do a back and forth rename mv NEW OLD  amp  amp  git mv OLD NEW  But there is also a  slighty more complicated  way to do this directly in the index without renaming the file in the working tree  info   git ls-files -s --  quot OLD quot    cut -d    -f-2   tr        git update-index --add --cacheinfo  quot  info NEW quot   amp  amp  git rm --cached  quot  old quot   This can also be put as an alias in your    gitconfig   alias      mv-index    quot  f             old   quot  1  quot           new   quot  2  quot           info   git ls-files -s --   quot  old  quot    cut -d    -f-2   tr                 git update-index --add --cacheinfo   quot  info  new  quot   amp  amp          git rm --cached   quot  old  quot            f quot

User · Answer

When I edit  rename  and move a file at the same time  none of these solutions work  The solution is to do it in two commits  edit and rename move seperate  and then fixup the second commit via git rebase -i to have it in one commit

User · Answer

Or you coud try the answer to this question here by Amber  To quote it again   First  cancel your staged add for the manually moved file     git reset path to newfile   mv path to newfile path to oldfile   Then  use Git to move the file     git mv path to oldfile path to newfile   Of course  if you already committed the manual move  you may want to reset to the revision before the move instead  and then simply git mv from there

User · Answer

The way I understand this question is  How to make git recognize a deletion of an old file and creation of a new file as a file move    Yes in the working directory once you delete an old file and inserted an old file  git status will say  deleted  old file  and  Untracked files      new file   But in the staging index level once you add and remove file using git it will be recognized as a file move  To do so  assuming you have done the deletion and creation using your Operation System  give the following commands   git add new file git rm old file   If the contents of the file are 50  or more similar  running git status command should give you   renamed  old file - gt  new file

User · Answer

If you re using TortoiseGit it s important to note that Git s automatic rename detection happens during commit but the fact that this is going to happen isn t always displayed by the software beforehand   I had moved two files to a different directory and performed some slight edits   I use TortoiseGit as my commit tool and the Changes made list showed the files being deleted and added  not moved   Running git status from the command line showed a similar situation   However after committing the files  they showed up as being renamed in the log   So the answer to your question is  as long as you haven t done anything too drastic  Git should pick up the rename automatically     Edit  Apparently if you add the new files and then do a git status from the command line  the rename should show up before committing   Edit 2  In addition  in TortoiseGit  add the new files in the commit dialog but don t commit them   Then if you go into the Show Log command and look at the working directory  you ll see if Git has detected the rename before committing   The same question was raised here  https   tortoisegit org issue 1389 and has been logged as a bug to fix here  https   tortoisegit org issue 1440  It turns out it s a display issue with TortoiseGit s commit dialog and also kind of exists in git status if you haven t added the new files

User · Answer

If you re using TortoiseGit it s important to note that Git s automatic rename detection happens during commit but the fact that this is going to happen isn t always displayed by the software beforehand   I had moved two files to a different directory and performed some slight edits   I use TortoiseGit as my commit tool and the Changes made list showed the files being deleted and added  not moved   Running git status from the command line showed a similar situation   However after committing the files  they showed up as being renamed in the log   So the answer to your question is  as long as you haven t done anything too drastic  Git should pick up the rename automatically     Edit  Apparently if you add the new files and then do a git status from the command line  the rename should show up before committing   Edit 2  In addition  in TortoiseGit  add the new files in the commit dialog but don t commit them   Then if you go into the Show Log command and look at the working directory  you ll see if Git has detected the rename before committing   The same question was raised here  https   tortoisegit org issue 1389 and has been logged as a bug to fix here  https   tortoisegit org issue 1440  It turns out it s a display issue with TortoiseGit s commit dialog and also kind of exists in git status if you haven t added the new files

User · Answer

The way I understand this question is  How to make git recognize a deletion of an old file and creation of a new file as a file move    Yes in the working directory once you delete an old file and inserted an old file  git status will say  deleted  old file  and  Untracked files      new file   But in the staging index level once you add and remove file using git it will be recognized as a file move  To do so  assuming you have done the deletion and creation using your Operation System  give the following commands   git add new file git rm old file   If the contents of the file are 50  or more similar  running git status command should give you   renamed  old file - gt  new file

User · Answer

It s all a perceptual thing   Git is generally rather good at recognising moves  because GIT is a content tracker  All that really depends is how your  stat  displays it    The only difference here is the -M flag    git log --stat -M  commit 9c034a76d394352134ee2f4ede8a209ebec96288 Author  Kent Fredric Date    Fri Jan 9 22 13 51 2009  1300           Category Restructure       lib Gentoo Repository pm                    10      -----      lib Gentoo     gt  Repository  Base pm          2  -      lib Gentoo     gt  Repository  Category pm     12       ------      lib Gentoo     gt  Repository  Package pm      10      -----      lib Gentoo     gt  Repository  Types pm        10      -----      5 files changed  22 insertions     22 deletions -    git log --stat  commit 9c034a76d394352134ee2f4ede8a209ebec96288 Author  Kent Fredric Date    Fri Jan 9 22 13 51 2009  1300      Category Restructure   lib Gentoo Base pm                    36 ------------------------  lib Gentoo Category pm                51 ----------------------------------  lib Gentoo Package pm                 41 ---------------------------  lib Gentoo Repository pm              10    ---  lib Gentoo Repository Base pm         36                           lib Gentoo Repository Category pm     51                                     lib Gentoo Repository Package pm      41                              lib Gentoo Repository Types pm        55                                        lib Gentoo Types pm                   55 -------------------------------------  9 files changed  188 insertions     188 deletions -    git help log       -M        Detect renames      -C        Detect copies as well as renames  See also --find-copies-harder

User · Answer

Do the move and the modify in separate commits

User · Answer

For me it worked to stash save all the changes before the commit and pop them out again  This made git re-analyze the added   deleted files and it correctly marked them as moved

User · Answer

git diff -M or git log -M should automatically detect such changes as a rename with minor changes as long as they indeed are  If your minor changes are not minor  you can reduce the similarity threashold  e g     git log -M20 -p --stat   to reduce it from the default 50  to 20

User · Answer

It s all a perceptual thing   Git is generally rather good at recognising moves  because GIT is a content tracker  All that really depends is how your  stat  displays it    The only difference here is the -M flag    git log --stat -M  commit 9c034a76d394352134ee2f4ede8a209ebec96288 Author  Kent Fredric Date    Fri Jan 9 22 13 51 2009  1300           Category Restructure       lib Gentoo Repository pm                    10      -----      lib Gentoo     gt  Repository  Base pm          2  -      lib Gentoo     gt  Repository  Category pm     12       ------      lib Gentoo     gt  Repository  Package pm      10      -----      lib Gentoo     gt  Repository  Types pm        10      -----      5 files changed  22 insertions     22 deletions -    git log --stat  commit 9c034a76d394352134ee2f4ede8a209ebec96288 Author  Kent Fredric Date    Fri Jan 9 22 13 51 2009  1300      Category Restructure   lib Gentoo Base pm                    36 ------------------------  lib Gentoo Category pm                51 ----------------------------------  lib Gentoo Package pm                 41 ---------------------------  lib Gentoo Repository pm              10    ---  lib Gentoo Repository Base pm         36                           lib Gentoo Repository Category pm     51                                     lib Gentoo Repository Package pm      41                              lib Gentoo Repository Types pm        55                                        lib Gentoo Types pm                   55 -------------------------------------  9 files changed  188 insertions     188 deletions -    git help log       -M        Detect renames      -C        Detect copies as well as renames  See also --find-copies-harder

User · Answer

Or you coud try the answer to this question here by Amber  To quote it again   First  cancel your staged add for the manually moved file     git reset path to newfile   mv path to newfile path to oldfile   Then  use Git to move the file     git mv path to oldfile path to newfile   Of course  if you already committed the manual move  you may want to reset to the revision before the move instead  and then simply git mv from there

User · Answer

Git will automatically detect the move rename if your modification is not too severe  Just git add the new file  and git rm the old file  git status will then show whether it has detected the rename    additionally  for moves around directories  you may need to    cd to the top of that directory structure  Run git add -A   Run git status to verify that the  new file  is now a  renamed  file   If git status still shows  new file  and not  renamed  you need to follow Hank Gay   s advice and do the move and modify in two separate commits

User · Answer

Do the move and the modify in separate commits

User · Answer

git diff -M or git log -M should automatically detect such changes as a rename with minor changes as long as they indeed are  If your minor changes are not minor  you can reduce the similarity threashold  e g     git log -M20 -p --stat   to reduce it from the default 50  to 20

User · Answer

If you re talking about git status not showing the renames  try git commit --dry-run -a instead

User · Answer

When I edit  rename  and move a file at the same time  none of these solutions work  The solution is to do it in two commits  edit and rename move seperate  and then fixup the second commit via git rebase -i to have it in one commit

User · Answer

git diff -M or git log -M should automatically detect such changes as a rename with minor changes as long as they indeed are  If your minor changes are not minor  you can reduce the similarity threashold  e g     git log -M20 -p --stat   to reduce it from the default 50  to 20

User · Answer

Git will automatically detect the move rename if your modification is not too severe  Just git add the new file  and git rm the old file  git status will then show whether it has detected the rename    additionally  for moves around directories  you may need to    cd to the top of that directory structure  Run git add -A   Run git status to verify that the  new file  is now a  renamed  file   If git status still shows  new file  and not  renamed  you need to follow Hank Gay   s advice and do the move and modify in two separate commits

User · Answer

Git will automatically detect the move rename if your modification is not too severe  Just git add the new file  and git rm the old file  git status will then show whether it has detected the rename    additionally  for moves around directories  you may need to    cd to the top of that directory structure  Run git add -A   Run git status to verify that the  new file  is now a  renamed  file   If git status still shows  new file  and not  renamed  you need to follow Hank Gay   s advice and do the move and modify in two separate commits

User · Answer

Use git mv command to move the files  instead of the OS move commands  https   git-scm com docs git-mv  Please note that git mv command only exists in Git versions 1 8 5 and up  So you may have to update your Git to use this command

User · Answer

Here s a quick and dirty solution for one  or a few  renamed and modified files that are uncommitted   Let s say the file was named foo and now it s named bar    Rename bar to a temp name   mv bar side  Checkout foo   git checkout HEAD foo  Rename foo to bar with Git   git mv foo bar  Now rename your temporary file back to bar   mv side bar    This last step is what gets your changed content back into the file   While this can work  if the moved file is too different in content from the original git will consider it more efficient to decide this is a new object  Let me demonstrate     git status On branch workit Changes to be committed     use  git reset HEAD  lt file gt      to unstage       new file     gitignore     renamed     README - gt  README md  Changes not staged for commit     use  git add  lt file gt      to update what will be committed     use  git checkout --  lt file gt      to discard changes in working directory       modified    README md     modified    work js    git add README md work js   why are the changes unstaged  let s add them    git status On branch workit Changes to be committed     use  git reset HEAD  lt file gt      to unstage       new file     gitignore     deleted     README     new file    README md     modified    work js    git stash   what  let s go back a bit Saved working directory and index state WIP on dir  f7a8685 update HEAD is now at f7a8685 update   git status On branch workit Untracked files     use  git add  lt file gt      to include in what will be committed        idea   nothing added to commit but untracked files present  use  git add  to track    git stash pop Removing README On branch workit Changes to be committed     use  git reset HEAD  lt file gt      to unstage       new file     gitignore     new file    README md  Changes not staged for commit     use  git add rm  lt file gt      to update what will be committed     use  git checkout --  lt file gt      to discard changes in working directory       deleted     README     modified    work js  Dropped refs stash  0   1ebca3b02e454a400b9fb834ed473c912a00cd2f    git add work js   git status On branch workit Changes to be committed     use  git reset HEAD  lt file gt      to unstage       new file     gitignore     new file    README md     modified    work js  Changes not staged for commit     use  git add rm  lt file gt      to update what will be committed     use  git checkout --  lt file gt      to discard changes in working directory       deleted     README    git add README   hang on  I want it removed   git status On branch workit Changes to be committed     use  git reset HEAD  lt file gt      to unstage       new file     gitignore     deleted     README     new file    README md     modified    work js    mv README md Rmd   Still  Try the answer I found    git checkout README error  pathspec  README  did not match any file s  known to git    git checkout HEAD README   Ok the answer needed fixing    git status On branch workit Changes to be committed     use  git reset HEAD  lt file gt      to unstage       new file     gitignore     new file    README md     modified    work js  Changes not staged for commit     use  git add rm  lt file gt      to update what will be committed     use  git checkout --  lt file gt      to discard changes in working directory       deleted     README md     modified    work js  Untracked files     use  git add  lt file gt      to include in what will be committed       Rmd    git mv README README md   git status On branch workit Changes to be committed     use  git reset HEAD  lt file gt      to unstage       new file     gitignore     renamed     README - gt  README md     modified    work js  Changes not staged for commit     use  git add  lt file gt      to update what will be committed     use  git checkout --  lt file gt      to discard changes in working directory       modified    work js  Untracked files     use  git add  lt file gt      to include in what will be committed       Rmd    mv Rmd README md   git status On branch workit Changes to be committed     use  git reset HEAD  lt file gt      to unstage       new file     gitignore     renamed     README - gt  README md     modified    work js  Changes not staged for commit     use  git add  lt file gt      to update what will be committed     use  git checkout --  lt file gt      to discard changes in working directory       modified    README md     modified    work js      actually that s half of what I wanted        and the js being modified twice  Git prefers it in this case

User · Answer

Git will automatically detect the move rename if your modification is not too severe  Just git add the new file  and git rm the old file  git status will then show whether it has detected the rename    additionally  for moves around directories  you may need to    cd to the top of that directory structure  Run git add -A   Run git status to verify that the  new file  is now a  renamed  file   If git status still shows  new file  and not  renamed  you need to follow Hank Gay   s advice and do the move and modify in two separate commits

[git] How to make git mark a deleted and a new file as a file move?

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