GIT: I want to unstage all files matching a certain pattern

Question

I would like to run

git reset *.foo

but this errors out.

I think I need to use a pipe, but I'm not sure how to do this.

Thanks!

Note: these files have been staged as deleted. i.e. the files are no longer in my working directory. So I guess I need something like git checkout *.foo — Jacko, Nov 19 '10 at 18:26

cdhowie · Accepted Answer · 2010-11-19T18:33:18.273

9

for i in `git status --porcelain | grep '^D.*\.foo$' | sed 's/^D \+//'`; do
    git reset HEAD "$i"
    git checkout "$i"
done

edited Nov 19 '10 at 18:33

answered Nov 19 '10 at 18:18

cdhowie

158,093
24
286
300

Thanks. Now, the staged change was to delete these files. so, will this still work? the file is actually already deleted in the directory – Jacko Nov 19 '10 at 18:23
No, that will not work. I will update my answer with a new command. – cdhowie Nov 19 '10 at 18:25
ahhhhh, I actually want to run this on files with pattern *.gen.cs – Jacko Nov 19 '10 at 18:46
Hmm, that should work. Can you verify that `git status --porcelain` outputs those files? – cdhowie Nov 19 '10 at 18:47
`git reset HEAD ; git checkout ` is equivalent to `git checkout HEAD `. – Cascabel Nov 19 '10 at 22:43

score 7 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 19 '10 at 18:19

7

If you are using Powershell the following will work.

gci -re -in *foo | %{ git reset $_ }

answered Nov 19 '10 at 18:19

JaredPar

733,204
149
1,241
1,454

score 6 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 29 '13 at 09:37

6

This should work in cygwin and unix env

git reset $(git diff --name-only --cached | grep *.foo)

answered Apr 29 '13 at 09:37

User123456

671
2
9
19

Strangely with the asterisk this unstaged all files for me. Without the asterisk it complains about relative paths. This worked, `git reset -- $(git diff --name-only --cached | grep .foo)` – Annan Yearian Dec 14 '22 at 13:28

score 6 · Answer 4 · answered Nov 10 '21 at 15:39

Now git restore is perfectly working, thus for me the easiest has been:

git restore '*.foo'

like in @César Noreña answer.

However, another pretty easy and very flexible way would be:

git diff --name-only --relative | grep '.foo' | xargs git restore

and it is flexible because you can use all grep options, or even replace grep with something else.

score 2 · Answer 5 · answered Nov 19 '10 at 18:23

2

In a Git GUI application like SmartGit I would filter the displayed files by the pattern *.foo, press Ctrl+A to select all the filtered files and invoke the Unstage command.

answered Nov 19 '10 at 18:23

Mot

28,248
23
84
121

Sina Madani · Answer 6 · 2019-11-12T19:56:57.947

2

Simply use git reset *mypattern*

EDIT: Also try git restore, but be VERY careful as it seems to be bugged at the time of writing.

edited Nov 12 '19 at 19:56

answered Aug 28 '19 at 14:15

Sina Madani

1,246
3
15
27

score 2 · Answer 7 · answered Oct 19 '21 at 19:55

2

You can try restore the files with git restore '*.foo'

answered Oct 19 '21 at 19:55

César N.

449
4
7

score 1 · Answer 8 · answered Jun 28 '14 at 08:01

1

E.g. I want to match all "migrations" in path.

git diff --name-only | grep migrations | xargs git checkout

answered Jun 28 '14 at 08:01

kevins

472
6
17

score 1 · Answer 9 · answered Jul 17 '19 at 14:50

1

White space in filename was causing problems using the git diff approaches but the following worked:

find ./ -name "*.foo" -exec git reset {} \;

Execution is verbose if there are many files to be unstaged.

answered Jul 17 '19 at 14:50

Daniel Sokolowski

11,982
4
69
55

score 0 · Answer 10 · answered Jan 11 '18 at 16:38

If you want to checkout (undo changes) of unstaged modified files matching a given pattern, this works:

macOS:

git checkout $(git st -s | sed -E 's/^.{2}//' | grep '\.foo$')

Unix:

git checkout $(git st -s | sed -r 's/^.{2}//' | grep '\.foo$')

I've only tested this with M modified files. YMMV if you have renamed/deleted/conflicted files as well.

GIT: I want to unstage all files matching a certain pattern

10 Answers10

Linked