git/Documentation/git-clean.txt
Junio C Hamano b6194678b0 Documentation: clarify "git clean -e <pattern>"
The current explanation of -e can be misread as allowing the user to say

    I know 'git clean -XYZ' (substitute -XYZ with any option and/or
    parameter) will remove paths A, B, and C, and I want them all removed
    except for paths matching this pattern by adding '-e C' to the same
    command line, i.e. 'git clean -e C -XYZ'.

But that is not what this option does. It augments the set of ignore rules
from the command line, just like the same "-e <pattern>" argument does
with the "ls-files" command (the user could probably pass "-e \!C" to tell
the command to clean everything the command would normally remove, except
for C). Also error out when both -x and -e are given with an explanation of
what -e means---it is a symptom of misunderstanding what -e does.

It also fixes small style nit in the parameter to add_exclude() call. The
current code only works because EXC_CMDL happens to be defined as 0.

Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
2011-08-28 23:47:55 -07:00

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git-clean(1)
============
NAME
----
git-clean - Remove untracked files from the working tree
SYNOPSIS
--------
[verse]
'git clean' [-d] [-f] [-n] [-q] [-e <pattern>] [-x | -X] [--] <path>...
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 `<path>...` arguments are given, only those paths
are affected.
OPTIONS
-------
-d::
Remove untracked directories in addition to untracked files.
If an untracked directory is managed by a different git
repository, it is not removed by default. Use -f option twice
if you really want to remove such a directory.
-f::
--force::
If the git configuration variable clean.requireForce is not set
to false, 'git clean' will refuse to run unless given -f or -n.
-n::
--dry-run::
Don't actually remove anything, just show what would be done.
-q::
--quiet::
Be quiet, only report errors, but not the files that are
successfully removed.
-e <pattern>::
--exclude=<pattern>::
In addition to those found in .gitignore (per directory) and
$GIT_DIR/info/exclude, also consider these patterns to be in the
set of the ignore rules in effect.
-x::
Don't use the standard ignore rules read from .gitignore (per
directory) and $GIT_DIR/info/exclude, but do still use the ignore
rules given with `-e` options. This allows removing all untracked
files, including build products. This can be used (possibly in
conjunction with '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.
GIT
---
Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite