Re: "git rm" seems to do recursive removal even without "-r"

From: Robert P. J. Day <rpjday@crashcourse.ca>
Date: Oct 11, 2017, 08:31 UTC
Message-ID: <alpine.LFD.2.21.1710110430020.10556@localhost.localdomain>
In-Reply-To: <20171010115250.GA75189@book.hvoigt.net>

On Tue, 10 Oct 2017, Heiko Voigt wrote:

Show 33 quoted lines

> On Sun, Oct 08, 2017 at 07:56:20AM -0400, Robert P. J. Day wrote:
> >   but as i asked in my earlier post, if i wanted to remove *all* files
> > with names of "Makefile*", why can't i use:
> >
> >   $ git rm 'Makefile*'
> >
> > just as i used:
> >
> >   $ git rm '*.c'
> >
> > are those not both acceptable fileglobs? why does the former
> > clearly only match the top-level Makefile, and refuse to cross
> > directory boundaries?
>
> Maybe think about it this way: The only difference between git's
> globbing and the default shell globbing is that the '/' in a path
> has a special meaning. The shells expansion stops at a '/' but git
> does not.
>
> So with *.c the shell matches: blabla.c, blub.c, ...  but not
> subdir/bla.c, subdir/blub.c, ... since it only considers files in
> the current directory. A little different for Makefile* that will
> also match Makefile.bla, Makefile/bla or Makefile_bla/blub in shell
> but not subdir/Makefile or bla.Makefile. Basically anything directly
> in *this* directory that *starts* with 'Makefile'.
>
> Git on the other hand does not consider '/' to be special. So *.c
> matches all of the path above: bla.c, blub.c, subdir/bla.c,
> subdir/blub.c. Basically any file below the current directory with a
> path that ends in '.c'. With Makefile* it is the opposite: Every
> file below the current directory that *starts* with 'Makefile'. So
> Makefile.bla, Makefile/bla, ... but also not subdir/Makefile or
> bla.Makefile.

   ok, i believe i finally appreciate what is happening here, and
perhaps my first contribution will be a minor addition to the "git-rm"
man page to introduce a couple examples explaining these intricacies,
since they're not immediately obvious. i'll put something together and
submit it to the list. thank you all for your patience in explaining
this.

rday

-- 
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Robert P. J. Day                                 Ottawa, Ontario, CANADA
                        http://crashcourse.ca

Twitter:                                       http://twitter.com/rpjday
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