In this article we will learn how to remove a file from a Git repository without deleting it from the local filesystem

To remove a file from a Git repository without deleting it from the local filesystem, you can use the "git rm" command with the "--cached" option.

For example, if the file you want to remove is named "example.txt", you would run the command "git rm --cached example.txt" in your command line interface. This will remove the file from the repository's index, but will leave the file on your local filesystem.

You can then commit this change with the command "git commit -m <message>" where message is the commit message

Alternatively you can use the "git rm" command without the "--cached" option, but it will delete the file from the local filesystem as well.

It's important to note that, this will delete the file from the remote repository as well, if the file was already pushed to the remote repository, you need to use git push with the "--force" option to force the deletion of the file from the remote repository.

Using the git rm –cached Command

git rm FILE will remove files from the index and local working tree by default. git rm command provides the –cached option to allow us only to remove files from the repository's index and keep the local file untouched.

git rm --cached file.php