I'm not sure how this happened (maybe I typed a command line vi ~ /extra/space.txt?) but there is now a file named ~ staged for commit. I do not want to add it to git, and I'm hesitant to try rm ~ before thinking through possible side effects.

$ git status
On branch master
All conflicts fixed but you are still merging.
  (use "git commit" to conclude merge)

Changes to be committed:
    modified:   apples.js
    modified:   app/berries.js
    modified:   app/views/pears.js
    new file:   app/views/lemons.js
    modified:   public/stylesheets/oranges.css
    new file:   ~

CodePudding user response：

Use the backslash to escape it

rm \~

Alternatively, you can use single-quotes to avoid shell interpretation (rather than escaping the shell interpretation)

rm '~'

As the commit is staged, you'll also need to clear it before merging by adding the removed file again (so its absence is incorporated into the staged commit) or reset-ing the removed file (this probably happened because you used git add -a)

git add \~

While your fears are practical, also don't worry, rm won't remove directories, only files, without providing some flag (-d, -r, -R..)