Add items to git index efficiently

Question

I find it very tedious to write full paths when adding changed files to index. For example, i've changed 3 files, but want to commit only 2 of them:

# Changed but not updated:
#   (use "git add <file>..." to update what will be committed)
#   (use "git checkout -- <file>..." to discard changes in working directory)
#
#   modified:   apps/frontend/config/modules/file1
#   modified:   apps/frontend/config/modules/file2
#   modified:   apps/frontend/config/modules/file3

So I have to type as much as:

git add app/frontend/modules/file1 app/frontend/modules/file3

I am looking for a way to add items by their index in the git status list? Something like

git add %1 %3

Answer 1

Use interactive add:

git add -i

It'll ask you for each file, if you want to add it to the commit.

You can even go ahead and pick based on patches, which is always useful:

git add -p

Answer 2

cd apps/frontend/config/modules
git add file1 file3
cd - #go back