Re: Unexpected recursion in 'git rm'

[Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im>]

Hi,

On Thu, Jul 02, 2026 at 10:49:10AM +0300, Евгений Плискин wrote:
> Hello.
> 
> The following git command does recurse directories as contrary to the
> reference (https://git-scm.com/docs/git-rm):
> 
>     git rm -n *.json
> 
> Without directory specification before '*.json' this command is not
> expected to recurse directories, but it really does.

This is expected behaviour, as the argument to git-rm(1) is a pathspec,
and "*" matches directory separators by default, see also gitglossary(7)
under "pathspec":

  • the pathspec up to the last slash represents a directory prefix. The
    scope of that pathspec is limited to that subtree.

  • the rest of the pathspec is a pattern for the remainder of the
    pathname. Paths relative to the directory prefix will be matched
    against that pattern using fnmatch(3); in particular, * and ? can
    match directory separators.

  For example, Documentation/*.jpg will match all .jpg files in the
  Documentation subtree, including Documentation/chapter_1/figure_1.jpg.

Could you maybe clarify which part of git-rm(1) made you think that this
wouldn't happen?

Thanks!

Patrick