git add - Disable git add . command

Question

Many times I mistakenly add unwanted files to the staging area using the git add . command.

I wonder if there is a way I could completely disable this command, so that I only use git add file?

Answer 1

SVN re-education

I guess it is a bad habit from svn, which has a default to add only tracked files [...]

You must unlearn what you have learned :)

You should run git status often. If files you want to ignore get listed as untracked files, you should then edit your .gitignore file, so that those files actually become ignored. Because git add doesn't affect ignored (and untracked) files, you will then be able to use git add . to stage all files of interest (and only those) in one fell swoop.

How to completely disable git add .

Git itself doesn't allow to do that, but if you really want to completely forbid the use of git add . (and git stage ., an exact equivalent), you can write a small wrapper around git (in your ~/.<shell>rc file) for that:

git() {
    if [ "$1" = "add" -o "$1" = "stage" ]; then
        if [ "$2" = "." ]; then
            printf "'git %s .' is currently disabled by your Git wrapper.
" "$1";
        else
            command git "$@";
        fi
    else
        command git "$@";
    fi;
}