git/list[1] front-page[2] threads[3] people[4] search[5] about
 

Making custom git-remove-tree command

From
TLTeemu Likonen <tlikonen@iki.fi>
Date
Feb 4, 2010, 09:03 UTC
Message-ID
<87iqad2x09.fsf@mithlond.arda>

I'm doing a script named git-remove-tree which removes the working tree known to Git. It doesn't touch untracked files; it only deletes directories if they are empty. The script seems to work, but because I'm not very good at Git plumbing and there can be some corner cases which I don't know about, I'd appreciate if more experienced users would have a look. Is the following script safe?

#!/bin/sh # git-remove-tree

is_wt=$(git rev-parse --is-inside-work-tree)
if [ "$is_wt" = false ]; then
	echo "You must run this inside a working tree."
	exit 1
elif [ -z "$is_wt" ]; then
	exit 1
fi
top=$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)
cd "$top" || {
	echo "Can't go to top-level directory $top"
	exit 1
}
git ls-tree --name-only -r -z HEAD | xargs -0r -- sh -c '
for f in "$@"; do
	rm -f -- "$f"
	d=$(dirname -- "$f")
	[ "$d" = . ] || rmdir -p -- "$d" 2>/dev/null
done' dollar0_argument
echo 'Use "git reset --hard HEAD" to populate the working tree again.'
Next: Johannes Sixt
Message 1 of 4 in “Making custom git-remove-tree command”
  1. Teemu LikonenFeb 4, 2010
  2. Johannes SixtFeb 4, 2010
  3. Teemu LikonenFeb 4, 2010
  4. Johannes SixtFeb 4, 2010

Read the whole thread, see it on lore, or plain text.

$ cat FOOTERMessages come from the public archive at lore.kernel.org/git, fetched every hour. The front page is chosen and written each morning by an AI editor and can be wrong; the threads themselves are the record. About and API. For agents: an MCP server at https://gitlist.dev/mcp, and any thread, story or person page as Markdown by adding .md to its URL (or sending Accept: text/markdown). Details in /llms.txt.