unable to remove file that really exists - fatal: pathspec ... did not match any files

Question

Your file .idea/workspace.xml is not under git version control. You have either not added it yet (check git status/Untracked files) or ignored it (using .gitignore or .git/info/exclude files)

You can verify it using following git command, that lists all ignored files:

git ls-files --others -i --exclude-standard

$>git add .
$>git rm file_Name  

It works. You add new file using right click -> create new file, and immediately delete it after that. The file would go to the untracked file list.

I know this is not the OP's problem, but I ran into the same error with an entirely different basis, so I just wanted to drop it here in case anyone else has the same. This is Windows-specific, and I assume does not affect Linux users.

I had a LibreOffice doc file, call it final report.odt. I later changed its case to Final Report.odt. In Windows, this doesn't even count as a rename. final report.odt, Final Report.odt, FiNaL RePoRt.oDt are all the same. In Linux, these are all distinct.

When I eventually went to git rm "Final Report.odt" and got the "pathspec did not match any files" error. Only when I use the original casing at the time the file was added -- git rm "final report.odt" -- did it work.

Lesson learned: to change the case I should have instead done:

git mv "final report.odt" temp.odt
git mv temp.odt "Final Report.odt"

Again, that wasn't the problem for the OP here; and wouldn't affect a Linux user, as his posts shows he clearly is. I'm just including it for others who may have this problem in Windows git and stumble onto this question.

If your file idea/workspace.xml is added to .gitignore (or its parent folder) just add it manually to git version control. Also you can add it using TortoiseGit. After the next push you will see, that your problem is solved.

Such steps helped me:

1. git add .
2. git stash