git-status(1) Git Manual git-status(1)
NAME
git-status - Show the working tree status
SYNOPSIS
git status [<options>] [--] [<pathspec>...]
DESCRIPTION
Displays paths that have differences between the index file and the
current HEAD commit, paths that have differences between the working
tree and the index file, and paths in the working tree that are not
tracked by Git (and are not ignored by gitignore(5)). The first are
what you would commit by running git commit; the second and third are
what you could commit by running git add before running git commit.
OPTIONS
-s, --short
Give the output in the short-format.
-b, --branch
Show the branch and tracking info even in short-format.
--show-stash
Show the number of entries currently stashed away.
--porcelain[=<version>]
Give the output in an easy-to-parse format for scripts. This is
similar to the short output, but will remain stable across Git
versions and regardless of user configuration. See below for
details.
The <version> parameter is used to specify the format version. This
is optional and defaults to the original version v1 format.
--long
Give the output in the long-format. This is the default.
-v, --verbose
In addition to the names of files that have been changed, also show
the textual changes that are staged to be committed (i.e., like the
output of git diff --cached). If -v is specified twice, then also
show the changes in the working tree that have not yet been staged
(i.e., like the output of git diff).
-u[<mode>], --untracked-files[=<mode>]
Show untracked files.
The mode parameter is used to specify the handling of untracked
files. It is optional: it defaults to all, and if specified, it
must be stuck to the option (e.g. -uno, but not -u no).
The possible options are:
no
Show no untracked files.
normal
Show untracked files and directories.
all
Also show individual files in untracked directories.
When -u option is not used, untracked files and directories are
shown (i.e. the same as specifying normal), to help you avoid
forgetting to add newly created files. Because it takes extra work
to find untracked files in the filesystem, this mode may take some
time in a large working tree. Consider enabling untracked cache and
split index if supported (see git update-index --untracked-cache
and git update-index --split-index), Otherwise you can use no to
have git status return more quickly without showing untracked
files. All usual spellings for Boolean value true are taken as
normal and false as no.
The default can be changed using the status.showUntrackedFiles
configuration variable documented in git-config(1).
--ignore-submodules[=<when>]
Ignore changes to submodules when looking for changes. <when> can
be either none, untracked, dirty or all, which is the default.
none
will consider the submodule modified when it either contains
untracked or modified files or its HEAD differs from the commit
recorded in the superproject and can be used to override any
settings of the ignore option in git-config(1) or
gitmodules(5).
untracked
submodules are not considered dirty when they only contain
untracked content (but they are still scanned for modified
content).
dirty
ignore all changes to the work tree of submodules, only changes
to the commits stored in the superproject are shown (this was
the behavior before 1.7.0).
all
hide all changes to submodules (and suppresses the output of
submodule summaries when the config option
status.submoduleSummary is set).
--ignored[=<mode>]
Show ignored files as well.
The mode parameter is used to specify the handling of ignored
files. It is optional: it defaults to traditional.
The possible options are:
traditional
Show ignored files and directories, unless
--untracked-files=all is specified, in which case individual
files in ignored directories are displayed.
no
Show no ignored files.
matching
Show ignored files and directories matching an ignore pattern.
Paths that explicitly match an ignored pattern are shown. If a
directory matches an ignore pattern, then it is shown, but not
paths contained in the ignored directory. If a directory does
not match an ignore pattern, but all contents are ignored, then
the directory is not shown, but all contents are shown.
-z
Terminate entries with NUL, instead of LF. This implies the
--porcelain=v1 output format if no other format is given.
--column[=<options>], --no-column
Display untracked files in columns. See configuration variable
column.status for option syntax. --column and --no-column without
options are equivalent to always and never respectively.
--ahead-behind, --no-ahead-behind
Display or do not display detailed ahead/behind counts for the
branch relative to its upstream branch. Defaults to true.
--renames, --no-renames
Turn on/off rename detection regardless of user configuration. See
also git-diff(1) --no-renames.
--find-renames[=<n>]
Turn on rename detection, optionally setting the similarity
threshold. See also git-diff(1) --find-renames.
<pathspec>...
See the pathspec entry in gitglossary(7).
OUTPUT
The output from this command is designed to be used as a commit
template comment. The default, long format, is designed to be human
readable, verbose and descriptive. Its contents and format are subject
to change at any time.
The paths mentioned in the output, unlike many other Git commands, are
made relative to the current directory if you are working in a
subdirectory (this is on purpose, to help cutting and pasting). See the
status.relativePaths config option below.
Short Format
In the short-format, the status of each path is shown as one of these
forms
<xy> <path>
<xy> <orig-path> -> <path>
where <orig-path> is where the renamed/copied contents came from.
<orig-path> is only shown when the entry is renamed or copied. The <xy>
is a two-letter status code XY.
The fields (including the ->) are separated from each other by a single
space. If a filename contains whitespace or other nonprintable
characters, that field will be quoted in the manner of a C string
literal: surrounded by ASCII double quote (34) characters, and with
interior special characters backslash-escaped.
There are three different types of states that are shown using this
format, and each one uses the <xy> syntax differently:
o When a merge is occurring and the merge was successful, or outside
of a merge situation, X shows the status of the index and Y shows
the status of the working tree.
o When a merge conflict has occurred and has not yet been resolved, X
and Y show the state introduced by each head of the merge, relative
to the common ancestor. These paths are said to be unmerged.
o When a path is untracked, X and Y are always the same, since they
are unknown to the index. ?? is used for untracked paths. Ignored
files are not listed unless --ignored is used; if it is, ignored
files are indicated by !!.
Note that the term merge here also includes rebases using the default
--merge strategy, cherry-picks, and anything else using the merge
machinery.
In the following table, these three classes are shown in separate
sections, and these characters are used for X and Y fields for the
first two sections that show tracked paths:
' '
unmodified
M
modified
T
file type changed (regular file, symbolic link or submodule)
A
added
D
deleted
R
renamed
C
copied (if config option status.renames is set to "copies")
U
updated but unmerged
+---------+--------+---------------------+
| X | Y | Meaning |
+---------+--------+---------------------+
| | [AMD] | not updated |
+---------+--------+---------------------+
| M | [ MTD] | updated in index |
+---------+--------+---------------------+
| T | [ MTD] | type changed in |
| | | index |
+---------+--------+---------------------+
| A | [ MTD] | added to index |
+---------+--------+---------------------+
| D | | deleted from index |
+---------+--------+---------------------+
| R | [ MTD] | renamed in index |
+---------+--------+---------------------+
| C | [ MTD] | copied in index |
+---------+--------+---------------------+
|[MTARC] | | index and work tree |
| | | matches |
+---------+--------+---------------------+
|[ MTARC] | M | work tree changed |
| | | since index |
+---------+--------+---------------------+
|[ MTARC] | T | type changed in |
| | | work tree since |
| | | index |
+---------+--------+---------------------+
|[ MTARC] | D | deleted in work |
| | | tree |
+---------+--------+---------------------+
| | R | renamed in work |
| | | tree |
+---------+--------+---------------------+
| | C | copied in work tree |
+---------+--------+---------------------+
| D | D | unmerged, both |
| | | deleted |
+---------+--------+---------------------+
| A | U | unmerged, added by |
| | | us |
+---------+--------+---------------------+
| U | D | unmerged, deleted |
| | | by them |
+---------+--------+---------------------+
| U | A | unmerged, added by |
| | | them |
+---------+--------+---------------------+
| D | U | unmerged, deleted |
| | | by us |
+---------+--------+---------------------+
| A | A | unmerged, both |
| | | added |
+---------+--------+---------------------+
| U | U | unmerged, both |
| | | modified |
+---------+--------+---------------------+
| ? | ? | untracked |
+---------+--------+---------------------+
| ! | ! | ignored |
+---------+--------+---------------------+
Submodules have more state and instead report
M
the submodule has a different HEAD than recorded in the index
m
the submodule has modified content
?
the submodule has untracked files
This is since modified content or untracked files in a submodule cannot
be added via git add in the superproject to prepare a commit.
m and ? are applied recursively. For example if a nested submodule in a
submodule contains an untracked file, this is reported as ? as well.
If -b is used the short-format status is preceded by a line
## <branchname> <tracking-info>
Porcelain Format Version 1
Version 1 porcelain format is similar to the short format, but is
guaranteed not to change in a backwards-incompatible way between Git
versions or based on user configuration. This makes it ideal for
parsing by scripts. The description of the short format above also
describes the porcelain format, with a few exceptions:
1. The user's color.status configuration is not respected; color will
always be off.
2. The user's status.relativePaths configuration is not respected;
paths shown will always be relative to the repository root.
There is also an alternate -z format recommended for machine parsing.
In that format, the status field is the same, but some other things
change. First, the -> is omitted from rename entries and the field
order is reversed (e.g from -> to becomes to from). Second, a NUL
(ASCII 0) follows each filename, replacing space as a field separator
and the terminating newline (but a space still separates the status
field from the first filename). Third, filenames containing special
characters are not specially formatted; no quoting or
backslash-escaping is performed.
Any submodule changes are reported as modified M instead of m or single
?.
Porcelain Format Version 2
Version 2 format adds more detailed information about the state of the
worktree and changed items. Version 2 also defines an extensible set of
easy to parse optional headers.
Header lines start with # and are added in response to specific command
line arguments. Parsers should ignore headers they don't recognize.
Branch Headers
If --branch is given, a series of header lines are printed with
information about the current branch.
+-------------------------+----------------------------+
|Line | Notes |
+-------------------------+----------------------------+
|# branch.oid <commit> | | Current commit. |
|(initial) | |
+-------------------------+----------------------------+
|# branch.head <branch> | | Current branch. |
|(detached) | |
+-------------------------+----------------------------+
|# branch.upstream | If upstream is set. |
|<upstream-branch> | |
+-------------------------+----------------------------+
|# branch.ab +<ahead> | If upstream is set and the |
|-<behind> | commit is present. |
+-------------------------+----------------------------+
Stash Information
If --show-stash is given, one line is printed showing the number of
stash entries if non-zero:
# stash <N>
Changed Tracked Entries
Following the headers, a series of lines are printed for tracked
entries. One of three different line formats may be used to
describe an entry depending on the type of change. Tracked entries
are printed in an undefined order; parsers should allow for a
mixture of the 3 line types in any order.
Ordinary changed entries have the following format:
1 <XY> <sub> <mH> <mI> <mW> <hH> <hI> <path>
Renamed or copied entries have the following format:
2 <XY> <sub> <mH> <mI> <mW> <hH> <hI> <X><score> <path><sep><origPath>
+-----------+----------------------------+
|Field | Meaning |
+-----------+----------------------------+
|<XY> | A 2 character field |
| | containing the staged and |
| | unstaged XY values |
| | described in the short |
| | format, with unchanged |
| | indicated by a "." rather |
| | than a space. |
+-----------+----------------------------+
|<sub> | A 4 character field |
| | describing the submodule |
| | state. "N..." when the |
| | entry is not a submodule. |
| | S<c><m><u> when the entry |
| | is a submodule.o <c> is |
| | "C" if the commit changed; |
| | otherwise ".".o <m> is |
| | "M" if it has tracked |
| | changes; otherwise ".".o |
| | <u> is "U" if there are |
| | untracked changes; |
| | otherwise ".". |
+-----------+----------------------------+
|<mH> | The octal file mode in |
| | HEAD. |
+-----------+----------------------------+
|<mI> | The octal file mode in the |
| | index. |
+-----------+----------------------------+
|<mW> | The octal file mode in the |
| | worktree. |
+-----------+----------------------------+
|<hH> | The object name in HEAD. |
+-----------+----------------------------+
|<hI> | The object name in the |
| | index. |
+-----------+----------------------------+
|<X><score> | The rename or copy score |
| | (denoting the percentage |
| | of similarity between the |
| | source and target of the |
| | move or copy). For example |
| | "R100" or "C75". |
+-----------+----------------------------+
|<path> | The pathname. In a |
| | renamed/copied entry, this |
| | is the target path. |
+-----------+----------------------------+
|<sep> | When the -z option is |
| | used, the 2 pathnames are |
| | separated with a NUL |
| | (ASCII 0x00) byte; |
| | otherwise, a TAB (ASCII |
| | 0x09) byte separates them. |
+-----------+----------------------------+
|<origPath> | The pathname in the commit |
| | at HEAD or in the index. |
| | This is only present in a |
| | renamed/copied entry, and |
| | tells where the |
| | renamed/copied contents |
| | came from. |
+-----------+----------------------------+
Unmerged entries have the following format; the first character is
a "u" to distinguish from ordinary changed entries.
u <XY> <sub> <m1> <m2> <m3> <mW> <h1> <h2> <h3> <path>
+-------+----------------------------+
|Field | Meaning |
+-------+----------------------------+
|<XY> | A 2 character field |
| | describing the conflict |
| | type as described in the |
| | short format. |
+-------+----------------------------+
|<sub> | A 4 character field |
| | describing the submodule |
| | state as described above. |
+-------+----------------------------+
|<m1> | The octal file mode in |
| | stage 1. |
+-------+----------------------------+
|<m2> | The octal file mode in |
| | stage 2. |
+-------+----------------------------+
|<m3> | The octal file mode in |
| | stage 3. |
+-------+----------------------------+
|<mW> | The octal file mode in the |
| | worktree. |
+-------+----------------------------+
|<h1> | The object name in stage |
| | 1. |
+-------+----------------------------+
|<h2> | The object name in stage |
| | 2. |
+-------+----------------------------+
|<h3> | The object name in stage |
| | 3. |
+-------+----------------------------+
|<path> | The pathname. |
+-------+----------------------------+
Other Items
Following the tracked entries (and if requested), a series of lines
will be printed for untracked and then ignored items found in the
worktree.
Untracked items have the following format:
? <path>
Ignored items have the following format:
! <path>
Pathname Format Notes and -z
When the -z option is given, pathnames are printed as is and
without any quoting and lines are terminated with a NUL (ASCII
0x00) byte.
Without the -z option, pathnames with "unusual" characters are
quoted as explained for the configuration variable core.quotePath
(see git-config(1)).
CONFIGURATION
The command honors color.status (or status.color -- they mean the same
thing and the latter is kept for backward compatibility) and
color.status.<slot> configuration variables to colorize its output.
If the config variable status.relativePaths is set to false, then all
paths shown are relative to the repository root, not to the current
directory.
If status.submoduleSummary is set to a non zero number or true
(identical to -1 or an unlimited number), the submodule summary will be
enabled for the long format and a summary of commits for modified
submodules will be shown (see --summary-limit option of git-
submodule(1)). Please note that the summary output from the status
command will be suppressed for all submodules when
diff.ignoreSubmodules is set to all or only for those submodules where
submodule.<name>.ignore=all. To also view the summary for ignored
submodules you can either use the --ignore-submodules=dirty command
line option or the git submodule summary command, which shows a similar
output but does not honor these settings.
BACKGROUND REFRESH
By default, git status will automatically refresh the index, updating
the cached stat information from the working tree and writing out the
result. Writing out the updated index is an optimization that isn't
strictly necessary (status computes the values for itself, but writing
them out is just to save subsequent programs from repeating our
computation). When status is run in the background, the lock held
during the write may conflict with other simultaneous processes,
causing them to fail. Scripts running status in the background should
consider using git --no-optional-locks status (see git(1) for details).
UNTRACKED FILES AND PERFORMANCE
git status can be very slow in large worktrees if/when it needs to
search for untracked files and directories. There are many
configuration options available to speed this up by either avoiding the
work or making use of cached results from previous Git commands. There
is no single optimum set of settings right for everyone. We'll list a
summary of the relevant options to help you, but before going into the
list, you may want to run git status again, because your configuration
may already be caching git status results, so it could be faster on
subsequent runs.
o The --untracked-files=no flag or the status.showUntrackedFiles=no
config (see above for both): indicate that git status should not
report untracked files. This is the fastest option. git status
will not list the untracked files, so you need to be careful to
remember if you create any new files and manually git add them.
o advice.statusUoption=false (see git-config(1)): setting this
variable to false disables the warning message given when
enumerating untracked files takes more than 2 seconds. In a large
project, it may take longer and the user may have already accepted
the trade off (e.g. using -uno may not be an acceptable option for
the user), in which case, there is no point issuing the warning
message, and in such a case, disabling the warning may be the best.
o core.untrackedCache=true (see git-update-index(1)): enable the
untracked cache feature and only search directories that have been
modified since the previous git status command. Git remembers the
set of untracked files within each directory and assumes that if a
directory has not been modified, then the set of untracked files
within has not changed. This is much faster than enumerating the
contents of every directory, but still not without cost, because
Git still has to search for the set of modified directories. The
untracked cache is stored in the .git/index file. The reduced cost
of searching for untracked files is offset slightly by the
increased size of the index and the cost of keeping it up-to-date.
That reduced search time is usually worth the additional size.
o core.untrackedCache=true and core.fsmonitor=true or
core.fsmonitor=<hook-command-pathname> (see git-update-index(1)):
enable both the untracked cache and FSMonitor features and only
search directories that have been modified since the previous git
status command. This is faster than using just the untracked cache
alone because Git can also avoid searching for modified
directories. Git only has to enumerate the exact set of directories
that have changed recently. While the FSMonitor feature can be
enabled without the untracked cache, the benefits are greatly
reduced in that case.
Note that after you turn on the untracked cache and/or FSMonitor
features it may take a few git status commands for the various caches
to warm up before you see improved command times. This is normal.
SEE ALSO
gitignore(5)
GIT
Part of the git(1) suite
Git 2.53.0 2026-02-01 git-status(1)
git 2.53.0 - Generated Thu Feb 19 07:38:20 CST 2026