6 git-add - Add file contents to the index
11 'git add' [-n] [-v] [--force | -f] [--interactive | -i] [--patch | -p]
12 [--edit | -e] [--all | [--update | -u]] [--intent-to-add | -N]
13 [--refresh] [--ignore-errors] [--ignore-missing] [--]
18 This command updates the index using the current content found in
19 the working tree, to prepare the content staged for the next commit.
20 It typically adds the current content of existing paths as a whole,
21 but with some options it can also be used to add content with
22 only part of the changes made to the working tree files applied, or
23 remove paths that do not exist in the working tree anymore.
25 The "index" holds a snapshot of the content of the working tree, and it
26 is this snapshot that is taken as the contents of the next commit. Thus
27 after making any changes to the working directory, and before running
28 the commit command, you must use the `add` command to add any new or
29 modified files to the index.
31 This command can be performed multiple times before a commit. It only
32 adds the content of the specified file(s) at the time the add command is
33 run; if you want subsequent changes included in the next commit, then
34 you must run `git add` again to add the new content to the index.
36 The `git status` command can be used to obtain a summary of which
37 files have changes that are staged for the next commit.
39 The `git add` command will not add ignored files by default. If any
40 ignored files were explicitly specified on the command line, `git add`
41 will fail with a list of ignored files. Ignored files reached by
42 directory recursion or filename globbing performed by Git (quote your
43 globs before the shell) will be silently ignored. The 'git add' command can
44 be used to add ignored files with the `-f` (force) option.
46 Please see linkgit:git-commit[1] for alternative ways to add content to a
53 Files to add content from. Fileglobs (e.g. `*.c`) can
54 be given to add all matching files. Also a
55 leading directory name (e.g. `dir` to add `dir/file1`
56 and `dir/file2`) can be given to add all files in the
57 directory, recursively.
61 Don't actually add the file(s), just show if they exist and/or will
70 Allow adding otherwise ignored files.
74 Add modified contents in the working tree interactively to
75 the index. Optional path arguments may be supplied to limit
76 operation to a subset of the working tree. See ``Interactive
81 Interactively choose hunks of patch between the index and the
82 work tree and add them to the index. This gives the user a chance
83 to review the difference before adding modified contents to the
86 This effectively runs `add --interactive`, but bypasses the
87 initial command menu and directly jumps to the `patch` subcommand.
88 See ``Interactive mode'' for details.
91 Open the diff vs. the index in an editor and let the user
92 edit it. After the editor was closed, adjust the hunk headers
93 and apply the patch to the index.
95 The intent of this option is to pick and choose lines of the patch to
96 apply, or even to modify the contents of lines to be staged. This can be
97 quicker and more flexible than using the interactive hunk selector.
98 However, it is easy to confuse oneself and create a patch that does not
99 apply to the index. See EDITING PATCHES below.
103 Only match <pathspec> against already tracked files in
104 the index rather than the working tree. That means that it
105 will never stage new files, but that it will stage modified
106 new contents of tracked files and that it will remove files
107 from the index if the corresponding files in the working tree
110 If no <pathspec> is given, the current version of Git defaults to
111 "."; in other words, update all tracked files in the current directory
112 and its subdirectories. This default will change in a future version
113 of Git, hence the form without <filepattern> should not be used.
117 Like `-u`, but match <pathspec> against files in the
118 working tree in addition to the index. That means that it
119 will find new files as well as staging modified content and
120 removing files that are no longer in the working tree.
124 Record only the fact that the path will be added later. An entry
125 for the path is placed in the index with no content. This is
126 useful for, among other things, showing the unstaged content of
127 such files with `git diff` and committing them with `git commit
131 Don't add the file(s), but only refresh their stat()
132 information in the index.
135 If some files could not be added because of errors indexing
136 them, do not abort the operation, but continue adding the
137 others. The command shall still exit with non-zero status.
138 The configuration variable `add.ignoreErrors` can be set to
139 true to make this the default behaviour.
142 This option can only be used together with --dry-run. By using
143 this option the user can check if any of the given files would
144 be ignored, no matter if they are already present in the work
148 This option can be used to separate command-line options from
149 the list of files, (useful when filenames might be mistaken
150 for command-line options).
156 The optional configuration variable `core.excludesfile` indicates a path to a
157 file containing patterns of file names to exclude from git-add, similar to
158 $GIT_DIR/info/exclude. Patterns in the exclude file are used in addition to
159 those in info/exclude. See linkgit:gitignore[5].
165 * Adds content from all `*.txt` files under `Documentation` directory
166 and its subdirectories:
169 $ git add Documentation/\*.txt
172 Note that the asterisk `*` is quoted from the shell in this
173 example; this lets the command include the files from
174 subdirectories of `Documentation/` directory.
176 * Considers adding content from all git-*.sh scripts:
182 Because this example lets the shell expand the asterisk (i.e. you are
183 listing the files explicitly), it does not consider
188 When the command enters the interactive mode, it shows the
189 output of the 'status' subcommand, and then goes into its
190 interactive command loop.
192 The command loop shows the list of subcommands available, and
193 gives a prompt "What now> ". In general, when the prompt ends
194 with a single '>', you can pick only one of the choices given
195 and type return, like this:
199 1: status 2: update 3: revert 4: add untracked
200 5: patch 6: diff 7: quit 8: help
204 You also could say `s` or `sta` or `status` above as long as the
207 The main command loop has 6 subcommands (plus help and quit).
211 This shows the change between HEAD and index (i.e. what will be
212 committed if you say `git commit`), and between index and
213 working tree files (i.e. what you could stage further before
214 `git commit` using `git add`) for each path. A sample output
219 1: binary nothing foo.png
220 2: +403/-35 +1/-1 git-add--interactive.perl
223 It shows that foo.png has differences from HEAD (but that is
224 binary so line count cannot be shown) and there is no
225 difference between indexed copy and the working tree
226 version (if the working tree version were also different,
227 'binary' would have been shown in place of 'nothing'). The
228 other file, git-add{litdd}interactive.perl, has 403 lines added
229 and 35 lines deleted if you commit what is in the index, but
230 working tree file has further modifications (one addition and
235 This shows the status information and issues an "Update>>"
236 prompt. When the prompt ends with double '>>', you can
237 make more than one selection, concatenated with whitespace or
238 comma. Also you can say ranges. E.g. "2-5 7,9" to choose
239 2,3,4,5,7,9 from the list. If the second number in a range is
240 omitted, all remaining patches are taken. E.g. "7-" to choose
241 7,8,9 from the list. You can say '*' to choose everything.
243 What you chose are then highlighted with '*',
248 1: binary nothing foo.png
249 * 2: +403/-35 +1/-1 git-add--interactive.perl
252 To remove selection, prefix the input with `-`
259 After making the selection, answer with an empty line to stage the
260 contents of working tree files for selected paths in the index.
264 This has a very similar UI to 'update', and the staged
265 information for selected paths are reverted to that of the
266 HEAD version. Reverting new paths makes them untracked.
270 This has a very similar UI to 'update' and
271 'revert', and lets you add untracked paths to the index.
275 This lets you choose one path out of a 'status' like selection.
276 After choosing the path, it presents the diff between the index
277 and the working tree file and asks you if you want to stage
278 the change of each hunk. You can select one of the following
279 options and type return:
282 n - do not stage this hunk
283 q - quit; do not stage this hunk nor any of the remaining ones
284 a - stage this hunk and all later hunks in the file
285 d - do not stage this hunk nor any of the later hunks in the file
286 g - select a hunk to go to
287 / - search for a hunk matching the given regex
288 j - leave this hunk undecided, see next undecided hunk
289 J - leave this hunk undecided, see next hunk
290 k - leave this hunk undecided, see previous undecided hunk
291 K - leave this hunk undecided, see previous hunk
292 s - split the current hunk into smaller hunks
293 e - manually edit the current hunk
296 After deciding the fate for all hunks, if there is any hunk
297 that was chosen, the index is updated with the selected hunks.
299 You can omit having to type return here, by setting the configuration
300 variable `interactive.singlekey` to `true`.
304 This lets you review what will be committed (i.e. between
311 Invoking `git add -e` or selecting `e` from the interactive hunk
312 selector will open a patch in your editor; after the editor exits, the
313 result is applied to the index. You are free to make arbitrary changes
314 to the patch, but note that some changes may have confusing results, or
315 even result in a patch that cannot be applied. If you want to abort the
316 operation entirely (i.e., stage nothing new in the index), simply delete
317 all lines of the patch. The list below describes some common things you
318 may see in a patch, and which editing operations make sense on them.
323 Added content is represented by lines beginning with "{plus}". You can
324 prevent staging any addition lines by deleting them.
328 Removed content is represented by lines beginning with "-". You can
329 prevent staging their removal by converting the "-" to a " " (space).
333 Modified content is represented by "-" lines (removing the old content)
334 followed by "{plus}" lines (adding the replacement content). You can
335 prevent staging the modification by converting "-" lines to " ", and
336 removing "{plus}" lines. Beware that modifying only half of the pair is
337 likely to introduce confusing changes to the index.
340 There are also more complex operations that can be performed. But beware
341 that because the patch is applied only to the index and not the working
342 tree, the working tree will appear to "undo" the change in the index.
343 For example, introducing a new line into the index that is in neither
344 the HEAD nor the working tree will stage the new line for commit, but
345 the line will appear to be reverted in the working tree.
347 Avoid using these constructs, or do so with extreme caution.
350 removing untouched content::
352 Content which does not differ between the index and working tree may be
353 shown on context lines, beginning with a " " (space). You can stage
354 context lines for removal by converting the space to a "-". The
355 resulting working tree file will appear to re-add the content.
357 modifying existing content::
359 One can also modify context lines by staging them for removal (by
360 converting " " to "-") and adding a "{plus}" line with the new content.
361 Similarly, one can modify "{plus}" lines for existing additions or
362 modifications. In all cases, the new modification will appear reverted
367 You may also add new content that does not exist in the patch; simply
368 add new lines, each starting with "{plus}". The addition will appear
369 reverted in the working tree.
372 There are also several operations which should be avoided entirely, as
373 they will make the patch impossible to apply:
375 * adding context (" ") or removal ("-") lines
376 * deleting context or removal lines
377 * modifying the contents of context or removal lines
381 linkgit:git-status[1]
385 linkgit:git-commit[1]
386 linkgit:git-update-index[1]
390 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite