I need to add several files to group them into a single commit, but I have to exclude one of them. In this answer, the code given to do this is:
git add -u
git reset -- file_to_ignore.dat
I'm not sure what the dashes do in the last command. What is the difference with the following?
git reset file_to_ignore.dat
which is how it's shown in this tutorial.
I mentioned that double hyphen (or double dash) notation in "Deleting a badly named git branch".
It helps separating the options of a commands from the actual arguments (filename)
It is also conventional to recognize a double hyphen as a signal to stop option interpretation and treat all following arguments literally.
In your case, there is no difference... unless the file name is 'master'! (in which case, the -- are very important)
