How to fix fatal: no such path 'file.txt' in HEAD in Git

First, check if Git knows about the file using git ls-files:

git ls-files path/to/file.txt

If this returns nothing, the file isn't tracked by Git. If it returns a different path (different case), you have a case sensitivity issue.

To see all files in a directory:

git ls-files path/to/directory/

On Windows and macOS, file systems are often case-insensitive, but Git is always case-sensitive. Compare what Git sees versus what your filesystem shows:

# What Git tracks
git ls-files | grep -i filename

# What the filesystem shows
ls -la path/to/

If the cases don't match, rename the file in Git to match:

# Use a two-step rename to change case
git mv Folder/File.txt Folder/file-temp.txt
git mv Folder/file-temp.txt Folder/file.txt
git commit -m "Fix file case sensitivity"

If the file exists but hasn't been committed, you need to commit it first before you can blame it:

# Check file status
git status path/to/file.txt

# If it shows as untracked or modified, add and commit
git add path/to/file.txt
git commit -m "Add file for tracking"

# Now blame will work
git blame path/to/file.txt

For files that exist in a different commit but not in HEAD, specify the commit:

git blame <commit-hash> -- path/to/file.txt

If the file was renamed, use the --follow flag to track it across renames:

git blame --follow path/to/newname.txt

If you need to blame the old filename as it existed in a previous commit:

git blame HEAD~5 -- path/to/oldname.txt

Or use the --contents flag to blame old filename with new file's contents:

git blame --contents newname.txt -- oldname.txt

Verify if the file is actually a symbolic link:

ls -la path/to/file.txt

If you see -> pointing to another location, it's a symlink. Try blaming the actual file instead:

# Find where the symlink points
readlink -f path/to/file.txt

# Blame the actual file
git blame /actual/path/to/file.txt

If the path is inside a git submodule, git ls-files in the parent repo will only show the submodule directory, not its contents.

Navigate into the submodule and run blame there:

cd path/to/submodule
git blame file.txt

# Or use git -C to specify the directory
git -C path/to/submodule blame file.txt

Sometimes the error occurs due to line ending differences (CRLF vs LF) between your working copy and the repository. Explicitly specifying HEAD can bypass this:

git blame HEAD -- path/to/file.txt

This blames the version in HEAD rather than the working copy, avoiding line ending comparison issues.

If none of the above solutions work, your repository might have integrity issues:

# Check repository consistency
git fsck

# Clean up and optimize the repository
git gc

# Re-fetch objects if needed
git fetch --all

If errors are found, you may need to re-clone the repository.