man > git-ls-files(1)

GIT-LS-FILES(1)                              Git Manual                              GIT-LS-FILES(1)

NAME
       git-ls-files - Show information about files in the index and the working tree

SYNOPSIS
       git ls-files [-z] [-t] [-v] [-f]
                       [-c|--cached] [-d|--deleted] [-o|--others] [-i|--ignored]
                       [-s|--stage] [-u|--unmerged] [-k|--killed] [-m|--modified]
                       [--resolve-undo]
                       [--directory [--no-empty-directory]] [--eol]
                       [--deduplicate]
                       [-x <pattern>|--exclude=<pattern>]
                       [-X <file>|--exclude-from=<file>]
                       [--exclude-per-directory=<file>]
                       [--exclude-standard]
                       [--error-unmatch] [--with-tree=<tree-ish>]
                       [--full-name] [--recurse-submodules]
                       [--abbrev[=<n>]] [--format=<format>] [--] [<file>...]


DESCRIPTION
       This command merges the file listing in the index with the actual working directory list, and
       shows different combinations of the two.

       Several flags can be used to determine which files are shown, and each file may be printed
       multiple times if there are multiple entries in the index or if multiple statuses are
       applicable for the relevant file selection options.

OPTIONS
       -c, --cached
           Show all files cached in Git’s index, i.e. all tracked files. (This is the default if no
           -c/-s/-d/-o/-u/-k/-m/--resolve-undo options are specified.)

       -d, --deleted
           Show files with an unstaged deletion

       -m, --modified
           Show files with an unstaged modification (note that an unstaged deletion also counts as
           an unstaged modification)

       -o, --others
           Show other (i.e. untracked) files in the output

       -i, --ignored
           Show only ignored files in the output. Must be used with either an explicit -c or -o.
           When showing files in the index (i.e. when used with -c), print only those files matching
           an exclude pattern. When showing "other" files (i.e. when used with -o), show only those
           matched by an exclude pattern. Standard ignore rules are not automatically activated;
           therefore, at least one of the --exclude* options is required.

       -s, --stage
           Show staged contents' mode bits, object name and stage number in the output.

       --directory
           If a whole directory is classified as "other", show just its name (with a trailing slash)
           and not its whole contents. Has no effect without -o/--others.

       --no-empty-directory
           Do not list empty directories. Has no effect without --directory.

       -u, --unmerged
           Show information about unmerged files in the output, but do not show any other tracked
           files (forces --stage, overrides --cached).

       -k, --killed
           Show untracked files on the filesystem that need to be removed due to file/directory
           conflicts for tracked files to be able to be written to the filesystem.

       --resolve-undo
           Show files having resolve-undo information in the index together with their resolve-undo
           information. (resolve-undo information is what is used to implement "git checkout -m
           $PATH", i.e. to recreate merge conflicts that were accidentally resolved)

       -z
           \0 line termination on output and do not quote filenames. See OUTPUT below for more
           information.

       --deduplicate
           When only filenames are shown, suppress duplicates that may come from having multiple
           stages during a merge, or giving --deleted and --modified option at the same time. When
           any of the -t, --unmerged, or --stage option is in use, this option has no effect.

       -x <pattern>, --exclude=<pattern>
           Skip untracked files matching pattern. Note that pattern is a shell wildcard pattern. See
           EXCLUDE PATTERNS below for more information.

       -X <file>, --exclude-from=<file>
           Read exclude patterns from <file>; 1 per line.

       --exclude-per-directory=<file>
           Read additional exclude patterns that apply only to the directory and its subdirectories
           in <file>. Deprecated; use --exclude-standard instead.

       --exclude-standard
           Add the standard Git exclusions: .git/info/exclude, .gitignore in each directory, and the
           user’s global exclusion file.

       --error-unmatch
           If any <file> does not appear in the index, treat this as an error (return 1).

       --with-tree=<tree-ish>
           When using --error-unmatch to expand the user supplied <file> (i.e. path pattern)
           arguments to paths, pretend that paths which were removed in the index since the named
           <tree-ish> are still present. Using this option with -s or -u options does not make any
           sense.

       -t
           Show status tags together with filenames. Note that for scripting purposes, git-status(1)
           --porcelain and git-diff-files(1) --name-status are almost always superior alternatives;
           users should look at git-status(1) --short or git-diff(1) --name-status for more
           user-friendly alternatives.

           This option provides a reason for showing each filename, in the form of a status tag
           (which is followed by a space and then the filename). The status tags are all single
           characters from the following list:

           H
               tracked file that is not either unmerged or skip-worktree

           S
               tracked file that is skip-worktree

           M
               tracked file that is unmerged

           R
               tracked file with unstaged removal/deletion

           C
               tracked file with unstaged modification/change

           K
               untracked paths which are part of file/directory conflicts which prevent checking out
               tracked files

           ?
               untracked file

           U
               file with resolve-undo information

       -v
           Similar to -t, but use lowercase letters for files that are marked as assume unchanged
           (see git-update-index(1)).

       -f
           Similar to -t, but use lowercase letters for files that are marked as fsmonitor valid
           (see git-update-index(1)).

       --full-name
           When run from a subdirectory, the command usually outputs paths relative to the current
           directory. This option forces paths to be output relative to the project top directory.

       --recurse-submodules
           Recursively calls ls-files on each active submodule in the repository. Currently there is
           only support for the --cached and --stage modes.

       --abbrev[=<n>]
           Instead of showing the full 40-byte hexadecimal object lines, show the shortest prefix
           that is at least <n> hexdigits long that uniquely refers the object. Non default number
           of digits can be specified with --abbrev=<n>.

       --debug
           After each line that describes a file, add more data about its cache entry. This is
           intended to show as much information as possible for manual inspection; the exact format
           may change at any time.

       --eol
           Show <eolinfo> and <eolattr> of files. <eolinfo> is the file content identification used
           by Git when the "text" attribute is "auto" (or not set and core.autocrlf is not false).
           <eolinfo> is either "-text", "none", "lf", "crlf", "mixed" or "".

           "" means the file is not a regular file, it is not in the index or not accessible in the
           working tree.

           <eolattr> is the attribute that is used when checking out or committing, it is either "",
           "-text", "text", "text=auto", "text eol=lf", "text eol=crlf". Since Git 2.10 "text=auto
           eol=lf" and "text=auto eol=crlf" are supported.

           Both the <eolinfo> in the index ("i/<eolinfo>") and in the working tree ("w/<eolinfo>")
           are shown for regular files, followed by the ("attr/<eolattr>").

       --sparse
           If the index is sparse, show the sparse directories without expanding to the contained
           files. Sparse directories will be shown with a trailing slash, such as "x/" for a sparse
           directory "x".

       --format=<format>
           A string that interpolates %(fieldname) from the result being shown. It also interpolates
           %% to %, and %xx where xx are hex digits interpolates to character with hex code xx; for
           example %00 interpolates to \0 (NUL), %09 to \t (TAB) and %0a to \n (LF). --format cannot
           be combined with -s, -o, -k, -t, --resolve-undo and --eol.

       --
           Do not interpret any more arguments as options.

       <file>
           Files to show. If no files are given all files which match the other specified criteria
           are shown.

OUTPUT
       git ls-files just outputs the filenames unless --stage is specified in which case it outputs:

           [<tag> ]<mode> <object> <stage> <file>

       git ls-files --eol will show
       i/<eolinfo><SPACES>w/<eolinfo><SPACES>attr/<eolattr><SPACE*><TAB><file>

       git ls-files --unmerged and git ls-files --stage can be used to examine detailed information
       on unmerged paths.

       For an unmerged path, instead of recording a single mode/SHA-1 pair, the index records up to
       three such pairs; one from tree O in stage 1, A in stage 2, and B in stage 3. This
       information can be used by the user (or the porcelain) to see what should eventually be
       recorded at the path. (see git-read-tree(1) for more information on state)

       Without the -z option, pathnames with "unusual" characters are quoted as explained for the
       configuration variable core.quotePath (see git-config(1)). Using -z the filename is output
       verbatim and the line is terminated by a NUL byte.

       It is possible to print in a custom format by using the --format option, which is able to
       interpolate different fields using a %(fieldname) notation. For example, if you only care
       about the "objectname" and "path" fields, you can execute with a specific "--format" like

           git ls-files --format='%(objectname) %(path)'

FIELD NAMES
       The way each path is shown can be customized by using the --format=<format> option, where the
       %(fieldname) in the <format> string for various aspects of the index entry are interpolated.
       The following "fieldname" are understood:

       objectmode
           The mode of the file which is recorded in the index.

       objecttype
           The object type of the file which is recorded in the index.

       objectname
           The name of the file which is recorded in the index.

       objectsize[:padded]
           The object size of the file which is recorded in the index ("-" if the object is a commit
           or tree). It also supports a padded format of size with "%(objectsize:padded)".

       stage
           The stage of the file which is recorded in the index.

       eolinfo:index, eolinfo:worktree
           The <eolinfo> (see the description of the --eol option) of the contents in the index or
           in the worktree for the path.

       eolattr
           The <eolattr> (see the description of the --eol option) that applies to the path.

       path
           The pathname of the file which is recorded in the index.

EXCLUDE PATTERNS
       git ls-files can use a list of "exclude patterns" when traversing the directory tree and
       finding files to show when the flags --others or --ignored are specified. gitignore(5)
       specifies the format of exclude patterns.

       Generally, you should just use --exclude-standard, but for historical reasons the exclude
       patterns can be specified from the following places, in order:

        1. The command-line flag --exclude=<pattern> specifies a single pattern. Patterns are
           ordered in the same order they appear in the command line.

        2. The command-line flag --exclude-from=<file> specifies a file containing a list of
           patterns. Patterns are ordered in the same order they appear in the file.

        3. The command-line flag --exclude-per-directory=<name> specifies a name of the file in each
           directory git ls-files examines, normally .gitignore. Files in deeper directories take
           precedence. Patterns are ordered in the same order they appear in the files.

       A pattern specified on the command line with --exclude or read from the file specified with
       --exclude-from is relative to the top of the directory tree. A pattern read from a file
       specified by --exclude-per-directory is relative to the directory that the pattern file
       appears in.

SEE ALSO
       git-read-tree(1), gitignore(5)

GIT
       Part of the git(1) suite

Git 2.43.0                                   07/02/2025                              GIT-LS-FILES(1)