How to Add Folder in Git

1. Use git add to Add All or Specific Folders and Files to Stage Content in Git
2. Create Project Folder With 2 Folders and Files to Test git add in Git
3. Conclusion

git add is used to add specific folders and files. This tutorial will tackle git add <folder> in a modern way.

Use git add to Add All or Specific Folders and Files to Stage Content in Git

Add a file using this syntax:

git add <file>

Add a folder using this syntax:

git add folder1/

or

git add folder1

For older versions of git, add the --all flag and add forward slash at the end of the folder name.

git add --all <folder>/

For example:

git add --all folder1/

Create Project Folder With 2 Folders and Files to Test git add in Git

First, create a folder using this command:

mkdir project-folder

To enter the folder, use the bash code.

cd project-folder

Inside the project folder, open Git Bash.

git init

Initialized empty Git repository in C:/You/Documents/project-folder/.git/

This will initialize a git working tree. Create two new folders inside the project folder, and name them folder1 and folder2.

Inside folder1, add a text document and name it text1.txt.

To create a file, run the following command:

touch text1.txt

On Git Bash, run the following code:

git status

On branch master

No commits yet

Untracked files:
  (use "git add <file>..." to include in what will be committed)
        folder1/
        folder2/

nothing added to commit but untracked files present (use "git add" to track)

The folder1/ and folder2/ are untracked files and not included in the files and folders which are ready to be committed.

Say we want to add folder2/ alone. We will add that, while folder1 will be left unstaged.

git add --all folder2/

or

git add folder2

Check the status.

git status

On branch master

No commits yet

Changes to be committed:
  (use "git rm --cached <file>..." to unstage)
        new file:   folder2/text1.txt

Untracked files:
  (use "git add <file>..." to include in what will be committed)
        folder1/

The folder2/text1.txt file and folder are now added to the staged contents. The untracked folder is folder1/.

The . also means all but not equivalent with --all.

Run git add . folder2/ instead of git add --all folder2/. We will put back the folder2 to the unstaged and put it staged again to test this.

git restore --staged .

or

git rm --cached folder2/ -r

Let’s check the status;

git status

On branch master

No commits yet

Untracked files:
  (use "git add <file>..." to include in what will be committed)
        folder1/
        folder2/

nothing added to commit but untracked files present (use "git add" to track)

Now that all folders are untracked, we can test the code ..

git add . folder2/
git status

On branch master

No commits yet

Changes to be committed:
  (use "git rm --cached <file>..." to unstage)
        new file:   folder1/text1.txt
        new file:   folder2/text1.txt

Two of them are added, as . is meant for all files and folders.

So don’t use . and expect to stage-specific folder. Use --all as in git add --all folder2/.

Conclusion

Add folders is most the same as adding files. Now we can run git add <folder> or git add <folder>/ to cherry-pick folder to stage.