git-ls-files(1) — Linux manual page
GIT-LS-FILES(1) Git Manual GIT-LS-FILES(1)
NAME
git-ls-files - Show information about files in the index and the
working tree
SYNOPSIS
git ls-files [-z] [-t] [-v] [-f]
[-c|--cached] [-d|--deleted] [-o|--others] [-i|--ignored]
[-s|--stage] [-u|--unmerged] [-k|--killed] [-m|--modified]
[--resolve-undo]
[--directory [--no-empty-directory]] [--eol]
[--deduplicate]
[-x <pattern>|--exclude=<pattern>]
[-X <file>|--exclude-from=<file>]
[--exclude-per-directory=<file>]
[--exclude-standard]
[--error-unmatch] [--with-tree=<tree-ish>]
[--full-name] [--recurse-submodules]
[--abbrev[=<n>]] [--format=<format>] [--] [<file>...]
DESCRIPTION
This command merges the file listing in the index with the actual
working directory list, and shows different combinations of the
two.
Several flags can be used to determine which files are shown, and
each file may be printed multiple times if there are multiple
entries in the index or if multiple statuses are applicable for
the relevant file selection options.
OPTIONS
-c, --cached
Show all files cached in Git’s index, i.e. all tracked files.
(This is the default if no
-c/-s/-d/-o/-u/-k/-m/--resolve-undo options are specified.)
-d, --deleted
Show files with an unstaged deletion
-m, --modified
Show files with an unstaged modification (note that an
unstaged deletion also counts as an unstaged modification)
-o, --others
Show other (i.e. untracked) files in the output
-i, --ignored
Show only ignored files in the output. Must be used with
either an explicit -c or -o. When showing files in the index
(i.e. when used with -c), print only those files matching an
exclude pattern. When showing "other" files (i.e. when used
with -o), show only those matched by an exclude pattern.
Standard ignore rules are not automatically activated;
therefore, at least one of the --exclude* options is
required.
-s, --stage
Show staged contents' mode bits, object name and stage number
in the output.
--directory
If a whole directory is classified as "other", show just its
name (with a trailing slash) and not its whole contents. Has
no effect without -o/--others.
--no-empty-directory
Do not list empty directories. Has no effect without
--directory.
-u, --unmerged
Show information about unmerged files in the output, but do
not show any other tracked files (forces --stage, overrides
--cached).
-k, --killed
Show untracked files on the filesystem that need to be
removed due to file/directory conflicts for tracked files to
be able to be written to the filesystem.
--resolve-undo
Show files having resolve-undo information in the index
together with their resolve-undo information. (resolve-undo
information is what is used to implement "git checkout -m
$PATH", i.e. to recreate merge conflicts that were
accidentally resolved)
-z
\0 line termination on output and do not quote filenames. See
OUTPUT below for more information.
--deduplicate
When only filenames are shown, suppress duplicates that may
come from having multiple stages during a merge, or giving
--deleted and --modified option at the same time. When any of
the -t, --unmerged, or --stage option is in use, this option
has no effect.
-x <pattern>, --exclude=<pattern>
Skip untracked files matching pattern. Note that pattern is a
shell wildcard pattern. See EXCLUDE PATTERNS below for more
information.
-X <file>, --exclude-from=<file>
Read exclude patterns from <file>; 1 per line.
--exclude-per-directory=<file>
Read additional exclude patterns that apply only to the
directory and its subdirectories in <file>. If you are trying
to emulate the way Porcelain commands work, using the
--exclude-standard option instead is easier and more
thorough.
--exclude-standard
Add the standard Git exclusions: .git/info/exclude,
.gitignore in each directory, and the user’s global exclusion
file.
--error-unmatch
If any <file> does not appear in the index, treat this as an
error (return 1).
--with-tree=<tree-ish>
When using --error-unmatch to expand the user supplied <file>
(i.e. path pattern) arguments to paths, pretend that paths
which were removed in the index since the named <tree-ish>
are still present. Using this option with -s or -u options
does not make any sense.
-t
Show status tags together with filenames. Note that for
scripting purposes, git-status(1) --porcelain and
git-diff-files(1) --name-status are almost always superior
alternatives; users should look at git-status(1) --short or
git-diff(1) --name-status for more user-friendly
alternatives.
This option provides a reason for showing each filename, in
the form of a status tag (which is followed by a space and
then the filename). The status tags are all single characters
from the following list:
H
tracked file that is not either unmerged or skip-worktree
S
tracked file that is skip-worktree
M
tracked file that is unmerged
R
tracked file with unstaged removal/deletion
C
tracked file with unstaged modification/change
K
untracked paths which are part of file/directory
conflicts which prevent checking out tracked files
?
untracked file
U
file with resolve-undo information
-v
Similar to -t, but use lowercase letters for files that are
marked as assume unchanged (see git-update-index(1)).
-f
Similar to -t, but use lowercase letters for files that are
marked as fsmonitor valid (see git-update-index(1)).
--full-name
When run from a subdirectory, the command usually outputs
paths relative to the current directory. This option forces
paths to be output relative to the project top directory.
--recurse-submodules
Recursively calls ls-files on each active submodule in the
repository. Currently there is only support for the --cached
and --stage modes.
--abbrev[=<n>]
Instead of showing the full 40-byte hexadecimal object lines,
show the shortest prefix that is at least <n> hexdigits long
that uniquely refers the object. Non default number of digits
can be specified with --abbrev=<n>.
--debug
After each line that describes a file, add more data about
its cache entry. This is intended to show as much information
as possible for manual inspection; the exact format may
change at any time.
--eol
Show <eolinfo> and <eolattr> of files. <eolinfo> is the file
content identification used by Git when the "text" attribute
is "auto" (or not set and core.autocrlf is not false).
<eolinfo> is either "-text", "none", "lf", "crlf", "mixed" or
"".
"" means the file is not a regular file, it is not in the
index or not accessible in the working tree.
<eolattr> is the attribute that is used when checking out or
committing, it is either "", "-text", "text", "text=auto",
"text eol=lf", "text eol=crlf". Since Git 2.10 "text=auto
eol=lf" and "text=auto eol=crlf" are supported.
Both the <eolinfo> in the index ("i/<eolinfo>") and in the
working tree ("w/<eolinfo>") are shown for regular files,
followed by the ("attr/<eolattr>").
--sparse
If the index is sparse, show the sparse directories without
expanding to the contained files. Sparse directories will be
shown with a trailing slash, such as "x/" for a sparse
directory "x".
--format=<format>
A string that interpolates %(fieldname) from the result being
shown. It also interpolates %% to %, and %xx where xx are hex
digits interpolates to character with hex code xx; for
example %00 interpolates to \0 (NUL), %09 to \t (TAB) and %0a
to \n (LF). --format cannot be combined with -s, -o, -k, -t,
--resolve-undo and --eol.
--
Do not interpret any more arguments as options.
<file>
Files to show. If no files are given all files which match
the other specified criteria are shown.
OUTPUT
git ls-files just outputs the filenames unless --stage is
specified in which case it outputs:
[<tag> ]<mode> <object> <stage> <file>
git ls-files --eol will show
i/<eolinfo><SPACES>w/<eolinfo><SPACES>attr/<eolattr><SPACE*><TAB><file>
git ls-files --unmerged and git ls-files --stage can be used to
examine detailed information on unmerged paths.
For an unmerged path, instead of recording a single mode/SHA-1
pair, the index records up to three such pairs; one from tree O
in stage 1, A in stage 2, and B in stage 3. This information can
be used by the user (or the porcelain) to see what should
eventually be recorded at the path. (see git-read-tree(1) for
more information on state)
Without the -z option, pathnames with "unusual" characters are
quoted as explained for the configuration variable core.quotePath
(see git-config(1)). Using -z the filename is output verbatim and
the line is terminated by a NUL byte.
It is possible to print in a custom format by using the --format
option, which is able to interpolate different fields using a
%(fieldname) notation. For example, if you only care about the
"objectname" and "path" fields, you can execute with a specific
"--format" like
git ls-files --format='%(objectname) %(path)'
FIELD NAMES
The way each path is shown can be customized by using the
--format=<format> option, where the %(fieldname) in the <format>
string for various aspects of the index entry are interpolated.
The following "fieldname" are understood:
objectmode
The mode of the file which is recorded in the index.
objecttype
The object type of the file which is recorded in the index.
objectname
The name of the file which is recorded in the index.
objectsize[:padded]
The object size of the file which is recorded in the index
("-" if the object is a commit or tree). It also supports a
padded format of size with "%(objectsize:padded)".
stage
The stage of the file which is recorded in the index.
eolinfo:index, eolinfo:worktree
The <eolinfo> (see the description of the --eol option) of
the contents in the index or in the worktree for the path.
eolattr
The <eolattr> (see the description of the --eol option) that
applies to the path.
path
The pathname of the file which is recorded in the index.
EXCLUDE PATTERNS
git ls-files can use a list of "exclude patterns" when traversing
the directory tree and finding files to show when the flags
--others or --ignored are specified. gitignore(5) specifies the
format of exclude patterns.
These exclude patterns can be specified from the following
places, in order:
1. The command-line flag --exclude=<pattern> specifies a single
pattern. Patterns are ordered in the same order they appear
in the command line.
2. The command-line flag --exclude-from=<file> specifies a file
containing a list of patterns. Patterns are ordered in the
same order they appear in the file.
3. The command-line flag --exclude-per-directory=<name>
specifies a name of the file in each directory git ls-files
examines, normally .gitignore. Files in deeper directories
take precedence. Patterns are ordered in the same order they
appear in the files.
A pattern specified on the command line with --exclude or read
from the file specified with --exclude-from is relative to the
top of the directory tree. A pattern read from a file specified
by --exclude-per-directory is relative to the directory that the
pattern file appears in.
Generally, you should be able to use --exclude-standard when you
want the exclude rules applied the same way as what Porcelain
commands do. To emulate what --exclude-standard specifies, you
can give --exclude-per-directory=.gitignore, and then specify:
1. The file specified by the core.excludesfile configuration
variable, if exists, or the $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/git/ignore file.
2. The $GIT_DIR/info/exclude file.
via the --exclude-from= option.
SEE ALSO
git-read-tree(1), gitignore(5)
GIT
Part of the git(1) suite
COLOPHON
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system) project. Information about the project can be found at
⟨http://git-scm.com/⟩. If you have a bug report for this manual
page, see ⟨http://git-scm.com/community⟩. This page was obtained
from the project's upstream Git repository
⟨https://github.com/git/git.git⟩ on 2024-06-14. (At that time,
the date of the most recent commit that was found in the
repository was 2024-06-12.) If you discover any rendering
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Git 2.45.2.492.gd63586 2024-06-12 GIT-LS-FILES(1)
Pages that refer to this page: git(1), git-check-ignore(1), git-merge(1), git-read-tree(1), git-update-index(1)