git recover deleted file where no commit was made after the delete

Here are different cases as a reference to help others:

If the deletion has not been committed, the command below will restore the deleted file in the working tree.

$ git checkout -- <file>

You can get a list of all the deleted files in the working tree using the command below.

$ git ls-files --deleted

If the deletion has been committed, find the commit where it happened, then recover the file from this commit.

#find the commit hash where it had this file deleted
$ git rev-list -n 1 HEAD -- <file>

It should give you something like c46e81aa403ecb8a0f7a323a358068345, now use this commit hash with the parent operator (^) like so:

$ git checkout <commit>^ -- <file>

Example:

$ git checkout c46e81aa403ecb8a0f7a323a358068345^ -- <file> 

In case you are looking for the path of the file to recover, the following command will display a summary of all deleted files.

$ git log --diff-filter=D --summary

If you want to just display the list of files:

git log --diff-filter=D --summary | grep "delete mode"

Use git ls-files to checkout deleted(-d) or modified(-m) files.

git checkout $(git ls-files -d)

see How can I restore only the modified files on a git checkout?

This was the easiest way for me:

git checkout HEAD~1 path/to/myfile.rb

I found it here.

Another way that also worked for me:

git reset HEAD path/to/myfile.rb
git restore path/to/myfile.rb

Newer git (mine is 2.27.0) is more friendly and the actual commands are shown during "git status". For example, if you deleted the file tf.c, then

$ git status
...
Changes not staged for commit:
  (use "git add/rm <file>..." to update what will be committed)
  (use "git restore <file>..." to discard changes in working directory)
      deleted:    tf.c

You would use "git restore tf.c" to get it back, as it saz. No more search!

I happened to move (instead of copy) some json files from one folder to another within the same repository. Then I renamed those files and changed some contents in the new location. However I quickly learned that I have not copied and totally deleted the files from previous location.

Easy Solution:

git reset HEAD <oldfilepath_which_was_moved>
git restore <oldfilepath_which_was_moved>

Did this for all the files and they are back.

You can also include multiple files separated by space.

git reset HEAD file_1_path file_2_path file_3_path

Easy fix, btw this will not change / delete the new files.

Situation: One deleted a file but didn’t commit

If one deleted a file, and immediately realized it was a mistake? This one is easy, just do:

git checkout HEAD <filename>

If it is a folder, just do:

git checkout HEAD <foldername>/

Reference: https://www.git-tower.com/learn/git/faq/restoring-deleted-files

For anyone who get unknown revision or path not in the working tree when running git checkout

run git reset fileToRestore

then git checkout fileToRestore

Your file will be restored

One solution without any risks is to go to your repository page (on github etc.) and download the deleted file by hand.

I had the same problem and none of the answers here I tried worked for me either. I am using Intellij and I had checked out a new branch git checkout -b minimalExample to create a "minimal example" on the new branch of some issue by deleting a bunch of files and modifying a bunch of others in the project. Unfortunately, even though I didn't commit any of the changes on the new "minimal example" branch, when I checked out my "original" branch again all of the changes and deletions from the "minimal example" branch had happened in the "original" branch too (or so it appeared). According to git status the deleted files were just gone from both branches.

Fortunately, even though Intellij had warned me "deleting these files may not be fully recoverable", I was able to restore them (on the minimal example branch from which they had actually been deleted) by right-clicking on the project and selecting Local History > Show History (and then Restore on the most recent history item I wanted). After Intellij restored the files in the "minimal example" branch, I pushed the branch to origin. Then I switched back to my "original" local branch and ran git pull origin minimalExample to get them back in the "original" branch too.