Git Remove from History

To remove a line or a file from git commit history.

Warning

This changes the history of your repository and can cause some unexpected side effects, be careful.

Remove a line from all history

git filter-branch -f --tree-filter 'test -f [FILE_PATH] && sed -i.bak "/[FIND]/d" [FILE_PATH] || echo “skipping file“' -- --all

This command generates a .bak file that should be removed too.

Reference: StackOverflow - Git change one line in file for the complete history.

Substitute a string from all history

git filter-branch -f --tree-filter 'test -f [FILE_PATH] && sed -i.bak "s/[FIND]/[SUBSTITUTE]/g" [FILE_PATH] || echo “skipping file“' -- --all

This command generates a .bak file that should be removed too.

Reference: GeeksForGeeks - Sed command in linux unix with examples.

Remove a file from all history

git filter-branch -f --index-filter 'git rm -rf --cached --ignore-unmatch [FILE_PATH]' HEAD

Reference: StackOverflow - How to remove file from git history.

Publish modifications

git push --force --all