git add * does not add deleted files

Question

I have a local directory in which I have initialized git. I have added all files of that directory in git using:

git add *

Now if I delete a file manually from my local directory, I want to get it deleted from github too. I have tried

git add -A *

But it does not work. Everytime I have to delete it manually from github too.

Answer 1

The problem is that the glob (*) is expanded by your shell, not git, and the shell does not know anything about the files that you have already deleted. git add -A without any more arguments would add all the files, including deleted files. git add . will also do this in the current git version. You could also use git rm --cached <file> for individual files as suggested in other answers.

It's usually easier to just use git rm to remove the files, as this will both remove the file AND stage the removal.

Answer 2

If you want to delete a file from your index you should use

git rm filename

Documentation can be found here: https://git-scm.com/docs/git-rm

An important note for this command is:

git rm will not remove a file from just your working directory. (There is no option to remove a file only from the working tree and yet keep it in the index; use /bin/rm if you want to do that.)

Let me know if it works!