How Do I Remove a Directory from a Git Repository?
To remove a directory (including all files and subdirectories within it) from a Git repository while preserving it locally on your filesystem, you'll need to follow these steps:
Step-by-Step Guide
1. Remove Directory from Git Repository
To remove a directory from Git while keeping it locally, you should use git rm
with the -r
(recursive) and --cached
options:
git rm -r --cached path/to/directory
- Explanation:
git rm
: This command removes files from the working tree and the index (staging area).r
: Recursively removes all files and subdirectories.-cached
: This option ensures that the files are only removed from the index (staging area) and not from the working directory.
Example:
git rm -r --cached assets/images
2. Commit the Removal
After removing the directory from the Git repository's index (staging area), commit the changes to make them permanent in your local repository:
git commit -m "Remove directory assets/images from repository"
3. Verify Changes
Verify that the directory has been removed from the Git repository. Running git status
can help confirm that the removal has been staged and committed correctly:
git status
Notes
- Preserving Locally: Using
git rm --cached
ensures that the directory and its contents are kept locally on your filesystem but are no longer tracked by Git. - Careful: Be cautious when using
git rm
as it permanently removes files and directories from Git's history. Make sure you are removing the correct directory. - Pushing Changes: After committing the removal, if you want to push these changes to a remote repository, use
git push
.
Example Scenario
Let's say you want to remove a directory named images
located at assets/images
from your Git repository:
git rm -r --cached assets/images
git commit -m "Remove directory assets/images from repository"
git push origin <branch-name>
Replace <branch-name>
with your branch name and make sure to push the changes if needed.
Additional Considerations
If you want to remove a directory completely from both your local filesystem and Git repository (including its history), you can use git rm -r
without --cached
. However, be very careful with this command as it will delete the directory and its contents permanently from both Git and your local filesystem.
git rm -r path/to/directory
Always ensure you have backups or copies of important files before executing commands that delete or modify data irreversibly.
Make your mark
Join the writer's program
Are you a developer and love writing and sharing your knowledge with the world? Join our guest writing program and get paid for writing amazing technical guides. We'll get them to the right readers that will appreciate them.
Write for us![](/assets/articles/authors/marin-0d19fe482115fe2b15c8429a7ee4eb88d803984eaa7c1d8c7309241049f3d402.png)
Build on top of Better Stack
Write a script, app or project on top of Better Stack and share it with the world. Make a public repository and share it with us at our email.
community@betterstack.comor submit a pull request and help us build better products for everyone.
See the full list of amazing projects on github