How Do I Delete a File from a Git Repository?

To delete a file from a Git repository, you can follow these steps. There are a couple of methods depending on whether you want to just remove it locally or completely from the Git history as well.

1. Delete a File from the Working Directory and Stage the Removal

This is the most common way to remove a file from the repository.

Steps:

1. Remove the file using git rm:

   git rm <file_name>
   

   For example, to remove a file called file.txt, you would run:

   git rm file.txt
   

2. Commit the change to record the removal:

   git commit -m "Remove file.txt from the repository"
   

3. Push the changes to the remote repository:

   git push
   

Now, the file is removed from both your local working directory and the Git repository, and the change has been pushed to the remote.

2. Remove a File from the Repository but Keep It Locally

If you want to delete a file from the repository, but keep it in your local working directory (for example, if you want to stop tracking it but still need it locally), you can use the --cached option:

Steps:

1. Remove the file from the repository but keep it locally:

   git rm --cached <file_name>
   

   For example:

   git rm --cached file.txt
   

2. Commit the change to reflect that the file has been removed from the repository:

   git commit -m "Stop tracking file.txt"
   

3. Push the changes to the remote repository:

   git push
   

After these steps, the file will still exist in your local directory but will no longer be tracked by Git or included in the repository.

3. Delete a File from Git History (Remove a File Completely)

If you need to completely remove a file from the Git history (i.e., it should be deleted even from previous commits), you can use the git filter-branch command or BFG Repo-Cleaner. This is more advanced and is typically used when a file contains sensitive information like passwords or API keys.

Using git filter-branch:

1. Run the following command to remove the file from all previous commits:

   git filter-branch --force --index-filter "git rm --cached --ignore-unmatch <file_name>" --prune-empty --tag-name-filter cat -- --all
   

   For example, to remove file.txt:

   git filter-branch --force --index-filter "git rm --cached --ignore-unmatch file.txt" --prune-empty --tag-name-filter cat -- --all
   

2. Push the changes with the --force option (since you’re rewriting history):

   git push origin --force --all
   git push origin --force --tags
   

Using BFG Repo-Cleaner:

BFG Repo-Cleaner is a simpler and faster alternative for cleaning Git history.

1. Download and install BFG Repo-Cleaner
2. Run BFG to delete the file from history:

   bfg --delete-files <file_name> <repository_name>.git
   

   For example:

   bfg --delete-files file.txt myrepo.git
   

3. Clean up the repository and force-push the changes:

   cd myrepo
   git reflog expire --expire=now --all=once
   git gc --prune=now --aggressive
   git push --force
   

Summary

• Basic Removal: Use git rm <file_name> to delete a file and commit the change.
• Keep Locally: Use git rm --cached <file_name> to stop tracking a file but keep it locally.
• Delete from History: Use git filter-branch or BFG Repo-Cleaner for permanently removing a file from all Git history.