How to tell Git that it's the same directory, just a different name

Question

After getting past a few hurdles learning Git, I came across a new challenge: Renaming a directory (locally, in the working directory).

When I type git status, it lists all the files in the old directory name (that exist with the same exact filenames in the new directory) as deleted and the new directory name as "untracked".

Is there a way to tell Git that "it's actually the same directory, just a different name"?

So that all the files will be listed by git status as modified only?

To exemplify the problem, here is the output I receive from git status when I rename an entire directory:

git status # On branch master # Changes not staged for commit: #   (use "git add/rm <file>..." to update what will be committed) #   (use "git checkout -- <file>..." to discard changes in working directory) # #   deleted:    old-dir-name/file1 #   deleted:    old-dir-name/file2 #   deleted:    old-dir-name/file3 # # Untracked files: #   (use "git add <file>..." to include in what will be committed) # #   new-dir-name/ no changes added to commit (use "git add" and/or "git commit -a") ~/sb/ws> 

Answer 1

Just git add the directory at its new name. Git doesn't explicitly track renames, it just detects them later. git mv might be marginally more efficient to perform (because it can update the index directly), but the effect is exactly the same.