Can I retrieve a file in git that had been created, staged, never committed, but then removed?

Question

I created a file then staged it in my git repo using git add <file>.

I also wanted to remove some files in the same commit so did a git rm -f 'files.*'.

The wildcard I used in the remove line was a little too generic, and it removed my previously staged file.

Bearing in mind it was never committed, only staged, is there any way of retrieving the file I inadvertently removed?

possible duplicate of [Recover files after 'git rm -rf'](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/14475003/recover-files-after-git-rm-rf) — Arup Rakshit, Jan 14 '15 at 08:35

Alper · Accepted Answer · 2015-01-14T08:41:58.357

If you had staged a file to git, you likely get it back;

Try git fsck --lost-found

The output will be something like;

$ git fsck --lost-found
Checking object directories: 100% (256/256), done.
dangling blob 20d25014d965f1fe519d53204222369d09503511
dangling blob e69de29bb2d1d6434b8b29ae775ad8c2e48c5391

One of the dangling blob should be your file. Try git show <sha> to see the file.

Note: Do NOT run git gc before the above steps. It cleans up unnecessary files and optimize the local repository.

Can I retrieve a file in git that had been created, staged, never committed, but then removed?

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