git-add(1)

NAME#

git-add - Add file contents to the index

SYNOPSIS#

git add\n [--verbose | -v] [--dry-run | -n] [--force | -f] [--interactive | -i] [--patch | -p]
\n
          [--edit | -e] [--[no-]all | -A | --[no-]ignore-removal | [--update | -u]] [--sparse]
\n
          [--intent-to-add | -N] [--refresh] [--ignore-errors] [--ignore-missing] [--renormalize]
\n
          [--chmod=(+|-)x] [--pathspec-from-file=<file> [--pathspec-file-nul]]
\n
          [--] [<pathspec>...]

DESCRIPTION#

This command updates the index using the current content found in the working tree, to prepare the content staged for the next commit. It typically adds the current content of existing paths as a whole, but with some options it can also be used to add content with only part of the changes made to the working tree files applied, or remove paths that do not exist in the working tree anymore.

The "index" holds a snapshot of the content of the working tree, and it is this snapshot that is taken as the contents of the next commit. Thus after making any changes to the working tree, and before running the commit command, you must use the add command to add any new or modified files to the index.

This command can be performed multiple times before a commit. It only adds the content of the specified file(s) at the time the add command is run; if you want subsequent changes included in the next commit, then you must run git add again to add the new content to the index.

The git status command can be used to obtain a summary of which files have changes that are staged for the next commit.

The git add command will not add ignored files by default. If any ignored files were explicitly specified on the command line, git add will fail with a list of ignored files. Ignored files reached by directory recursion or filename globbing performed by Git (quote your globs before the shell) will be silently ignored. The git add command can be used to add ignored files with the -f (force) option.

Please see git-commit(1) for alternative ways to add content to a commit.

OPTIONS#

<pathspec>...

For more details about the <pathspec> syntax, see the pathspec entry in gitglossary(7).

-n, --dry-run

-v, --verbose

-f, --force

--sparse

-i, --interactive

-p, --patch

This effectively runs add --interactive, but bypasses the initial command menu and directly jumps to the patch subcommand. See “Interactive mode” for details.

-e, --edit

The intent of this option is to pick and choose lines of the patch to apply, or even to modify the contents of lines to be staged. This can be quicker and more flexible than using the interactive hunk selector. However, it is easy to confuse oneself and create a patch that does not apply to the index. See EDITING PATCHES below.

-u, --update

If no <pathspec> is given when -u option is used, all tracked files in the entire working tree are updated (old versions of Git used to limit the update to the current directory and its subdirectories).

-A, --all, --no-ignore-removal

If no <pathspec> is given when -A option is used, all files in the entire working tree are updated (old versions of Git used to limit the update to the current directory and its subdirectories).

--no-all, --ignore-removal

This option is primarily to help users who are used to older versions of Git, whose "git add <pathspec>..." was a synonym for "git add --no-all <pathspec>...", i.e. ignored removed files.

-N, --intent-to-add

--refresh

--ignore-errors

--ignore-missing

--no-warn-embedded-repo

--renormalize

--chmod=(+|-)x

--pathspec-from-file=<file>

--pathspec-file-nul

--

EXAMPLES#

$ git add Documentation/\*.txt

Note that the asterisk * is quoted from the shell in this example; this lets the command include the files from subdirectories of Documentation/ directory.

$ git add git-*.sh

Because this example lets the shell expand the asterisk (i.e. you are listing the files explicitly), it does not consider subdir/git-foo.sh.

INTERACTIVE MODE#

When the command enters the interactive mode, it shows the output of the status subcommand, and then goes into its interactive command loop.

The command loop shows the list of subcommands available, and gives a prompt "What now> ". In general, when the prompt ends with a single >, you can pick only one of the choices given and type return, like this:

\n
    *** Commands ***
\n
      1: status       2: update       3: revert       4: add untracked
\n
      5: patch        6: diff         7: quit         8: help
\n
    What now> 1

You also could say s or sta or status above as long as the choice is unique.

The main command loop has 6 subcommands (plus help and quit).

status

\n
              staged     unstaged path
\n
     1:       binary      nothing foo.png
\n
     2:     +403/-35        +1/-1 add-interactive.c

It shows that foo.png has differences from HEAD (but that is binary so line count cannot be shown) and there is no difference between indexed copy and the working tree version (if the working tree version were also different, binary would have been shown in place of nothing). The other file, add-interactive.c, has 403 lines added and 35 lines deleted if you commit what is in the index, but working tree file has further modifications (one addition and one deletion).

update

What you chose are then highlighted with *, like this:

\n
           staged     unstaged path
\n
  1:       binary      nothing foo.png
* 2:     +403/-35        +1/-1 add-interactive.c

To remove selection, prefix the input with - like this:

Update>> -2

After making the selection, answer with an empty line to stage the contents of working tree files for selected paths in the index.

revert

add untracked

patch

y - stage this hunk
n - do not stage this hunk
q - quit; do not stage this hunk or any of the remaining ones
a - stage this hunk and all later hunks in the file
d - do not stage this hunk or any of the later hunks in the file
g - select a hunk to go to
/ - search for a hunk matching the given regex
j - leave this hunk undecided, see next undecided hunk
J - leave this hunk undecided, see next hunk
k - leave this hunk undecided, see previous undecided hunk
K - leave this hunk undecided, see previous hunk
s - split the current hunk into smaller hunks
e - manually edit the current hunk
p - print the current hunk
? - print help

After deciding the fate for all hunks, if there is any hunk that was chosen, the index is updated with the selected hunks.

You can omit having to type return here, by setting the configuration variable interactive.singleKey to true.

diff

EDITING PATCHES#

Invoking git add -e or selecting e from the interactive hunk selector will open a patch in your editor; after the editor exits, the result is applied to the index. You are free to make arbitrary changes to the patch, but note that some changes may have confusing results, or even result in a patch that cannot be applied. If you want to abort the operation entirely (i.e., stage nothing new in the index), simply delete all lines of the patch. The list below describes some common things you may see in a patch, and which editing operations make sense on them.

added content

removed content

modified content

There are also more complex operations that can be performed. But beware that because the patch is applied only to the index and not the working tree, the working tree will appear to "undo" the change in the index. For example, introducing a new line into the index that is in neither the HEAD nor the working tree will stage the new line for commit, but the line will appear to be reverted in the working tree.

Avoid using these constructs, or do so with extreme caution.

removing untouched content

modifying existing content

new content

There are also several operations which should be avoided entirely, as they will make the patch impossible to apply:

CONFIGURATION#

Everything below this line in this section is selectively included from the git-config(1) documentation. The content is the same as what’s found there:

add.ignoreErrors, add.ignore-errors (deprecated)

SEE ALSO#

git-status(1) git-rm(1) git-reset(1) git-mv(1) git-commit(1) git-update-index(1)

GIT#

Part of the git(1) suite