git clean

There is no undo. Use -n first. Always.

🎯 What & why

Delete untracked files from the working tree. There is no undo — the files were never in the index, never in the object DB.

🧠 Mental model

Clean walks the working tree, finds files Git doesn't know about (subject to .gitignore), and deletes them. Without -f, modern Git refuses to do anything (safety). With -d, it deletes untracked directories. With -x, it ignores .gitignore and deletes truly everything untracked.

🛠️ Synopsis

git clean [-d] [-f] [-i] [-n] [-q] [-e <pattern>] [-x | -X] [--] <path>...

🎚️ Switches & options

Flag	What it does
`-n, --dry-run`	Show what would be deleted, do nothing. Always run this first.
`-f, --force`	Required to actually delete (unless `clean.requireForce=false`).
`-d`	Recurse into untracked directories.
`-i`	Interactive — prompt before each.
`-x`	Also delete files that match `.gitignore` (build artifacts, dependencies).
`-X`	Only delete `.gitignore`-matched files; keep other untracked.

💡 Use cases

Wiping build artifacts before a fresh build.
Removing files left behind by a botched merge or rebase.
Resetting a workspace to known-clean state (combine with git reset --hard).

🧪 Examples

Always start with dry-run.

$ git clean -nfd

Now do it for real.

$ git clean -fd

Nuke everything untracked, including ignored.

$ git clean -fdx   # ⚠️ destructive

Interactive — pick what to delete.

$ git clean -id

🎓 Recommendations

Memorize git clean -nfd. Run it first. Always.
Add a make clean target that wraps git clean -fdX so you delete only gitignored stuff.
Treat -x like rm -rf. Don't keystroke it absentmindedly.

🪤 Common pitfalls

-x deletes everything .gitignore covers, which usually includes uncommitted secrets, env files, or build artifacts you wanted.
git clean does not delete tracked files. For that, you need git rm or reset --hard.
There is no recovery. Filesystem-level undelete is your only hope.

🔗 Related modules

📝 Quiz

Hit each option, then Check answers. Score is recorded; Next is always open.