How to fix warning: LF will be replaced by CRLF in file.txt. The file will have its original line endings in your working directory in Git

First, understand that this is a warning, not an error. Your files will still be committed correctly. The warning tells you:

1. The file currently has LF (Unix) line endings
2. Git will store it with LF in the repository (good for cross-platform)
3. Git will convert it to CRLF in your working directory (so Windows tools work)

Check your current autocrlf setting:

git config --global core.autocrlf

Common values:
- true - Converts LF to CRLF on checkout, CRLF to LF on commit (Windows default)
- input - Converts CRLF to LF on commit only, no conversion on checkout
- false - No automatic conversion

To see which files trigger the warning:

# Add files verbosely to see warnings
git add -v .

The best setting depends on your team and project:

Option 1: Keep autocrlf=true (Recommended for Windows-only teams)

git config --global core.autocrlf true

- Files are CRLF locally, LF in repo
- The warning is expected - you can ignore it
- Windows tools work correctly

Option 2: Use autocrlf=input (Recommended for cross-platform teams)

git config --global core.autocrlf input

- Files keep their endings locally
- Only converts CRLF to LF on commit
- Avoids the warning but you may have LF files locally

Option 3: Disable autocrlf=false (Not recommended)

git config --global core.autocrlf false

- No automatic conversion
- Files stay exactly as they are
- Risk: CRLF might accidentally get committed to the repository

Which should you choose?
- Windows-only project: true is fine
- Cross-platform project: Use input or .gitattributes (see next step)
- Linux/macOS: input or false (CRLF rarely appears)

The best practice for cross-platform projects is using a .gitattributes file in the repository root. This overrides individual user settings and ensures consistency.

Create a basic .gitattributes file:

# Create the file in your repository root
touch .gitattributes

Add these contents for a typical project:

# Set default behavior to automatically normalize line endings
* text=auto

# Explicitly declare text files you want to be normalized
*.c text
*.h text
*.cpp text
*.hpp text
*.py text
*.js text
*.ts text
*.json text
*.xml text
*.yml text
*.yaml text
*.md text
*.txt text
*.css text
*.html text
*.sh text eol=lf
*.bash text eol=lf

# Declare files that should always have CRLF line endings on checkout
*.bat text eol=crlf
*.cmd text eol=crlf
*.ps1 text eol=crlf

# Declare binary files that should not be modified
*.png binary
*.jpg binary
*.jpeg binary
*.gif binary
*.ico binary
*.pdf binary
*.zip binary
*.gz binary
*.tar binary
*.exe binary
*.dll binary
*.so binary
*.dylib binary

Commit the .gitattributes file:

git add .gitattributes
git commit -m "Add .gitattributes for consistent line endings"

If you've added a .gitattributes file to an existing repository, you should normalize all files to apply the new settings:

Step 1: Save your work

git stash

Step 2: Remove all files from the index (not from disk)

git rm --cached -r .

Step 3: Re-add all files (this applies .gitattributes)

git reset --hard

Step 4: Add all files back

git add .

Step 5: Check what changed

git status
# You'll see files that had their line endings normalized

Step 6: Commit the normalized files

git commit -m "Normalize line endings"

Step 7: Restore your stashed work

git stash pop

This process rewrites files to match your .gitattributes rules.

Prevent future warnings by configuring your editor to match your project's conventions.

VS Code:
Add to your workspace or user settings (.vscode/settings.json or user settings):

{
  "files.eol": "\n"
}

Or use "\r\n" for CRLF if that's your standard.

Sublime Text:
Add to Preferences > Settings:

{
  "default_line_ending": "unix"
}

JetBrains IDEs (IntelliJ, PyCharm, etc.):
1. Go to Settings > Editor > Code Style
2. Set "Line separator" to your preferred format
3. Can also be set in .editorconfig

Create an .editorconfig file (works with most editors):

# .editorconfig
root = true

[*]
end_of_line = lf
insert_final_newline = true
charset = utf-8

[*.{bat,cmd,ps1}]
end_of_line = crlf

Most modern editors support EditorConfig natively or via plugins.

If you understand the behavior and just want to suppress the warning:

Option 1: Set safecrlf to false (suppresses the warning)

git config --global core.safecrlf false

Note: This only suppresses the warning. Line ending conversion still happens based on core.autocrlf.

Option 2: Use quiet mode for add

git add . 2>/dev/null

Option 3: Accept that warnings are informational
The warning doesn't prevent any operations. If your project works correctly, you can simply ignore it.

When NOT to suppress:
- If you're unsure about your line ending configuration
- If you're seeing related issues (weird diffs, merge conflicts)
- If team members report problems with line endings

The warning exists to help you catch configuration issues early.

If specific files have wrong line endings that you need to fix:

Convert a file from CRLF to LF:

On Linux/macOS/WSL:

# Using sed
sed -i 's/\r$//' filename.txt

# Using dos2unix (install if needed: apt install dos2unix)
dos2unix filename.txt

# Using tr
tr -d '\r' < filename.txt > filename.tmp && mv filename.tmp filename.txt

On Windows with Git Bash:

dos2unix filename.txt

# Or using sed
sed -i 's/\r$//' filename.txt

On Windows with PowerShell:

(Get-Content filename.txt -Raw) -replace "\r\n", "\n" | Set-Content filename.txt -NoNewline

Convert a file from LF to CRLF:

# Using unix2dos
unix2dos filename.txt

# Using sed
sed -i 's/$/\r/' filename.txt

Bulk convert all files:

# Find and convert all text files to LF
find . -type f -name "*.txt" -exec dos2unix {} \;
find . -type f -name "*.sh" -exec dos2unix {} \;