Unable to remove files recursively from Git

Question

I want to remove all files from Git at ~/bin/.

I run

git rm -r --cached ~/.vim/*                      # Thanks to Pate in finding --cached! 

I get

fatal: pathspec '.vim/colors' did not match any files 

This error messsage suggests me to use the following PATHs, since ~/.vim/** does not work

~/.vim/*        # I get the error ~/.vim/*/*/*    # This removes files from the index at ~/.vim/folderA/folderB/file1.txt ~/.vim/*/*      # similar error as to the first PATH 

How can you remove all files and subdirectories at ~/.vim from Git?

--

Answer 1

 git rm -r --cached ~/.vim/*     fatal: pathspec '.vim/colors' did not match any files 

1/ You do not need the '*':

 git rm -r --cached ~/.vim 

will take care of any tracked sub-files.

2/ fatal: pathspec '.vim/colors' did not match any files simply means one of your commands you tried before the one listed in 1/ has worked, and there is no more file to delete!

# to test that command, first reinitialize the state of the repository # save first if you have any other current modifications $ git reset --hard  # then check the rm works $ git rm -r --cached ~/.vim rm '.vim/aPath/aFile1' rm '.vim/aSecondPath/aFile2' rm '.vim/aThirdPath/aFile3'  # try it again $ git rm -r --cached ~/.vim fatal: pathspec '.vim/colors