How to Remove a File From the Staging Area (= index = cache) in Git?

Usually, developers create multiple files of the project source code while working with Git for different purposes, such as for each module and many more. However, sometimes users unintentionally add temporary or unwanted files to the staging area, and after that, they may want to unstaged them. For this purpose, the “git rm” command is utilized with the “–cached” flag.

This article will discuss the method to remove the file from the Git staging area/index.

How to Delete a Stage File in Git?

Follow the steps below to remove a file from the staging area:

Go to the Git desired directory.
Create and track a new text file.
Check the repository’s status.
Execute the “$ git rm –cached <file-name>” command to remove the particular file.

Step 1: Move to Git Repository

First, execute the provided command to the Git local repository:

$ cd "C:\Users\nazma\Git\Test_9"

Step 2: Make New Text File

Now, generate a new text file in the working directory using the “touch” command:

$ touch file3.txt

Step 3: Add Changes to Staging Index

Next, run the “git add” command to add all made changes to the Git staging index:

$ git add file3.txt

Step 4: View Repository Current Status

Then, to view the working repository status, run the “git status .” command:

$ git status .

Step 5: Remove File From Staging Area

Finally, remove the file that exists in the Git staging index by executing the “git rm” command with the “–cached” flag and particular file name:

$ git rm --cached file3.txt

Here, the “–cached” flag is used to remove the file from the Git repository and move them to the working directory as an unstaged file:

Step 6: Verify Deleted File From Staging Area

Lastly, to ensure the deleted file is untracked successfully, run the “git status .” command:

$ git status .

As you can see, the particular removed file from the Git repository has become untracked successfully:

That’s it! We have explained the method to delete a stage file in Git.

Conclusion

To remove a file from the staging area, go to the Git desired directory, create and stage a new text file. Then, view the repository’s current status. After that, execute the “$ git rm –cached <file-name>” command to remove the particular file. Lastly, ensure the deleted file by checking the status. This article explained the procedure to remove the file from the Git staging area/index.