6 git-add - Add file contents to the index
11 'git add' [--verbose | -v] [--dry-run | -n] [--force | -f] [--interactive | -i] [--patch | -p]
12 [--edit | -e] [--[no-]all | --[no-]ignore-removal | [--update | -u]]
13 [--intent-to-add | -N] [--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 tree, 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 update the index to
57 match the current state of the directory as a whole (e.g.
58 specifying `dir` will record not just a file `dir/file1`
59 modified in the working tree, a file `dir/file2` added to
60 the working tree, but also a file `dir/file3` removed from
61 the working tree. Note that older versions of Git used
62 to ignore removed files; use `--no-all` option if you want
63 to add modified or new files but ignore removed ones.
67 Don't actually add the file(s), just show if they exist and/or will
76 Allow adding otherwise ignored files.
80 Add modified contents in the working tree interactively to
81 the index. Optional path arguments may be supplied to limit
82 operation to a subset of the working tree. See ``Interactive
87 Interactively choose hunks of patch between the index and the
88 work tree and add them to the index. This gives the user a chance
89 to review the difference before adding modified contents to the
92 This effectively runs `add --interactive`, but bypasses the
93 initial command menu and directly jumps to the `patch` subcommand.
94 See ``Interactive mode'' for details.
98 Open the diff vs. the index in an editor and let the user
99 edit it. After the editor was closed, adjust the hunk headers
100 and apply the patch to the index.
102 The intent of this option is to pick and choose lines of the patch to
103 apply, or even to modify the contents of lines to be staged. This can be
104 quicker and more flexible than using the interactive hunk selector.
105 However, it is easy to confuse oneself and create a patch that does not
106 apply to the index. See EDITING PATCHES below.
110 Update the index just where it already has an entry matching
111 <pathspec>. This removes as well as modifies index entries to
112 match the working tree, but adds no new files.
114 If no <pathspec> is given when `-u` option is used, all
115 tracked files in the entire working tree are updated (old versions
116 of Git used to limit the update to the current directory and its
121 --no-ignore-removal::
122 Update the index not only where the working tree has a file
123 matching <pathspec> but also where the index already has an
124 entry. This adds, modifies, and removes index entries to
125 match the working tree.
127 If no <pathspec> is given when `-A` option is used, all
128 files in the entire working tree are updated (old versions
129 of Git used to limit the update to the current directory and its
134 Update the index by adding new files that are unknown to the
135 index and files modified in the working tree, but ignore
136 files that have been removed from the working tree. This
137 option is a no-op when no <pathspec> is used.
139 This option is primarily to help users who are used to older
140 versions of Git, whose "git add <pathspec>..." was a synonym
141 for "git add --no-all <pathspec>...", i.e. ignored removed files.
145 Record only the fact that the path will be added later. An entry
146 for the path is placed in the index with no content. This is
147 useful for, among other things, showing the unstaged content of
148 such files with `git diff` and committing them with `git commit
152 Don't add the file(s), but only refresh their stat()
153 information in the index.
156 If some files could not be added because of errors indexing
157 them, do not abort the operation, but continue adding the
158 others. The command shall still exit with non-zero status.
159 The configuration variable `add.ignoreErrors` can be set to
160 true to make this the default behaviour.
163 This option can only be used together with --dry-run. By using
164 this option the user can check if any of the given files would
165 be ignored, no matter if they are already present in the work
169 This option can be used to separate command-line options from
170 the list of files, (useful when filenames might be mistaken
171 for command-line options).
177 The optional configuration variable `core.excludesFile` indicates a path to a
178 file containing patterns of file names to exclude from git-add, similar to
179 $GIT_DIR/info/exclude. Patterns in the exclude file are used in addition to
180 those in info/exclude. See linkgit:gitignore[5].
186 * Adds content from all `*.txt` files under `Documentation` directory
187 and its subdirectories:
190 $ git add Documentation/\*.txt
193 Note that the asterisk `*` is quoted from the shell in this
194 example; this lets the command include the files from
195 subdirectories of `Documentation/` directory.
197 * Considers adding content from all git-*.sh scripts:
203 Because this example lets the shell expand the asterisk (i.e. you are
204 listing the files explicitly), it does not consider
209 When the command enters the interactive mode, it shows the
210 output of the 'status' subcommand, and then goes into its
211 interactive command loop.
213 The command loop shows the list of subcommands available, and
214 gives a prompt "What now> ". In general, when the prompt ends
215 with a single '>', you can pick only one of the choices given
216 and type return, like this:
220 1: status 2: update 3: revert 4: add untracked
221 5: patch 6: diff 7: quit 8: help
225 You also could say `s` or `sta` or `status` above as long as the
228 The main command loop has 6 subcommands (plus help and quit).
232 This shows the change between HEAD and index (i.e. what will be
233 committed if you say `git commit`), and between index and
234 working tree files (i.e. what you could stage further before
235 `git commit` using `git add`) for each path. A sample output
240 1: binary nothing foo.png
241 2: +403/-35 +1/-1 git-add--interactive.perl
244 It shows that foo.png has differences from HEAD (but that is
245 binary so line count cannot be shown) and there is no
246 difference between indexed copy and the working tree
247 version (if the working tree version were also different,
248 'binary' would have been shown in place of 'nothing'). The
249 other file, git-add{litdd}interactive.perl, has 403 lines added
250 and 35 lines deleted if you commit what is in the index, but
251 working tree file has further modifications (one addition and
256 This shows the status information and issues an "Update>>"
257 prompt. When the prompt ends with double '>>', you can
258 make more than one selection, concatenated with whitespace or
259 comma. Also you can say ranges. E.g. "2-5 7,9" to choose
260 2,3,4,5,7,9 from the list. If the second number in a range is
261 omitted, all remaining patches are taken. E.g. "7-" to choose
262 7,8,9 from the list. You can say '*' to choose everything.
264 What you chose are then highlighted with '*',
269 1: binary nothing foo.png
270 * 2: +403/-35 +1/-1 git-add--interactive.perl
273 To remove selection, prefix the input with `-`
280 After making the selection, answer with an empty line to stage the
281 contents of working tree files for selected paths in the index.
285 This has a very similar UI to 'update', and the staged
286 information for selected paths are reverted to that of the
287 HEAD version. Reverting new paths makes them untracked.
291 This has a very similar UI to 'update' and
292 'revert', and lets you add untracked paths to the index.
296 This lets you choose one path out of a 'status' like selection.
297 After choosing the path, it presents the diff between the index
298 and the working tree file and asks you if you want to stage
299 the change of each hunk. You can select one of the following
300 options and type return:
303 n - do not stage this hunk
304 q - quit; do not stage this hunk or any of the remaining ones
305 a - stage this hunk and all later hunks in the file
306 d - do not stage this hunk or any of the later hunks in the file
307 g - select a hunk to go to
308 / - search for a hunk matching the given regex
309 j - leave this hunk undecided, see next undecided hunk
310 J - leave this hunk undecided, see next hunk
311 k - leave this hunk undecided, see previous undecided hunk
312 K - leave this hunk undecided, see previous hunk
313 s - split the current hunk into smaller hunks
314 e - manually edit the current hunk
317 After deciding the fate for all hunks, if there is any hunk
318 that was chosen, the index is updated with the selected hunks.
320 You can omit having to type return here, by setting the configuration
321 variable `interactive.singleKey` to `true`.
325 This lets you review what will be committed (i.e. between
332 Invoking `git add -e` or selecting `e` from the interactive hunk
333 selector will open a patch in your editor; after the editor exits, the
334 result is applied to the index. You are free to make arbitrary changes
335 to the patch, but note that some changes may have confusing results, or
336 even result in a patch that cannot be applied. If you want to abort the
337 operation entirely (i.e., stage nothing new in the index), simply delete
338 all lines of the patch. The list below describes some common things you
339 may see in a patch, and which editing operations make sense on them.
344 Added content is represented by lines beginning with "{plus}". You can
345 prevent staging any addition lines by deleting them.
349 Removed content is represented by lines beginning with "-". You can
350 prevent staging their removal by converting the "-" to a " " (space).
354 Modified content is represented by "-" lines (removing the old content)
355 followed by "{plus}" lines (adding the replacement content). You can
356 prevent staging the modification by converting "-" lines to " ", and
357 removing "{plus}" lines. Beware that modifying only half of the pair is
358 likely to introduce confusing changes to the index.
361 There are also more complex operations that can be performed. But beware
362 that because the patch is applied only to the index and not the working
363 tree, the working tree will appear to "undo" the change in the index.
364 For example, introducing a new line into the index that is in neither
365 the HEAD nor the working tree will stage the new line for commit, but
366 the line will appear to be reverted in the working tree.
368 Avoid using these constructs, or do so with extreme caution.
371 removing untouched content::
373 Content which does not differ between the index and working tree may be
374 shown on context lines, beginning with a " " (space). You can stage
375 context lines for removal by converting the space to a "-". The
376 resulting working tree file will appear to re-add the content.
378 modifying existing content::
380 One can also modify context lines by staging them for removal (by
381 converting " " to "-") and adding a "{plus}" line with the new content.
382 Similarly, one can modify "{plus}" lines for existing additions or
383 modifications. In all cases, the new modification will appear reverted
388 You may also add new content that does not exist in the patch; simply
389 add new lines, each starting with "{plus}". The addition will appear
390 reverted in the working tree.
393 There are also several operations which should be avoided entirely, as
394 they will make the patch impossible to apply:
396 * adding context (" ") or removal ("-") lines
397 * deleting context or removal lines
398 * modifying the contents of context or removal lines
402 linkgit:git-status[1]
406 linkgit:git-commit[1]
407 linkgit:git-update-index[1]
411 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite