How to Uninitialize Repository in Git

1. the git init Command
2. Uninitialize Repository in Git

Git is a well-known platform that we use to track changes in our code during the development of our application. It is a version control system that allows us to coordinate with our teammates and helps us to improve our coding while coordinating with each other in a team-based project.

the git init Command

The git init command develops a new and vacant Git repository. It is also used to reinitialize an already existing Git repository.

It is probably the first command that a developer runs while initializing a new project. A repository is a place where we can store project files and save code versions that can easily be accessed.

This command helps us develop a .git subdirectory consisting of the metadata, for example, subdirectories for objects and template files, to create a brand new repository. This guide will teach the procedure to undo this command or to uninitialized the Git repository using the command line.

Uninitialize Repository in Git

When we use git init to initialize a Git repository, a hidden Git directory (.git) is automatically created inside our project directory. In the Git command line, there is no command for git init undo.

To undo the changes made by the init command on our computer, we need to delete the folder named .git in our repository folder by executing a command which will delete the Git repository that is newly created. The command is as follows.

rm -rf .git/

The above command is for Linux. The flag r is used to remove recursively. The flag f is used to force (to force-remove protected files).

For Windows, we can delete the .git/ folder through the following Git shell command.

rmdir /s .git

This command will remove the folder named .git and all subdirectories of that folder.

Some files might remain because they are hidden .gitignore files (we have added them ourselves in .gitignore). To remove them, we will execute the following command.

find . -name ".gitignore" | xargs rm