How to Unstage a File in Git

1. How to Unstage a File in Git
2. Use the git rm Command to Unstage Files
3. Use the git reset Command to Unstage Files

In Git, the place where we add files to track them for a particular branch is called the Staging Area or the Index Area. It is a distinctive way to organize our files and prepare them for a commitment.

But sometimes, we want to withdraw files from the staging area. This process is called unstaging. If we accidentally add any file to Git, we can withdraw it from the index by executing the process of unstaging from the branch.

Git provides us with various commands to deal with this situation and resolve this critical issue to achieve the results. This article will show how to unstage a file in Git using two important commands.

How to Unstage a File in Git

In Git, we can unstage a file using two different ways. Both ways are explained in detail below:

• git rm -cached <file-name>
• git reset Head <file-name>

Use the git rm Command to Unstage Files

The command git rm --cached helps us remove a file from the staging area. When the file already exists in the repo, the command git rm --cached will help us to remove the desired file from the index.

This will leave it in the working directory, and it will now permanently remove it from the repo.

git rm --cached <filePath>

This command will not unstage a file, and it will only stage the removal of the file from the repo that is already committed before and will leave the file in our working tree untracked in a branch.

Use the git reset Command to Unstage Files

Git Reset is used for resetting changes done in the working directory. We can reset our repository, staging area, and our working directory through this.

The easiest way to remove the files from the staging area is by executing the following command by specifying the file path we want to unstage that file using the following command.

git reset <commit> -- <path>

If we do not specify the file, it will automatically refer to the HEAD in the currently checked-out branch.

If we do not specify the file name with git reset, then all the commits will be unstaged, the staging area will be empty in our current checked-out branch, and it will not be reverted after that.

So, it is essential to take a backup of these files or execute these commands when you are satisfied and confirmed to delete or empty the staging area.

$ git reset