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git-clean.1 (6479B)

'\" t
.\"     Title: git-clean
.\"    Author: [FIXME: author] [see http://www.docbook.org/tdg5/en/html/author]
.\" Generator: DocBook XSL Stylesheets v1.79.2 <http://docbook.sf.net/>
.\"      Date: 2025-03-14
.\"    Manual: Git Manual
.\"    Source: Git 2.49.0
.\"  Language: English
.\"
.TH "GIT\-CLEAN" "1" "2025-03-14" "Git 2\&.49\&.0" "Git Manual"
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.SH "NAME"
git-clean \- Remove untracked files from the working tree
.SH "SYNOPSIS"
.sp
.nf
\fIgit clean\fR [\-d] [\-f] [\-i] [\-n] [\-q] [\-e <pattern>] [\-x | \-X] [\-\-] [<pathspec>\&...\:]
.fi
.SH "DESCRIPTION"
.sp
Cleans the working tree by recursively removing files that are not under version control, starting from the current directory\&.
.sp
Normally, only files unknown to Git are removed, but if the \fB\-x\fR option is specified, ignored files are also removed\&. This can, for example, be useful to remove all build products\&.
.sp
If any optional \fI<pathspec>\fR\&.\&.\&. arguments are given, only those paths that match the pathspec are affected\&.
.SH "OPTIONS"
.PP
\-d
.RS 4
Normally, when no <pathspec> is specified, git clean will not recurse into untracked directories to avoid removing too much\&. Specify \-d to have it recurse into such directories as well\&. If a <pathspec> is specified, \-d is irrelevant; all untracked files matching the specified paths (with exceptions for nested git directories mentioned under
\fB\-\-force\fR) will be removed\&.
.RE
.PP
\-f, \-\-force
.RS 4
If the Git configuration variable clean\&.requireForce is not set to false,
\fIgit clean\fR
will refuse to delete files or directories unless given \-f\&. Git will refuse to modify untracked nested git repositories (directories with a \&.git subdirectory) unless a second \-f is given\&.
.RE
.PP
\-i, \-\-interactive
.RS 4
Show what would be done and clean files interactively\&. See
\(lqInteractive mode\(rq
for details\&. Configuration variable
\fBclean\&.requireForce\fR
is ignored, as this mode gives its own safety protection by going interactive\&.
.RE
.PP
\-n, \-\-dry\-run
.RS 4
Don\(cqt actually remove anything, just show what would be done\&. Configuration variable
\fBclean\&.requireForce\fR
is ignored, as nothing will be deleted anyway\&.
.RE
.PP
\-q, \-\-quiet
.RS 4
Be quiet, only report errors, but not the files that are successfully removed\&.
.RE
.PP
\-e <pattern>, \-\-exclude=<pattern>
.RS 4
Use the given exclude pattern in addition to the standard ignore rules (see
\fBgitignore\fR(5))\&.
.RE
.PP
\-x
.RS 4
Don\(cqt use the standard ignore rules (see
\fBgitignore\fR(5)), but still use the ignore rules given with
\fB\-e\fR
options from the command line\&. This allows removing all untracked files, including build products\&. This can be used (possibly in conjunction with
\fIgit restore\fR
or
\fIgit reset\fR) to create a pristine working directory to test a clean build\&.
.RE
.PP
\-X
.RS 4
Remove only files ignored by Git\&. This may be useful to rebuild everything from scratch, but keep manually created files\&.
.RE
.SH "INTERACTIVE MODE"
.sp
When the command enters the interactive mode, it shows the files and directories to be cleaned, and goes into its interactive command loop\&.
.sp
The command loop shows the list of subcommands available, and gives a prompt "What now> "\&. In general, when the prompt ends with a single \fI>\fR, you can pick only one of the choices given and type return, like this:
.sp
.if n \{\
.RS 4
.\}
.nf
    *** Commands ***
        1: clean                2: filter by pattern    3: select by numbers
        4: ask each             5: quit                 6: help
    What now> 1
.fi
.if n \{\
.RE
.\}
.sp
You also could say \fBc\fR or \fBclean\fR above as long as the choice is unique\&.
.sp
The main command loop has 6 subcommands\&.
.PP
clean
.RS 4
Start cleaning files and directories, and then quit\&.
.RE
.PP
filter by pattern
.RS 4
This shows the files and directories to be deleted and issues an "Input ignore patterns>>" prompt\&. You can input space\-separated patterns to exclude files and directories from deletion\&. E\&.g\&. "*\&.c *\&.h" will exclude files ending with "\&.c" and "\&.h" from deletion\&. When you are satisfied with the filtered result, press ENTER (empty) back to the main menu\&.
.RE
.PP
select by numbers
.RS 4
This shows the files and directories to be deleted and issues an "Select items to delete>>" prompt\&. When the prompt ends with double
\fI>>\fR
like this, you can make more than one selection, concatenated with whitespace or comma\&. Also you can say ranges\&. E\&.g\&. "2\-5 7,9" to choose 2,3,4,5,7,9 from the list\&. If the second number in a range is omitted, all remaining items are selected\&. E\&.g\&. "7\-" to choose 7,8,9 from the list\&. You can say
\fI*\fR
to choose everything\&. Also when you are satisfied with the filtered result, press ENTER (empty) back to the main menu\&.
.RE
.PP
ask each
.RS 4
This will start to clean, and you must confirm one by one in order to delete items\&. Please note that this action is not as efficient as the above two actions\&.
.RE
.PP
quit
.RS 4
This lets you quit without doing any cleaning\&.
.RE
.PP
help
.RS 4
Show brief usage of interactive git\-clean\&.
.RE
.SH "CONFIGURATION"
.sp
Everything below this line in this section is selectively included from the \fBgit-config\fR(1) documentation\&. The content is the same as what\(cqs found there:
.PP
clean\&.requireForce
.RS 4
A boolean to make git\-clean refuse to delete files unless \-f is given\&. Defaults to true\&.
.RE
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.sp
\fBgitignore\fR(5)
.SH "GIT"
.sp
Part of the \fBgit\fR(1) suite