remove file from git history

git-remove-file.sh

#!/bin/bash

#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Name      :  git-remove-file.sh
# Written By:  David Underhill, with modifications by, Bryan K. Johns, K4GDW
# Purpose   :  Script  to  permanently  delete  files / folders  from  your  git  
#           :  repository. To use it, cd to the root of your repository and then 
#           :  run the script as shown.
# Calls     :  ./git-sanitize.sh path1 path2...
# Comments  :  This is my version of the git-delete-history script found here:
#           :  http://k4gdw.us/git-sanitize
# Date/Time :  Thursday, September 22, 2016  11:17:38 AM
#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
set -o errexit

if [ $# -eq 0 ]; then
    echo "Error: Must supply at least one file path to be scrubbed from the repo."
    exit 1                                                 
fi
 
# make sure we're at the root of git repository
if [ ! -d .git ]; then
    echo "Error: Must run this script from the root of a git\n       repository"
    exit 1
fi
 
# Remove all paths passed as arguments from the history of the 
# repository.
files=$@
git filter-branch --index-filter \
    "git rm -rf --cached --ignore-unmatch $files" \
     HEAD

# Remove the temporary history git-filter-branch otherwise it gets
# left behind for a long time.
rm -rf .git/refs/original/
	&& git reflog expire --expire=now --all
	&& git gc --aggressive --prune=now