Removing tracked files in Git that should have been ignored - Rocketeers app

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Removing tracked files in Git that should have been ignored
===========================================================

### [\#Git](https://rocketeersapp.com/knowledge/git)

Removing files that has been committed earlier in your repository is something you encouter once in a while. Read here how you can do this.

 Published by [Mark van Eijk](https://rocketeersapp.com/author/mark-van-eijk) on September 27, 2022 · 1 minute read

1. [The problem](#content-the-problem)
2. [Delete and forget unwanted committed files](#content-delete-and-forget-unwanted-committed-files)

[\#](#content-the-problem "Permalink")The problem
-------------------------------------------------

Anybody that has been using Git for a longer period of time, stumbles every now and then on this pesky little problem: tracked files in your Git repository that should have been ignored from te start. But now they are added, Git can't seem to "forget" about them.

I know I have faced this one a bunch of times! And here's how you can fix this issue and make you feel all clean and happy about your repository again.

[\#](#content-delete-and-forget-unwanted-committed-files "Permalink")Delete and forget unwanted committed files
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In this example we have the common situation where you've forgot to add `.DS_Store` to your global or repositories `.gitignore` file on your Mac (for Windows users there is a different but evenly annoying `Thumbs.db` that gets created now and then).

 ```
find . -name .DS_Store -print0 | xargs -0 git rm -f --ignore-unmatch

```

What does this command do?

1. First it deletes every file that matches `.DS_Store`;
2. Then it pipes these files to the `git rm` command that makes sure Git doesn't keep tracking these files.

Without removing the traces of these files in Git, the `.DS_Store` files that were tracked will eventually pop up again in your working copy.

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