GIT: git checkout .DS_Store error: “error: pathspec '.DS_Store' did not match any file(s) known to git.”

Question

I'm trying to remove the changes from this file .DS_Store. using git checkout but I'm getting this error:

git checkout .DS_Store 
error: pathspec '.DS_Store' did not match any file(s) known to git.

When I do git status I get:

git status
On branch master
Your branch is up-to-date with 'origin/master'.
Untracked files:
  (use "git add <file>..." to include in what will be committed)

    .DS_Store

Any of you knows how checkout this file ? or if I'm doing something wrong at the moment of the checkout?

I'll really appreciate your help.

Answer 1

You can do git reset or, add the .DS_Store file in .gitignore file.

.DS_store is a auto generated file for MacOS.

$ git add .
$ git reset --hard HEAD


# Or, add '.DS_store' in .gitignore file
$ nano .gitignore

# Now add '.DS_store' at the end of the '.gitignore' file 

---

Alternate : one of the alternate way to clean Untracked files is -

$ git clean -df                           
# -d remove untracked directories in addition to untracked files, -f (force)

Answer 2

GIT has excellent support for each command.

git status
On branch master
Your branch is up-to-date with 'origin/master'.
Untracked files:
  (use "git add <file>..." to include in what will be committed)

.DS_Store

Please refer the message, it clearly stating that the file .DS_Store is untracked and if you want the file to be tracked under GIT then use the following command

$ git add .DS_Store

Please refer the following image for the file status lifecycle in GIT.

For more details refer Git Basics - Recording Changes to the Repository

Checkout

Since the GIT not tracking the file, you cannot checkout the file. The git checkout command serves three distinct functions: checking out files, checking out commits, and checking out branches. Checking out a file lets you see an old version of that particular file, leaving the rest of your working directory untouched

More on git checkout