How to recover deleted files that were deleted during merging

Question

I was trying to delete all the migration files on the master branch. Git prompted:

error: Merging is not possible because you have unmerged files.
hint: Fix them up in the work tree, and then use 'git add/rm <file>'
hint: as appropriate to mark resolution and make a commit.
fatal: Exiting because of an unresolved conflict.

since I did not need the migration files, I typed:

git rm . -r

Git prompted:

error: the following files have changes staged in the index:
/middleware.py
project_management/models.py
sales/migrations/0001_initial.py

(use --cached to keep the file, or -f to force removal)

Thinking that the conflicts are just due to those migration files, I typed:

git rm . -r -f

Now, git has removed ALL my files, including models, templates, views, static files, etc.

rm '.gitignore'
rm 'accounts/__init__.py'
rm 'accounts/__pycache__/__init__.cpython-36.pyc'
rm 'accounts/__pycache__/backends.cpython-36.pyc'
rm 'accounts/admin.py'
rm 'accounts/apps.py'
rm 'accounts/backends.py'
rm 'accounts/forms/__init__.py'
rm 'accounts/forms/authenticate.py'
rm 'accounts/forms/register.py'
rm 'accounts/migrations/0001_initial.py'
rm 'accounts/migrations/__init__.py'
rm 'accounts/models.py'
rm 'accounts/templates/login.html'
rm 'accounts/templates/signup.html'
rm 'accounts/tests.py'
rm 'accounts/urls.py'
rm 'accounts/views.py'

Now, when I do

git status

It tells me this: On branch master All conflicts fixed but you are still merging. (use "git commit" to conclude merge)

Changes to be committed:

    deleted:    .gitignore
    deleted:    accounts/__init__.py
    deleted:    accounts/__pycache__/__init__.cpython-36.pyc
    deleted:    accounts/__pycache__/backends.cpython-36.pyc
    deleted:    accounts/admin.py
    deleted:    accounts/apps.py
    deleted:    accounts/backends.py
    deleted:    accounts/forms/__init__.py
    deleted:    accounts/forms/authenticate.py
    deleted:    accounts/forms/register.py
    deleted:    accounts/migrations/0001_initial.py
    deleted:    accounts/migrations/0002_auto_20170212_1028.py
    deleted:    accounts/migrations/__init__.py
    deleted:    accounts/models.py
    deleted:    accounts/templates/login.html
    deleted:    accounts/templates/signup.html
    deleted:    accounts/tests.py
    deleted:    accounts/urls.py
    deleted:    accounts/views.py
    ...
    Untracked files:
    (use "git add <file>..." to include in what will be committed)

    accounts/
    commonapp/

There are more than 10 apps, with more than 50 models, etc. but for the sake simplicity, I have not list them all here.

Is there a way to undo these deletions? This is months worth of my time, so I really appreciate your help.

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 04 '17 at 18:59

1

git reset --hard will recover the files for you. It will also remove all changes that are staged. So if you've anything you want to keep, copy those files out before the reset.

answered Dec 04 '17 at 18:59

Allen Luce

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I cannot thank you enough Allen! I was mentally preparing myself for a loss of a few months worth of development work. Thank you! – EarlyCoder Dec 04 '17 at 19:20

How to recover deleted files that were deleted during merging

1 Answers1