Remove File From Last Pushed Commit

To remove a file from the last pushed commit:

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git rebase -i HEAD~1

In the editor, change pick to edit, save and close. Then:

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git rm --cached <file>        # removes from tracking only

# or

git rm <file>                 # removes from tracking + disk
git commit --amend
git rebase --continue

git push --force-with-lease   # force push to overwrite remote

• Note: --force-with-lease is safer than --force as it fails if someone else pushed in the meantime. If it’s a shared branch, warn your team before force-pushing.

But All Traces of the File’s Commit Aren’t Gone

Indeed, the file’s blob object still exists in .git/objects. Git stores content as objects, and even after rewriting history, the old objects remain as dangling/unreachable objects until garbage collected.

To purge it (important if the file contained secrets):

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git reflog expire --expire=now --all
git gc --prune=now --aggressive

This removes unreachable objects from the local repository. But if you already pushed the original commit, the object may still exist on the remote (GitHub retains dangling objects for a while). Therefore, for secrets, you should rotate them regardless.

Credit: Git Logo by Jason Long is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.