Remove File From Last Pushed Commit

Fri, 24 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

To remove a file from the last pushed commit:

`1`	`git rebase -i HEAD~1`

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

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):

1
2

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.

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

Versioning Control on Blog of Jérémie Litzler

Remove File From Last Pushed Commit

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