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27 lines
1.0 KiB
Markdown
27 lines
1.0 KiB
Markdown
# Files With Local Changes Cannot Be Removed
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This is a nice quality-of-life feature in `git` that should help you avoid
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accidentally discarding changes that won't be retrievable.
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```bash
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❯ git rm .tool-versions
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error: the following file has local modifications:
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.tool-versions
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(use --cached to keep the file, or -f to force removal)
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```
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My `.tool-versions` file has some local changes. I don't realize that and I go
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to issue a `git rm` command on that file. Instead of quietly wiping out my
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changes, `git` lets me know I'm doing something destructive (these local
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changes won't be in the diff or the reflog).
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I can force the removal if I know what I'm doing with the `-f` flag. Or I can
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take the two step approach of calling `git restore` on that file and then `git
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rm`.
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The `--cached` flag is also interesting because it doesn't actually delete the
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file from my file system, but it does stage the file deletion with `git`. That
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means the file now shows up as one of my untracked files.
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See `man git-rm` for more details.
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