git/Documentation/git-clean.txt
Junio C Hamano 105ec9ae8d clean: further clean-up of implementation around "--force"
We clarified how "clean.requireForce" interacts with the "--dry-run"
option in the previous commit, both in the implementation and in the
documentation.  Even when "git clean" (without other options) is
required to be used with "--force" (i.e. either clean.requireForce
is unset, or explicitly set to true) to protect end-users from
casual invocation of the command by mistake, "--dry-run" does not
require "--force" to be used, because it is already its own
protection mechanism by being a no-op to the working tree files.

The previous commit, however, missed another clean-up opportunity
around the same area.  Just like in the "--dry-run" mode, the
command in the "--interactive" mode does not require "--force",
either.  This is because by going interactive and giving the end
user one more chance to confirm, the mode itself is serving as its
own protection mechanism.

Let's take things one step further, and unify the code that defines
interaction between "--force" and these two other options.  Just
like we added explanation for the reason why "--dry-run" does not
honor "clean.requireForce", give an explanation for the reason why
"--interactive" makes "clean.requireForce" to be ignored.

Finally, add some tests to show the interaction between "--force"
and "--interactive".  We already have tests that show interaction
between "--force" and "--dry-run", but didn't test "--interactive".

Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
2024-03-04 14:05:13 -08:00

154 lines
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git-clean(1)
============
NAME
----
git-clean - Remove untracked files from the working tree
SYNOPSIS
--------
[verse]
'git clean' [-d] [-f] [-i] [-n] [-q] [-e <pattern>] [-x | -X] [--] [<pathspec>...]
DESCRIPTION
-----------
Cleans the working tree by recursively removing files that are not
under version control, starting from the current directory.
Normally, only files unknown to Git are removed, but if the `-x`
option is specified, ignored files are also removed. This can, for
example, be useful to remove all build products.
If any optional `<pathspec>...` arguments are given, only those paths
that match the pathspec are affected.
OPTIONS
-------
-d::
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 `--force`) will be removed.
-f::
--force::
If the Git configuration variable clean.requireForce is not set
to false, 'git clean' 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.
-i::
--interactive::
Show what would be done and clean files interactively. See
``Interactive mode'' for details.
Configuration variable `clean.requireForce` is ignored, as
this mode gives its own safety protection by going interactive.
-n::
--dry-run::
Don't actually remove anything, just show what would be done.
Configuration variable `clean.requireForce` is ignored, as
nothing will be deleted anyway.
-q::
--quiet::
Be quiet, only report errors, but not the files that are
successfully removed.
-e <pattern>::
--exclude=<pattern>::
Use the given exclude pattern in addition to the standard ignore rules
(see linkgit:gitignore[5]).
-x::
Don't use the standard ignore rules (see linkgit:gitignore[5]), but
still use the ignore rules given with `-e` options from the command
line. This allows removing all untracked
files, including build products. This can be used (possibly in
conjunction with 'git restore' or 'git reset') to create a pristine
working directory to test a clean build.
-X::
Remove only files ignored by Git. This may be useful to rebuild
everything from scratch, but keep manually created files.
Interactive mode
----------------
When the command enters the interactive mode, it shows the
files and directories to be cleaned, and goes into its
interactive command loop.
The command loop shows the list of subcommands available, and
gives a prompt "What now> ". In general, when the prompt ends
with a single '>', you can pick only one of the choices given
and type return, like this:
------------
*** Commands ***
1: clean 2: filter by pattern 3: select by numbers
4: ask each 5: quit 6: help
What now> 1
------------
You also could say `c` or `clean` above as long as the choice is unique.
The main command loop has 6 subcommands.
clean::
Start cleaning files and directories, and then quit.
filter by pattern::
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.
select by numbers::
This shows the files and directories to be deleted and issues an
"Select items to delete>>" prompt. When the prompt ends with double
'>>' 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 '*' to choose everything.
Also when you are satisfied with the filtered result, press ENTER
(empty) back to the main menu.
ask each::
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.
quit::
This lets you quit without doing any cleaning.
help::
Show brief usage of interactive git-clean.
CONFIGURATION
-------------
include::includes/cmd-config-section-all.txt[]
include::config/clean.txt[]
SEE ALSO
--------
linkgit:gitignore[5]
GIT
---
Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite